Flash of Inspiration, Breaking Through the Bottleneck (4K)

The next day, the morning sunlight streamed through the exquisite window lattices into the bedroom of the Young Sect Master the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Yu Yuanchen slowly opened his eyes from meditation, feeling refreshed after a night of quiet cultivation. Turning his head, he saw Ye Zhilan beside him had already gotten up and was doing her makeup in front of the mirror, her movements light and quick, her eyes filled with undisguised excitement and anticipation.

"Awake?" Ye Zhilan saw him open his eyes in the mirror, turned around and smiled sweetly, her face radiant. "Hurry up and wash up, have breakfast, and come with me to the research institute! I have a lot of new information and ideas to share with you. Yesterday I was so busy... I forgot about the important matter!" As she spoke, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she gave Yu Yuanchen a slightly coquettish glare.

Yu Yuanchen chuckled. He now truly understood how Ye Zhilan felt when he was in seclusion or on expeditions, waiting alone in her empty room for his return. They had only been together for one night, and before his "leisurely" days had even begun, he had been dragged here to "keep him company."

Yu Yuanchen stood up and walked behind her, taking the wooden comb from her hand and naturally combing her cascading black hair. He joked, "Yes, yes, it's my fault for delaying Scholar Ye's research. I'll make amends right away. I'll spend the whole day with you and do whatever Scholar Ye ask without complaint."

Ye Zhilan enjoyed his service, smiling slightly. "That's more like it. But..." She winked mischievously through the mirror, "I must warn you, the research institute is incredibly boring, with piles of data, samples, and those profound notes left by Miss Gu Yue. Don't find it dull."

"My wife is devoted to her studies, and I am proud of her. How could I find it boring?" Yu Yuanchen's movements were gentle and his tone sincere. He was genuinely happy for Ye Zhilan. His wife was not just a vine clinging to him, but Campsis grandiflora that could also bloom brilliantly.

She has her own pursuits and her own career. This focus and enthusiasm make her exude a unique charm that is far more appealing and admirable to him than a virtuous wife and loving mother who only revolves around her husband. He is happy to see her shine in her field and prove her worth to the world.

After breakfast, Ye Zhilan couldn't wait to take Yu Yuanchen to the Beast Taming Research Institute, a secluded place located in the back mountains of Dragon City. This was a place where the Ye Family and she had poured their hearts and souls into. It consisted of several interconnected stone buildings covered with lush green vines, and the interior was divided into multiple functional areas such as laboratories, observation areas, sample storage, and data rooms. Although it was not as grand as the sect's main hall, it had its own rigorous yet Life Force academic atmosphere.

Upon entering the research institute, Ye Zhilan seemed like a different person, her eyes becoming focused and bright. She first led Yu Yuanchen to see the latest achievement—several young Soul Master from the Ye Family who had awakened the Seven Heart Begonia Martial Soul were undergoing Soul Power integration with their respective contracted Plant Spirit Beast under the care of specialists.

The children, no more than ten years old, held various plant Soul Beast (such as a swaying, radiant Seven-Colored Moon Orchid and a resilient Iron Wire Vine) in their palms, closed their eyes, and concentrated. The fluctuations of their Soul Power subtly merged with the Life energy emanating from the plant Soul Beast, forming a harmonious resonance. Under the gentle nourishment of their Soul Power, the leaves of those plant Soul Beast Hair Crystal, and their aura slowly and steadily increased.

Ye Zhilan explained in detail, "The essence of the contract is to use the Soul Master's Spiritual Power as a guide to construct a two-way Soul Power circulation channel. The Soul Master's Soul Power is more 'active' and 'shaping,' which can help the Soul Beast purify and compress its relatively complex Soul Power, allowing it to possess the purity that only a higher realm can have in advance, which is equivalent to 'accelerating' it."

"Soul Beast, especially Plant Spirit Beast, possess enormous Soul Power and a high affinity with nature, providing Soul Master with sustained power. Furthermore, as the contract deepens, they may even reward you with unique Innate Ability. Most importantly," Ye Zhilan's eyes gleamed, "Through the contract to condense Soul Ring, the Soul Beast won't die, and the Soul Master can obtain the Soul Skill most suited to them—it's a true win-win situation!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, "I plan to have all future Healing Soul Master in the Ye Family condense their Soul Ring by contracting Plant Spirit Beast! This will not only reduce the need to hunt Soul Beast, but also allow Healing Soul Master, who lack offensive capabilities, to have a loyal and powerful plant partner, giving them considerable self-defense and even combat support abilities!"

Yu Yuanchen listened attentively, nodding occasionally. He could see the immense potential of this research; it was practically reshaping the relationship between Soul Master and Soul Beast, opening up a completely new path of cultivation. He sincerely praised, "Incredible! Zhilan, if this path succeeds, you and Miss Gu Yue will have performed immeasurable merit, and will surely change the future of the entire Soul Master World!"

Receiving her husband's affirmation, Ye Zhilan smiled radiantly, but then her delicate brows furrowed slightly. She pulled Yu Yuanchen into her Main Laboratory, pointed to the densely packed documents and notes on the table, and sighed, "But, Brother Yuanchen, we've encountered a major bottleneck."

She picked up a report, her tone tinged with confusion and frustration. "The Contract Method Miss Gu Yue and I researched is remarkably effective against Plant Spirit Beast. They have incredible Life Force; broken branches and fallen leaves can regenerate, and their bodies seem to adapt well to the strain brought about by this Cultivation Level. But against Animal Spirit Beast..."

Ye Zhilan pointed to a nearby isolation observation area, where several low-level Wind Wolf and Flame Leopard were on the verge of death, their bodies abnormally swollen, and their fur cracked. "But animal-type Soul Beast are different. Their body structures are complex; their muscles, bones, internal organs, and meridians all need to be strengthened simultaneously to support the sudden surge in Cultivation Level. We've tried several times, and even Hundred-Year Soul Beast, when their Cultivation Level was rapidly increased to the thousand-year level under the power of the contract, all of them died because their bodies couldn't handle it... Except for a few exceptionally talented individuals with special physiques, the vast majority of Animal Spirit Beast find it difficult to adapt."

Yu Yuanchen frowned as he watched the struggling Soul Beast. Although his combat power was extraordinary, he was not skilled in such profound research involving the essence of Life, energy, and the coordination of the body. He pondered, "Could it be that the physical strength of the Animal Spirit Beast, or rather the resilience of their 'vessels,' is not keeping up with the explosive growth in the 'quality' and 'quantity' of Soul Power?"

"That's what we thought at first!" Ye Zhilan picked up another stack of documents. "Miss Gu Yue and I tried various methods, such as using herbs to Body Tempering, using special Soul Power to nourish them, and even Simulation high-pressure environments to train their physiques... but the effects were minimal. Either the cost was too high to be widely adopted, or the strengthening speed could not keep up with the improvement of Cultivation Level."

The research seemed to have reached a stalemate. The laboratory fell silent for a moment, with only the faint whimpers of the Soul Beast in the isolation zone audible.

Seeing his wife's furrowed brows and weary eyes, Yu Yuanchen tenderly put his arm around her shoulder and gently comforted her, "It's normal to encounter difficulties when researching a new system. You and Miss Gu Yue have already blazed a trail where no one has gone before, solving the problem of plant-type contracts. This is already a groundbreaking achievement. Animal-type soul beasts are even more complex. We can't rush it. Take it slow, and we'll eventually find a breakthrough."

To distract Ye Zhilan and help her relax, Yu Yuanchen began recounting his experiences in the Demon Plane and the Demon Quelling City. He talked about how Tang Chen became obsessed with forging, creating "Enchantment Inscriptions" that combined demonic technology, claiming he was going to pull off a big surprise; he also talked about how Qian Daoliu traveled the world Purification Fallen Angel, casually mentioning that those Purification angels seemed to have become a new race without Martial Soul, resembling humanoid Soul Beast, somewhere between Soul Beast and humans...

Yu Yuanchen was just chatting casually, trying to help Ye Zhilan relax. However, when he mentioned the words "no Martial Soul," "similar to a humanoid Soul Beast," and "somewhere between Soul Beast and a human," Ye Zhilan's previously scattered gaze suddenly focused!

She suddenly looked up, grabbed Yu Brother Yuanchen's arm, and asked urgently, "Yuanchen! You just said that those Purified Angels don't have Martial Soul? They're like humanoid Soul Beast?"

Yu Yuanchen was taken aback by her sudden excitement and nodded, saying, "Yes, that's what Brother Qian said. They possess Angel Bloodline and form, and can cultivate Light Attribute power, but they don't have Martial Soul in the human sense. They're more like... highly intelligent humanoid Soul Beast? What's wrong?"

Ye Zhilan didn't answer immediately. She released Yu Yuanchen's hand and slowly paced around the laboratory, muttering to herself, "No Martial Soul... humanoid Soul Beast... somewhere in between... why can Plant Spirit Beast do it, but Animal Spirit Beast can't? Why can human Soul Master withstand rapidly increasing Soul Power, while Soul Beast, especially Animal Spirit Beast, can't? Clearly, at the same level, Soul Beast ' physical strength is generally far superior to that of humans..."

Her eyes grew brighter and brighter, as if a bolt of lightning had pierced through the fog in her mind!

"I understand! I understand!" Ye Zhilan suddenly stopped and turned around, her face filled with ecstatic joy and sudden enlightenment. Her voice trembled slightly with excitement. "Brother Yuanchen! We may have been thinking in the wrong direction all along!"

"You're thinking in the wrong direction?" Yu Yuanchen was also affected by her emotions and asked curiously.

"Right!" Ye Zhilan strode to the table, picked up a pen, and quickly drew a diagram on the paper. "We've been thinking about how to strengthen the 'body strength' of the Soul Beast, the 'container,' to hold the rapidly flowing ' Soul Power water.' But we've overlooked a crucial difference— Soul Beast and humans have different 'rules of form change' for the 'container' itself!"

Pointing to the blueprints, she spoke rapidly, "Human Soul Master, from awakening their Martial Soul to becoming Titled Douluo, unless they Martial Soul Possession or use special Soul Skill, their physical form is basically fixed! Our Soul Power enhancement is done within a container with a 'relatively constant volume,' increasing the 'density' and 'mass' of energy!"

"And what about Soul Beast?" She pointed heavily to the side representing Soul Beast. "The vast majority of Soul Beast will significantly increase in size as their Cultivation Level years increase! The size difference Ten-Year Soul Beast and Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast can be ten times or even a hundred times! Their cultivation is a process in which the 'vessel volume' and the 'contents' increase slowly and simultaneously!"

Ye Zhilan's eyes gleamed as she looked at the abnormally swollen Soul Beast in the quarantine zone. Her tone was clearer than ever before. "That's the problem! Through contracts, we forcibly poured the 'quality' and 'quantity' of Soul Power —equivalent to what they would accumulate over hundreds of years—into their bodies in a short period! This did indeed increase their Soul Power Cultivation Level, but their 'bodies,' the containers they possess, didn't have time to grow, adapt, and become resilient in sync with their natural growth, which takes hundreds of years!"

"It's like a water bag that can only hold one liter of water, and we forcibly filled it with ten liters! No matter how tough the leather of the water bag is, it will burst! No matter how strong the body of Soul Beast is, it can't withstand this kind of explosive growth that goes against its growth laws, where its 'volume' can't keep up with its 'contents'!"

"And why can Plant Spirit Beast do that?" Ye Zhilan asked herself, answering, "Because many plants have more flexible growth patterns! Broken branches can regenerate, and their body shape can change more flexibly. Some can even temporarily adapt to energy shocks by rapidly regenerating cells! More importantly, the correlation between the ' Cultivation Level ' and 'body shape' of plant-type Soul Beast may not be as absolute and rigid as that of animal-type Soul Beast!"

"And why can humans do it?" She looked at Yu Yuanchen, "Because the size of our 'container' is basically fixed, and cultivation is about constantly refining and compressing energy within this fixed container! We are naturally more adapted to this 'internal' growth model!"

"And those Purified Angels..." Ye Zhilan's thoughts were completely clear, "They don't have Martial Soul, they're more like humanoid Soul Beast, but their 'humanoid' form is relatively fixed! Their cultivation system is probably closer to our human model of 'improving energy quality within a fixed form'."

Yu Yuanchen was deeply shocked as he listened to Ye Zhilan's meticulous analysis. This angle was too ingenious and too fundamental! He had always been accustomed to thinking about problems from the perspective of power, but Ye Zhilan had found the key from the fundamental differences in Life forms and growth patterns!

"Therefore, the key to overcoming the bottleneck in improving Animal Spirit Beast contracts may not lie in simply strengthening their 'physical strength'," Ye Zhilan concluded, her face radiating wisdom, "But rather in how to 'deceive' or 'adjust' their bodies, so that while their Soul Power surges, their bodies can either simultaneously achieve 'controllable and safe' rapid growth and adaptation, or... temporarily shift their cultivation mode towards a 'human-like' solid container and internal growth!"

She excitedly grabbed Yu Yuanchen's hand. "Brother Yuanchen! I know what to do next! I need to redesign the experiment, focusing on the growth hormones of Soul Beast, cell division rates, and how to temporarily Simulation a ' Form Stabilization Field ' using the power of the contract... Oh my god, my mind is suddenly sparked!"

Seeing his wife radiant and full of energy because of a groundbreaking idea, Yu Yuanchen felt a surge of pride and tenderness. He grasped her hand in return and smiled, "It seems I really did bring back some 'good luck' this time. Congratulations, Zhilan, you've found your true direction."

Ye Zhilan nodded vigorously, her eyes gleaming with a desire to explore the unknown. "Brother Yuanchen, I need to start a new experiment immediately! I'll probably be busy for a while..."

"It's alright," Yu Yuanchen gently stroked her hair, "You go ahead and do your work. Whatever resources you need, the sect will provide full support. I'll stay here with you."

He knew that if Ye Zhilan's research succeeded, its significance would far exceed her personal Cultivation Level improvement. It might be the key to changing the millennia-old antagonism between Soul Master and Soul Beast, and the true path to a harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.

All he could do was become her strongest support, protect this hope, and patiently wait for it to blossom.