Original Dawn Palace, Chamber of Alchemy.
Unbeknownst to the Sealed Regions, a feat that would bridge the gap between Mortal and Mystic was gradually being achieved, performed by its sole Mortal Saint Alchemist of its eighty-thousand-year-long history!
Wei Wuyin stood before his concoction table, the Neo-Dawn Ascension Cauldron before him. Within, a storm of colors brewed, growing stronger and stronger as a rich, pure alchemical aura diffused into the air. Wei Wuyin's aura was abnormally concentrated, his brows deeply furrowed, while originally silver irises and dark pupils were overtaken by eight stars.
Alchemic Stars of Spiritual Transcendence!
After expelling the gaseous cloud of Soul Essence and receiving the completed book of alchemical theory, the culmination of decades of deeply delving into insight, inspiration, and enlightenment from the mind, Wei Wuyin set out to recover properly.
By consuming hordes of ninth-grade recuperation products, Wei Wuyin replenished his depleted reserves of innate energies, including his astral force and Bloodline Source. He has returned to top form.
Beside the Neo-Dawn Ascension Cauldron, her two palms placed firmly on its smooth exterior, Bai Xiu's tiny self sent waves of her unique energies into the cauldron. She huffed out exhaustedly, "The primer is almost finished."
Wei Wuyin nodded. In the Dao of Alchemy, there were many miraculous methods, spells, and products that existed. What existed in the cauldron was called the Utmost Purity Primer, a unique substance formed using Utmost Purity Mist that was used to prepare the concoction of various products, increasing the chances of success, ease of concoction, and even additive effects such as ease of refinement after the concoction.
In various books written by Saint Alchemists, it was considered a 'weaponized' version meant for the endless battle between Alchemists and Failure. While it exhausted the Utmost Purity Mist within a cauldron, it was useful should one wish to heavily increase their chances of a successful concoction, or generate a product of a higher quality than within one's natural ability.
After the primer's state reached near completion, her job was over, and she removed her palms and fell on her butt. "Ah! So difficult!" She cried out, but the excitement and joy in her tone were unmistakable. She was familiar with Utmost Purity Primer creation, but she had never in her long life tried to handle so much at once. While it was scary, it was equally as thrilling as a Spiritform that existed beneath the Alchemic Dao.
Wei Wuyin took over. The Alchemic Stars of Spiritual Transcendence shot out eight light streams of alchemical eden force. Each embodied an aspect of the Alchemic Dao, with the eight signifying the Mystic Dao!
Within the Utmost Purity Mist, a Mortal Dao Aura seethed alongside the other eight powers, stimulated into existence by their presence. The Mortal Dao Aura originated from the depths of the Utmost Purity Mist, revealing that it was a product of Mortal-Rank products. From time to time, wisps of stormy mystic light surged into existence within the primer, a sign of the constantly concocted transcendent-quality products and the Neo-Dawn Ascension Cauldron influencing the Utmost Purity Mist.
Bai Xiu relaxed, and as she did, she couldn't help but think about the Mystic-Refined Divinity-Forging Pill. She pouted, muttering softly, "Wouldn't concocting the Mystic-Refined Divinity-Forging Pill be better?" Her complaints might have been softly whispered, but it was still audible.
While Wei Wuyin was in the midst of completing the primer, he was still aware of his surroundings due to his immensely powerful Sea of Consciousness. "Bai Xiu," he called out.
"Yes!" She jumped as if someone had stepped on her tail, her eyes a little nervous. Did he hear her?
"The Mystic-Refined Divinity-Forging Pill is flawed. While it might be useful to others, it's the same as affecting your future, offending two Daos of our world. As a cultivator, one that cultivates their essence, how can I do something so disrespectful?" Wei Wuyin explained himself.
Bai Xiu pouted, protesting: "But, you'd be protected by th-"
"Even then! Even if I'd be protected by the Alchemic Dao, does that mean there are no consequences to acting without caring about those who've granted you your strength and their kindness? Would I be here without the Mortal Dao? Would I be here without the Mystic Dao? Without them, can I be the alchemist I am today?! Why would I slap them in the face because someone will shield me from their anger?" Wei Wuyin's tone grew grim and solemn. Wei Wuyin wouldn't take this product even if he had no other alternative. There were certain lines one can cross and can't cross, and it all depended on your ability and principles. And while Wei Wuyin may have the abilities, he would never turn on his principles.
The Mortal Dao was like a teacher to him, assisting him in reaching untold levels of power, allowing him to transcend a status of an insignificant mortal with an incredibly short lifespan. As an Alchemist, he used its flesh and blood to concoct products to assist his journey grasping that power. Not once did the Mortal Dao reject him, fully allowing such actions silently.
"That pill defies the natural order of the heavens, and while this is acceptable, the principles by which it's created abandon the Mortal Dao while existing within it, like an adult child harming their parents yet staying at their home expecting to be provided for still by their hardworking effort. Then, it robs the Mystic Dao of its right to choose only those worthy without any cost, stealing from them so openly that they flaunt it by consuming its food and using its resources.
"This act isn't forbidden by any means, but it's clear that the Daos have some form of sentience that governs others, all existing beneath the heavens in a form of cooperation and acceptance. Whether it's the Material Dao, Mind Dao, Ethereal Dao, War Dao, Mortal Dao, or Mystic Dao, they are all interconnected. There is mutual augmentation and suppression that allows the world to exist in seemingly effortless harmony.
"This pill destroys that harmony. It makes sense that the Mortal Dao rejects and the Mystic Dao hinders." Wei Wuyin's eyes gleamed emotionally. Since coming into contact with the River of Time, interacting with the Heavenly Daos as a Bloodline of Sin inheritor and Blessed, and receiving a gentle warning from the Mortal Dao, Wei Wuyin's grasp of various details of the heavens had grown explosively.
"...!"
Bai Xiu was thoroughly shaken, her spirit body thrummed as if her heart was racing. It took a while before she calmed down, tears faintly in her eyes, and she bit her lower lip in dejection. She understood what Wei Wuyin was saying and she felt as if a profound lesson infused into her soul. She now realized why the One-Star Era fell so long ago.
Wei Wuyin sighed as the primer completed, causing a pillar of eight-colored light to explode, geysering towards the ceiling and sprinkling off into drops that sunk back into the cauldron in a seamless manner. When the geyser ceased pumping and the drops returned to the cauldron, Wei Wuyin's eyes shone brightly.
"I'm sorry," Bai Xiu's head hung as she apologized. The genuine sincerity of her apology moved Wei Wuyin. Despite being far older than he was, maturity, wisdom, and well-structured principles were not determined by age, but by experiences and beliefs.
With a gentle smile, Wei Wuyin softly said: "I'm not the one you need to apologize to." If Bai Xiu had been there to concoct the Mystic-Refined Divinity-Forging Pill, she might be tainted by some karma of the incident.
Bai Xiu's head lifted as she saw the warmth and understanding within Wei Wuyin's eyes. She firmly nodded, lifting herself, and then edged to the cauldron, poking her head over and saying with a serious tone: "I'm really sorry." While she didn't state who she was apologizing to, those who knew would know.
HUMMMM!
A hum that resembled two different types of hymns of the heavens resounded. A flash of mortal and mystic light enveloped Bai Xiu for a brief moment, splashing her entirely, startling Wei Wuyin and Bai Xiu. Fortunately, it lasted for a brief moment and then vanished.
Bai Xiu was baffled. She stared at Wei Wuyin as if seeking answers from him, but Wei Wuyin was equally as perplexed.
"..." The two looked on in silence.
"Lucky," the Heavenly War Spirit spoke up at this moment, her voice quite emotional.
"Lucky?" Both Wei Wuyin and Bai Xiu were taken aback, but then the Heavenly War Spirit snorted.
"You've been forgiven. Fortunately, you have a good master."
A strand of mental energy surged into Bai Xiu from the Heavenly War Spirit as if containing some inexplicable explanation of events, and she blanked for a moment. After a short while, Bai Xiu smiled so brilliantly that the colors of the world felt blurry and distorted. Her beautiful looks resembling a mortal kingdom's princess were on full display at the moment, capable of instigating a war.
"WE have a good master." Bai Xiu jumped about excitedly, seemingly having recovered from her previously exhausted state.
Wei Wuyin didn't take long to deduce what happened, drawing upon his understanding of Daos, Karmic Ties, and the Heavenly War Spirit's words. "Congratulations," Wei Wuyin said. Bai Xiu must have actually had lingering karma from the incident, and her actions of genuinely apologizing and understanding why she should apologize must've received the recognition of the Mortal and Mystic Dao, settling the karma.
"You're lucky too; her Karmic Ties are yours since you named her." The Heavenly War Spirit said begrudgingly. Wei Wuyin really didn't understand the consequences of naming a Spirit of Dao. If it wasn't for this, he would've faced an absurdly difficult path into the Mystic Realms, especially the Resonant Soul Realm. She now understood why she didn't like Bai Xiu, she had a faint rejection of the Mortal Dao enveloping her. Since the Daos mutually augment and suppress themselves into harmony, she had an innate dislike towards him.
"Then, congratulations to me too." Wei Wuyin chuckled wholeheartedly, feeling like an invisible weight was lifted off his shoulders. Suddenly, he remembered his older brother, and how dignified he looked as he taught him respect, principles, and uncompromising morals. Subconsciously, he gripped the hilt of Element that rested at his hip.
"Hmph!" The Heavenly War Spirit harrumphed, but while she expressed her dissatisfaction, her inner thoughts were utterly amazed and completely shaken by how Wei Wuyin carried himself. She knew of the countless feats of alchemists, and they all leaped at the chance to defy the heavens, especially given the Mystic-Refined Divinity-Forging Pill's effects.
She knew that there were ways to naturally dispel the built ill-grown Karmic Ties in one's soul, and this pill, methods, and uniquely executed powers that emulate it were used in greater cultivation societies to achieve its effects. Those benefits belong to genuinely heaven-defying geniuses that the current Wei Wuyin would find difficult to contend with. Still, for Wei Wuyin to achieve the things he had without the help of those extreme experts beyond the Mystic Ascendant Realm while maintaining a strong, stable heart, was simply unimaginable.
She couldn't wait for the day that Wei Wuyin escaped into the greater world.
Wei Wuyin suppressed his emotional thoughts inside his heart, realigning his mentality with the task at hand: Concoction!
He swept through his Saint Ring, finding a sealed item that he'd kept since his Myriad Monarch Sect days. He withdrew it, bringing out a fist-sized crystal of crimson blood with streaks of misty grey.
"The Essence Blood of Jiang Feilan, the owner of the Yin Renewal Physique." This was the first item that he possessed, obtained from Jiang Feilan as an exchange for resources for her cultivation, solely to use for study into concocting the Absolute Yin-Creation Pill using it as a substitute for the Primal Yin Dark Pearl, and as a way to replicate her Primal Yin Regrowth effect in others.
Unbeknownst to Wei Wuyin at the time, it would serve as a discreetly hidden beginning of his most ambitious idea.