Paragon of Sin

After a brief stint of absentmindedness, the mortal cultivators present, from the youths to the elders, from the Qi Condensation Realm to the Astral Core Realm, began to circulate their cultivation methods, absorbing the Astral Mist to cultivate! 

This was a fortuitous opportunity that couldn't be missed! While some toddlers were confused by the field of mist, their accompanying guardians, be it parents, masters, or siblings, all carefully made sure they were cultivating diligently. A few snarky protests led to some berating and spankings. 

Wei Wuyin stood at the highest platform in the Main Hall, only lower than the floating thrones, but the mist had not reached their level. Instead, the golden mats glowed with light indicating their primed status. Lin Ming had never left the Astralis Essence diffusing mat, so he knew that this hadn't changed the ratio of release, but merely warned those standing to resume cultivating. 

"It's best not to get distracted here; these Astralis Mats are extremely rare, designed for only top-tier the Alchemist Association's genius alchemists to ensure their cultivation bases don't suffer due to their studies of the Alchemic Dao. Every second shouldn't be wasted." The voice inside the Aegis of the Elements reminded Lin Ming, clearly knowledgeable regarding the Everlore Association's tools and treasures. 

Lin Ming was deeply astonished. No wonder these mats felt as if they were cultivating for them! It's so that alchemists can study various concoction methods, alchemical methods, spells, arts, and formations while not having to spend energy circulating their cultivation method. It was exceptionally novel, perfect for the occupation. 

If used for normal cultivators, they can study various methods, arts, and spells, and grasp insightful knowledge regarding their current or future cultivation stages. This was miraculous!

The benefits of the diluted Astralis Essence were also not minor, capable of improving every aspect of a cultivator's essential foundation of innate energies. The successful challengers swiftly grasped the shift in atmosphere. Right now, cultivation had become the central focus. They began to hastily return to their mats, some giving Wei Wuyin glances here and there, with a few containing openly flirtatious and explicit meanings within them. 

Wei Wuyin ignored them all. 

Kree!

Bai Lin waltzed over to Su Mei, excitement roaring in her eyes. Su Mei saw Bai Lin, and she too had her eyes brightened with surprise and happiness. Bai Lin had grown smaller, yet she was far more aesthetically beautiful and powerful than ever before. She went from a white crane instilled with phoenix blood to a genuine Fire Phoenix! 

The two had an extremely close relationship, meeting Wei Wuyin on the same day, and both being in disastrous straits at the time. They would identify as sisters born on the same day if asked. Su Mei caressed Bai Lin's feathers as she smugly showed off her reborn body. The two communicated via a mental link. It was clear from Bai Lin's animated movements and Su Mei's flickering eyes that they were exchanging stories and praise. 

After Wei Wuyin had his fill of Xue Yifei's sweet scent and warm embrace, he brought her over to Bai Lin and properly introduced them.

"Bai Lin, this is Xue Yifei—my concubine." 

"Xue Yifei, Bai Lin—my partner in the sky." 

This was Xue Yifei's first time meeting Bai Lin in person, only having the pleasure to hear stories about the beloved white crane that accompanied Wei Wuyin. She was on the Bloodforge Continent when Bai Lin underwent her first Nirvanic Transformation that lasted nine full years. 

Bai Lin scrutinized Xue Yifei, walking a perfect circle around her while eyeing her intensely. After finishing her inspection, she nodded in an aloof manner. "She's beautiful enough. Definitely not inferior to Yue Songli, except in the chest area. She has a strong presence and bright, intelligent eyes; she's acceptable." As if it were normal to give a rating, Bai Lin gave her honest thoughts through mental communication to Wei Wuyin.

Wei Wuyin couldn't resist smiling, surreptitiously glancing at Xue Yifei's bosom. She was quite impressive in that area, but Yue Songli was on a different level altogether. However, in terms of looks, strictly using Wei Wuyin's basis of facial attractiveness, Xue Yifei was on a whole other level. 

Xue Yifei wasn't privy to this rating, but she could tell that Bai Lin approved of her, allowing her to experience a wave of sudden relief. She had learned from Su Mei that Bai Lin was a being of paramount importance to Wei Wuyin—as close as family, so if Bai Lin didn't like her, chances were her opportunities to elevate her status from concubine to wife in the future would swiftly become non-existent. 

"..." 

Bai Lin then went to Wu Baozhai, giving her the same inspective treatment, but avoided Na Xinyi. She knew about Wei Wuyin's intentions to not taint her reputation with rumors of their relationship, remaining consciously distant and attracting no attention. If Wei Wuyin even spoke to Na Xinyi, given her outstanding beauty, talent, and origins, rumors would spout wildly and investigations would come in droves. 

All the lingering assumptions about their relationship would substantiate, but if he kept his distance, acting unfamiliar and unrelated, she would be able to forge her own legacy without being tainted by his shine. 

Bai Lin finished her inspection of Wu Baozhai. This made Wu Baozhai a little uncomfortable, mostly because she too knew of Bai Lin's place in Wei Wuyin's heart. In the mortal world, if a man's dog or child didn't like you, chances were you had zero chance to form a strong lasting relationship, and this might be ten times worse. 

She had little doubt that Wei Wuyin would isolate himself from her if Bai Lin indicated any dislike. And she would be right, her fears were reasonable, especially considering her heartfelt thoughts concerning their relationship had yet to be revealed yet. 

Bai Lin eventually returned to Wei Wuyin and said smugly: "I like her air, it's very aggressive, far better than how she was before. She now reminds me of myself. Hehe. And, she wants you. Another concubine?" It was as if she was submitting her expert opinion, stated with the utmost confidence.

Wei Wuyin lightly chuckled, causing Wu Baozhai's heart to grow abnormally tense. What did she say? Was it bad? Was it funny? Wu Baozhai felt so stressed that she could hear her sporadic heartbeats through her ears. Noticing how her mental fluctuations were growing turbulent, Wei Wuyin comforted Wu Baozhai by saying truthfully: "She likes you. She said you remind her a little of herself."p

Those words were more than enough to cause all the pent-up frustration to flow away from Wu Baozhai's chest and into the turbid world, feeling extremely light and satisfied. She brightly smiled, "I like her too." If she knew that Bai Lin had deemed her worthy of being a concubine, whether those words remained true or not might change.

The five of them soon found a corner of the platform. Wei Wuyin sent Wu Yu a message. The Grand Knight used his mystic power from above, causing it to descend like starlight to envelop the five. A sound-isolation and perception-restriction spell was cast allowing the five to talk undisturbed. It's been so long and they were all curious as to what Wei Wuyin had been up to, similarly excited to detail their own experiences thus far in the large world of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region.

While the rest of the world cultivated like frenzied madmen, one man, one beast, and three women held a long conversation. Wei Wuyin allowed them to tell their stories first before telling his own. He learned some interesting things, such as Su Mei becoming a prospective Chosen almost immediately after setting foot in the Solitary Saber Sect. 

Or how Wu Baozhai used the resources he left behind to perfectly develop their new planet, making it another home, and rebuilding the Myriad Monarch Sect as the Eternal Monarch Sect. 

And about Xue Yifei, after she was taken by Ma Zheng, and how she was graciously treated, yet found their service a little underwhelming. She didn't hold back in expressing how inadequate they felt in terms of nurturing experts, having a severe lack of alchemical resources despite having supposedly 'substantial' wealth and resources. 

When it came time for Wei Wuyin's time to explain his story, they were deeply shocked at how much he traveled during this short period, and how crazy his adventures were.

He left nothing out; they were already aware of the publicly known details, such as Bai Lin's fight with the Tang Clan, Wu Yu's Earthly Ascension and subsequent escape, and his arrival in the True Element Sect. But, they didn't know everything else. 

When he told them about where he'd been these last years, with six of them spent in the shattered Neo-Dawn Starfield or Everlore Starfield, and how he traversed the Dark Void using Void Portals, arriving at the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region only recently, they were completely astonished, their jaws dropped to the floor in shock.