Paragon of Sin

Days passed as the Skyship flew without incident, stopping at certain predesignated landing pads, picking up new passengers, and flying off in a stable and regulated route within the City of Endless. During the full thirty-two days of their travel time, Wei Wuyin spent them in a secluded room, concocting wildly as he fully digested the insights gained from the Unity of the Alchemic Stars. 

"The benefits of the Unity of Alchemic Stars are quite terrifying to think about," Wei Wuyin often muttered these words after dozens of successful concoctions of high-end products. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that his understanding of the seven aspects of the Alchemic Dao—Extraction, Growth, Containment, Refinement, Creation, Transformation, and Fusion—had grown by tens of thousands of years. 

The insights of executions of these aspects left him with continuous success, acting as a foundation that he'd never had. The teachings of 244 Mortal Sovereign Alchemists were all etched onto his Sea of Consciousness using his mental energies and Eden's strength. Since concocting, he hadn't tasted failure. 

In fact, he'd never concocted a single product beneath high-quality, and even that was amongst the minority. The majority were peak-quality or transcendent-quality. The reaction from his Utmost Purity Mist was incredible—its density and purity had grown to a world-shocking level. 

Wei Wuyin's Eye of Creation also helped this process significantly, elevating the quality of products, allowing stronger than typical alchemical products to be created, and never lacking the highest quality of materials. The only thing Wei Wuyin lacked as an Alchemist was a legacy that detailed the functions of the Alchemic Stars, be it Mortal Spirituality or Spiritual Transcendence. Except for the Unity of Alchemic Stars and its environmental side-effects, Wei Wuyin had no idea of its uses or advanced powers. 

Keeping the time in mind, Wei Wuyin packed his All-Elemental Eclipse Cauldron and left the secluded room. He returned to Liu Suyin, who still had her eyes firmly closed shut, and quietly sat down. He sighed softly in his heart. The faintest feeling of being observed had returned as well. 

°Can you all sense it?° Wei Wuyin asked his Astral Souls curiously. Whoever was observing them was extremely discreet, if it wasn't for several of his exceptional senses and instincts honed by his Astral Souls, Wei Wuyin wouldn't have noticed. 

"I can," Kratos answered. "It's the spatial energies."

"There are faint traces of a mental signature within," Eden added. These two were both Spirits of the Void Dao and Mind Dao respectively, so the method was seen through after some consideration, especially feeling it again. 

"It resembles Environmental Integration. Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Ori confirmed several times. A method of sensing that combines space, mind, and integration was unimaginably high-graded, a sign of the person's exceptional cultivation base. 

Wei Wuyin calmly closed his eyes, slowly devising a method to counter this type of hidden sensing. After a few hours, the Skyship slowly came to a stop. 

Liu Suyin opened her eyes exactly at this moment. "We're here," she said before standing up and leaving the room. Since the beginning, she never asked Wei Wuyin to follow her anywhere, essentially expecting him to do so. Wei Wuyin wryly smiled in his heart. 

They left the Skyship. When he stepped off the aerial vehicle, Wei Wuyin was welcomed by the sight of a gigantic skyscraper forged from steel and stone. He craned his neck to see the highest point, awed by the height that it reached. But it wasn't one of the two towers that he saw entering the city. When he looked to the west, he saw those heaven-holding towers in the far-off distance. 

This tower was noticeably smaller. How vast was this city exactly? Wei Wuyin couldn't help but be increasingly curious how a Skyships speed for thirty-two days barely covered much distance. 

Liu Suyin forged ahead without a word. Wei Wuyin caught up swiftly, walking beside her, as his eyes soaked in the environment. He saw dozens of cultivators in silver and black robes. They were distinctively different from the entirely silver robes of Liu Suyin, but they bore a strong resemblance. 

They were all at the Realm World Phase. Shockingly, they all emitted dense spatial fluctuations. Was this a sign of a Spatial Astral Soul? As the duo walked forward, the robed figures all halted their activities and discussions and respectfully greeted Liu Suyin. When some of them saw Wei Wuyin, there was the typical shock and surprise in their eyes. 

Wei Wuyin dismissed these gazes, leaning toward Liu Suyin and whispering, "Are all of these cultivators Destined?" Hung around the necks of each cultivator here was a Celestial Jade Key, but they were brighter than his own.

"Yes. The Trials of the Three Voyages is taken three times. The first is when they arrive, the second is at the Spatial Resonance Phase, and the third is at the Realm World Phase." Liu Suyin explained. The two realms were the turning points of spatial application, so for a sect focused on this doctrine of study this wasn't unexpected.

"Oh? So I'm going to take the third set of this trial with the others?" 

"Yes. You will be participating in the trial alongside the other Destined of the Void Voyage Sect. Your achievements here will determine your status in the sect. Do not act careless," Liu Suyin said. 

Wei Wuyin gave Liu Suyin a sidelong glance. Was she giving him a cautious warning? Slightly amused by this touch of caring for his results, Wei Wuyin smiled. "Sure, I'll do my best." 

"Stand here," Liu Suyin said. She walked towards the entrance of the tower beneath the gazes of these disciples of the Void Voyage Sect, turned around, and swept an apathetic gaze across everyone. "I'll be your overseer for your voyages," was all she announced before slamming her palm backward. The entrance of the tower was a door that began to shimmer with multicolored light. Then, it vanished. 

What was beyond was a mass of swirling silver liquid.

Her announcement was met with some surprise, but the solemnity of the atmosphere overtook it. Their expressions grew dignified as if they were going to face a monster of unfathomable means. They had experienced the trial twice now, so they didn't need an explanation. With heavy steps, they began to walk into the silver liquid. 

As they vanished one by one, their auras vanished as well. Wei Wuyin was intrigued as he observed this change. Suddenly, his eyes caught the sight of a figure that stoked his memories. It was of a tall, long-haired female. She vanished into the vortex of silver liquid while Wei Wuyin was only able to catch a glimpse of her side profile. 

Twenty years ago, he saw a picture in a dossier that heavily resembled that side profile. Could there be such a coincidence? From her aura, she seemed to have just broken through into the Realm World Phase, so extremely recently, perhaps within the last month. 

Wei Wuyin's eyes flickered thoughtfully. 

"Go." Liu Suyin urged. Wei Wuyin discovered that he was the last remaining figure left. The rest had entered the vortex without hesitation. However, he felt that he still lacked crucial information about these voyages. Unlike the rest, he didn't rest two times before. 

He slowly walked towards the silver vortex. "Can I receive any information about what I'm to face in these voyages? Don't want to unintentionally destroy anything important," Wei Wuyin said. 

Liu Suyin stared at him. She gestured towards the silver vortex, her meaning clear—Go! 

Wei Wuyin openly sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you," after leaving those words, he stepped into the silver vortex. After watching him enter, Liu Suyin's brows furrowed!

-----

Wei Wuyin felt as if entering the vortex was entering a wall of soft, quivering jelly. It was slightly uncomfortable. Thankfully, the experience didn't last for long. When it ended, he found himself in an entirely different world. 

He was on a sandy beach. Before him was a great, endless sea that stretched an indeterminate distance. The rays of solar light were yellowish, yet the sky and sea's water had a blue hue that glistened beautifully. There were other Destined of the Void Voyage Sect, and they were all seated in lotus positions, meditating, and their spiritual auras were seething.

"A World Realm?" Wei Wuyin bent down, touching the grainy sand. Grasping a handful, he brought it to his nose and sniffed. The grainy sand contained traces of spirituality, an oddity that he immediately noticed. 

"The Voyage of the Spiritual has begun! Make your way to the other shore, Destined. " 

The voice was androgynous, but the indifferent tone was easily caught, allowing him to discover that it was Liu Suyin speaking. 

"The first voyage is to travel across a sea?" Wei Wuyin respected the consistency with the naming sense. The first voyage was literal! 

"Only Spiritual Strength is allowed. Other forms of strength used to overcome this voyage will count as a forfeit of your destiny." Once again, Liu Suyin's androgynous voice spoke. 

A Destined was already taking action. The grainy sand beneath their feet began to swirl around them, glistening with spiritual light. The grainy sand was slowly taking the shape of a tiny-sized boat.

Wei Wuyin realized the assignment as he watched the others begin to take similar action. The Spiritual Strength was used to mobilize the grainy sands to construct vehicles for their voyage across the sea to the other shore. The infused spirituality within the sand made them easier to manipulate using external Spiritual Strength while binding together solidly. 

Simple enough. 

Wei Wuyin looked about and found the familiar female. She was in an extremely concentrated state, focused entirely on imbuing her Spiritual Strength into each sand, slowly giving it form. He decided against disrupting her focus, walking towards the sea. He saw how its tides swept the grainy sand, and as it did, the sand was bereft of spirituality.

The liquid of the sea wasn't water, but a strange fluid that siphoned Spiritual Strength, and slowly took on deeper redder hues as it tried. The first obstacle was to resist the constant draining efforts of this liquid? Not only must one use their Spiritual Strength to maintain their sand construct's shape, but also continuously infuse it with Spiritual Strength to prevent its collapse? Interesting. 

A difficult voyage indeed! 

He couldn't see the other shore from his location, so it must be extremely far. He slowly dipped his hand into the liquid, testing its siphoning strength. After a long while, he frowned slightly, and then bitterly smiled. 

The liquid dissolved the connections between Spirit Units, continuously weakening one's Spiritual Strength as a result until it naturally diffused into the liquid. The liquid then converted the Spirit Units into further liquid, likely for a different purpose.

Wei Wuyin had an estimation as to how the voyage worked instantly. These Destined would traverse this sea, their Spirit Units converted into the sea's strength and induced all sorts of catastrophes that plagued voyagers, further empowering the dissolving effects. This method forced one to essentially face themselves, their own strength.

Wei Wuyin faintly sighed, then enveloped himself in his Spiritual Strength. A layer of spiritual light shrouded him. When he did this, the others noticed, and faint signs of sneers resounded and irrelevant comments not worth mentioning began to come out. They knew what he wanted to attempt, some felt pity and others felt schadenfreude.

Wei Wuyin lifted his hand and grainy sand lifted until it formed into a solid one-meter staff. With a solemn expression, he tapped the butt of the staff into the sand.

WOOSH!

A surge of Spiritual Strength sliced into the sea, causing a long, narrow trench to form. It wasn't enough to fit a two-inch stick through yet it reached extremely far, beyond their vision, and the others were instantly shaken. Then, he lifted his staff, and with a low shout, stamped it down once more!

WOOSH!!!

The trench began to spread apart! The entire sea was split! The depths reached all the way to the seabed. The two halves of the sea were held by walls of spiritual light that were unaffected by the water's siphoning powers. It tried to eat away at the Spirit Units with gnawing sounds, becoming a deep, ravenous red, yet it couldn't break the strong connective bonds between each unit. 

Wei Wuyin walked into the opening without hesitation. Voyage of the Spiritual? More like a brisk walk. And Wei Wuyin was perfectly fine taking it!