Chapter 415 - 318: Core Formation Steps
After uncovering this information, Fang Qingyuan felt a mixture of discouragement and pride, along with a sense that this was only to be expected.
These complex emotions came in waves. At first, upon deducing that the elixir was missing the primary ingredient of ’Collective Will,’ Fang Qingyuan was utterly deflated. ’This isn’t something I can get my hands on.’
This Collective Will was a miraculous power. According to the ancient texts, to even come into contact with a power of this level, one had to be a Buddhist Disciple equivalent to a Golden Core Cultivator. This was true even in major Buddhist sects like Kurong Temple, Nanlin Temple, and Kongyou An.
As for Buddhist Disciples at the Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment stages, they could only meditate, chant scriptures, and follow the standard cultivation path. They were completely unable to touch this Collective Will.
It wasn’t that Collective Will was too advanced, but that it was far too perilous. Without a sufficient cultivation level, it was impossible to control.
The texts mentioned that for the monks of Nanlin Temple, besides the conventional path of meditation, Collective Will was an alternative avenue for rapidly advancing one’s cultivation.
However, the books didn’t specify how this was done, only mentioning that Collective Will was exceptionally dangerous and not something an ordinary Cultivator should meddle with.
Reading this, Fang Qingyuan could make an educated guess. ’It must be about making and fulfilling vows, shouldering and resolving karma.’
This was a deduction based on the knowledge from his past life, but the exact methodology was beyond his current understanding.
After returning the book, Fang Qingyuan took Jinbao to pay his respects to Lechuan. ’I’ve come all this way,’ he thought, ’I can’t possibly leave empty-handed.’
But when Fang Qingyuan tried to see Lechuan, a disciple at the door stopped him.
"The Grandmaster is in seclusion and seeing no one."
The young Qi Cultivation boy at the door politely barred his entry. Fang Qingyuan found this strange. ’Why would Lechuan go into seclusion without telling me?’
’Have I become an outsider to him?’
This thought soured Fang Qingyuan’s mood. In his eyes, their relationship was a perfect example of a kind master and a filial disciple. Lechuan treated him well, and he was always respectful. Sure, he always had Jinbao swipe a few things on the way out, but wasn’t that just a sign of their close bond?
With this thought weighing on him, Fang Qingyuan returned to the Qingyuan Sect in low spirits and continued to ponder the matter of the "Collective Will." It now seemed certain that this was the missing ingredient in the Great Barrier Breaking Pill.
Of course, the Collective Will couldn’t have been added directly into the Great Barrier Breaking Pill. It must have been processed and transformed through various methods by the Alchemy Monks of Kurong Temple.
When it came to understanding Collective Will, who in this realm could possibly surpass the Buddhist Disciples?
But this was a result Fang Qingyuan was unwilling to accept. He had gone to great lengths to identify the Spiritual Medicine components of the Great Barrier-Breaking Pill and its missing primary ingredient. He even had the Bee Queen, an expert alchemist. Everything was in place. If he could just solve the problem of the Collective Will, a torrent of Spirit Stones would come pouring in.
Unfortunately, with his current abilities, this primary ingredient was clearly out of his reach.
This feeling of having it just within sight but out of reach was agonizing for Fang Qingyuan. He racked his brain. How could this Collective Will be infused into an elixir and then be converted into the user’s spiritual insight?
At that moment, Fang Qingyuan recalled the longing the elixir had projected while the Bee Queen was refining it. He didn’t know if other Alchemists ever felt such things, but he suspected they didn’t. Only the Bee Queen had awakened the Divine Technique, the Voice of All Things. Subsequently, Fang Qingyuan had used it to comprehend the nature of emotions and desires. As the original owner of this Divine Technique, the Bee Queen had clearly mastered these principles as well.
The Soul Contract Fang Qingyuan had signed with the Bee Queen wasn’t a simple one-way borrowing of the Divine Technique; it allowed both parties to comprehend and gain insights from it.
In other words, any insights Fang Qingyuan gained from the Divine Technique could be transmitted to the Bee Queen, and her insights could, in turn, be shared with him.
It was precisely because the Bee Queen had consumed a Great Barrier Breaking Pill and advanced, enhancing the Talent of the Voice of All Things, that Fang Qingyuan was later able to have his epiphany at Nine Stars Square. If the Bee Queen hadn’t advanced, Fang Qingyuan would never have been able to enter that state of sudden enlightenment, no matter how inspired he felt.
Therefore, it was clear that the Bee Queen had an exceptional Talent for refining the Great Barrier-Breaking Pill. Moreover, her Voice of All Things shared significant common ground with that "Collective Will."
Otherwise, she would never have been able to perceive the "emotion" that the elixir lacked.
As he considered this, Fang Qingyuan’s thoughts took a different turn. ’Since the main ingredient of the Great Barrier Breaking Pill is a Collective Will that enhances spiritual insight, and the Bee Queen’s Divine Technique can perceive the emotions and desires of all things... could I have her extract a specific emotion and infuse it into the elixir? Could that serve as an alternative kind of Barrier-Breaking Pill?’
Maintaining emotional stability was crucial when breaking through a bottleneck, but absolute, stagnant calm was definitely not the key. On the contrary, sometimes a lack of emotional force made it even harder to overcome a barrier.
The more Fang Qingyuan thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He immediately went to the Immortal Mansion to share his idea with the Bee Queen.
The Bee Queen stared at him, her little face blank. She had never expected her master’s mind to work in such a peculiar way.
However, after thinking it over, she realized there was some merit to his proposal. But one problem remained: where would they get emotions to use as an alchemy ingredient?
In response to the Bee Queen’s question, Fang Qingyuan thought for a moment, then cast his gaze toward the one-hundred-and-fifteen-acre marsh. The Qi Cultivation Stage demonic beasts, the Four-winged Cyan Jade Dragonflies, had the intelligence of four or five-year-old children. Surely they had emotions like joy, anger, and sorrow.