Paragon of Sin

The events that occurred in the Soul Rising Domain were incredibly brief in terms of length but extremely impactful regarding the entire stellar region's situation. The most notable revelation was several pieces of news that had spread like wildfire to the various elite powers of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region. 

Due to the lack of torrential mystic power during most of these events, there were even some spiritual recordings done in safety. Those brave fellows had taken it upon themselves to risk observing the Tang Clan's attempt at capturing the Fire Phoenix. Their movement of forces was publicly performed, so these courageous souls followed along. 

The records revealed world-shaking details. To begin, the Tang Clan had failed! Not only had they failed, their Voidships that were equipped with top-tier formations and arrays, materials, and unique and forgotten armaments like the Dousing Firestorm Cannon had been destroyed. The only surviving piece of equipment was their main Voidship belonging to Vermillion, their Clan's Leader. Yet even then, the remaining and surviving forces of the Tang Clan had to push the Voidship manually due to the extreme damage it had suffered.

This wasn't the most impactful news released to the public regarding the Tang Clan's failed venture! The announcement that three Highlords of the Tang Clan had met their end was even more world-shaking! The death of a Demi-Mortal Lord was absolutely mind-blowing, as they harnessed tremendous powers exceeding Mortal Limits. They lived for tens of thousands of years, and few of this generation had seen them die. 

Even Huang Xiaolong, a rogue and extraordinarily powerful Demi-Mortal Lord, had clashed with two Demi-Mortal Lords and claimed victory, yet was unable to kill either one of them. While there were likely extreme circumstances that allowed these deaths to occur, it shook the entire Aeternal Sky Starfield! With this loss, the number of Demi-Mortal Lords that the Tang Clan had was barely, very barely, above the other mystic forces. 

The news kept piling on, and the situation overwhelmed numerous individuals. While few were truly aware of the Earthly Saints' actions, the news that the Fire Phoenix had been avenged by a strange Earthly Saint spread just as fast and wild amongst the upper-echelons. Furthermore, the Ninestar Sainthall hadn't taken action to repel them as many predicted! 

This fueled all sorts of theories regarding this new Earthly Saint and their relations with the Ninestar Sainthall. A few scathing rumors suggested that this was a sinister plot by the Ninestar Sainthall to cause the Tang Clan to suffer disastrous losses, weakening the overall strength of the Aeternal Sky Starfield.

This was on the tail of their purchase of the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill and those famous words by Liu Fei, the female Official Mortal Sovereign Alchemist of the Liu Clan, that stated the one who claimed the purchasing rights of the pill will determine the next ruler of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region. With too little in the exact know, this theory circulated ceaselessly. There were even a few who thought the two starfields could be on the cusp of war! 

Unlike these public news vulnerable to numerous theories and conjectures, there was a piece of swimming news circling about amongst the mystic tier forces. It said: the Soul Rising Saint was a 5th Runic Ascendant! This news didn't cause any uproar as one might expect. The unnatural silence, however, was even more telling.

-----

In the Endless Prosperity Domain, Ma Zheng was still seated across from Xue Yifei. Xue Yifei's gorgeous countenance was marred by a heavy frown, and Ma Zheng had his eyes closed as he seemed to be resting. After a while, a flicker of spiritual light emanated from Ma Zheng's spatial ring. 

He slowly opened his eyes to see the eager and listening Xue Yifei. She was honed onto that spatial ring and its faint spiritual radiance. Ma Zheng faintly smiled in response, and when he read the message from Ma Sujiang, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, a faint frown formed on his thick brows.

"What is it? Did something happen?" That frown induced all sorts of random assumptions in Xue Yifei's mind. She couldn't help but urgently ask for answers. 

Ma Zheng lifted his frown, "A foreign and unknown Earthly Saint arrived via a Rainbow Bridge. They destroyed the Tang Clan's ships, eliminated a Demi-Mortal Lord, and left the Ninestar Starfield in haste. The Tang Clan lost three Highlords, one to the foreign Earthly Saint and two to the Fire Phoenix." 

"..." Xue Yifei's eyes instantly brightened, "The Fire Phoenix?"

"Vanished along with the Earthly Saint, their current whereabouts unknown." Ma Zheng was still a little shocked by this. However, if this was true, was it actually possible that Wei Wuyin was a descendant of the King of Everlore? Furthermore, a Rainbow Bridge was a unique phenomena that the Void Voyage Sect used. Could Wei Wuyin have been in the Void Voyage Sect all this time?

'He does have a Spatial Dragon Bloodline…' He recalled the details gleaned after the War Devil Realm's continent was relocated to the Everlore Starfield. However, he had delved deeply into this link and discovered nothing, not a single iota of a clue. Furthermore, if he was a member of the Void Voyage Sect, there was no way they could have acted against the Tang Clan in such a fashion due to prior oaths. 

The contradictions were piling.

Wei Wuyin's origins were far too mysterious. His foundation, feats, talents, and cultivation base relative to his age were unimaginably astonishing. Not only could he cultivate to such an extraordinary level, but he was a Mortal Sovereign Alchemist before fifty years of age!

'It seems he is that man's descendant. It's the only explanation, yet that still doesn't feel right. What does the Void Voyage Sect have to do with him? If anything, they should be competitors, not allies…' Ma Zheng couldn't help but give Xue Yifei a deeper look. If anyone might have some inkling of an idea of who Wei Wuyin was, it'll be none other than his concubine.

Xue Yifei was lost in her thoughts. 'Still no news of him? Where is he?' That handsome visage emerged at the forefront of her mind with a warm smile. She couldn't help but worry. 

-----

While the commotion spread, Wei Wuyin and Bai Lin were situated in a secluded room in the Vanishing Colossus, focusing on recovering from their injuries and depleted energies. After an hour, Wei Wuyin's body shook intensely. It continued for a few seconds before it settled, causing Wei Wuyin to slowly open his eyes.

Unfortunately, as a sliver of his eyelids was lifted, a torrential outpour of spiritual light flooded the room and caused a deep, thrumming sound to echo. After a heavy breath, that opening was closed shut, and the spiritual light lingered for a long moment before dispersing. 

Wei Wuyin clicked his tongue, "How frustrating. It seems that I really need to find a solution, or else I might be unable to use the Celestial Eyes indefinitely." After testing out a few spiritual suppression methods, Wei Wuyin had concluded that the issue was the passive nature of the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity and the three formations far surpassing their limits. 

If he wanted to avoid damaging his eyes, Sea of Consciousness, and Mind's Eye with a spiritual backlash every time he opened his eyes, then a solution must be found. This solution only came in the form of improving the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity's' three formations, allowing them to withstand more of his spiritual strength.

The most pressing issue was that the Celestial Eyes was his core way to bypass infusing his spiritual sense into his alchemical concoctions to view minute changes, enabling more freedom of control and higher quality products.

However, if he resorted to using his spiritual sense, the degree of his spiritual strength would only complicate certain products. This was a severely debilitating condition to an alchemist like himself. It was a strange feeling. Typically, alchemists suffered from having too weak of a Spiritual Sense, not an overwhelmingly strong one. 

Bai Lin opened her eyes, a bright blazing flame flickering within her golden-colored eyes. She would require far more time to recover than Wei Wuyin, especially after overly exhausting her bloodline energies and igniting her blood essence. 

"What do you plan to do?" Bai Lin asked. She knew of Wei Wuyin's problem, but she had no idea how to find any type of solution.

"I don't know; the Myriad Monarch Sect was eviscerated by the Tiangou, so any clues to the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity further advancement levels are gone. According to Tuo Bihan, I'm the only one besides the King of Everlore to successfully cultivate this spell. If I was still in the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone, I'd seek him out. But I can't even use my current powers to open up a Void Portal to any of the rings I left behind. Not even that female titan…"

Wei Wuyin pondered over this relentlessly. If he didn't find a solution, cultivating without alchemical products would be extremely difficult. This was even more so after his foundation had already reached this ridiculous level—the tiniest of improvements needed an extreme amount of essence or energy. 

"Are you sure that old frog is correct? What if there's someone else?" Bai Lin questioned, not liking the idea of relying on Tuo Bihan's statements. 

Wei Wuyin heavily frowned. He wished that was true, but he cultivated the technique himself, and not a single person in the decaying Everlore Starfield should have the means or…

…in the Everlore Starfield…

Wei Wuyin's deeply inhaled as a brief, vague memory resurged in his thoughts.

"It's possible!" Eden hurriedly stamped its opinion on Wei Wuyin's current thoughts. 

"It is," Wei Wuyin echoed without hesitation. 

"What is?" Bai Lin asked; a wisp of elation unknowingly infected her heart just off Wei Wuyin's own excitement. 

"I know where I need to search.. Let's just hope she's still alive," Wei Wuyin said with a shadow of a smile.