Paragon of Sin

"Bring her back."

A simple three-worded order caused the four Sages and two Worldly Saint Alchemists into an upheaval of confusion and uncertainty, and as Pakhet unhesitantly elevated her Mystic Aura to an extreme, sending bellows of torrential mystic power outwards as she escalated and gathered strength, these experts were instantly on-guard and simultaneously bewildered.

They could feel flashes of Temporal Mystic Runes intermixed with a few others, establishing the baseline for Temporal Reversion, which was an unfathomable thing to perform on a painting.

"What are you doing?!" As the host, Shang Liu had to question Wei Wuyin's intentions. If it wasn't for him purchasing the painting just a second or so prior, he might have thought Wei Wuyin was trying to cause trouble. There was even a twang of fear in his voice, his eyes focused on Wei Wuyin's calm visage and emotional state. If this foreign expert decided to sporadically act against him, it would be his greatest mistake.

Wei Wuyin allowed Pakhet to continue. He slowly said, "Sage Painted Star, when you painted this piece, did you use anything from the subject of your artistic creation?" His question was unsettling as gazes shifted between Sage Painted Star and Wei Wuyin.

What did the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Saint mean by that?

Sage Painted Star's expression changed slightly as he contemplated with all his thinking capacity prior to speaking. In the end, he gave a soft sigh that was laced with some degree of personal pride, explaining as between each syllable his own Mystic Aura flared: "To bring forth the greatest essence of a person's last moments, displaying the greatest degree of spiritual, mental, and physical impact, I had taken Xi Ning's fragmented spiritual aura at her place of passing, and used that as paint primer with other ingredients."

Yue Songli was taken aback. No wonder Xi Ning felt so real. The last traces of her spiritual aura would have contained the entity of her last respite of life that contained all her former emotions. She was defiant to a hellish degree, refusing to suffer, and willing to die. She was giving it her all in the end to bring her life to a conclusion and end her captive, tortured existence.

The others came to a similar conclusion, but besides the foreigners present, the rest had already known about Sage Painted Star's process of painting. He had a widely known reputation for drawing 'inspiration' from great battles and tragic deaths by going to the scene. There were a few times during his earlier days when he offended a few cultivators due to his acts, but after some time, he learned to compensate for any disrespect and honor the memory of his subjects.

Shockingly, World-Saint Azure Rain looked rather concerned as she observed Pakhet. "If you're trying to reverse her death by her spiritual aura, I'd suggest not to. It's been eight thousand years since her death, and she was a Rune King, even with your strength, you'll exhaust yourself before you can achieve anything notable. But she wasn't killed here either, but in another stellar region."

Temporal Reversion can exhaust cultivated Mystic Power or lifespan, the latter was a sign of directly beseeching the Mystic Dao to act on the cultivator's behalf, no different than a sacrificial offering to access its mystical powers, and this was how most cultivators beneath the Earthly Saint Phase used various abilities after a certain point due to their complete lack of mastery with the Ways of Mysticism.

The fact that World-Saint Azure Rain was pleading for Pakhet to halt was unexpected, but Pakhet paid her no mind as her powers reached a new height. She began to concentrate her strength. Her bellowing aura grew calmer yet denser.

It was unheard of to try to resurrect via reversion using a wisp of spiritual aura. It wasn't just unheard of but impossible. Temporal Reversion was like the opposite of the Neo-Dawn Vortex-Zone whereby you exert mystical powers of time to revert a specific, very specific, region in terms of temporal causality. This could allow one to repair the body or reverse strange afflictions such as curses or poisons.

Xi Ning wasn't killed here. Only her spiritual aura was extracted. What was Wei Wuyin going to have Pakhet focus on? From here, only a significant portion of the Growing Immortality Galactic Zone could be the target for any success.

Maybe, just maybe, Pakhet would, at the exchange of her life, revert time by about a thousandth of a second… if she was lucky.

The others were contemplating dissuading Wei Wuyin too, if only for the sake of showing consideration for him after the fact, and then salvaging their relationship by the gesture. However, Wei Wuyin didn't give them a chance.

Wei Wuyin asked: "Is the Sage that caused Xi Ning's demise alive?"

"..."

An awkward atmosphere formed immediately. Xi Ning was a Catalyst Body that had attracted the attention of a Sage and was then captured and held.

"The situation isn't as simple as you think," Sage Avenging Heart frowned as Wei Wuyin's seemingly innocent question was directly trying to harm the reputation of the Knightly Dao Pavilion. ʀαNȮꞖÊs̩

The issue largely originated from the difference in backing and the Utmost Purity Galaxy's own culture. Xi Ning was a member of the Knightly Dao Pavilion, an elite school, and only a Rune King, yet the Sage had the backing of one of the Seven Utmost Towers—the Tower of Growing Immortality. Moreover, at the time, she had been mostly an unnoticed entity, and they hadn't learned she was a Catalyst Body until after she was captured.

Somehow, she had hidden her body from inspection and went under the radar, joining to become a cultivator by a lineage recommendation from within the Armored Boon Stellar Region, which was only given out after a previous conflict so that those who participated could send in their promising descendants. The Sages weren't present at the time and besides Shang Liu, the others were only Original Magistrates.

"I think it's fairly simple," Wei Si stated with a pout. "She was a student. She was captured. And she gave her life to end her suffering. But instead of banding together to get revenge, her fellow students and beloved teachers whom she likely looked up to abandoned her at her height of fear and despair. Fear and despair with enough hopelessness to think her only option was…" Wei Si's words at the end trailed off as he spoke his mind.

Then, as if wanting to stomp it harder, "Even if it was a god backed by the heavens, my cousin would have challenged them for any of his loved one's sake, and might even give his life for a sect member he hated."

Wei Si's words caused the already awkward atmosphere to turn tense.

And Wei Wuyin went thoughtfully silent; Wei Si was speaking from his heart, and he was giving an analysis of what he knew of Wei Wuyin's personality. In truth, Wei Wuyin felt that he was rather selfish, but what he felt and what he was were entirely two different things. While he had a set of principles, and he'd like to think he wouldn't do so? he knew that that statement of Wei Si was true…

At the very least, for all of their younger years, it was true…

To make matters worse, he had evidence of this exact circumstance. While he had, in this timeline, inadvertently caused Jiu Ning of Scarlet Solaris Sect's death, in the Black Skeleton's depiction of his disastrous future, he would die by decapitation while fighting for her.

He couldn't even argue against whether he would or wouldn't.

"He's still alive," Sage Moonrise answered at this moment with a taste of bitterness in her mouth. Out of the three Sages taught by the Knightly Dao Pavilion, she was the only native who could have interfered with any reasonable chance of success. Perhaps that's why World-Saint Azure Rain had spoken earlier, understanding that her Alchemic Knight had lingering feelings of guilt over the entire incident.

While it was extremely subtle, it was clear she had an unusual interest in Yue Songli too, and it wasn't just her outwardly expression of appreciation of beauty that her rampant gaze might have conveyed.

Wei Wuyin blinked as Pakhet's aura kept getting denser until it condensed into a golden silk-like thread that silently entered the painting, "I'm sure Sage Painted Star's habits must be quite well known among the galaxy's experts. But did you know that true death doesn't occur when the body and soul are destroyed, but when the True Soul enters the cycle of samsara."

"...!"

Wei Wuyin's words caused the hearts of those present to pound without their consent. He had just explained a profound concept of life and death that others knew of but rarely ever said. Mostly because the Soul and True Soul were often linked, and if the Soul was destroyed, the True Soul would naturally vanish altogether to who knows where.

There were even fewer who knew the further profound principle of cultivating one's True Soul. The Sages here, even Pakhet and the others were unlikely to be aware of this possibility or aspect of Resonant Soul Realm cultivation.

"Xi Ning was undoubtedly an ambitious cultivator who was capable of eluding the gazes of so many experts as she slowly rose through the stages of cultivation. I'm sure she was quite talented and hard-working, and perhaps only a slight mistake or miscalculation caused her downfall. Still, she was by no means a character lacking intelligence. She had to have thought and known of the outcome of her exposure, whether inside the pavilion or outside.

"That's a fantastical trait for cultivators to have: to establish contingencies in case of various possible scenarios," Wei Wuyin formed an appreciative smile. As someone who was calculative to an absurd extreme, even if he had the strength to tackle the situation head-on, made Xi Ning a woman after his own heart.

"I don't understand, World-Saint Neo-Dawn. What do you mean by all this? Does this painting have some secret to it?" World-Saint Moonrise questioned as her heart was unable to settle down. How could it? It only contained a trace of her spiritual aura that wasn't even complete in the primer for the canvas. Was he just being deliberately misleading?

Wei Wuyin looked her way, "There are many techniques in the world that can bind a spirit or soul, and more than a few treasures. Among these treasures were obviously the three Bounded Treasures—Spirit-Bound, Soul-Bound, and Dao-Bound—that could not only assist with this, but single-handedly complete these tasks." Wei Wuyin looked at Sage Painted Star, "a proudful habit can be calculated as part of a contingency's reliance, but an uncaring organization was a strong variable here. If you had paid a little more attention to the fragmented spiritual aura, you might notice a little something…special."

Those words made every cultivator present inspect the painting that Pakhet held with all sorts of Ocular and Spiritual Spells. Yet in the end, they didn't have Wei Wuyin's Celestial Eyes.

But Wei Si's eyes sparkled, "OH!!" He exclaimed in disbelief. Unlike the others, Wei Si had the heritage of a Spartan, including their unique way of sensing things.

"Her soul!"

Wei Si, a junior of greatly inferior cultivation had noticed something they hadn't, so the Sages were immediately thrown into a spiral of frustration. Was Wei Wuyin just bullshitting here?!

Wei Wuyin didn't keep them in suspense as he carefully brought out a single bottle that contained a single pill. It had a Transcendent Radiant Belt!

A Transcendent Pill!

Not only just any pill but the Ever-Rebirth Pill of the King of Everlore's alchemical lineage!

"Have you found her?" Wei Wuyin asked Pakhet softly.

Pakhet's aura had condensed to an extreme, and she was subtly using her Major Authority of Metal Law which was manifested as an incredibly dense strand of golden silk. Her body was in an ungodly amount of pain, but she was still executing her powers to the maximum. She struggled with a faint tremble of her body, finally giving a decisive nod.

"Great," Wei Wuyin's eyes lit with elation, "Bring her back." He once again gave the order and Pakhet roared! She was unleashing a ferocious roar on par with the greatest lioness of the galaxy, sending shockwaves across the Essence Sword Starfield! Waves of this were temporal power that was needed to trace back the origins of the technique! They mistakenly thought she was using Temporal Reversion!

"There are many arts and spells out there, but I've come across a treasure that can house a True Soul after death, giving one a second life even if their entire body and soul were obliterated by godly forces. Xi Ning had bound her True Soul using a Soul-Bound Item, likely a fragment of a Soul-Bound Stone, relying on a vastly inferior method that was relatively half-completed and then left behind astral and heavenly coordinates in her spiritual aura. She was risking it all on the possibility that someone…just someone…would care enough to solve the mystery or bring her back.

"You would have known if you had cared. And if the Sage had decided to give two shits about her life or death. She must have wagered that the Sage wouldn't care after she went through with it, becoming essentially nothing in his heart. That part of her plan worked. Unfortunately, her second and third steps were a little too variable-dependent and had failed for a full eight thousand years.

"There's a defined timer on one's True Soul that elevates as one cultivates? If exceeded, entering samsara is one's only fate regardless of any tricks. And for Rune Kings, this is a little over thirty thousand years, and this is an absolute reality that can't be easily avoided. How old would Xi Ning be today?"

Waves upon waves were crashing in their hearts as Sage Moonrise gave an instinctual answer in her shocked and bewildered state, "She would be thirty-two-thousand eight hundred and eighty-six years old today…"

Wei Wuyin nodded.

Cultivation was difficult; Xi Ning spending over twenty thousand years as a Rune King wasn't anything abnormal. Becoming a Worldly Saint was not an easy feat by any stretch of reality! Countless upon countless upon COUNTLESS have failed to do so, and despite her body, she was no different. Yue Songli wasn't an abundance of talent either, despite possessing one of the rarest Catalyst Bodies.

Then, like a fishing line, the golden silk was reeled in from a space that wasn't just between the three dimensions of space but had strong connections to the Three Thousand Heavenly Realms of Law! Heavenly Saints and stronger cultivators that absorb heavenly radiance from this often referred to this region as the Heavenly Gate!

If not for Pakhet's Major Authority, she might have had to sacrifice a heavenly treasure to reel it in. This woman was betting that her life was worth a heavenly treasure!

A crystalline rock emitting a strong soul light was brought forth, illuminating the hall with an intense flare that was borderline reminiscent of a Solar Star's last sign of utmost brilliance at the end!

Wei Wuyin reached out to grab the stone under everyone's debelivering gaze and caressed it softly. A faint soul image of Xi Ning emerged! Within it was the faint aura of her normal soul, lacking any cultivation whatsoever.

Holding the transcendent-quality Ever-Rebirth Pill, Wei Wuyin crushed it before transforming it into a gorgeous stream of alchemical light, sending it directly into the soul image!

In what felt like both an eternity and a flash, cells were born, bone was formed, flesh and muscle grew from alchemical light, and a full female body was formed. She had full, long violet hair that covered both her front and back, naturally blocking her most private regions, reaching down to her feet and swaying with the faint fluctuations lingering in the air. She was incredibly beautiful with a natural allure and flawless skin, her well-endowed, shapely figure accentuated this allure by tenfold and perhaps a little more. She was only inferior to Yue Songli, and not by very much. Her hair barely covered her bombastic figure, creating an exaggerated protrusion trying to breach the hair itself.

When she opened her eyes, revealing a nascent light of soft violet with golden flecks, utterly mesmerizing, it felt as if time itself had stopped. She looked around, seemingly recalling some ancient memories as remembrance flashed in her gaze. Then, it settled on a single person—Wei Wuyin!

Her voice struggled out, stumbling here and there, hoarse even yet seductively deep and not by purpose, "Di-did you…save me?"

Wei Wuyin didn't shy away from claiming credit. He nodded directly. Yue Songli and Qing Qiumu stayed by his side, yet Xi Ning's focus was entirely on him. And then, she revealed an utterly brilliant smile that could devastate the starry skies. With difficult steps, she moved forward under the watchful gazes of everyone present, her body long since hazy by a slight exertion of Wei Wuyin's authority over the Law of Space. She had to maintain her modesty.

She arrived directly before Wei Wuyin, and without hesitating in the slightest, using her recently reborn body, brought her luscious lips over and met Wei Wuyin's lips!

She kissed him!!

ON THE LIPS!

She pulled away before Wei Wuyin reached out to greedily take more, and her hoarse voice echoed out: "Thank you…"

Her words were full of gratitude, but her next two words smashed the entire group with surprise!

"...my husband…"

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