First came compression. Guided by his spiritual power, the ten golden threads of light he could already control steadily began to draw slowly toward a single point at the center. The moment they touched, a violent repulsive force erupted from the point of contact! It was like trying to force two magnets with the same poles together.
"Pfft!" Ye Feng's body shuddered. His throat went sweet, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood, but he forced it back down.
In his spiritual world, the ten threads of light instantly went out of control, crashing about wildly before finally dispersing into a chaotic torrent of energy. A needle-sharp pain stabbed through his head.
He had failed. Simple physical compression wouldn't work.
The natural repulsion between energies couldn't be overcome by spiritual power alone. He needed a "container."
A cage capable of binding these high-energy particles of light.
But what could hold light captive?
Ye Feng didn't lose heart. Instead, he sank into even deeper thought.
In this world, Soul Masters fought with Soul Power.
The Spirit Hall ruled through power.
Commoners made their living with money. Everything in existence had its own rules and logic.
The same was true of light.
The knowledge from his previous life told him that light had a wave-particle duality.
The Light Blade made use of light's "particle" aspect, weaving particles of light into shape.
Then was the key to the "container" in its "wave" aspect? If he could guide the light-attribute Soul Power with his spiritual power and construct a special energy field, creating a "standing wave" structure... an energy barrier made of light waves.
Then he could fill it with an endless stream of light-attribute Soul Power representing "particles."
Use light to imprison light!
The idea was bold, even a little crazy.
But Ye Feng felt it was the only correct answer.
This wasn't merely a matter of using Soul Power. It was an exploration of the essence of his own Martial Soul. His Martial Soul was "Light and Shadow."
Light was the foundation. In the days that followed, Ye Feng began a life of seclusion like an ascetic.
He stopped practicing how to weave the Light Blade and devoted all his attention to constructing a "container of light."
It was more than a level harder than condensing threads of light.
He had to use Heart Separation Control to manipulate several streams of Soul Power at once, making them vibrate and resonate at specific frequencies until, at last, they formed a stable, enclosed spherical energy field.
During the first month, he couldn't even construct a vague outline.
The slightest fluctuation in his spiritual power sent the Soul Power out of control.
Every day, he pushed his spiritual power to its limits until his head throbbed and his vision went black. Only then would he stop. After that, he would meditate to restore his Soul Power and spiritual power.
He would wake and continue.
Day after day, the cycle repeated.
The weeds in the yard grew and withered, withered and grew again.
Moss in the corner spread along the entire base of the wall.
Three months later. Late at night.
At last, a flickering, illusory ball of light, about the size of a fist and glowing with a faint golden radiance, trembled into the air above Ye Feng's fingertips.
It was unstable, its edges constantly shedding energy, as though it might collapse at any moment.
But he had done it! The rudiments of an energy cage built from light waves had taken shape.
Ye Feng felt not the slightest joy. All his attention was immersed in maintaining this fragile balance.
The next step was to fill it.
Carefully, he drew out the thinnest wisp of light-attribute Soul Power from within himself and tried to inject it into the illusory sphere of light.
"Boom!" The sphere of light exploded instantly!
Ye Feng grunted. A tremendous force flung him backward, and he slammed hard into the wall behind him before sliding to the ground.
The explosion knocked him unconscious. He lay in bed for a full half-month before recovering.
Another three months passed.
In the small courtyard, Ye Feng still sat motionless.
Before him, the golden sphere of light had grown much more solid, floating steadily in midair like a tiny sun.
He slowly raised his other hand. A slender golden thread of light appeared, and under his control, it gently and slowly pierced into the sphere.
This time, the sphere only flickered violently before returning to stability.
The moment it entered the sphere, the thread of light was shredded and broken down by the violent internal energy field, becoming pure particles of light that merged into the sphere.
The sphere's brightness visibly increased by a fraction.
Success!
At last, Ye Feng's tense body relaxed a little.
He had found the right path.
From here on, the process was simply to repeat the same steps: fill it, then fill it again.
It was a long, tedious process of patient effort.
A year passed.
Vines had long since covered the wooden gate of the courtyard, and unknown wildflowers had bloomed and faded in the gap in the wall.
Ye Feng hadn't stepped outside the courtyard in a full year.
Sitting cross-legged, he held both palms up before his chest.
Between them, a golden sphere of light the size of a baby's fist revolved quietly.
Its light was no longer dazzling. Instead, it had a restrained, weighty quality, as if all its energy had been compressed tightly into that tiny core.
The energy field caused the air around it to warp slightly.
Even the dust on the ground circled around it, forming a barely visible vortex.
This was the result of a year of arduous cultivation.
Inside, the energy of ten full threads of light had been compressed.
But it wasn't enough.
He could feel that the container's limits lay far beyond this.
He had to keep filling it until its energy density reached a level that made even him feel a chill of fear.
Time continued to pass.
Another six months went by.
In the courtyard, Ye Feng slowly opened his eyes.
Compared with a year and a half ago, his face had lost some of its boyish softness. His features had grown more defined, and his black eyes were as deep as the starry sky.
Between his palms, the golden sphere of light had expanded to the size of a washbasin.
Its surface was no longer smooth. Countless fine golden arcs of electricity crawled across it, constantly shifting.
Terrifying energy churned within. With every pulse, the space throughout the courtyard trembled.
Ye Feng could feel clearly that the sphere had reached the limits of what his current spiritual power could control.
If he added even the slightest bit more, this unstable mass of energy would turn into a destructive disaster in his hands.
It was time.
The final step: launch.
He took a deep breath and divided his spiritual power once more.
One part clung fiercely to the sphere of light, keeping it stable.
The other began constructing a brand-new structure in front of him.
The core was still a double helix.
But this time, instead of weaving it into a flat blade, he shaped it into a hollow cylindrical passage, about a meter long.
A "cannon barrel" made of light.
The moment the barrel took shape, Ye Feng slowly pushed the frenzied sphere of energy into its rear end.
The two fit together perfectly.
Veins bulged at his temples, and all the Soul Power in his body surged to a boil.
Everything would be decided by this!
"Baptism of Holy Light...!"
A low shout forced its way out from deep in his throat.
His palms pressed together, then thrust forward with tremendous force!
Buzz—
Before you continue