Chapter 1641 1634: An Unprecedented Step (3)
Chapter 1641 1634: An Unprecedented Step (3)
Countless upon countless profound aspects of cultivation existed during each and every stage of cultivation, constituting the difficulties of cultivation that an uncountable number throughout all of existence kept harping about from the very depths of their souls.
There existed an obscure, almost irrelevant detail of cultivation that mattered very little, and it was mostly rendered useless due to an inviolable and irreversible fact: Upon ascending to embrace mysticism beyond common mortality, there was no descent to the mortal dust.
To translate: After assailing and entering the Mystic Ascension Realm, even after failing the test of unfathomable-to-mortals knowledge, and becoming a Mystic Star Phase cultivator, the lowest exalted being among Ascended beings, there was no path returning to the Mortal Dao.
While there were rare exceptions that exceeded natural limitations, such as the Mortal Returning Pellet of the Alchemic Dao, these were temporary measures that couldn't fully return a cultivator to become a mortal. Even after Wei Wuyin wiped out the Moonfall Lunar Queen's fundamental Mystic Soul and memories, she could be reincarnated yet her newfound existence would never return to the Mortal Dao.
There was a glob of information that only those who've genuinely experienced their ascension to completion would realize, and this realization was entirely irrelevant to mortals, so there was never a need to expound upon this aspect to the younger generation. And that was the properties of soul rejuvenation and repair of the Mystic Ascension Process!
The transformation of one's Mortal Existential Framework into an Ascended Existential Framework was miraculous, and the Mystic Dao was obsessed with perfection-no, the correct wording would be completion.
Wei Wuyin and his four Astral Souls only knew of this aspect after absorbing the memories and lifelong experiences of the alternative Wei Wuyin who had focused wholeheartedly on progressing across cultivation realms, later losing out on countless opportunities as he rode upon his incredible talent and means. In hindsight, and by comparison, was significantly less than himself who decided to maximize his foundation despite the risk, even if it meant dying to the Eighteen Calamities of Hell.
This small blurb of detail gave birth to the four Astral Souls plans that could be borderline INSANE!
Moreover, they had studied and replicated an aspect of cultivation that was unprecedentedly ridiculous to consider, and they could fully access it!
It was none other than the merging force of the Mortal Dao, the very same merging force that had brought together their Astral Cores into a single unit! The same one that bestowed them incomparable dread as they realized they had vastly underestimated the insistence of the Mortal Dao to merge a cultivator's cultivation base as a Starlord!
They had accumulated and contained portions of this merging force and Eden and Ori had worked together tirelessly to recreate some version of it. It was only after Wei Wuyin had re-entered the Samsara of the Stars and took another step toward Little Defiant's cultivation as a Solar Star that they comfortably recreated the force!
Dangerous was far too weak of a word to describe their current attempt. It was riskier than challenging the heavens! Wei Wuyin dared to swing his saber against that hazy figure, and his courage was echoed by the four Astral Souls, who dared to take step after step on a path rife with uncertainty and risk.
And failing the Seed Tribulation Gate's First Ascension was a part of that step!
Wei Wuyin felt his divided consciousness that could perceive thirty-six pillars of the Adjudication Pillars of Mysticism become washed by a torrential overflow of coldness. It was frigid and carried with it an instinctively infused sign of disappointment. But this was only very temporary as this cold chill of disappointment and displeasure turned into an intrigued warmth of interest and observance!
He had always felt the Mortal and Mystic Daos' presence in every microsecond since his development of Mystic Rune Seeds, but during certain situations, such as his Stellar Paragon Physique's formation, they seemed to focus their attention and gain an additional feeling of intelligence, wisdom, awareness, and personality that seemed less mechanical and more alive. This was no different. They had an omnipresent feeling that was being focused on him.
Wei Wuyin slowly felt his split True Soul protected by the Haven Heart Qi Method's revised and heavily improved upon technique, slowly becoming rejuvenated as the process of ascension took place, ushering him into the stage of an Ascended being! A true Mystic Ascendant!
With no idea of the possible results of this action, Wei Wuyin didn't resist as he allowed his Spirits of Cultivation to navigate the rest with doubtless trust. Each of his split Mortal Existential Frameworks was slowly enveloped in that warmth. It felt enlightening.
Immediately, almost instinctively, things that were difficult to grasp about the Ways of Mysticism began to obtain a clarity that didn't feel as if he had read a textbook written by someone else. While his possession of the Law of Time had enabled things similar to Temporal Reversion, this was a different type of Temporal Reversion than that which originated from the Mystic Dao's domain of time that pleaded the great dao to reverse causality at a cost. It was a connection to the flow of time, the very River of Time itself, that Wei Wuyin didn't have.
It felt...disgusting.
Perhaps it was because his Law of Time at the Minor Authority allowed him to reverse the causality of temporal flows using his own strength, fighting against the flow of the river of time that made it seem lesser. However, he understood that this permission and connection had far greater limits than his own power, mainly because he could, with enough lifeforce and sacrifice, initiate absurd levels of temporal manipulation.
For example, sending a living soul, Sea of Consciousness, and memories across time and space and merging it with its younger True Soul! The Heavenly Daos had used this very function to create San Yongli, the Temporal Reincarnator! Of course, the cost far exceeded what any Mystic Ascendant Realm existence could reasonably offer, but the fact that it was possible was solely because of this profound connection that originated from the Ways of Mysticism!
While he sunk into the depths of newfound understanding, Wei Wuyin felt his thin thread of united consciousness grow stronger and stronger, thicker and thicker, and clearer by the picosecond. Orianna, King, Eden, and Kratos began the next steps of their long-awaited plan. They allowed the transformation of his Mortal True Soul into an Ascended True Soul!
Four rejuvenated and completed True Souls were born, abusing the hidden and almost unknown power and almost obsessive characteristics of the Mystic Dao's need for completion.
When the True Souls were split, so had the profound forces and aspects of his cultivation base that it carried; the Minor Authorities of the Laws were split, the Sea of Consciousness was split, the Stellar-Paragon Physique's foundational and intrinsic structure was split, the Primordial Seeds of Sin: Pride & Lust were inexplicably and unpredictably split, Little Defiant had silently withstood being split and hid in four different Mind's Eye, and everything else was split into four!
When the Mystic Dao saw the incompleteness of his existence, a force that didn't originate from the Mystic Dao itself but an external force, similar to how it connected with the River of Time, flowed into Wei Wuyin's True Souls with raw indifference. It didn't care what it passed, nor did it care what Wei Wuyin was or had, and simply began to infuse into him a rejuvenating and repairing force.
Everyone's True Soul grew as they cultivated and lived, which was generally erased with impunity by the Eighteen Calamities of Hell for the sake of a proper reincarnation, and this was like a lizard's generic foundation. It constituted what a complete True Soul and all other details of its existence was, and allowed one to recreate it upon being healed.
When Wu Yu lost his physical body or Hong Ru, even the Moonfall Lunar Queen and Tang Xingyun's terrifying outcomes, they were reborn with their original body 'remembered' by their True Soul. That was how the Ever-Rebirth Pill worked on a fundamental level, by recreating what one's soul reflected.
This was why beauties and heroes that relied on external falsity arts and methods that distorted their appearance and aura would regain their true appearance upon rebirth. The Moonfall Lunar Queen and Tang Xingyun would always look like themselves even if their souls were cleansed, solely because their True Souls remained undamaged. And touching the True Soul was considered taboo by the Heavenly Daos, bestowing fierce Karmic Sin onto offenders, and Sage Springfield was an example of this!
Wei Wuyin's True Soul had a foundation that included the peak Minor Laws and stagnated Minor Laws, the Primordial Seeds of Sin, his Empyrean status, and even his Karmic Luck Value was tethered to his True Soul...essentially...everything.
Including but not limited to...His four Spirits of Cultivation!
FOUR!
"IT'S HAPPENING! IT'S HAPPENING!!!" Ori's voice was like thunder to Wei Wuyin's split consciousness.
Wei Wuyin felt this uncaring, simple force act without regard for anything but a single mission. 'Will it...?' His thoughts harmonized in four layers as he felt four Astral Souls.
Four Astral Souls...Four ASTRAL SOULS!!
IN FOUR DIFFERENT CONSCIOUSNESSES!
The force wasn't just trying to complete him, it was recreating his cultivation base entirely! Repairing any missing or damaged portions to aid in a completion ascension!!
Ori, King, Eden, and Kratos.
Ori, King, Eden, and Kratos.
Ori, King, Eden, and Kratos.
Ori, King, Eden, and Kratos.
"Hehe!" Echoed out four times.
"Tch." Echoed out four times.
"ROAR!" Echoed out four times.
And finally, "Don't mind it. We're all the same. We're all aware. We already know what to do." Eden's calming voice resounded throughout his True Soul with an echo!
The merging force!
In an uncertain amount of time, Wei Wuyin felt the profound merging force rise from all sixteen Astral Souls!
SIXTEEN!
The feeling of his True Souls becoming one at the final step was an indescribable feeling that no words would do justice. Since he didn't resist, it was no different than what his Astral Souls would have experienced should they have failed to flee that force during the Mortal Star Eradication Tribulation! Fortunately, Wei Wuyin's four True Souls were all the same on an eerie fundamental level as if the power that recreated them only reflected their complete state and cared for nothing else. But if he was like his Astral Souls, their personalities and memories, their very sense of self, may have merged into something entirely new.
All fours became one!
Ori merged with three other Oriannas, King merged with three other Kings, Kratos merged with three other Kratos', and Eden merged with three other Edens. This included their newly born Mystic Cores!
The Stellar-Paragon Physique melded together into a total of four layers. The Minor Laws merged, releasing repeated hums of resonance with the heavens, significantly larger, louder, brighter, and sturdier than ever before! Little Defiant had fused with three other versions of itself! Everything! EVERYTHING MERGED!
Slowly, Wei Wuyin felt his four consciousness become one.
Then, BOOM!
A loud explosion resounded within his mind as he felt his body and mind entirely.
Opening his silver eyes, he saw the vast, endless starry sky of faraway galaxies and worlds. He floated with outstretched arms and legs, floating upon the vast Dark Void as if he was laying flat on an ocean's surface.
"..." Familiarity washed over him. The soft thrum of his four Astral Souls were releasing incessantly, yet they were no longer housed in a Star Core but a Mystic Core! The Mystic Cores resembled radiant Solar Stars releasing unfathomable auras. Their fundamental energies were no longer in the domain of the Mortal Realms, but had developed into Mystic Force that could interact with the Mystic Dao!
An unprecedented transformation.
Within his Mind's Eye, Little Defiant released a pulse of solar aura. If it was before, with his original Stellar-Paragon Physique, there was no doubt that this wave of solar aura would have obliterated his Sea of Consciousness. But his newfound Sea of Consciousness had merged with three others and experienced a fundamental transformation.
While it was hard to describe, unfathomable even, he could intimately feel the difference.
It was like no other ascension!
Bringing his hands to his face, observing them with those remarkable silver eyes that released soft mystic light, Wei Wuyin felt as if everything was different.
"We've ascended?" Wei Wuyin asked, his voice echoing.
"Yes!" He received four unified responses, each voice felt as if it were layered by three others, creating a harmonic reverb-like music. While the process was swift and not as complicated as one would think, the act itself was undeniably world-defying.
He had achieved it after so long!
The First Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, the last tether between the Mortal and Mystic, the Mystic Star Phase!!!