Almost There

[Hey there, Brother Fa Tian.] I greeted the man."Senior Gerald!" Fa Tian bowed quickly and cupped his fists. He appeared nervous.[What happened?]"Senior, I nearly got swept into this mess that just happened. I got questioned by the Elders in the Law Enforcement Hall. It was terrifying!"[Because of the poison?]"Yes!" Fa Tian nearly cried. "It was so scary, they even searched my memories. They didn't believe me when I told them I knew nothing. I barely got out alive. Buhuhu!"He threw himself and cried on my chest. If that was an act to get me to pay more money because of the trouble, then I would say he was an amazing actor. I didn't expect things to go smoothly, but that was just too much.I pushed him away. [Alright, alright! Do you have my stuff?]Fa Tian sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve. Then, he took a small wooden box out of his pouch and slowly opened it, revealing a vial inside."That Senior I previously spoke about... He was able to synthesize this potion. It should have the effects you desire."I lifted my eyebrow. [Should?]"It was really expensive to make, and nobody dared to test it. But in theory, it should work."I rolled my eyes and extended my hand. [Fine, I'll be the test subject. Hand it over.]Fa Tian did in fact, not hand it over. Instead, his grip on the box tightened.[What? Do you want me to pay for a defective product? I don't even know if it works yet.]"Well… The thing is, I already paid… And it was really, and I mean really expensive."I internally sighed and wanted to pinch my nose in exasperation, but I resisted the urge.[How much?]"… Five Spirit Stones."I once again resisted the urge, this time to cough my lungs out, and stuffed my hand into one of my pockets. Out came five Spirit Stones that I tossed to Fa Tian. Well, maybe tossed them was the wrong expression, though it looked like I did just that. I sent them to him telekinetically.I took the box and grabbed the vial. It contained a yellowish-green liquid that had a suspiciously terrible smell.[What is in this thing?!] I reeled back after smelling it. [Wait, don't tell me. I don't even wanna know.]Fa Tian shrugged. "I am equally clueless. I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. Alchemists usually keep those secrets to themselves."I nodded and mentally prepared myself before taking a small sip to test the effects of the potion. It tasted just as vile as it smelled and I just barely managed to swallow it with my entire being screaming at me to spit it out.Soon I began feeling lightheaded and had to sit down. The world started spinning and I had to close my eyes and hold my head in place. The brew was definitely doing something, I just wasn't sure if it was the right thing.Ignoring the discomfort that was growing in my stomach and the gurgling sounds coming from my bowels, I focused on my Soul. There were certainly some changes as a weird kind of energy was swirling around it. Surprisingly, when I exerted the full force on my Soul, I realized it became slightly springier.If before it was a diamond that didn't budge, the potion changed it to a tough rubber used for truck tires. I had no chance of compressing it on my own, but at least there was hope outside forces could do the trick.But the energy from the few drops I drank was soon used up and my Soul hardened once more. The full potion should give me about an hour of decreased Soul hardness. I had to do everything perfectly if I wanted to succeed.As I opened my eyes, I saw Fa Tian looking at me expectantly."How was it?"[Hmm… The effect is a bit weak, but it should work. Here, for your troubles.] I decided to be generous and rewarded him with another five Spirit Stones. I could tell he was not expecting that from his extremely exaggerated facial expression. And he bowed three times in a row."Thank you, Senior! If you need anything at all in the future, please don't hesitate to tell me. I'll do my best to find it!"I nodded and said I would keep his words in mind. Who knows, maybe I would need his help again someday.***Divine Fragments. Poison. Soul-Compressing Pill.I already had four things that could help me advance if we count my own power. But that wasn't enough. At least I didn't think so. I wanted to be 100% certain I would succeed before wasting the expensive reagents.I bought a Greater Soul-Compressing Pill that was used in Golden Core Realm for when things went badly and the Soul was damaged. It could delay the decay of a Soul until proper care was administered.I decided to use it for my breakthrough. It was expensive, nearly a full Spirit Stone, but I had no choice. Luckily all those fools that tried to fight me had some cash on them, or this endeavor would have almost bankrupted me.Anyway, four ways to advance combined were still not enough. I considered doing it in the Hall of Ancestors without the pressure-blocking incense, but that seemed dangerous. That didn't mean I wouldn't do it, but I needed to exhaust all other options first.One of the last aces I had, came just recently, from the execution of all those traitors. Though their Souls got shattered and scrambled like an omelet, the recent memories were mostly the same. They got detained, questioned, tortured, and then got their Soul and memories searched.There was a Formation to make their Souls… more malleable, so they could be searched. Apparently, without it the Soul would often shatter and the person would die, taking the memories with them.It seemed to turn a Soul from a hard brick to a block of soft putty. It was just what I needed. But first, I had to combine all those fragmented memories into one coherent piece. Each person had only seen a fragment of the Formation, so it was difficult to replicate.Except for the one guy who was a spy inside the Law Enforcement Hall and knew how things operated. I got plenty of good information from him, unfortunately, he was also broken beyond repair in some places.I just ignored every problem and began drawing. I took a stack of papers and on each page drew the chunks I remembered from each fragment. There were many and it took me nearly an entire day to record them all. Then came the hard part. I had to somehow make these puzzle pieces fit together to create the Formation. It was mind-numbing work that took nearly an entire week, but eventually, I was done.It was a complex formation, about three meters across and full of geometrical patterns and Runes. Good thing I drew it down because it would have been a nightmare to do it all mentally. While I could, it was not worth the trouble.I moved my bed to the side and got some space in my room. I was going to try it out. How was I going to know if it worked if I never tested the Formation? Exactly, I wouldn't! So, I got to work.I didn't have any quality ink with me, so I just took some of my blood. It was nicely saturated with Ether anyway, so it should work.I began to draw… It was bad. I completely messed up the proportions, so I abandoned the endeavor almost immediately and got back to the blueprint on paper. I took another piece and redrew it carefully, just on a smaller scale. I needed to look at it while I drew. The complexity was out of this world and just too much to keep in my mind otherwise.I began drawing again. It went much better than on the first try. Of course, it was still slow. It took me nearly three hours to finish it, but it was progress. All that was left was to power it up and try it out.I set up three Spirit Stones in the corners of a triangle that was inside the main circle of the Formation. I connected my mind to it and triggered the activation Rune while sitting in the middle. I almost immediately felt my head spin and became mildly nauseous. My Soul felt weirdly unresponsive and exposed. I even had some struggles spurring my Qi to action. It was an overall disruption for magic powers. It weakened and disrupted the defenses of the Soul and made the target susceptible to outside influence.I tested the effects by pushing on the outside of my Soul and it felt more effective. It didn't do anything, but the resistance felt weaker at least. The magical field of the Formation was rapidly consuming Spirit Qi, so I quickly turned it off after confirming its effects.However, I was still too slow and clumsy in drawing it. If I really wanted to make use of the Hall of Ancestors, I had to be quick. The incense sticks I got from Elder Li only lasted for about an hour, and I didn't know where to get more. We only stayed inside for about ten minutes, so I had some time left. But I needed to hurry because even if I used only one at a time, that was still less than two hours total I could remain inside without an accident.And so, I got to work. I took a brush and a glass of non-magical ink and began drawing. I repeatedly drew the Formation in its entirety, sometimes beginning in the middle, sometimes starting on the outside. I had to become intimately familiar with all the lines and curves I had to draw. Simply remembering it wasn't enough. I needed practice and experience.I spent the next three days like that, drawing and sharpening my artistic skills. After reaching a speed I considered sufficient, it took a break. I washed myself thoroughly, had a good meal, and then went to sleep. I needed all the help I could get. The next day, I would break through to the Golden Core Realm!