Throughout the White Abyssal Galaxy, gazes instinctively shifted to the sky, to the vast starry skies, and the heart of the galaxy. The giant mass of white that served as its most central region felt far away yet changing, and their hearts slowly leaped within their chest with anxiety, uncertainty, and confusion.
Not many noticed the exact change, but those who did turned pale with absurd levels of shock and wild disbelief. They witnessed the White Abyss which they regarded as the greatest forbidden zone and the origins of unpredictable, unimaginable fortune shrink.
It wasn't subtle in their eyes.
"Is he...taking away the White Abyss?" Violet Sea murmured as she was taken aback and uncertain how to feel. Wei Wuyin was a foreigner and not a member of the Abyssal Race or Human Race native to this galaxy, and by that logic, had no right to lay claim to their greatest fortune. However, those thoughts that would normally be met with the will to resist, the urge to retain their history's greatest treasure, all of which was accompanied by Wei Wuyin's imprinted memories of his feats, both within the White Abyss and in her bed.
It was slowly washed away as a path beyond the White Abyssal Galaxy slowly formed in her mind, not limited by this small world, but capable of one day venturing forth and traversing the vast cosmos.
"..." Crimson Blade sighed and said nothing else. In his mind, this was an unstoppable occurrence. After bearing personal witness to how knowledgeable Wei Wuyin was in the White Abyss, including how he casually trivialized many of the greatest dangers of the White Abyss, he believed that stopping him was impossible and this was inevitable.
At the very least, Wei Wuyin has decided to nurture them as future leaders of the White Abyssal Galaxy, and obtaining the cultivation of a True Sage was the first step to ascending beyond the Mystic Ascendant Realm. Given his age, his strength, talent, and access to resources and wealth, the chances of succeeding in his lifetime had long since been predetermined as nigh-impossible without external impetus.
World-Saint Neo-Dawn was that impetus!
From the moment those Abyssal-only products were made, he knew. It was why he tamed his violent intent and easily conceded despite his heart telling him to resist and fight Wei Wuyin to the death. He had a sinking feeling that Wei Wuyin's intent on inviting them to the White Abyss as guides was inherently vicious. It was something that Fairy Silence felt too with greater clarity, her survival instincts far greater than his own, so they had been on guard ever since, staying close to Wei Wuyin despite the volunteer escorts being in severe danger before.
If they stayed on the Minor Elysium near Wei Wuyin's family and subordinates, they both felt there would be very little opportunity for Wei Wuyin to seize any advantage against them, and they could threaten mutual destruction in the worst-case scenario. The thoughts of an Ascended Saint and their survival instincts were certainly on point.
Fortunately, that feeling was seemingly wrong and had dispersed after Wei Wuyin had told him of his plans to transform the White Abyssal Galaxy into the Galactic Vassal State of the Neo-Dawn Empire while allowing them to retain ruling authority to a certain extent.
Fairy Silence murmured to himself as she watched this unbelievable feat of shrinking or absorbing the White Abyss. She had already decided to send Wei Wuyin a decisive message, unwilling to allow Mystic Lord Violet Sea to obtain any advantage in the race to the True Sage.
What was she going to offer?
Herself, of course.
This only reinforced her decision. Her life had been unnaturally expanded and her soulspan was doubled after coming across a unique soul-nurturing treasure, the Twin Kindling Lotus, and this allowed her, with a mix of specific cultivation methods and alchemical products to live for a very, very long time, far exceeding the average sustainable age of a Mystic Overlord!
However, throughout all of that, she had kept her most valuable asset. Why had she spent hundreds of thousands of years maintaining her charity? For a moment...JUST LIKE THIS!
The longer one lived, the more one experienced, and the greater one's heights reacted, the harder it was to lay down and die in contentment, especially knowing you haven't reached the height of your cultivation realm. She was still off of becoming a True Sage! Moreover, it wasn't by a little.
She was absurdly talented. She was extremely old. Yet the chasm of the True Sage wasn't something that was so easily crossed without sufficient support. The White Abyssal Galaxy's millions of years of history was a clear-cut example of the importance of the environment and resources when it relates to matters and limits of cultivation.
Her talent mattered little.
An example of this was the nourishing of a Seed of Law, to reach the 9% using either compatible Soul Light or other unique methods depending on the Law itself. While those at the Heavenly Saint Phase can open a link using the Heavenly Resonance of Three Thousand Realms, slowly absorbing the essence of those realms to nourish their laws to a further level, the cost to do so was unimaginable, and the returns were very, very low.
Perhaps establishing an Artificial Edict of the Sage was beneficial for a mortals' future, but doing so to slowly absorb essence at a heavy cost only for it to have a heavy chance of failure despite paying that cost was simply vomit-inducing to think about.
However, for many, this was the only way, and this had allowed those like Violet Sea, Crimson Blade, and Fairy Silence to nurture their Seeds of Law from 9% to at least 81%. Reaching the Sprouting Stage was on a whole other level of difficulty. Tian Taizong had spent twenty thousand years acting as an absolute monarch for an entire Stellar Region, slowly using Soul Light to supplement and refine sufficient nourishment to reach such astounding levels.
This was why his feat had elicited disbelieving and despairing responses from Worldly Saints such as Su Nianzu despite each of them being elites in their cultivation stages.
She needed opportunities, and the White Abyss' history has shown that there was nothing that could allow someone to consistently ascend into the True Sage Phase, the Eighth Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm! And using her greatest trump card on a foreign Worldly Saint Alchemist that was likely beyond the Mystic Ascendant was the fortuitous opportunity she was waiting for!
SHE HAD TO SEIZE IT!
Her thoughts were shared by Grey Rose. Unfortunately, she knew she had no such advantages, and Crimson Blade had dragged her name through the mud before World-Saint Neo-Dawn, to which she had very little ability to defend herself. Given her past and Wei Wuyin's vast cultivation, he was bound to see how she attained her strength. A strength that was not hers to begin with.
She could only wallow in her despair as she worked to ready her Abyss of Tranquility to become a proper Galactic Vassal State, and hopefully stave off the fate of being reduced to a non-factor in decision-making. She simply had to prove herself worthy. If only she wasn't limited like this...
But then an idea came!
The thoughts of these Mystic Overlords that once ruled an entire region of a galaxy would shake the entire White Abyssal Galaxy. They didn't seem to be thoughts of the prestigious beings they worshiped and revered, but similar to their own thoughts.
When cultivators stood at the top, it was often that those at the bottom would forget that these supremely powerful existences were also just...cultivators.
All striving for greater heights!
BURRP!
Wei Wuyin patted his stomach as he felt a sensation of being full. Such miraculous bloodline energies intermixed with spatial and time energies were a godsend of a meal for Kratos. The rest was stored within his Mind's Eye, guarded by Little Defiant and suppressed. A fragment of the fragmented leviathan graveyard was seized directly with a good portion eaten by Kratos.
He could already feel his Mystic Myth reach the peak of its level, having long since consolidated itself and reached beyond the preliminary stage. With sufficient time, by his calculations, Kratos' Mark of Mystic Myth should reach the very peak of the First Level after proper digestion. The Draconic Void Astral Soul was already lazily refining every iota of energy and essence, going inactive.
Wei Wuyin couldn't even access his True Void Dragon's Bloodline Abilities, only mimicking them using his Draconic Void Starforce to pale imitations. Unfortunately, the sheer amount vastly exceeded Kratos' capacity for swift refinement, making it seem remarkably slow despite the truth being ungodly fast.
Stretching his limbs, Wei Wuyin felt stronger than before, and each passing second was accompanied by a marked increase in his physical strength and the quality of his blood, bone, and brain cells. All of his physical cells.
"Incredible," Wei Wuyin clenched his fist to sense the tremendous explosive power carried within that simple gesture. At this point, Wei Wuyin had found suitable paths or experienced drastic changes in his Astral Souls' powers.
Eden had evolved to the point he could delve deeper into one's emotional stability and even their thoughts and memories. Without restraining his powers, the fluctuations of mental energy were no different than allowing him to read their minds. Only Wei Si had been an exception, seemingly having a mental defense that likely stemmed from his Spartan heritage.
Eden was still trying to explore the depths of this ability. However, it said that this was likely the sign of something similar to a Law having been conceived, nourished to its sprouting point, or even comparable to the birth of a Minor Authority. It wasn't entirely sure, but it knew it could be likened to that.
After all, to ascend to the Heavenly Saint Phase, a cultivator needed to reach 9% of the Nurturing Phase in a Seed of Law. While Ori, Kratos, and King had their respective Laws, all surrounding their Astral Souls, Eden didn't have any. However, according to it, this was it!
A Law from the Mind Dao!
The heartfelt moment he had shared with Mei Mei and likely countless other cascading lifetime events allowed him to reach that point, something compatible with its Seven Source Soul Light.
King was using the Neo-Dawn Empire's Imperial Law to sharpen its edge, an absurdly terrifying method that Wei Wuyin had conceived, showing signs of each of his Minor Authorities experiencing improvements and subtle, intrinsic changes. Most notable was the detached reliance on the will of others' beliefs via the Minor Imperial Law.
Wei Wuyin hadn't reached the point where he could exert full strength like in the Neo-Dawn Stellar Region, but the change was beginning nonetheless, and soon...if his bold actions were successful, his saber's edge would hold his Imperial Foundation, establishing an unprecedented self-sustained foundation of his unique form of imperialism.
Kratos had inadvertently experienced shattering an Unsubstantial Future after experiencing a paradox, a situation that was only forcefully brought about because they entered a region of seeing a future. Regardless of whether Qing Qiumu or Yue Songli asked their questions, the very fact they had entered a future meant returning to their present MUST allow that future to occur.
The catastrophic implications of having a set future were so horrifying, and the River of Time would certainly not allow such an absolute to dictate its flow of any of its timeliness in such an unnatural way, eliminating that paradox with extreme prejudice.
Young Master Shang was aware of these implications and spoke out in that poem with the thought and understanding of certain death. He didn't think Wei Wuyin's Minor Law of Time had sufficient power to escape such a predicament that was warned by even Resonant Soul Realm experts as certain death!
Fortunately for him and everyone else, Little Defiant's power source was incredible to the point of obscene in quantity. Wei Wuyin brute-forced his way into shattering it entirely. This was a feat that a mortal or even a Mystic Ascendant Realm expert should never be able to accomplish. After all, the Minor Authority of any Law was not meant for those beneath the True Sage!
However, after exhausting all that energy and assisting Wei Wuyin in absorbing the White Abyss, Little Defiant wasn't even remotely drained!
NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST!
Wei Wuyin had a grasp of Little Defiant's size, but he didn't truly have a 'grasp' on Little Defiant's size. The Solar Star spent potentially millions upon millions of years absorbing Absolute Solar Stars, much to the Mortal Dao's frustration, and caused the entire Mortal Dao to add a new classification! It was hard to gauge exactly how horrifying of an achievement that was!
No wonder it was a struggle to form an Astral Idol. However, thinking of his Astral Souls' brazen idea to further Little Defiant's path of cultivation by another level elicited a smirk laced with a hint of courageous madness from him.
"Master, sometimes I forget how heaven-defying you are," Bai Xiu commented, her voice sounding as if it came from a dropped jaw and an amazed soul.
Wei Wuyin didn't know how to respond. However, he didn't allow himself to be overconfident or arrogant due to her compliment. Staring beyond the White Abyssal Galaxy, at the vast stars, he knew that there were likely some beings out there that were far greater than him in some categories.
Perhaps an Alchemic genius that was born blessed by the Alchemic Dao, having a Mystic-Soul level alchemic lineage to follow from infancy. Even now, Wei Wuyin hadn't received any special blessing from the Alchemic Dao as he had from the Mortal and Mystic Daos, and considering they could give him a wisp of that, what other beings had these things?
Some were unnaturally blessed by Laws.
Shui Fengbao and Yao Houyi were two different sides of the blessed coin; the first had given birth to the Law of Fire without any outside assistance, blessed by the Law itself to obscene levels, and even grasping the most advanced Fire-attributed Ascension Arts was as easy as a baby being fed by its mother. He had to put in very little effort.
While Yao Houyi had an innate affinity with the two parts of Archery-Bow & Arrow. This wasn't a blessing from the Laws, but directly from The World attuning with his will at an unfathomably deep level. Without knowing, he had grasped the World Heart Intent of both!
Wei Wuyin did not have either of those blessings and while his Magi heritage had likely given him certain advantages, such as being able to read the contents of the Bloodline of Sin tattoo, his Alchemic Talent was still within the range of knowable limits at birth while his Alchemic Stars were still commonly obtained by the appropriate leveled Alchemist, not like now after attaining his Stellar Paragon-Physique, slowly exceeding the norm...
As for his outstanding concoctions and swift speed, as an Alchemist, he knew that tailor-made products of a Mystic-Heaven for a mortal foundation might exceed consuming tens of thousands of Mystic-World products, and products at a higher-tiers might be able to match millions of products that he had consumed. And with things like Temporal Acceleration...
While it might not match in terms of variety, in terms of a single category, he wasn't blind to this truth.
What about beyond the Mystic-Heaven? The Mystic-Soul?
He couldn't just disregard the potential that there was a three-year-old with a mental, physical, essence, or Law foundation that might match or even exceed his own, or even an unborn fetus due to prenatal products or heavenly treasures bestowed by the Heavenly Daos!
With the unlocking of the Defiant-sized Solar Stars, there would bound to be juniors who already had them as World-Bound Solar Stars! The benefits of having parentage at the Resonant Soul Realm!
Or those like Su Mei. Her levels of innate talents seem to be rising every single day. It was monstrous to witness, and he still didn't know why!
The Dao of Alchemy was limitless, and he was a living example of its capabilities. Still, he didn't let such things get him down either. He had decided to traverse this path-the path of a Paragon, so while others might exceed him in a single category of cultivation, he intended to exceed them in everything else!
His Heart of Cultivation was steady and unshakeable!
"We'll stay for three more days and then leave for the next galaxy," Wei Wuyin finished stretching out his limbs and declared. He had just received a message from Fairy Silence, within which was an image of her 'true' appearance, and a very direct offer.
What a courageous and ambitious woman. He'll give it some thought.
At the same time, an offer from Crimson Blade and Grey Rose came in as well shortly after he finished reading the first offer.
The sword-wielder was willing to forgo the White Abyssal Galaxy to serve Wei Wuyin.
The thief of the White Abyssal Galaxy was willing to serve not Wei Wuyin, but swear a severely strict oath of servitude to Cao Cuifen. She specifically named Cao Cuifen, not Qing Qiumu, Yue Songli, or Liu Suyin, but Cao Cuifen!
She was smart!
The first was direct, and Wei Wuyin didn't need a servant or, with what Crimson Blade was implying, another Alchemic Knight or Dao Protector that has long since established their foundation and spent a lot of their potential. This was an overestimation of his value and was given a direct rejection.
Meanwhile, the second offer, Wei Wuyin couldn't help but chuckle. Cao Cuifen was an intelligent woman, and Grey Rose had taken keen note of Cao Cuifen's changes from wanting to be an Alchemist to a true-blue cultivator. Obtaining a Mystic Overlord female servant? Which woman who sought to ascend to incredible heights didn't want to have a constant comparison of her superiority and her own source of external strength to use as she desired?
It sounded vain and shallow at first glance, but the logic held some truth to it. A Mystic Overlord servant would only highlight Cao Cuifen's status, talent, importance, strength, and even beauty in the eyes of others to a significant degree, regardless of her cultivation base or looks. This was the act of using the presence of others to elevate your own. If she had Grey Rose as a servant before, Violet Sea would not have dismissed her so easily as a woman with only a honeyed cave that was along for the ride until Wei Wuyin was tired of her!
Wei Wuyin didn't leave it for Cao Cuifen to decide, knowing that she would definitely enjoy this 'gift' and would certainly give him a very wet one in return.
Shortly after, a message came from Violet Sea as if sensing the other Abyssal Overlords had sent them and refusing to be outdone. Given their strength and familiarity, he didn't doubt that they kept tabs on each other using obscure methods and spells. It carried a seductive voice that was like sweet cream to the ears and Wei Wuyin sighed.
"Four days," as he opened a Void Portal and stepped right in.
[Author's Note: ANOTHER LONG CHAPTER!
The White Abyss Arc is coming to an end, and we be moving on. Hope you enjoyed reading all the timey-whimey things as we advance one step at a time!
What awaits us in other galaxies?]
