Paragon of Sin

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Long Chen glowered and growled. The madness in his eyes was reflected in the crimson lines that littered his sclera, seemingly threatening to invade into his irises and pupils. 

When Long Chen began his shouting, everyone present could see the pent-up aggression and killing intent exuding from him, but not everyone understood the reason as to why. So they could only look onwards, remaining background characters to this event. 

After all, the accuser was their Grand Prince while the accused was the Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn. They both possessed statuses that made it difficult for them to intervene. Tuo Bihan, the one with the highest authority, received numerous looks at this moment. However, the old man shrugged, seemingly nonchalant towards it all.

"You! YOU! I should've killed you the moment I met you," Long Chen's coldly spat with a venomous tone. It seemed he wished he could go back to that moment that he'd met Wei Wuyin, that moment in the Heavenly Wu City. As Wei Wuyin and Qing Qiumu returned together, he could've kept his oath and struck! He should've!

Wei Wuyin's silver eyes were impassive, reflecting not the slightest trace of emotion or aggression. He observed Long Chen indifferently. Yet in his eyes, in the depths of his pupils, a mysterious feeling began to slowly manifest. 

"Long Chen! You need to calm down!" Qing Qiumu finally arrived on scene and stood side to side with Wu Baozhai. The two exchanged a brief glance and seemed to communicate a thousand thoughts at this moment. The two were well acquainted. Perhaps, not too long ago, they both saw each other as sisters. They served as a divide for Long Chen and the rest, including Wei Wuyin.

Qing Qiumu glanced at Wei Wuyin, and when she saw his eyes that seemed devoid of emotion, her spine felt an unfathomable chill that caused her heart to race. She clenched her fists and turned to Long Chen, "We can talk about thi-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!!" Long Chen swiped the air with his left arm, causing the ground to quake and the air to feel stifled. Qing Qiumu and Wu Baozhai were hit by a rush of torrential wind that caused their hairs to flutter wildly and their clothes to press tightly against their bodies!

Just a simple gesture of Long Chen had induced such a terrifying response! 

'What power!' Wu Baozhai and Qing Qiumu simultaneously thought as they braced themselves, using their astral forces to resist the force lest they be sent flying. They both knew that Long Chen was powerful with mysterious means, but this was extremely exaggerated, no? They were both elite experts with extraordinary foundations, capable of fighting above their cultivation levels, yet Long Chen gave them a sense of total defeat.

Long Chen pointed at Qing Qiumu with a stretched index finger, "Calm down? Calm down?! You don't have the right to tell me that. You abandoned me. You left for him. It was always him. ALWAYS HIM!!" Long Chen's madness seeped into his words as he spoke in brief sentences and fragmented meanings. This was caused by his Sea of Consciousness in chaotic disarray, formulating too many memories and thoughts that disturbed his ability to make linear conversations.

Still, the target and those in the know understood what he meant. 

Qing Qiumi slightly frowned after the surging winds died down. She looked at Long Chen, at this man who she fought alongside for over a decade. She couldn't help but remember his past self, the bright smile and hopeful attitude to face the world. In almost every situation, he was cool and calm, capable of responding to every situation with the clearest of heads. Yet today…

Wu Baozhai fiercely shouted, "Rein in your emotions, Long Chen! Think, don't let yourself run amok with assumptions and false realities." 

"False realities?! False? Everything is as true as can be! I see it all. I see you all for what you are!" Long Chen's thoughts were consumed with images of gorgeous faces and happy smiles. His life in the Myriad Yore Continent was filled with bitterness yet that was only the early portion. He found his Master and later met many interesting people, beautiful women, and explored fascinating locations. 

The time was the best time of his life. It was after meeting Wei Wuyin, when he saw Qing Qiumu smiling beside him, when he decided to not make any commotion to ensure his plan to ruin Lin Ziyan's forced marriage, it was then that everything started to go downhill.

The wedding crashing was unexpected as Wu Jiao ascended to another level of the Astral Core Realm, and he couldn't kill the prince and king in time, causing the Ancient King to side with them and slaughter his allies. He could only watch as that happened.

That was the first time everything truly went awry. The second was when Na Xinyi confronted Wei Wuyin, and he responded in a way no one would expect from a heartless bastard capable of using others for his benefit! He decided to take responsibility and offer Na Xinyi to be his wife…

He didn't take this seriously. After all, Na Xinyi acted as if she was extremely traumatized by the event, hating Wei Wuyin's guts to the utmost possible limit that a human could. She had a phobia and distrust of men from that incident. She had only started to open up to him after they were trapped and locked within a hidden temple. 

She had tried to kill him and he spared her. Unable to do anything to him, they worked together to escape and fought a dangerous beast. Together, in concerted effort and harmony, they struck the beast down. After that, their future meetings caused her to slowly open up until she informed him of her life goal: to kill Wei Wuyin. 

But she wasn't cultivating at a pace that the legend of Wei Wuyin was. Wei Wuyin had already reached the Yin Form Phase of the Qi Condensation Realm thanks to her Three-Point Yin Physique, while she was only at the External Flow Phase. Even he was only at the External Flow Phase at the time.

He swore then and there that he would help her seek revenge, and if he met Wei Wuyin, he would behead him and bring his head to her. After that, their relationship evolved and she tagged along with him on their adventures on the continent.

Then, Wei Wuyin vanished.

According to rumor, he had a cultivation treasure that was desired by numerous experts, both inside and outside of his sect, so most assumed he succumbed to a sinister scheme, that his body was ash or buried in some unmarked land. This was also their assumption.

Na Xinyi even left to investigate, to ensure he was dead. She discovered that Wei Wuyin left roughly around the same time as a strange phenomenon took place. A giant wall of air seemingly devastated hundreds of miles of land and lives, killing quite a few individuals in the process. It was speculated by the experts that Wei Wuyin had met his end there, as his direction was in that area.

With his death almost entirely confirmed, she had gotten drunk and laughed at the strangeness of this, even considering it divine retribution for the deaths of her sect members. 

Long Chen felt assured that Na Xinyi would only ever trust him, no other man, so he already considered her his wife. While the Myriad Yore Continent had marital rules that heralded a virgin's status, no one knew of Na Xinyi's past and she had a unique physique. Even if he brought her to his old grandfather, he wouldn't be disappointed and give him their blessing.

Yet a few words from a cultivator that should've been long dead had disrupted his entire relationship. The hilarious fact was that they laughed at Wei Wuyin together for even suggesting such a thing. And then the truth about Alchemists was revealed, the status of a Sky Noble, and grandness of the starfield, and those laughs vanished, replaced by absent looks. 

When he caught her staring out the window, looking at Extreme Creation Mountain's Sky Layer, obviously thinking about Wei Wuyin in his Sky Palace, he should've known. He should've reacted.

It didn't stop there either. 

The comparison of him and Wei Wuyin kept growing within their group. Qing Qiumu's relationship with him grew stronger, especially after he intervened to save her life. Wu Baozhai and Lin Ziyan would often question how Wei Wuyin achieved his status. While Long Tingyu, that innocent little girl, kept speaking about how he would surpass Wei Wuyin, becoming a Heavenly King.

Wei Wuyin kept being discussed. He was in everyone's mouth!

Wei Wuyin killed an Earthly Elite while in the Qi Condensation Realm!

Wei Wuyin became a Heavenly King!

Wei Wuyin formed a faction!

Wei Wuyin…

Wei Wuyin…!

WEI WUYIN!!!

It just never stopped. All the while his accolades would often be compared to Wei Wuyin. They were at the same cultivation level, arrived at the same time to the sect, yet their statuses and influence were vastly apart! 

But even through all that, Long Chen still had confidence in himself. He had his women that were outrageous beauties that held deep feelings for him, and the Grand Monarch Lineage, or so he thought. All of them left.

"All of them left…" Long Chen's outstretched arm and finger lowered alongside his head as his thoughts reached this point. Na Xinyi chose Wei Wuyin. Lin Ziyan left him. Wu Baozhai left him. Long Tingyu was disgusted by him. Lian Yu…

Even Lian Yu.

Long Chen's bloodshot eyes receded. His aura calmed and his head lifted to meet Wei Wuyin's. He took a deep breath, and exhaled out all of the turbid air from his lungs. His entire demeanor and disposition changed, completely unlike the maddened man from earlier. 

"Do you know what her last words were?" Long Chen directed his words at Wei Wuyin. He was vague, so he didn't expect anyone to answer. 

But Wei Wuyin was aware, he indifferently responded: "That she loved me." 

"...!" Long Chen's eyes widened in disbelief, completely shaking his mental focus at this moment. He stuttered and muttered out a few incoherent words, as if thinking of something, he stared at Wei Wuyin with a strange, dangerous pair of eyes. "Yo-you were there?!" 

Thinking about Lian Yu's death, his entire body trembled slightly. Was Wei Wuyin there?!

Wei Wuyin shook his head, "I wasn't. If I was, if she was as important to me as she was to you, I never would've let her die before I did." 

"..." Long Chen's trembling body froze. 

Wu Baozhai and Qing Qiumu were confused, as well as the other members of the sect. They glanced at each other, clearly unsure about what was happening.

Wei Wuyin unhurriedly continued, "But that's irrelevant now. What's important is the truth: Her last words might've been that she loved me in your eyes, but that's not what happened. I left a trace of my aura in her to save her from the Auric Sea. When she was dying, it triggered and she felt my aura at the last moment. You should understand what she meant to say as her last words." 

"...?!" Long Chen was taken aback. He recalled Lian Yu's struggle to escape that strange pulling force of the Auric Sea. It was indeed Wei Wuyin who saved her after they touched. If so, was it because Lian Yu was surprised about Wei Wuyin's aura?! 

A dense surge of happiness rippled through his eyes. If this was true, then her last words were what he wanted most! She loved him! SHE LOVED HIM! Not Wei Wuyin! This...this was amazing! In the end, she didn't leave him.

A wisp of light birthed in his heart, settling his thoughts a little. It had even concealed the fact that Lian Yu was dead. 

But if he knew the truth of Lian Yu's last thoughts, that she had called out Wei Wuyin's name because she believed that he could save her from death, that his name had given her hope, that it had prioritized her desire to give him those last words, perhaps he might descend into more madness. Because Lian Yu, at death's door, had considered him inferior. So inferior that she grasped hope in another man while he laid pathetically at her side, watching her heart be ripped from her chest.

"There's something else I wish to explain.. The truth," Wei Wuyin said.