An Yi saw that she couldn't speak for a long while, but she didn't complain that he was bullying her like she had the past few days. He could roughly guess the result and couldn't help smiling.
"Sit down."
Qian Renxue obediently walked over and sat down in front of An Yi.
"Do you feel like you're cultivating Soul Power faster, and that your Soul Power has become more condensed?" An Yi asked.
Qian Renxue nodded hard. "I do, teacher. What's going on?"
An Yi didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked, "Let me ask you a question first. What's the essence of a Soul Master's cultivation? Or rather, what principle does it work on?"
Qian Renxue looked completely lost. The question had clearly touched on a gap in her knowledge. "The essence? The principle? Isn't it just absorbing the energy of heaven and earth and turning it into your own Soul Power? What other principle could there be?"
An Yi asked again, "Then what's the mechanism and essence behind the process of absorbing the energy of heaven and earth and turning it into your own Soul Power?"
Qian Renxue blinked. "I don't know."
An Yi hadn't expected her to be able to answer. He raised a hand and grasped at the air. The kettle on the table immediately flew over and hovered steadily above his palm.
"Soul Master cultivation isn't simply absorbing the energy of heaven and earth. When we meditate, we guide Soul Power through the meridians in our bodies along a particular path."
"As Soul Power flows through the body, it exerts an attractive force on the surrounding energy of heaven and earth, drawing that external energy in."
"That's why Soul Masters generally cultivate faster in places where the energy of heaven and earth is denser."
"The more energy there is around you, the more external energy each circuit of Soul Power through your body can draw in. The more you accumulate, the faster your Soul Power naturally grows."
Qian Renxue looked thoughtful, but she still had some trouble understanding.
Seeing this, An Yi decided to take a different approach.
"Words alone might not make it clear to you. I'll show you."
As he spoke, intense heat suddenly surged from An Yi's palm.
"Hiss-"
The water in the kettle instantly boiled, evaporating under the intense heat into a great cloud of white steam.
But the steam didn't disperse. An Yi used his exquisite control over spatial power to confine it to a small area in front of them.
Then he drew a stream of clear water out of the kettle.
The water hovered in midair without falling under the pull of gravity.
Using gravity to control the thin stream, An Yi set it spinning rapidly through the cloud of steam.
Gradually, a marvelous sight unfolded.
The steam that had filled the surrounding area was visibly drawn into the rapidly spinning stream, and the once-tiny stream grew larger and larger.
Qian Renxue swallowed as she watched the demonstration, looking thoughtful. "So the steam is like the energy of heaven and earth floating around us, and the spinning water is the Soul Power circulating inside us?"
"You can think of it that way." An Yi waved his hand, letting the water fall back into the kettle.
"But when a Soul Master cultivates, their Soul Power circulates within the confines of their body. A Soul Master's body is the container that holds their Soul Power."
"It's like water in a cup. If you wanted to fit more water into that cup, what would you do?"
Qian Renxue blinked. "Get a bigger cup?"
"What else?" An Yi asked.
Qian Renxue frowned in puzzlement. "What else?"
An Yi raised one finger. "Compress it."
Seeing that Qian Renxue only half understood, An Yi patiently explained:
"Low-level Soul Masters have fragile meridians, so their Soul Power can only circulate through a few simple, wide main meridians."
"As their cultivation rises, their bodies are continuously tempered. Soul Power can circulate through more and more meridians, forming increasingly complex circulatory cycles, and the maximum amount of Soul Power their bodies can hold naturally rises as well."
"But your Soul Power can't flow unimpeded through every tiny meridian from birth. Many hidden or narrow meridians require enough pressure to force them open."
"To open those meridians, you need to compress your originally loose Soul Power with great force, producing higher-quality Soul Power."
"The process of a Soul Master's cultivation can be understood as continuously guiding energy through their own meridians, allowing Soul Power to gradually accumulate and be refined as the body holds and compresses it."
"As cultivation rises, the range that can contain and circulate Soul Power continues to expand, and the quality of Soul Power rises with it."
"So the higher a Soul Master's Soul Power Level, the higher the quality of their Soul Power."
An Yi set the cup back down on the grass and continued, "By the same token, the difference between high and low cultivation talent isn't some abstract concept either."
"Some people are simply born with meridians tougher and wider than those of ordinary people. Some are even born with completely unobstructed meridians, so naturally, people like that cultivate faster than most."
"Of course, talent encompasses many things. Patience, perseverance, and comprehension are all talents. It isn't just the quality of your Martial Soul and your Innate Soul Power that count as talent."
Qian Renxue listened intently, but she was still a little puzzled. "But what use is knowing all this?"
"My grandpa doesn't understand any of it, and it didn't stop him from cultivating to the level of a Peerless Douluo."
An Yi took a sip of tea and said calmly, "That's why he'll only ever be a Peerless Douluo in this life."
Qian Renxue's expression froze.
What did he mean, "only ever be a Peerless Douluo"?!
That was a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo!
How many of those could there be on the entire continent?
Qian Renxue opened her mouth, eager to argue, but when she thought of the Soul Ring Configuration An Yi had displayed before, she swallowed her words in the end.
Forget it. Whenever I argue with this guy, I'm always the one who comes off worse.
An Yi paid her reaction no mind and continued explaining, "I told you before that the value of theory lies in guiding practice."
"Since we already know that the essence of a Soul Master's cultivation is using their own meridians to guide and compress energy, can we find a way to assist that process?"
Qian Renxue was taken aback. "Assist it?"
"That's right." An Yi nodded. "The Tidal Gravity I used on you applies external pressure from every direction to squeeze your body and Soul Power."
"Under that pressure, your body has to keep adjusting its state to adapt to its surroundings. Over time, your body will naturally grow stronger."
"And the energy that would normally have to be slowly compressed by your meridians is forcibly compressed by the stronger external pressure I apply."
"What's more, to resist that pressure, you'll push your Soul Power to its limits, and it will race through your body far faster than it does during ordinary cultivation."
"But because my Tidal Gravity has already compressed your Soul Power to a high degree, even when it circulates through your body faster, its reduced volume keeps it from directly impacting and damaging your meridians."
To help Qian Renxue understand more clearly, An Yi placed the teacup on the grass in front of him and poured it a little under half full of water.
Then he manipulated gravity to set the water in the cup slowly spinning.
"Normally, your Soul Power circulates slowly through your body, just like the water in this cup. But when you're in a fight or some other extreme situation, you'll speed up that circulation to gain powerful explosive force."
As An Yi finished speaking, the water spun faster and faster in the cup.
"But the body's meridians are fragile. When Soul Power is forced to circulate at an extraordinary speed, the tremendous impact damages them, just as water flowing too fast causes constant friction and wear against the walls of the cup."
"But what if, at that moment, we applied pressure from every direction to the cup and the water inside it?"
As he spoke, a moon-white light rose from An Yi's left hand.
Tidal Gravity activated, and an invisible force pressed against the teacup and the water inside it from every direction.
A strange sight appeared.
The water, which had been spinning against the walls of the cup, was gradually squeezed away from them by the external pressure. It spun suspended in the center of the cup, faster and faster, yet not a single drop splashed out.