I alone have my own laws; I start by fabricating myths and legends of mountains and seas.

The emotional findings that Su Fan “collected” at the hospital were not particularly strong.

Admittedly, compared to the thin, misty everyday emotions on the streets, the concentration of emotions in hospitals is indeed much higher.

However, the moments of "great ups and downs" that truly resonate strongly with the Seven Emotions Gourd are not something that can be seen everywhere.

There are indeed desperate cries outside the emergency room and joyful embraces outside the delivery room, but these peak moments are often fleeting and not lasting.

More often than not, the atmosphere in hospitals is permeated with a long and oppressive "background mood"—chronic anxiety, suppressed pain, exhausting numbness, and helpless acceptance.

Although these emotions persisted, their intensity was insufficient to efficiently condense into high-quality crystals. Su Fan spent over an hour walking around several areas where emotions were prevalent, but the harvest from the [Seven Emotions Gourd] remained scattered, small-particle crystals. The total amount had increased compared to his first visit, and after more than an hour of busy work, Su Fan finally managed to collect two emotion crystals.

A standard emotion crystal is about the size of an egg. Its color varies depending on the emotion it evokes. However, it is very light, almost weightless, and you can hardly feel it when you hold it in your hand. Su Fan wondered if he could apply for the lightest solid form for emotion crystals.

Stepping out of the hospital, the afternoon sun was a bit too bright. Su Fan wandered aimlessly along the street, his mind racing, filtering through possible locations.

As he passed by a large commercial complex, his gaze was drawn to a huge, eye-catching movie poster on the top floor. It was for a recently popular special effects blockbuster, and the poster magnified the protagonist's terrified expression as he faced a desperate situation.

"A movie theater?" Su Fan paused in his steps.

A thought flashed through my mind like lightning.

Cinemas are special venues designed to concentrate, continuously, and intensely stimulate the emotions of their audience.

People pay for tickets to be guided in the dark to experience two hours of love, hate, terror, and ecstasy.

There, emotions are released permissibly, a collective resonance, and an immersive outburst. Moreover, due to the darkness and the etiquette of watching movies, people often shed some of their daily pretenses, leading to more direct emotional reactions.

The purpose of filmmakers is to evoke emotional responses in viewers, and viewers do not suppress their emotions in the cinema.

More importantly—Su Fan touched his increasingly faint sense of presence due to the [Unexpected Wealth Compass]—"If I go in now, I probably won't even need to buy a ticket."

Without further hesitation, he turned and walked into the commercial complex, heading straight for the cinema on the top floor.

Just as he expected. At the ticket window, the staff seemed to completely ignore his presence, their gaze passing right past him as they looked behind them.

At the ticket gate, the ticket inspector was sorting through the ticket stubs when Su Fan walked past her like a gentle breeze and entered the theater corridor. No one looked up or stopped him.

He chose a theater showing a suspense thriller that was currently playing in theaters—a genre that usually evokes strong fear, tension, surprise, and sometimes the complex emotions of relief or plot twists after the mystery is solved.

The theater was completely dark, with only the changing light and shadow on the screen. The film was in its climax, with the protagonist struggling against an unknown threat in a confined space. Su Fan could clearly feel a tense, collective emotional atmosphere permeating the entire theater, a mixture of fear, curiosity, and anticipation. The audience's breathing unconsciously softened, with occasional suppressed gasps or gasps of surprise.

Su Fan found an empty seat in the corner of the last row—even though no one would notice him, it was out of habit.

Immediate results!

Unlike the scattered and sporadic emotional waves in the hospital, the emotions in the movie theater are like tides carefully arranged by the director, rising and falling with the plot, forming waves of considerable intensity and distinct characteristics of "emotional surges".

When a sudden, frightening scene appears on the screen, the fear pulses generated by dozens of people simultaneously converge into a considerable stream of deep purple energy, which flows into the gourd.

When the protagonist cleverly escaped danger, the audience breathed a sigh of relief, and a slight joy and relief turned into faint bright yellow light.

When the suspense is revealed and the answer is shocking, the complex emotions mixed with surprise, sudden realization, and even admiration form a rare crystalline rudiment with silvery-white patterns.

Even when touching moments appear in the film, scattered wisps of sadness or emotion, tinged with indigo and pinkish-white energy, will emerge.

Most importantly, this emotional outburst is continuous, synchronous, and permitted and amplified by the environment.

The entire theater is like a large emotional resonance box, with the screen as the source of vibration, the audience as the resonators, and Su Fan's "Seven Emotions Gourd" becoming a collector that quietly draws on this resonant energy.

Movies are fantastic!

A movie lasts ninety minutes. When the film ends, the lights come on, and the audience leaves with expressions of excitement, lingering memories, or trembling legs, Su Fan's [Seven Emotions Gourd] has already accumulated more than twenty crystals!

These crystals are noticeably more regular and have a purer luster than those produced in hospitals.

The majority of the crystals were deep purple "fear crystals," but there were also some high-quality "surprise crystals," bright yellow joy crystals, and even a few pink "emotional crystals" and light gold "admiration crystals."

Even more remarkably, due to the collective synchronized emotions, some crystals seem to contain a faint "resonance" characteristic, making their energy structure more stable.

"This is a treasure trove!" Su Fan thought excitedly. The movie theater not only had sufficient emotional intensity and relatively diverse genres, but it was also highly reproducible—there were different movies, different screenings, and different audiences every day.

He could easily choose different film genres every day, like clockwork, such as comedy, romance, tragedy, science fiction, and horror, to collect emotional crystallizations with different focuses!

Although Su Fan has not yet discovered any difference between the crystals of different emotions.

Over the next few days, Su Fan's "collection" life became routine. In the afternoons and evenings, he would transform into a "ghost audience," shuttling between different theaters in various cinemas. He specifically chose films with high attendance rates, polarized reviews, films that were likely to evoke strong emotions, or films with distinct genres.

On average, one can collect around one hundred Emotional Crystals per day. Furthermore, because Su Fan frequents the movie theater, the [Wealth Compass]'s harvest has also increased significantly.

Five days later, Su Fan had collected nearly five hundred emotion crystals and began to verify the specific situation of emotion crystals replacing lifespan as fuel for forging artifacts.

The same gourd, the same characteristics, the same perceived cost.

Five years of lifespan or 18,250 emotional crystals.

Su Fan calculated that roughly ten emotion crystals were equivalent to one day of lifespan. In other words, diligently collecting emotions at the movie theater every day was roughly equivalent to adding ten days to one's lifespan.

Subtracting the time it takes, one gains nine days of lifespan in a single day, and the emotional crystals collected in about two days can offset the cost of creating a Seven Emotions Gourd.

Su Fan felt like a genius, having made a killing.

Time flies, and Su Fan collects emotional crystals every day.

Ten days had passed since the second time the dream had begun, and the chat group became lively once again.

【Mountain and Sea Boundary】(Group Chat)

Ya Zi (Chen Yang): "@All members, brothers and sisters! It's been exactly ten days since I last 'logged in'! Shouldn't I 'go online' tonight? My heart is pounding, my hands are trembling!"

Bookworm (Jiang He): "The data supports this timing. Based on our previous two experiences, we've observed a pattern of 10 days between dreams and 3 days of subsequent fatigue. The probability of re-entering the dream world tonight after falling asleep is very high. I suggest everyone prepare themselves mentally and maintain a regular sleep schedule. We're increasingly understanding the patterns of dreams, so don't worry."

Bixi (Wang Jianguo): "I'm going to rest early after work today. But the mental fatigue after leaving is too unbearable. I wonder if there's any way to solve it."

Ya Zi (Chen Yang): "Bi Xi, stop complaining. It's an incredible stroke of luck for us to be able to enter the Mountain and Sea Realm. Countless people want this opportunity but can't get it. It's priceless! In the future, we might even become Buddhas or ancestors, or even gain an advantage in the era of spiritual energy revival."

Du Yu (Jiang He): "Our current understanding of the 'Mountain and Sea Realm' is limited, and excessive optimism and mystification are not beneficial. Master Wang's concerns are reasonable, and any side effects accompanying extraordinary experiences should be taken seriously and studied."

Ya Zi (Chen Yang): "Oh, Sister Jiang, I was just daydreaming about the future! Besides, who would believe what we've been through? Those who don't believe are just being superstitious. This is a firsthand account of an 'unsolved scientific mystery,' right, Bai Ze? @Bai Ze"

Bai Ze (Su Fan): "It doesn't matter if you insist on calling it an immortal preaching or a temporary soul transmigration; it's just a name anyway."

Ya Zi (Chen Yang): "By the way, where's Grandpa Li? @GrandpaLi the Medicine Beast, how's the preparation going? Let's get together again, the Five Divine Beasts, tonight!"

Several minutes passed, and there was no reply from Li Bowen in the group.

Du Yu (Jiang He): "Teacher Li may have already rested, or he may be in the hospital and unable to use his phone. He needs more rest."

Bixi (Wang Jianguo): "Yeah, maybe they're already asleep. See you in my dreams!"

Bookworm (Jiang He): "I'm going to rest now. See you in my dreams, everyone. Keep a calm mind."

Bai Ze (Su Fan): "I saw you in a dream."

In the stillness of the night, Su Fan calmed his mind and placed the [Shared Dream Pillow] on his pillow. The familiar feeling of time travel arrived as expected, his consciousness seemingly passing through a layer of cool water, plunging into that magnificent and mysterious "Mountain and Sea Realm".

He first "appeared" on the Jade Floating Island, where the same wondrous scene of ethereal beauty defied the laws of physics.

The wondrous trees shimmered with light, the floating islands hovered serenely, and the phantoms of divine beasts occasionally appeared in the distance. But this time, Su Fan did not rush to admire or control them; instead, he immediately directed his thoughts toward the vast "sea of ​​consciousness."

A sea of ​​starlight, like specks of sleep consciousness, emerged. The three "stars" belonging to Jiang He, Chen Yang, and Wang Jianguo were bright and stable, radiating a familiar sense of connection, seemingly closer and more clearly anchored than ever before. However, the star belonging to Li Bowen... vanished.

The spot of light, which had already dimmed slightly due to age and health, simply vanished.

Su Fan concentrated his mind, trying to establish a traction connection as before. His mental tendrils extended outwards, but he couldn't find anything.

"This is... connection failed. So it says 'out of service area'. Is it because he's not asleep or is he gone?" Su Fan thought to himself, his doubts caused by Li Bowen's silence in the group chat being confirmed.