Paragon of Sin

develop an Alchemic Soul, but she had ruined that talent. I ’m assuming it had to do with the impurities within the Everlore Ascension Pill she took? It ’s all about adapting the physique to unique energies, so it makes sense the impurities would influence the same line. Now, while she fits the basic requirement of an Alchemic Soul, her compatibility with alchemical energies have been severely reduced to below the acceptable threshold. ”

Qingye Ying was shocked by Wei Wuyin ’s quick deduction, further clenching her fists and biting her soft lips.

”Yes, ” Qingye Yin admitted. ”She had taken a highly impure-quality Everlore Ascension Pill. While we had numerous Alchemic Emperors concocting this pill, it was still ninth grade and extremely difficult. We had failed for millennia, but when we succeeded, it was the highest acceptable impure-quality pill. And while it thrusted her into the Astral Core Realm, it thoroughly ruined her natural talents. We hadn ’t expected it to be so thorough, and our plans to remedy the situation after the fact became pointless. It ’s not just for alchemical energies, but her Astral Soul can ’t absorb ambient essences to cultivate. ”

This time, Wei Wuyin was thoroughly shocked. He used his spiritual sense to inspect Qingye Ying, completely forgetting about etiquette. She didn ’t reject his spiritual sense in the slightest and he silently inhaled cold wisp of air soon after. He wouldn ’t have imagined she was crippled without seeming to be crippled. 

Her path to cultivation was over.

”How is she recovering her expended energy? ” He inquired. She had clearly concocted properly and restored herself as well during the All-Alchemic Clash.

As if expecting the question, ”She ’s using an astral formation inscribed on her dantian and meridians, interconnected with her Astral Soul acting as independent meridians and forcefully gathering, refining, and injecting energies into her cultivation base. It gives off the illusion of her state being normal. ”

Wei Wuyin couldn ’t help but equate such deception to Wu Baozhai ’s Primal Yin concealment formation, giving the illusion of her intact virginity.

”… ” The room went quiet for several awkward seconds. 

”Haaa…okay, but why me? Why did you think I was needed for this? ” Wei Wuyin finally got to the point, realizing that even if Qingye Ying did enter the gateway, she would likely be rejected either by the gate or the force beyond unless they had a solution to her issue. 

It was finally here, prompting Qingye Yun ’s expression to become serious. ”For you to reach your current level without an Alchemic Astral Soul, you must have the lowest-grade of Overlord-level talent, at least. There ’s an ancient method left behind by one of my ancestors, it ’s called the Meridian Grafting Method. We would remove Qingye Ying ’s tainted portions of her meridians and graft yours to her body, allowing her to regain her talent to cultivate. ”

Wei Wuyin frowned, shockingly adding: ”So I see. But the Meridian Grafting Method only allows someone to acquire a portion of the other ’s talent as a result, and if you used with someone with low talent, she still wouldn ’t be able to enter the gateway, defeating the purpose. But what ’s Overlord-level Alchemic Talent? ” He had an Alchemic Astral Soul, so he knew he had the bare minimum of talent at least, but he wasn ’t sure about this ’Overlord-level ’. 

Qingye Yun didn ’t think Wei Wuyin was familiar with such an obscure method, finding it quite shocking. 

Qingye Ying chimed in, ”When the Envoy of the King of Everlore arrived, he brought along a tome of exceptional information. One of the things detailed was the division of innate talent, not factoring in unique qualities like a Physique or Meridians. There ’s five levels outlined: Null, Standard, Excellence, Overlord, and Chosen, and each level, besides Null, was further divided by Earthly, Worldly, and Heavenly grades. ”

Wei Wuyin was intrigued by this division. When she started to explain, he felt his horizons broadened. To cultivate any type of specific Spirit, one needed to reach the ’Heavenly Standard-level ’ of talent. As for anything beneath it, they simply couldn ’t absorb and refine the pure essence required for conversion. Of course, there were alchemical products that could bypass this issue.

The Null-level of talent meant either a cripple or a complete incompatibility with various energies. He recalled Zuhei ’s horrid response to Spatial Energy, likely revealing his Null-level talent, and realizing that there were numerous alchemical products that serve to enhance talent.

He hadn ’t understood what it truly meant to ’improve ’ talent until this moment when the differences were clearly outlined. Enlightened, he realized an issue. There were no Alchemical Products that enhanced Alchemic Talent in his memory. 

As if reading his thoughts once more, Qingye Yun added: ”There ’s many different purification products, and with a few centuries of effort, we can entirely remove the tainted portions of Qingye Ying ’s meridians and physique, but her innate talent would forever be damaged. And unfortunately, there ’s no known way to increase one ’s alchemic talent. While a formation is a stopgap measure, it can not replace personally refined essence and energies, making it impossible to improve one ’s cultivation base. ”

Wei Wuyin nodded in agreement. There were many ways to detoxify the body from any level of impurities with time, but even if he used a ninth-grade product to do so, removing it in a few months or a year, her talent was already decimated by her actions. There was nothing he could do except provide pills to elevate her talent.

But as a wielder of an Alchemic Astral Soul, she needed to refine or convert essence into alchemical energies to promote her strength. It was similar to how Ori had to absorb the materials of the nine elemental essences to regain its strength or amplify the ’essence ’ portion of its power. The other way was conversion via intent, transforming ordinary essence into a specific attribute. 

Normally, this wouldn ’t be an issue due to Alchemical Products, but there was no alchemical energy product that existed. In fact, he was shocked to discover that nothing within the Alchemic Dao supported the Alchemic Dao, at least to his knowledge. 

Her path of cultivation was truly over unless she used a drastic method like the Meridian Grafting Method. But even that had issues, and she might not even exceed Null with someone else with Heavenly Standard-level talent. As for Excellence-level talent, he wasn ’t certain if they knew someone of that level or how rare it was. 

What he didn ’t know was that even Heavenly Excellence-level grafting might produce a Null-level talent or a Worldly Standard-level talent at best, meaning it still fell short. 

It was why even Lin Ming ’s Senior Sister, Senior Sister Lin, someone with vast more experience and knowledge, had completely dismissed Qingye Ying. She was practically an invalid to the Alchemic Dao.

He furrowed his brows tightly, ”You want me to sacrifice a portion of my talent and give Saintess Ying another shot at cultivating? ” 

Thud!

Qingye Yun uncharacteristically kneeled before Wei Wuyin with both knees on the ground, nearly kowtowing to him. ”Yes! I understand the sacrifice we ’re asking of you, and we ’re willing to devote the entire Alchemist Association to you for as long as our lineage exists! ” 

Wei Wuyin, ”… ”