Lu Yu widened his eyes and glanced around with a show of mystery. Only after confirming that no one was nearby did he lower his voice and speak with an air of profound wisdom:
"How can you be so silly, kid? That was a real Soul Master, with profound cultivation and secretive movements. When that Soul Master came to see me, how could he possibly let an ordinary person like you notice?"
After hearing this, Lu Fei nodded, half understanding. He felt that what Lu Yu had said made perfect sense. An exalted Lord Soul Master had come to see his brother; it was only natural that an ordinary child like him hadn't noticed.
Though his face showed that he believed the explanation, a faint trace of doubt lingered in his heart. Still, Lu Fei asked no more questions. He lowered his head and once again focused on eating the rabbit meat in his hands.
Seeing that Lu Fei had stopped dwelling on the matter altogether, Lu Yu finally felt his suspended heart slowly settle. He let out a long breath, lowered his head, and resumed his careful study of the meditation method in his hands.
Even so, Lu Fei kept stealing glances at Lu Yu, who was quietly reading. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Ever since Lu Yu had woken from his last coma, he had become remarkably different: steady, clever, and widely knowledgeable, unfamiliar in every way.
Yet when Lu Fei thought about it carefully, the gentleness with which his brother had accompanied and cared for him since childhood hadn't changed one bit.
The brother before him had changed, yet it seemed nothing had changed at all.
By the time Lu Fei finished his last bite of roasted meat, Lu Yu had just read through the entire meditation method and thoroughly grasped the principles behind its cultivation.
Martial Souls possessed an instinct to absorb Soul Power from heaven and earth on their own, but they did so extremely slowly. Ordinary low-grade Martial Souls were especially slow, absorbing so little that it was almost negligible.
The heart of the meditation method was to release one's Martial Soul during cultivation and communicate with it through spiritual power, allowing one's spiritual power to resonate deeply with the Martial Soul and thereby increase its efficiency at absorbing Soul Power.
The Martial Soul would then purify and transform the Soul Power of heaven and earth, stripping away its assorted impurities. Finally, the purified Soul Power would be drawn into the Soul Master's body and refined into the Soul Master's own origin Soul Power.
Lu Yu was speechless, utterly speechless. Did everything really have to depend on Martial Souls?
If a Martial Soul was no good, it wouldn't awaken Soul Power. Even if it did, it would only be at level one or two, with cultivation maxed out.
"Has nobody ever thought of absorbing the Soul Power of heaven and earth directly into the human body instead of through a Martial Soul? Low-grade Martial Souls are slow enough at absorbing it to begin with, and there's bound to be some loss in the process. It'd be a wonder if anyone could grow strong that way."
Lu Yu curled his lip and shook his head helplessly. He really didn't know if the people of Douluo were all intellectually disabled.
But on second thought, that seemed about right. To preserve their Martial Soul inheritance, those great clans mostly married within their own families. After enough time, with all that inbreeding, there were bound to be plenty of intellectually disabled people.
Lu Yu rubbed his chin, a wise gleam of discovered truth appearing in his eyes as he made a private guess.
Maybe Gangzi's parents were close relatives, leaving Gangzi with an innate deficiency and causing his Golden Sacred Dragon Martial Soul to degenerate into Luo Sanpao.
The more Lu Yu thought about it, the more convinced he became. It was highly possible. Otherwise, a normal person couldn't have come up with "there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters"-the work of a genius who insulted himself twice in one sentence.
No, not a genius, but a "teacher of gods"!
Damn it, wasn't I studying the meditation method? How did I end up thinking about that useless Gangzi?
Pah, pah, pah...
Full of disdain, Lu Yu set the meditation method aside and sat cross-legged, palms facing upward. He emptied his mind and began cultivating according to the method described in the book.
Far away in Nuoding City, Yu Xiaogang was leafing through the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul at Nuoding Academy, his face full of indignation.
Suddenly, Grandmaster Yu sneezed, blowing the manuscripts off his desk.
"I'm a dignified, peerless level twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster, and I can still catch a cold? Hmph! Some petty villain must be jealous of this Grandmaster's talent and cursing me behind my back."
As expected of a low-grade meditation method. My Soul Power only increased by a trace in two hours. At this rate, I'm afraid it'll take two months to gain one level.
Though Lu Yu complained about the slow cultivation speed, his face was full of smiles.
Judging by Tang San's progress cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Tang San could gain about three or four levels a year, which averaged out to roughly 0.3 levels a month.
Lu Yu, meanwhile, could gain one level of Soul Power in two months with this low-grade meditation method alone: 0.5 levels a month. He was cultivating even faster than Tang San with the Mysterious Heaven Skill, so it could be concluded that Lu Yu's talent counted as Innate Full Soul Power.
"Brother, what are you smiling about?"
Holding a thin stick, Lu Fei idly poked at the campfire before him. As the firelight danced, it illuminated the shifting expressions on Lu Yu's face.
At one moment, Lu Yu frowned in thought; at the next, the corners of his lips lifted, his expression strange. Lu Fei watched for quite a while before he could no longer contain his curiosity and asked.
"Ah! Ahem, ahem..."
Lu Yu cleared his throat twice, suppressing the joy surging in his heart. His gaze swept over their surroundings before finally returning to the meditation method in his hands. A gleam suddenly lit his eyes, and he spoke slowly.
"I've completely figured out how to cultivate. Xiao Fei, do you want to learn?"
Lu Yu lifted his chin slightly, wearing the particular pride and smugness of a youth.
"Wow! Brother, really? You really learned how to cultivate?"
Lu Fei's eyes lit up at once. He stared fixedly at Lu Yu, his eyes full of incredulous delight.
Smiling, Lu Yu nodded, confirming it once more with certainty.
That confirmation made Lu Fei leap to his feet, his face alight with excitement.
"Brother! Teach me, quick! I want to learn! Can you?"
Lu Yu laughed heartily and was about to agree, but the words suddenly caught on his lips. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his expression and tone quietly changed.
"Xiao Fei, I've only just started figuring it out myself. I can't be sure the cultivation method is right. Wait a few more days. When that white-bearded Soul Master comes to see me again, I'll ask him about it carefully. Once I'm sure it's correct, I'll teach you."
"All right, I'll listen to you, Brother."
Lu Fei obediently nodded and agreed, though his youthful voice held disappointment and dejection he could hardly hide.
Lu Yu made no particular effort to comfort him. He sat cross-legged again and slowly emptied his mind, preparing to cultivate the Taiqing True Qi Manual, which he had painstakingly practiced for many years in his previous life, for the first time in Douluo.
This time, Lu Yu did not use spiritual power to communicate with his Martial Soul, Great Sage. Instead, he copied the way he had cultivated on Blue Star, using only his physical body to absorb the Soul Power drifting between heaven and earth, without relying on a Martial Soul as an intermediary.
As soon as the cultivation method began circulating, strands of gentle warmth instantly surged through Lu Yu's limbs and bones, leaving his whole body feeling comfortable.
Lu Yu was ecstatic, and he couldn't help feeling a measure of disdain for the native cultivation system of Douluo Continent.
Just as I said, the Soul Power of heaven and earth drifts among all things to begin with. The human body can absorb Soul Power directly, so why would cultivation have to depend on a Martial Soul?
In the end, the nobles and sects had simply monopolized the core methods of Soul Master cultivation, deliberately blocking off the true great path of cultivation so that commoners at the bottom could never come into contact with its essence in their entire lives. On top of that, the sects were full of intellectually disabled people born of close-relative marriages.
As time went on, everyone could only cultivate by following the fixed patterns left by their predecessors, shutting themselves off from progress. Those high-ranking sect members clung to convention and made no effort to advance, so naturally they could never see through to the most fundamental truths of cultivation.