Seven, for the women,
Admiration and adoration
Stars seen together.
Young Master Shang drank and drank. At times, he languidly stretched and watched. Other times, he lazily slept and dangled his legs at the edge of Minor Elysium. Sometimes, he would observe Yue Songli's artistic beauty respectfully, discuss the wonders of the stars and nature with Qing Qiumu, entertain Cao Cuifen's numerous questions, and endure Liu Suyin's chilly indifference with reckless laughter and a light heart. He was free as the wind, unfettered as the soul without the constraints of the body, and as amiable as a humble monk.
Even Wei Si found him amusing. However, there was a 'little' incident that almost caused Young Master Shang to be abandoned: playfully, he offered Wei Si a drink from his flagon of wine. Almost instantly, before the final words even left his lips, Young Master Shang found himself enveloped in spatial energy threatening to blast him into the depths of cold space. He could only jokingly retreat despite Wei Si's curiosity. Since then, he only dared to offer drinks to Tuo Bihan who readily accepted. As for the women aboard this vessel? He didn't dare.
He had a very keen sense of self-preservation.
The two men shared drinks and often slept in random areas of the deck, gazing at the stars in a drunken haze. They found companionship in wine and age. Despite Young Master Shang's youth relative to his cultivation base, he had experienced a lot in a short period.
The wondrous sights of the Void-Blank Space between galaxies was an extraordinarily life-changing experience. There were very few mortals who could say they had the opportunity to enjoy this type of treatment. Creatures born of the void aside, common phenomenons within the Void-Blank Space took place frequently.
Flamboyantly brilliant implosions of Solar Stars echoed through time and space, sundering regions of space, and affecting perceptions. They had long since transpired, their black holes no longer there, as if the event of their destruction had been written in the history of the void for all of time, scheduled to be relived to honor their memory and existence.
There was a sea of silvery liquid made from highly condensed and twisted spatial energies. At the center of which was an ancient corpse of Star-Devourer that emitted its own gravitational force. It was difficult to discern what type of Star-Devourer it was, but the size of it exceeded Absolute-sized Solar Stars.
During that sighting, Wei Wuyin's Avatar with Kratos' Astral Soul as its main source of power emerged and observed the scene with all of them. Young Master Shang was at the furthest point from the corpse while on Minor Elysium at all times, attempting to stay far, far away as if terrified that something might happen. He would mutter under his breath that Wei Wuyin was fearless and young repeatedly.
While the scene was certainly beautiful and the shadow of the corpse was gargantuan, hazy, and heart-shaking, the act of venturing close was something even those insane might not do. After all, this was the corpse of a creature that could compress the spatial energies of the Dark Void with just its mass! The fact alone was enough to put fear into Sages!
The group didn't just dare to venture close, Wei Wuyin smilingly brought Yue Songli, Qing Qiumu, Cao Cuifen, Liu Suyin, Wei Si, and Tuo Bihan close to the sea of silvery liquid and had them each scoop out a cup. Young Master Shang's jaw couldn't lift for several days after.
They returned unharmed and chuckling as if they hadn't just entered a region of instant death. Young Master Shang felt his scalp grow numb. If he told those from the Blessed Yri Empire that a group of mortals scooped out a cup from a region of instant death like this while laughing and joking about it, he would be ridiculed and scolded for telling a blatant lie.
Unfortunately for Young Master Shang, Wei Wuyin's True Void Dragon Bloodline and Draconic Void Starforce were inconsiderate of his frenzied emotions.
Kratos once said that there was no place it could not enter and no place it could not exit. It considered itself the manifestation of freedom and unfettered might. While Kratos might not have the strongest offensive abilities, when it came to traversing the vast expanse and interacting with space or time, there was no equal among Astral Souls.
That day, Wei Wuyin looked at the region of liquid space with a tinge of regret.
After the Minor Elysium moved a few millions of miles away, he had returned to claim it all. Unfortunately, the corpse of the Star-Devourer had long since fused with the spatial energies, so he couldn't identify its exact race after. He could determine that it wasn't a Tiangou, however.
The pool of Star Void Liquid, the name that Ming Shufeng had acquired after communing with the Heavenly Daos' will, was soon within Wei Wuyin's hands. It was a peak Mystic-World grade material and extremely rare due to the amount of time needed to condense spatial energy to such a density that it became a highly viscous liquid similar to oil or sludge. Supposedly, it's been roughly eight hundred thousand years since the Star-Devourer's death.
This was but one of the fascinating phenomena that the group had found. The Void-Blank Space between galaxies was dangerous to the point Sages might lose their lives, but it had incredible fortunes lying in wait for the destined or seeking.
Ming Shufeng and Su Mei worked quietly in the background determining regions of great sights and potentially great fortune. Ming Shufeng had scryed for points of fortune to the point she spewed out blood for hours, her lifespan cut by several hundred years, and came up with the pool of Star Void Liquid's general location, Su Mei adjusted their route immediately and gave her a pseudo-pill that contained Eden's unrefined lifespan that she could consume and freely refine to regain her spent lifespan.
Ming Shufeng acting as a radar for dangers and fortune was extraordinary.
Not even Wei Wuyin's Eye of Truth could actively seek out fortune by relying on the World's Trends, and his Bloodline of Sin's Karmic Luck was passive, needing the direct interference of the Heavenly Daos. In some ways, Ming Shufeng was a minor form of the Heavenly Daos.
Liu Suyin was already spending time refining the Star Void Liquid, greatly improving her Spatial Mystic Soul and elevating her Origin State. Due to the highly compressed nature of the Star Void Liquid, even the chaos mana of the world was intermixed within, and its effects could amplify a cultivator's Origin State, even grant it to those with the means of refining the material. The material was immensely valuable!
Additionally, her understanding of spatial energy increased by several levels. She benefited the most by far.
"Why was a Star-Devourer so far away from Solar Stars?" Qing Qiumu asked. Her curiosity was by far the highest in the group.
Young Master Shang answered, "Star-Devourers are indeed strange; they're like beasts and void creatures fused, and they often have long hibernation cycles. They undergo hibernation either within stars large enough to fit their tremendous size or travel to the depths of the Void-Blank Space and find a black hole to nestle in."
"Black hole?!" Tuo Bihan exclaimed in disbelief.
"A black hole is the product of solar stars imploding, and much of its solar essence is gathered into the center and compressed. Few know that the treasure of a black hole is the center of its existence. Even the smallest black hole often contains sufficient treasure to move those at the World Emperor level, let alone the larger ones.
"Just think about it: have you seen any black holes anywhere?" Young Master Shang's question caused all of them to immediately gaze outwards and realize that they hadn't seen any black holes...
"That's not all. If all else fails, Star-Devourers find somewhere safe and just sleep wherever they are after absorbing sufficient food. But if they can't find a sufficient amount of food to last, that-" he paused while gesturing toward the direction of the Star Void Liquid, "-happens."
A powerful Star-Devourer can just die.
"It's not uncommon to find Star-Devourer corpses out in the Void-Blank Space. However, rarely will anyone approach them. Whether they're alive or dead, Star-Devourers are terrifying. While alive, at least many of them are gentle and non-threatening. Some organizations even befriend them, and doing so isn't hard either.
"As long as you provide a sufficient food source for them, the benefits can be incredible as they stay in your territory." Young Master Shang explained many things regarding Star-Devourers and Qing Qiumu's expression was ever-shifting.
A Star-Devourer classified as a Tiangou had destroyed her home starfield. The region was now inaccessible as well. That's what she learned from Na Xinyi. She also knew Wei Wuyin had a palace within that region that he frequented and Lin Ziyan had gone a few times.
[RIGHT ARM]Karmic Luck Value: 212,530.5.First Calamity: Survived - 7/7.Second Calamity: Claimed - 1/1.Third Calamity: Claimed - 3/3.Fourth Calamity: Suppressed - 1 Year.
[LEFT ARM]Karmic Luck Value: Sealed; Bloodline Located - SENDING.First Calamity: --
"How do you feel?" Bai Xiu and the Heavenly War Spirit echoed simultaneously, their voices a mixture of concern and expectation.
Wei Wuyin stood upright in the center of a cubical room, the wall lined with esoteric runes exuding an aura of mortality, unfathomability, and eternity. His upper body was bare, exposing every muscle forged with the profound intention of a Paragon, while veins that carried the blood of a Stellar-Paragon and a True Void Dragon pulsed with ferocious intensity.
The triple combination of the Neo-Dawn Eclipsing-World Pill, Neo-Dawn Dual-Dao Elixir, and Neo-Dawn Blood-Howl Paste was unimaginable. Over the last seventeen years, the amount of Mystic-World and Mystic-Earth products that he had used for his cultivation would startle entire galaxies, especially as a mere mortal, especially as each of those products was peak-quality and no less, and especially within the time span of seventeen years.
Inspecting his hands, Wei Wuyin could see the faint veins pulsing within, suffused with innate energies that were refined to a literal extreme.
"I've breached the limits of Heavenly Chosen talent," Wei Wuyin stated in wonder, but his tone was deep and solemn. The surrounding runes were manifestations of his Stellar-Paragon Physique's innate energies. They were common signs that his Stellar-Paragon Physique, an Astral Physique, had reached its absolute limits just then.
"Really?!" Both of the Spirits of Dao exclaimed in sync once again, genuinely surprised By Wei Wuyin's claim.
"Kratos, Ori, King, and Eden...they've also reached their limits within the Astral Core Realm."
"REALLY?!" The Heavenly War Spirit was far more invested in that than Bai Xiu. To her, Wei Wuyin's cultivation path had diverged to an abnormal extreme. His four Astral Souls and Astral Cores had merged and then split off, essentially creating four semi-independent Astral Cores that had the potential to reach his predetermined limits each.
Due to this development, Wei Wuyin's maximum foundation in the Star Core Phase had inadvertently quadrupled! But after the split, the floor of his cultivation foundation had lowered, thereby increasing his potential ceiling, and it quadrupled again! Even reaching the consolidated state of the Star Core Phase was insanely difficult.
"Fortunately, my soul can handle the full Mystic-Myth level of my bloodline and my eyes can handle their Spiritual Strength. I rather not be blind again," Wei Wuyin remarked with a light-hearted chuckle as he inspected his bloodline energies. It was no longer at the preliminary stage of the Mystic-Myth level...
This was all due to the Stellar-Paragon Physique's influence on his body and soul. It was beyond miraculous.
Wei Wuyin thought for a long while and then waved his hand, donning his unique mix of alchemist and martial artist attire in a flourish of fabric. At the left side of his hip, a black scabbard containing Element appeared. His vambraces exerted a gravitational force and the esoteric runes plastered on the walls, floor, and ceilings were drawn into it. Slowly, three interconnected runes manifested on each of them at the wrist region. The runes seemed ordinary and easily overlooked as if plunged into the depths of mortal dust.
"It's time to see what the White Abyssal Galaxy has to offer."
As he left, the two Spirits of Dao bombarded Wei Wuyin with questions about his cultivation base. What limits has the first Mortal Saint Alchemist reached?!
