Chapter 1812 Chapter 1805: Disinterested
Chapter 1812 Chapter 1805: Disinterested
Seeing Su Yi awaken, Yue Baoyue's pallid complexion regained a little pinkish vigor. Her exhausted body perked as she slowly said, "You're safe." Those words were spoken gently, lovingly, and warmly. Those words caused the weak sword aura on the verge of flaring within Su Yi's body instinctively to weaken in response, awareness slowly blooming within his mind as he was welcomed by the sight of a pale and beautiful Yue Baoyue whose eyes beheld the enchanting shine of bewitching jewels. "Wh-where am I?" Su Yi was wrecked by an insidiously bone-deep, pounding, and soul-piercing pain, yet he gathered sufficient strength to speak hoarsely. They were in a large bedroom decorated with warm colors, homely and effusing a calming aroma in the air, likely belonging to the flowers scattered about. Unable to send out his Soul Perception-esque spell or Spiritual Sense, he could only gleam a tiny understanding of the profound qualities of the room, but Su Yi knew that it was all unordinary. Whether it was the walls, the bed, the flowers, or the warm light that emanated from a few lamps, emitting mystic-grade solar light as if they contained tiny Solar Stars for light bulbs.
"We're…" Yue Baoyue hesitated for a bit, then said: "We're in the Original Dawn Palace." "..." Su Yi's eyes widened slightly. He wanted to inspect his body with every ounce of his strength, but Yue Baoyue placated him with a gentle touch, placing his rising upper body back down. He couldn't resist even the tiniest of her strength. This was the weakest he'd ever felt. "Don't worry, everything's okay." Yue Baoyue informed without any deception in her tone. She found Su Yi's weak and vulnerable state quite interesting, so unlike the casual invincibility that he exuded every day since they met.
"You don't understand," Su Yi weakly said. He was aware of the secrets within his soul and body, and even Worldly Saints would kill for them, let alone a supreme existence like a Resonant Soul Realm. He had revealed his powers earlier, so he expected the worst, and his only hope was for that figure to come in and secure him. "I might not understand, but I know that World-Saint Neo-Dawn has already ensured your safety," Yue Baoyue smiled as if she was finally aware of something Su Yi wasn't. Under Su Yi's confused and shocked gaze, she explained what happened after he took the sixth Mythical Punishment. She hesitated on whether to inform him of the price she had paid to acquire these seven days of reprieve, but she did so anyway. It was a cauldron. She did, however, hold back on informing him that she was being tended to and observed by Pakhet, who delivered some high-quality Mystic-Earth graded products that could assist in repairing her damaged soul, Sea of Consciousness, and Mind's eye. During that stay, she realized this one-sided gesture had some unsaid implications. She recalled her previous offer to give Wei Wuyin anything she wanted, and when Pakhet delivered an indescribably beautiful and enchanting dress decorated in glittering gems and jewels, enough to awe the world on any woman, but perhaps enough to bewitch gods and ghosts on her, she had a faint idea as to what Wei Wuyin wanted. At times, she would blush to herself as she recalled the tight-fitting body-conforming dress that accentuated every blessed feature she had. She didn't know why either. She didn't refuse the dress, shocking even herself. She mentally reasoned with world-class thought-based gymnastics that she didn't have the right to refuse. When she wore it, her heart was roused with intense, uncertain emotions as she realized it was an alchemic tool with each crystal imbued with Grade Three Utmost Purity Mist with a large crystal at her bosom containing the legendary, unfathomably rare Grade Four Utmost Purity Mist. Her heart pounded when she learned of this as using this artifact while concocting would certainly bolster her success rate and quality, just by the basis of the ambient diffusion formation imbued within the dress. Moreover, there was a yin-stimulating formation within, designed for females, and this could assist in unique forms of preparation, such as prior to dual cultivation! Su Yi listened. "Seven Days? How long has it been?" "Only two days," Yue Baoyue answered, returning her thoughts to Su Yi. "Two days…" Su Yi slightly moved and winced slightly. At the sixth punishment, he had ignited his Mystic Soul and Mystic Physique, boosting his strength to the utmost, yet the elusive comprehension of Void Sword Intent evaded him to the very end. "Temporal Acceleration?" Yue Baoyue shook her head. "Your body and soul has been infused with a type of energy that interferes with abnormal flows of time and states of space, doing so would cause it to stir, likely…"
"Killing me?" Su Yi finished with a pair of sharply narrowed eyes. This meant that unless he expelled this energy from the Mythical Punishment, he wouldn't be able to enter accelerated states of time or execute spatial shifting without suffering an explosive, lethal backlash. If not, he could recover much faster. "..." Yue Baoyue remained silent. Su Yi sighed once again after thinking for several minutes. He closed his eyes. This was the Original Dawn Palace…
"In seven days, I fear that World-Saint Neo-Dawn will take action against me," Su Yi openly stated his thoughts, causing Yue Baoyue to start. They were within the Original Dawn Palace, it was expected that they didn't have any true sense of privacy, and every word and action was closely watched by others. "...!" Yue Baoyue gulped. She resolved within her heart before declaring out loud, "I won't let him." Su Yi wasn't the ignorant sort, and he instantly understood Yue Baoyue's intentions to sacrifice herself. "Foolish little girl, you think I'd let you sell yourself to save me?" He chuckled weakly, opening his eyes to view that dazzling beauty with his own eyes. Seeing her stay by his side through all this with such a staunch will, his stone-like heart that hadn't developed in tangible or intimate feelings was gradually changing and softening. "Since you're watching while enjoying the show, you might as well show yourself! I have questions," Su Yi exclaimed to the ceiling. Yue Baoyue was taken aback. Then, as if not even trying to conceal her existence, Pakhet opened the door with cold, indifferent eyes. She was outside the entire time, and yes—she was observing the situation. She was tasked with ensuring Su Yi remained alive by Wei Wuyin, so she had to eavesdrop. She glanced at Yue Baoyue who stood up with languid movements before greeting, "Sage Pakhet." She then explained, "Su Yi, she's been watching over us. Sage Pakhet is the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Saint's Alchemic Knight. She's been tasked with ensuring you stay alive. She's already told me that she would be watching." "..." Su Yi frowned slightly. It seemed that there was no underhanded surveillance happening, yet he still couldn't feel comfortable. "She didn't touch you directly, and has already sworn an oath to not act against you or me with any intent to harm, enslave, or probe into our secrets while here," Yue Baoyue felt the need to justify Pakhet's presence. "Did you need something?" Pakhet flatly asked. She didn't find it demeaning to babysit Su Yi and Yue Baoyue. As Wei Wuyin's Alchemic Knight, her primary duty was to cultivate and act on behalf of her Alchemist's will as a trusted and competent proxy. Su Yi's frown lessened slightly. "It's rare for an Alchemic Knight to be so late in age, especially if their cultivation base is lower than their Alchemist. You must be extraordinary for him to do so," he had some understanding of their soul-linked cultivation method and found it quite strange that Pakhet was an Alchemic Knight. "..." Pakhet didn't respond. If only Su Yi knew that Wei Wuyin's cultivation base and age were significantly lower than anything he'd imagined, not only was he at the Mystic Star Phase playing equally on the board with Resonant Soul Realm powerhouses, but he wasn't even two hundred years old yet! When she learned of this, her heart and mind nearly tethered on the verge of collapse via shock!
"I guess he has his reasons," Su Yi said before getting to his main topic of inquiry: "What does your master want from me?" Yue Baoyue's hand tightened.
Pakhet, shockingly, gave Wei Wuyin a very derisive expression that was laced with thinly veiled suppressed laughter. "From you?" It was as if saying that if Wei Wuyin wanted something from him, he would already have it. She didn't continue as her eyes and facial expression regained an indifferent state, "If you have nothing else, I'll be outside." She was ready to leave.
Su Yi, for the first time in this life, was genuinely and unexpectedly baffled. "You think I'm an idiot? Your master surely wants something from me."
Pakhet's voice became icy cold, "You think far too highly of yourself. If anything, he's more interested in Miss Yue than you." The disdain was abundantly clear, unmissable by any pig or bug.
Yue Baoyue's eyes widened to their utmost limits as she recalled the dress. Su Yi turned to Yue Baoyue to see a flush in her pale cheeks, and he was unable to understand anything anymore. He held great secrets. Countless sought him for them, and even more would kill for it, yet this starry-eyed foreigner didn't care about him in the slightest? He didn't believe it. "You really are ignorant," Pakhet shook her head, seeing that Su Yi didn't understand. She had speculated that Wei Wuyin was like the speculation surrounding Su Yi, a reincarnator of some sort, but that had all ceased when she was assigned to Su Yi, and Wei Wuyin directly said he wasn't. He also warned her to not delve into or greed for these secrets. It was unnecessary.
Su Yi was unable to speak.
"Miss Yue," Pakhet looked at Yue Baoyue and clasped her hand respectfully before departing, showcasing that Su Yi was genuinely unworthy of her or Wei Wuyin's interest. Yue Baoyue, however, was on a higher totem pole than him. Yue Baoyue nodded, accepting Pakhet's departure. An awkward air developed in the room. Her entire worldview of Su Yi's all-knowing, ever-mysterious existence suffered a devastating blow as she realized that her own existence was at an equal or higher level to true experts. This quietly made her heart jump with joy. Su Yi was unable to fathom it. He was called ignorant? HE?! But given that he'd been here for two days, seeing how not a single supreme existence stirred up any trouble, he couldn't help but feel as if the depths he had explored in both lives were shallow. Was the secrets of samsara and karma genuinely so insignificant? He couldn't think straight and decided to rest. That was all he could do anyhow.
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Wei Wuyin sat at the edge of his bed. Two exhausted, thoroughly satisfied, and slumbering beauties were in each other's arms behind him, as naked as the day they were born, enjoying each other's and the sheets' warmth with peaceful expressions.
The room was shrouded by a temporal acceleration zone with a single day-to-week ratio. Sending his perception into his Sea of Consciousness, Wei Wuyin manifested as an incarnation. He gave the Palace of Eden a look. It was engulfed by a dense mist that couldn't be seen through, only the top and bottom portions were exposed, and they gleamed with a scholarly light that was almost blinding.
Since his ascension, since his Magi lineage acceptance, his Second Mind has only communicated or come out in critical times, spending the vast majority of its efforts delving into its studies in unrestrained bliss. This was the type of life his Second Mind loved the most—incessant and eternally growing knowledge.
It was obsessive. In truth, Wei Wuyin was no different, but his focus was on cultivating, surviving calamities, scheming against galaxies and supreme existences, preparing for an extragalactic war that he intended to win, and satisfying his women. What a difficult life.
If only he could study peacefully. Wei Wuyin set aside his duality of envy and happiness fueled by ambitions and achievements as he reached Eden. He found the guarded Mind's Eye that led to his soul and went in. The radiant warmth of Little Defiant was immediately felt. This was its home. It was currently sending thin streams of finger-like solar essence downwards. Beneath it were two cauldrons that were enveloped by those finger-like streams as one of them was gently caressed. The Neo-Dawn Ascension Cauldron and the Pure Utmost Cauldron. The latter was Yue Baoyue's soul-bound cauldron! It was severed from her soul and now rested within Wei Wuyin's Mind's Eye, not linked to anything in particular. The milky white Neo-Dawn Ascension Cauldron, Bai Xiu's physical body, was rumbling slightly as the white mist was expelled from the surface of the Pure Utmost Cauldron.
"Are you okay?" Wei Wuyin asked as he neared both cauldrons. Bai Xiu didn't immediately respond. Instead, he received short bursts of communicative solar flares from Little Defiant, gaining a rough understanding of events. When Bai Xiu neared the Utmost Purity Galaxy, she felt something here, but she didn't know what. Then, during the Knightly Dao Pavilion's trifecta, Bai Xiu was abnormally active. It was only after seeing Yue Baoyue that she went ballistic with excitement as if finding the source of all her earlier feelings. Wei Wuyin used his Celestial Eyes' Soul Perception to immediately locate the source—another cauldron. It was bound to Yue Baoyue's soul, tethered to her Existential Framework, and unless she was willing to remove it herself, it was an impossible feat for someone like him—a non-Resonant Soul Realm or Enlightened Sage cultivator. Killing her would cause the cauldron to vanish altogether, likely following her True Soul to the cycle of reincarnation. Of course, her willingness was secondary, a similar existence was primary. Bai Xiu had instinctively knew how to extract the cauldron from Yue Baoyue's Existential Framework and soul, but she needed to enter both, which was undeniably risky as she was a Spirit of Dao, and she could dissolve from the stupendous latent power of a True Soul. Fortunately, things worked out as Wei Wuyin leveraged Su Yi's life for Yue Baoyue's willingness. A little bit of mental influence that was built up subtly and progressively through his smile, infusing a seed of severity within her mind that sprouted upon its ending, was just enough to push it over the edge. It was quite a bit of planning. Fortunately, Grand Seer Rippledark's scheme infused guilt into Yue Baoyue as well, and subjected Su Yi to the punishment. He was expecting to come in as a savior to Yue Baoyue but Su Yi worked perfectly. While the original plan was somewhat different, with a greater chance of failure, seizing unexpected opportunities was his forte. The design of the Pure Utmost Cauldron was similar to the Pure Excellence Cauldron and Neo-Dawn Ascension Cauldron, mostly because their design was shaped in Bai Xiu's most comfortable and compatible physical body after some purposeful remodeling. After a while, Bai Xiu's strained voice resounded outward from the Neo-Dawn Ascension Cauldron, "I'M OKAY!"
Wei Wuyin observed quietly. The Pure Utmost Cauldron shocked him. Within it, he saw a small-sized Bai Xiu in a fetal position, hugging her legs tightly. It was quite small but larger than her original appearance back in the Pure Excellence Cauldron which was no larger than a children's marble. This Bai Xiu was about a baby's fist in size, considerably larger, yet in comparison to his Bai Xiu, which was almost half the size of a girl her age, this was a vast difference. Wei Wuyin was shaken to the core. There were two Bai Xius! Moreover, they existed galaxies away from each other.
But then he thought about Bai Xiu's past. She had said she was a part of the concoction process that conceived the Echoing Stars of the Vastness Pill, but her memories were muddy and missing. She was a Spirit Dao that was the size of a marble but Wang Yutian was the size of an ordinary person. Throughout the decades of his concoctions, which simultaneously acted as nourishment and cultivation for Bai Xiu, she had grown, shrunk, and grown. Thinking from a different perspective, Bai Xiu's Pure Excellence Cauldron was designed for Tian Xiaolu by the Heavenly Daos, and she was bound to leave the Ancient Sealed Regions, likely traveling across the galaxies as well. Perhaps…this was one of the most nascent, calculated machinations of the Heavenly Daos designed for some extraordinary Blessed.
Yue Baoyue wasn't a Blessed, but she was connected to Su Yi whose karmic luck value had almost touched upon 100,000 at least, so this likely was the Heavenly Daos' plan too. Who knew it's end goal? Wei Wuyin had certainly accelerated something too by bringing a significantly larger Bai Xiu. From what he could deduce, Bai Xiu was assimilating her other tiny form and the cauldron into the Neo-Dawn Ascension Cauldron. Moreover, her strain wasn't akin to the difficulty of lifting something heavy but like trying to stuff her mouth with incredibly spicy food at once and resisting the heat on her tongue. She wasn't in any danger.
Perhaps if she was weaker, there might be some epic fight or clash of Spirits of Dao, but this was one-sided, and the other Bai Xiu wasn't resisting at all.
What was Bai Xiu's origins?