Early the next morning, after preparing breakfast for Old Jack, Xiao Yan picked up the wine jug Old Jack had brought out the previous day and headed for Tang San's home.
Tang San's home was deep in Holy Soul Village, and Xiao Yan had been there many times before. Before he reached it, he heard a series of clanging sounds from afar.
"Little San, are you home?"
Xiao Yan stood at Tang San's door, listening to the rhythmic sounds coming from inside. It was as though someone were hammering iron.
"Hey! Coming..."
Tang San seemed to have heard Xiao Yan's voice, for he called back from inside. Before long, he opened the door, drenched in sweat.
Xiao Yan looked at the shirtless, sweat-soaked Tang San in surprise. Feeling waves of heat coming from inside, he fixed his gaze on the spot beside the furnace.
"Little San, what are you..."
Xiao Yan looked at Tang San in astonishment. It was hard to imagine a six- or seven-year-old child being so diligent.
"Oh, this is special training Father gave me. He agreed to let me study at the junior academy, but... I suppose this counts as part of my cultivation too..."
Tang San scratched his head, a maturity beyond his years showing on his young face. Looking at the wine jug in Xiao Yan's hand, he smiled and said:
"Grandpa Jack asked you to bring that over, didn't he? Sorry for the trouble."
Tang San thanked Xiao Yan, took the wine jug from him, and invited him inside:
"The breakfast I was making should be ready by now. Come in and have some?"
"No need. I'll head back, then."
Xiao Yan took another look at the furnace blazing behind Tang San.
He hadn't expected Tang San to be so disciplined at only six years old. Unable to cultivate his Martial Soul at such a young age, he had already begun cultivating in another way.
"Looks like I need to make good use of these two months too..."
Xiao Yan made up his mind. Since joining Spirit Hall was difficult for the time being, his natural choice was to follow Tang San into the junior Soul Master Academy in Nuoding City.
Now that an unknown enemy had set their sights on him, he could only lie low and develop first. He hoped he could make it through the difficulty before him.
After returning to Old Jack's home and greeting him, Xiao Yan headed for a hill outside Holy Soul Village. He climbed to the top, where the surrounding scenery spread out before him. The hilltop was very flat, making it well suited for cultivation.
"Yellow Tier Low Grade Dou Technique, Stone Shattering Palm..."
Xiao Yan began recalling the Dou Technique from another world that Xiao Yan from the Battle Through the Heavens World had taught him before.
His Martial Soul had not yet awakened back then, so he could not sense the Soul Power in his body. His repeated attempts to cultivate Stone Shattering Palm had all ended in failure.
But now that his Martial Soul had awakened, Xiao Yan could sense the "Qi" circulating inside him.
This was the sign of Soul Power.
It was also why he intended to learn Stone Shattering Palm again.
"Mobilize the Dou Qi in my body, circulate it along these meridians, sink the Qi into my dantian, and finally gather it in my right hand..."
Xiao Yan carefully recalled the circulation route for Stone Shattering Palm, then cautiously mobilized the Soul Power in his body and slowly guided it along that route.
But Xiao Yan's understanding of Soul Power was still far too shallow. After several attempts, his Soul Power had dispersed completely before it could finish circulating through even one meridian.
Even his arm ached in waves.
The repeated failures did not discourage Xiao Yan. Instead, the killing intent he had sensed before became his motivation to keep going.
After several failures, Xiao Yan's Soul Power had been depleted, but he could now circulate the Soul Power for Stone Shattering Palm through more than half its route.
"A few more tries and it should work..."
But Xiao Yan had not yet learned a method to restore Soul Power, so he could only wait for it to recover on its own. He also discovered that when he calmed his mind and settled his Qi, the Soul Power in his body recovered more quickly.
For the next several days, Xiao Yan kept practicing Stone Shattering Palm, controlling his Soul Power all the while.
As the days of cultivation passed, Xiao Yan's control over his Soul Power grew stronger. What had once been indistinct was now easily within his grasp.
"Sink the Qi into my dantian... gather it in my right palm..."
Xiao Yan kept adjusting his breathing, and under his control, the Soul Power in his body finally gathered in his right palm.
"Whoosh!"
Xiao Yan's eyes snapped open, a glint flashing through them. He could feel a vast surge of "Qi" in his right palm, ready to pour out.
"Stone Shattering Palm!"
With a sharp shout, Xiao Yan slammed his palm toward a head-sized rock beside him.
"Smack!"
His palm struck the rock with a crisp sound, but...
Xiao Yan looked at his reddened palm, then at the rock, which had not budged, and gave a bitter smile.
"Still no good..."
Xiao Yan could not say his consecutive days of cultivation had brought no gains. At the very least, he had become quite familiar with controlling Soul Power.
"Looks like it's because the cultivation systems of the two worlds are different. In the Douluo World, the Martial Soul still has to be the foundation..."
Something suddenly occurred to Xiao Yan. With a thought, his Soul Division Martial Soul appeared behind him.
Looking at the pitch-black humanoid Martial Soul behind him, Xiao Yan had a bold idea: would it work if he had his Martial Soul use Stone Shattering Palm?
Once the idea was born, it spread wildly like a wildfire.
Xiao Yan's eyes lit up, but Martial Souls had no meridians. He would have to study that point carefully.
After some thought, Xiao Yan had his Soul Division Martial Soul walk toward him. It then merged completely with his body.
"Boom!"
The instant the Clone Martial Soul merged with him, Xiao Yan's mind shook. He felt as though all his senses had expanded severalfold.
Twenty meters away, the movements of a spider spinning a web among the leaves were perfectly clear. From thirty meters away came the constant sound of an insect crouched on a leaf and munching on it.
Even Xiao Yan's eyesight had improved severalfold. He could clearly see the fine hairs on the legs of the spider twenty meters away.
At the same time, Xiao Yan felt that the Soul Power in his body seemed to have become more active, and even its recovery speed had increased greatly.
Sensing the changes within him, Xiao Yan's face lit up with wild joy.
He mobilized his Soul Power again. It surged several times faster, and the time it took him to use Stone Shattering Palm was nearly halved.
"Stone Shattering Palm!"
Xiao Yan unleashed it again. With the Soul Division Martial Soul merged with him, Soul Power poured out of his right palm.
"Boom!"
He left a deep palm print right in the head-sized rock!
"Not only has my strength increased, but my physical abilities seem to have improved a great deal too!"
Xiao Yan's eyes lit up. When he had used Stone Shattering Palm before, not only had it caused damage, but his palm had also turned red and throbbed with stinging pain.
But now, with the Martial Soul bolstering him, he had not only easily left a palm print in the hard bluestone, he had not suffered the slightest discomfort!
And if he could use Dou Techniques from the Battle Through the Heavens World, that meant...
He could obtain a steady stream of Dou Techniques from Xiao Yan in Battle Through the Heavens, keep developing and growing stronger, and have a means of fighting enemies independent of his Martial Soul!!