Paragon of Sin

A world of dim light and gloomy air, defined by its sporadic, uncertain chaos ruled by surreal phenomena that exist between the fine line between reality and illusion. It was maddening to the senses, thoughts, spirit, and soul.

Throughout this dimly lit world with radiance without any source, seemingly emitting from everywhere and nowhere at once, a manifestation of uncertainty and certainty, there was only a single region of consistency. It was no less maddening to those who stayed there but for far more than just the chaotic reality that this Nestling Void Realm offered.

They were there not by their own wills.

A sky-ascending tree with roots and branches as thick as mortal cities stood tall among similarly startling trees. Its translucent bark allowed one the unsettling experience of seeing its throbbing green vein-like insides that glistened with emerald-colored light. The veins bore a strong resemblance to the veins of humanoid creatures and beasts, pumping fluid through it, reaching every branch, every root, and every leaf on its crown. The pathways were intricate and numerous.

Attached to this tree, bound by golden chains at the limbs, were several figures. Bound to each tree in the area were several figures. The term 'several' might be an understatement, as the tree was littered with individuals, numbering in the hundreds of thousands across its trunk. Each of them had two things in common: They had sharp, pointy ears, an elf's defining feature, and they all had emerald-colored eyes.

While their hair colors differed, some with skin as black as coal or as white as milk, others with bark-like skin or leaves for hair, they all undeniably possessed those same emerald-like eyes that exuded the quintessential powers of nature, specifically-the Essence of Wood. While this essence diverged in terms of aura, some leaning toward a vibrant life or withering decay, they all stemmed from a single source of power.

Near the central region of the trunk, bound by roughly double the number of golden chains as the others, some looked very similar. They didn't just have emerald-colored eyes, but their hair was of a similar color with a faintly dimmer shade, only accentuating the coloration of their treasure-like eyes. They consisted of both men and women. Amongst these double-bound individuals was a thin and bony woman with dried skin, skin paler than a ghost, eyes as dim as the dusk, and droopy pointed ears. Despite her extremely malnourished state, her natural beauty that once reigned supreme across the Myriad Yore Continent was still present to some degree. At the very least, a single glance was enough for anyone to determine her as a nation-toppling beauty that could inspire envy in other women.

"Hgh!" The woman weakly coughed. However, not a single iota of saliva could escape her lips which were drier than a desert in peak summer.

From her state, perhaps no one could tell that she was once the elven princess of the Myriad Yore Continent. One day, she desired to see the greater world despite her father's vehement refusal without explanation. When she left in the veil of the night, the burning rays of exploration and adventure in her heart, she soon discovered the inherent dangers of the outside world.

Her trusting, naive nature led her to be unwittingly captured. Her essence blood was extracted for another's cultivation. She became no different than livestock. No different than a golden goose meant to lay eggs or a cow to be milked. The experience was eye-opening as it was tortuous.

She remained strong-willed then. While death may come, the seal placed in her would activate and her father would avenge her with extreme prejudice. This firm belief allowed her to hang on the cliff, unwilling to fall into the abyss of despair.

After being saved by a cunning young man by the name of Wei Wuyin, who discovered her situation and hurriedly informed others of the situation, allowing her to escape with her life intact, she regained her valor and strove to cultivate. She had never wanted to be so weak that this could have happened again. This was especially so after hearing that the young man who had saved her, to whom she owed her life, had perished somewhere unknown.

Unfortunately, fate did not shine too kindly on her.

After traveling beyond her continent, she risked it all to slaughter those who tortured Lin Ziyan. She was sentenced to be executed for her actions, and all her backing, all her belief, none of it mattered as not even the human man she admired more than anyone could only watch on powerlessly as her body was shackled and she was marched to the platform where she was meant to breathe her last.

She was captured and unable to determine her fate once again. While it was a miscalculation on her part, she didn't regret her actions in the slightest. It was just a shame...that...she didn't want to die.

HOWEVER!

The same man that had saved her all those years ago arrived atop a divine mount. With a single sentence, her fate was overturned entirely. She was allowed to live. She was allowed to continue on. Her feelings then changed strongly. Before then, perhaps even further back, she had been infatuated with the heroic bearing of another, but with that young man's continuous presence, those infatuated feelings crumbled and her desires changed most naturally. It was as if she was once again bestowed the freedom of choice, uninfluenced by any external wills or forces. It was unimaginably freeing.

After several events, they both lost their homes, entered an entirely foreign world, and were now on unknown paths. Unfortunately, fate, once again, remained unkind and unchanging.

She was captured under the guise of a lie. She met her ancestor, the one she revered more than anyone, and aspired to become as much as any Alchemist would for the King of Everlore. She met the Sacred Elven Queen. Promised by sweet words of being her disciple, to obtain power beyond her imagination, and the strength to rule over her own fate, she was brought here.

She was chained here.

She was caged here.

Extracted of her essence blood by this ungodly tree, repeatedly forced to replenish her essence blood, and forced to be siphoned dry after reaching a sufficient state for extraction. The process was a living hell. And it had lasted for decades.

Decades.

DECADES.

DECADES!!!

Those around her had eyes as dead as corpses. They had long since shut off their will to live or survive. To them, this was their lives, and they were simply waiting for its end. How harrowing was the sight of so many who've lost the will to survive? It was enough to startle devils and ghosts!

However, a tiny, nearly insignificant spark remained in her soul. It warmed her up at times of extreme agony, especially as the tree pierced into her spine, plunged into her heart, stabbed into her glabella, and siphoned out her most precious essence from every source within her. If not for that, she would not struggle every few months, trying to escape after her state recovered slightly.

While her efforts were ultimately fruitless, the act itself was enough to defy fate. However, the cycle of hope and despair was weighty on the soul, and she felt herself suffer with each failure. The feeling of each second passing shortly after each passing was the most terrible. They felt like an eternity. Endless and everlasting. And during that time, she could only bathe her thoughts with the reality of her situation.

At times like this, only by remembering that gentle smile of his without the slightest lust or sinister intentions within, containing the purest of kindred feelings of warmth and joy could comfort her. Only by remembering that joke of his told on the execution platform could she dryly laugh.

At times like this, the others chained would strain their heads to look at her scrawny figure with their dead eyes. Despite their resignation towards inevitable suffering and certain death, they somehow felt frustrated at the woman's reactions.

"She...is at it...again..." A woman beside her hoarsely muttered, unleashing a string of weak curses after.

A man above the laughing woman clenched his fists with his strength, barely mustering up the might of an infant's grab, and unrestrained, unreasonable rage flashed across his eyes.

"Shu-shut...up!" He struggled to shout. Their situation was bad enough. They didn't want to listen to the periodic madness of another.

All around her, varied reactions occurred as suppressed emotions overwhelmed the resignation of death. The woman was subjected to all sorts of softly spoken curses, both verbally and mentally.

However, she was entirely unbothered. Unbeknownst to her, the remnant hope in her heart slowly roused others. And while it was directed at he'd, feeling anything but numbness meant validating one's existence of being alive. In some cases, this was enough to inspire all sorts of things in someone's soul.

Unfortunately for them, none of their efforts were capable of changing their situations or their thoughts.

The hoarse-voiced woman beside the bony woman mustered her courage and asked slowly: "Why are you laughing?"

"..."

The curses went silent.

No one dared to ask this. Perhaps it was because they were afraid of the answer. Perhaps if she was truly just a mad woman, validating their situation further as hopeless and lost, just perhaps...they would no longer be able to feel anything but the cold numbness of despair.

Yet the bony woman thought of that figure, and how he leaned against her ear, spoke solely to her on that platform, and she smiled brightly. "It's a secret."

It was their secret.

She laughed joyously and caused a litany of softly spoken curses to be unleashed once again. The tree was by far the liveliest out of the rest.

After several hours, silence reigned as the veins began to softly glow. This was a sign of an upcoming extraction. How could they not be silent? How could they not?!

How could they not...be silent...

The bony woman struggled to incline her head upwards toward the endless, starless sky. Her gaze fixed on no part in particular, yet it seemed she saw a single thing-a single person.

"I wonder how that new world is treating you..." Her words were rife with curiosity and yearning. If she could, she would wish to traverse the vast world with him. Before, on that execution platform, she had aspired to explore the world of cultivation, unwilling to settle to become anyone's wife or mother. Even today, that desire hasn't changed. But who she wished to experience it with had. No longer was she unwilling to travel with him.

If only she could turn back time, if only she could have told him to take her along, allow her to see the stars and all the world had to offer. If she could, all the way back in the Myriad Yore Continent, while he was explaining all his clearly exaggerated feats and adventures with the brightest smile on his face, launching jokes, and eating good food, she wished she had said what she wanted then. What her very soul kept telling her to despite her heart being tethered to that person!

Where would she have been today if they hadn't returned to that Inn?

Just where?!

Her eyes grew hazy, wet with tears despite her dehydrated state, and she looked out into that sky with everything she had. When she blinked, suddenly saw a male figure riding an avian of gold and white, elegantly beautiful to the apex, while the man above it was exuding boundless presence.

Those silver eyes shone like lanterns in the dim world, beautiful enough to make one's soul weep, and a face that was unmatched amongst his gender, exerting a masculine charm that was most certainly one-of-a-kind. It could only belong to a single person, and this person was one that she visualized for decades, barely using that image to tether her will to her refusing-to-surrender heart.

It seemed she was dreaming once again. Was this childish? Perhaps. But it offered her endless comfort and this was enough to be a beacon for her unyielding will to go toward to survive. Just like before, that young man who saved her not once but twice, dashing as a Chosen of heaven with the presence to fight against Hell, would arrive, undo her shackles with a single word or a single wave, and bring her away to the skies.

The dim sky would part and, while she was held firmly in his warm, strong arms, the starry skies would reveal themselves. She would leave this place. Never to return.

What a sweet dream.

The current iteration of this man was far beyond her imagination however, with an attire she had never thought of, carrying the charismatic aura of a Martial Artist and an Alchemist, perfectly synergizing the two identities with a flair that contained some imperialistic charm. Moreover, this one was far more handsome than she originally remembered.

He seemed...older?

He seemed to have survived Hell and seen Heaven's secrets, escaping the wrath of both with his life intact and holding his head incomparably high. To add, the feathered beast was certainly Bai Lin, the white crane that once soared into the skies with him, known as his lifelong partner of the sky, but this Bai Lin was fundamentally different. She was more majestic, beautiful, and radiant. She felt like a beast of myth.

Both were far beyond her earlier imagination!

Slowly but surely, the two approached her and grew increasingly clearer to her hazy vision. On the face of the young man was a smile that was supremely brilliant and toothy, showcasing a genuine ray of happiness that was simply incredible to witness. It was as if seeing her was enough to grant a long-cherished wish of his, solving a regret that was unsolvable in another world. It was so bright that her own barely held spark was explosively ignited, bringing across a bright smile of elation on her sunken and shallow face as well.

For some reason, she couldn't help but laugh wildly. Mustering the strength of her frail lungs, she shouted out with the will of ten thousand lives: "Took you long enough!"

The young man was visibly taken aback by her first response. And then that smile of his turned into a bright, unrestrained, and unfettered peal of laughter as if this was the woman that matched his wavelength in ways he couldn't quite describe, and this was the only response he should expect.

"It sure did!" He replied.

Kree!

The bird quite clearly agreed.

----- [Author's Note: QING QIUMU! <3 Guys. I promise: MORE Qing Qiumu!]