Paragon of Sin

"...Who are these two?" Atop the mountain peak, at the edge observing the scene below, a voice resounded with a baffled and uncertain tone. The voice originated from a tall man with a burly figure.

"..."

A distinctive silence engulfed the dozens of hooded figures, even those who belonged to the temple. The blind woman swept her sightless eyes towards Wei Wuyin and the young woman, her expression indeterminate. The fact not a single individual could answer was very telling, bringing the hooded figures to a greater silence, one filled with a solemn tension in the air.

Soon, the blind woman spoke, shattering the tense ambience. "It doesn't matter; they are rightful candidates of the Divine Lord's grace." Her words were met with a chanting utterance from a few hooded members, clearly members of the temple. They didn't care about background, but simply if these figures had the qualifications. Even if the person was an Evil Cultivator who slaughtered millions, these religious members wouldn't even blink in accepting the person as a Holy Child if they were qualified.

The twenty-something others were unsure how to respond to that. To have two individuals of unknown origins arrive exhibiting a level of success on the Stairs of Demi-Mortal Ascension far beyond the others was unheard of. The temple members merely cared about the Holy Ceremony, but these twenty-something figures were all the most elite powerhouses of the Desolate Lands, and they had to be mindful of the delicate climate of their world.

For two unknown geniuses to emerge, both of which were humans, was a startling discovery for the elves, especially considering the foretellings by the oracles that a Holy Son or Daughter had a very high chance of being discovered during this time. This would strengthen the humans further, pushing them into an even more desperate situation than now.

Wei Wuyin wasn't too bothered by him standing out like this. His intention was to always stand out, the more the better. He reached the 103rd step alongside the young woman, his Celestial Eyes inspecting the age-discerning pressure emitting from the stairs. When he did, his heart quaked suddenly at a discovery.

The young woman was quite young!

While she wasn't under the age of fifty, she was certainly not too far off. He thought about this for a second, recalling all the geniuses in the starfield, and he could only imagine Blessed having her cultivation base at her age. However, she didn't give him a feeling of being a Blessed.

This indicated that wherever the young woman originated from, the cultivation society was far, far more advanced than his own starfield, and her background was likely not small. But just as Wei Wuyin was shocked, the young woman was even more thunderstruck by him. She too could determine his rough age through the pressure, realizing he was younger than fifty.

'Who is he? He can't just be another Chosen Candidate of the True Element Sect!' She was in utter disbelief at Wei Wuyin's current showing, especially the quality of his Elemental Origin Intent. It was extremely polished and well within his control. She knew that Intent was based on comprehension, and two individuals who comprehended the same level of Intent were likely to not have the same level of control and strength.

This was clear by the nine candidates below heavily struggling to ascend the stairs while they had it relatively easy. This was especially so for Elemental Origin Intent, as it was defined by the quality of Intent mixed within it and their innate compatibility.

For example, she had comprehended her Elemental Origin Intent but only had three High-Level Intents: Desolate Earth Intent, Cyclic Water Intent, and Dark Metal Intent. The others below had only comprehended one high-level Intent, Desolate Earth, or they comprehended mid-level Intents that didn't contribute much. This was why the disparity was so massive.

But she now realized that Wei Wuyin's Elemental Origin Intent wasn't the slightest bit weaker than her own. When she thought about the struggles and bitter cultivation she had to go through to reach her current level of Intent, the numerous resources invested, she grew more and more curious at Wei Wuyin's possible origins.

'No wonder the old fox said he wouldn't act, wanting me to face him myself.' She thought for a moment before going even faster, arriving on the 104th step.

Wei Wuyin's own thoughts were similar. He was taking it slow, inspecting the others' Elemental Origin Intent, and realized their Intent was far, far weaker than his own. Even the young woman's Intent wasn't much. This was the first time he got a solid grasp on differences between Intent, never having a true foil to compare. Even when he watched Lin Ming fight, he wasn't able to truly measure the difference.

He had six high-level Intents, all of which were in the top ten, some even in top three, of all Intents in that respective element. For example, Violet Lightning Intent was very highly regarded, considered the hottest and most volatile lightning, easily within the top five of all Lightning Intent. As for Absolute Zero Ice Intent, it was very likely the strongest Ice Intent in existence.

This was what he felt.

When he thought about this, he faintly shook his head. No longer holding back, he urged his Elemental Origin Intent to its strongest limits, shooting past the young woman and dealing with the torrential flood of energies and desolate power with extreme ease, gathering them into two separate crystals with a thought. With no obstacles to speak of, the young woman could only gawk in surprise as he passed her.

In a few breaths of time, he arrived at the 158th step while the young woman was still on the 112th step, having already halted her movements as her mouth was agape with shock and utter disbelief. The others below felt something strange course through the air. They looked up to see the tall, imposing backside of Wei Wuyin's figure as he stood upright on the last step.

"..." There was silence throughout. Even the crowd went completely quiet, not a single whisper or murmur. The abrupt event left many unsure how to react. Their gazes fixed on Wei Wuyin's lone figure as he stood on that last step.

Wei Wuyin didn't mind the attention, keeping the crystals filled with elemental energies and desolate power. He lifted his gaze to see the hooded figures all staring at him, especially the blind woman whose gaze was a little odd. But when he saw her beautiful face up close, he couldn't help but find her quite pleasing to look at.

The blind woman gathered her bearings first, speaking to Wei Wuyin but her voice rumbled through True Desolate. "Young One, you have ascended the stairs, come to receive your Demi-Mortal Blessing and the right to become a Holy Child!" Her words were filled with a holy flavor as if she was bestowing Wei Wuyin a divine right.

Wei Wuyin faintly smiled, taking the final step and arriving at the edge of the mountain alongside the dozens of hooded figures. He felt their gazes on him, but not a single one used any of their spiritual sense or an ocular spiritual sense to inspect him. The lack of invasive actions made Wei Wuyin realize how serious they were taking this trial, not trying to allude to any hint of foul play.

Woosh! Wizz! Zum!

When he took that final step, a series of odd sounds emanated from beneath his feet, prompting him to look down and find a large runic ring encircling his feet. It rotated with multicolored light and gave off a peculiar radiance. Wei Wuyin inspected this with his Celestial Eyes, finding that it contained some pure energies he'd never seen before.

The energies within the runes started to undulate and expel outwards in a mist that glowed white. This was the so-called Demi-Mortal Blessing, and the mist was visible to all, giving off a similar feeling as the mountain itself. Wei Wuyin felt intrigued as the mist attempted to integrate within his body.

"Receive the Demi-Mortal Divine Blessing; receive your right!" The blind woman said passionately, informing Wei Wuyin to absorb the mist into himself.

Wei Wuyin's smile lifted higher as a result, looking at the blind woman for a moment before absorbing the mist without hesitation. He knew this glowing mist wasn't something bad. In fact, it could be considered amazing and extremely rare. Unfortunately, it didn't have much benefit to himself.

It was a unique material of heaven and earth he'd never seen but heard of called Boundless Essence Mist. It was described in a particular written recording of an old alchemist who sought to find various unique mists produced innately by the world. Unlike other materials used in alchemy, mist was a very delicate material, and many were under the assumption it couldn't be used as proper material in its mist state, that it had to be condensed into liquid or solid form beforehand.

But the old alchemist felt that this wasn't proper, that special mists wasn't just a byproduct of water or wind energies, but its own special existence like herbs, stones, or liquids. That they had unique properties that could be similarly extracted for optimal and amazing usage. It was a wild idea, almost completely against common sense, but he later made a concoction method that could use pure mist to concoct certain products, extracting these 'unique' qualities without harming the mist's foundation through conversion of state.

He had discovered and studied Boundless Essence Mist because it was said to be the byproduct of water and wind energies and dense astral essence, but he refused to believe that. He was right; Boundless Essence Mist was misunderstood and had unique properties beyond just pure astral essence, water and wind energies. It's state of existence was also special, akin to stones, liquids, and herbs that could store unique and unseen qualities.

This verified a principle in Alchemy that was accepted but not fully understood: Nothing was impossible.

Wei Wuyin absorbed the Boundless Essence Mist, storing it within his body, and 'receiving' the Demi-Mortal Blessing. After absorbing the mist, he was startled by the amount of Boundless Essence Mist there was. He frowned for a moment, then tapped his foot against the ground, a wisp of void force penetrated the ground beneath everyone's notice.

Afterwards, he relaxed. This Boundless Essence Mist unique property could concoct a theorized ninth-grade, low-tier pill. It was one of the few theorized ninth-grade products outside of the King of Everlore's verified recipes, named the Boundless Purity Pill. It was expected to be able to purify the body to an extreme limit, increasing one's affinity with elemental energies as well.

There was practically none in the present-day starfield after the old alchemist's experiments, so he was shocked to see it here.

While he received the Boundless Essence Mist, he saw a familiar figure arrive beside him. It was the young woman! She had a faint pout and solemn light in her eyes. She couldn't believe that Wei Wuyin had hidden himself so well.

She wasn't sure how many high-level Intents Wei Wuyin had comprehended, properly mixing with the other elemental Intents, but it was more than three.

Who was this guy?!