Paragon of Sin

Wei Wuyin's actions had been the focal point of this entire event. All the Earthly Saints were observers, wanting to know how this mysterious figure was going to solve this seemingly unimaginably difficult issue. To their knowledge, there was no solution, even amongst Mystic-Earth grade Alchemical Products. While there were temporary means to stabilize the situation, the aspect of Soulspan was far beyond their means to solve.

If they could, wouldn't they be effectively immortal? But they weren't, they were shackled by that dreadful term 'Soulspan' and it was inescapable.

Additionally, they were reinforced by Tian Muyang's belief and Wei Wuyin's words regarding his origins, so they were deeply intrigued by his decision. Not to mention, Ma Sujiang and Ma Zheng had gone to Wei Wuyin, not the Alchemic Saints or one of the four Medicinal Sages of the Mystic Dao—the Shamans, so this likely meant they knew more than them. To them, this was Wei Wuyin's origins.

Thus, Wei Wuyin was in quite the predicament. Facing these Earthly Saints as an ignorant mortal, he was left unable to find a solution before. He was reluctant to wildly test the possibility of using unrefined lifeforce in massive, unfathomable quantities to seek out a solution to this. The Mark of Eden was one of his greatest secrets.

He didn't want the mere existence of it to leak. And these Earthly Saints seemed quite noisy, unwilling to leave after completing their task. He couldn't be certain if they wouldn't try to test him again. If that happened, he would truly be driven to a corner.

The jade box was a perfect cubic shape, on the surfaces of which had elegant grooves and curves etched in, and there was a wisp of mysterious light with a light blue color within. The light looked like flowing water, almost like a lively random spirit that roamed about. The dimensions of the jade cube were six inches in width, volume, and length.

"What is that?" Zhang Ziyi had just arrived, so she was the most clueless regarding the situation, but her focus was unable to be taken away from the cube after it was taken out.

Wei Wuyin decided not to hide his attempt to save Ma Zheng or the contents of the box from the others. Whether it failed or not, this should reinforce their misconception of his backing. He walked forward, touching Ma Zheng's shoulder, looking into his eyes with his Celestial Gaze. Suddenly, the lethargic and zombified Ma Zheng's eyes began to glow with a brilliance of life and wisdom.

The old man at the brink of death regained his sense of activity for a brief moment. When he saw the world, a hint of shock reflected in his eyes. The light was relatively weak but there.

"Ah…y-you?" Ma Zheng couldn't move his decaying body that should've already begun its process of degradation. Normally, an Ascended beings' body would exist for tens of thousands of years without suffering from the harm of the elements, but his various means to push his life to its limits had consumed his body's ability to resist the corrosion of time.

Not only was his body going to rapidly degrade and decompose, but it'll certainly become dust in a few years.

Ma Sujiang's heart throbbed fiercely in her chest, heated by the fires of hope. She was about to rush forward, but a powerful hand held her down. She saw Wu Yu looking at her with a serious look, quickly causing her emotions to be doused by the gloominess within, and the shaking of his head.

"Stay."

The other Earthly Saints were aware of what was happening, and their eyes became solemn. Was Wei Wuyin trying to kill him sooner? Well, at this point, it might be an act of mercy rather than artificially forcing his life far beyond its natural extent.

Ma Zheng slowly turned his head to the side. He was enveloped by scarlet-golden flames and his spiritual senses were lacking so he couldn't see anything a feet or so beyond him, despite looking perfectly in Ma Sujiang's direction. He could only make out Wei Wuyin's appearance who was extremely close.

"She made it here, huh?" Ma Zheng's words were soft and gently uttered, but no one here was ordinary, so it was easily heard.

Wei Wuyin had performed a small trick, stimulating Ma Zheng's bodily potential to the utmost once more, allowing him to regain a sense of mental awareness. This would cause his Sea of Consciousness to collapse. If Wei Wuyin didn't have Eden, this wouldn't be possible to do on anyone, and if Ma Zheng had even a fraction of a fraction of his power, any of his attempts to do so would've been easily rebuffed.

"...Senior Zhang, if you want to live, listen to me: It's up to you, and only you. Understand?" Wei Wuyin didn't waste time. He had none to waste. He could only hope this brief moment of clarity was sufficient enough to give Ma Zheng this opportunity to take control of his own destiny.

They had three hours.

Within these three hours, Ma Zheng's life and death was in his own hands.

In three hours, he had to, without any other option, become an Earthly Saint!

There were no other options left. The Life Source and Soulspan were all tied to one's cultivation base, and this might be the only avenue left without some heaven-defying alchemical product or multiple of them. He didn't have just one issue but several at once that needed to be rapidly solved.

The jade cube suddenly expanded, the upper lid split into four pieces in four directions, spread apart to reveal a vial forged from frosted glass inside. The liquid within was a bright amber fluid. To those who were Earthly Saints, the frosted glass was unable to be pierced through, and all forms of ocular spells or spiritual senses would be met with an unbreachable obstacle.

Not only that, there were no mystic fluctuations coming from the vial. In fact, there was no fluctuation or scent at all. It was completely sealed. At the top of the vial was a silver seal of wax and at the top of this seal was a strange character.

Wei Wuyin carefully brought it out. He gave the frosted glass a heavy gaze. If there was a product with the most value out of Cai Liuyang's Saint Ring, then this was it without any doubt. Wei Wuyin had originally thought of giving this to Wu Yu when he felt confident to ascend into the Earthly Saint Phase, the fourth stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, but he had just jumped to gun and entered it.

The Heavenly War Spirit had reminded him that sometimes the simplest solution was the greatest option available, taking away all other factors, then Ma Zheng successfully ascending could induce changes to his Life Source and Soulspan, alleviating his issues or outright solve them. There was also a chance that it wouldn't work. It was a risk.

But it was a risk he was willing to make.

Wei Wuyin touched the wax seal, sending a gentle flow of spiritual energies within. The wax seemed to have met fire, melting outright and the liquid dripped its sides. As it did, the opening gushed out pulsating waves of mystic emissions that caused the Earthly Saints to reel!

"What is that?!" Han Yuhei was smashed by the emissions, forced to take a few steps back. He wasn't the only one; the other Earthly Saints all took a step back, except Wu Yu who remained behind Wei Wuyin being fully prepared to react. He had to act, stabilizing Wei Wuyin's body with a soft touch of his lower back.

Wei Wuyin resisted the unfathomable emissions from the bottle, gripping the vial tightly in his grip. He held down Ma Zheng who became wide-eyed. Ma Zheng was about to speak when Wei Wuyin grabbed his chin, and then lifted it upwards, opening his jaw, and then pouring the elixir that was like amber-colored molten lava into his throat.

Ma Zheng's eyes widened to their maximal extent!

"Old man, don't disappoint me." Wei Wuyin gritted his teeth, and then he touched Ma Zheng's glabella. Suddenly, he accessed the War Souls that floated in his Saint Ring, numbering two million. He didn't hesitate to bring out a thousand, sending them into Ma Zheng's Sea of Consciousness alongside waves of his Alchemic Eden Force.

He was going to help Ma Zheng refine these War Souls! Stimulating his Mind's Eye, thereby affecting his soul! If so, he could induce a state of enlightenment, one of the astonishing effects of War Souls. Wei Wuyin had only temporarily experimented with them, but they were very useful to nourish the soul.

This might also help Ma Zheng stabilize his soul for his upcoming challenge.

WHIZZZZZZ!

Ma Zheng's skin began to manifest various mystic runes that marked his chin, covering every inch of his body, including the depths of his eyes. While they repeated, there were thousands of Mystic Runes.

"Wu Yu!" Wei Wuyin shouted. Wu Yu acted swiftly, sending out wisps of spiritual strength into Wei Wuyin's body, which flowed through and intermingled with his Alchemic Eden Force, swiftly acting to break down the War Souls. Wei Wuyin's veins bulged all over his body, clearly stressed by the infusion of Wu Yu's mystic-graded spiritual strength. Despite that, his facial expression with an ever-confident grin gave him the appearance as if all were well within his control.

"Now!"

Strange sounds that shook the world emanated from Ma Zheng's body as his eyes unleashed spiritual light. Wu Yu grabbed Wei Wuyin, pulling him back alongside everyone else. Those on Bai Lin, including Ma Sujiang, were all dragged away by Wu Yu, brought hundreds of miles away.

The other Earthly Saints all had their eyes contract uncontrollably! They were extremely familiar with those sounds!

It was the spiritual howls of a Mystic Soul!

"He's undergoing Earthly Ascension?!" Tian Muyang shot back, hurriedly trying to avoid being dragged into the upcoming phenomenon.

"That's impossible!!" The old Imperial Monarch was unable to believe his senses! What did Wei Wuyin give Ma Zheng? What was that elixir?!

None of their reactions were anything less than complete astonishment, yet they all didn't delay by getting hundreds of miles away from Ma Zheng's body. The Earthly Ascension was not something they wanted to be caught interfering with. There were numerous harsh, unforgiving lessons throughout history teaching them not to interfere in an Earthly Ascension, or any Ascension attempt for that matter.

BOOOOOOOM!!!

A deep, unsettling explosion erupted from Ma Zheng's body, all but confirming their suspicions. They felt speechless.

Wu Yu was also shocked by this event. He didn't understand what Wei Wuyin did or what that elixir was. From its emissions, it was clearly beyond the peak-tier Mystic-Earth grade World Genesis Elixir he had taken! Was that a…

Wei Wuyin didn't hide it, openly speaking, allowing everyone to hear as long as they were listening. "The Rousing-Soul, Demi-Mystic Elixir—a Mystic-World grade elixir."

"WHAT?!"

As the Earthly Saints tried to process those words, Ma Zheng's body shot upwards like a blitzing rocket and abruptly vanished!