Cultivation was broad and hard to define, possessing many different avenues, extremely diverse Daos, and great differences in approaches. Throughout Wei Wuyin's relatively short life, he had already experienced all sorts of cultivation paths. As for himself, he miraculously established a foundation that pursued a diverse set of unique Daos, granting him profound powers.
Orianna—an Alpha Origin Astral Soul; his first and oldest Spirit of Cultivation, which embodied the very first path that he decided to pursue—the path of Elemental Origin. Ori began as a Heart of Elemental Qi that evolved to possess the genesis and connectivity of all things, as lively and free as the first moment of the universe.
It was deeply entrenched into the Material Dao, representing the physical elements and existences within the universe.
King—an Omega Saber Astral Soul; his second Spirit of Cultivation that embodied his will of murder and annihilation. By its edge, Wei Wuyin had brought an end to all his grievances in life, striving to find life through its tyranny and seeking to protect himself. It was succinct and honest; the saber reflected an intimate will and ideology formed during his most vulnerable time; only with its edge did he maintain his sanity in the cruel, heartless, and cold world of cultivation.
It was deeply entrenched into Ethereal Dao, representing the imaginative elements of living beings born out of creativity and force of will within the universe.
Eden—an Alchemic Eden Astral Soul; his third Spirit of Cultivation that embodied the desire for freedom, family, and longing for something greater. It was born from an ancient existence of unknown age. It was reliably steady, thoughtfully considerate, and quietly warm.
It was deeply entrenched in two Daos—the Alchemic Dao and the Mind Dao. Through these two Daos, its limitations only existed as far as the imagination could go.
Kratos—a Void Dragon Astral Soul; his last and final Spirit of Cultivation that embodied an unrestrained vastness that existed without limitation. Whether it was time or space, there was nothing it couldn't exert its tyranny over. It possessed blood-boiling ferociousness, bone-deep haughtiness, and the utmost belief in itself. The swagger of a True Dragon was undeniable.
It was deeply entrenched in the Void Dao, encompassing space, time, astrological forces, and void energy. By its will, there was nothing that could hold it.
Each was formed by Wei Wuyin's Mind, Body, Essence, and Soul, and each represented an aspect of himself to an extreme. From lively innocence to bone-deep pride, they all resonated with Wei Wuyin's innermost and purest heart.
Original Dawn Palace.
Wei Wuyin was located in a spacious circular-shaped room, at the center of which he sat cross-legged atop a black and white circular yin-yang-designed praying mat, and laying on his lap was Element. He lifted his right hand to his glabella, forming a strange hand-seal, while his left hand was placed before his dantian, also forming a strange hand-seal. The two seals seemed to exude a type of unity, and through it, the three states of a cultivator—mind(top), body(middle), essence(bottom)—were profoundly connected with the cultivator as the spirit.
Star Core Phase!
The very pinnacle of the Mortal Realms!
While it was a pinnacle, an end to a cultivation path, it was the beginning of another. At this stage, a cultivator would pursue the world beyond the Mortal Realms—the Mystic Ascendant Realm governed by the Mystic Dao. It was an extremely difficult wall to ascend, an obstacle countless have failed to climb over despite many favorable conditions. Far too many souls have perished in pursuit of this extraordinarily god-like stage, and too few have succeeded.
Even in the World Beyond, where the conditions were several times better than in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, especially regarding legacies and guidance available, the success rate as a whole was more or less the same relative to both populations. This wasn't an absolute rule set by the Mystic Dao, simply that cultivators in this realm were given choices, unlike the Mortal Realms, and that freedom led to failure.
The Mortal Realms guided cultivators through it like a flowing river, pushing them through each stage, and as long as they could perceive the next stage's intricate insights, they could strive for it. At the beginning of Astral Core Realm, the last of the three Mortal Realms, the Mortal Dao would provide guidance in the form of the Mortal Star Formation Tribulation to those capable, enough to survive the next five tribulations and have a greater chance at passing the last three; they were Awakened Intent and World Heart Intent.
Unlike the deliberate guidance of the Mortal Dao, the Mystic Dao was merciless; it offered no tangible support to cultivators nor ushered them from one point to the next. Each Ascension was a fierce battle of life and death, and overestimating one's abilities and comprehensive insights often led to a tragic, disastrous end.
If the Foundation Establishment Realm was the Realm of Preparation, the Qi Condensation Realm was the Realm of Accumulation, and the Astral Core Realm was the Realm of Assimilation, then the Mystic Ascendant Realm could be considered the Realm of Ascension; there was nothing to accumulate or assimilate, only to prove one's insight and progress on the Mystic Dao's path.
If found incapable—death; if found capable—ascension. It was that simple, yet also profoundly difficult, overly complex, and insidiously terrifying to all who faced it.
Since Wei Wuyin began meditating, he had been actively circulating his Spiritual Sense internally to explore the depths of his Stellar-Paragon Physique's secrets and profound characteristics, assessing its level and traits.
The Neo-Dawn Paragon-Forging Pill had reformed his innate talents prior to reaching the Star Core Phase. Innate Talent could be divided into three parts: Meridians, Physique, and Psyche. While the Neo-Dawn Paragon-Forging Pill was classified by Wei Wuyin as a physique-establishment product, it was more of a talent-transformation product.
Innate talent was divided into several different categories; For example, the talent classification of Meridians was separated into five generalized categories and three specialized categories. These were: Absorption Rate of Essence, Energy Conversion of Essence, Speed of Outflow, Speed of Inflow, and Durability of Channels for the five generalized categories, and Affinity of Energy, Purity Filters, and Auto-Converters for three Meridian-specialized categories.
The quality of each determined the overall talent level of one's Meridians, and the same yielded true for Psyche and Physique, the three relating to Essence, Mental, and Physical Energies, respectively.
Wei Wuyin was currently testing the parameters of his newly forged innate talents. His gains from refining the Neo-Dawn Paragon-Forging pill were beyond miraculous. He lightly exhaled as his silver eyes gently opened.
"My Meridian, Psyche, and Physique can all be classified as Heavenly Chosen, the absolute limits of recorded innate talent." Wei Wuyin remarked softly, speaking to the Heavenly War Spirit.
"..." The Heavenly War Spirit remained silent. Despite her silence, Wei Wuyin could feel her trembling within his Sea of Consciousness. The Neo-Dawn Paragon-Forging Pill had worked unimaginable wonders, so much so that she was rendered speechless.
Wei Wuyin couldn't properly assess his talent before, so this was new. It was hard for those in the Mortal Realms to evaluate the Mortal Realms' level of talent, but after grasping Mortal Intent from forming his World-Bound Star Domain, he could acutely determine the talent of those in the Mortal Realms with relative ease, including himself.
However, he felt fairly confident that his talent was already at the Heavenly Chosen level before his Stellar-Paragon Physique formation thanks to the pill. If so, then his Stellar-Paragon Physique, when cultivated to its limits, might very well break the boundaries of his understanding of innate talent. After all, innate talents grew alongside one's Astral Physique; this was a commonly known fact.
"Heavenly Chosen-level talent is not the limit," the Heavenly War Spirit solemnly said with a rather deep, serious tone. Wei Wuyin wasn't too shocked by this information. She didn't explain the level that came after, "What else?" Her curiosity was leaking despite her solemness.
Wei Wuyin explained his other discoveries regarding his Stellar-Paragon Physique. First and foremost, the aura of inexhaustible eternity within his meridians and Sources, manifesting as a silvery glow, had explosively spread. Wei Wuyin's muscles, bones, and cells now contained that silvery glow. The glow was extremely prevalent throughout his entire body.
If the aura of inexhaustibility represented the quality that those with Renewal Physiques possessed, then Wei Wuyin's entire body had gained this quality. He felt that he'd never run out of blood and that he could regrow his body from the tiniest remaining portion. It was mystical; while Wei Wuyin wouldn't dare test the theory, if he had this while facing the Third Calamity, he wouldn't have needed to exhaust nearly as much refined lifeforce.
While he didn't dare be certain, Wei Wuyin felt that his physical body had touched upon a strange, divine concept of eternity. That said, it was limited to his physical body only; his Sea of Consciousness and Soul were still extremely vulnerable. Moreover, everything had a limit, so he didn't think that his physical body would survive the might of a powerful cultivator like those at the peak of the Mystic Ascendant Realm or greater.
"My Meridian's Auto-Converter has transformed; I can convert raw Mana into different forms of energy." Wei Wuyin had once realized that it was mana that assisted the renewal process of physiques, and this trait had affected his various Cultivated Sources, such as Primary Light Source, Primal Yang Source, and Bloodline Source.
These were fundamental energies of his body and cultivation, but raw energies such as various essence, physical, and mental energies were things he hadn't been able to do before. This was a heaven-defying revelation!
"You're saying you can convert mana into any type of energy? Physical? Even Mental?" The Heavenly War Spirit sought verification, and the disbelief in her voice was evident.
Wei Wuyin glanced at his hands with astonishment; the Stellar-Paragon Physique had elevated his goal of inexhaustibility to a whole other level! "As long as mana exists, I can recover all forms of energies!" The discovery wasn't just heaven-defying but outright heaven-toppling!
As long as Wei Wuyin had sufficient time, even in an Absolute Void Region lacking Essence, Energy, and Dao, as long as a form of mana existed, the literal glue of the world, he could replenish his strength to full. Why was this amazing, exactly?
Hell!
The Calamites of Hell lacked Essence and Energy!
Wei Wuyin continued: "I also don't feel any rejection or discomfort from the aura of Mysticism. Despite my Existential Framework still being at the mortal level, I can refine and convert Mystic-graded materials. I should be able to take Mystic-grade products! The benefits of being a Starlord! But it seems my affinity is even greater than expected!"
Wei Wuyin's eyes sparkled with a thought, and the light in his eyes grew heated. Was it possible?
"I might be able to absorb and refine an Ascended beings' Primal Yin! I might even be able to intermingle with a Mystic Ascendant's Yin Aura without exploding or tainting them!" Wei Wuyin exclaimed as he clenched his fists tightly. The benefits of a Primal Yin were indescribable. Bing Tian's Primal Yin had considerably helped his World-Bound Star Domain, exuding a uniquely pure mystic aura. But refining it into his World-Bound Star Domain and refining it into himself were two fundamentally different acts with very, very different results.
The beautiful visages and bodies of Yue Songli, Cao Cuifen, Liu Suyin, and Tian Lingyu flashed across his mind. The voracious light in his eyes grew indescribably intense. Who was aware of how much he had held himself back? Unwilling to take the Primal Yins of most of his lovers due to their Mortal States and consideration of their talents?
The pain and agony of having immortal beauties yet being unable to touch them out of personal consideration and selflessness was outright torturous. Almost as painful as the burning of Hellfire!
"That's not important!" The Heavenly War Spirit snorted; other males might applaud Wei Wuyin's priorities, but she ruthlessly disregarded them. "If you can refine mystic-graded products, then you should be able to cultivate mystic-graded methods! More importantly, your foundation is unprecedented, and the Echoing Stars of the Vastness Pills have more or less become insignificant to you. That is a 'pinnacle-tier' mortal-graded product! But to you, it's been reduced to mere candy that can barely satisfy those gluttonous spirits. Just in the Timelord Phase, you've taken hundreds of thousands of them to reach a peak, which took you years to do, most of which were transcendent-quality! This might be doable if you only had one Star Core, but…now, you have four Star Cores! Not to mention an unbelievably terrifying Astral Physique with a primary physique that's likely never been seen before and a World-Bound Star Domain that exceeds the Absolute-tier in size and might not be at its limit.
"If you want to achieve a perfect Astral Idol or four of them, the number of resources at the Mortal grade needed might take you decades, perhaps several centuries, to refine and concoct. But if you can refine Mystic-graded products…" She slowly stopped speaking as she allowed the implications to sink in.
Wei Wuyin was aware that the Heavenly War Spirit was telling the truth; the four Star Cores were only at their most initial stages in terms of Starforce quality, and his Astral Physique had to be cultivated to the Earth-Refined level to unlock the powers of an Astral Idol. If his past was any indication of required resources, it would be as difficult as escaping Hell or defying the heavens.
If he was restricted to mortal-grade products, that is.
"..."
