Chapter 905: Emotion Body Cultivation—Urgency
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 905: Emotion Body Cultivation—Urgency
"First, before we officially enter the Primitive Dream Realm, we need to master a basic technique: the ability to freely project your soul from your body. Sister Long, you've experienced this once before, right?"
"Yes, but I still can't do it at will. Perhaps I just need more practice," Long said, nodding.
"If we want to master this ability, shouldn't we be studying the foundational techniques of the Great Soul Subjects?" Muli asked from the side.
"They're essentially the same. I mentioned this in the previous [Transcendent Knowledge] Fragments, though I understand that you can't simply change your chosen Witch Path just for the sake of one experiment," I explained.
Not all witches are willing to try new things. For those who are dedicated to a specific path, even taking on a minor subject requires long and careful deliberation. This is especially true for subjects they've had little contact with before; there are simply too many factors to consider.
However, looking at it from another perspective, one doesn't necessarily have to commit to a path to borrow its methods, techniques, and power.
Of course, there was another reason.
"Furthermore, mastering soul projection allows for a more intuitive understanding of the essence of one's own soul. Through this method, you can observe how the power of Self-Awakened Body Cultivation operates. This will be immensely helpful for the upcoming experiment."
As I finished speaking, both Muli and Fanny looked surprised.
"Wait. Self-Awakened Body Cultivation is a talent that combines the physical body with the essence of life. If we simply discard the body, wouldn't our understanding of the talent be incredibly one-sided?"
Unexpectedly, the one questioning me was the usually taciturn Fanny. However, whenever she did speak, it was always with a high level of insight; she was the type who never wasted a single word.
"On one hand, the power of Self-Awakened Body Cultivation is indeed manifested through the physical body, but it is by no means limited to it. We are currently conducting experiments related to the Dream Domain, where the role of the physical body is infinitely weakened. Therefore, that point can be temporarily ignored," I explained.
I didn't want to get into overly technical explanations with them. They had told me before that they couldn't understand the professional jargon—it was a form of instinctive filtering. No matter how clearly I explained it, they would instinctively refuse to process it.
Naturally, that made me lose the motivation to give detailed lectures. So, I opted for an explanation that was "good enough."
Self-Awakened Body Cultivation was certainly not limited to the physical body. It was just that at the moment of awakening, the individual's body was the first thing capable of exerting that power. Furthermore, the body contains sensory channels. Consequently, a practitioner of Self-Awakened Body Cultivation would eventually achieve great things in areas like bone tempering, body refinement, physical strength, defense, and perception. This was the primary reason why such practitioners could accidentally awaken their Sixth Sense even if they didn't specialize in Perception Body Cultivation.
Of course, Self-Awakened Body Cultivation also helps with Emotion Body Cultivation, but the threshold for the latter is too high and easily overlooked. One must at least awaken Heart Sense to even touch the threshold, and by that time, most witches have already solidified their path in body cultivation. At most, they might take it up as a secondary study, much like Five Senses Body Cultivation.
After responding to Fanny's question, we began our first attempt.
While soul projection and soul control are considered foundational, the more basic a skill is, the harder it is to teach. It relies entirely on one's own comprehension. The difficulty is akin to trying to raise your hand without giving your brain the command "raise right hand," but instead forcing your brain to manually control the contraction of every individual muscle to complete the action.
Subjective control that bypasses instinct! That is the true challenge.
However... the two witches with Self-Awakened Body Cultivation completed the task very quickly. In that moment, their talent proved to them that it didn't just grant total dominance over the physical body. Its power originated from the very essence of life!
Controlling their own soul-body was just as easy as controlling their physical flesh and muscles. As long as they could swap the similar concepts in their minds, they could achieve it.
This briefly addressed Fanny's earlier question: Self-Awakened Body Cultivation can exert the body's power, but it is not limited to it.
At this point, only Long's progress was lagging. Even though she had "recklessly" entered the Primitive Dream Realm before and felt the sensation of soul projection, her efficiency in adapting was slower than the two with the Self-Awakened talent.
This was the most direct gap created by innate talent.
So... I decided to provoke her a little.
"Sister Fanny, regarding the question you asked earlier about the power of Self-Awakened Body Cultivation, I can explain some deeper aspects to you. Although you don't like to talk much, I can sense that your understanding of theory is different from the other two sisters, right?"
"Yes. Please continue," Fanny nodded, still sparing with her words.
"Based on my understanding of Self-Awakened Body Cultivation, this talent has immense potential. The reason it's associated with body cultivation is primarily because, at the moment of initial awakening, the body is the medium and vessel that maximizes its power. But it's not the only way. However... life is an individual shaped by both the essence of life and the external body. Adding the suffix 'Body Cultivation' to this talent isn't wrong, but it doesn't mean it can only be used that way."
"The Dream Domain is a new application you derived using this talent as the core, right?" Fanny asked.
"And Self-Generated Mana! Isn't it!" Muli chimed in. After all, Bai Yu had already told them about the Self-Generated Mana.
"Correct. That's a fair way to put it," I nodded.
"Wait! Then what about a witch like me who doesn't have Self-Awakened Body Cultivation?!" Long interjected, her voice tinged with urgency as she struggled to succeed.
"Since Sister Bai mentioned Self-Generated Mana to you, she must have mentioned the experiments regarding it as well, right?"
"She did," Fanny nodded.
"Oh! Those students didn't have the talent, but they could still awaken it through the techniques you created!" Muli reacted quickly. "Bai Yu didn't have it either, but she succeeded. So, your research into the Dream Domain has also bypassed the threshold of Self-Awakened Body Cultivation, hasn't it!"
"Yes," I nodded.
"Oh~ ho ho~ Did you hear that, Long? Don't be so anxious; she has a way," Muli teased.
"However, it must be acknowledged that without the talent, one needs to put in far more effort and energy. I admit that effort can potentially catch up to talent, but the advantage granted by talent is not something effort can easily overcome."
I looked at Long again. "Just like this soul projection exercise. Effort can help an ordinary witch cross the same threshold as a talented one, but it's very difficult to surpass them at the same level."
As I finished, Muli and Fanny looked at me with strange expressions. Although they could tell I was being sincere, it felt as though I was intentionally provoking Long.
And they weren't wrong. I was indeed provoking her. I was using her emotions, guiding them to help her quickly achieve the desired effect.
Sister Bai was right; this witch named Long was indeed very easy to manipulate emotionally. Generally speaking, once a body cultivation witch awakens Heart Sense, their emotional control improves on an instinctive level. This dragon witch, however, was likely influenced by her bloodline—and a Black Dragon bloodline at that...
If such a witch could master Emotion Body Cultivation and reach a level of perfection in utilizing her emotions, she could push her bloodline advantages and combat instincts to their absolute limit!
No wonder Sister Bai said this woman had been pestering her to learn Emotion Body Cultivation.
Emotion Body Cultivation might seem like it's about influencing others, but the first thing one must dominate is their own emotions. I didn't mind giving Long a little guidance; consider it compensation for using these tactics on her.
Furthermore, I wanted to build a hidden sense of confidence. Although at the stage of a Transcendent Witch, one shouldn't be troubled by "confidence," a witch's mental state still affects every aspect of her being. No matter how you looked at it, Long was indeed the "ordinary dragon witch" among the three who lacked the Self-Awakened talent. Any gap created by talent would instinctively make her dwell on that fact.
"Talent... are you a talent-determinist too?!"
After hearing my words, Long was clearly unhappy. My words had been quite blunt, essentially belittling her so-called effort. But the world is like that sometimes; when you state facts bluntly and without malice, they often sound like insults to others. As long as the thought is "I feel," then objective logic ceases to matter.
"I don't like being labeled. I'm just curious—is your anger rooted in the fact that you have very little evidence to refute my point?" My words now were clearly a provocation.
However, the more I pushed, the more I could draw out her complex emotions, and her anger would act as the spark to ignite them.
"Xiao Han, you..."
"It's fine~ She has the right to argue with me physically." I calmed the witches on both sides, including the Dean's clone who was watching from the sidelines.
I lightly tapped the ground a few times, and the Dean understood. I was currently positioned near the Primitive Dream Realm; even if Long lost control of her emotions, she couldn't cause any irreparable damage to me. Moreover, as a Transcendent Witch, she wouldn't lose control over something like this. Even with my guidance, she mostly just wanted to teach me a lesson.
"If you want to teach me a lesson, you can't reach me in that state." If I were a simple soul body, a Transcendent Witch would have hundreds of ways to destroy me. But my soul was within the dream, on a different level than hers.
"You're trying to provoke me so I'll adapt to the soul projection technique faster, aren't you?"
"Mm-hmm~" I admitted it openly.
The witches watching were surprised. Once such a tactic is realized, its effect should essentially vanish, yet I didn't seem to care at all.
Long's anger did indeed begin to dissipate. Once she understood the motive, there was no reason for baseless rage.
"Heh... but you succeeded!"
Long opened her eyes, but her body remained motionless. In the next instant, a slightly illusory figure emerged from her physical form.
This time, being prepared, her body didn't collapse after the soul projected. Her muscles tensed at the last moment, leaving her body standing in a balanced posture.
"Yes, I succeeded."
I responded to her words, but our definitions of "success" were not the same.
In the moment before her attempt succeeded, that feeling of "urgency" had been pushed to the absolute limit. This emotion didn't fade into calm as her anger subsided; rather, it reached its peak just as the anger died down!
She needed to succeed! She had to succeed.
Desire and expectation intertwined, mixed with anxiety, tension, and excitement. All of it converged into a state of pure urgency.
Until the moment of success...
Emotions don't always need to be profound or life-altering. A person expresses their emotions every second of every day. A specific emotion reaching its limit is merely a way to make the person realize its existence.
Long had succeeded, but at the moment of success, she didn't taste the joy she expected. It was a psychological state of urgency. It kept pressing her toward success. Even though she no longer had a goal, she still craved success. This emotional paradox immediately made her realize something was wrong.
But in her soul state, Long was powerless.
Before raw emotion, everyone is powerless. Otherwise, how could emotions dictate a person's behavior?
Thus, Emotion Body Cultivation is the power that allows a person to stand against their emotions. It's not necessarily about dominating them, but as long as one is fundamentally not swayed by them, they can truly do what they intend to do.
"Do you feel it? The individual is powerless before emotion. Your so-called emotional control is nothing more than emotional numbness. Anger triggered the influence of emotion over you, and now... you can try to touch that emotion."
"This... what is this?!" Long was completely dazed, yet the feeling of urgency still swirled within her heart. She didn't understand why things had turned out this way.
"This is the Emotion Body Cultivation you've been dreaming of~"
As I spoke, Muli and Fanny were visibly moved, while Dean Mei's clone looked utterly confused.
Weren't we supposed to be doing experiments on the Dream Domain? Why had we veered off into this "Emotion Body Cultivation" thing? And for that matter... what on earth was Emotion Body Cultivation?
"If you had the Self-Awakened talent, perhaps things wouldn't be so complicated. Emotion Body Cultivation can take your dominance over your emotions to the next level. It also broadens the boundaries of your Sixth Sense, Heart Sense, allowing you to bridge the gap between yourself and the talented ones from a higher level."
The emotion of urgency was perfect for the competitive relationship between the three of them. It was essentially giving her a "cheat code." Since Muli and Fanny had the Self-Awakened talent as a foundation, things were easier for them. Therefore, I would let Long use a more comprehensive Heart Sense power to make up the difference.
After finishing, I looked at Dean Mei, offering an explanation and a justification for my actions.
Of course, I had other considerations and my own selfish motives... for instance, I was testing other possibilities for emotions. But regardless, I had already done it. All I needed was a reason to make the action justifiable.