Paragon of Sin

"Are you really going to execute the rest?" Unable to maintain her silence any longer, Faye Liying questioned Wei Wuyin. She had already realized that Wei Wuyin was hellbent on slaughtering these Trueborn captives mercilessly despite their mysterious existence. Liao Shuyu and that unfortunate Demi-Mortal Lord that was incinerated entirely was evidence enough.

"That's none of your concern," Han Yuhei pointed out with gradually narrowing eyes. Despite his injured state, he still gave off a strong presence. In his mind, he already considered himself as Wei Wuyin's Alchemic Knight, so he refused to allow Wei Wuyin's desires to be openly questioned. 

"You'll still get paid," he coldly added. 

None of these Earthly Saints were here out of obligation except for himself, Wu Yu, and Ma Zheng. They were all being paid for their services, each serving an essential role. This included insurance for their safety. The main reason Sun Li, Huoyan Liulan, Faye Liying, and Lady Clearwind weren't terrified by the Soul Saint King's abrupt arrival was this discussed insurance measures. It was all well within their predictions, outlined and considered by Ma Zheng as he pitched their involvement. 

Faye Liying was tasked with using her unique scepter to grant them permission into the domain, and warning them of the Soul Saint King's impending arrival, meant to avoid various complications for a hefty reward. She had completed half her job, not warning them of the Soul Saint King, and during the negotiations, she refused to participate and risk her life in a fight between Earthly Saints. 

Han Yuhei was already dissatisfied by this noncommittal attitude of hers, opportunistic and calculative. Yet she continued to try to involve herself in the aftermath, setting the tone and attempting to dictate actions. 

Investigate these Trueborn? 

Not kill them?

She had no right to say a single damn thing here. 

Faye Liying's expression darkened as she gave Han Yuhei a sidelong glance, ignoring him immediately after and giving Wei Wuyin a steady gaze. She didn't feel like she was wrong at all. The entire situation of Liao Shuyu was strange and brought forth many questions that affected them all. It would be better to interrogate and understand more about Trueborn then annihilate them. Wei Wuyin was in a very unique position to do so.

Wei Wuyin felt Faye Liying's unyielding gaze. When he turned his silver eyes towards her, he recalled Ma Zheng's earlier words describing her as trustworthy and stubborn. She was reliable, but similarly an unstable element due to her intelligence and ambition.

This personality marked her as a target to be nurtured and used by Ma Zheng in his quest to reclaim the Golden Life Pavilion. She had gotten a draw, but they both were aware that it was due to Yang Chaoyue's compromising actions. Yang Chaoyue could've shut down Ma Zheng's millennia-long ambitions right then and there, but Wei Wuyin's existence had changed that. 

Unfortunately for her, Wei Wuyin was unable to consider her proposal at the moment. As such, he blankly answered her: "Yes." Then, he turned to Ma Zheng and began to discuss the details about the phoenix's portion of Blazing Unity of Twin Flames Cultivation Method. 

"..." Faye Liying's eyes flickered with an discomforting light. She glanced at the captives, an urge swelled within her heart as she contemplated various options and paths. The unflinching gaze of Han Yuhei was fixated on her figure, as if warning her to stay quiet.

If she could just…

-----

"Don't! Don't DON'T!" Amongst the group, a series of bone-chilling, panic-filled and desperate shouts sounded. No one responded. No one heard it. No one seemed to care. 

An Earthly Saint, the cultivator that had executed Reversion Substitution, was trembling ever-so-slightly. The restraints imposed on them were far more aggressive, thorough, and restrictive than the Soul Saint King's on Lady Clearwind, yet they could still talk. 

The Earthly Saint had been shouting for quite a while, trying to seek out the attention of his captive. Why? Because Liao Shuyu was killed! She was killed! Her identity was discovered, and they could only watch.

At first, they were all calm. They didn't feel any urgency after being caught, be it the Demi-Mortal Lords or the Earthly Saints, and it was a mere inconvenience to them. When their panic would rise in their hearts, they would recall the Void Displacement Talisman they had refined earlier. 

These talismans had been refined into their Mystic Soul, and they've all witnessed its power to displace a cultivator should their lives be in danger, even if they were sealed like this. They would all either wait to be rescued or be sent away after their talismans had been activated. Why would they panic?

When the Demi-Mortal Lords were killed, they didn't panic. They knew that the power of the talisman was proportionate to the Mystic Soul. Demi-Mortal Lords activation could be interfered with, but an Earthly Saints could not. Unless, a Worldly Saint intervened.

When one of their own, an Earthly Saint, was killed by Huoyan Liulan, it gave way to some panic. But they were all elites, and fully knew that an incredible item had been used to instantly kill their enemy, an extremely difficult task to achieve amongst Earthly Saints. An abnormality. Unfortunate but not enough to instill panic.

Relief and ease of mind was rampant. 

Wait. Just wait. 

Until Wei Wuyin, this handsome mortal amongst Earthly Saints decided to act. He brought out a saber and stabbed one of the Earthly Saints! At first, the Earthly Saints sneered and smiled. When the Void Displacement Talisman activated, it would trigger a domino effect—they were all escaping!

Happy and excited, they were cheering vibrantly in their hearts. 

That cheer that could touch the joyous heavens was abruptly severed by the barrenness of reality. Dead! The Earthly Saint had been killed by a Mortal, and their identity was revealed!

That's when the Substitution Reversion Earthly Saint began to scream, panic, and attempt to communicate. However, he soon discovered that the feature that sealed their identity without flaw or exceptions also prevented them from communicating with others! What originally protected them was now harming them! 

"LISTEN! JUST FUCKING LISTEN TO ME!!" The cultivator wiggled with his greatest efforts, but it came off as fearful tremors. Wei Wuyin had just proven that he could kill them all, how could they not be fearful? They were all ignored. Left facing their upcoming execution. 

-----

A few minutes later, Ma Zheng had fully transferred the phoenix half of the Blazing Unity of Twin Flames, which included the method to refine a phoenix's blood essence for an opportunity to grasp Nirvanic Flame Intent, harnessing their ancient and exceptional power, to Wei Wuyin with annotations of his own knowledge.

While going over it, Wei Wuyin glanced at the captured Earthly Saints and Demi-Mortal Lords of Trueborn from time to time. Unlike the rest, he could acutely feel every emotion they emitted due to Eden's sensitivity. The desire to seek out survival was increasingly growing, completely against the suicidal nature of the talisman.

He also couldn't figure out why these cultivators was willing to become literal bombs in the face of defeat. Wasn't the objective Yue Songli? It felt strange that they wanted to deal such devastating damage to the Ninestar Starfield should they fail. In that event, chances were that Yue Songli would be killed along with them.

He couldn't figure it out. The only possibility was that they hadn't expected any deaths in this operation or that they had another mechanism in place to secure Yue Songli in the event of the worst-case scenario. The seventh Earthly Saint perhaps? If the former was true, then the talisman was likely a play for later.

It was their greatest misfortune that Wei Wuyin cared very little about their identities at this moment. The Karmic Sin on their bodies was far more attractive to him, and after their deaths, he could figure out each of their identities after, autopsying their bodies to deduce their strangeness. With Mystical Oaths in place, he had very little faith in an effective interrogation.

Suddenly, Wei Wuyin recalled his earlier thoughts. 

"For later…" The talismans could be a play 'for later'. He had a strong feeling that these individuals were meant to detonate…just not now. 

"Will your bloodline clash with the method?" Ma Zheng sent with concern. He had long been aware of Wei Wuyin's unique Spatial Bloodline at the Devil War Realm. The fact he had access to Void Portals was thought of as a tool-enabled power by the others, but Ma Zheng had personally witnessed Wei Wuyin traverse through the void with an entire continent. 

Wei Wuyin's thoughts were set aside after Ma Zheng's question. He faintly smiled, "I'll be fine." He was more worried about Bai Lin. Her blood essence had just recovered through copious amounts of resources, so he didn't want to bring her further harm that could damage her chances of Nirvanic Rebirth.

"...!" Wei Wuyin's eyebrows instantly shot up as his eyes darted to Faye Liying. A surge of built-up emotions was threatening to be released. It was intermixed with curiosity, fear, determination, and self-confidence. It wasn't very clear due to her mystic-graded mental energies, but Wei Wuyin could gather the overall feeling.

She was about to do something! 

As if verifying all of Wei Wuyin's feelings, Faye Liying acted! She erupted with explosive tempest of wind power! Like a twisting tornado, she caused swirling chaos amongst the group. Wei Wuyin's eyes widened as Ma Zheng and Han Yuhei acted simultaneously, not to attack Faye Liying, but to protect Wei Wuyin!

Despite the abrupt attack, they responded with the utmost quickness, establishing their priority. The two shielded Wei Wuyin and Bai Lin with their wards as they were explosively blown back. In the blink of a mortal's eye, they were sent tens of thousands of miles into the Void-Blank Space. The others were caught off-guard and unable to react as they fumbled and tumbled away.

They were sent even further!

Faye Liying had grabbed all the captured Ascended beings, shooting back into the Ninestar Starfield as she brought out an emblem with nine different colored Solar Stars etched on its surface. When she entered the starfield, the emblem unleashed gushing silver light as it enveloped them all. She spatially shifted away further into the Ninestar Starfield!

"..." When the twisting power finally subsided, Wei Wuyin and the rest were speechless as they stared at the Ninestar Starfield with dazed gazes. Did she just…

Han Yuhei's eyes glinted with nine-colored light as he was about to follow despite his injuries. But a hand clasped his shoulder and shut down his surging power. With a sharp turn of his head, Han Yuhei spotted the aged hand and sharp eyes of Ma Zheng as the old man shook his head. 

Han Yuhei was no match for Faye Liying in his current state.

They had all suffered various degrees of injuries or exhausted vast amounts of their mystic power while she was the only one that was completely unharmed and in her strongest state. Moreover, the defensive arrays of the Ninestar Starfield were currently activated and passively defending against any unauthorized entity. Even he wouldn't risk it.

Faye Liying was the Soul Rising Saint, and her authority in the Ninestar Sainthall was never fully revoked. She was safe in the Ninestar Starfield. The captives were likely under that protection too, safe and secured. 

"..." No one had expected this to happen. 

-----

Within the Ninestar Starfield, on the Shattered World Moon, Zhan Zheng was observing Yue Songli, Yue Lixiang, and Song Yunhai while hidden. Suddenly, he felt Wei Wuyin's thoughts as his eyes revealed a cold, murderous light. Shockingly, the light subsided entirely as he brought out a spiritual transmission talisman meant for discreet, long-range communication with the other. This talisman was marked 'Soul Saint' characters.

After sending out a message through the talisman, Zhan Zheng returned to his stealthy observation.

-----

At the edges of the Ninestar Starfield, at the other side of Wei Wuyin and the others, the Soul Saint King was observing a lunar satellite that was originally within his Soul-Saint Domain prior to the battle. There were signs of irregular spatial signatures that might be indicative of a recently destroyed Void Gate.

"..." After feeling a surge of power from far away, he looked to the other side of the starfield with furrowed brows. Without warning, he coughed violently while holding his chest, blood leaking from his lips and nose. This coughing fit lasted for dozens of seconds before he sensed a transmission incoming.

Taking out a talisman, his dimmed eyes were filled with exhaustion. The battle with that strange Earthly Saint ended in his total loss. Wiping off the blood stains on his face, he read the message. 

"Bombs?!" The Soul Saint King's expression drastically changed after listening to the message. Then, another message came in. It was from Faye Liying!

With gritted teeth, clenched his chest tightly before circulating his mystic power. After regaining his upright, powerful posture, and domineering presence, he emitted in a burst of radiant light and left.