Paragon Of Sin

Chapter 1917: Chapter 1909: A True Ascended Existence

Throughout the Holy Void of Fortuneʼs societal foundation of cultivation, the Mystic Ascendant Realm has been mapped out entirely. Countless years of effort, exploration, daring, and discovery laid the foundation for an advanced society where the Three Thousand Laws of the Heavenly Realms have become integral to the production of geniuses, past the Seed of Law stage, which usually was the domain of Supreme Existences at the Resonant Soul Realm.

As such, similar to how geniuses deployed the tactics of deliberately failing their Mystic Ascensionʼs first tribulation for the sake of retaining the Mortal Realm of Accumulationʼs principles was widely deployed. However, it was not normal by any means, the limited lifespans of cultivators who failed remained, and the rate of refinement only slowed down as Mystic-Earth graded materials were used to elevate oneʼs cultivated foundational standard.

The limited lifespan of Mystic Star Phase cultivators determined that significant wealth and backing were required to take such risks. Countless geniuses failed to maximize their foundation in time, forced to ascend in the end. However, amongst these talented few, they were subjected to the horrific consequences of their sought-after failure.

The Mystic Ascendant Realmʼs two tribulation gates, the Seed Tribulation and the Shedding Mortality Tribulation, were extraordinarily strange due to the subtle agreement between both great daos. After all, a cultivator could ascend to the Soul of Mysticism stage, the Second Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, by succeeding the Seed Tribulation, the very first tribulation of mysticism.

So why was the Shedding Mortality Tribulation required? Why was it a thing? Why not just undergo the Seed Tribulation again? And what was different?

And that was the consequence!

Countless geniuses throughout the advanced societies of cultivation were continuously, strongly, and thoroughly warned by their seniors about the Shedding Mortality Tribulation. They were told that they should prioritize their Mortal Realm cultivation bases and foundation, not even think about the elusive potential of establishing unrivaled foundations throughout history. It was simply...too risky.

Too...too risky!

The Realm of Comprehension.

The Mystic Ascendant Realm.

According to grand scholars of mysticism devoted to the pursuit of understanding the Mystic Daoʼs principles, the entire realm was based on the depth of oneʼs comprehension, and every aspect of growth was determined by the depth of oneʼs grasp of the Mysticism.

Unlike the Mortal Realms where raw accumulating, digesting, and refining of energies and essences could directly determine oneʼs cultivated foundation, the Mystic Realms relied entirely on the foundation of oneʼs comprehension.

An example of this irrefutable truth was the Earthly Saint Phase, the fourth stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm; Wu Yu had attained minimal comprehension of Awakened Mystic Intent, and upon doing so, he directly ascended to the Earthly Saint Phase with zero difficulties. He was not the first to do so, and he wouldnʼt be the last.

As long as oneʼs comprehension of the Ways of Mysticism was minimally sufficient, one could theoretically attain the Ascended Saint Phase from the Star Core Phase of the Astral Core Realm without any threat of death. Su Yi was a reincarnation of an ancient expert and could have ascended at any time to the Ascended Saint Phase, becoming a Mystic Overlord back then. He had held back for his own personal reasons.

However, while comprehension was absolutely necessary, it was almost impossible to know if your comprehension was enough unless you had complete knowledge and the Mystic Dao automatically provoked the tribulation. Countless geniuses cultivated with that in mind, continuously elevating their understanding until it forces the Mystic Dao to descend a tribulation gate.

This method was far more insane than the Mystic Star Phaseʼs hidden accumulation power, as the depths of the Ways of Mysticism were incomparably deep, and just comprehending Awakened Mystic Intent was just one piece of the total pie. Those whoʼve strived for this and succeeded were incomparably low in numbers, potentially only one out of every ten billion.

And that was just the Demi-Mortal Lord Phase, the Third Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, if they decided to enter the realm as a Soul of Mysticism Phase cultivator directly, bypassing the Mystic Star Phase altogether.

As one got further and further ahead in cultivation, it became increasingly difficult despite their great lifespans.

After all, unlike the Mortal Realms, the foundation was equivalent to the depth of comprehension!

And that meant death via tribulation was tied to comprehension or more aptly put—the failure of comprehension!

Bringing the topic back to the incredible risk of taking the route of Shedding Mortality was the trial itself and its egregious requirement to ascend. It was almost as if the Mystic Dao was punishing those who dared to take this path. It was truly unfortunate for those who failed by virtue of inferior accumulation and minimal comprehension, and this extremely low probability of successfully ascending after failure in lesser societies of cultivation such as the Ancient Sealed Regionʼs Stellar Regionʼs considered the First Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm as a failure and the Soul of Mysticism was the first stage of the realm.

The heavy requirement was the COMPLETE comprehension of a single Way of Mysticism: Mana, Spirit, Radiant, Spatial, Temporal, Oceanic, Infusion, Permanence, and Conversion.

There was a great misconception among youngsters and the ignorant who recently ascended without direction that grasping a Way of Mysticism completely as an Earthly Saint Phase cultivator meant they acquired a completed Mystic Rune for that Way of Mysticism, signifying mastery. Wu Yu had once tooted his own horn for becoming a 6th Runic Ascendant as an Earthly Saint. Back then, he described his Runic Ascendant state as having complete runes of a Way of Mysticism.

He had proudly informed Wei Wuyin of what he regarded as truth, but Wei Wuyin always took things others said about cultivation that were still within the realm with a grain of salt, if not outright dismissed them if they contradicted a truth he knew. And at the time, all those years ago, Wei Wuyin had noticed discernible flaws in his understanding upon the slightest inquisition despite being a mortal.

If he boldly and recklessly trusted him, it was easy to be led astray.

The only ones who could for certain say they possessed a complete understanding of a Way of Mysticism were a Mystic Overlord, those at the Seventh Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, the Ascended Saint Phase! They could only ascend to such a stage by minimally comprehending a single Way of Mysticism to its peak. Without it, they would fail.

But how do you determine that? How do you determine complete comprehension?

And therein lies the rub:

There wasnʼt a clear indicator.

The Mystic Daoʼs approach to cultivation allowed cultivators to effectively ʼfuck around and find outʼ as they braved the insane dangers of the tribulation. Unless they waited or ensured they met the requirement where the Mystic Dao personally announced they could succeed, there was absolutely no way to know.

Wu Yu experienced serendipitous enlightenment, which made him a special case, where he only needed the minimal requirement of a single Awakened Mystic Intent due to the Alchemic Daoʼs support and his Imperial Heaven Auraʼs unique effects; however, if typical geniuses took the path of complete comprehension, they would need to grasp the Awakened Mystic Intent of all nine Ways of Mysticism to their minimal requirement.

That was correct—ALL NINE.

The Ways of Mysticismʼs Mystic Intent was nine separate Intents encompassing the entirety of Mysticism, and they all had extraordinarily profound depths!

While undergoing the tribulation, cultivators were tested. As long as they passed the minimal requirement, they could ascend properly, but failure meant death. And death was quite often.

This was mainly due to the lack of indicators of comprehension, and the strength of oneʼs Mystic Power did not equate to the depth of oneʼs understanding, often creating tragedies of geniuses nearly unrivaled in their cultivation stage to perish foolishly due to their hubris.

In the Seed Tribulation, if one underwent it normally, they would face nine Adjudicator Pillars of Mysticism as Wei Wuyin had, and be given the quest of completing a puzzle of mysticism upon the pillars. They were all labeled. Cultivators would then select one they were most confident in, and begin to piece together the process.

If they completed the pillarsʼ runic puzzle with a 100% success rate, they would succeed.

If they failed, they would be subjected to a punishing tribulation akin to Mythical Punishments. If their foundation was strong enough, they could survive and continue onto the second one. The closer they get to 100%, the weaker the punishment.

The average cultivator whoʼs survived the Mystic Star Phase likely had 90% or higher on all nine pillars, but the stronger cultivator had greater wiggle room to fail, so a genius could survive on 80% on all, while a demonic genius might be able to survive 60%, and an unrivaled monster of a generation could easily survive on 40%. This was unfair, but who says cultivation was anything but difficult?

Items like the Mystic Origin Liquid granted substitute and resistances, granting one a defense upon failure.

As long as one could acquire 100% on a single pillar, they could ascend directly to the Soul of Mysticism Phase.

But what Wei Wuyinʼs twenty-five versions faced was not a simple Adjudicator Pillar of Mysticism but Adjudicator Pillars of Worldly Mysticism!

This was the pillar that Original Magistrates faced to determine the tribulation they would have to survive to become a Mystic Overlord, a true Ascended Saint!

Fortunately for Wei Wuyin, the Adjudicator Pillars of Ascended Mysticism was the only tribulation. Normally, for Mystic Star Phase cultivators, it was widely known that they almost always failed their second attempt. And this was why.

That said, if Wei Wuyin had to face the true tribulation trial of the pillar he selected, he would certainly curse the heavens, all of Hell, and every last divinity in existence. After all, the scarred version of himself had provoked a River of Time tribulation as a Demi-Mortal Lord due to ascending within the Time Vortex after selecting the Temporal Pillar!

Fortunately, with his consciousness as a hazy mess, he didnʼt have to face anything so illogically unreasonable. He was stretched quite literally far too thin, barely existing by virtue of the Mystic Daoʼs obsessiveness for completion. The fact that all pillars must be 100% of whatever their requirement was a sign of its obsessiveness with completion!

The five Externalized Paragon Avatars with Ori at the helm looked at each pillar. It blinked. And it blinked again.

”....”

And there lies another problem.

The original plan was for a complete split consciousness, allowing Wei Wuyin to decipher the Mystic Runes and arrange them correctly. While this was their path, his Astral Souls had little deep comprehension of the Ways of Mysticism not pertaining to their source of power. They were godlike on the domains they controlled, but this was out of their depth. If Ori had to do this alone, it would only be able to try and solve Mana, Spirit, Oceanic, and Conversion.

Just four.

King stood before his pillars.

”Tch.”

Only Mana, Spirit, and Permanence.

Eden grinded its teeth.

Mana, Spirit, Infusion, Permanence, and Conversion.

Kratos roared proudly.

Mana, Spirit, Spatial, Temporal, Oceanic, and Infusion.

They all lacked Radiant.

Fortunately, they were not alone!

The Second Mind chuckled as he stared triumphantly at the nine pillars.

Mana, Spirit, Radiant, Spatial, Temporal, Oceanic, Infusion, Permanence, and Conversion!

ALL NINE!

They might be split, but portions of their consciousness were within each of their Avatars, and with the help of everyone, there was not a single pillar that couldnʼt be solved!

With coordinated efforts and discussion, twenty-five versions completed all nine! Of course, they were only allowed to complete a single pillar before being ejected! They each received the blessing of mysticism!

The Mystic Dao was obsessed with completeness, so upon success, it would tap into its hidden reserves of power to shed all common aspects of mortality, from the blood, body, mind, life, spirit, and soul, and then infuse enormous amounts of mystic energy in its purest form to push a cultivator to their peak state!

Wei Wuyin had twenty-five avatars! They were all exhausted to their utmost minimum! If they had failed a single pillar at 99%, there was no doubt they would have died, permanently leaving Wei Wuyinʼs soul and a True Soul as incomplete! This was madness executed in its greatest form for the sake of the paragon path!

And the infusion of mystic energy was wonderful, unfathomably indescribable, as their Astral Souls began to undergo the long awaited transformation into Mystic Souls!

And while Wei Wuyin was in a hazy state of awareness, he felt a ripple of rage flare all around him! It was fiery and thunderous!

Who wouldnʼt be? Twenty-five Little Defiants were like hungry star parasites with bottomless stomachs and catastrophic appetites for mystic energy! TWENTY-FIVE!

TWENTY-FREAKING-FIVE!

As these Defiant-sized Solar Stars held nothing back by absorbing the mystic energy to the fullest, there was little doubt that the Mystic Dao, just like the Mortal Dao, was complaining furiously to itself! However, Little Defiant brazenly absorbed all it could, changing its intrinsic structure, elevating it to a true Mystic Star!

The others were no less parasites, especially not Wei Wuyinʼs strands of True Soul. This type of mystic energy was unrivaled, capable of emulating properties of soul energy to heal any damage from failed tribulations. This same energy helped elevate Little Defiantʼs Star Soul into a Mystic Star Soul while the Astral Forms were modified to Mystic Forms on a fundamental level, elevating each Astral Soul to Mystic Souls!

With this type of repair, Wei Wuyin was inadvertently cultivating his True Soul using an extremely brute force cultivation method!

Before long, the haziness of Wei Wuyinʼs consciousness became clearer. Slowly, the five Spirits of Cultivation were relieved! Their gamble worked!

After completing all pillars triumphantly, they daringly proceeded with their next plan, relying on the unique The Worldʼs irresistible merging force to recombine as one perfect whole! It was a tried and tested method. After all, even they failed to stop the merging force, relying on Oriʼs stroke of genius to split after the fact with an opening that was equivalent to a microsecond for a mortal.

While basking in Mystic Radiance, twenty-five Wei Wuyinʼs floating between the fading Tribulation Gates pouring out Mystic Soul Energy enough to awe and inspire envy in any Resonant Soul Realm cultivator, began to merge into one.

The process...

...happened as easily as drinking water.

The twenty-five tribulation gates faded as Wei Wuyin floated aloft, his body glistening with unfathomable light.

Within his Dantian, two Mystic Souls resided in their Mystic Cores, one was a sphere of pure whiteness that embodied the genesis of all things and another a saber whose edge could bring the end to all things Within his heart, a single Mystic Soul roared residing in its Mystic Core while soaring in a divine cloudy mist.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, two Mystic Souls resided in their Mystic Cores, one an ancient tree that sought to touch the stars but met its true family within a young boyʼs body and a grand palatial library exuding a scholarly brilliance of incredible knowledge.

In the history of this universe, Wei Wuyin had defied established principles by being the first throughout its creation to possess not one, not three, but FIVE independent Spirits of Cultivation!