Paragon of Sin

A full day came and went…

"Ugh…" Wei Wuyin's groan resounded as his mind slowly cleared. When he fully awoke, regaining his consciousness and awareness, he felt a strange comforting wave pulse through his Sea of Consciousness. 

Lifting his upper body upright, he discovered himself still laying on the wooden floor. The memories of the moments prior to his loss of consciousness surged to the forefront of his thoughts. When it all dawned on him, he sighed with a wry smile. 

He knew why they fiercely competed over the remaining products, rushing hectically to acquire them. It was due to strength and scarcity. While he'll be able to concoct these products reliably in the future, that was in the future. He had a limited amount of Terra-Mystic Ore in the shape of a cube, and roughly 80% of it was already consumed during his experiments. The majority of which were 'wasted' on 'failures' that ended up as peak-quality, not transcendent. 

He wouldn't be able to concoct these products reliably or consistently until he returned to Wu Yu, learned how to transport mystic-graded materials through Void Portals, or left the spatial restrictions established by the Ninestar Starfield's central force.

They competed with each other quite often, in fact. He felt they were truly like family, but their reasons were just a tad more innocent and genuine than others. Eden sought to obtain further strength to concoct greater products. Kratos refused to let himself suffer like before, displaying weakness to his siblings. King was just King; his saber competed with the world. Ori wanted to play along. 

With a warm smile, Wei Wuyin settled himself as he observed their progression. The nine transcendent Astral World-Deluge Pills were thoroughly consumed and refined. 

But when he inspected the four Astral Cores, his left eyelid started to twitch violently as his warm smile was wiped clean off his face. Expecting a lopsided difference in size due to their fierce actions of competing, he was curious who won the refining race, but he discovered that each of his Astral Cores were all of the same exact freaking size!

Then what was the point of him being knocked unconscious?! He felt an urge to toss them all out and scold them until his tongue became dry. The four were totally silent, as if they were in stealth mode, but Wei Wuyin's anger still radiated out with a huffing sound and gritted teeth. 

For several minutes, his mind conjured up many punishments that caused even Eden to shiver. They really didn't understand how uncomfortable and inconvenient it was to be knocked up conscious, let alone the intense pain they forced him to experience in their anxiety. 

"..." In the end, he left those thoughts exclusively there. Clearly from their subdued and silent states, they were aware of their actions. He realized the sequence of events. Eden, King, Kratos, and Ori likely snatched two each, and Ori split one of hers with the rest. They might have felt ashamed due to it too, but that equalized their gains. 

"So nine pills are so effective?" He changed his thoughts on their current astral core sizes, finding them quite interesting. He had consumed over a thousand Astral World-Deluge Pills over the years, split evenly amongst the four, and most of them were peak-quality. Yet a single pill at the transcendent level had such a substantial effect. While Ori's three centimeter increase might seem like less than 5% of its total, that was far, far from the truth.

Every millimeter of increase was substantially more difficult as it grew. This was because his Astral Core was a reflection of the World Sea's size—astral force quantity and quality. This less than 5% increase was like increasing the quality by 20% or more overall. Additionally, the quantity increase could drown several small-sized planets by itself. 

"Did the mystic quality increase the effectiveness of the pill by a few hundred times? That's outrageous!" Wei Wuyin remarked after he calculated the required peak-quality pills needed to reach the same increase. That was incredibly exaggerated. Or was it?

He wasn't certain. However, he didn't just jump at this conclusion. Astral Force was the combination of physical, mental, spiritual, and essence energies intermixed together, so for it to increase in quality, so did those four. He tested his energies, realizing that all four of his innate energies were elevated drastically beyond their limits. 

Furthermore, he felt a strange fluctuation of energy flowing through his innate energies. He couldn't pinpoint it, but it was certainly there.

"Mystic Essence? Energy? Intent?" He felt that this could be it, but that wasn't exactly right. Still, he measured all four of his Astral Cores and realized they were each seventy-nine centimeters each, a full six centimeters larger than before. He hadn't reached his limits yet, but he felt it approaching. 

"Have you guys tested or figured out what those runes are?" When Wei Wuyin delved into their World Seas, he discovered mystic runes floating within. They didn't seem very large, roughly a centimeter each, but that was only in the metaphysical perception they gave off. Much like the Word Sea itself, if he released it out into the Dark Void, it would flood a large region for hundreds of thousands of miles. 

So if he extracted these runes, they could be planet-sized. Large-sized ones too. 

"...We tried," Eden answered. The other three remained silent, even a little sullen. This astounded him. They tried and failed? They had various means in their repertoire, yet they failed? He had to inspect these runes again. There were only six runes in each of their World Seas. Each rune was differently shaped but similar in size, and they were consistent in each of their seas. 

Only six.

"They give off strange vibrations...its a little scary," Ori said. Its voice wasn't filled with fear but curiosity and desire. Clearly, out of the four, it tested these runes in an even more reckless manner. 

Wei Wuyin felt that they were mostly observing Ori. His expression somewhat darkened after realizing she was acting as their test subject. Fortunately, they could share their thoughts and energies so if one of them faced trouble, the others could act as if they were suffering it together. They might be independent, but they weren't ever alone. 

This caused his expression to ease. But he had to find the time to talk down Ori's habit of rushing forward. 

"Strange vibrations? Eden and Kraros, can you feel the strange fluctuation coursing through my physical and mental energies?" Wei Wuyun had his own theories.

"Yes!" Kratos answered. "I can feel it. I think its why I'm far stronger now." The fluctuation was enhancing its physical energies, increasing its power by a large margin 

"I feel the same," Eden concurred. The Sea of Consciousness and its vast mental energies was similarly affected, experiencing a drastic increase. This wasn't abnormal after consuming an Astral World-Deluge Pill, but this fluctuation was new, so were the mystic runes.

Wei Wuyin nodded, "I need to ask Wu Yu to be sure, but I think these Mystic Runes are condensed Mystic Intent."

"You think?" Kratos chimed skeptically. It wasn't that they weren't aware of breaking norms and conventions, but Mystic Intent was something that only those that have touched the limits of the Mortal Dao, the Star Core Phase of the Astral Core Realm, could comprehend.

Eden's roots trembled, "Mystic Intent Seeds?!" 

"Seeds?" Ori asked.

Wei Wuyin nodded again, echoing with Eden's conclusion. "I was wondering how Mystic Intent forms and where, if it was like standard Intent where its housed in the Sea of Consciousness, but it seems it might manifest inside the World Sea. From a cultivation standpoint, this makes sense.

"Intent comes in three forms, at least to our current knowledge: Seed, Awakened, and World Heart. The Seed of Intent has potential, but its mostly inactive. I think the transcendent Astral World-Deluge Pills' effects aren't to elevate the Astral Core, but to flood the World Sea with Mystic Essence or Energy to either nourish the seed or strengthen Mystic Intent, maybe expand it? Since I haven't formed Seeds of Mystic Intent yet, the essence or energy formed into seeds themselves?" Wei Wuyin theorized, but he left himself some room for error.

Regardless, the existence of these runes and the explosive growth of his Astral Cores as if they had consumed hundreds of Astral World-Deluge Pills at once suggested that its effects had changed. This was a fact. And what changed was the traces of Mystic Intent coursing through his innate energies, amplifying their quality. 

"If they're seeds of Mystic Intent, why are there six different ones?" King asked. This once again shook the four, sometimes forgetting King had a voice and was quite astute. It should certainly speak more! Yet its question pinpointed both a flaw and a peculiarity in Wei Wuyin's theory. 

Why were there six?

As they were Spirits of Cultivation who comprehended and experienced the growth of Intents personally, they were well-aware of the Seed of Intent's aspects. For example, Ori had comprehended multiple Fire Intents but only established a single Seed of Fire Intent once. 

"I...don't know…" Wei Wuyin answered honestly. He was as baffled as they were. He felt that these runes were actually Seeds of Mystic Intent, he would be willing to bet ten thousand Mystic Stones on it, but he didn't know why there were six and only six or why each were different. 

"I can't interact with it at all," Eden also added his thoughts. The so-called Seeds of Mystic Intent were just there, lingering and releasing that strange vibration.

"You can barely interact with anything mystic-graded," Wei Wuyin shrugged. They were still nestled firmly within the Mortal Dao. Even Starlords can only comprehend Mystic Intent, not use Mystic Power that exceeds Mortal Limits. 

Eden didn't retort. It was the truth, so what more could it say? While it was dissatisfied, the mystic-graded materials were mostly melted by Bai Lin's nirvanic flames's embers and they just mixed it into the product. 

A silence soon formed. This development was outside of their expectations. They were just mortals playing with things that exceed Mortal Limits. How could they fathom these changes? It was fairly foolish to try, like a kindergarten student who only knew basic arithmetic trying to solve quadratic equations. 

To them, they'll be stumped as to why letters are even introduced! This was math! 

"Let's test this out," Wei Wuyin might not be able to solve or answer these questions, but the Seeds of Mystic Intent were currently affecting his innate energies, thereby introducing changes into his astral force. Perhaps with this infusion, he might be able to produce transcendent products by himself or perform feats limited to Mystic Ascendants.

With those exciting thoughts, he stood up, kept his cauldron, and left the room. After checking on Yao Houyi who was still cultivating diligently, firming his foundation, and Bai Lin who was still sound asleep, he made his way to the top deck. "I should check the course, ensure we're still going in the right direction."

But much to his surprise, when he reached the top deck, he discovered that there were no scenes of endless stars littering the vision or distant planets outside his saber formation, but solid dark-brown walls. There were white stones that were emitting solar light and warmth.

"...What?"