Wei Wuyin's residence was a wide building with a single room and floor. In fact, it was previously a storage room that had suffered destruction recently and had yet to be worked on. There were broken windows, no front door, and dust everywhere. It was dilapidated, neglected for years, and barely standing on its foundation.
With a powerful gust, it could all tumble down into absolute chaos. The only benefit was that it was spacious enough to fit in Bai Lin several times over.
The sect had assigned him this location to reside in until the sect's Council determined his future. However, he knew from now in, he had no future with the sect.
In the center of this building of ruin, he sat with Bai Lin curled up beside him. Her eyes revealed a trace of sadness. Earlier, Wei Wuyin had explained the situation the best he could, so she understood the general gist of their situation. So, she was heartbroken.
The current situation was the son of the Sect Leader and Ancestral Elder of the Sect or his life. If he remained alive for a certain amount of time, the son would lose his cultivation and could even go BOOM!
This left her saddened as she understood that a choice was before her: Her master or her home. Was that really a choice? Without any hesitation, she remained by Wei Wuyin's side.
Wei Wuyin deeply understood her feelings, but he didn't have a say in the matter. A spirit oath was not an oath to be trifled with. Your spirit will be erased by the Heavenly Daos. You will absolutely lose control of the inherent energies in your core and qi that flowed within your body.
Unlike when Shu Yang survived, who had simply lost his mental control over his qi, causing it to go haywire, it would instead be like self-detonation. When done, it's impossible to turn back. While there were exceptions and solutions, these all included prematurely abandoning one's spirit, resigning oneself as a cripple for life.
As he thought about this, he felt various spiritual senses outside. They were both concealed and openly watching over his actions, likely with several spiritual formations furthering their reach and strength. The strongest spiritual sense nearby was recognized by Wei Wuyin. It was Su Lanyi, his Sect Master.
His own spiritual sense was far, far stronger than hers. Despite her wishing to hide it using a concealing-type spiritual spell, he noticed her surveilling actions almost immediately.
"Just like I assumed. They will be watching my every move until they've decided how to appropriately handle me without going against the Heavenly Daos stipulations. Since they can't directly assist Wu Chen, they need a 'real' reason to act against me. I feel as if I've walked into a tiger's den and not my home." He felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Should I reveal my cultivation base and just leave? If I find a secluded location, I could hide for the remaining years and then return." This thought emerged in his heart. If he took this course of action, he felt no one could stop him entirely. Unfortunately, there were still too many variables.
The grand spiritual formation of Scarlet Solaris Mountain and grand qi array that drew upon the mountain's inherent qualities and energies. He didn't have a good grasp of its strengths or weaknesses. In fact, besides understanding the general gist of it being used for defense, he didn't know much about it.
Spiritual formations required spiritual sense and spiritual energy to generate and function in performing specific, tailored duties. In the hands of a Godlord who's qi could contain this spiritual energy, it was maximized in their hands.
As for the qi arrays, they relied on the innate energies of stones or geographical locations like the Tree of Eden or Scarlet Solaris Mountain as fuel to activate. They just needed to be controlled, but can exhibit far stronger power than their wielder.
That being said, the expenditure for setting up a qi array was far, far greater of a spiritual formation.
"Remaining here isn't an option, at least." As he came to this conclusion, he felt it was correct. The truly unfortunate aspect of his departure is the fallout his previous members, like Su Mei, Xing Fu, and Wei Si, could suffer. They could be branded as aiding and abetting with various little truth to it and executed publicly.
If they wanted to draw him out, that's what he would do.
Therefore, the most correct option was also the one he couldn't afford to take. While he wasn't a saint, he cared about those close to him. If they died on a mission or in battle, then so be it, that was the cruelty of the struggle to cultivate; if they died directly because of him, then he couldn't accept it.
"I can't even let Bai Lin leave to warn the others. Who knows if they'll take action against her, killing her for ridiculous reasons to incite my fury and defection. Worse, it's unlikely they will remain passive. This gathering of the council is a stall tactic to find crimes or rules broken, legitimate ones, to hang me with."
An immense pressure stifled his heart. He had risen from an honorary disciple to the core disciple and had bent, or even outright broken, the rules due to his status many times over. An example of which was Su Mei. When she was being bullied by her fellow harem members, he had killed the lead attacker.
As a core disciple, his status was far beyond that woman, and so it was swept under the rug with ease. Obviously, this was against the rules. That was just one of many rules that were broken, and his subordinates would definitely spill their guts when interrogated.
They knew about his actions with the Three-Point Yin physique woman. While it was an archaic rule that no one really followed, one wasn't allowed to engage in those activities with prisoners of war, let alone let them go free after. The latter was far more damning than the former.
He could even be charged with murdering his own, killing Chu Yan who had plotted against him in the Violet Moon Sect's eradication operation. They could place collusion charges on all members of his faction, and killing an inner disciple was a heinous crime.
Even Han Yu's explosive act could be fabricated as under his orders with the right persuasion and misinformation.
"Haaa…" he inhaled, closed his eyes, and lifted his chin up. This situation was far beyond his expectations. Who knew that his hopes of returning a hero had been shattered by two words: Dao Companion.
"Huuuu!" Exhaling, he decided to focus on himself for now. While being watched, cultivation was quite difficult, but not impossible. He would be placed on a schedule before they reacted to hinder him in some manner.
If he estimated this, he would have at least two hours before they finish their investigation and found ample evidence of his illegal actions. At that time, the entire sect would be his enemy.
"I can't stop others from being implicated, but if I'm a great enough threat on the outside, a looming calamity, they would definitely not take action against others. Only through sheer strength and fear can I assure their safety.
"Actually, they could cripple Wu Chen's cultivation to prevent his death. Unfortunately, unless he could gain a second mind, physical essence, and meridian structure, it would be impossible to recultivate. His future would be wasted, but at least he'd have one!"
If anything was left unsaid, it was that he had no intention to die here.
"One hour! That's all I need. I'll ascend to the Sublime Qi Phase in one go!" The Externalize Heart Qi Method could rapidly absorb pure and refined essence energy like a whale drinking water. Since it was uncharted territory, he was going to take it somewhat slow and make preparations before taking that step, but now, he had no choice left.
While he was sure his strength was astonishing as a Sixth Stage of Qi Condensation Realm expert, he wasn't entirely confident if he included possible variables.
"Bai Lin, stay close." He communicated, causing Bai Lin's head to rise. She waddled over and used her large body to completely cover Wei Wuyin's figure. After, she rested in that state.
Wei Wuyin smiled. All he did was say stay close and yet she shielded him as if she understood his thoughts. How miraculously intelligent she was. Caressing her feathers, he felt emotional. This crane he had been assigned to at random had become one of his closest companions.
He executed a spiritual spell. With his spiritual sense enhanced by three spirits, an Eden Spirit, Elemental Spirit, and Saber Spirit, this spiritual sense was amplified far beyond his cultivation base. Even a Godlord who had developed their spiritual energies to infuse with their qi may not have a spiritual sense as powerful as his.
This spiritual spell shrouded his body in a dense dome of spiritual energy, preventing all forms of inspection. With Bai Lin's unique body as the first line of defense and this spell as the second, he felt reassured. While he couldn't set up any legitimate defenses, Bai Lin's willingness to use her body was already the best defense he could have.
"Externalize!" Wei Wuyin opened his mouth, two cyclones of qi the size of tennis balls rushed out in a flash. They hovered in front of him and stood at the ready. It was almost as if they were solemn.
"Could they understand the circumstances?" When he thought of how the spirits within the his Hearts of Qi acted nearly independent of himself, he couldn't help but marvel at them.
The Divine Heart of Elemental Qi was surrounded in white elemental qi, a trace of yin, yang, yin-yang, and saber energies within. The Divine Heart of Saber Qi was multicolored, but vaguely formed the shape of a saber, resembling his saber soul, Element, heavily.
With his Alchemic Heart of Eden Qi handling the flow of his internal qi to prevent deviation, he readied himself. He took out a few pure essence stones from his spatial ring. When he did, his Hearts of Qi didn't hesitate. They took the initiative and released a frightening suction force that drew in the pure essence stones into the cyclones.
They were directly refined and entered the core, enlarging it every so slightly.
When Wei Wuyin saw this, he grew invigorated! In a matter of seconds, several essence stones had been completely devoured and thoroughly refined.
"Did their refining strength increase?" As he thought of that, he looked at their cores. "They have alchemical energies within them?! No wonder their refinement speed is far faster than before!" Shocked, he nearly exclaimed in disbelief.
He had his two Hearts of Qi supplement his Alchemic Heart of Eden Qi with energy to further its cultivation base. Over the course of several days, it had already birthed the four basic elemental energies and qi, reaching the peak of the Third Stage of Qi Condensation. As it drew upon his own experience, despite its personal cultivation speed being slow, it had birthed as he would've if he restarted his cultivation.
He never suspected that they hadn't just given, but received energy. They had somehow contained the alchemical energies within their cores, accelerating their ability to refine essence.
However, he was hesitant. According to records, the presence of Alchemical Energies within Hearts of Qi made them harmless. This fear nearly overtook his excitement until he tried to utilize a portion of his qi. A strand of saber qi was sharp, and even cut a line on the tiled floor with ease.
This caused his heart to relax. It seemed only an Alchemic Heart of Qi held this particular disadvantage, likely due to alchemical qi being the forefront of its powers. However, his Divine Heart of Saber Qi produced Saber Qi, only enhanced by alchemical energies.
"Perfect!" No more hesitation existed in his heart after this realization. He pulled out stone after stone and fed it to them without stopping. They devoured and refined with their highest speed. Before, he estimated that he would need about four hundred essence stones to enlarge his cores from a fingernail to walnut-sized existence.
The Sublime Qi required the enlarging and enhancing of the quantity of energy it could store and the quality of energy it was composed of. Those at the Sublime Qi Phase had far stronger inherent qi and greater reserves to draw from.
As energy was converted into qi, they could be said to have dozens of times more qi than those at the Sixth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm due to this.
With the difference in quality and quantity, it created a stark difference. Unfortunately, it required an immense amount of wealth and time to refine one's core. That was a monotonous and expensive expenditure that even Mortal Gods could barely afford.
If the average wealth of a Mortal God was measured, it would probably hover around hundred or so essence stones, and only with a powerful organization could they afford to refine such wealth.
Wei Wuyin received a hundred essence stones for helping avert a sect-destroying calamity, this clearly displayed the value of a hundred essence stones. As for high-level essences, their actual price didn't necessarily equate to market price. In fact, in an ideal world and fair trade, Wei Wuyin would have purchased that Absolute Zero Ice Essence with less than thirty essence stones.
Of course, rarity and convenience were unseen values that affected market prices.
Slowly, his two cores started to grow and the essence stones in his ring dwindled continuously.
Ten…
Twenty…
Fifty…
One hundred…
Three hundred…
As he watched the two devour the stones and rapidly grow, his eyes constricted. The number started to rise, from three hundred to six hundred to nine hundred!
"Wait!" Wei Wuyin's heart throbbed in shock. They were devouring far more than he estimated before! At first, he assumed it would require four hundred for each of them, but…
They had each already refined nine hundred, EACH!
They were money guzzlers and hadn't even come halfway close to reaching walnut-size!
As he started to panic, watching his wealth slowly deplete into nothing, he analyzed the situation.
"Before, I had a normal Heart of Qi! Now, they've both become Divine Hearts of Unique Qi! No wonder, no wonder!" As he realized the foundation of those two cores were far stronger than average cores, he came to an immediate understanding and calmed down instantly.
However, if someone had used the normal method of cultivation, even if they went into closed door seclusion throughout, cultivating one of these hearts could take literal decades! In fact, it would've taken him at least two decades just to reach this degree of refinement!
Gulping, he quietly watched and stifled the pain of his wealth depleting.
Two thousand…
Three thousand…
Four thousand!!
Wei Wuyin's eyes widened as he watched his cores grow! They went from the size of a fingernail to a walnut! As they reached the final stages of their refinement, luminescent light of white and multi-colored brightness started to rapidly effuse the surroundings.
The small gaps of Bai Lin's body made her seem like a disco ball. The lights penetrated outwards and touched the building. A formless, powerful aura was birthed. A myriad of bizarre signs manifested within the world, including silver sabers frolicking about like fairies and elements going haywire.
When this aura formed, in the Scarlet Solaris Sect's Scarlet Palace, Su Lanyi wore a calm expression and was listening to various reports from the Grand Elders. They had dug up enough crimes to charge Wei Wuyin with and justify execution.
She had a relieved light in her eyes after hearing this, "Wu Chen, I'll protect you."
Abruptly, her expression shifted. The spiritual formation she set up outside the building Wei Wuyin resided in trembled. She used her spiritual sense to feel the feedback and her eyes widened.
"This!? Sublime Ascension!" Her eyes trembled as she stood up. Her reaction caused the Grand Elders to become startled. That was until their own spiritual formations fed them information as well.
All of their expressions changed. One of them cried, "He's undergoing Sublime Ascension!" As those words left his lips, dense lights of disbelief and shock emerged in their eyes.
A scarlet mist appeared from the walls of the Scarlet Palace's hall, it congregated until it formed a figure, Wu Xinghong! His eyes were grave as he looked towards Su Lanyi. It seemed he had also felt this change. Unlike them, he was a Mortal Godlord whose spiritual sense was beyond their capabilities. He didn't need a spiritual formation to leave a strand of spiritual sense at any location. A single will was all it took.
"You need to take action, now!" Wu Xinghong coldly ordered. When Wei Wuyin was a disciple, he had high hopes for him and praised his talents endlessly, but now, he was inwardly terrified. His responsibility as a father overtook everything else. He had one son from Su Lanyi, and he would not let him die or become a waste!