Chapter 853 – A Clear Path Ahead

“Now, close your eyes and look inward. Find the faint glow circulating within your bodies—that is the manifestation of Heart Light. It is born from your emotions and moves by your will.”

Mo Lan’s voice rang out at just the right moment, guiding them.

“Find it, feel its flow. Then, give it a clear command—tell it to stop its natural circulation, to heed your call, to transform into pure light-element force and gather in the palms of your hands!”

The twelve White Crystal People obediently closed their eyes. Their ears, which looked rather small now that the butterfly-shaped emotional collectors had been removed, drooped slightly.

Xinhen was the first to furrow his brow. The golden-pink glow that had been circulating steadily inside him ever since Mo Lan’s appearance momentarily stalled.

Gradually, under his guidance, the golden-pink glow—symbolizing hope and reverence—transformed bit by bit into a pure white light, free of any emotional coloring. It flowed slowly but steadily from his right palm.

Above his palm, a single light-element particle quietly appeared.

Success!

Immediately after, similar light-element particles appeared in the palms of Yaotong, Jingchen, and Yingyu as well.

At first, these light-element particles were extremely faint, flickering on and off as though they might dissipate at any moment.

But this first breakthrough had already ignited the flame in every White Crystal Person’s heart.

They pressed on without discouragement, adjusting their approach through failure after failure.

Soon, one point of light, then two… more and more glowing dots lit up across the farm.

Through repeated practice, the light-element particles in their palms gradually stabilized and grew brighter.

Mo Lan gave a slight nod, a look of approval on her face.

“Very good!”

Her telepathic voice once again entered their minds: “Using the same method, try converting Heart Light into psychic power!”

The White Crystal People closed their eyes and focused once more, attempting to replicate their earlier success. However, this time the results were completely different.

They struggled to guide the Heart Light within their bodies, trying to convert it into psychic power, but the energy that had been so obedient just moments ago now felt sluggish and difficult to control.

No matter how hard they concentrated, the Heart Light either showed no change at all or simply churned restlessly within their bodies, utterly refusing to transform into a different form.

Time ticked by as sweat seeped from their translucent brows.

Many of them, drained by the sustained intense focus and energy expenditure, saw the glow within their bodies visibly dimming—a sign that their Heart Light was nearing exhaustion.

Yet not a single one of them managed to condense even the faintest ripple of invisible psychic power in their palms.

This stood in stark contrast to Mo Lan’s own earlier experiments.

She had tried before, and the “Heart Light” she had converted from Mana transformed into psychic power without any resistance whatsoever.

Mo Lan frowned slightly, her powerful psychic power meticulously scanning each White Crystal Person’s conversion process, observing every minute detail of their energy flow.

Before long, she identified the crux of the problem.

“Stop,” she said, her voice carrying a note of understanding. “The problem isn’t with your method.”

All the White Crystal People opened their eyes, exhausted and confused, and looked at her.

“You were able to convert Heart Light into light-element force so quickly because light has always existed in your world. You have an innate affinity for light-element force, so you could naturally perceive and convert it with ease.”

“But your emotions have grown dull from the prolonged excessive emotional harvesting. And since psychic power is closely tied to emotions, that emotional numbness has also made your perception of psychic power vague and indistinct.”

A flicker of dejection passed through the eyes of Xinhen and the others.

“But don’t be discouraged. Look—the luminous pathways within your bodies are already far brighter than when I first met you. That means the problem of emotional numbness is improving! Once your emotional perception has fully recovered, converting into psychic power will come as naturally as water flowing downhill.”

“For now, go gather some light dew and rest your bodies well. Once your Heart Light has recovered, I’ll teach you your first Light Magic spell—the Light spell.”

There was still no method for the White Crystal People to actively cultivate, so Heart Light could only be left to recover naturally. This also gave Mo Lan an opportunity to observe how their Heart Light replenished itself.

Mo Lan’s figure vanished into the air—in truth, she had silently concealed herself atop the flying carpet with its invisibility function engaged.

Suppressing all traces of her presence, she quietly watched the White Crystal People’s every move below.

Their Heart Light had been largely depleted from the earlier attempts, its glow dim like a candle guttering in the wind.

She watched as Xinhen led his companions into the white crystal tree grove within the valley. They carefully collected the plump droplets of light dew from the leaf tips, then each found a spot to sit and drink in silence.

Mere moments after they drank the light dew, a flash of surprise crossed Mo Lan’s eyes.

Through her perception, she could sense that the Heart Light within the White Crystal People, upon absorbing the light dew, seemed to have received the most potent fuel—its recovery speed increased dramatically!

After drinking a great deal of light dew, their Heart Light not only returned to its pre-depletion level but even grew slightly beyond it before gradually stabilizing.

This discovery sent a surge of excitement through Mo Lan. “Could it be that light dew is more than just sustenance for the White Crystal People? With effects like these, calling it a natural ‘recovery potion’ and ‘cultivation elixir’ would hardly be an exaggeration.”

She reined in her emotions and continued observing patiently for a long while, recording recovery and growth data from multiple individuals at various levels of depletion after drinking light dew. In the end, her hypothesis was confirmed.

Light dew could not only enhance the physical strength of the White Crystal People but also accelerate Heart Light recovery and even promote Heart Light growth!

“Races with magical bloodlines truly do have their own unique gifts…” Mo Lan marveled inwardly.

The ability to perfectly digest light dew with such remarkable compatibility was likely an innate racial talent of the White Crystal People.

Upon closer reflection, this talent was nothing short of heaven-defying.

Drinking light dew could simultaneously improve physical constitution and Heart Light—how was that any different from “getting stronger just by eating”?

More crucially, light dew was a precious magical material in other worlds, but here on White Crystal Star, white crystal trees could condense it naturally.

Wild white crystal trees grew everywhere, but they produced light dew slowly, in meager quantities, and of poor quality—barely enough to sustain the existing White Crystal People.

High-yield white crystal trees, however, could rapidly condense premium-grade light dew as long as they were given sufficient light.

This meant that the greatest bottleneck on the White Crystal People’s entire path to the supernatural was nothing more than light.

Once that problem was solved, the road ahead would be almost entirely clear.

And even more fortunately, the White Crystal People happened to possess exceptional talent for light-element magic. Once they mastered basic light-element spells—even the most ordinary Light spell—they could cast magic to supplement the light for the high-yield white crystal trees, producing even more premium light dew, thereby achieving a steady upward spiral in both physical constitution and magical ability.