Paragon of Sin

Ming Shufeng's energetic and confident words leaked a type of desperate urgency.

"Mn," Wei Wuyin slightly nodded in response.

The duo followed Su Nianzu through the palace halls on foot, weaving through an intricate layout as they arrived at double doors forged with iron that emanated a forbidden chill. Ming Shufeng felt her Fate Soul shiver intensely as her circulation of internal energies stagnated. She felt thoroughly uncomfortable.

"World Prison of Forbiddance!"

Wei Wuyin inspected the door and saw the familiar design and functions as Xue Yifei's World Forbiddance Array that she had brought together several great minds, Earthly Saints, and Creationists to forge by paying a hefty price. It was used to temporarily imprison Su Mei and was originally made for both Su Mei and Zuhei during the competition.

However, the door and the room within was an authentic World Prison of Forbiddance.

"Zhanjie Wushu?" Wei Wuyin inquired.

Su Nianzu was surprised for a brief moment, but he quickly responded with a clear nod of his helmeted head. "I had Assistant Zhang create this for me. For purposes. It can trap most World Emperors and leave them as helpless as mortals." He didn't delve into the details, but Wei Wuyin could tell that Su Nianzu was unwilling to divulge why he needed this prison made and he didn't care enough to...

Intrigued by the prospect, Wei Wuyin glanced at Su Nianzu as he relinquished his seal on Eden's newfound power. His eyes were briefly suffused with seven vivid colors-seven emotions. Su Nianzu's thoughts felt visible to him. It was as if he was a text that could be read on a scroll.

"With further refinement, I'll be able to use this to trap that witch. I'll torture her for ten thousand years, shred her soul and repair it, and do so until I'm satisfied. I'll let her understand despair. No-she'll embody the meaning of despair and live within an eternal nightmare, asking for death."

Wei Wuyin glimpsed into the raw unfettered hatred of Su Nianzu. The thoughts that accompanied it. The dreams that existed due to it. All things of the psyche spewed out and laid bare before Wei Wuyin. He knew the face of Su Nainzu's target. He knew the reason. He knew the sick, satisfaction he received from the mere thought of success, but deeply hidden within Su Nianzu's heart, he 'saw' the solid belief of unlikelihood within it.

It was purely fantasy. A fantasy driven and aided by the pursuit of wishing for realization.

The target was some wife of an Original Magistrate, a genuine Heavenly Saint. She had slayed his favored granddaughter with a single slap due to her speaking arrogantly, ignorant of her status, emboldened by the fact that she was the granddaughter of Su Nianzu.

Su Nianzu treasured his life too much to risk it without absolute confidence.

"Hope."

Wei Wuyin saw Su Nianzu turn his way as he began to explain the World Prison of Forbiddance to him in a patient and clear-cut manner, slowly deactivating the numerous seals and restrictions within. The image of Wei Wuyin was painted vividly in his thoughts alongside the Hepta-Dawn Alchemic Corps image that was associated with the Neo-Dawn Worldly Alchemist.

"Envy."

If before he was only existing in fantasy, the thought of Wei Wuyin gave hope to a potentially favorable reality. Wei Wuyin understood Su Nianzu's greatest motivation for acting so servile. It was because of his granddaughter or for revenge specifically, but to acquire sufficient power to act as arrogant and forceful as that woman. To eradicate that sensation of uselessness.

An image of him pleading for understanding and cursing his granddaughter for daring to be foolish emerged. He was kneeling. A lofty World Emperor, kneeling and groveling while begging a member of a younger generation, of weaker cultivation, and of the fairer sex solely because she rode on a dragon's lap at night.

"Lust."

The thought of having her ride his lap and warm his bed flashed briefly, suppressed by greater urges of dominance.

As Su Nianzu undid the last seal, Wei Wuyin thought: "What an astonishing power. Eden, have you figured out what this is? How it came about?" He was astonished at the depths of his mental perception. It was almost as if he could 'see' Su Nianzu's immediate thoughts and true personality as well as the minor details contained in his heart such as hope, envy, and lust alongside that sadistic fantasy of his.

Then again, Wei Wuyin had once constantly wished and dreamed daily of slaughtering those who killed his family. It pushed him to success, and he never had hope, only pure determination and belief that one day he would accomplish it no matter what. That was a layer of his Heart of Cultivation. He related to an extent a need for greater power and status.

"Not yet," Eden replied concisely with a tinge of vexation in its tone.

To see Eden struggle with its own cultivation was a first. He couldn't help but wonder what type of power Eden had awakened.

"I'm close," Eden staunchly followed up with a wave of raw determination. Wei Wuyin didn't doubt Eden's words. Cultivation was difficult, and grasping its secrets was not a simple matter. This clearly concerned Eden's origins of its 'Eden' energy, perhaps even its birth. He wasn't in a rush.

Whoosh!

The doors swung open as the air was sucked inward in a rushing tide. The room lacked any air. Su Nianzu walked in first and then gestured for Wei Wuyin to follow politely. Wei Wuyin did and saw a world of whiteness. It was a type of nondescript, mind-numbing whiteness that was beyond ordinary. The room itself was a thousand cubic feet but due to the whiteness, it felt as if it was infinite. A sense of distance and direction could easily be lost here.

At the center of the room was a nude figure tied by misty white chains on all limbs that were only capable of being seen due to the color of the figure's skin. She was listless and sapped of all strength, lying down on her side as she faced the opposite way. Wei Wuyin could see the contours of her slender body and her green fluffy tail that was deflated and faded in color.

What was once a glorious Rune King turned recently ascended World Emperor was reduced to a prisoner.

There was no sound to their steps in this room. Ming Shufeng was stunned and she shivered at the sight. "Did you...?"

"We only captured her and stripped her of her possessions," Su Nianzu flatly said, answering Ming Shufeng's question.

Normally, captive male or female cultivators would experience some form of humiliation in the form of yang or yin extraction. Some abhorrently vicious minds might take it a little further, especially for men. Their treatment was irredeemable regardless, however. There was no hope for them. Women, however, could offer themselves willingly as a yin cauldron by cultivating certain methods in exchange for their lives or for mutual dual cultivation, and there have been numerous tales of former captives becoming prominent figures throughout the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone, but almost 99% of them were women.

Wei Wuyin walked forward until he arrived a few feet from Trueborn's glorious leader.

Her ears trembled. She slowly moved her head to reveal a pair of dark star-shaped pupils and a face. Her skin was milky white, her eyebrows were thick, her lips slender and thin as her delicate frame, and her chin was prominently sharp. She was an average-looking woman without any astonishing features that stood out too heavily. However, within the depths of her eyes was a sinister presence.

Those star-shaped pupils hazily reflected Wei Wuyin's visage. Her lips were dry. She opened her mouth.

"Little monster...you're here..." Her weakness was evident as her voice was incredibly hoarse.

Ming Shufeng was watching this and felt stunned by her words. Little monster? The audacity! Even Su Nianzu was shaken. Were they familiar with each other? However, he didn't sense a single speck of rage at the declining sight of this woman.

In Wei Wuyin's eyes, he saw an existence rife with sin. If not for her cultivation base having been almost invincible in the past era, the Heavenly Daos would have long since tried to end her. In fact, it might have already tried to. It wasn't that the Heavenly Daos' machinations were always successful. Not every Blessed was up to snuff to deal with sinful enemies armed with millennia of cunning instincts and life-preserving means.

For example, the Trueborn Leader rarely left her gargantuan Shadow Egg. This left her difficult to locate and even more difficult to deal with.

Ming Shufeng spoke up at this moment, sending via spiritual transmission, "She knows about the details of the outside world. The Grand Seer once said that the leader of Trueborn was the most knowledgeable person about the happenings and secrets in the World Beyond! She also said she has a fairly strange status and a constant line of communication with the outside. She should know how to leave the Sealed Regions safely as well."

Ming Shufeng listed off what she believed was essential information for anyone daring to venture into the world beyond. Wei Wuyin, however, was unmoved. He already knew a lot about the outside world. He had absorbed a few memories of Chosen. Additionally, he had Xu You, and the World Emperors were under his control. As for leaving?

He controlled the Endless Void Mirror.

This was his world. HIS WORLD! He could come and go as safely as he wanted. However, Ming Shufeng was only aware of Wei Wuyin's ordinary origins and his unstoppable rise due to his great talents. She was unaware of his true means. She was ignorant. Simply ignorant.

As for coming here and seeing the leader of Trueborn, Wei Wuyin wanted to verify something. If he wanted her knowledge, he would just kill her and turn her into a Soldier of War. Well, he still intended to do just that.

He sat beside her, his silver eyes meeting her weak, hazy gaze. She was a figure engulfed by the greatest degree of sin that he'd ever witnessed. By far, the Commander of the countless sinners. She bore the weight of their sins. Of all their sinful acts.

He had been saving her for an experiment, to test the depths of sinful aura, influence, and rate of growth, leaving her to develop more. Cornering her in a starfield, he left her to her own devices. In comparison to before, her aura of sin was roughly 20% thicker. It could cause anyone to grow sick from seeing it.

The Born True Starfield's living hell was showcased in her aura. How horrific.

"You're not ripe yet," Wei Wuyin calmly stated with a sigh. When those words left his lips, the leader of Trueborn's weak eyes regained some energy and hope flared within them. Meanwhile, Su Nianzu and Ming Shufeng were taken aback. Ripe? Was Wei Wuyin intending to take this woman as a yin cauldron?

"I'll...do...it..." As if understanding his words, she hastily jumped at the offer. She just wanted to live. The longer one lived, the greater their struggles for power was, the harder it was to accept death. She had toiled endlessly in a similar manner as Tian Taizong to grow in strength as a game piece for this board. She wanted freedom. What of it if she became a Yin Cauldron to a peerless talent? She wanted to live!

Unbeknownst to any of them, Wei Wuyin meant that her growth of sin simply wasn't enough to satisfy him. He shook his head. Well, since he was intending to travel, it was best to reap what he could and accrue some easy Karmic Luck. Killing Sinners didn't exacerbate his limited time toward the Calamities of Hell, a trait from his Blessed side.

With two fingers acting as a saber, Wei Wuyin was about to end her life.

Ohn!

Just as the Omega Saber Force was slowly manifesting at his fingertips, Wei Wuyin felt a sharp pain from the back of his head and his left arm.

[LEFT ARM - Lust]

Karmic Luck Value: Sealed; Initiating Rite.

First Calamity: --

Ohn!

Then, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm.

[RIGHT ARM - Pride]

Karmic Luck Value: 212,530.5.

First Calamity: Survived - 7/7.

Second Calamity: Claimed - 1/1.

Third Calamity: Claimed - 3/3.

Fourth Calamity: Suppressed - 18 Years.

With a darkened expression, Wei Wuyin could feel a strange feeling enveloping him that he hadn't before. No, there was an eerily similar feeling he had before. It was during the Grand Spirit Trials when he observed Huangfu Jinwei all those decades ago-the Sinful Soul.

"This is the second time you've felt this," Eden pointed out.

"Yeah..." Wei Wuyin knew that Sinful Souls belonged to sinners, marked for cleansing of the Calamities of Hell of a higher level, and could be targeted by the Heavenly Daos. He had met other sinners before, but only one of them provoked a reaction like this.

"Could there be unique sinners? Huangfu Jinwei was a Sinful Soul of Pride, perhaps? Another sin? Or...was he a potential Chosen of Sin?" The thought immediately brought him back to the Black Skeleton's words of how Chosen of Sin was tested. They were unaware of it until they reached the Realm of Sages!

"Interesting! Does this mean that she's a latent Chosen of Lust?" He hadn't felt this from her before!

This was an entirely new discovery!

He remembered his first instinct when he saw Haungfu Jinwei and that was to keep him to cultivate and study. It was almost instinctual. Cultivate what exactly? The True Soul of Sin! Given his so-called Primordial Seed of Sin: Pride was inherited, if Huangfu Jinwei was a latent Chosen of Sin: Pride, then he would be greatly useful for his cultivation of the method!

The thought opened an entirely new set of doors for Wei Wuyin.

A new path to exploit.

A new path to prepare for.

The path of cultivation was mysteries and often laid within it many secrets that aren't apparent at first glance. Only by pondering could these secrets be exposed. Sometimes, cultivators need just another piece of the puzzle to uncover these secrets. Wei Wuyin had just experienced this moment of incredible comprehension and realization.

He slowly stood up. "I'll take her."

Su Nianzu was briefly stunned, but he quickly adjusted himself after thinking that Wei Wuyin had decided to use her as a Yin Cauldron. Given her cultivation base as a Worldly Saint Phase, this would be immensely useful for him after ascending. How lucky of her.

He shattered all her bindings.

There was no escaping from Wei Wuyin, so he didn't think there was any need to do anything else. Wei Wuyin looked at the nude, slender body of the once glorious leader of Trueborn. He didn't bother clothing her.

"Come." A single word and he began to walk out of this white prison.

Ming Shufeng saw this and hurriedly moved to drape her in a spare set of robes. Despite her past deeds, she didn't think a female Ascended being should be humiliated like this.

The leader of Trueborn stared at Ming Shufeng and felt her heavenly aura. She didn't say anything. Allowing herself to be covered as the Heavenly Seer assisted her out the door, she glared at Su Nianzu.

However, Su Nianzu was unbothered by that. Only closed the prison after they left with a faint smile. He knew how alchemists operated. He was almost salivating at the prospect of a reward.