Several days after feeling Lian Yu's death, Wei Wuyin sat at the edge of his bed. There were three gorgeous women, two elves and one human, sleeping together. They even held each other in a comfortable cuddle.
Since that day, he has been growing steadily restless. The power he left inside Lian Yu transmitted some spiritual awareness of events, some thoughts, and details of her death. The issue that plagued his mind was quite specific.
He rose from his bed, walking out of his room with a wave of his hand, donning his signature white holy robes. After all this time, he had grown accustomed to wearing white. He still preferred black, however.
He entered a specific chamber within the temple, sealed and concealed by numerous spell formations that he'd erected personally. Within was a lifeless corpse, missing a heart, on an observation table. It was Lian Yu.
While he hadn't taken action at the time of her death, he had sent a few members of the temple to investigate after an hour or so. He thought he'd find evidence of Long Chen's fate, but they had returned with a half-dissolved corpse of Lian Yu due to the toxic air melting a portion of it. She was lying on a boat painted with dried blood and the only flesh-based thing left.
He had used his means to repair and restore her body to its original state, excluding her missing heart. "Someone took your heart. But for what? And why?" He looked at the pale, seemingly sleeping Lian Yu with a twisted frown. What bothered him more was her death.
While he received some details, they weren't too specific or all-knowing. He just knew a few things snagged by his spiritual power remnant at the time of activation. Such as her last words…
But he wasn't foolish enough to believe this was accurate. She probably was shocked by his power triggering in her body mid-sentence. Out of all of Long Chen's former harem members, Lian Yu had the least amount of interactions with him and absolutely no connective fate. She wasn't tricked into sexual relations with Long Chen like Wu Baozhai had been and was fiercely loyal to her heart.
If there was one female in this world that he was certain had no complicated feelings or thoughts towards him, it would be Lian Yu. Since she probably meant to say 'I love you' and not the strange 'I love Long Chen', that likely meant Long Chen was present at the time of her death.
At first, he had thought Long Chen had kept her soul like Hong Ru. But when he observed her body with his Celestial Eyes, her soul was already dissipated entirely; she was completely dead. Whatever happened there was tragic, and she died in the presence of a Blessed.
This was unfathomably difficult to happen as Karmic Luck extended to loved ones. "Was the Calamity too highly ranked?" He whispered to himself. According to the Black Skeleton, his death at the hands of Long Chen was because of insufficient Karmic Luck to escape or benefit from the ensuing tragedy.
It was this that forced the Black Skeleton to steal the Karmic Luck from others, funneling it into his body, and allow him to survive the calamity. If she hadn't prematurely acted, he would've lost his life. While originally, he should only awaken his Bloodline of Sin at the Realm of Sages.
"Haaaa…" to see her dead body before him, he shook his head. If Long Chen heard her last words, then that would cause all sorts of misunderstandings. He might no longer be able to ignore Long Chen, forcing him to eliminate this Blessed from his life in the near future.
If anything, he'd bury her body when he returned to the Myriad Yore Continent. Hopefully allowing her departed soul to find rest. If possible, he'll have those who knew her perform the honors.
With a last sigh, he was unable to change this. Seeing her death brought him to face his own mortality, his own ensuing Calamity of Hell that he may or may not survive. Would he even have a body after? A soul? Would he be buried alongside his older brother or rotting on some ship out at a toxic sea?
"Time isn't linear; there is no true regret." Kratos' words resounded in his heart, saying something too profound for him to actually understand. It just sounded like nonsense.
"Cultivation is endless. As long as Long Chen doesn't court death, he might reach a level one day where he could bring Lian Yu back to life. If I could go back in time, if Divinities can truly exist, then anything is possible in this boundless world." This was the beauty of cultivation, its endless possibilities.
With a wave of his hand, her corpse was covered by a faintly glowing grey sheet. With a final sigh, he left the room. After standing at the entrance for a few minutes, reflecting on the fragility of life and how even the Heavenly Daos can't halt even death, he closed his eyes.
"If anything, the Temporal Reincarnator is proof that the Heavenly Daos can't protect you from everything. You or your loved ones. You must rely on yourself." The wake-up call of Lian Yu was a much-needed one.
He slowly walked within the tall, wide halls of the True Desolate Temple, cutting a lonely figure. "I've reached the absolute limits of my current cultivation base; I should ascend to the next phase."
After reaching the Spatial Resonance Phase, Wei Wuyin had once more refined his body, Sea of Consciousness, innate energies, and Astral Souls to their absolute limits. He had four ten-ringed Soul Idols, four ten-rippled Spatial Resonances, and had comprehended a trace of the Origin of All Light from the transcendent-quality, eighth-grade Refraction World-Light Elixir.
In this three year period, he had solidified his foundation, focusing on spells, arts, methods, and formations. This explosively increased his usage of powers and familiarity with things such as his Bloodline Abilities. This was likely the fastest period of growth he'd experienced as a cultivator. Outside of learning new arts, spells, methods, Intents, or formations, he had reached an apex, so to speak.
"The Fifth Stage of the Astral Core Realm, the Light Reflection Phase, is my next step forward," he felt as his Astral Souls simultaneously trembled with excitement. Before he knew it, he was outside the True Desolate Temple, staring at the Solar Star that hung in the sky.
He didn't even have to trigger his tribulation himself, the four souls did it for him! The world in his view started to change!
