Insights into controlling water

Gu Yue nodded without asking any more questions. Everyone had their own secrets, and she had hers too.

Hu Fangyuan set down his glass and raised both hands, palms facing upward. A wisp of pure Soul Power surged from his palms and turned into a mass of clear water that floated before him.

The mass of clear water was about the size of a fist, transparent throughout and gleaming in the evening sunlight. It hovered quietly in midair, rising and falling slightly with the Soul Power in Hu Fangyuan's palms, as though alive.

Hu Fangyuan did not waste words, but went straight to the point. "What is water? Pour water into a cup, and it becomes the cup; pour it into a bottle, and it becomes the bottle; pour it into a teapot, and it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, and it can strike."

As he spoke, he lightly tapped a fingertip. The mass of clear water instantly changed shape, following his will to become a cup suspended in midair. Its walls were so thin they were transparent, and it even held just under half a cup of clear water.

Gu Yue watched the cup made of water, her gaze shifting slightly.

"Elements are the same. You can't linger on their most superficial forms. You have to delve into them and understand their essence."

Hu Fangyuan turned his hand palm up, and a burbling stream rose into the air. The mass of water broke free of its cup shape and split into a dozen or so droplets of varying sizes, suspended in midair as little spheres.

Immediately afterward, the water spheres began to revolve.

At first, they moved slowly, but gradually, they grew faster and faster. The dozen or so droplets traced trails of water around him like miniature planets, each traveling along its own orbit.

"Water flows. If you want to command a stream of water, you can't leave it at the surface. You have to feel the power of its motion."

Hu Fangyuan gently brought his hands together.

The dozen or so droplets instantly converged into a wrist-thick stream that wound and swam before him. The stream was sometimes thick, sometimes slender, sometimes gentle, and sometimes turbulent.

He flicked a fingertip. The stream instantly became a long, thin thread of water, moving so fast that it left a white afterimage.

The thread lashed hard against the courtyard wall with a sharp crack. It left a wet mark on the wall, and grit and stone dust showered down.

"See that? It's the same water, but gathered into a ball, its power is a lump of impact force. Drawn into a thread, the force of its lash is concentrated on a single point."

He waved his hand again. The stream spread out in midair, becoming a thin curtain of water that slowly unfurled. The curtain resembled a transparent wall, its surface rippling slightly.

"Spread it into a film, and it gains tension and a cushioning effect. If a bullet hits it, the force will be distributed across the entire water curtain."

Hu Fangyuan explained as he demonstrated, imparting his understanding of the water element to Gu Yue bit by bit.

"Look at this stream. Right now, it's flowing horizontally."

He guided it with both hands. The stream instantly changed direction, surging straight upward to form a column of water.

Spray splashed from the top of the water column.

"Water flows downhill. That's common knowledge. But we're Soul Masters, and we have Soul Power. We can defy common knowledge and make water flow uphill, or in any direction at all. The key lies in what kind of force you apply to it."

Gu Yue watched without blinking, trying hard to commit every detail to memory.

"Then... what's the difference between a high-speed stream and an ordinary stream?" Gu Yue could not help asking.

Hu Fangyuan smiled. "Now you're asking the right question."

His hands moved rapidly. A thin thread of water shot from his fingertip at tremendous speed, accompanied by a shrill whistle as it cut through the air. It struck the courtyard wall with a soft pfft.

A finger-width hole appeared in the wall, its edges smooth and even, as though something sharp had cut through it.

Gu Yue's pupils contracted slightly.

This thread of water was more than twice as powerful as the water blades she had used before. It had actually punched a hole straight through a brick wall!

"That's high-speed kinetic energy."

Hu Fangyuan explained, "Send the same thread of water out slowly, and at most, it'll sting someone. But raise its speed, and water becomes like a knife, capable of cutting through stone."

He paused, then added, "Besides high-speed kinetic energy, there's also sustained erosion."

He extended a hand and condensed a thin stream of water in his palm, aiming it at a gray brick in the wall. The stream was small, washing slowly over the brick like a little brook.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

In just a dozen or so seconds, the stream had worn a shallow depression into the brick's surface. The brick around the depression became smooth and wet, as though it had been polished.

"See that? Water may be soft, but as long as it keeps striking the same spot, it can wear through even the hardest stone. That's the principle behind dripping water piercing stone."

Gu Yue looked at the shallow depression, lost in thought.

"There's also pressure."

Hu Fangyuan continued. He compressed the stream into an extremely fine thread, almost as thin as a strand of hair.

"Look. Spread the same amount of water over a large area, and its pressure is low. Compress it into a fine thread, and its pressure is high. The greater the pressure, the greater its penetrating power."

He flicked a fingertip. The hair-thin thread of water shot out, striking the exact center of the depression.

Pfft!

The thread bored straight into the brick wall, penetrating several fractions of an inch farther. The little hole in the wall was even deeper than the previous one.

Gu Yue stared, transfixed.

This is far too powerful! The same water element was like two completely different things in Hu Fangyuan's hands and hers.

"Last is vortex flow."

Hu Fangyuan rapidly rotated both hands. The stream formed a small whirlpool in his palm, spinning faster and faster until a tiny hollow even appeared at its center.

"When water rotates, it forms a vortex. A vortex has powerful suction and can drag in anything that comes close. And rotating water has far greater penetrating power than water moving in a straight line."

He thrust both hands forward. The spinning vortex flew out and struck the courtyard wall.

Boom!

A dull crash rang out. A large chunk of gray brick was blasted straight off the wall, sending fragments flying. A basin-sized crater appeared where the vortex had struck, its edges covered in gouges cut by the rotating water.

Gu Yue was utterly speechless.

Was this still water? Wasn't this power almost on par with other people's Power Attack System Soul Masters?

Hu Fangyuan dismissed the water element and took a sip of water. He smiled at the shocked expression on Gu Yue's face.

"All those things I just mentioned-high-speed kinetic energy, sustained erosion, pressure, vortex flow-probably left you with your head in the clouds and fog."

Gu Yue did indeed have her head in the clouds and fog.

Kinetic energy, pressure, vortex flow-she had never even heard these terms before.

Everything Hu Fangyuan had explained lay completely beyond her understanding of elemental applications.

There was nothing Hu Fangyuan could do about that either. Technological development on the Douluo Continent was concentrated on Soul Guidance Technology.

Although, over the past ten thousand years, there had been some research in directions resembling the technological theories in Hu Fangyuan's memories, it had never formed a coherent system.

The people of this world studied how to make Soul Tools more intricate and how to use Soul Skills more proficiently.

But no one studied fluid mechanics or the principles of pressure.

Although these most basic principles of physics were not entirely unexplored in this world, they were, after all, little understood by Soul Master students like them who had enrolled in the Soul Master Academy.

Hu Fangyuan sighed, then said, "Let's put flowing water aside for now. After all, what you use is the ice element. Then let's talk about the flames you can command."

He turned his palm, and a crimson flame sprang up. It danced in his palm, its temperature so high that it warped the surrounding air with its heat.

"Flame is a gas. You understand that much, right?"

Gu Yue nodded. She knew that. Flame was essentially the phenomenon produced when combustible gases burned.

Hu Fangyuan let out a breath of relief.

It was good that she knew this concept. It saved him a great deal of explanation.