Paragon of Sin

Three Months Later.

Wei Wuyin sat cross-legged, his eyes focused on the pages of a particular book. It was titled: "Transformative Theory of Essence & Energy." It was penned by the King of Everlore himself and described the various principles and theories applicable in the process of Alchemy. He had wrote eighty-one books, and seven of them centered around the theories and principles of the Seven Traits of Alchemy: 

Extraction, Growth, Containment, Refinement, Creation, Transformation, and Fusion.

Each trait embodied how the materials of heaven and earth interacted with alchemical energies, and was broad, profound concepts that many could barely comprehend to a high-level. The difficulty of even understanding them to an elementary level was immense, and it was these profound theories, principles, and broad profound concepts that gated many Alchemists.

However, Wei Wuyin had never had any difficulty comprehending any of these concepts. When he first thought about it, he attributed it to the Alchemic Natal Soul that was attached to his sea of consciousness, where his mental energies were stored, but when he recalled his earlier days in the Alchemic Eden Sect, he realized how abnormal he really was.

While he had never focused on Alchemy in the Scarlet Solaris Sect, he dabbled in it, yet he never felt it was too difficult either. Only when he was exposed to greater levels of knowledge relating to these subjects, did he realize his relative ease in understanding them.

Was he intelligent?

A monstrous genius of the highest order?

He wasn't certain. It just never felt difficult to understand, like basic arithmetic—it just made sense.

These concepts and principles weren't difficult to understand, and they felt simple, like common sense. They were like things he 'should' know.

When he thought about his life thus far, he realized he never struggled to understand anything nor experienced a form of mental exhaustion when he did. This abnormality was originally attributed to his drive to improve, but now that he reached a grander sky, he felt it was seated into a more mysterious reason, a mystery he needed to delve deeper into.

He was currently in his study. It had four walls, spacious enough to fit several hundred people simultaneously in comfort. At the edges of the room, numerous bookshelves and pedestals. The bookshelves were filled to the brim in books of various sizes, while the pedestals contained spiritual jades that contained a variety of information. These spiritual jades were his own notes, and they numbered a hundred.

They contained his own theories and beliefs towards these principles, about what he felt was correct, incorrect, flawed, or could be expanded upon and improved. If anyone were to enter this room, understand what was in it, their hearts might leap out of their chest in fright.

In three months, he had achieved more than many in a thousand years.

As for the books, they were all the legacies of the King of Everlore, including his own journals, written books, and recipes. There were also countless other methods devised from other people's creativity, including their own journals.

After becoming a Heavenly King, he obtained unrestricted access to all the stored material of alchemists in the last several thousand years.

One of the things he discovered was the rarity of those who cultivated Alchemic Natal Souls. While it was greatly beneficial, it truly had flaws. Those who did take this route were limited to the Ninth Stage of Qi Condensation Realm for life, and their lifespan was limited to a few hundred years. While their success rate, concoction speed, and ease of manipulating alchemical energies were heightened, they didn't have enough time.

Yes. Time.

With their limited lifespans, they could never achieve greatness, so many settled for mass concocting lower-grade specialty products and devoting themselves to their family or clan. Those with an Alchemic Natal Soul might have exceptional benefits, but they were rather superficial, because skill and knowledge wasn't something an Alchemic Natal Soul could influence.

They were just normal people with training wheels to prevent their fall. In the end, their limited lifespans and their inability to possess strength led to their lives being filled with endless regret, unable to reach far in the race.

No wonder Xiang Ling was disgusted at the thought of Alchemic Natal Souls, and those who cultivated it. They were accepting their lives as tools unable to achieve greatness. It was this reason that the vast majority of alchemists of renown, besides the King of Everlore, were alchemists who had normal Natal Souls and assailed into the Astral Core Realm.

Moverover, Alchemic Astral Force offered the same benefits and advantages that an Alchemic Natal Soul's enhanced alchemical energies would provide, making it rather moot.

It was a depressing fact, but this didn't apply to him.

He had strange and unique advantages, such as his Alchemic Qi attached to his mental energies, which allowed him to clearly observe all aspects of the concoction process in the highest clarity imaginable, seeping the process into his memories and allowing him to freely think about ways to remedy errors or stick to correct actions. His own Alchemic Natal Soul had been refined by elemental, saber, draconic energies.

His abnormal state was why he originally decided to devote more time into the Dao of Alchemy rather than focus on cultivation, but his decision was similarly pointless. The Dao of Alchemy was cultivation. As he became more skilled in concoction, in theories and principles, so did his ability to support his cultivation base.

This was clear when all his Natal Souls had 99 Qi Essence Motes, merely requiring Mana Essence to reach the Zenith Mortal State, a legendary state and supposedly absolute limit of Natal Souls.

Through these recipes, he learned about an eighth-grade, high-tier elixir called the Mana Instillment Dao Elixir. It required very little wealth to concoct out a single portion, even less than the seventh-grade Astral Dipper Fountain Pill but it's rarity, availability, and difficulty to concoct was a thousand times greater.

This elixir could not only ensure the creation of Mana Essence, but the resulting Mana Essence was dozens of times or even hundreds of times stronger than any Mana Essence that could be naturally condensed. Furthermore, as an eighth-grade elixir, it could help those at the first to sixth stage of the Astral Core Realm enhance the states of their Astral Souls.

This shook him deeply, and made him realize that Wu Jiao's former words that only Mortal Sovereign Alchemists and no one else could change their Mortal States after the Qi Condensation was the prime example of ignorance and bullshit. 

The fact it helps those at the Eighth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, the Infused Spirituality Phase, while being at the eighth-grade was quite interesting. It seemed shocking that the higher grade the product, the better it helped those of a lower cultivation base build a sturdy foundation. Unfortunately, it's unlikely others in the Tri-Vision Starfield could obtain this product without miraculous luck.

Moreover, this world had two crucial issues that still made him feel utterly shocked hearing and recalling it. 

One, alchemists took far, far too long in their refinement and concoction. While he knew it was long, when he came to understand that most eighth-grade products took nearly a decade to concoct, he felt like fainting. Those seventh-grade products could similarly take years for the average alchemist. This factored in their failures and repeats.

Two, the amount of resources in the world was unfathomably, ridiculously high. It was absurdly high. It was heaven-shakingly high. It was stupid, dump-stupid high! It was hard to describe how many resources were available, but the Myriad Yore Continent could be used as an example.

The amount of resources born every decade in that lone continent could legitimately fill the cultivation needs for every living being to assail the Astral Core Realm, and that wasn't the Myriad Yore Continent. That was the entire Tri-Vision Starfield's—the tens of trillions of lives.

Of course, this was theoretically speaking, if they all had sufficient talent and lifespan.

Then when you consider the numerous planets, hundreds of continental flat earths, you realize the severity and absurdity of the issue. Despite this, resources that are deemed "usable" are rarer. These are those most effective, most gentle, most adaptable to certain races like demons, beastmen, humans, and elfs. 

These "usable" resources required less time to naturally refine with one's meridians and bring about their strength, so they were highly contested. After all, even normal essence stones required months for the average person to refine entirely, and that was just enough to reach the First Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

But Alchemists can turn volatile into gentle and gentle into volatile. 

It was mind-boggling how many resources are seemingly available in this starfield, produced yearly, stored and kept, yet remained unused and overlooked. It was legitimately fucking frustrating!

Since growing up, he had always assumed resources were scarce and difficult to obtain, but that was so far from the truth that he felt like he wasted so many opportunities and his decades of life. Yet he could do nothing, but this fortunately meant he had endless materials to concoct whatever he wished, whenever he wished.

Since arriving here, learning these things, he had to adjust his mindset, new beliefs, and to his new status. As a Heavenly King, a genius of the Dao of Alchemy recognized by many, he had to network and develop connections. After the Grand Axis Faction incident, he had countless visitors, all of which were various Sky Nobles of the Extreme War and Origin Mountains and the other King Alchemists.

These King Alchemists were the friendly type, and some even brought their family and disciples along, trying to use those of similar ages to establish a relationship. There was one shameless old woman that 'heavily' implied that her granddaughter was his with but a single word.

He had to contain his laughter when he saw how forced her granddaughter's smile was. She seemed like she was holding in a stomach of grievances, and if he accepted, she might bite rather than yield. There were even those within the Knights of Enforcement, the punishment and law division established within the sect. They handled matters, acted as the neutral judge, jury, and executioner.

However, they arrived without the slightest hint of arrogant air as they comfortably told him directly of their intentions. He had no objections having a few of them in his pocket, so with a little buttering up and gifts, a few well-said words, he had already bought off a few members, and used those few members to buy off even more high-level members.

In two months, he had a network of Knights of Enforcement on his payroll. It was actually quite inexplicable how things developed so swiftly and naturally. They came to him, after all. 

Despite all this, they were all friendly and amicable, seeking to establish a friendship with him. After understanding a little about them, he didn't reject their intentions. 

It wouldn't hurt to have these connections, and more influence on this mountain, so he acted accordingly. In these three months, he was close to being able to call the winds and rain with a single word. This was power and it felt comfortable to have.

Placing his book down, all these thoughts roamed in his mind as he mused about his current standing. 'I'm a Heavenly King because of my seventh-grade products...but if they knew that I feel eighty-percent confident in concocting a high-tier, eighth-grade product, essentially making me a high-level Alchemic Emperor, how would my status change?'

Of course, he would never reveal this fact for now. He needed personal strength or external strength that could ensure his safety. The Alchemist Association had already attempted to lure him out of the Sect. Who knew the truth behind that incident, and how it might threaten or affect his life. It was best to be cautious, concealing this ability.

He lifted his body, placed the book back in its bookshelf, grabbed a spiritual jade and inscribed his newfound musings within, and left his study. He roamed the expansive halls of his sky palace. Everytime he walked these halls, he couldn't help but be awed by the sheer size, design, and magnificence of this palace. 

The astral essence that flowed through it was thick and golden, giving off a hue reminiscent to an immortal's light in myth. There were countless formations and arrays inscribed within the sky palace, capable of not just keeping it afloat, but condensing and gathering astral essence and various pure energies.

It took him a few minutes to arrive in one of the thirty-six rooms, this one suitable and designed for alchemy. There were formations and arrays here as well. They amplified alchemical energies and helped facilitate the recovery of spiritual energies.

Withdrawing a multicolored cauldron, he placed it on the central table. It was about the size of a beach-ball. From its surface that was inscribed with various esoteric markings that emitted faint light that resembled the starry skies. 

This was the Nine Element Eclipse Cauldron, a third-rank Astral Tool. In the art and classification of forging, armaments were divided into weapons, tools, armor, and talismans. There was Mortal, Qi, and Astral-types, and each embodied their respective realms and limitations. 

Mortal Armaments coincided with the Foundation Establishment Realm; Qi Armaments coincided with the Qi Condensation Realm; Astral Armaments coincided with Astral Core Realm Realm.

They were further divided into three grades, low, mid, and high levels, and these rankings were defined by the upper limits of their abilities. For example, first-rank Astral Armaments had abilities, suitability, and a design for Astral Core Realm cultivators at the First Stage, World Sea Phase.

However, by wielding a higher rank weapon, one can access various abilities of higher phases. 

As a third-rank astral tool, the Nine Element Eclipse Cauldron was suited for those at the Third Stage of the Astral Core Realm, and its formations and arrays can emulate those at that level with sufficient Qi or Astral Force. 

Luckily, Wei Wuyin's Qi was abundant to an unnatural level, so he could cultivate and convert his Alchemic Qi into Alchemic Force, and while not as effective as true Alchemic Force at that level, it was sufficient to enhance his success rate and quality. While it had cost him a few low-tier, seventh-grade products to obtain, it was definitely worth it.

Thinking about this, he realized he still had a backlog of requests due to the Grand Axis Faction. After three months, all the evidence had long since been verified and requests submitted. He should simultaneously handle this.

While he was leisurely concocting, he hadn't realized that a certain someone was struggling with his life on the line.