The changes of the world were as unstoppable as the passing of a single second. That feeling echoed in the mind of every living thing within the Ancient Sealed Regions as lamentations and exclamations of the Neo-Dawn Defiance Era dawned on them. The rise of the Neo-Dawn Empire, the fall of the Imperial Clan, the violent arrival of foreigners, and so much more had happened within the short period of a few decades.
And all of it could be linked to a single existence: Wei Wuyin, the Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn, the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Saint, and the strongest mortal cultivator beneath the heavens.
However, what other changes will unfold? The beginning of this era was bound to bring more!
Kree!
Vermilion Graveyard.
Wei Wuyin briefly met with Bai Lin and Wei Si as the former was gleefully showcasing the Tang Clan's subservient attitudes. After retrieving two Prime Ascendants and keeping Zuhei in his Saint Ring for further cultivation, Wei Wuyin needed to confirm something with Bai Lin before going forward.
Bai Lin's strength was astonishing, and her natural height was almost thirty-three feet, a physical indicator that her bloodline had been pushed to an extreme limit, on the precipice of her Third Nirvanic Transformation. Her current cultivation and physical appearance had been instantly noticed by Su Nianzu and Jia Yang, and their reaction could be described in a single word: "Somber!"
After consuming that feather of an ancient Fire Phoenix that was at the Third Nirvanic Rebirth Realm, Bai Lin had undergone great changes. However, coming to the Vermilion Graveyard absorbing the ambient bloodline energies, and digesting the various fruits born from the environment, her changes became more extraordinary. These factors alongside Wei Wuyin giving her a seemingly endless supply of raw mystic-graded materials and first-rate quality products left her stuffed.
As a Genesis Beast, her cultivation was straightforward. She had two parts: Bloodline Elevation and Bloodline Excavation. The former was using materials, chaos mana, and other beasts, to strengthen one's bloodline to strive to reach closer to the Ancestral Level. The latter was slowly pondering on the nuances and principles of her Unique Intent of her instinctively known bloodline abilities.
Wei Wuyin followed that exact path with Kratos. Aside from his spiritual Cultivation Base, Wei Wuyin's body required bloodline energies and the excavation of his power. While Wei Wuyin could have kept it simple and used the Infinite Void Wings to simply traverse the Void with his physical body, he instead delved into the depths and devised creative and exceptional ways to deploy Void Images, Void Anchors, and even conjure Void Portals.
Bai Lin's path was similar. With the Neo-Dawn Vortex-Zone Pellet or the assistance of any Ascended being willing to expend their mystic powers and potentially their lifespan, she could rapidly cultivate by ingesting and digesting in these spaces of accelerated time and using her time where she's not eating to contemplate her abilities, even test them out if the zone itself was stable enough.
When Wei Wuyin checked in, he wanted to test the current stage of Bai Lin's cultivation. She wasn't at the Third Stage of the Nirvanic Rebirth Realm, but she was at the absolute apex of that stage, perhaps even a transcendent level.
According to debonair Wei Wuyin's knowledge of Fire Phoenix lineages from the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone's history, phoenixes who would undergo their first Nirvanic Rebirth had a strength between the ninth stage of the Astral Core Realm and the first stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm. The second Nirvanic Rebirth granted strength between the second stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, the Soul of Mysticism Phase, and the third stage, the Demi-Mortal Lord Phase. The third Nirvanic Rebirth was usually at the fourth stage, the Earthly Saint Phase initially, and then the fifth stage, the Worldly Saint Phase at full maturity.
This was merely the "common" Phoenix standard. This could be seen by how a mature third Nirvanic Rebirth Realm's Fire Phoenix feather could exert Earthly Saint levels of power as a refined armament.
However, despite not fully excavating her power and being extremely young, Bai Lin's second Nirvanic Rebirth had initially granted her the power of an ordinary Demi-Mortal Lord. She was as abnormal as Wei Wuyin! She currently had the strength to contend with Worldly Saints at merely the peak of the second Nirvanic Rebirth.
It was obvious that Wei Wuyin's over-stuffing tactics of alchemical products and high-level mystic-graded materials were enough to place her on an unprecedented path. It might even have to do with how she first awakened as a Fire Phoenix all those years ago, but her upper limit was considerably higher than 'common' phoenixes.
After doing a quick inspection, Bai Lin's bloodline was seething incessantly within her, and an obscure call that felt incredibly whispers of an indistinct language, beckoning Bai Lin onwards, emanated from her cells and Nirvanic Flames Intent. Something ancient was urging her to begin her third Nirvanic Rebirth.
Wei Wuyin could also tell that her cells were beyond their limits. Her body, in a way, was wishing for death. Despite her cheerful smiles and playfulness, Bai Lin was experiencing something very similar to how he felt when his Spiritual Strength reached a certain point and his eyes couldn't handle it, but for her, it was manifesting as heart-rending, soul-tearing pain.
He had felt the instability in her aura when she transformed earlier and this made him rather worried. He left the task of finding a solution to his Second Mind, and that hard-at-work bookworm that was content with studying the world and exploring its mysteries had just recently concluded on the topic. It discovered only one solution he was comfortable with: Breakthrough!
She needed to ascend her bodily limits and expand her body's natural limits. Unlike Wei Wuyin, whose ascensions only came with 'greater' degrees of Spiritual Strength and therefore only exacerbated the issue, Bai Lin's rebirths were particular in that her 'deaths' and 'revivals' evolved her bloodline and body in accordance with her foundation.
She was on an unprecedented path for sure. A second Nirvanic Rebirth Realm Fire Phoenix with the strength of a World Emperor was likely unheard of. Moreover, at her age. The difference between Demi-Mortal Lord and Worldly Saint was far greater than just 'two stages'. The difference was indescribable. Demi-Mortal Lord and Earthly Saint were already a chasm, where a cultivator goes from the lower-stages to the middle-stages, and the difference between Earthly Saint and Worldly Saint was even worse considering the gaps widened with each cultivation stage.
"How long will it take? Can you speed it up?" Bai Lin asked as Wei Wuyin lay against a willow tree with leaves that shone a fiery scarlet light. Bai Lin's question was laced with an unwillingness. The Nirvanic Rebirths she underwent took her to the Void where she was subjected to a mysterious transformation and infusion of ancestral power, awakening her latent bloodline abilities and transforming her body and soul.
"I could." Wei Wuyin sighed. Her build-up this time was explosive, but in truth, her original time wasn't supposed to be nine months. According to Deonair Wei Wuyin's memories, the Fire Phoenix was nine years, nine decades, and nine centuries for the first, second, and third rebirth respectively. The fact her second rebirth required nine days was evidence of her abnormal buildup of power. Nine months for nine centuries? Bai Lin's rebirth was genuinely unprecedented!
"But I don't wanna! You're about to leave and I want to go with you!" Bai Lin complained and pouted her cheeks.
Wei Wuyin was left helpless here. Then, he touched Bai Lin's humerus in her right wing.
"OW!!! KREE!!!" Bai Lin didn't expect Wei Wuyin to touch her there, and her entire body rippled as her feathers stood up. Pain cascaded across her bones and flesh, and she felt the urge to cry.
"Selectively numbing the regions I sit and touch isn't a solution." Bai Lin was in enough pain for a brave soul to end it all simply for it to be over with. Moreover, this pain multiplies when she comes into contact with anything. The fact she could fly was a miracle.
Her pout transformed into a grumble of sadness and sorrow.
"Aren't you just like me? Solve your issue first and then we'll figure out a workaround." Wei Wuyin consoled her.
Within Wei Wuyin's Sea of Consciousness, in the depths of the Library of Eden, his Second Mind grumbled as it conjured a scroll and waved wildly at the ceiling as if trying to tell Wei Wuyin that it was right here!
Wei Wuyin ignored it.
It took some time but Bai Lin was convinced. However, she didn't have a way to follow Wei Wuyin after he left. What if he was too far away? Even Void Portals had constraints.
"I've long thought of that. You'll be undergoing your rebirth here," Wei Wuyin touched the necklace that was always around his neck. The Void Crystallization of the Myriad Yore Continent. "I'll connect it to the Void when you enter and it'll anchor your existence here, so when you disperse and then reform your existence, you'll appear right in the crystal's Void space."
Bai Lin's eyes glowed, completely convinced now.
Wei Wuyin hated parting, but he understood its necessity.
His Second Mind tossed the scroll frustratingly at the roof and then went back to writing something else.
That day, after Wei Wuyin let Bai Lin handle her affairs, Wei Si and Wei Wuyin saw her enter the Myriad Yore Crystal, the name Wei Wuyin decided to call it. It was extremely hot, dyed a rich scarlet-gold light, and glowed intensely. He stuffed it in his shirt and the radiance was suppressed.
"When will you leave?" Wei Si asked.
"In a few days," Wei Wuyin answered.
Wei Si nodded. "Can I stay here?"
Wei Wuyin's eyebrow lifted. But then he thought about it and nodded. The Vermilion Graveyard had a strong fiery yang energy, Wei Si would love it here.
"I'll pick you up after I'm done."
"No rush!" Wei Si laughed as he rushed off to a mountain peak formed around a Vermilion Bird's bony corpse.
Wei Wuyin heaved a soft sigh as he glanced inward at the Library of Eden. That scroll was a heap of information, but the contents were utterly shocking despite its simplicity.
"Rebirth-Void Blood-Body-Soul Union: Yin-Yang Cultivation Method - Version 7.6." The name needed work, for sure.
The idea?
To transfer the incredible properties of his Stellar-Paragon Physique linked with his blood and soul, allowing Bai Lin to bypass her limits without further harm.
Why didn't he like it?
It required him to reach the pinnacle stage of his Stellar-Paragon Physique! Bai Lin would have to be experiencing that form of pain until then. Who knows how long that could take?!
Wei Wuyin recalled the entry of the martial art required.
"Suppress Humanity, Evoke Divinity."
It was a simple four words, but Wei Wuyin understood the implications.
"Haaa..."
