Paragon of Sin

Chapter 1888: Chapter 1880: A Sword's Breath

"HUUUUUUUUU!!!"

A long, extended inhale resounded. Originating from the location of Su Yi's Tribulation Gate's manifestation, an indescribably violent suction of heaven, earth, void, and light unfolded, all flowing towards the point under an unstoppable, otherworldly, and unfathomable power.

The Mystic Dao descended. Its unfathomable presence throughout the in-between region of the Creation Zone and Transforming Zone was as tangible as a frosty breath, visible to even mere mortals. The Spirits of Cultivation of every Ascended being who've attained the Mystic Star Phase or higher quivered joyously, welcoming the arrival of their origin and greatest pursuit.

Suo Haoran stood upright and solemn upon an oval platform of flat earth, floating in the Dark Void. Within his eyes was the soulful flicker of Soul Perception enhanced by a Spiritual Spell. Towering next to him was the auburn-haired, voluptuous-figured body from top to bottom, and tall Tianshi Ya in her plum red robes. Despite the height difference, Tianshi Ya's presence paled in comparison to Suo Haoran.

She was observing as Resonant Qi of the Heavens flowed through her from Suo Haoran, channeled gently into her eyes and Sea of Consciousness, allowing her spiritual sense to gain an unrivaled perception only inferior to Soul Perception. Since the nature of their relationship changed, she learned more about Suo Haoran than she had before.

For example, despite her status as one of the most prominent alchemists with a greater chance than the average Exalted Worldly Saint Alchemist to become a genuine Heavenly Saint Alchemist by a galactic ranking, and directly related to Tianshi Zaoxuan, the Containing Creation Alchemic Saint, and Zenith of the Creation Zone, she had no idea that Suo Haoran was a Superior Sage.

The difference between an unconsolidated Microheaven Envoy and a Superior Sage at the Microheaven Envoy Phase was extraordinarily massive, both in power and status. These titles did not denote exact stages in a cultivation level, but a critical aspect of one's cultivation base. That said, an unconsolidated Microheaven Envoy couldn't become a Superior Sage, but the majority of Superior Sages were Microheaven Envoys, just not limited to it.

Superior Sage Yushi and Superior Sage Yanzi were evidence of that fact. They were both Superior Sages at the Microheaven Envoy Phase, often regarded as the first stage of the Resonant Soul Realm.

She felt a deep-seated sense of pride in Suo Haoran. For years, he'd tried to win her over, yet he never relied on his status, simply genuine feelings and gentle approaches, allowing her to freely choose. It was highly abnormal given his extraordinary strength. She had little doubt that Tianshi Zaoxuan would have married her off if he'd asked, yet despite the multi-millennia of refusals and deflections, he never resorted to any unsavory or underhanded methods. Moreover, the feelings in his eyes when she saw herself reflected in those soulful eyes showed a natural, developed, and cultivated love and respect towards her.

She was a little overwhelmed at first. Now, not so much. Her horizons were expanding rapidly, and he was patient with her, even allowing her to be opinionated and taking those opinions seriously. She had never felt so seen by someone of his stature before.

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Her blooming feelings of emotions aside, Tianshi Ya gasped softly as she tugged at Suo Haoran's sleeve, gesturing with her finger toward Su Yi's Breathing Tribulation Gate. "The first breath! It's starting!" She was oddly excited.

The legend of Su Yi, the white-robed swordsman who likely successfully reincarnated, was extraordinarily interesting to witness. Moreover, he defied common conventional understandings and logic, possessing the strength of a Supreme Sage as a Mystic Overlord! That wasn't too unprecedented to the point of never happening; there have been cases in the millions of years of recorded history, but she had never met someone so heaven-defying.

It was a little unfortunate that he killed Sovereign Littlefather in the Utmost Purity Galaxy. His fate was all but sealed in her eyes, and the only question remaining was who would pen that final sentence in his story. However, she was still invested.

Suo Haoran's eyes narrowed, recalling that Tianshi Ya was a Mystic Overlord. He began to speak: "The Eighth Ascension—the Tribulation Gate of Mystic Breathing. Within the Ascended Saint Phase, the way to prepare to become a sage is to condense a single wisp of the True Breath of a Sage. Only with all nine Mystic Runes, a World Rune, the Domain of Mysticism, and a Heaven Gate, can one converge their innate energies with Mystic Intent and execute an atavism to the purest essence.

"By drawing in the natural with the cultivated, a cultivator must emulate the Mystic Dao's form and generate a metaphysical concept of Purity of Mysticism at its greatest form by resonating with it—mimicking its first breath. It's said the first breath of the Mystic Dao was no different than the purest form of Mystic Essence released into the world.

"Not a single thing must be missing. A firm grasp of the Ways of Mysticism, Mystic World Intent supported by a World Rune, an Origin State Spirit of Cultivation, a Domain of Mysticism, an active Heaven Gate that can summon greater Heavenly Radiance, and a refined Mystic Physique sufficient to contain such extraordinarily pure and unfathomable power.

"After acquiring all these together, the cultivator will begin to condense their everything into a single breath all at once. It's said that upon doing so, one must experience the death of the fathomable and experience the unfathomable depths of this great dao. Unfortunately, few have achieved such without great external assistance, and trying to do so can lead to severe injury and even true death."

Tianshi Ya's heart throbbed uncontrollably with emotion. She had been at the Mystic Overlord level, the Ascended Saint Phase, for millennia, unable to condense a satisfactory wisp of True Breath. She felt the quasi-state of death many times, tethered to life only by her Heavenly Radiance State linked to her Heaven Gate established during the Heavenly Saint Phase. She didn't fear death as she had several treasures, products, and external arrays to assist her.

Her wisps of True Breath kept generating second-tier or third-tier. The efforts of the eight extraordinarily talented Sages of the Resolute Dusk Galaxy using their octoconnective technique that binds soul and cultivation had only been the third-tier, a sign of the absurd difficulty. Meanwhile, advancing one's wisp of True Breath's quality after ascension was stupendously more difficult than doing so at the Ascended Saint Phase.

This was the reality of the situation.

Cultivation was difficult, absurdly so!

Despite her status as an Exalted Worldly Saint Alchemist, she was unable to rely on her absurd levels of wealth to establish firm foundations. This was largely due to the extreme time consumption of concocting products. She had very little time to dedicate herself to elevating her cultivated foundations, despite only seeking ascension when lifespan became problematic.

This issue of investment was the primary reason why the Heavenly Saint Alchemists of the Seven Towers of Heavenly Sages were far weaker than typical Resonant Soul Realm cultivators. In actuality, it was why they were significantly weaker at all stages of cultivation.

Instead of cultivating combat techniques, absorbing and refining raw materials, or consuming alchemical products designed to enhance their foundation to establish firm enough foundations to assail the next stage, alchemists had to study recipes, concoction methods, discuss amongst their peers, and learn of various materials' intrinsic properties to further improve their alchemy and success rate. Even then, they had to concoct for practical experience, and hope they could earn a decent profit, having to decide whether to dedicate their life to a specific product of a specific grade and slow down their progression on the path of alchemy for profit, or seek higher attainment by bravely concocting greater grades of products.

It was a decision of spending wealth for progression or settling for potential profit, and only those with backing could afford to train in either, needing time to accumulate efficient skill and a decent success rate.

Sovereign Littlefather, despite being a Resonant Soul Realm cultivator, still resorted to using minions to fight for him, a habit ingrained in his soul.

The real issue was that these false Heavenly Saint Alchemists, who forwent Alchemic Souls, often had a depressing wealth disparity. The Zeniths could lose eight hundred mystic-heaven essence stones in a wager and feel only a slight pinch in their purse. Meanwhile, Sovereign Littlefather and the other six Heavenly Alchemic Sages would have to band together and hope to make that much.

The 2,500 mystic-heaven stones were mostly external property they acquired from outside, or unusable materials they simply gathered yet couldn't utilize. It was their savings and foundation. Sovereign Rainmother's fiery fury was justified after Sovereign Darkmother's one-sided bounty. It was no different than digging into their interests for her life.

And she couldn't even object since Su Yi killed Sovereign Littlefather! However, only this amount could move Resonant Soul Realm experts to take a risk. Despite an Alchemist's prominent gathering of allies and minions, they still needed the lure to attract them.

There was a reason why none of the false Heavenly Saint Alchemists had a Resonant Soul Realm Dao Enforcer like each of the Zeniths. Many of the Dao Enforcers were tethered to the Tower itself, rather than the alchemists, but only genuine Heavenly Saint Alchemists could move them to service.

Tianshi Ya wondered about the tier of Su Yi's initial wisp of True Breath. The first breath he took was a sign that it had reached the first-tier. It was the genesis of his classification. Depending on how many more his tribulation gate took, it would determine his base tier!

This was vitally important to determine his foundation and potential strength. This will set the minimum of his cultivated breaths. Pakhet had established a third-tier wisp originally, yet she had later reached ninth-tier under Wei Wuyin's extensive nurturing of peak-perfection Arising Sage Elixirs within a Vortex-Zone of temporal acceleration.

Her body could now handle a total of nine breaths, a sign her wisps were ninth-tier. Additionally, she had snatched a breath from the heavens through her Heaven Gate via the Major Authority of Metal, acquiring the embryonic stage of her tenth-tier wisp.

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

"The Second Breath!" Tianshi Ya exclaimed as the phenomena of suction occurred, drawing even greater quantities of heaven, earth, void, and light. The force distorted perception like a hazy mirage.

But can he take nine consecutive breaths?!

"Did you inspect Su Yi when he fought against the Mythical Punishment?" Tianshi Ya asked.

Suo Haoran's lips twisted to the side, "It was hard to gather his foundations with the Sword of the Transient Realm by his side. I can only say that he began cultivating his True Breath of a Sage long before the Ascended Saint Phase, likely at the Heavenly Saint Phase or even sooner." Some monstrously talented individuals gained Domains of Mysticism long before the Ascended Saint Phase, and a few demonically talented youths who've used their Minor Laws to open a Heaven Gate.

Su Yi's comprehensive combat strength was the result of several circumstances of exceeding his cultivation base, and developing wisps of True Breaths, this apex Mystic Essence, allowing it to nourish his body, innate energies, and convert into Mystic Power, certainly contributed to his excessive strength.

Very, very few were like Wei Wuyin, who reached an absurdly defiant maximum of his current cultivation stage at each level, achieving a snowballing effect that allowed a Mystic Star Phase cultivator to slay the bodies of Supreme Sages. Excluding his Sempiternal Resonance Domain and Laws, Wei Wuyin's foundational strength as a cultivator was solidly at Mystic Star Phase, even using Mystic Force, the lesser version of Mystic Power.

He hadn't even developed a World Rune of his own or opened a Heaven Gate using his mutated Minor or Major Authorities, imbuing Heavenly Radiance into his innate energies, or achieving the Heavenly Radiance State that San Yongli used back then. Even his Mystic Runes were still fragmented, forcing him to use Minor Ascension Arts to this day.

This was the difference between Su Yi and himself; Wei Wuyin never tried to purposefully jump ahead for power, focusing on what was in front of him, and taking it step by step, ensuring each step could eternally imprint itself in the universe. He never thought about ascending too far ahead.

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

"Third!" She exclaimed. This was the tier she could reach before failing to ascend. The third and fourth-tier had a chasm between them. It was so difficult to achieve the fourth-tier that eight talents linked together could only condense third-tier wisps with their combined effort of countless years.

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The fourth!

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Back to back, Su Yi's fifth and sixth breath was executed without issue, causing a disturbance that had already encroached toward the Creation Zone's galactic zone boundary, which was enveloped by a protective and restrictive yellowish barrier.

Expressions of those maintaining the barrier began to change. They were left with no choice but to allow the phenomenon to affect the barrier, readying to lower it when the—

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

SEVENTH BREATH!

Tianshi Ya's eyes were uncontrollably wide. To achieve the seventh breath at the very beginning was monstrous. Normally, most cultivated to that level using a hundred thousand years or longer. Yet this swordsman was achieving this at the very beginning!

Could he…

…achieve nine breaths?!

Pounding with anticipation and justified skepticism, Tianshi Ya's own breathing was causing her chest to make waves. It was a sight well-appreciated. Suo Haoran felt blessed to be the only one to enjoy this sight. He reinforced the ward around the flat earthen platform they were on. He left nothing to chance.

She was unaware of her unwitting sensual movements as she hoped and pointed like an excited young girl. Perhaps only around Suo Haoran could she exhibit such genuine feelings, indicating her sense of safety and personal comfort were off the charts.

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Eight!

Now, even Superior Sage Yushi and Superior Sage Yanzi were shaken. In fact, every Supreme Sage was surprised. This suggested that Su Yi's connection to the Mystic Dao and his physique was unprecedented in depth and strength, capable of not only taking eight breaths, but condensing an eighth-tier wisp!

While the Breathing Tribulation Gate gave one a chance to elevate their wisp, to strengthen their connection and physique, the act of reaching that extent at the very beginning was exceedingly abnormal!

One of the requirements to ascend to the Resonant Soul Realm was to acquire a ninth-tier wisp of True Breath! After doing so and completing two other requirements, one can make the attempt.

Success was the Resonant Soul Realm.

Failure was existential erasure!

Then, as the galaxy waited with bated breath, awaiting that next breath… some disbelievers, a few hopeful, and others terrified at the possibility…

Su Yi…

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"