Wu Yu's outstretched hands trembled as an incessant outflow of Star Power left his body, funneling into the developing Star's Seed, his fingertips, palms, and eyebrows were drenched in dripping sweat. The perspiration of his Mystic Physique defied logic as it persisted amidst the chill of the Dark Void.
"..." With clenched jaws and a steeled gaze, the Grand Knight of Neo-Dawn held in his exhaustion at his chest. However, internally, his thoughts were rife with abject disbelief. °I've already exhausted forty percent of my cultivated Mystic Power! What type of Star Seed is the Young Lord trying to birth?°
The infrastructure of a Star Seed was paramount to its potential and qualities. Throughout the Sealed Regions, typically within the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region's peak forces, Secret Realms, or World Realms, there were a variety of different types of Solar Stars that exuded different types of attributed Solar Essence. An example was the Everlore Association's Central World Realm, the Everlore God Realm, there was a seven-colored, dwarf-sized Solar Star that emitted alchemical solar energies.
This type of radiance greatly increased the effectiveness of cultivating Alchemical Energy, the concoctions' success rate, and the potential quality of any finished product. It was a game-changer for any Alchemist, and every Alchemist wished to bask in its radiance while cultivating in this holy land, yet it was absurdly difficult to be invited into the Everlore God Realm without a high status and even higher alchemical skills.
Wu Yu recalled Wei Wuyin's earlier instructions, and that was to bring forth the greatest form of purest Star Power infused with Imperial Heaven Aura that he could muster. He couldn't help but glance at the other Earthly Saints that resembled a single, unified unit, and his heart quivered. They were channeling absurdly pure Star Power without the slightest sign of letting up or exhaustion. The determination and willingness in each of their gazes far surpassed Wu Yu, as if they were willing to lay down their very lives at Wei Wuyin's orders.
If Wu Yu wasn't aware that these were spirit-based lifeforms born from a unique treasure, fueled by raw mystic-graded resources through this treasure, using Wei Wuyin's extraordinary wealth, he would've felt deeply inferior and slightly depressed, especially given his current status as Wei Wuyin's only true Alchemical Knight. There was a point of pride in that.
"Whatever the Young Lord is creating, it might exceed the Aeternal Sky Star at this rate." Wu Yu commented in his heart, but thinking about the absurd level of resources needed to supply Mystic Energy to ten thousand and one Earthly Saints, he could only hope that Wei Wuyin intended to use a single round to fuel this Star Seed.
Suddenly, the gargantuan mass of seething heated light and energy that was the Star Seed began to distort. Wu Yu's eyes caught an outline forming, and from this outline, a nude body protruded out as if newly birthed. His heart raced slightly. It's been a long, long time since he'd lost himself in Wei Wuyin's appearance, but this type of reveal undoubtedly elevated his visual grace to another level.
Moreover, his body seemed absurdly, profoundly perfect. There was not the slightest hint of imperfection anywhere, from the follicles of his hair to the tip of his toenails, from muscle to bone structure, there was nothing to criticize.
Wei Wuyin opened his eyes after leaving the Star Seed. The outpour of Star Power was still incoming, but Wei Wuyin merely gave a thought in his heart, and Legion Commander Zhan Zheng understood his intent, relaying it through the grand, instantaneous Spiritual Communication Link of his Legion.
The others acted without the slightest awkwardness, reducing the Star Power infusion gradually until transitioning into pure Mystic Power that served to stabilize the Star Seed's state, and then transitioning once again with almost perfect unity, barring Wu Yu, to Time Power, freezing the Star Seed's development in a single moment. Wu Yu's Star Power was blocked and repelled. Receiving the hint that things had changed, Wu Yu halted his infusion and waited.
Wei Wuyin calmly and coolly placed on an Essence of War structured set of white robes, clean and pristine, before he flew towards Wu Yu.
"We're finished?" Wu Yu inquired.
Wei Wuyin's expression turned slightly shocked and then replied: "We're not even one percent completed. This portion of the project will likely take, from my estimation, about twelve to fifteen years. While completing the rest will take longer, and even I'm unable to give a reasonable estimation." The process of completing a Solar Star was by no means simple or easy, and while Wei Wuyin could use the current Star Seed to evoke the transformation of a Solar Star of great proportions vastly exceeding any of the current Solar Stars of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, barring the Supermassive Solar Star that was the Aeternal Sky Star, it wouldn't fit his criteria for a World-Bound Star Domain.
But his words left Wu Yu speechless; the amount of Star Power infused in these few months, given each Spirit of War and himself exhausted an equal amount of power, was utterly ridiculous. The fact thus was forty percent of his power, an 8th Runic Ascendant Earthly Saint who's cultivated a secondary Dantian, the Heart of Origin, multiplied by 10,000, only amplified the absolute madness going into this Star Seed.
Yet it wasn't even remotely done?!
What type of Solar Star was Wei Wuyin trying to create?
Wei Wuyin inwardly laughed, "The first part, building the infrastructure, is the most energy-consuming task. After that, most of it will be stabilization efforts while under operation."
"...I see." Wu Yu only felt slightly better with this explanation. After all, if this Star Seed was birthed into a Solar Star and exploded, the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region would likely be destroyed. "Then, you have other orders?" Without the strange link that Wei Wuyin had with the others, Wu Yu had to receive orders differently.
Wei Wuyin turned back to view the Star Seed. He had gone a little overboard with the infrastructure, not thinking that he'd be disturbed so soon, and by the Heavenly Daos no less. Now, the Legion had to focus a large amount of effort and energy to freeze its development. For a long while, he was unable to gauge whether Xiao Bing was worth the cost, given the amount of Mystic Stones and other resources he'll need to replenish the exhausted Mystic Power of the Legion.
In truth, he wanted to simply pass this task off to others to find and protect Xiao Bing, but this was complicated on several layers.
Firstly, sending anything less than fifty Earthly Saints to the Aeternal Sky Starfield in a forceful invasion without permission would be catastrophic. Just doing so could be seen as an act of war, expediting his conflict with the Imperial Clan. This was ill-advised given the heavy investment he'd just poured into this Star Seed. The timing was horrible.
Secondly, his Legion was tied down. While he could divide fifty from them, the expenditure and exhaustion wouldn't simply be added, but multiplied. The sheer chaoticness that was the Star Seed at the moment needed every ounce of power to restrain it, and if he took away one, then the impact it'll have on everyone will increase, and this strain will further exhaustion. Taking fifty, if he estimated the cost, it might be double for every second paused.
Lastly, this was a 'warning' from the Heavenly Daos, but he'd received 'warnings' before without any expenditure of Karmic Luck. He didn't know if it was asking him to kill Xiao Bing himself, seek out and exploit her future perilous situation for a fortuitous encounter, or if there was something more behind the usage of Karmic Luck.
It would be best if he handled it personally, allowing the opportunity to better adapt to any given situation that developed. Moreover, he wouldn't set off any of the alarm bells that the Tian Clan possessed.
Wei Wuyin told Wu Yu about his intentions to travel to the Aeternal Sky Starfield to visit the Bing Clan, including receiving any information that Wu Yu was aware of that might indicate the Bing Clan could be in danger or Xiao Bing was.
"While the timing is a little weird, I must say: I'm happy you're going to visit that icy little girl." Wu Yu said with a faint smile of relief.
"Oh?" Wei Wuyin was taken aback by this reaction.
Wu Yu gave a slight sigh, "You know, I've received endless transmissions from your lovers, all asking for updates almost weekly, if not some daily. And this Xiao Bing, she's one of the most frequent."
"She is?" Wei Wuyin frowned.
"I told you they all wanted updates once before, and you told me to give them details of your condition and safety, including anything you're busy with honestly. Of course, I've mostly sent that you're alive, cultivating, or concocting, and that's it. Don't worry, I didn't tell them about your other 'activities.'"
"..."
Wu Yu had kept tabs on them throughout the years, their cultivation levels, and various needs and then would relay them to Wei Wuyin periodically, and Wei Wuyin would simply concoct a product they asked for or needed but couldn't describe properly and send them out.
He had gotten so used to doing this that he'd started concocting instinctively, especially given how busy his latest developments had kept him.
"That icy little girl sends a message almost daily. None of which is really relevant. The only one that exceeds her in frequency is Priestess Si De. The expenditure of resources she uses to send bi-daily requests for updates is extremely excessive. Honestly, I wanted to recommend that you cut back on their allowances. They abuse the living hell out of it." Wu Yu felt a little annoyed about the situation, especially since he delivered these allowances, which were monthly, and they were truly absurd for their cultivation levels.
These girls were living lavishly, and the fact many were still virgins left Wu Yu a tad bitter. It was only by consoling himself that Wei Wuyin was waiting for these talented women to become Ascended beings to better assist his cultivation that he could cool down.
"Ah," Wei Wuyin now recalled that many times Si De would ask for ninth-grade spiritual energy replenishment and expansion resources. He had thought she was cultivating an exhaustive Spiritual Art or Spiritual Spell, not wasting so much Spiritual Energy on long-distance transmissions. Moreover, they were always peak-quality at least.
All that aside, Wei Wuyin didn't think Xiao Bing was the one who wanted to know the most about him. Si De made sense, but Xiao Bing? Thinking back, he hadn't met her in-person in over two decades, and he'd only spent a short year or so with her after the Hong Ru incident. Additionally, every interaction was the bare minimum.
The last meaningful contact he had with her was the letter he left behind, given to her by Tuo Bihan shortly before they officially arrived in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region.
"..."
"You've been busy," Wu Yu reasoned.
"I don't like using pathetic excuses to justify my negligence or decisions. I'm at fault, especially after I accepted her all those years ago. Truthfully," Wei Wuyin didn't leap onto Wu Yu's flimsy excuse, "I've had this mental aversion to all of Long Chen's former harem."
"..." Wu Yu went silent; Long Chen was a name he hadn't heard verbally in a long time. The former disciple of his courted death and was promptly killed by Wei Wuyin, his Alchemy Master. It was hard to reconcile any of those feelings, so he suppressed them.
But when he thought about it, he realized that Wei Wuyin's words made sense. Whether it was Lin Ziyan, Hong Ru, Xiao Bing, Qing Qiumu, Wu Baozhai, or Long Tingyu, Wei Wuyin kept a layer of distance between them. In fact, he only ever invited and met the women that he originally courted himself, such as Xiang Ling, Nyla Shur, Da Shan, Ai Yin, Priestess Si De, and even remembered Mei Yang.
"Perhaps they've noticed," Wu Yu quietly pointed out. Given how the most messages regarding his status belonged to those outside his circle, it was hard not to see it. Wu Baozhai was too prideful, but he was aware that if Wei Wuyin met her personally, she might, without any hesitation, follow her heart given her cultivation path.
"I've acted selfishly and stayed purposefully ignorant of their desires, lives, and needs. I'll change that." Wei Wuyin had too many concerns, so he didn't wish for this issue to weigh on his conscience. Without any remaining restraining thoughts, he directly admittedly his fault and decided to move on. Since they were willing to give him their time, lifespan, loyalty, and mental energy, his only path forward was to respond accordingly.
If Wei Wuyin paid more attention to Na Xinyi—and by extension Long Tingyu, and Qing Qiumu, could they have been taken by those two ancient hegemons so easily?
Wu Yu couldn't hold back his smile. It was hard to find someone so swift in their introspection of their emotions and decisive with their feelings, especially those who wielded unimaginable talent, wealth, strength, reputation, and authority at Wei Wuyin's age.
"Young Lord, if you're going to the Bing Clan, I'll escort you." While there were ten thousand Earthly Saints at Wei Wuyin's beck and call, Wu Yu was one of two Earthly Saints under Wei Wuyin in the public's eyes.
Wei Wuyin shook his head, "the Aeternal Sky Starfield's Imperial Clan has an Ascended Detection Formation, so I won't be able to stealthily enter if you arrive with me. Even if you relied on your Concealment Art, you'll be exposed. It's far stronger than the Everlore Association's detection formation."
"What?!" Wu Yu exclaimed in shock.
To clarify Wu Yu's thoughts, Wei Wuyin explained: "The Ascended Detection Formation is empowered by Mystic Heart Intent. As long as you're beneath the Worldly Saint Phase, or your Mystic Heart Intent exceeds its strength, it'll be impossible to remain hidden."
"..." Wu Yu didn't expect that this was the case. If so, the Imperial Clan could've exposed his location when he was trapped in the Everlore Domain. No wonder Wei Wuyin rarely returned to Aeternal Sky Starfield. Of course, Wu Yu had no way of knowing that only because of future memories was Wei Wuyin even aware of this, and essentially no one but the core members of the Imperial Clan knew of this formation's existence.
"Can you avoid it? What if they target your aura specifically?" Wu Yu was concerned about Wei Wuyin going in alone despite knowing that this silver-eyed Alchemist had unimaginable means.
"Not even Worldly Saints can sense me if I decide to hide," Wei Wuyin grinned.
"Then what do you wish for me to do?" Wu Yu asked. The ten thousand Earthly Saints seemed to have a handle on stabilizing the Star Seed. His interference might disrupt their unity.
"Recover quietly, and give me the Protection Rune's Locator Spell that you've placed on Xiao Bing." Wei Wuyin held out his hand. Wu Yu had given protection runes to every one of his women early on, and while Wei Wuyin had replaced the runes on Da Shan, Nyla Shur, and the others he'd been in contact with using Zhan Zhang and his own power, those like Lin Ziyan, Wu Baozhai, and Xiao Bing only had Wu Yu's rune. It was clear from here that distance was present.
"I'll be back soon. If by some chance I am captured, then follow the Legion and bathe the Aeternal Sky Starfield with the blood," Wei Wuyin coldly demanded before receiving the locator rune. He didn't take Bai Lin as her aura was too noticeable, even harder to hide than the typical Earthly Saint, and left using Spatial Shift.