Clearlight Peak, inside the scripture archive.
Chu Mo stood before the shelves, his gaze sweeping over the many jade slips: miscellaneous accounts, rare treasures, legends...
"The Mysterious Female Pearl... the essence of mother qi..."
Recalling the description of the Mysterious Female Pearl in the Mystic Embryo Primordial Life Great Art, Chu Mo looked at the Azure Slip he had picked up last. A passage within it concerning the "essence of mother qi" had caught his attention.
[The essence of mother qi conceives and nurtures, holding within it the workings of creation. It embraces yin and bears yang, hazy and elusive, seemingly turning in cycles...
This description overlapped considerably with the properties of the Mysterious Female Pearl. Comparing their forms, characteristics, and various other descriptions, they all seemed to point toward the same thing.
"Could... 'essence of mother qi' be another name for the 'Mysterious Female Pearl'? Or some particular form in which it exists?"
A keen light flashed in Chu Mo's eyes as thoughts raced through his mind. After spending several days poring over the many texts he was permitted to access on Clearlight Peak, he had finally found a useful lead.
Unlike the Mysterious Female Pearl, which he had never heard of before, he had at least heard the name "essence of mother qi." He simply knew little of its inner workings, only the broad outline.
Chu Mo sank his awareness into the Azure Slip and carefully examined all the information concerning the "essence of mother qi." According to the slip, it was exceedingly rare, with only scant records of it. It was said that it might emerge in certain places where yin and yang intertwined.
"As long as I have a direction..." He breathed out softly, his spirits lifting a little. Knowing what it was had to be