Paragon of Sin

"Be warned: the prices of the alchemical products are fixed." Cao Cuifen added by the side.

"Fixed?" Wei Wuyin asked.

The librarian intervened, answering with: "For fairness' sake, every product is judged based on three factors: Tier, Grade, and Quality. Each type, regardless if its pill, elixir, paste, or pellet, is given a set exchange rate for Myriad Points."

Wei Wuyin instantly understood; an Everlore Ascension Pill had the same value as any low-tier, ninth-grade product type of equal quality. So uses and purpose wasn't factored in, unlike market value. At first glance, this might seem unfair. However, Wei Wuyin could see why this was completed. He did feel a little frustrated that his Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill would have the same value as other products despite being significantly less. 

"We don't accept impure products or products lower than the seventh-grade, unless it's transcendent-quality, however." The librarian added. Despite coming here recently, she was flabbergasted at how many Dao Instructors shamelessly brought in those waste products, trying to get any benefit. While those products often cost them months to years to concoct, and unsuccessfully at that, that didn't concern the academy.

Wei Wuyin felt an urge to laugh after hearing that. Even if he wanted to offer impure products, he had none to give. He had already destroyed the impure pills he purposefully created in his test against Tian Xiaolu, refusing to let its turbid air and aura taint his Saint Ring.

Wei Wuyin was wondering if he should be gradual with his acquisitions, but he decided against it. When it came to these 'hidden' figures, it was best to awe them. This was what he felt was the Heavenly Daos modus operandi for this type of encounter, for Blessed to reveal their brilliance. 

He wondered how Tian Xiaolu would've awed her.

"How much for the entire Alchemy Section?" His sentence only consisted of seven words, yet many screeched to a sudden stop, craving their necks over at the sheer absurdity of it. Who would even ask this question? And when they noticed it was a mere Mortal, while shockingly handsome, it felt even more ludicrous. 

The librarian's expression changed, as did Cao Cuifen and Liu Suyin's. 

"What did you say?" The librarian asked as if her hearing had temporarily stopped working for those seven words. Wei Wuyin laughed, repeating while clarifying: "How many Myriad Points must I have to purchase the entire Alchemy Section of the Myriad Miles Library?" 

"..."

"..."

"..."

He did ask! 

Cao Cuifen had just said multiple times how absurdly expensive various legacies of alchemy were, especially Earthly Saint Alchemists! But after tens of thousands of years, how many Earthly Saint Alchemists have been born? How many left their legacies behind before leaving for the World Beyond the Fold? 

There were rumors that even the Myriad Transformations Alchemic Saint had contributed a little during her stay! Many could only drool over it, unable to even dream of obtaining it in their lifetime. And many of their lifetimes were upwards to thirty thousand years!

The librarian's astonishment transformed into an amused smile, "Are you sure you want to know? You might suffer a heart attack." She didn't think Wei Wuyin understood the enormity of this value, so how could she not find him cute? Considering his eyes suffused with a scholarly light, it was likely merely a curious question for curiosity's sake. She leaned in slightly.

"Miss Fairy," Wei Wuyin leaned in too, placing his palms on the desk, smiling slyly as declared fearlessly: "My heart is tough and resilient, as is the rest of my body." 

"Oh? Is it?" The librarian looked him up and down, stopping briefly at his groin area before meeting his gaze. Cao Cuifen couldn't help but realize that she really gave off an unrestrained, unprofessional feeling befitting someone new. 

Wei Wuyin's sly smile turned into a grin, "Do you want to find out?" At this point, those who looked over were shocked at how brazen this mortal was, openly flirting with an Ascended being and a member of the Myriad Miles Library at that! 

Liu Suyin frowned. She impatiently said, "How much is it? Are you going to tell us or will we have to find someone a little more competent?" Her words shattered the playful atmosphere instantly, ruining the mood. 

Wei Wuyin lifted himself from his leaning position, "You can do so by telling us. I'm sure you know." 

The librarian's indigo eyes gave Liu Suyin a sidelong glance. Then she said in a flat, dissatisfied tone, "I do—It's 3,926,886 Myriad Points." 

Many paled upon hearing this number. The light of genuine horror emerged in their eyes, many had never known the total price of the Alchemy Section.

Cao Cuifen's eyes widened uncontrollably. Liu Suyin was mostly ignorant of the massive significance of this number, but the reactions of others lead her to believe that it was incredibly stupendous.

"That doesn't seem so bad," Wei Wuyin casually commented. He was thinking that the lowest acceptable product was seventh-grade, so low-quality and low-tier products would be valued at 1. By this logic, only four million products were needed. 

"Ignorant!" A scholar cried out from afar.

"You should curse your parents for giving you all looks and no brains! But maybe that's all they had to give!" An alchemist shouted a little closer. After the first shout, many decided to join in and insult Wei Wuyin for his ignorance. 

"Haha! Unable to know the magnitude of heaven and earth, truly the ignorant are fearless in action and words."

Wei Wuyin's eyes flashed towards that alchemist, his Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity's Eye of Illusion was activated, projecting the endless darkness of the Second Calamity of Hell. Instantly, the figure stilled, their expression distorting in horror. Without warning, his pants became soaked and a foul smell wafted outwards. When he came to, his entire body was drenched in a cold sweat and his eyes appeared lifeless and empty, bereft entirely of the will to live. 

Wei Wuyin coldly said, "Mind your words; do any of you have the qualifications to insult a Dao Instructor?" Sweeping his glance across the crowd, his Alchemic Stars glowed brilliantly. The insults halted instantly. The alchemist was at the Astral Core Realm, a Star Core Phase expert, yet a single glance from Wei Wuyin had soiled his pants. 

This terrified most as they recalled the powers of the Alchemic Stars, shivering slightly as the area became stifled with tension. If it wasn't for the location, Wei Wuyin would've killed this person. Even if he was an Earthly Saint, he would be forced to die today. No one had the right to insult his family—NO ONE.

He hated people who involved themselves in matters that didn't concern them without good reason. All he asked for was the price of the Alchemy Section, and he was verbally abused by all sorts of brainless comments. They were fortunate that this wasn't his territory.

Cao Cuifen finally calmed down, looking at the alchemist with a strange glint in her eyes. The librarian was also shaken, unable to figure out how Wei Wuyin had attacked. Without proof, even the overseers of the Library couldn't act. 

Cao Cuifen took a deep breath and solemnly said: "Dao Instructor Wei, the price for a single low-tier, ninth-grade product at low-quality is worth one point." 

"...?!" Now, Wei Wuyin was stunned stiff! Just one point? Four million Everlore Ascension Pills?! The heck?! Only then did he fully understand the absurdity of the prices.

"I fear the vast majority of this valuation belongs to the Alchemic Saint legacies," Cao Cuifen said while releasing a  wistful sigh.

"You're right," the librarian confirmed. "The Alchemic Saints' materials of knowledge is a total of 83% of this value, but about 0.2% of the total material." It was hard not to hear the cold gasps in the background, simply unable to even fathom how extremely expensive those materials were. The hearts of many alchemists throbbed with woe over their inability to obtain such materials in their lifetime. 

"..." Wei Wuyin thoughtfully rubbed his chin, closed his eyes, and remained silent for a long while. Then he asked, his eyes still closed: "What about the value differences in tiers and qualities for alchemical products?" 

The valuation of the alchemical products wasn't too complex. They were on a fixed cost for low, high, and peak-tier products at 1 Point, 5 Points, and 25 Points. Then, the qualities were affected by a simple multiplicative value; high-quality products multiplied by five and peak-quality products multiplied by ten. As for transcendent products, they were multiplied by a hundred, regardless of the product. 

In this way, a low-tier, transcendent ninth-grade product like the Everlore Ascension Pill was valued at 100, a stark difference from its initial 1 Myriad Point value. But a transcendent peak-tier product of the ninth-grade was 2,500 Myriad Points, an incredible value. 

Products at the seventh-grade and eight-grade were given a decimal value, with the lowest, a low-tier seventh-grade product at low-quality being valued at 0.001! A thousand of those equated to a single ninth-grade product of the lowest tier and lowest acceptable quality!

As for Mystic-Earth Products, the low-tier, low-quality products were worth 1,000 Points, high-tier and peak-tier were valued at 5,000 and 50,000 respectively. However, their high-quality and peak-quality versions were multiplied by 10 and 25. But even with this, the value for the entire Alchemy Section of the Myriad Miles Library was far too high. Cao Cuifen's words from earlier were thoroughly verified at the unattainability of these materials of knowledge, the exceptional legacies of these Alchemic Saints. How terrifyingly disgusting was this? Moreover, besides Destined and Seekers, there were no Alchemic Saints present in the World Between the Fold. It was clear that only through a gradual accumulation of these types of experts over thousands of years, those already fixed to the World Between the Fold, was given the slightest opportunity to earn this!

How hellish!

It was clear that the isolation of knowledge was still prevalent in this society as well, and even more so for the highest level of it.

"Interesting," Wei Wuyin commented softly. The crowd relaxed slightly, discussions resuming at the incredible value of the entire Alchemy Sections. Others speculated the value of other areas of the library as well. Soon, the area was infused with an energetic atmosphere of speculation and interest. As for the alchemist on the floor, he'd long since vanished who knows where pulled away by the overseers of the library. They were clearly going to investigate his state, but also not let him soil the floors of the library and taint the air.

Liu Suyin, on the other hand, had her eyes fixated on Wei Wuyin's face. This figure was a True Destined Voyager who caused a change in the Endless Spatial Bridge. Moreover, there's been too many suspicious events around him. The cultivator who underwent cultivation deviation, the denial of the Time Vortex without losing his rights to enter, and his miraculous victory over Tian Xiaolu, and she felt that there was bound to be another shocking event that was about to happen.

A mortal without an Alchemic Astral Soul who've reached the Mortal Sovereign Alchemist level, toppling the 244 other Mortal Sovereign Alchemist while using a vastly inferior proxy, and then had two Earthly Saints acting at his beck and call. Even if his presence was suspicious, his Soul Aura's acceptance by the Sealing Array indicated that his ancestors had been a part of the Sealed Regions for tens of thousands of years.

Moreover, his Earthly Saints operated freely within the Sealing Array too, also indicating their Soul Auras weren't rejected! It'll be too much of an exaggeration to say they were planned since the beginning of the Sealed Region's conception.

The more she traveled with Wei Wuyin, the more she grew curious, and the more she was unable to extricate herself from his mysteries and innate charm. 

"I'll take it," Wei Wuyin suddenly said. 

"Hm?" Cao Cuifen, Liu Suyin, the Librarian, those who kept their eyes on this young Dao Instructor, and those who just happened to catch those words all made similar sounds. Their gazes focused on Wei Wuyin who grinned and then placed his hand on the tray. After inspecting the internal space of the tray, realizing it had similar characteristics of an Internal World and Saint Ring, capable of housing Mystic-Graded materials, his Saint Ring lit with a faint glow.

Suddenly, the "0" began to rapidly change.

1.

11.

111.

It kept rising!

987.

13,183.

Like an accelerating vehicle's meter, it was rising even faster as it kept going! 

42,301.

Faster! 

103,081.

FASTER STILL!!

730,108!

"!!!" Exclamations resounded as gasps and cries, their eyes widening with disbelief as the number kept rising with seemingly no limit at all! What was happening? Could anything tell us what was happening?! 

1,202,822!

TELL US WHAT'S HAPPENING!!

Wei Wuyin didn't pay any attention to their erratic reactions, focused entirely on the tray and the rising number, continuously transferring products into the tray's spatial dimension without any indications of stopping. The reason for his long silence earlier was purely to decide if he should risk showing off his alchemic prowess here or not. Normally, he would've remained low-key, trying to slowly extract what he could from a reasonable number of legacies, but the absurd price, the presence of this 'Hidden' expert, and his firm belief that he wouldn't return to the World Between the Fold, likely ever, after he left.

Even if he did, the chances were it'll be to fight for freedom. 

So, he decided to not hold back!

1,337,420!

2,001,938!!

2,999,999!!!

"IT'S NEARLY THREE MILLION!" The scholar from earlier shouted in disbelief, his big mouth was so loud that others from the depths of the library began to look over in curiosity. Soon, the crowd grew.

Suddenly, Wei Wuyin's grasp on the numbers had become firm as he exerted a little bit of his hand strength and sent a huge load into the tray's spatial dimension in one go! 

3,926,886!!!!!

IT WAS 3,926,886!!!!!

Wei Wuyin pulled away his hand, his eyes carrying hints of a contented smile. It wasn't because of revealing a fragment of his potential in alchemy, but purely because he was capable of stopping at the perfect number with skill. It was a minor thing, like dunking a balled-up paper into a small trash can a few feet away, but he felt that feeling of satisfaction.

"Isn't that…?" Liu Suyin's indifference shattered and her eyes were suffused with rampant emotions as she stared at the number in abject disbelief! 

"That's the exact number! The number to buy the Alchemy Section!" Cao Cuifen breathily exclaimed. Near Wei Wuyin, the heaving chests of three beauties surrounded him, their eyes focused on that number with a tinge of incomprehension. Wei Wuyin took in the sights stealthily, clearing his throat slightly. Shouldn't they at least be aware of their actions? What if someone unable to control their urges saw this?

But no one was focused on these beauties, but that large spiritual number that painted the room in spiritual light. 

"So, where is it?" Wei Wuyin tapped the desk lightly, causing the librarian to reel slightly. She was too shaken by the reveal, and unlike the others, she had her senses firmly within the tray's spatial dimension, so she knew there was no trick, but simply a megaton of freaking products! With a single action, Wei Wuyin had given her the greatest shock of her tens of thousands of years!