"Interesting," Wei Wuyin observed Bing Tian's riveting figure and spirit-like form. While she had sensual curves, an enchanting countenance, and an attractive aura that could stimulate any able-bodied male, Wei Wuyin was fixated on her current state of existence rather than any of those beguiling features.
"She's been distorted and altered," Bai Xiu softly whispered with a ripple of sadness in her voice. The explosive surge of icy power was evidence of her change—Bing Tian was no longer human.
At the level of her Existential Framework, she was transformed into a different type of entity by melding her soul, Mystic Soul, Sea of Consciousness, and Primal Yin into one. This was an entity that Wei Wuyin was all too familiar with—a Spiritform. However, she resembled Wang Yutian more than Bai Xiu or the Spirits of War. The former was a living organism transformed into a Spiritform, while the latter two were born as a Spirit of Dao and Spirits of Law, respectively; there were fundamental differences between the three. If Spiritforms had different races, they would be of three different ones.
"Who…are you?" Bing Tian soon discovered Wei Wuyin standing before her, calmly gazing at her. Her icy aura was moving rhythmically as if it was breathing. Each of her aura's breaths caused a layer of frost to form on the ground. At this point, early signs of snow were beginning to manifest.
"I'm Wei Wuyin of Red Dove City. Do you remember what happened to you?" Wei Wuyin properly introduced himself as his Celestial Eyes inspected every inch of Bing Tian. His eyes caused her to feel a little uncomfortable as her breathing aura became hectic, sending bursts of billowing frost throughout the courtyard.
Wei Wuyin's immediate area was untouched by the frost, a stark contrast formed with him as the center of the snowy world.
"What…what happened to me?" She moved her hands to touch her head as if she was suffering a form of headache. She no longer had a physical brain, but her Sea of Consciousness had melded and imprinted in her manifested form's glabella. "What happened to me? What happened to me! WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!"
She shrieked as her memories came rushing back. Wei Wuyin's eyes flashed with Alchemic Eden Force as he assisted the process. The Heretical Berserk Godsword had sealed her memories. If she had been handled by Yun Che, she would've become a shadow of her former self. As for her memories, they would be freely accessed by the sword at will.
This was a fate worse than death.
"She's a perfect Yin Cauldron for you," the Heavenly War Spirit pointed out. Bing Tian's current spirit-like body was forged from her Mystic Soul and Mystic Core, she was a Spirit of Cultivation, and her Primal Yin Source was intact alongside her other foundations of cultivation. In the Heavenly War Spirit's eyes, Bing Tian was the perfect Yin Cauldron!
In her current state, her entire cultivation base was perfectly consolidated. One of the ways for an Ascended female to Dual Cultivate with a mortal was by consolidating their entire cultivation and funneling it into the mortal's body, thereby crippling their cultivation, but all of their gains and insights would be the mortal male's.
Some elite clans and organizations in the World Beyond often cultivated Yin Cauldrons at the Ascended level for their future male descendants. Guan Yin had once envied Wei Wuyin with how a Demi-Mortal Lord virgin had so easily offered herself to him.
Now, Bing Tian was the perfect Yin Cauldron for which powerful forces would fight.
"Don't hesitate!" The Heavenly War Spirit urged. She knew the extreme value of a Demi-Mortal Lord like Bing Tian, especially given that she cultivated a unique Cultivation Method that enhanced her Primal Yin. She was perfect.
Wei Wuyin ignored the Heavenly War Spirit, continuing to assist Bing Tian in regaining her memories slowly, trickling them in so that she wouldn't become overwhelmed by her thousands of years of life. It took an hour before her turbulent breathing aura settled down, and her eyes which were once simply effusing an icy chill, revealed a wisp of intelligence, sorrow, and shock.
"I…was killed," Bing Tian softly muttered. She slowly lifted her gaze to find Wei Wuyin once again looking at her, his gaze extremely calm, and she now realized who he was. How could she not? That handsome face was unforgettable! Moreover, his bearing was impeccable, exerting a unique presence that felt as if he was the center of the world. "Wei Wuyin…"
"Seems like you remember. I'll first say this: I did not kill you. But I also don't have the means to undo your current state." Wei Wuyin honestly started the conversation with the truth. Not even the alternative version of himself knew much about Spiritforms, and while there were ways to create them, the method to undo their transformation wasn't so simple.
Right now, Bing Tian could no longer be considered human. She was more of a sentient Spirit of Cultivation than a human, and she couldn't cultivate either. She was, however, practically immortal as long as she wasn't destroyed.
"I…" Bing Tian looked at her sky-blue skin and hands, touching her body, and realized she could no longer discern her body heat. She no longer felt as if she had lungs, she lacked a physical brain, and her heart no longer existed. "I…I…I…" Her pupils shrunk and began to shake violently as she held her head and swayed back and forth.
Wei Wuyin's eyes once again surged with seven-colored lights. While he could help settle her emotions, preventing a complete breakdown, she had to overcome her current mental dilemma herself. If she couldn't, he might have to reseal her emotions. It wasn't easy to reconcile with your mind that you were not only killed, but you were no longer a living entity anymore.
Shockingly, Bing Tian's mental energies stabilized faster than Wei Wuyin expected, roughly taking ten or so minutes. Her eyes blazed with seething killing intent as she focused on Wei Wuyin. But the killing intent wasn't directed at the silver-eyed alchemist but at the one who killed her! Who turned her into this…THIS MONSTROSITY!!
"You're not his match in your current state. More importantly, I have a few questions for you." Wei Wuyin decided to get down to business, not wanting to delay his return to the Solar Star project for much longer. Every passing minute drastically cost him, so he didn't wish to tarry here.
"Questions?" Bing Tian's eyebrows lifted. "Why should I answer your questions?!" There was a latent rage, undirected but present. She was angry, and she should be. She was killed.
"..." Wei Wuyin stared at Bing Tian. The two exchanged a long look, and the aura grew gradually tense and stifling. Bing Tian felt her mind stir as a growing sensation of deadly crisis began to permeate her current existence. Wei Wuyin's gaze was telling, and there was an undercurrent of killing intent within.
Eventually, Bing Tian exhaled an icy mist. "You saved me, I can answer a few questions. I'm not ungrateful." Despite saying this, her tone was rife with a lingering fear. While facing this mortal, she felt unimaginable pressure. She couldn't describe it. Moreover, she felt contradictory in her heart. Why should she believe that Wei Wuyin saved her? That he didn't kill her?
But her mind had branded the memory of the hulking sword that claimed her life. She knew that her killer was that Evil Cultivator at the edge of the Chaosnova. That person was different from Wei Wuyin, and while it could be an agent of his, it didn't seem too likely, given that he had no reason to lie. She considered herself intelligent enough to realize and take into consideration her circumstance.
If Wei Wuyin simply wanted to interrogate her, he could've dangled her resurrection in front of her or told her a lie that would make her desperate for salvation. However, he was honest and upfront with his identity and purpose from the very beginning.
He wasn't negotiating for her salvation, simply seeking repayment for saving her from whatever that person intended to do with her, especially given she was transformed into this strange…state.
Wei Wuyin gradually receded his pressuring aura and smiled. If Bing Tian remained obstinate, he would unhesitatingly move toward unsavory information extraction methods. However brutal they would be. "It seems I didn't misjudge you. The Heavenly World Cores that you obtained at the site of the Chaosnova, where are the other two?"
"..." Bing Tian silently clenched her jaws. "I can't. I'm under a Mythical Oath that forbids me from telling others."
"You've been refined. You're no longer the same Bing Tian as before, and you possess no Mythical Oath seeds within you. None." Wei Wuyin's Celestial Eyes inspected Bing Tian thoroughly, and she was a fresh existence, completely absent of seeds or marks. Her life talisman would've shattered due to this.
The outside world would think that she was completely dead. The Heretical Berserk Godsword's unique refinement of her caused everything not of her to be filtered out entirely.
"What?" Bing Tian was shaken into speechlessness. Then, her eyes grew emotional as a spiritual liquid formed at the edge of her eyes. She was subconsciously emulating herself on the verge of crying. Eventually, she closed her eyes, and those tears receded.
It was a reality that she had to accept. "Is there no way for me to return? Temporal Reversion?" Bing Tian asked quiveringly.
"Cultivation is endless, and the Dao of Alchemy is limitless; there's always a way. However, your current state is due to a unique power called an Authority of Law. I don't know the exact Law used, but it makes everything more difficult, if not outright impossible, for conventional methods. At least, for those in this sealed world." Wei Wuyin answered truthfully, not trying to give Bing Tian false hope.
However, his words inspired a glimmer of hope regardless. "So there is a way!" She resolved herself to believe this, the only consolation she could find to prevent herself from breaking down.
"I was killed because of this Heavenly World Core, so I don't care what happens to those two." A trace of vindictiveness that made women horrifying leaked out, and Bing Tian held nothing back: "I was recruited by San Yongli of the San Clan, adopted daughter of San Luoyang, the Grand Secretariat of the Everlore Association, alongside Highlord Spiritwalker for a task. Should we succeed, we could quietly obtain the Heaven Relic, owning a tenth of it, and use it to pursue greater heights in cultivation.
"I knew it had massive risks, but I accepted it regardless. San Yongli's initial payment was simply impossible to refuse. Moreover, we had the right to retreat if we deemed it too dangerous. Given this, we both accepted her conditions and arrived at the location of the Chaosnova."
"It was premeditated?" Wei Wuyin's brows furrowed slightly.
"Yes, San Yongli knew that the Chaosnova would explode, and leave those Heavenly World Cores behind. At first, however, she only mentioned one. Instead, a black-robed cultivator had extracted three."
"Wait," Wei Wuyin halted Bing Tian here. He realized there were various oddities throughout this detailed recounting. "San Yongli was there on the eve of the Chaosnova? And the black-robed figure, he was the same one who killed you?"
Bing Tian hatefully nodded, "Yes."
"You said she expected one? Not three?" Wei Wuyin probed a little more.
"Mhm. Miss Yong-I mean, San Yongli was quite panicked after seeing the black-robed figure with three. She didn't seem to expect him to have them. Because of that, she ordered us to attack him and stop the black-robed figure from leaving."
"Was that always part of the plan?" Wei Wuyin's eyes brightened considerably.
Bing Tian shook her head, "Our objective was to enter into the spatial chaos of Chaosnova using a unique tool that San Yongli provided us to extract the Heavenly World Core. But the black-robed figure clearly took all the Heavenly World Cores inside the spatial chaos, so San Yongli used the muscle she hired. We nearly died there, but the black-robed figure ran out of energy after using that strange, terrifying sword of his and fled while leaving the Heavenly World Cores behind."
"..." Wei Wuyin's eyes continued to grow increasingly bright.
"Actually, the entire operation felt strange." Bing Tian recalled with ample suspicion in her tone.
"Strange?" Wei Wuyin's ears perked.
"Yeah. San Yongli was aware of the item the black-robed figure used and seemed to be keenly aware of his presence. She had us wait until the black-robed figure left. No, actually, she explicitly said to wait until he left before we went in, now that I recall. It was as if she knew he was going to enter and who he was, but she didn't expect him to take the three.
"ALSO! She was extremely familiar with his weapon, but when we tried probing her, she merely said that she had been tracking him, but she didn't know who he was or where we could find him. It was a contradiction that I ignored because we gained far more than what she originally offered, as if she was protecting him." Bing Tian began to highlight the suspicious points. The more she thought, the greater her hate for San Yongli.
"..." Wei Wuyin's hands were slightly quivering, and his Astral Souls were riled up while throbbing fiercely.
"Hao Meifen, Long Gua, Yi Mingxa, Yi Yun, Wan Lanying, San Yongli, Lin Tian, and Yang Yongzheng."
One of them was…!
"You now have a choice, Inheritor of Sin! Affecting time is a form of self-mutilation by the Heavenly Daos; it is wounded! An opportunity and misfortune for us sinners! Those reincarnated are Blessed and protected with massive amounts of karmic luck, but their foreknowledge of events leaves you in a vulnerable state. You can kill the reincarnated, taking their karmic luck value and the piece of damaged Heavenly Dao for yourself, or allow them to live!
"However, be warned! Even with all the Karmic Luck stolen or gained from the Calamities of Hell, they can kill you! You will not be warned nor helped by the Heavenly Daos, but they will know of you, of your 'possible' future, of your 'possible' opportunities! And they will be able to claim your luck as their own; even those similarly favored will be at risk! Do not become a victim."
ONE OF THEM WAS…!
Yun Che, this Evil Blessed, was a victim.
"We found her," Wei Wuyin smiled.
…the Temporal Reincarnator.
