Paragon of Sin

Within the thoroughly sealed area of Wei Wuyin's Alchemy Room, there were several exquisite lines of light that flowed from the walls, floor, and ceiling in a beautiful array of multicolored light streams. These streams contained an aura of extreme sharpness alongside a distinctive aura of alchemic energies. 

They were like fireflies as they circulated at the edges of the room, while a gorgeous manifestation of a planet, solar star, and lunar satellite was seemingly merged into one. These light streams belonged to Wei Wuyin's Saber Formation designed to restrict the expansion of the unique phenomenon conjured when a ninth-grade product reached completion, the Stellar Manifestation of the Mortal Sovereign.

It was this custom-made formation infused with the free-flowing oppressive powers of the saber alongside alchemic energies ability of Containment. He had to also exert his incredible control over the world's ambient mana to pacify it. If it wasn't for all these qualities, he would find it extremely difficult to prevent the Stellar Manifestation of the Mortal Sovereign from erupting. After deploying the formation, Wei Wuyin was capable of freely concocting these products without fear of causing an uproar with each success.

At the moment, he stood before his Nine Element Eclipse Cauldron with an unsightly and contemplative expression. His lips twitched as he observed an item floating within his cauldron's empty space. After a helpless sigh was released, he made a grabbing gesture towards the air and brought the object into his grasp.

It levitated just an inch away from his palm. The object was a single drop of cyan-colored liquid that seemed to contain a myriad of images and variations of these images within. It moved and twisted on its own, as if it had its own will and sentience. It was as if it had its own soul.

As he inspected it, how it possessed its own power, and its spiritual aura that caused his soul to seemingly feel extremely exhilarated at the mere sight of it, he couldn't help but reveal a wry smile. This was the Soul Deity Invoker Elixir, a high-tier, ninth-grade elixir. 

This was the first high-tier product of the ninth-grade that he concocted, and he expected that with the rise of his cultivation base, he would have an easy time concocting this product. After all, he only had six Soul Ashes of the Divine Jade, and there was no extrapolation of more during the alchemy process. He needed to use the entire speck of ash in the concoction process. 

But reality was rather harsh. His emotions were feeling rather helpless and a little disappointed because he had just finished all six concoctions, but he had outright failed five of them. If it wasn't for his insights into his failures of the first five, his ability to adapt incredibly swiftly, he might've failed all of them.

He thought that the difficulty between a low-tier and high-tier ninth-grade product would only be increased by a few times, capable of being offset by his own cultivation improvements, but it wasn't. It was almost a thousand times more difficult! He was extremely surprised by this development, feeling as if it was absolutely outrageous. 

He had numerous advantages during the concoction process, such as the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity, Zenith Origin Soul's Mana Influence, an Alchemic Astral Soul supported by three other impressive Astral Souls, and an unfathomably deep comprehension of Alchemy. With these advantages, he couldn't fathom its difficulty would rise so abruptly from a single tier.

"I wonder how other Mortal Sovereigns like the King of Everlore were capable of overcoming this issue…" He muttered under his breath in heartfelt admiration. The King of Everlore had devised and concocted the Ever-Rebirth Pill, a peak-tier pill that could even reconstruct the physical body of a Mystic Ascendant Realm cultivator.

It took him twenty years to develop and concoct it according to the records and Wu Yu, making Wei Wuyin feel awed by his feat. This concoction process of six products was completed in a month's worth of time, and it was the longest concoction he'd ever done. He had to take it slow to gather sufficient information on each concoction and attempt to avoid any mistakes.

There were details within the concoction process that, even though his Celestial Eyes could perceive, he couldn't make heads or tails of without studying it thoroughly. There were even unique explanations he had to devise to overcome certain challenges, displaying his impeccable ingenuity and ability to grow as an Alchemist.

He withdrew a jade vial that was etched with a profound formation. The vial could only contain an ounce of liquid, a reflection of one complete elixir. The drop of cyan liquid flowed into it and transformed into an exact ounce of liquid. 

He inspected the vial for a while, only heavily sighing after observing its calm state. He wasn't certain if it truly had a soul-like quality and it'll develop sentience. While he'd never experienced it before, there were rumors that products could gain an elementary sentient will if of a high enough grade.

He faintly suspected only peak-tier or Mystic-Rank alchemical products could do so by either touching upon the Mortal Limits or exceeding it.

"Only one…" This was the first time he had a complete and utter lack of materials to freely concoct. One of the main characteristics of the cultivation world was its excessive abundance of materials and herbs, but most of these materials and herbs were volatile and required specific cultivation methods to digest and refine; Otherwise, one had to use the Alchemic Dao to make it gentle enough and easy to refine for all cultivators.

However, he discovered that high-end resources like the Soul Ash of Divine Jade were still extremely rare due to its unique creation requirements. It required a failed Soul Impartation of the Heavens. The area or item would then leave a speck of spiritual ash that would linger for a thousand years, creating a unique environment that could allow cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm to easily reach the Qi Condensation Realm via interacting with their own souls.

While its uses were very low-grade, it was extremely rare.

That being said, he had numerous other supplementary and core materials to make dozens, if not hundreds, more. It was simply that single material that was extremely rare. 

Now he was met with a dilemma: Who would receive it? He had four Astral Souls yet one completed product. Fortunately, he could mobilize the entire starfield in hopes of acquiring more, but that might take time to gather. The venture into the Gateway Door officially starts in a few weeks, giving him very limited time. 

Despite having already given out the order halfway through this month of concoction, there was no news as of yet. This meant it might take a few months or even a year or two. Fortunately, the unrefined Manifested Spirit Energy and Fragments of the Soul Pulse Ring would remain until the Realm World Phase ascension, so he had an enormous amount of time to scour the worlds.

Furthermore, he had immense influence and could mobilize the entire starfield off his name. He had offered incredibly gracious rewards for obtaining it such as Great Astral Sea Pills, an low-tier, eighth-grade foundation product that helped him reach the one-centimeter size of his Astral Core. A frenzy was certainly being created due to it.

"There's only one vial; who's getting it? I'll let you four decide," Wei Wuyin communicated with his four Astral Souls, leaving the decision in their hands. 

"..." Eden always refined products last, so its silence was thoroughly understood by everyone. With it bowing out automatically, the other three were left to decide. But…

"Yeh! Yeh! Yeh! I WANT!" Ori wasn't as patient, being extremely direct with its wants. Its excited yelps were quite cute, causing Wei Wuyin to chuckle.

"I am the Void! Time is within my will. There is no difference between now and an eternity," Kratos scoffed in refusal. While it spouted absolute nonsense that didn't really make sense, like usual, it was clearly refusing to take the elixir first. 

"Tch." King said only his signature sound before retrieving his aura and connection, a clear sign of its refusal to jump at being first. Perhaps it was its pride, perhaps it was something more.

Wei Wuyin faintly smiled as he felt their true thoughts, his heart warmed as he inspected Ori. There was no way any of his Astral Souls would compete with Ori, especially considering how they were so protective of it during the Soul-Pulse Manifestation Tribulation. Despite being the oldest, it was often treated as the youngest and most precious member of the four.

He felt it had to do with its personality that seemingly lacked a strong will, being playful and easily excitable. While Eden was the most responsible and seemingly caretaker of the others' needs, a likely attribute borne due to its intelligence, allowing it to take lead in their escapades. The other two were more like odd brothers, with King arrogant edginess and Kratos propensity to spout utter unintelligible nonsense. Both of which had difficulty conveying their thoughts as clearly and freely as Ori.

"Ori, you're up." Wei Wuyin smilingly declared. 

"Yay! Me first! Me first! Me first!" Ori externalized, appearing as a small star of white light with infinite activity and variations on its surface. It's spirited air was quite extraordinary, but what was shocking was its size!

Unlike before when it was one-centimeter in size, it was clearly bigger now! After ascending to the Third Stage of the Astral Core Realm, manifesting a Soul Idol, the limitations of his cultivation base for Astral Force quality had been lifted, allowing a new and higher limit to form.

With all the pre-prepared Great Sea Astral Pills and other mental, physical, and spiritual energies amplification products, he was quickly pushing his Astral Cores to their limits once more. He wondered what size the end-result will be!

Ori swooped in while he was distracted by his whimsical thoughts and absorbed the vial, bottle and all. 

Wei Wuyin's lips twitched…

.....that was expensive.