Unlike the Heavenly Daos freezing of time, the flow was ongoing and present, unchanged yet incomparably different. It was as if the entire world grew quiet, descending into absolute silence, whether they were the sounds of one's heartbeat, the movement of the smallest of particles across the void, the incessant and abundant existence of mana-chaos and normal, the presence of one's Astral Souls, or one's thoughts. They all became as still and lifeless as an unmoving, dreary picture, unable to be sensed or felt. It was eerie. Incredibly so.
Wei Wuyin felt the intensity of this familiar feeling that he had dreaded for so long was considerably and undeniably stronger than Wei Wuyin's Astral Core Tribulation. It was undoubtedly incomparable!
However, preparation had long since been made to overcome this as Kratos leaped into action first, similar to how it had all those decades ago. Its heart-throbbing roar wasn't panicked and filled with heavy concern and quivering fear for Wei Wuyin's safety to the point where it had referred to Wei Wuyin for the first time in its and Wei Wuyin's life as 'father'. The roar was forceful and void-sundering! His heart shook.
ROAR!
A gush of grey blood escaped his throat, almost as if it was congested within his chest, and spewed out in vast quantities. The amount that was expelled was excessive, enough to cause the surface of the asteroid to acquire a coat of dripping grey blood of a hybrid. Despite his vehement coughs to expel a lot of blood, his silver eyes never left Su Mei's frozen figure that seemingly was halted and on the verge of taking a single step forward.
She was the sole inconsistency that was noticeable outside of that eerie feeling of silence. This inconsistency supported that what he was seeing now wasn't reality, but some false space that blocked the truth. If he was simply living his life normally somewhere else, without his Astral Souls, he might have just been ignorantly blissful. And Eden took action immediately after!
The Astral Form within his Sea of Consciousness had its roots thicken as they stabbed deeper into the boundaries of his mind, pumping rampant Seven Source Soul Light into every location with chaotic intensity. Within Wei Wuyin's senses tethered to his mind, from physical and spiritual, the world before his Celestial Eyes began to fracture as if impacted by a metallic orb smashing into reinforced glass at high speed.
The fractures extended across all of his vision and the length of his expanded Spiritual Sense. It was as if the entire world had been cracked like glass and he was the epicenter of the disastrous impact. With the world in this state, Wei Wuyin firmly reminded himself of the next step and manifested the Alchemic Stars of Transcendent Purity!
The aura of the Alchemic Dao permeated throughout his body, pulsing through his eyes, and forcefully stripping apart the truth before his gaze. The world morphed until reality corrected itself; Su Mei was currently enveloped by a sphere of seven-colored blazing light.
The Evercrown!
'I will free you soon,' Wei Wuyin announced in his heart as he executed his plan. He linked with the Evercrown that he had refined, attempting to interconnect Su Mei and his senses, including her freedom. Within her still heart, a drop of heavily refined True Void Dragon Blood illuminated with a thrum, seeking to instigate a pumping response.
From the slight opening of her lips, grey blood dripped out slowly and the veins, arteries, and heart within her body began to gradually resume an active role. With the Evercrown and this drop of blood, she should be able to emulate Wei Wuyin's act of shattering the restrictions of this world.
This was the first stage of his plan-free Su Mei!
However, he could see that the effects were gradually taking effect. From her glabella had a mark of an ancient tree of Eden's original form, pulsing with continuous lifeforce that ceaselessly infused her body. The force that sought to shatter her entirely was being resisted by the Mark of Eden!
Wei Wuyin hadn't just condensed unrefined lifeforce into her body and awaited a trigger, but outright gave her a Mark of Eden! And it was connected with the Evercrown! When it activated, so would the mark itself and flood her entire body with a rejuvenating lifeforce of the highest quality. Her body would sprout cracks on its skin but rapidly heal just as quickly.
Wei Wuyin had been constantly using mana to replenish the lifeforce within the Mark of Eden, all for this inevitable day!
Stage two of his plan-keep Su Mei alive!
He was unable to rely solely on his power or gather information regarding the strength of this unknown and unclear calamitous force. If Su Mei died instantly while he was freeing himself, regret would stab into his soul until it sundered his existence. He could never accept that. So seeing how it was working, his eyes glinted with joy, but he hurriedly restrained it as vigilance bloomed within his gaze.
Without hesitating further, he brought out a jade box that contained a gorgeous pill that resembled black jade. The pill was removed with expert care. A worldly aura was unleashed as the still air grew turbulent. This was none other than the Everlore Mortal Ascension Pill!
'Will this work?' While he didn't hesitate to send the pill toward Su Mei, enveloped in his Alchemical Eden Starforce, ready to rapidly refine the product alongside the amplification effects of the Evercrown, another step of his plans, his knowledge and experience as an Alchemist allowed him to see that this situation...was different!
Before, the cataclysmic power came to an end as Su Mei had 'overcome' her Astral Tribulation, but the Everlore Mortal Ascension Pill was designed to assist one during their First Ascension yet Su Mei hadn't taken that step into the Seed Tribulation Gate of the Mystic Ascension Realm to validate her comprehension of the Mystic Dao!
She wasn't undergoing her tribulation?
It was at this moment that he realized that...perhaps the cataclysmic force had concluded because it could only activate during the tribulation! Unlike the Mortal Dao, the Mystic Dao wasn't a matter of outright occurrence but a conscious step towards a higher path! The Mortal Dao guided while the Mystic Dao challenged!
Despite these roaring thoughts that caused even Eden to grow anxious as its pulsating roots transmitted uncertainty that it couldn't hide despite the tense event, Wei Wuyin sent the pill forward with determination and hope.
Eden's thoughts, too, were fraught with worry! All of them were! Ori! King! Kratos! Little Defiant! And Element!
All of them were focused on Su Mei with their all as they watched with their held breaths and anxious souls. No matter if this worked or not, they couldn't let Su Mei die!
NO MATTER WHAT!
When the pill touched the barrier of seven-colored light enveloped in Wei Wuyin's Alchemic Eden Starforce there was no resistance. In fact, the pill was guided and divided by the light, infused directly into Su Mei's dantian, meridians, Sea of Consciousness, physical cells, and her Astral Soul!
No-her Astral Souls! 'What's that?!' Wei Wuyin asked, echoed by the curious Eden, the solemn King, the shocked Ori, and the disbelieving Kratos! Their voices harmonized as one.
Wei Wuyin hadn't noticed this until this moment, and his eyes widened as the radiant dark light of her Astral Soul was eclipsing another. This Astral Soul was clear, invisible even. However, it had no Astral Core. Like Eden or Kratos, its dantian was something else entirely as it wasn't tethered to anything that Wei Wuyin could determine!
Without the Everlore Mortal Ascension Pill infusing every iota of her cultivation base to regulate and harmonize her to the Mystic Dao's unfathomable aura, Wei Wuyin wouldn't have sensed it at all!
However, when he saw it, despite its clear light, it was blindingly bright when one could see it. So bright it was as if Su Mei was the light of all things! His heart-Kratos-began palpitating intensely after the discovery. It wasn't just rapid, but the beats were extremely irregular and thundering. The sound alone almost deafened Wei Wuyin from each intense beat.
"Calm!" Eden took the role as the most aware and protective, extending a root through Wei Wuyin's Sea of Consciousness that manifested into pure alchemic Eden energy, funneled directly into his heart as if it were another vein. Only then did both Wei Wuyin and Kratos break out of their intense stupor.
"Continue!" Wei Wuyin gritted his teeth as he decided to put all these bubbling feelings aside. Yet the main issue remained!
Unfortunately... ...the pill... ...didn't work.
The cataclysmic power continued as the energy within the pill that harmonized Su Mei's body subsided after it had run its course, and while her Astral Souls had been thoroughly readied to succeed during her Mystic Ascension, the world hadn't resumed its irregular state.
Actually! It was growing stronger and noticeably so as the output of lifeforce was slowly losing out to this unseen force! The cracks on Su Mei's skin, fingernails, teeth, ears, and eyes began to spread. As it spread, it similarly regressed as it was healed, but the spread was slowly outpacing the rate of regression!
This was problematic as she hadn't awakened yet! She was supposed to awaken and enter the gate! He thought of this outcome and planned accordingly! Su Mei even had an Everlore Mortal Ascension Pill of her own if she woke up before Wei Wuyin had! And the reason why her awakening was important was that Wei Wuyin couldn't forcefully push her to enter the gate!
She had to enter herself and he couldn't even approach it! While it was before her, not very far, it was like an inviolable barrier of the Mystic Dao that even those at the Resonant Soul Realm would find difficult to approach or breach with significant cost, and this was even with his blessing of the Mystic Dao! He had tested this multiple times after his Stellar-Paragon Physique with his Ascendants!
Wei Wuyin felt his heart drop at this outcome. No matter what his plans were, he was unable to give Su Mei all of his cultivated powers and their resulting strengths, so her rate of awakening was far, far slower!
But at this rate, the cracks would eventually spread throughout her existence...and that scene from before...that scene from a life he refused to allow happen again...would...
NO! NO!! NO!!!!!
"Externalize!"
With determination, Wei Wuyin executed his unique Externalization Method! King and Ori responded with readied sounds, the howl of a saber, and the echo of creation itself resounded as the two left.
However! They didn't just externalize, but their forms began to rapidly change as they both took on different forms. One of the unexplored and often underdeveloped abilities of Wei Wuyin's Astral Souls was their ability to accept each other's energies without changing themselves or affecting their fundamental powers. It was this ability that allowed Wei Wuyin to retain his combat abilities despite taking the path of an Alchemic Soul!
Moreover, it allowed Eden to have offensive powers, and while considerably weaker than the others, it wasn't insignificant! Moreover, they had once all turned into a specific type of energy and astral force within their Astral Cores to complete a task. This had only happened a handful of times, but they had this ability!
This was an emulation; it was only possible because they originated from the same soul and likely due to Eden's transformation properties of the Alchemic Dao!
King suddenly transformed into a grey heart with waves of origin energies while King became a tree with sharp roots. They swept through the void and entered Su Mei instantly!
Using the Evercrown, Wei Wuyin began to use the Alchemic Dao properties to transplant his Astral Souls! While this wasn't the main line of his plan, it was one of the many contingencies if the pill didn't work!
He would push Su Mei into the Seed Tribulation Gate! This might not work, but he had to try!
"GO!" Su Mei's right leg lifted under King and Ori's body and mind control, moving slowly toward the gate!
BOOOOOSH!!! Without warning, a thunderous explosion erupted from the world as Wei Wuyin dug his feet into the asteroid and shielded his gaze as an unseen force smashed against his body like invisible waves.
The waves were incessant and he forcefully opened his eyes through the raging gale and looked at Su Mei, hating the fact that his eyes were closed for even a single moment, and gnashed his teeth with fury while wreathed in anxiety. But what he saw was...
A hazy humanoid figure stood before the unawakened Su Mei!
Erdiul's Note: My theory is that the hazy humanoid figure is another Su Mei, possibly the main Su Mei that is probably an immortal or some shit to kill the current Su Mei who is like part of her cultivation technique or some shit, where she lets her clones live mortal lives and right as they're about to ascend she exterminates them and absorbs everything they have. Now why do I think this? The title of these chapters are ''That Su Mei'', why the fuck is it called ''That'' Su Mei. I'm cooking dawgs, you guys cook too, hit me with your theories, I'm reading comments.

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