Paragon Of Sin

Chapter 1759: As The Gifts Arrive

Shang Liu, as the host, initiated his birthday. As he did, heavy fanfare began as music roared to life, played by a few musicians who were extremely talented in their craft. They produced sound notes that didnʼt drown out one’s thoughts, only elevated one’s bodily experience as the sound waves passed through, merging with one’s physical cells and mind. The path of music was deep, and the tones here were quite comforting and uplifting.

Then, a few of Sage Painted Starʼs inspired cultivators, who pursued artistry, used their spiritual power as paint and the worldʼs ambient mana as a canvas, painting all sorts of realistically vivid images that started as mere depictions of mountains, rivers, clouds, and celestial bodies. They swirled about across the hall with majestic brilliance, dancing together as if forming the very foundation of creation and color.

But those depictions soon evolved as Sage Painted Star took the position of narrator. They began to merge into a large spiritual image of a young boy in a vast, foreign world filled with trees, lakes, mountains, and strange beasts. Young Master Shangʼs eyes lit with wonder as he noted those beasts were native to the Treasured Vale Galaxy.

Sage Painted Star, with a powerful voice, began to explain the story of Shang Liu. From boyhood to the beginnings of his cultivation journey, to his challenges in becoming a man, the tragedies he suffered, the victories he claimed, the distance he traveled, and much, much more. While certain details were excluded, the tone of the voice was emotionally inspiring as he went through what could be considered 200,000 years of life in only an hour.

Sage Painted Star proved himself as a theatrically effective orator, bringing each individual through the course of events, every twist and turn, every shocking discovery, and every defining moment that turned Shang Liu into the man that countless respected to this day.

Shang Liu tried to keep his composure and demeanor calm and collected. Yet as Sage Painted Star told each detail, his eyes would glint from time to time, betraying his torrential whirlwind of varied and complex emotions. Seeing oneʼs life recalled in such beautifully depicted storytelling as he saw his younger self rise from a mere boy without a shred of cultivation to the great behemoth he was today in the cultivation world with a myriad of achievements made it impossible for him not to feel intense emotions.

Naturally, from time to time, his gaze would subtly shift to Young Master Shang. Out of curiosity, he couldn’t help but transmit while the crowd was distracted by the story of his life.

”Are you here on behalf of his and her Majesty?” This question had been swirling within his heart like a stealthy viper. He could sense the direct royal bloodline of the Shang Clan from this young man, knowing full well that he was someone of the younger generation of the royal family, likely one of the princes he was unfamiliar with. He was using a unique Shang Clan Spiritual Transmission Spell, so only those with the bloodline could receive or reply.

Young Master Shangʼs eyebrows lifted slightly. He replied. His response caused Shang Liuʼs expression to experience a momentary yet drastic change. There was a flash of disbelief, uncertainty, confusion, and naturally, suspicion! He hurriedly controlled his facial expression. After about five or so minutes later, his eyes shifted to his side, catching Wei Wuyinʼs side profile.

While he didn’t know much about the ongoing lineage of the Shang royal line, which was his deliberate attempt to forget that portion of his life, he was aware of the return of one of the three infants of Fortune, Calamity, and the Absence of Fate—the Trinity of Heavenʼs Heart. They didnʼt define the fates of galaxies, but galactic zones and the topic of a galactic zoneʼs fate were impossible to ignore.

Wei Wuyin noticed his look, turned to him, and gave him a calm smile. ”Your lifeʼs incredibly interesting, Pavilion Master Shang.”

Sage Painted Star was also an incredible storyteller, often showing rather than telling, allowing the spiritual images and shifting music to display events and only accentuating them with well-selected words of emphasis and elevations of scene, setting, and score.

”It is my blessing to receive such praise from you, World-Saint Neo-Dawn.” Shang Liuʼs words were naturally spoken, but Wei Wuyin sensed some stiffness within his mental fluctuations. He didn’t bother with this as he expected given Young Master Shangʼs adamant intention to come. Moreover, he had a little bit of clues. Given the exact similarity of their eye color, down to the shade—turquoise, there was very little difference in bloodline lineage. If he had to make a random guess, this person was either Young Master Shangʼs direct relative, like a brother or an uncle.

Regardless of which, Wei Wuyin would just wait until Young Master Shang finished his business with Shang Liu to understand more.

Soon, the storytelling came to an end as spiritual images gathered around Shang Liu, all of which were forms of his younger self. They were either heroic and free-spirited, worn and torn, bloodied and beaten, happy and triumphant, or grieving and suffering. Sage Painted Star did not hold back the essence of Shang Liuʼs struggles in raising the Knightly Dao Pavilion into the prominent instructor organization that it is today!

The crowd was either emotional, in awe, or in disbelief at getting a deeper insight into a 200,000-year-oldʼs life. It was hard to conceptualize 200,000 years, but seeing it depicted in such a lengthy spiritual play was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. A few benefited. Others were demoralized.

This was because of Yan Luoyang and Shang Liu, bringing them an incredibly harsh reminder yet again that despite their talents and skills, despite their backing and strength, the former died after expending his last bit of vitality comprehending the dao while the latter was Mystic Overlord for over 170,000 years!

170,000 YEARS!!!

Cultivation was difficult; it was hard for reality not to set in, bringing about some demoralizing revelations that would forever impact their futures. Whether this would be positive or negative largely depended on the strength of their mentalities.

As these emotions flared about, Wei Wuyinʼs eyes shifted to a region outside the Essence Sword Starfield. Three discreet auras were approaching, disguised amongst the numerous witnesses who were observing the events from spiritual tablets. While they couldnʼt be here within the venue itself, they were still going to experience the event and offer gifts, many had high hopes of gaining an entry token into the Knightly Dao Pavilion in the hopes of allowing their descendants a greater future.

These three auras were Mystic Overlords, true-blue cultivators at the Ascended Saint Phase of the Mystic Ascendant Realm! They were slowly approaching atop an icy white asteroid.

Wei Wuyin didnʼt look at Shang Liu as the gift-giving process began. The process would start with Qin Liangyu showcasing the gifts from outside the venue. The entire event felt like a glorified display of Shang Liuʼs worth and was likely going to take hours. However, Shang Liu was rather respectful to each gift-giver as Qin Liangyu gave their name, origins, and any special message they wished to convey such as well-wishes or hopes to one day see their talented descendant as glorious cultivators under Shang Liuʼs flawless teachings.

The latter types of messages received very little response, but sincere messages that were backed by gifts that cost those of certain origins an astonishingly foundation-shattering price were given Try-Out Tokens to select a junior and bring them in at a designated time to see how they fare against the tests.

To reward sincerity and sacrifice, Wei Wuyin respected it. He understood why Shang Liu took his time accepting gifts, treating each one as precious and worth his time. This was a slight exposure of his character. While tedious for the sake of time, it was difficult to feel any dissatisfaction.

While some of those who received tokens only offered Mystic-Earth grade items, not every organization in a thriving galaxy had the means to offer extravagant gifts.

Wei Wuyinʼs focus shifted to the two disguised Sages who were slightly panicking, but as nothing unexpected had occurred yet, they gradually sensed that Wei Wuyin didnʼt care about their existence. He could sense that their mentality was growing increasingly resolute as time passed, exchanging subtle hand movements and eye twitches to communicate in the most basic sense. If one didnʼt know they were both disguised, not even a Sage would notice such an archaic communication tactic.

After the outside gifts, the first level of guests were given a turn. For the sake of not diminishing the value of their gifts, Shang Liu was allowing those outside, then the first level up to the fourth level to bestow gifts in that order. After all, the fourth level would include gifts from his students, World-Saint Searing Star, World-Saint Azure Rain, and World-Saint Neo-Dawn!

Hopefully.

The first level of gifts were all of a certain minimum standard, but they were diverse, some carrying sentimental significance that Shang Liu rewarded on the spot with a Student Entry Token, directly allowing them to select someone to bypass the tests and be admitted as long as tuition was paid.

The second level of gifts included Earthly Alchemic Saints, and some even offered their alchemical lineage product, while it might not be the best on the market, the insights within their scrolls, tomes, or books were quite valuable in guiding alchemists in concocting their products. Quite a few Student Entry Tokens and Try-Out Tokens were given out during both segments.

Wei Wuyin was in awe of how much wealth Shang Liu was pulling in by merely existing. It was too bad he couldnʼt capitalize on his 100th birthday.

”Hm?” His starry eyes squinted. He looked at Shang Liu, sending via an unconcealed spiritual transmission, ”Normally, your starfield would have a detection array, correct?”

Shang Liu frowned. He nodded, replying as he received a set of Mystic-Earth grade products as a gift: ”Yes. However, due to the numerous lifeforms of high cultivations within the starfield at the moment, the array would go haywire. So we limited its range to detect only Mystic Overlords and Sages and shrunk its radius to just the starfieldʼs borders.”

”...” Wei Wuyin contemplated for a brief moment. Clearly, their detection array wasnʼt very effective or was weakened due to this change in function, and others knew of these details.

Shang Liu wasnʼt very concerned. The prophecy already warned Enlightened Sages and Supreme Sages from attending, Wei Wuyin being the only exception to such a threat, and there were three Sages of the Knightly Dao Pavilion here, including the four galactic rulers of the Resolute Dusk Galaxy. Who would be foolish to cause trouble?

Of course, he made certain preparations after Wei Wuyinʼs comment on the number of Sages earlier. He wasnʼt foolish to ignore that.

Wei Wuyinʼs gaze pierced through and found the Sage hidden in the mountain. The mountain was slightly trembling, seemingly being extracted by a powerful art. By the trajectory of the mountainʼs point and timing…

”Young Mistress has arrived!” An announcer erupted from the entrance, causing the gift-giving event to halt as all eyes were directed at the door. Countless breaths were similarly halted at the throat, inhales of awe and widened eyes of astonishment unfolded everywhere.

She was a young woman, her physique slender, her skin an utterly flawless white, her bosom ample, slightly beating Xi Ning but losing to Yue Songli by a margin, and her turquoise eyes glimmered with the brightness of freshly born stars as her long eyelashes closed with the amazement of an eclipse. Her blue-painted lips were eye-catching, and her long black and white hair with the tips seemingly dipped in natural gold. Her glorious appearance was completed by an ensemble of white and gold robes, granting her a regal and lofty aura.

She was a startling sight to behold, truly mesmerizing, and worthy of the title of being capable of causing the downfall of a stellar region. If not for Yue Songli, Xi Ning, and Qing Qiumuʼs arrival, countless souls might have fallen in love with her without any option to extricate themselves for a lifetime. With tough competition, it was much more difficult to beguile the soul.

This was especially so when Yue Songli and Qing Qiumu had a type of peak beauty of their own, the former was seductive to an excessive degree while the latter was natural, calming, and warm with unique features that made one wish to hug and roll in the dirt.

This young woman was obviously…

Shang Wanqing!

Wei Wuyin saw this woman and his first thought as he viewed her with his Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity was: ʼWhy does she have three soul auras?ʼ

Her expression was cold, reluctant, yet she still walked forward under the guard of the short-haired young woman who was Shang Liuʼs attendant and a few others in armor. They exemplified her importance, and despite her status as a Catalyst Body, she seemed utterly fearless before the desiring gazes of others.

Shang Liuʼs gaze became gradually warmer. A sign of his love for this daughter of his. He smiled as he was about to speak when every cultivator at the World Emperor level or higher immediately looked up!

RUMBLE!!!

The defensive barrier of Planet Blessed Knight was hit!!!