The Secret of Elements

Gu Yue grabbed Su Qiu's wrist, her fingertips slightly cool. "Come on, come on. Once we're done looking around, I'll teach you all the control techniques for using elements that I just used. I'm also very experienced when it comes to saving Soul Power."

How to save Soul Power.

Su Qiu admitted that he was tempted for a moment.

With his wrist held in her grasp, Su Qiu looked at the lively figure ahead of him and suddenly found it amusing.

Just moments ago on the stage, she had been brimming with presence, like a king who held the entire arena in her grasp.

Now, she was more like a little girl holding candy and asking her companion to play with her.

Su Qiu smiled helplessly, but his steps followed the pull of her hand. "Alright, but you'd better keep your word."

"Don't worry!"

Without even turning her head, Gu Yue shouted as she pulled him out of the academy and headed straight for a snack street near Eastsea Academy.

They had just entered the street.

Gu Yue pointed at a small shop with warm yellow lanterns hanging outside.

"Let's start with this newly opened Handmade Candy Shop. Their candy is the best on this street, and they have molds in all kinds of shapes."

Inside, the shop owner was boiling syrup in a small pot, and the air was filled with the sweet fragrance of caramel and fruit.

Gu Yue leaned over the counter, standing on tiptoe as she pointed at the candy in the glass jars. "I want those water-ripple-shaped ones, and those strawberry-flavored star candies."

As she spoke, she took out some loose change from her clothes, not forgetting to add, "Give me two extra mint ones. They'll cut the sweetness when we eat sweet cakes later."

After leaving the shop with the jar of candy, Gu Yue unwrapped a mint candy and popped it into her mouth, then handed one to Su Qiu. "Try it. It's nice and cool, so you won't find the sweet cakes too cloying later."

As she spoke, she suddenly seemed to remember something. Bouncing along, she pulled Su Qiu deeper into the street. "Sweet Wave Shop is up ahead. Their freshly baked sweet cakes take ten minutes, so I'll go let them know first. We can use that time to check out the handicraft shop next door."

"Gu Yue, don't tell me you've visited every dessert shop on this entire street?" Su Qiu asked tentatively as he watched her navigate the place with practiced ease.

"More or less."

Gu Yue seemed to be in a very good mood.

The shop's counter was filled with all kinds of dessert-themed trinkets, and Gu Yue immediately took a liking to two small ceramic spoons.

The handles each had a plump sweet-cake design on them.

She picked them up for comparison, then turned and asked, "What do you think? We can use these to eat the sweet cakes later."

Before Su Qiu could answer, she had already paid. She picked one out and stuffed it into his hand. "Hold onto this. Use it to scoop the cake later. The spoons that shop gives out aren't nearly as handy as this one."

Dragged along by the excited Gu Yue the entire time, Su Qiu suddenly felt that her invitation for him to come along had merely been incidental.

Even if he had refused to come, she might still have come here alone to stroll around.

When they arrived at Sweet Wave Shop, the owner happened to bring out a freshly baked sweet cake. Its golden crust looked mouthwatering, and the sweet aroma rushed straight into their noses.

Gu Yue pulled Su Qiu to a seat by the window. She had noticed that whether at his former junior academy or in his current class, he always liked sitting beside a window.

Unable to wait any longer, she scooped up a large spoonful and stuffed it into her mouth. It was so hot that she breathed out sharply, yet she was reluctant to spit it out. At the same time, she said indistinctly, "Hurry up and try some too. It's delicious."

The two of them scooped up spoonful after spoonful.

In the end, they ordered two cups of fruit juice as well.

Perhaps feeling that the time was about right, Gu Yue suddenly asked, "Su Qiu, what do you think elements are?"

"Or rather, how do you view the various elements in nature?"

Frowning slightly, Su Qiu pondered for a moment before asking in confusion, "They're a kind of miraculous power. Why are you asking this?"

Like Martial Souls, Soul Power, and Soul Skills, Su Qiu viewed elemental power as something similar.

"If you want to make good use of the power of elements, you first need to understand them." Gu Yue entered teaching mode, like a teacher patiently guiding her student.

"How many elements do you think exist in this world?"

"How many elements?" Su Qiu carefully counted them off. "Wind, water, fire, earth, ice, light, darkness, space..."

There were too many.

He did not even know whether some powers could truly be classified as elements.

"Those count as well, I suppose." Gu Yue smiled faintly. "But there are actually only four that truly qualify as Elemental Power."

"Four?"

If anyone else had said that, Su Qiu would definitely have scoffed.

But the one teaching him now was the Silver Dragon King.

All he could do was believe her and learn every word carefully.

"They are earth, wind, water, and fire." Gu Yue's words were startling, and she had never looked more serious. "Things like light, darkness, and space may be very powerful."

"But on the path of elements, they are nothing remarkable."

"If one walks the path of light alone, or darkness, or space, and so on, reaching the pinnacle would indeed lead to a promising Great Dao."

Gu Yue lightly tapped the wall of her fruit juice cup. A layer of frost spread across it, and wisps of cold air drifted out.

"But if you want to achieve something within the vast elemental system, you must focus your energy on the four elements: Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire."

"These four are the true paths to the heavens among all elements!"

Earth, Wind, Water, Fire

Su Qiu pinched the small spoon in his hand and looked at the frost condensed along the wall of his cup.

Gu Yue's words had indeed changed much of his understanding of elements.

In the existing body of Soul Master knowledge, there were far too many elemental classifications. Light, Darkness, Space, and the like were all revered as rare and powerful forces.

Yet from Gu Yue's mouth, Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire had become the true "paths to the heavens."

"Why these four?" He set down his spoon and leaned closer. "Isn't the Ice Element also a variation of water?"

Gu Yue's eyes lit up at his question. She reached out and tapped the frost on the cup wall.

With a gentle twist of her fingertips, the fine frost melted into droplets in her palm, then instantly turned into mist and dispersed.

She smiled and withdrew her hand, a bit of cream from the sweet cake still on the corner of her lips. "Ice is merely a change in water's form. In truth, Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire already encompass all things. Light, Darkness, Space, and the rest are either derivatives of the four elements or powers independent of the elemental system altogether. They cannot be considered Elemental Power at all."

She scooped up a spoonful of sweet cake but did not eat it immediately, instead holding it before Su Qiu. "Just like this sweet cake—it can be summarized through the four elements. Actually, I have a hypothesis."

"At the end of the path of the four elements lies the power to create all things."

"Create all things?" Su Qiu was genuinely dumbfounded.

"Hahaha, it's just a guess. Don't take it seriously." Suddenly realizing she had gone too far, Gu Yue laughed it off. "It was just a passing thought. These are only my usual fantasies."

Gu Yue truly admired Su Qiu's talent with the elements.

Especially after their interactions over the past few months.

The elemental powers Su Qiu occasionally displayed had allowed Gu Yue to see his potential.

Even from the Silver Dragon King's perspective, that Martial Soul was far too astonishing.

If her guess was correct—

Gu Yue believed that the new element Su Qiu would master after breaking through to the Four-ring Soul Ancestor would be the Earth Element.

His first four rings had precisely locked onto the four elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, pointing directly at their essence. This meant Su Qiu would have no chance of wasting time on other elements. That was what Gu Yue found truly extraordinary about him.

The more she learned about Su Qiu, the more Gu Yue wanted to win him over.

With such a capable general aiding her in the future, why should she worry about restoring the Soul Beasts?

After seeing some comments, let me add this: I haven't read Soul Land 4. I really couldn't get through it back then. If anything conflicts with its settings, please point it out, and I'll try to mention it less later on.