Chapter 1596 1589: Fortuitous Encounter: Temptation (3)
Chapter 1596 Chapter 1589: Fortuitous Encounter: Temptation (3)
The entire lake began to permeate with a distinctive golden hue that was heavenly. The Shard of Heaven or the Apple was on the verge of completing its birthing process, and it was rising from the lake slowly.
"Did you say a human?" Wei Wuyin's immediate response elicited shock from Young Master Shang. It was not a question he had expected given all the other information about this heavenly entity that could be considered a paramount blessing of the Laws. Staring at Wei Wuyin's side profile, Young Master Shang noted a distinct calm that was borderline eerie, not an ounce of expected greed, desire, or excitement.
At most, he saw vigilance and thoughtfulness within those silvery irises and dark pupils. As if sensing something and expecting something else, Young Master Shang turned to Tuo Bihan and saw that he was incapacitated in an upright, standing stance. His gaze was absent and distant, and his thoughts were still. This was clearly Wei Wuyin's doing. How cautious.
Sighing softly, he took a sip of wine. Was Wei Wuyin's current state the calm before the storm, likely going to decisively end his life after his questions were answered? When he thought about the worth of the heavenly entity, he felt that was the only outcome. That sip turned into a heavy series of gulps as if he was drowning all his fear in the warm feeling permeating his chest and throat.
"Why a human? Huh?" Young Master Shang wiped his lips with a satisfied breath, gazing at the stars from beyond this isolated world realm. "Do you think humans are superior to all other living beings?"
"No," Wei Wuyin answered flatly. He didn't believe that humans specifically had any absolute advantage over other races. However, he noted that the vast majority of Blessed were of the human race or hybrids of some sort.
"I don't disagree. However, there's evidence that suggests that the human race-no, it'll be better to say the human form, has some quintessential cohesion with the will of the heavens. That's not to say that humans are superior by an undeniable metric, or that they experience significant advantages when it comes to cultivating Laws or in general, but that many beings have humanoid forms. This includes those like the Celestial Race, the Titan Race, and the Abyssal Race..."
"No need to continue with these wasted words," Wei Wuyin interrupted, "If all you're going to say is that you use 'human' as a general term for humanoid races, similar to how we use 'beasts' for bestial races despite their vastly varied forms, then you can cease any further roundabout speaking."
"..." Young Master Shang blinked, his gaze never leaving the stars beyond the isolated world realm. It was as if he was viewing the Treasured Vale Galaxy, all the way to the Blessed Yri Empire, as nostalgic and yearning light flashed across his eyes and manifested as a quiver of his lips.
"You know...when you realize that death is coming for you, just right around the corner, it's hard to reconcile with it in the soul. Can't I just fight for a few more seconds? Take a slightly longer path? A few more sips, perhaps?" He took a sip from his flagon and closed his eyes.
Wei Wuyin side-eyed Young Master Shang. This little drunkard truly thought...
"I have no intention of killing you," Wei Wuyin flatly stated. Young Master Dhang jolted, his eyes widening as he stared at Wei Wuyin's figure that exuded serenity.
"Wha? Why not?" Young Master Shang was skeptical simply on the basis of the situation. If Wei Wuyin killed him, his cultivation path going forward would be supremely supported by the heavens themselves while simultaneously obtaining a world-astonishing beauty. With his current talents, he would reach unfathomable limits.
"You're my woman's brother," Wei Wuyin said with a faint smile in his tone. This was the truth from his soul. Wei Wuyin had no intentions of seizing this fortune by silencing all those here. This was a matter of principle.
"Bu-but! If you don't, this heavenly entity will surely be exposed. I can't swear an oath to keep this secret. Moreover, harming my memory or my Sea of Consciousness will only backfire on you. You should know of my innate protections. And I have a standing oath to be entirely truthful to a few individuals already upon my return, and I can't swear a counter-oath. Death is the most certain way to maintain the anonymity of this treasure." Young Master Shang couldn't understand.
"..." Wei Wuyin walked to the edge of the lake. He bent his knee and crouched down, his eyes narrowing as he gazed into the lake with his Celestial Eyes completely activated. The golden hue of the lake was extremely paramount, transforming the entire lake into a body of liquid gold.
"Wait! Don't think about dissolving the oath either. There's a lot of contingencies in place for that, and I can promise you that you'll be exposed immediately alongside the Shard of Heaven here." After rummaging through possible scenarios, he felt that Wei Wuyin was confident in dealing with his oaths using the Alchemic Dao.
"You think too highly of my means," Wei Wuyin chuckled amusingly. Even though Wei Wuyin had ways to dissolve Mythical Oaths, there were bound to be unique ways for Resonant Soul Realm experts to maintain important oaths given the Alchemic Daos and other means to disperse oaths. However, unlike typical oaths, these oaths certainly had a price tag attached to them to grant them greater strength and security.
For example, something that amplifies the difficulty to overcome should one break given that, unlike Heavenly Oaths whose logic followed the will of the Heavenly Daos, an unpredictable arbiter in some cases, Mythical Oaths scaled with the oathsworn's cultivation base, and could therefore be interrupted by stronger individuals. For example, any Mystic Overlord could pay a small price to deal with a Mystic Star Phase cultivator's broken oath like Young Master Shang. It was just ineffective.
But what if you can elevate that scaling to be equal to all parties? If a Resonant Soul Realm expert was involved, what if the Mythical Oath was at that level for a mere Mystic Star Phase? A Mystic Overlord might as well just sit down at that point. As for Wei Wuyin's current Alchemic Dao, he wasn't skilled enough just yet to deal with such a terrifying oath. Perhaps when he entered the Heavenly Alchemic Saint.
"..." Young Master Shang was still a tad bit skeptical, glancing furtively at the absent-minded Tuo Bihan. Was he telling the truth? He genuinely didn't understand Wei Wuyin.
Softly sighing with a tinge of relief, Young Master Shang said: "If that's the truth, then I guess I'll tell you something important. The reason why this heavenly entity, this Shard of Heaven, being yin-aligned is heavily in your favor. If you dual cultivate with this heavenly entity in its initial state of birth, the benefits would be unquestionably greater. If you allow its power to settle within itself, and complete its transformation, your gains will be less. Think of it like primal yins.
"As for why the human form? Perhaps it has to do with the fact that humans cultivate a path closest to the heavens, while beasts cultivate their ancestral lineage. I don't really know, but that's my best guess. But that's perfect for you, y'know? After all, you wouldn't want to have to dual cultivate with a cattle or canine...right?"
Temptation.
Wei Wuyin could feel that every word from Young Master Shang's lips was temptation after temptation. A way to stimulate his hunger. The hunger drove him to seek out opportunities despite the risks. The hunger that maintained his Heart of Cultivation. The hunger that fueled his True Soul against all things heavenly, hell, and divine.
Splash!
A golden cocoon began to levitate out of the lake. It wasn't a large cocoon, roughly sufficient to comfortably house three or so average men, and there was a faint humanoid silhouette that was slender, with defined, feminine curves that caused Young Master Shang to drool a little. Just from the sight itself, his heart was racing so fast that the surrounding energies were stimulated into a mild frenzy while his eyes remained fixated.
The golden lake dimmed slightly, but it was no longer blue. It would never return to its original color or state, tainted heavily by the golden cocoon's aura. Wei Wuyin couldn't help but think of the short phrase: "Heavenly waters and earthly treasures."
Perhaps for the first time in his life, he was able to see the origin of the first half of that phrase.
"Don't move," Wei Wuyin stretched out his hand and held Young Master Shang's chest with his palm, interrupting his gathered energy to leap toward the cocoon. The action was simple, but it instantly gave Young Master Shang a harsh jolt and awakened from his stupor.
"I...I?" Young Master Shang blinked as he discovered that his flagon was on the ground, having been dropped earlier, and his soul was throbbing intensely with desire. Every fiber of his being was telling him to seize this cocoon, even fighting against his honed survival instincts given Wei Wuyin's absurd strength.
"Knock me out?" Young Master Shang pleaded as the feeling in his soul felt extremely uncomfortable and even painful.
Crack!
Before Wei Wuyin could respond, the cocoon began to fracture like a lightly tapped boiled egg, illustrious golden light, and a heavenly fragrance wafted out of the cracks and Young Master Shang could barely hold himself back. And then-
-BOOM!
An explosion erupted from the cocoon as fragments shot wildly into the distance. The fragments only reached a few hundred meters at most before being seized by spatial disruptions, all seized by Wei Wuyin. Not a single piece was spared.
"OH. MY. HEAVENS." Young Master Shang's eyes widened, surpassing his earlier peak achievement. The figure within the cocoon was fully exposed. She floated in mid-air, carried by the ambient mana as if she were a worshiped goddess. Her waist was slender and shapely, but not too slim. Her skin wasn't too white or too dark. Her chest was just the right enough of weight, shape, and size, while her face was unbearably perfect to the eyes, like a heart carved by the gods.
Her lips were not too full nor too slim. Her nose wasn't too big, too sharp, too round, or too small. Her legs, arms, belly, and neck had just enough muscle and fat, not too long or short, not too flat or meaty, and flawless without any unnatural blemish. Her hair wasn't too long or too short. The golden color of her hair wasn't too bright or too dull.
Her physical beauty was so excessive that it was hard to describe her with any other word than 'just right'. If there was a physical manifestation of perfection, then she was undoubtedly it.
Moreover, this feeling was shared by both Wei Wuyin and Young Master Shang. The latter's heart was immediately enamored as thoughts of rebellion began to rise, and an urge to fight tooth and nail for this woman swelled within his heart. And when her eyelids flickered as her eyes opened, exposing a pair of gorgeous golden irises that seemed to contain heaven itself while the center of which, her pupils, was like a galaxy of vibrant stars swirling endlessly within.
"What do you see?" Four words wormed through Young Master Shang's mind and briefly allowed him to regain his sanity, but he found his breathing ragged to an extreme. Even his muscles felt tense and his cultivation base urged to circulate with all its might. He was all to stake it all!
"Huh?" A swirl of confusion instantly besieged him as he eyed this undeniably perfect woman. Suddenly, panic suffused his gaze as he shouted out. "Wait! Something's not right!"
Meanwhile, Wei Wuyin was unable to think. This woman was flawless in the truest sense of the word. Every ounce of his body, mind, and soul, especially his lower half, was screaming to obtain this woman or yin-aligned heavenly entity. When Young Master Shang yelled, Wei Wuyin's heart felt a surge of panic.
"What is it?" He was already a few meters away from the golden-haired, golden and cosmic-eyed woman. He was on the verge of reaching out and seizing her. However, his caution cultivated over his lifetime was stimulated and brought his hand to an abrupt halt. The woman seemed to possess an entire galaxy within her gaze, and she was absently staring at Wei Wuyin with a gentle, warm expression that was as natural as a Solar Star's warmth.
Young Master Shang saw how close Wei Wuyin was to her and felt an indescribable discomfort in his chest, but those four words that echoed in his mind as if by the heavens themselves kept repeating and he maintained his sanity and restrained his greed. "Her body doesn't feel right. You sense it right?!"
Wei Wuyin's Celestial Eyes focused on the woman before him. Within half a second, his eyes widened. Then, the woman's body lurched in various directions. She began convulsing! The warmth in her eyes turned into violent and pity-inducing pain.
Wei Wuyin's hands slightly pulled back. What was happening? As he asked himself this question, Young Master Shang's panicked voice erupted outwards as if to provide him with a timely answer.
"Her body and soul aren't complete! She seems to be lacking all semblance of yang!" Young Master Shang shouted in urgency.
"What?" Wei Wuyin immediately noted that this near-flawless woman had a flaw! She only had yin energies, not the slightest trace of yang energies within her.
Young Master Shang immediately clenched his teeth as he seemed to have thought of the cause and solution within a single breath. "Something must have gone wrong with her transformation! It could be due to the prohibition around this galaxy! Whatever has happened, she needs to be given pure yang through the union of the soul or she'll die!"
After saying that, a flash of regret flickered through his eyes. He wasn't a virgin, so his Primal Yang wasn't pure enough to make up the difference. But this also meant that Wei Wuyin, who had numerous lovers, was also disqualified from being able to assist her!
Were one of his subordinates virgins? He clenched his fists so tightly that blood dripped from his palm. Even one might not be enough.
Young Master Shang was unaware that Wei Wuyin's Stellar-Paragon Physique gave him the purest Primal Yang as if he were one! An aspect of the Renewal Yang Quintessence he had added into the Paragon-Forging Pill! In fact, it would even work better than others! He could provide a potentially unlimited amount of pure yang essence.
He was the perfect candidate to fix her imbalance!
He was...the ONLY candidate in the entire Sky Heart Galaxy!
Moreover...if he dual cultivated with this woman whose yin was so unbearably pure, the benefits would be...
Her convulsions intensified!
Young Master Shang looked at Wei Wuyin desperately. What will he do?