Since establishing the ultimate strategic goal named "moving," Yue Qingqian's entire demeanor had been refreshed.
She no longer saw the "Shearing the Sheep Plan" as just a task to help her senior brother solve problems, but as a sacred and great cause to strive for, to reach the shores of freedom and build their ideal home!
At this moment, she was sitting in the cottage, carefully studying the next course of action on her senior brother's expanded "procurement list." On the new list, the names of the materials were getting stranger and more valuable-sounding.
Among them, a key target that Lin Fan had circled three times in red cinnabar caught her full attention.
"Void Spirit Flower" (Kōngmíng Huā)
"Senior Brother, this..." Yue Qingqian pointed to the name, her brow slightly furrowed. Although she had "copied" a large number of classics in the Scripture Pavilion, she hadn't had time to look at them in detail. But just from the name, she could sense something extraordinary.
"That's right," Lin Fan's expression also became solemn. "This is one of our most core objectives for the next phase."
He explained the preciousness and difficulty of obtaining this material in detail to his junior sister: "The Void Spirit Flower is a legendary celestial treasure that grows on the edge of spatial rifts. Its petals naturally contain a trace of the power of spatial laws. It is not only the main ingredient for refining the legendary 'Void-Piercing Pill' (a pill that allows for short-distance spatial travel), but it is also the key for me to upgrade the 'Micro-Dust Void Array' and give it preliminary spatial deflection capabilities!"
"Because of its preciousness, this item must be stored in the most heavily guarded core medicine storehouse of Hundred Herbs Peak, which has its own independent restriction arrays. With your current status, let alone asking for it, you probably don't even have the qualification to get close to that place."
Yue Qingqian's face fell. This indeed sounded like an impossible mission.
"Therefore," a shrewd, peculiar light flashed in Lin Fan's eyes, "we must change our strategy. The excuse of 'accidentally discovering an ancient text' can only be used once. From now on, you can no longer passively 'ask,' but must take the initiative to create a 'setup' that will make Elder Liu willingly, and even feel that it is only right and proper, to deliver these treasures to you!"
...
A few days later, at Hundred Herbs Peak, in Elder Liu's private alchemy room.
Yue Qingqian came to "seek knowledge" again. This time, she did not go to the Scripture Pavilion, but directly sought out Elder Liu, who was meditating in a quiet room.
Seeing his "genius disciple," a gentle smile appeared on Elder Liu's face. "Disciple, did you gain anything from your reflection in the Scripture Pavilion last time?"
Yue Qingqian's performance officially began at this moment.
Her small face no longer showed the previous confusion and self-blame. Instead, it was replaced by a look of mixed excitement, confusion, and a hint of enlightenment from "getting a glimpse of the Great Dao."
She respectfully bowed and said in a tone full of uncertainty but unable to hide her excitement, "Reporting to Master! I... I think... I think I've comprehended something!"
"Oh?" Elder Liu was immediately interested.
Yue Qingqian began her "enlightenment" speech, which was personally written by Lin Fan and filled with all sorts of profound-sounding Daoist terminology.
"After reading thousands of ancient classics, I discovered a problem. All the alchemy formulas only teach us to combine various medicinal herbs step by step. But I feel... this seems... not to be the essence of the Dao of Alchemy!"
"I believe that the true Dao of Alchemy should not be a rigid formula! It should be... 'harmony'! It is to listen to the 'voice' of each spiritual herb, to feel their unique spiritual properties, and then, as an alchemist, our duty is to, like a musician, compose these different 'voices' into a harmonious 'symphony of the Great Dao' in the most perfect way!"
These vague and mysterious words would probably sound like nonsense to others.
But to a Dao fanatic like Elder Liu, they were no less than a clap of thunder!
"Harmony? A symphony of the Great Dao?" he murmured to himself, his eyes bursting with astonishing light. This theory was simply unheard of, yet it faintly touched upon a supreme level of alchemy!
To "prove" her enlightenment, Yue Qingqian then made a request. She asked Elder Liu for more than a dozen low-grade spiritual herbs with completely different, and even conflicting, medicinal properties.
Under Elder Liu's curious and expectant gaze, Yue Qingqian walked to an alchemy cauldron.
This time, she did not try to refine any pills.
She threw all the conflicting spiritual herbs into the cauldron at once. Then, she extended her small hand and summoned her spiritual fire.
Her terrifying fire control technique was displayed to its fullest at this moment!
The orange-yellow flame, under her control, transformed into dozens of fire threads finer than hair. Each thread of fire precisely enveloped a type of medicinal herb, nourishing and guiding it with a unique, perfectly controlled temperature.
She was not refining them, but "soothing" and "harmonizing" them!
She was like a top-tier orchestra conductor, using the flame as her baton, forcibly integrating a group of unruly, independent musicians (the medicinal herbs) into a unified melody!
Half an hour later, there were no pills in the cauldron, nor had it exploded. There was only a viscous liquid that emitted a seven-colored halo, with various spiritual energies entangled within it, yet bizarrely maintaining a stable balance.
This thing had no practical use.
But on the level of alchemy, it represented a miraculous, ultimate control over the harmonization of energy!
Elder Liu was completely shocked!
He looked at the waste liquid in the cauldron, then at his disciple, whose forehead was beaded with sweat and whose face was slightly pale. The "rationalization" technique in his mind was already operating at its maximum.
"A monster! A true monster! She... she actually managed to walk a path of alchemy that is completely her own, one that no one has ever walked before! This is not the art of alchemy; this is the 'Great Dao of Alchemy'! I... what virtue do I have to have received such a disciple who is capable of founding her own school!"
Just as Elder Liu was trembling with excitement and was about to announce that all of Hundred Herbs Peak's resources for the next hundred years would be unconditionally allocated to Yue Qingqian.
Yue Qingqian, this excellent actress, at the perfect moment, delivered the final, most crucial kick to this performance.
She looked at the seven-colored liquid in the cauldron and perfectly showed an expression of "having gained something, yet also being confused."
She frowned and murmured to herself, her voice not loud, but just enough for Elder Liu to hear, "Strange... I feel like I've touched a new law... but these mortal spiritual herbs, their 'voices' are too monotonous, their 'spirituality' too impure... like an incomplete symphony, lacking the highest, most core note..."
She looked up, her eyes filled with a pure desire for knowledge and longing, and looked at Elder Liu.
"Master, I have a vague feeling in my mind... a vision... If, if I could personally touch, could personally comprehend the 'Dao' of the legendary... Void Spirit Flower, which resonates with the law of 'space' itself, perhaps... perhaps this incomplete symphony of mine could truly be composed!"
She did not say, "I need the Void Spirit Flower to refine pills."
She said, I need it to "comprehend the Dao"!
The nature of this request was instantly elevated to a sacred height that Elder Liu absolutely could not refuse!
Refusing a disciple's request for materials was petty.
But, to stifle a peerless genius's fleeting moment of "enlightenment," which could create a whole new school of alchemy—to an alchemy fanatic like Elder Liu, that would be a heinous crime, a sin against the Dao of Alchemy!
The choice no longer needed to be made.
Elder Liu's old eyes instantly burst with a light more fervent than any time before.
"A genius's inspiration must not be stifled!" He grabbed Yue Qingqian's wrist, his voice trembling with excitement. "Good disciple! You wait! No! You come with me!"
"For the Dao of Alchemy! For the future of the sect! Today, I will make an exception and personally take you to the core great medicine storehouse! So you can see with your own eyes the legendary—Void Spirit Flower!"
Yue Qingqian's heart was pounding wildly at this moment.
She knew that her senior brother's "Shearing the Sheep Plan" was about to have its most epic, greatest harvest yet!