Paragon of Sin

"Hell?!" Ming Shufeng jumped. Her eyes widened and her breathing accelerated. When her eyes met those calm, endlessly mysterious silver eyes of Wei Wuyin, she felt a sudden sense of danger and uncertainty. 

She gulped loudly, echoing even in this spacious chamber. It took several seconds for her breathing to calm down before she asked hesitantly, "How do you know about Hell?" 

What was Hell? It was a grand construct that was not for the living. If she wasn't a seer who could see the trend and will of the Heavenly Daos, how could she even know of it? Like others, it would merely be mentioned in passing or in some religious texts about a world after death. There were many names for it, the yellow springs, the underworld, the netherworld; but regardless of what it was called, just like the world's force, it had one name: Hell.

Wei Wuyin felt a storm of relief flow endlessly through his heart as he seemed to have made the correct assumption. The Scripture of Sin detailed many things about the Heavenly Daos, the Rites of a Sinner, and the Calamities of Hell. 

However, it selectively excluded any concrete detail on their origins or purpose. In fact, besides the Heavenly Daos three thousand commandments, and a few functions of Karmic Luck Value, such as how it can benefit others in one's sphere of influence and karmic ties, there was barely any explanation.

Even today, he was still trying to grasp an understanding on how Karmic Luck worked and how the Heavenly Daos mysteries. For example, he didn't know how he gained 0.1 Karmic Luck to this very day.

That being said, he did know one thing and this was from inference of the details described in the Rites of a Sinner. In it, it describes that Heavenly Daos will judge you and send a calamity to end your connection with all life, allowing you to descend to Hell. Supposedly, every sinner's soul experiences this upon death.

However, he got to experience it in the real world, and due to it, he got access to Hell. It was this access that allowed his physical body and soul to venture into Hell and experience the Calamity of Hell. For what purpose? He still didn't really know. All he knew was that successfully overcoming any Hell was accompanied by boundless karmic luck that entered the soul.

It was then brought back to the mortal world and could be actively used. It was a trick. A sleight of hand, in its truest sense. But the Heavenly Daos were the fool.

So knowing that Ming Shufeng knew of Hell, he felt that her connection with the Heavenly Daos could expose more detail about the Calamities of Hell. If he was given this information, no matter how small, he could prepare as best he could against it. He hadn't sealed her cultivation base in hopes of her glimpsing into the secrets of hell, if needed, with her powers as a Seer.

This was his only way to increase his chances of survival.

"Not enough," he replied to Ming Shufeng. "That's why I need you. I want you to tell me everything you know about Hell."

Ming Shufeng's eyes stayed fixated in Wei Wuyin for the longest time. She didn't understand why anyone would want to understand a world beyond life, created for sinners.

"...If I tell you, will you not make me do anything else?" Ming Shufeng asked. While she was shocked by his desire for this knowledge, she also understood the implications of the Spirit Oath. It seemed to cover a lot of basis, but it in fact had numerous holes within. If Wei Wuyin instructed her to get naked, crawl on her hands and toes, and proceed to use her mouth to pleasure him, she would have to do it.

If he wanted to do other sexual acts that wouldn't take her primal yin, she would have to do it.

This wasn't an issue before, but now that the Spirit Oath has binded her, she would do anything to ensure her Fate Spirit of Qi didn't collapse. She didn't want to live a life of mediocrity, and if the backlash of spirit collapse were to hit hard, mental and physical deficiencies that would follow.

Wei Wuyin gave a mischievous grin. He had indeed outsmarted them on this front, but too bad that they left before he could cash it in. Perhaps it was her aura tainted with Heavenly Daos influence, her mouth-watering beauty, or her beyond all attitude, but he wanted to ravage her to his heart's desire.

He would have no regrets or misgivings either because he won the bet fair and square, to which she succeeded. However, there were more important things than that.

"If you answer me truthfully and satisfy me, I'll simply let you leave. You can return to Lin Ziyan." Wei Wuyin calmly stated.

Ming Shufeng didn't know whether to trust him or not, his thoughts and intentions were too wildly different. As for her trying to fight Wei Wuyin, she didn't have such confidence or battle prowess. She was merely an early-Mortal God, and before a Godlord, she was simply puddy for him to do with as he pleased.

Therefore, she had no other option. She could only trust him, no matter how idiotic and foolish that was. While biting her soft, pink lips, she calmly gathered her thoughts. When she transformed her Heart of Qi, she glimpsed into the fate of all life, death, and spirit. 

She saw Hell.

When she regained her focus, her demeanor lost its scared or uncertain aura. She lifted herself up and brushed her gown. Her eyes pulsed with evidence of a heightened state of calm. 

"Hell; It is a location devised by the Heavenly Daos. It was designed to punish those who accrue karmic sin in this world. However, karmic sin was infectious and held immense power, and to refine it required all sorts of means. It is said the Heavenly Daos created it to filter out this infectious sin so that when the soul re-enters the grand samsara, the River of Souls, it wouldn't taint the others.

"But there were only two ways to rid one of sin, and that was karmic luck, its polar opposite, and the blood of the Original Gods." Ming Shufeng paused.

Wei Wuyin looked calm outwardly, but his heart was wildly quaking with endless shock. So that's why he received the karmic luck after overcoming the Calamity of Hell. The karmic luck instilled into him carried back to his real body, what was meant to cleanse his soul of sin.

Then, the Soul of True Sin…

Failing…

He became immediately confused.

Could failing or succeeding the Calamities of Hell not affect him regardless because he lacked sin? As this thought entered his thoughts, he felt like a thundering hammer smashed his thoughts aside. A prick of immense pain shot through his right arm to his head and he grimaced. It took his everything to not exclaim, maintaining his calm appearance. But his back became wet with cold sweat.

"No! I would certainly die. Right! I have the Bloodline of Sin...My thinking is wrong to its core. If the Soul of True Sin helps survival in the case of failure in the Calamities of Hell, then it merely helps protect the source of sin, the Bloodline attached to our souls. This means that even those at the Realm of Sages likely fail the Calamities…losing their Bloodlines of Sin as a result, even through the True Soul of Sin's protection."

It was as if the tattoo, the seemingly physical manifestation of the Bloodline of Sin, was communicating with him, constantly guiding him. He clenched the fist of his right arm. If he failed the Calamity of Hell, the resulting karmic luck would be poison.

But…

Just as another question entered his thoughts, Ming Shufeng broke her silence and continued, answering it. "However, the Heavenly Daos are fair and just. There are those unaffected by certain aspects of Hell's cleansing ritual. If one can withstand the trial, the karmic luck would be integrated into the soul and stored for later use. If one's soul doesn't perish during the process of cleansing, then they'll reincarnate as a Blessed."

When she said that last word, her eyes roamed to Wei Wuyin. Blessed shouldn't know they were Blessed or the existence of Blessed. It was something the Heavenly Daos specifically wiped from their memories and made sure they never had contact with. This was to prevent complacency due to knowing one's fortune and then dying due to wrong or lazy choices. 

If she tried to tell a Blessed they were Blessed, she'd receive an immense backlash. But telling them of its existence wasn't an issue, and was often used to verify their existence by seers, oracles, and fortune tellers.

Wei Wuyin frowned, "Blessed?" He asked her with a deep look of contemplation. Then, he seemed to grow dull for a split second, then he acted completely normal.

Her heart trembled. So he was a Blessed.

As for Wei Wuyin, he sneered inwardly. One of the details in the Scripture of Sin was a warning to not tell those Blessed that they were Blessed or about Blessed individuals. You can speak about the abstract karmic luck and karmic sin, but this was taboo. Not only would this alert the Heavenly Daos of your existence as an Inheritor of Sin, but you might suffer a backlash.

After all, with the identity of Blessed, you should never know about their existence, so how can you tell others? 

Ming Shufeng felt more confident in her heart.

Wei Wuyin blinked, "You said there were trial's of Hell, what are they?" This was his main purpose!

Ming Shufeng didn't find anything irregular about this and calmly answered, "Hell is said to be divided into eighteen layers. When a sinner dies, they get sent to the layer that matches their accumulated karmic sin. The greater the karmic sin, the further down they go, the harsher the trial to overturn their fate of being born as an ant, dog, or eternal slave due to their actions. It is truly a calamity for sinners."

"And these eighteen layers are?" He could feel his heart race as if it was participating in a sprinting marathon. 

"...the first trial devised and the weakest calamity of all sinners is called the Calamity of True Loss. It revolves around cleansing the soul by plaguing them with alternative pasts, presents, and futures, reliving harsh memories, experiencing death or the constant loss of life, and then the deteoritation of one's greatest, most cherished memories. It is cruel…" Ming Shufeng shivered slightly at the thought.

To be shown the dreadful past, present, and future, altered as if one lived in it. While it is merely the first layer, it is a truly impossible trial to overcome for anyone with emotions and attachments. 

"It continues to make you experience intense, burning agony of living these events over and over until your soul disperses. After the outer shell of your soul had vanished, the sin that infects the soul would vanish, and it can enter the River of Souls to go through the process of reincarnation."

Wei Wuyin's sea of consciousness shook. He still recalled the things his other 'self' experienced. That other 'self' was completely unaffected because it had no recollection of his past, present, or future. It was like watching a play. How could someone be tormented outside of feeling pity for the characters? 

It was this experience why he felt his death was all but ensured.

"What about the second layer?!" His voice was agitated a little. He needed to know! If the first layer could be avoided without memories, then the second must have something to avoid it!

Ming Shufeng bit her lips and said, "The second layer is…"