Chapter 294: Secret Archive
Wang Wei sat in the middle of a large formation with all the millions of Supernatural Realm cultivators surrounding him. His Ancient Lamp floating above his head, burning brightly with 13 different colors.
At the same time, all the Supernatural Realm cultivators also had their Ancient Lamps floating in front of them as well.
Numerous runes from the formatting activated, then the 12-colored flame of these Supernatural Realms separated from them before rushing toward Wang Wei in the center.
His 13-colored flame absorbed these flames. His Good Fortune Flame did not add any more color afterward, but the intensity that the flame burned drastically increased. The flame rose a few hundred meters to the sky.
Luckily, this was a large space surrounded by a protective formation.
After seeing this phenomenon, Wang Wei hurriedly directed the lamp and the flame into his Sea of Consciousness in an attempt to refine his Soul.
While all of this was happening, the upper echelons of the sect were closely monitoring him to ensure that nothing happened.
"Wouldn’t it be better to use Divine Body Realm cultivators instead?" asked one of the Elders.
"No. The Good Fortune Flame of Divine Body Realm cultivators has been infused with their goals, dreams, or aspirations. If he used them instead, his soul would most likely be corrupted," answered True Monarch Yan Chen.
After this brief conversation, all of them quieted down, waiting for Wang Wei to finish. This wait lasted for three days.
Wang Wei--who was closing his eyes all this time--suddenly opened them, vomited a big mouthful of blood.
"Failed?" asked Wang Tian who suddenly appeared next to him.
Wang Wei just nodded his head. Everyone then became somber after hearing this.
"Young master, how about trying the method you suggested to break your soul into small-connected pieces so that it is easier to refine? I think this method was truly genius."
"Don’t say stupid things," said Wang Chang. "The Soul is Yin in nature, and only by entering the Primordial Spirit Realm will it acquire Yang attribute, thus allowing it to not only exist in the real world without problem but also give it a certain malleable nature.
"If you try to break a Yin Soul into small pieces, the likely scenario is a real soul injury that is hard to cure--especially with how high in quality Wei’er ’s is."
Wang Wei agreed with his grandfather. After learning about the possible difficulty he would face in breaking through the next realm, he began to plan ahead.
One of his plans was based on a novel he read on his past life where the cultivation system allowed people to break their souls into hundreds if not millions of pieces that are connected to one another.
As long as one piece of the soul was left intact, it could grow back to its original size. Furthermore, each piece of the soul has a certain amount of strength, making it very versatile in nature and able to do many things.
"In that case, what about we try the Divine Body Method previously stated? As for the impure will in them, can we find another method to deal with afterward?" suggested Great Elder Yan Mei.
Everyone then looked at Wang Wei for him to make a decision.
"You guys have the right idea, but this method will not work. A million Divine Body cultivators will not be effective."
"So, what you’re saying is that as long as the intensity of the Good Fortune Flame is enough, you can succeed?" asked Wu Hong.
"Yes. Although I failed in this attempt, I noticed a very tiny part of my soul was refined. Although it was probably 0.00000001% of it, this showed me that it is possible."
"So, what we have to accomplish is to find a way to increase the intensity of the Good Fortune Flame?" summarizes Yu Yan. "How are we supposed to do that? Add a few more billions of Supernatural Realm cultivators?"
"Although it would take some time and resources, it should be possible," said Wang Tian. No one in this room cares about sacrificing a few billion lives for the sake of Wang Wei.
"It’s better if your breakthrough does not involve so much Karmic debt," said Wu Hong.
"At this time, I don’t think we can care about such trivialities," said one of the other Elders. Many people agreed with that Elder. However, Wang Wei looked at Wu Hong and asked:
"What are you thinking?"
"You should know that your greatest threat to the throne is Di Tian. Given how long he has lived and the fact that he controls the Dao of Reincarnation, there is a high chance that he also knows something about Karma.
"If you ever confront him with such a large Karmic Debt, well..."
Wang Wei realized that she was right. "Do you have a solution to my current problem?"
"Both yes and no. I could seal the quality of your soul, which would allow you to easily enter the Primordial Spirit Realm. However, you would lose all the benefits it comes with until you prove the Dao."
"Benefit? What benefit? So far, this thing has been nothing but a nuisance."
"The majority of your monster-level comprehension comes from it," added Wu Hong.
Wang Wei took a deep breath; he did not want to give up his advantage. "What else?"
"Although I do not have a way to solve your problem, I can point you in a direction. That’s Buddhism."
"Buddhism? What do they have to do with anything?" asked Yu Yan.
"The Incense Era began because a monk discovered that he could use the power of Faith to refine his soul and enter the Primordial Spirit Realm."
"Using Faith to refine the soul? That’s a good idea," replied Wang Chang. "However, this method has long been lost through time. I doubt even the Taoist Sect still has access to one. Unless you have that method?"
"Unfortunately, I do not," replied Wu Hong. "However, you can recreate it."
"I’m glad that you have so much trust in me, but I know only a little bit about Buddhism from the small books I’ve read in the library. Without any information to go on with, I’m also at loss."
"In that case, we’ll give you more information," said Wang Chang.
"Indeed. I think it’s about time you visited the Sect’s Secret Archive," said Wang Tian.
"Secret Archive?" That’s the first time I’ve heard about it," commented Wang Wei.
"That’s because it was not time for you to have access to it yet."
Then, Wang Tian led the group to a secret location of the sect.
As soon as Wang Wei entered there, he saw a vast library with rows filled with books, jade talisman, and some stone carvings that had mysterious light emanating from them.
In one of the rows, he saw the words; "Emperor’s Scripture" written as the title.
"Does the sect have other Emperor Scriptures?"
"Of course, " replied his father.
"Where did they come from? And why have I never heard of them before?"
"A few of them came from destroyed lineages, some came from predecessors who were lucky enough to the legacy of a Great Emperor, and the remaining ones came from other worlds.
"As for the reason that you never heard of them? There are two: one, none of these scriptures are considered orthodox, so we usually hide them. Well, not just us, but most Emperor Lineages do the same."
"You guys are just too old-fashioned," replied Wang Wei.
Wang Tian glared at him, then said:
The second and most important reason is the fact that all these scriptures are somewhat incomplete."
"What do you mean?" asked Wang Wei with a frown on his face.
"All the Emperor Scriptures are unique and can be considered relics because they have been baptized by the Dao Rhyme of their creators. The Dao Rhyme allows people to more easily understand these scriptures. Even when copies of the originals are made, they still contain the Dao Rhymes.
"However, those scriptures that were taken outside do not contain Dao Rhyme, so they essentially become very esoteric writings that are hard to learn. Only truly talented individuals could become enlightened on them."
"Is this some kind of fail-safe that Great Emperors used to prevent their scripture from being spread?"
"That’s correct."
"In that case, what about the sect’s predecessors who rightfully got these Emperor Scriptures? They must have done so through trial or because they were fated with them, wouldn’t they have access to the original scriptures and Dao Rhymes?" asked Wang Wei.
"You would think so, but no. Most scriptures left as inheritance are usually created by Loose Cultivator Emperors or the ones with no faction or attraction to the mortal realm. As such, when they leave their inheritance, the first person who gets it usually absorbs all the Dao Rhymes in the book to help their enlightenment.
"And in certain cases, the scripture would be immediately destroyed afterward, and bans will be placed in their souls to prevent them from leaking them. Of course, this is just the extreme case."