Paragon of Sin

"Oh?" Wei Wuyin's interest was piqued at the mention of the Fire Phoenix graveyard. However, he faintly smiled as he glanced at the seemingly desperate and resolved Matriarch Vermilion. The Tang Clan's leader truly seemed as if she was going to divulge some astonishing secret.

As for her twin, the silent and subtly enraged Traceless Emptiness Void Queen, her pupils shrank as her heart was racing wildly. It was clear that she had an inkling of its existence, likely formulated by rumors, ancient records, or personally-crafted theories. Since the Vermilion Birds of ancient history had a special location for their deceased, then Fire Phoenixes should have one too due to their close resemblance, right? 

"...!" Tang Baibai's pupils constricted from disbelief, shock, uncertainty, and confusion. A thought suddenly flashed through her mind: if Tang Heihei gained Wei Wuyin's protection, wouldn't their plans fail?! Just a single move of his had rendered her helpless, the fear of being under complete control, where her life and death were no longer hers, still lingered within her like a ghastly wisp. 

"Ridicu-" She instinctively wanted to refute the possibility of its existence but was interrupted by a cold, indifferent sensation that seized her heart and mind with frightening force. She peeled her eyes away, finding the source, and saw those silver eyes of Wei Wuyin staring at her with the utmost calm. She could only silently gulp and clench her fists tightly in her agitation. 

When she glanced at her sister, her eyes widened. The sister she thought would be leaping with joy was also pale in the face, her hands trembling, and her chest heaving up and down—she was terrified! Looking at her sister's fear-ridden expression, a flash of pity surfaced within her thoughts, and she couldn't help but wonder if that was how she looked just now. 

Wei Wuyin eventually broke the developing tension with a sigh, "Firstly, true Fire Phoenixes don't have graveyards." Wei Wuyin shook his head, causing both sisters to reel with shock. Indeed! Fire Phoenixes don't have a 'resting' place. When Fire Phoenixes experience true death, they start to burn so bright and hot that space itself melts, and then they merge into the Void as their souls traverse through samsara.

Their 'graveyard' was the location where every member of the phoenix species would go during their Nirvanic Rebirth. In a way, they had a 'graveyard', but it wasn't something normal cultivators could step into by just knowing about it. This was information that he'd obtained from the Sacred Library, and it was validated by several renowned scholars and Heavenly Seers.

They did, however, have birthing grounds. These were locations where adult phoenixes would give birth to their young. It wasn't a place of death and finality but a place of life and beginning. 

"Secondly, I roughly know where this place you call the Nirvanic World of Eternal Rest is located." Wei Wuyin recalled Huoyan Liulan's phoenix feather that was refined into a treasure. If his thoughts were correct, the Hexaflame Starfield was the location of the secret realm, or at least one of them. He had already decided to search for it after his Solar Star project was finished. It wasn't exactly the safest place to enter, even if he brought Bai Lin with him. 

"And lastly, why would you tell me this? I have an actual Fire Phoenix at my disposal, one that could easily sense others of its kind, so finding it is an easy feat for me. It'll just take a little time and effort. If I was unaware of its existence, you informing me that it's real was the same as throwing away your rights of negotiation from the very beginning. Such pure, uncalculated idiocy on your part. Shouldn't you allude to something beneficial to me? Swear upon it with fool-proof and perfectly structured oaths? After luring me in, baiting that unknown piece of great benefit, you could then obtain my assistance for the information?" Wei Wuyin faintly smiled, the amusement in his tone was not lost on anyone's ears. 

"..." Both sisters were stunned outright, especially the Vermilion Matriarch. Her eyes were bulging and her heart was racing. It seemed she only realized it after Wei Wuyin brought it forward. It wasn't that she was lacking in the brains department, as a Clan Leader she had a great degree of intelligence, foresight, and skills in scheming, but she was simply too desperate and made a critical mistake in her haste.

"Or did you forget that I'm only sixty-nine years old? That I have the wealth to have the entire world of cultivation act as my dogs for me to find anything I wish in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region or beyond? That I'm not in a rush to find this area of yours, and my Fire Phoenix is extremely young, needing more time to learn her abilities before she seeks a greater level. I can spend decades, centuries, or even millennia idle and still have the freedom to search for it at any point I wish. Haha, it must've slipped your mind." 

"I-I..." Tang Heihei was tongue-tied, her body was violently quivering as her mistake dawned on her. A grave, grave, grave mistake. Her plans were shattered by her own mouth and carelessness and the considerations she had were proven to be useless. 

Tuo Bihan glanced at her disheveled appearance, feeling pity for the Tang Clan's Seventh Matriarch. Wei Wuyin was not the typical person that could be measured with any degree of common sense. He was an enigma that went against the grain of expectation, and it was easy to forget who or what he was. A mere mortal youth, not even a hundred, that could bring fear to Earthly Saints! 

In the end, Wei Wuyin didn't continue to crush Matriarch Vermilion's mind through words. "But I am interested in a few things, tell me this and I'll consider giving you a lifeline." 

As if a dehydrated person had found an oasis, Tang Heihei's eyes brightly lit. She had just been driven into despair as her plan fell apart before it could even move an inch, and her mind was already thinking of how to survive after Wei Wuyin left, so this was like a gift from the heavens. "Al-Alchemic Sovereign Wei, please tell me." 

Tang Baibai remained extremely silent. She wanted to act so badly, to silence her sister, to run away, but while standing before Wei Wuyin, she, an Earthly Saint held in the highest regard in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region as a powerhouse of the ages, was obediently listening at the side. The level of stifling suppression she was facing despite Wei Wuyin being a mere mortal youth was humiliating to the utmost, yet she couldn't push herself to muster any resistance. 

Seeing how polite and nervous her sister was, a sight she'd never seen before in her entire lifetime, Tang Heihei realized that Wei Wuyin was not an ordinary man by any means. Furthermore, he was only sixty-nine?! Sixty-nine! 

Wei Wuyin nodded, "My first question: Why do you two have so much hatred between you two?" This was a question born from simple idle curiosity that was born from ignorance of two sets of memories. 

"..." The twins looked at each other almost instinctively. A flash of complex emotions surged through both of their eyes, and the flash told a story of a thousand tragedies. Yet the light in Tang Baibai's eyes quickly grew into rage and hatred, her expression scowling with killing intent. 

"A long story…" Tang Heihei said with distant indifference. She clearly didn't wish to speak about it.

"Long? It's pretty simple really." Tang Baibai gained her voice at this moment, and she spoke with viscerally palpable disgust. "If you don't want, I will." 

"..." Tang Heihei.

Then, Tuo Bihan and Wei Wuyin enjoyed a vividly described story from Tang Baibai's perspective. While it might be skewed and tainted by her hatred here and there, it was likely ninety percent true given her raw emotions.

It went like this: 

Long ago, the Tang Clan's Sixth Matriarch was announced as pregnant, and the pregnancy was announced by the Grand Seer of the Golden Gate Pavilion as a very rare event through her divination, a Demi-Mortal Lord carrying triple fetuses—triplets. Moreover, the father was none other than the Burning Abyss Alchemic Sovereign, a renowned figure throughout the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, originating from the Aeternal Sky Starfield's Imperial Clan.

Interest explosively and unpredictably boomed and began when the arrival of Alchemic Sovereigns from all over came over to offer their well-wishes and alchemical products designed to be taken prenatally. What was originally a mindless show of kindness became a trend and then a rabid competition among Alchemists regarding who can offer the best prenatal products. A storm of wealth and riches ravaged the Tang Clan that day and all sorts of expensive, curated products were laid on their doorstep by happenstance. They hired Earthly Saints and Highlords for a variety of pre-birth infusions, a competitive show of outstanding and disgusting wealth, with each Alchemic Sovereign trying to outdo the other.

Even the pre-Alchemic Saint Evergod and Ennea Hall participated alongside their respective forces. During this, the Divine Emperor personally agreed with the Sixth Matriarch that the Seventh Matriarch's firstborn will officially be wed to his 'officially recognized' Seventh Son. 

The cause for all this was a figure that no one could forget—the King of Everlore! This was one of the first incidents that the legendary and unforgettable existence had caused, generating countless storms throughout the world, and it heavily defined the Tang Clan's future. 

During the nine months gestation period, it wouldn't be an understatement that the Tang Clan's Sixth Matriarch experienced a greater degree of care and resources than any of the Aeternal Sky Divine Emperor's wives during their pregnancies. It was a stupendous event that was extremely difficult to be replicated.

Shockingly, when the pregnancy was completed, only two young girls were born! As for the third, there was none! This baffled the world as questions raged and even the Grand Seer had to make a statement. Supposedly, the third fetus had likely been devoured! 

This instilled a wave of forlorn silence throughout the world. Shortly after, the Tang Clan's Sixth Matriarch went crazy. Despite the Grand Seer's announcement, she was vehemently insistent that her third child was alive, and that someone had taken her child! 

As an Ascended being, how could she not be aware if her little girls were devouring each other in the womb? She wasn't a pathetic mortal, but after inspecting both infants, there were signs of a foreign third aura that tainted theirs. It heavily resembled a rare condition of Fetus Assimilation that mortals often experienced. 

When various skilled Alchemists, Medical Sages, and even Imperial Monarchs had determined that the infants had indeed devoured the third, the Sixth Matriarch had gone absolutely mad. She shouted and screamed out conspiracy, and began her search for her third child…

She soon vanished without a trace. 

However, before her disappearance, her distrust for the Imperial Clan was made public and she accused her husband of colluding with others to steal her child. Shortly after, the King of Everlore visited the Tian Clan. Later, the Tang Clan was no longer under any obligation to marry a member of the Imperial Clan. They were free.

An event that shook the entire world ended in an unsolved mystery, a tragedy, and a strange ending. However, the two remaining children were still alive. They were declared as twins, not triplets, and they were groomed to be the Seventh Matriarch of the Tang Clan and its future leader. 

Tang Heihei wasn't very talented. Given the same amount of resources, she kept coming up short in every category against her sister. From an outsider's perspective, Tang Baibai was destined to be the next Tang Clan's Matriarch. It was even believed that she obtained the greatest benefit during their prenatal showing of fortune or rumors that she 'devoured' most of her unborn sibling. 

The stigma of Tang Baibai's talent was synonymous with the blame for her mother's descent into madness by most, even her father. While Tang Heihei was largely ignored. But with the stigma set on one, the other one, Tang Heihei, experienced care and love from her father, something that Tang Baibai never experienced. 

Tang Baibai wasn't very ambitious, but a curious girl with an adventurous streak, and one who already believed she would become the Tang Clan Seventh Matriarch. 

Eventually, Tang Baibai voiced her curiosity to enter the Vermilion Graveyard. At the time, the location was considerably extremely sacred and only Chosen, Matriarchs, or Grand Elders could enter. To gain entry, she would have to either prove herself as a Chosen after entering the Third Stage of the Astral Core Realm or wait until she became the Seventh Matriarch by birthright.

At the time, she had tried a few times to enter, but her strength was never sufficient to so much as budge the protections against intruders, and she was often joked about and found cute for her repeated futile attempts by her Elders. Since she was going to become the Seventh Matriarch, few thought much of it. 

Until…she was found in the Vermilion Graveyard.

A crime. 

A grave, unforgivable crime.

By law, she was stripped of her lineage and exiled. This wasn't publicized, and it was reported that she had suffered Cultivation Deviation and died while trying to absorb an extremely rare Mystic-World grade material. She was unable to be revived. 

But shortly after being exiled, Tang Baibai was hunted down by other cultivators. If it wasn't for a few loyal members of her mother's direct lineage assisting her, she would've died. One of those cultivators used a strange spell to shatter her life talisman by connecting it with their soul and ending their own life.

This gave her a chance to survive, and she escaped tearfully. Tang Heihei always wanted vengeance as a youth, but later came to accept her situation and grew content with her life. She even became faintly thankful for the events that happened. If it wasn't for that, she wouldn't have become an Earthly Saint with a legion of loyal followers and freedom to explore the vast Dark Void. 

While she knew it was her father and sister who schemed against her, placing her in the Vermilion Graveyard after stoking her interest repeatedly, slyly giving her more tactics to try and enter as a curious youth, she decided to put all that behind her.

Until 'they' came knocking. All to save her former Clan and protect the descendants and legacy of those who gave their lives for hers.

"..." Wei Wuyin and Tuo Bihan were quite invigorated by the story. 

As for Wei Wuyin, his eyes were fixated on Tang Heihei. Her story carried traces of the initial beginnings of what he would look for in a Blessed. Her following story as the Traceless Emptiness Void Queen felt as if it was heavily assisted by the Heavenly Daos.

But…

'You're not one…' Wei Wuyin felt a little confused. Could it simply be a matter of coincidence? He pondered the matter deeply, trying to find the reason for this feeling of incongruity.

"What happened to the Burning Abyss Alchemic Sovereign?" Tuo Bihan was more interested in the story instead. 

"..." Tang Baibai looked at Tang Heihei with a side-eye. 

"Dead," Tang Heihei answered in a deadpan manner. 

"Dead?" Tuo Bihan frowned. 

"He deserved death; he was nothing more than a perverse man that wanted the Tang Clan's legacy, secrets, and fortunes for himself." There was an extremely cold chill to her voice, likely indicative of a greater story. 

"Then…was he the one who plotted against the stronger and more talented sister to get her out of the way? Is that why all that happened?" Tuo Bihan was extremely invested in this, and it was slightly abnormal. 

Tang Baibai clenched her fists. 

"No. I was the one who lured that man to act against his own daughter with promises of the Tang Clan's wealth and then planned to have her subdued and placed into the Vermilion Graveyard to face clan punishment. And I ensured the fact was publicly known among the clan so those in power couldn't hide it for the 'sake of the clan'. I wanted the seat, and I obtained it." There was an unapologetic shamelessness in Tang Heihei's tone, and she was fearless in her admittance.

She was already the Seventh Matriarch, and she did not need to hide her deed any longer. Her plan worked and she acquired resources sufficient to become a Demi-Mortal Lord and representative of a Noble Clan. She had even brought in her little sister-in-law from the Volcanic Fist True King's lineage—Highlord Scarletflame into her clan, strengthening it to new heights, capable of somewhat standing on its own. 

"I see. My next question then." Wei Wuyin decided to move on after understanding the source of their hatred. Even if Tang Baibai had decided to stay away from the Tang Clan, it made sense she was unable to contain herself when facing her twin sister. As for the mother's situation, that was thousands of years ago, and Wei Wuyin didn't want to delve into that mystery.

"Tell me what prompted this coup d'etat."