"Cough, cough, cough... Brother Qin, this is way too hard!" Ma Hongjun choked until tears streamed from his eyes.
"Of course it's hard. If it weren't, what would you need me to teach you for? Keep going." With a single sentence, Qin Muchu, well versed in the art of psychological manipulation, quashed the complaint about to tumble from Ma Hongjun's mouth.
His spirits lifted, Ma Hongjun immediately began gathering soul power again. This time, he was more careful, slowing its flow even further. But one careless slip, and it exploded again after reaching his throat.
"When you normally release Phoenix Fire Line, your soul power accelerates here in your throat," Qin Muchu's voice rang out. "That acceleration is an instinctive reaction, because you want to shoot the flames out. What you need to do now is take that instinctive acceleration apart and see exactly how it happens."
"Right! Why didn't I think of that?" Ma Hongjun froze for a moment, then understanding dawned on him. He slapped his thigh hard, but in his excitement, he used too much force and grimaced in pain.
He vigorously rubbed the spot he had struck, closed his eyes, and began his third attempt. This time, rather than deliberately suppressing the speed of his soul power, he focused all his attention on the point where it flowed through his throat.
Sure enough, as his soul power passed through the Lianquan Acupoint in his throat (roughly the hollow in the U-shaped bone that supported the tongue), he instinctively accelerated its circulation. It happened so quickly that he would never have noticed without deliberately sensing it.
"I felt it! Brother Qin, I know what to do!" Ma Hongjun shouted excitedly, only for that shout to make the soul power he had just gathered explode in his mouth