Chapter 393: Willing To Die.
Thor explained with awe, "Can you imagine that? They don’t use a metal cauldron to refine pills. The Jade Flame is their cauldron."
The more Thor spoke, the more his eyes lit up. He spoke at length about the special Jade Flame. It was clear that he knew a lot about the matter and cared more about it than the other two.
Eventually his eyes became so bright that the light of greed hidden within them overcame the light of appreciation.
He said, with greed clear on his face, "The Jade Flame has been lost since the destruction of the Jade Cauldron sect. If I could get this Jade Flame, I would be willing to let you die."
Arthur said, "Well, too bad. I am not willing to die yet."
Thor turned his face to him and asked, "Who asked you for what you want? What I want is the most important thing here. You know how talented I am. Imagine what I could do if I had the Jade Flame."
"My achievements will be good for the world, so me getting that flame would be for the benefit of the whole world. Sometimes, you have to be willing to sacrifice yourself for the whole world."
He finished his tirade to justify his selfishness by asking, "Aren’t you a philanthropist? Why don’t you want to sacrifice yourself for the world?"
Arthur rolled his eyes and ignored the question. Then he changed the subject by asking them, "Is this fire based on the wood element?"
It was Thor who answered. He rushed to answer as if he had a fountain of knowledge within him that was desperately searching for an outlet.
He said, "The Jade Flame has some portion of the wood element. But it is mostly a taint of the wood element. It is mostly based on the fire element."
Arthur lost interest then after confirming that the Jade Flame won’t be compatible with his foundation. He already had a suspicion that it would be of no use to him when he heard that it melts metal.
Since metals will be a critical part of his foundation, he couldn’t mess around with a flame that melts them. This was just a way that this flame was incompatible with his foundation.
There was also the fact that the flame could burn the wood element within him. After all, the flame is not harmless to every plant.
But he thought to himself, "If I get it, I could sell it. I heard that special flames like that are usually at least rank 4, so they should be very valuable."
After making up his mind, he turned to Jason and asked, "Tell me, what does it feel like to forge your foundation?"
Jason considered his words carefully before saying, "I feel completely different. I feel reborn and awake. My current state makes it seem like I was sleepwalking before. But in terms of actual strength, I haven’t experienced much difference or improvement."
Thor asked with some concern, "What do you mean?"
Goldwyn decided to explain, "My state of existence has clearly improved, and I have a lot more potential for strength now. But I can’t harness my potential and convert it into strength yet. It is so frustrating."
"A good way to explain it is to compare the situation of the second mortal coil and the third mortal coil to show the difference between them. When I first transcended to the second mortal coil, my power doubled directly compared to when I was at the tenth transformation of the first mortal."
"But now that I’ve reached the third mortal coil, I’ve gained another life seed within me, so I have two life seeds within me. However, that doesn’t mean that my power has doubled. That only means that my power could be doubled."
Thor still didn’t understand, so he asked, "Why is that?"
Arthur tried to help by providing his perspective on the matter based on what Elder Storm Hawk told him about the third mortal coil.
He said, "The third mortal coil is all about potential. You forge a foundation to increase the potential of your body or mind. After this is successful, you have to increase that potential and also convert that potential into strength."
Jason nodded in agreement and said, "That’s true. Foundation establishment isn’t just about increasing your potential. You have to realize that potential through various means, such as the Element Host technique. You have to do the two of them together. Only this way will you be truly strong."
Thor exhaled and said, "I didn’t know that. Looks like I need to study more about foundation establishment."
Then he scratched his head and said, "But from what I heard, the realization of potential is difficult."
Jason nodded again and said, "It truly is. For loose cultivators, forging their foundation is the difficult part and the only thing they have to deal with. And they won’t be completely wrong to think so."
"After all, you only need to increase your potential to a certain level before you can transcend to the fourth mortal coil. And if your potential is high enough, you can continue to transcend beyond that."
"As for the matter of strength, it is not urgent. Converting potential to strength will take time, is difficult, and is not necessary to progress on the path of cultivation, so most people set it aside for later."
Goldwyn interjected, "In fact, from what I’ve heard, some people at the fourth mortal coil still haven’t completed the Element Host technique. It is that difficult."
Jason resumed what he was saying after the brief interruption. "As I was saying. Potential is not equal to power. It could be. But it will take effort and time. That time can be spent on something else."
"However, we in the Blood Skull sect take converting potential into power seriously because it affects the speed of cultivation and also increases the chances of transcending in the future. After all, the more someone can control their power, the less likely for it to backfire against them when they try to break through."