Paragon of Sin

…

The entire procedure lasted three days and two nights. Qin Rui had to continuously infuse fire force throughout, holding on with her spiritual strength, and pushing her focus to its utmost limits. It was extremely strenuous, but the activity would certainly benefit her.

In fact, all those present who were watching the reconstruction of a body for the first time would receive intangible benefits regarding their understanding of cultivation and the mysteries of the body. 

Every cell was born anew.

Every organ was shaped and constructed. 

It was like a puzzle that was designed, created, and solved all at once, with Hong Ru's soul acting as the blueprint. The most crucial aspect: the Soul. It contained vital information about one's age, cells, bloodline, and core memory. It formed the sea of consciousness which gave birth to the Mind's Eye, it regulated the eventual growth and decline of the body, and it connected with the world beyond.

Without one, cultivation was impossible.

The Soul Impartation of legends, those sentient and inanimate objects who gain that legendary ability to cultivate and later change their forms were all due to the formation of their souls. 

The soul allowed birth, growth, and decline. It was the most vital aspect of an individual's existence. 

If Wei Wuyin was present, he would understand this concept deeply, obtaining great benefits. Or moreso, Eden would. For an uncountable amount of years, Eden had existed as a being without a Soul. It was a sentient existence that couldn't be classified as a demon, couldn't be classified as truly alive. It was akin to artificial intelligence. It was taken advantage of, had the will of others imposed on it, and it couldn't ever change that fact. To it, there was no way out.

Its previous incarnation wanted to hijack a willing soul, entering that person's Mind's Eye to become them, to become truly alive. Unfortunately and fortunately, it had met Wei Wuyin. What was originally just a wad of mental energies, an abnormal being, had transformed into an Astral Soul that possessed its own Spirit. 

Now, it had a future. It tapped into immense powers that exceeded imagination, and had a family! A soul was the first and greatest blessing of everything beneath the heavens.

Hong Ru's soul had been encapsulated by flesh, bone, and blood. It had entered her chest, permeating throughout her entire existence as if merging with every little cell, organ, and drop of blood. Her pale, lifeless body had been reconstructed, but not revived.

She was still a corpse at this moment. There was no beating heartbeat, flow of electrical impulses through the body, or intelligence within her eyes. This was somewhat ghastly as she seemed like a ghost without an ounce of life.

Qin Rui breathed a sigh of relief. The process of constructing her body based on the blueprint of her Soul had been completed. It was an arduous and complicated task, one that required her to give 110% of her focus and strength. With it completed, the most complicated aspect was finished.

At least, it was the most complicated aspect here. In other scenarios, the reconstruction was the easiest aspect, because it was extremely easy to follow a blueprint to the exactness. A slight change might create dissonance of body, soul, and the subsequently produced sea of consciousness, but all you needed was to place the blue where blue was indicated and red where red was indicated.

It was extremely easy.

But here, this was the most complicated portion of the procedure because the revival part, the ignition and connection of mind, body, and soul, was handled completely by alchemical products.

She retrieved two remaining alchemical products, both eighth-grade. They were the Mind-Body-Soul Ignition Pill and the Burning Bluelife Elixir. The former was rather on the nose with naming, its purpose was to ignite the mind, body, and soul to formulate a renewed, perfect connection. It was usually used to repair those who were mentally crippled, or suffered a form of body-mind dissonance from an extremely powerful spiritual spell.

The impact of a powerful spiritual spell could turn an entire person out of whack, causing unlimited issues. This pill solved those issues. For it to be used on a reconstruction, if this was spread outside the starfield in advanced civilizations, there would only be one word spat out in incredulity: "Extravagant!"

As for the Burning Bluelife Elixir, it contained a dense lifeforce suitable for reanimating a corpse temporarily or ensuring someone near-death will live on their last breath for a little longer. It was the most perfect product used on trauma patients on their last breath, beloved by Medical Sages. As for its former usage, reanimating a corpse, that was used for puppetry and other Evil Methods.

Of course, it wasn't designed for that purpose, but good intentions sometimes allowed evil means. 

With these two products, restarting and reviving Hong Ru's body was extremely easy, barely an inconvenience for anyone.

As for the other two products, one had been an elixir used to recreate her Yin Source, and the other was a large quantity of malleable and transformative paste for her physical body reconstruction. Her whole body was made from the latter, with the moulding of Qin Rui's powers.

Qin Rui immediately crushed the pill into powder, mixing it with the Blazing Bluefire Elixir as instructed, and opened the freshly made mouth of Hong Ru. She poured the liquid in with the utmost carefulness, ensuring not a single drop was wasted. After, her delicate fingers rubbed her throat, causing the liquid to start to flow throughout her body, refining it via proxy.

Hong Ru's lifeless corpse started to emit smoke. Then…

Boosh!

Blue flames erupted from her body in an explosive fashion. It was so powerful that Qin Rui had to shield herself from it, forcefully keeping contact with Hong Ru's throat. She kept refining as the proxy, but the immense heat had started to burn her delicate skin. Her beautiful eyes grimaced, drawing upon her entire cultivation base to resist. 

Fortunately for Qin Rui, the flames lasted for only a few moments, and Hong Ru's body was completely unharmed. After it dissipated, her skin had regained color, her lips and cheeks were reddened by the flow of blood, a distinct warmth emitted from her body. 

thump…

thump…

Thump…

THUMP…

THUMP!!

A series of heartbeats started to resound from within her chest. First, it was weak, like a newborn baby's. But it slowly grew in strength until it was extremely powerful, rivaling an adult cultivator.

Her long eyelashes fluttered softly, like the faint flaps of a newly born butterfly. It was trying to reach its fullest potential! The anticipation and worry within everyone's hearts had reached a crescendo at this point. The prayers in their hearts flew!

And so did Hong Ru!

Her eyes opened, revealing a set of gorgeous, lively, and fresh crimson eyes that faintly burned with the light of life. That light became radiant, revealing intelligence as she tried to gain an understanding of her surroundings. 

"Guwk, bha…" She tried to speak, but her vocal cords were new. They hadn't become accustomed to being used, coming off as strained, nearly babyish noises. Her hands softly clenched into fists, alongside the hearts of everyone. 

Qin Rui brightly smiled, recalling what Wei Wuyin said a successful reconstruction and revival should look like. The very fact she tried to speak meant her body, mind, and soul was in perfect alignment. Her eyes weren't like that of a child, unable to recognize anything, so her soul had certainly restored her sea of consciousness completely. And this sea of consciousness flooded her new brain with memories and instincts she had developed in life, creating a mind.

With her trying to speak, it meant her mind was connected to her physical body.

It was perfect.

"It's a success!" Qin Rui proudly announced!

"It's a success?!" Xiao Bing felt a wave of surrealism batter her mind. Her hand pressed heavily on the slightly slanted observer's glass, as if she was trying to touch the newly awakened Hong Ru through it. Her memories of Hong Ru coursed through her mind, from the moment they first met until the moment she had been killed. 

Wet hot tears flowed from her eyes like a bursting dam, something an ice cultivator like her shouldn't be able to naturally produce. She softly repeated, "It's a success." 

Qing Qiumu held her hand tighter. There were numerous cultivators who would lose their loved ones, never able to see them again. The very thought of their revival would be their most cherished wish, their greatest desire in this world. To experience it, it must be a feeling that could never be accurately described to anyone else.

So Qing Qiumu merely held Xiao Bing's hand, and when Xiao Bing looked towards her as if seeking the final confirmation, she softly nodded with a warm smile. If there was anyone that could ensure this extremely difficult and seemingly magical process would succeed, then it would be Wei Wuyin. Especially the little braggart and perfectionist that he was.

Thinking of him, her heart warmed to an indescribable degree unknowingly. Wei Wuyin had become a source of reliable strength to her at an unknown point. Perhaps it was after learning who he was, the boy who saved her from captivity all those years ago, or after talking to him at that restaurant on that day, or when he arrived and cancelled her execution.

Who knew? After all, even she didn't.

But he was someone etched into her heart in the most indescribable way, someone that she could count on no matter what. Even if the sky fell or the three stars in the sky exploded, if Wei Wuyin said it was going to be okay, she would believe it without hesitation. There might not even be a trace of fear or worry in her heart.

'I wonder what he's doing now?' Her thoughts roamed, unaware of the faint changes in her mindset.

Long Chen's eyes effused a radiance of happiness and excitement. To him, he had accomplished his goal of reviving Hong Ru, confirming that things weren't out of his control or limits. He had used his Three Orders without hesitation, and this was the result—A success.

Furthermore, Lin Ziyan seemed to have made a complete recovery. He was optimistic about the Gateway. There, he might finally find a way to exceed Wei Wuyin. If what Wu Yu had said to him before was true, then this was his chance. He could one day reach unimaginable heights beyond this starfield with it!

But there was one person that wasn't filled with excitement, happiness, with their minds occupied. 

Wu Baozhai!

Her limpid eyes were fixated on Lin Ziyan. The Lin Ziyan here was seemingly the same one as before, but she was skeptical. What had happened that made her feel a sense of repulsion towards Long Chen? While it was reasonable that her mentality would change after suffering such an event, it shouldn't have affected her thoughts towards Long Chen. After all, she felt that Lin Ziyan had an extremely senseless reliance and hope towards Long Chen for some reason before. This would've allowed her to forgive him even if he forced himself on her. It was simply that extreme.

She had a bad feeling about this. 

A feeling that would soon manifest into a clash between two figures.