The Night of the Full Moon, Rapid Progress

At last, the fifteenth day of the month arrived. It was the night of the full moon, and also the day Yu Yan and Xiao Wu would test the theory in their hearts.

They were still seated cross-legged atop the eastern mountain, waiting for the moon to rise.

Over the past few days, Xiao Wu had returned to normal. She ate and drank as usual, and even clung to Yu Yan's arm, acting cute until she got to eat three meals of crayfish in different flavors.

Everything seemed as though nothing had changed.

No, Xiao Wu's attitude toward cultivation was clearly much more serious than before.

Yu Yan had not guessed the reason, but Xiao Wu's willingness to cultivate seriously was an enormous blessing to him.

"Do you think our theory will be proven?"

Xiao Wu was somewhat nervous. She feared that their theory about Full Moon nights producing Moon Essence would be declared a failure tonight.

"I think it'll succeed."

Having taken Xiao Wu's advice to heart, Yu Yan did not say anything discouraging or expectation-lowering at this moment. Instead, he comforted her.

From that perspective, Yu Yan was influencing Xiao Wu, and Xiao Wu was likewise influencing Yu Yan.

That was how people got along. You changed the other person, and the other person changed you.

A Full Moon slowly rose. Gentle moonlight spilled across the world, caressing everything in the mountains and wilderness as it draped them in a veil of silver.

Without Xiao Wu needing to urge him, Yu Yan closed his eyes and pushed his spiritual power to its limit, using the Meditation Method to sense his surroundings.

With his spiritual power fully unleashed, Yu Yan successfully sensed a special energy within the gentle moonlight.

This energy was silver-white, flowing down toward the world with the moonlight as its center.

Viewed from this perspective, the sight was incomparably beautiful and deeply moving.

Yu Yan's spiritual power touched the silver-white energy. Unlike the Purple Qi at sunrise, the first impression this energy gave was gentleness.

Approaching it felt like approaching one's own mother.

His spiritual power touched the Moon Essence, and drawing on his experience refining Purple Qi, he guided a tiny thread of energy into his body.

When the Moon Essence entered Yu Yan's body, its mild energy gave off a faint, gentle chill that instinctively made one lower their guard.

Yu Yan, who had long been prepared for this, instantly completed Martial Soul Possession and activated the fiery energy of the Fire Fish.

Flames and cold air clashed within Yu Yan's body, and the Moon Essence was refined in the process.

When Xiao Wu saw Yu Yan undergo Martial Soul Possession, she understood that their theory was completely correct. The moon truly contained a special energy, and it could be absorbed.

Knowing that Moon Essence truly existed made Xiao Wu even more excited than learning of Purple Qi.

Purple Qi had been discovered by Yu Yan alone, whereas Moon Essence had been discovered by her and Yu Yan together. The meanings represented by the two were entirely different.

Moon Essence—the essence of the moon—was the name Yu Yan had given this special energy in advance.

After taking several deep breaths to calm herself, Xiao Wu quickly sat cross-legged and entered a cultivation state. She wanted to see whether she could discover and absorb Moon Essence on her own.

Xiao Wu had learned the method of calming her emotions with deep breaths while practicing Taiji with Yu Yan.

In her meditative cultivation state, Xiao Wu did not sense the presence of Moon Essence.

Having expected this already, Xiao Wu was not too disappointed. She instead began absorbing the high-quality Soul Power leaking from Yu Yan's body.

After cultivating for this period of time, Xiao Wu could feel that the quality of Soul Power within her body had improved considerably.

The fundamental nature of her level-nine Soul Power had not changed, but the duration for which she could sustain Soul Power use had increased by a tenth. That was obvious progress.

Speaking of which, one had to disparage Yu Xiaogang's Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul—Soul Ring bottlenecks did not affect the accumulation of Soul Power.

Yu Xiaogang's explanation for this theory was that Soul Power could continue accumulating even before one obtained a Soul Ring. For example, a level-thirty Soul Master who had not absorbed a Soul Ring could directly reach level thirty-one or even a higher Soul Power level after breaking through.

Such a pointed theory even specifically mentioned being stuck at level thirty. Who was stubbornly refusing to admit defeat, and who was daydreaming, was obvious at a glance.

Yu Xiaogang might still be dreaming that one day, after breaking through, he could ride years of accumulated power straight to level forty or even higher.

Those error-riddled theories were the real reason Yu Xiaogang had become a clown in everyone's eyes and been mockingly called the 'Grandmaster.'

Back to the matter at hand.

The Full Moon hung high in the heavens. Unlike the Purple Qi within the rising Morning Sun, Moon Essence did not vanish in the blink of an eye.

It remained suspended in the sky, and Moon Essence continued flowing down from the heavens.

Having finished refining that thread of Moon Essence, Yu Yan drew over another thread and began refining it.

Yu Yan was very happy. He could continuously refine Moon Essence throughout the night, and the benefits of this cultivation session spoke for themselves.

Xiao Wu was also very happy. She could continuously cultivate by absorbing the high-quality Soul Power leaking from Yu Yan's body, gaining considerable benefits.

In the blink of an eye, the Morning Sun began to rise. Yu Yan, who had been cultivating all this time, sensed the emergence of Purple Qi. He quickly activated the power of the Ice Fish and began absorbing and refining Purple Qi instead.

This time, when Purple Qi entered Yu Yan's body, some very obvious changes occurred.

The Purple Qi traveled through Yu Yan's body and stirred up the remaining Moon Essence.

Purple Qi and Moon Essence intertwined and fused, forming an entirely new energy. This energy gave off neither heat nor cold, and appeared completely unremarkable.

Yu Yan used the Meditation Method to guide this new energy. There was no resistance whatsoever, and the new energy was drawn in and refined.

The entire process was exceptionally smooth—so smooth that Yu Yan began wondering whether it was an illusion.

Once the energy had been completely refined, Yu Yan could feel that both his Soul Power and physical condition had improved significantly.

Xiao Wu, who had cultivated all night, opened her eyes and looked at Yu Yan in confusion. This should have been the time when refining Purple Qi caused Soul Power to leak out, yet high-quality Soul Power was no longer leaking from Yu Yan's body.

Did something happen that I don't know about?

Xiao Wu stood up and lightly stretched her body. Whatever had happened, she would ask after Yu Yan finished cultivating.

While Xiao Wu moved her body, Yu Yan was examining his current condition.

First, and most happily, his Soul Power had increased. After a night of cultivation, his level-nine progress had reached 54%. If he did this once more in the middle of next month, he was confident he could successfully break through to level ten.

Second, there were the changes to his body. After the energy formed from the fusion of Purple Qi and Moon Essence had been successfully refined, Yu Yan could clearly feel strength surging forth. He could clearly feel his body changing, changing for the better.

Yu Yan called the energy formed from the fusion of Purple Qi and Moon Essence Sun and Moon Essence. The name was borrowed, but it was also the most fitting one.

Yu Yan was not entirely sure why this energy had been born, but one thing was certain: it brought him only benefits and no harm.

There was naturally no need to elaborate on the benefits of increased Soul Power. Soul Power was the foundation of Douluo Continent's fantastical strength.

Improved physical condition would allow Yu Yan to absorb Soul Rings with higher year limits.