Paragon of Sin

The events of the Astral Tribulations had disturbed Wei Wuyin immensely, and while he was calm outwardly, he was deeply emotional within. He sealed himself off for an entire month as he poured himself into trying to understand what had happened. Unfortunately, he came up with nothing. 

He originally believed he would be joyous and excited for assailing the Astral Core Realm, for succeeding; instead, he was drowning in his memories, and things that he had long since suppressed was brought up to the surface. 

As a cultivator, he had heralded himself as strong and even if the sky crumbled and collapsed atop him, he would be able to stand upright and stable, facing the shattered world with his intellect and saber. Yet, the event of returning to experience his firsts, seeing people that he loved, that he lost, and feeling as if they were the truest things...it wasn't something any could articulate in words.

However, he still maintained his strong heart for cultivation, and needed merely a few times to thoroughly search for the truth of the matter. While he might not be able to figure it out today, there will be a day he does. If there was a way to venture to another time, he would grasp it to his utmost. 

This month wasn't just a mission to search, but to obliterate hope. If he contained hope, then he'd easily lose himself to desperation, and as he looked at the far-off possibility of the future, he'd lose sight of the immediate present and near future. Those who typically hoped oftentimes couldn't do, and he wasn't a hope and struggle-type of individual.

His fate was his own.

At the moment, he sat cross-legged in a meditative posture with his eyes closed. His mind was interacting with each of his Astral Souls. That's right! They had fully completed their evolution and fully entered the Astral Core Realm, becoming Astral Souls. As Astral Souls, they could convert the four qualities that made up Qi and evolve it into the advanced version: Astral Force.

Metaphysical Astral Force.

While that was exceptional, perhaps the greatest change was the names he designated each Astral Soul. After much deliberation and argument with his four Astral Souls, they finally accepted their new names.

Divine Saber Soul: King. 

This was a little back and forth as originally Wei Wuyin wanted to name him "Tch" but it threatened to self-destruct, so he went with King. Although it couldn't actually detonate without his will, the threat nearly caused Wei Wuyin's expression to drain of blood. It seems it couldn't take a joke.

Divine Elemental Soul: Orianna(Ori for Short).

This caused Wei Wuyin's expression to darken. He didn't want to name it a feminine name, but it was intent on being called such. As for where it obtained that name? Hell if he knows. 

Alchemic Eden Soul: Eden.

That was the easiest to decide, and it held absolutely no objections. 

Draconic Void Soul: Kratos. 

It was between Draco or Kratos, and Kratos came out on top. Unfortunately...Wei Wuyin wanted Draco. 

However, the legend of Kratos was grand, fascinating, and exceptionally interesting. When he was younger, he was often told the stories of Kratos. Supposedly, Kratos was a demon who embodied strength, victory, force, and zeal. It dominated the world with absolute strength, ruling it for countless years until his demise. There were rumors that he was the result of the Dragon God and the Demon Goddess having an illicit affair, creating someone who could topple suns and eat moons.

However, in the end, he fought against the Demon God and killed him by biting off his head. While it was merely an exaggerated story, there were religious groups on the Myriad Yore Continent, while minor, who believed this.

In fact...this name has special significance. It was the first name he intended to give his child.

Regardless, he accepted Kratos's desires. 

As they each had names, he would no longer need to refer to them as simply souls of cultivation, and he could already feel their vivid excitement as they animatedly conversed amongst themselves, calling out each others' names like children who've discovered magic words. This scene dispelled a large majority of his fog.

At the moment, all of his Astral Souls were lively. They all have spherical orbs that encapsulated their forms, and this orb was the Astral Core, and it would hold the World Sea. This World Sea was the converted reserves of mental, physical, spiritual, and essence energies that would be fused and refined through the Astral Core itself. 

Astral Force was the sea in 'World Sea' and it filled the core to its brim, but their sizes were exceptionally small. He was shocked to find out that his Astral Cores were the size of half a millimeter. This was infinitesimally small in comparison to what he expected. Furthermore, in his Sea of Consciousness that contained the crystallized Tree of Eden's form that pierced into it, there was a Astral Core too, but it was embedded at the center and was like a speck of dust in comparison to its size.

In his fleshy heart, the Astral Core was similarly at the center, but when compared to his heart that was already three times the average size of a normal human, it too was exceptionally tiny. His dantian could hold thousands or even tens of thousands of Astral Cores.

Fortunately, he was an alchemist and there were ways to enlarge the Astral Core, allowing it to expand. According to various records, not only did this Astral Core determine one's Astral Force reserves, but it can even be a direct correlation to the quality of produced Astral Force.

When he found this out, he did a little digging and learned that the average Astral Core was the size of ten thousandth of a meter, that was nearly five times smaller than his Astral Cores, regardless of which.

Despite its tiny size, when he examined the sheer amount of astral force it contained, his mind became shattered with disbelief. If he were to fill a pool, he could completely fill one half a mile long and five feet deep. That was immense! The size discrepancy likely was due to its metaphysical nature, and how it didn't adhere to basic compression laws.

Furthermore, astral force was energy, and if used properly, a single trace can destroy a small mountain. Cultivators were truly god-like existences. He sighed in his heart as he reflected on the power that he yielded by default just by being at the Astral Core Realm.

As for his mental, physical, and spiritual energies, he realized they were all being replaced to a higher state. If what he used was low-level energies, then now he was controlling high-level energies. His thoughts were hyperfast, his body felt like it was imbued with endless stamina and strength, and his spiritual sense could reach beyond a few dozen kilometers.

Just from a brief sweep, if he were to go full broad, he could observe 3.6 megameters! That was about 2200 miles! With his current cultivation, he could've inspected the entire Scarlet Solaris Domain within a few minutes.

While he could reach that limit, if he did use it to that extent, his senses would be blurry and not as detailed, as well as consumed immense spiritual energies, so doing broad searches or constant awareness in that area was extremely strenuous and nearly impossible to effectively do.

Now that he fully stepped into the Astral Core Realm, getting a taste, he was quite expectant of the future. The Astral Core Realm, like the Qi Condensation Realm and Foundation Realm(is condensed into three, but has nine) has nine separate phases.

The Astral Core Realm's Nine Phases:

World Sea Phase, condensing an Astral Core which generates Astral Force. It is a qualitative change in cultivation, as one's innate energies and overall cultivation base will undergo immensely beneficial transformations.

Sky Ruler Phase, those at this phase gain control of the ambient mana while simultaneously enhancing one's astral force. This control enabled flight and suppression, capable of using the ambient mana to release a force called Sky Pressure.

Soul Idol Phase, a condensation of spiritual power into a Soul Idol that can be manifested. This Idol has up to nine rings that defines its inherent quality, and it is birthed naturally depending on the effectiveness in overcoming the Astral Tribulation. At this level, spiritual strength, aura, and sense was amplified to a higher level, depending on the foundation of the Soul Idol.

Spatial Resonance Phase, by overcoming the astral tribulation, one's body and astral force becomes adaptable to spatial energies, capable of absorbing, deploying, or refining spatial energies. Those at this level were renowned for their Spatial Prison and Spatial Mark abilities. Similar to the Soul Idol Phase, it can be divided into nine levels that determine the cultivator's strength and quality of their spatial energies. 

Light Reflection Phase, a cultivator can absorb and refine natural Yang Light energies into their bodies and astral force. This amplified their speed of astral force circulation, spiritual sense, and increased their lifespan by three to five hundred years.

Wei Wuyin couldn't understand the other phases, as they were like the False Reality Phase, and their information was of little help in understanding their abilities or how to ascend. All he knew was their names: Gravity Emission Phase, Realm World Phase, Temporal Eye Phase, and Star Core Phase. They were the sixth to ninth phases respectively, and those at the Seventh Phase, the Realm World Phase, were considered Realmlords.

They could breach the Sky Layer and fly across the dark void without dying from its volatile environment. They were the strongest cultivators in the current era.

After contemplating all this, his Celestial Eyes observed the ambient mana. Unfortunately, he didn't have a feeling to invoke the next tribulation. This meant his understanding of mana hadn't reached that level, and while he could observe, he hadn't touched upon the principles of controlling it. 

In the end, now that he's fully entered the Astral Core Realm, he decided to focus his attention elsewhere. 

The Soul Sealing Cube.