Chapter 666 - 661: A Scheme, A Theft, & A Disappearance
As Wu Yu detailed the accolades, feats, and titles accrued by the Ascendants, Wei Wuyin's silver eyes were brilliantly radiant, effusing joy and amusement at each detail told. There was a subtle pride welling within his heart, growing with every passing second. Like a young child invested in an interesting topic, he opened his ears and took in all of it.
At the end of Wu Yu's retelling of their legends, Wei Wuyin laughed with his heart in his tone, a feeling of excitement flowing through every octave.
Wu Yu was taken aback by Wei Wuyin's attitude. But after a while, his heart birthed a wisp of emotional reflection. He wondered if the King of Everlore was ever as happy at their accomplishments. Did he ever genuinely laugh at their improvements? Or was he always frowning at their failures? Constantly mulling over his own? Thinking about it, a melancholic air escaped Wu Yu's lungs in a sigh.
"They are quite impressive," Wei Wuyin remarked with a grin. While he knew that the Heavenly Daos helped contribute to their success, he didn't believe the Heavenly Daos was the core factor for it, just an invisible support. If one doesn't grasp their opportunities to their fullest, it wouldn't matter how much support you have.
As the saying went, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't have it drink.
When that ancient idiom echoed in his mind, he thought about the Temporal Reincarnator. A Blessed that was so incredibly high in Karmic Luck Value that the Heavenly Daos ripped through time and space to give them a second chance at life. Yet in the end, they had to have died despite the Heavenly Daos previous attempts to support them, to save them.
Wei Wuyin settled his thoughts, reaffirming his belief once again that the Heavenly Daos weren't absolute, and the best form of reliable strength to grasp your fate was one's self.
Wu Yu's own thoughts eased. With this momentary breath, he inspected Wei Wuyin. The young Mortal Sovereign Alchemist wasn't in a human state, with exquisitely gorgeous hexagonal gray-scales on his body, replacing his skin. It seemed seamless, as if it perfectly fit his image despite changing his appearance so drastically.
The most notable characteristic of this form was its seemingly perfect proportions, those vertical eyes that contained a calm, flowing, yet unfathomable presence. For a moment, just a moment, he felt as if he was observing something beyond the concept of mortal.
While he was a Mystic Ascendant, a being that has ascended past Mortal Limits, he was still firmly possessing the traits of a mortal, such as lifespan and requiring life-bearing environments to thrive. Grasping power beyond mortal limits and shedding one's mortal coil and state was far, far too different concepts. However, Wei Wuyin gave him that feeling of a being with the presence of something beyond that. It was minor though.
Wu Yu couldn't pinpoint the exact reason though, nor did he find Wei Wuyin's transformed state as odd. He cultivated the Grand Transformations and could enter a Demi-Mystic State that pushes his state beyond, so other cultivation methods existed that could do something similar. And this state seemed to allow him to exist in the Dark Void without a Worldly Domain like a Mystic Ascendant.
"You told me about the monsters, what about the troubles?" Wei Wuyin asked, breaking Wu Yu out of his pondering thoughts.
When the word 'troubles' was mentioned, Wu Yu's expression became unsightly. "Haaa…You've really caused quite something. Your identity was revealed, but so did some of the connections to those around you. Not everyone is aware of every connection, but some shameless forces still made a move on those who they could locate."
"Oh?" Wei Wuyin was interested in this. After learning about the standards of the stellar region, at least on the surface, he was interested in how others reacted to him. There were a few characters that could certainly be linked to him, but the Ascendants was not a small group, just the elites were limited.
However, he predicted this which was why he left it ambiguous for Ma Zheng and even Wu Yu as insurance. It seemed his thoughts held true, reflecting in reality quite accurately. Ma Zheng and his Ma Clan were openly acting in his interests, protecting others either openly or in the shadows.
The incident with Ma Sujiang at the Dark Yin Palace at Immortal Yin was an example of such.
Wu Yu continued, "Those girls, Xiao Bing and Hong Ru were swept up by the two Noble Clans, the Bing Clan and Tang Clan almost instantly. While they didn't reach the top ten in the Immortal Saintess Ranking, they entered the top 100, and this cascaded to a lot of issues."
Wei Wuyin slightly frowned. He was truly shocked by how outstanding each of the female members were. However, considering they were originally Karmic Fortune for Long Chen, existences that would likely eventually stand by his side at whatever peak he could've reached.
There was not a single ordinary woman by his side.
But to think the two Noble Clans would act to recruit them.
"The issue actually stems from their potential. You see, they both accepted entering the clans. However, Xiao Bing awakened a unique physique, the Everlasting Ice Essence Physique, and this changed everything." Wu Yu began to tell in detail what happened.
Xiao Bing had used a strange environment in the Bing Clan that awakened her physique, and this changed her fate entirely as her talent and potential elevated to higher levels. This coupled with Wei Wuyin's previous support was terrifying, but the issue came with the Bing Clan's agreement.
When she joined the Clan as a member, she also agreed to certain conditions. Despite some individuals' vigorous protest, the Bing Clan, for whatever reason, tried to arrange a marriage between Xiao Bing and a Young Master of their Clan. From what Wu Yu found out, it was to transfer the physique via dual cultivation since she was still a virgin with her Primal Yin intact.
There was some tension born, but the marriage was essentially already an established certainty. For some reason, they didn't fear Wei Wuyin's name or reputation. At this point, Wei Wuyin deeply frowned, but the Bing Clan was a Noble Clan that had been established for tens of thousands of years, so he didn't fault their arrogant attitudes.
Yet the situation didn't actually end. Wu Yu had always been domineering and proactive, so he acted. Wei Wuyin's eyes slightly widened. According to Wu Yu, he infiltrated the Truefrost Domain, waited for that Young Master to reveal an opening, and directly killed him and the several Starlords protecting him.
His actions led to a multi-Domain chase by several genuine Ascended and Demi-Mortal Lord…
How brazen!
How reckless was this? How courageous was this? How terrifyingly vicious was this?!
Wei Wuyin praised him with a series of claps. He would've done the same thing eventually. In fact, his actions might be a little more vicious and explosive. Since the act had been done, he didn't think to admonish Wu Yu for any of it.
Wu Yu nodded after receiving Wei Wuyin's praise. He didn't toil away for nothing.
But then Wei Wuyin eyed Wu Yu, faintly smiling and said: "What did you do?"
Wu Yu froze. He looked at this terrifying young master before him, feeling as if he was seen through. This shocked him. What gap did he reveal? With an awkward expression, Wu Yu coughly lightly.
"Young Lord, whatever do you mean?"
Wei Wuyin's smile became sharper alongside the light in his eyes.
Wu Yu realized he was thoroughly seen through. Defeated and pressured by Wei Wuyin's gaze, he threw his hands up. Then, he reached into his robes and brought out a vial of liquid. There were only a few drops of liquid within.
Wei Wuyin glanced at the small vial of liquid but he couldn't figure out what it was, even his Celestial Eyes couldn't determine its qualities. It was certainly a mystic-graded material.
"Six drops of Mystic Origin Liquid. Its not my fault that that little boy was traveling with so much wealth near him. How could I not?" Wu Yu shrugged. There was a peculiar light that suggested it was all that young master's fault.
Wei Wuyin felt that killing some insignificant young master wouldn't prompt the immediate response of a Demi-Mortal Lord. It just didn't make much sense considering the power scaling of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region. Those Demi-Mortal Lords were elite experts with tremendous status and power. After all, Wu Yu even said only a few Starlords were protecting him. Not even those at the Mystic Ascendant Realm, be it false or genuine, how important could he possibly be?
To him, it was clear as day that Wu Yu had acted against the Bing Clan somehow. This was supported by the fact that they chased him across domains relentlessly. Whatever he did was far more massive than killing a Astral Core Realm junior that could only field Starlords as guardians.
"It's not your fault; it's theirs. The Bing Clan was clearly trying to use their rules and Xiao Bing to lure me out and even obtain something. Whether their thoughts were nefarious or not, I'm unsure. But what I can be roughly eighty-percent certain of is that that 'young master' was a sacrificial piece, leaving them room to negotiate some things after I arrived, likely resulting in his punishment or outright death to appease me." Wei Wuyin speculated. He was gleeful that they lost something.
He had lured Yuan Longshi with a similar scheme. A red ceremony was about to be unleashed if it wasn't for Xue Yifei's existence. Originally a tool to lure out a Blessed and take over the Bloodforge Continent entirely had been changed to an Official Concubine.
Wu Yu was startled. Was it like that? He hadn't thought about it, but now that he considered it, all of it was quite strange. After a bit of thinking, he started to chuckle. How idiotic of them.
"What else?" Wei Wuyin tabled this for later. If the Bing Clan was trying to lure him out, they'll certainly reconsider things now their tactic had been foiled, and he'll think of how to handle this then. They surely couldn't be certain if that 'Young Master' of theirs died by association with a robbery attempt or because of the wedding announcement. Either way, they'll certainly change their methods. To be schemed against by Noble Clans while he wasn't even present, he didn't know how to feel.
Wu Yu looked at the vial of liquid, realizing Wei Wuyin didn't care much for it. However, as someone who failed his Third Ascension, this Mystic Origin Liquid was beyond precious to him. After all, it could be used to elevate one's comprehension of Mystic Intent while saving them during their Third Ascension. He didn't immediately discuss the other troubles, proceeding to explain the qualities of Mystic Origin Liquid.
"Oh? It can increase the chance to ascend by ten percent? It can even be used by genuine Ascended to further their comprehension of Mystic Intent? Interesting…" Wei Wuyin pondered deeply over this, giving this Mystic Origin Liquid some serious consideration. He wondered if he could use it to concoct some products, specifically an elixir.
He had ideas.
"Give it here," Wei Wuyin gestured.
Wu Yu's eyes brightened like stars. He didn't hesitate to deliver it carefully to Wei Wuyin. There was no doubt in his mind that the effectiveness of Mystic Origin Liquid wasn't limited to just that, if one added other materials perfectly in a concoction of elixir or pills, who knew what it could do!
He felt as if this might be his chance to be certain of his Third Ascension!
Wei Wuyin inspected it. He realized it couldn't be stored in a spatial ring, at least not in his. "What is it about Mystic Intent that causes it to affect space so strangely?" He couldn't help but find this issue increasingly problematic. While some volatile materials of the astral or even qi-grade can't be stored in spatial rings, this wasn't just about being volatile enough to destabilize the weak spatial structures of certain rings. After all, his own ring can store all qi-graded materials with ease. The liquid was outright rejecting spatial energies.
Still, he kept the vial in his robe pocket. Wu Yu didn't even speak a single word of disagreement. Only being more and more excited. Even if Wei Wuyin kept it for his eventual ascension, that would still be wondrous for his alchemic skills.
Wu Yu soon calmed his thoughts and said gravely: "The other thing isn't directly related to you, at least I'm not absolutely certain it is. But…Long Tingyu vanished."