Division of Labor and Deeper Research
The wild fruit pit that Lin Xiao threw grazed Su Yan's earlobe and hit the stone wall.
Su Yan froze.
"Too slow reaction." Lin Xiao squatted on a high rock ridge, his amber vertical pupils devoid of emotion. "If we had been ambushed, you two would already be dead."
Shen Moxin put down her charcoal pencil and adjusted her glasses. "They're still in the basic perception stage."
"Sensing it, but unable to dodge, what's the use?" Lin Xiao jumped down, landing silently. He walked up to Su Yan, leaning down to stare into those bright black eyes, "Scared?"
Su Yan pursed her lips and shook her head.
"Then remember the feeling of the fruit flying towards you." Lin Xiao straightened up and looked at Lu Yuan. "I've thought about the division of labor you mentioned yesterday. I'm good at teaching how to fight, and I can also be a lookout. Let me be clear from the start, my teaching methods are rough."
Lu Yuan sat on the edge of the stone platform, tapping his index finger lightly on his knee. The light inside the cavern had stabilized somewhat, and Mo Chen had improved the flow channel of the Soul Power lamp. Several sheets of straw paper were spread out in front of him.
"Roughness doesn't matter, as long as it works." Lu Yuan looked up. "Sit down, everyone. Let's get things settled today."
Everyone was there. Lu Qinghe came from the cave entrance, carrying a coarse cloth bag, and silently sat down in a corner.
Lu Yuan didn't waste any words.
"With more people and more complex matters, we need a system." He picked up the top sheet of paper. "First and foremost, theoretical research cannot stop. We need to optimize the Soul Power model, deepen the Martial Soul Evolution hypothesis, and integrate the information about the ' Land of Lightning Strikes ' brought by Lin Xiao with the data from the Thousand Needle Stone Forest and the analysis of the Earth Vein Soul Marrow to understand the intricacies of earth vein energy. I'll be in charge of this."
Shen Moxin nodded slightly.
"The second thing is that we need to get things done." Lu Yuan looked at Mo Chen. "The prototype of the Soul Tool, the improvement of the forging furnace, the infrastructure of the stronghold, and the subsequent tools and equipment. Mo Chen, you're in charge."
Mo Chen wiped his oily fingers on his leather apron and nodded.
"Thirdly, knowledge shouldn't remain untapped." Lu Yuan turned to Shen Moxin, "Teacher Shen, could you please organize our ideas and verified methods into lecture notes? I'd also like to entrust the theoretical enlightenment and cultural lessons for Su Yan and Li Wangye to you as well."
Shen Moxin gripped the charcoal pencil tightly, then released it. "Okay," she said steadily.
"Fourthly, your fists can't be weak." Lu Yuan looked at Lin Xiao, "You've just broken through and need to consolidate your strength. At the same time, the reconnaissance and defense of the outpost's perimeter, as well as Su Yan and Li Wangye's combat training and physical reaction refinement, are all entrusted to you."
Lin Xiao licked his canine teeth with the tip of his tongue and smiled, "That's what I've been waiting for. Don't worry, I'm good at training people."
Su Yan and Li Wangye moved their throats simultaneously.
"Fifthly, someone needs to manage things both inside and outside the home." Lu Yuan finally looked at his father, "Dad, you'll have to take care of the logistics—food, water, and daily necessities. You'll also need to handle things in town and with Zhao Shi. Collecting basic materials, like iron and fuel, will also require you to find ways to bring them in from outside."
Lu Qinghe listened silently, his calloused fingers stroking the hemp rope. After a few seconds, he looked up, his eyes no longer showing the usual murky weariness, but instead a calm sense of responsibility. "Okay," he said, uttering only one word.
The division of labor was settled. The cavern was quiet for a moment, with only the hissing sound of the Soul Power lamp wick.
Lu Yuan put down the draft paper. "Dividing tasks is to allow everyone to use their strengths, but things are interconnected. Mo Chen needs the precise parameters compiled by Teacher Shen to make things. Teacher Shen needs my latest deductions and Lin Xiao's practical feedback to compile teaching materials. Lin Xiao's training needs to be adjusted according to the actual progress of Su Yan and the others in controlling their Soul Power. Father, who is dealing with things outside, also needs to know what the family needs and what is taboo."
He paused, then continued, "So, have a minor run-in every three days, and a major one every seven. Don't bottle up your problems."
"Understood." Shen Moxin was the first to respond, already flipping open the new parchment to make a note.
Mo Chen walked silently towards his pile of tools, muttering, "Soul Power stabilization area... combined with the runes on the jade fossil... let's try the etching depth of the flow channel first..."
Lin Xiao immediately took action, beckoning Su Yan and Li Wangye with his fingers. "You two, come over here now. Let's test your instinctive reaction when you're being hit."
Efficiency has visibly improved.
Mo Chen immersed himself in the metal parts and Red-Patterned Rock fragments. After Shen Moxin finished organizing her notes, she took the core theoretical manuscript given to her by Lu Yuan, sat down under the lamp in another corner of the rock cavity, and began to sort out and annotate it line by line. When she encountered obscure parts, she got up and discussed them in hushed tones with Lu Yuan before going back to continue writing. Her handwriting was neat and her analysis was meticulous.
Lin Xiao's training was indeed "rough". He didn't teach fancy Soul Skill or explain profound theories. He just let Su Yan and Li Wangye move around in the rock cavity and mine tunnel, and then launch surprise attacks from various unexpected angles - throwing small stones, suddenly accelerating to get close and lightly patting their shoulders, and even deliberately releasing a little bit of oppressive Soul Power fluctuations.
Su Yan initially kept getting hit, but his bright black eyes were fixed on Lin Xiao's movements, his fingers unconsciously Simulation dodging trajectories at his sides. After a few times, when Lin Xiao approached rapidly from the side and behind, he used his sense of airflow and the faintest footsteps to suddenly tumble forward and sideways, managing to dodge the attack, albeit awkwardly.
"Tsk, that's interesting." Lin Xiao raised an eyebrow, offering no praise, but a hint of approval flashed in his eyes. "Remember that feeling before you lunged out, the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. That was killing intent."
Li Wangye relies more on his eyes and ears, and his reaction time is a bit slow, but he has a strong learning ability. He learned his lesson the first time he was caught off guard by the same sneak attack method, but he was able to adopt an effective defensive stance the second time. Although Lin Xiao could still easily break through his defenses, the effort he put into understanding and responding made Lin Xiao realize that these two kids were not hopeless.
The next morning, Lu Qinghe went out with an empty bag on his back. When he returned at noon, the bag was full of rye cakes, coarse salt, and a small bag of scrap iron pieces he had collected from the blacksmith's shop in town. He was still not very talkative, but when entering and leaving the mine, he would always pay special attention to the traces near the entrance, and his eyes were more vigilant.
Lu Yuan moved into the newly cleared small stone chamber at the deepest part of the rock cavity. It was close to the Red-Patterned Rock area, where the stone walls were warm and the Soul Power environment was relatively stable. He laid out all the data on the disordered Soul Power of the Thousand Needle Stone Forest, the analysis report on the fragmented Earth Vein Soul Marrow, the rubbing of the Lin Xiao family's keepsake, and all the legends and records about the "Land of Lightning Strikes".
There was only one Soul Power lamp in the stone chamber. Lu Yuan sat on a stone bench with thick sheets of straw paper and a charcoal pencil in front of him. He first redrawn the data of the Thousand Needle Stone Forest into a more detailed Soul Power distribution gradient map, marking the chaotic peak points and relatively calm areas. Then, he placed the Earth Vein Soul Marrow analysis report next to him—it mentioned that the Soul Marrow energy was extremely condensed, with "anchoring" and "purification" characteristics.
Finally, his gaze fell on the hexagonal rubbing of the keepsake, and on Lin Xiao's vague description of "tempering the Martial Soul and purifying the Origin Soul Power."
"A natural energy tempering field..." Lu Yuan muttered to himself, his charcoal pencil unconsciously drawing circles on the paper, "Utilizing extremely chaotic Soul Power... guided by the Key..."
He closed his eyes. Fragments of knowledge from his past life about high-energy physics, energy field constraints, and the principle of resonance collided and pieced together with the Soul Power phenomena he observed in this life. The turbulent flow of Soul Power in the Thousand Needle Stone Forest was not uniform; it had "peaks" and "troughs," exhibiting strong directionality and intermittency. The Earth Vein Soul Marrow seemed like a high-concentration energy crystal, capable of "stabilizing" the surrounding Soul Power within a certain range. And the token... the token might not be a simple pass, but rather a "resonator"? Or a "coordinate generator"?
Night had fallen. From outside the stone chamber came the faint sound of Lin Xiao urging training, while from Mo Chen's side came the occasional soft metallic clanging. Shen Moxin's charcoal pencil made a fine, continuous scratching sound as it scribbled across the parchment.
Lu Yuan was completely unaware. The draft paper in front of him was already covered with all sorts of complex lines and symbols, some of which were models of Soul Power flow, and some were hypothetical energy structures. He tried to combine and deduce them, and then constantly rejected and started over.
Suddenly, his pen stopped.
His gaze was fixed on a drawing he had just made—a multi-layered, vortex-like structure. The outer layer was a violently turbulent flow of Soul Power, Simulation the environment of the Thousand Needle Stone Forest. The inner layer was a relatively stable, high-concentration energy core, Simulation the Earth Vein Soul Marrow or something similar. Between the inner and outer layers, he drew a small, hexagonal node and pointed it to the center of the vortex with an arrow.
Lu Yuan's breathing quickened slightly. He quickly wrote annotations next to the diagram, the charcoal pencil almost tearing through the paper:
"It is hypothesized that the ' Land of Lightning Strikes ' is a special energy environment that is either naturally formed or artificially enhanced. Its core mechanism is not to directly provide gentle energy for absorption, but to use the extremely chaotic flow of Soul Power as a 'millstone' or 'furnace' to briefly open up a 'relatively stable' energy vortex channel within the turbulence under the guidance and positioning of a specific ' Key '."
"Intruders enter carrying a token. The token resonates with a pre-set 'lock' in the environment, guiding the turbulent currents away from the intruder or placing them into a vortex channel. Inside the channel, highly concentrated and active ley line energy, under controlled conditions, performs a high-intensity, short-term 'washing' and 'tempering' on the Martial Soul and the Origin Soul Power, achieving purification and strengthening effects."
"Extremely high risk. Incomplete ' Key ' or dormant ley lines may lead to resonance failure, exposing intruders to unprotected turbulent Soul Power, resulting in instantaneous tearing apart. Alternatively, the 'vortex' may become unstable, causing energy out of control and resulting in a backlash."
Lu Yuan stopped writing at this point.
A bold, almost fanciful conjecture. But logically, it seems to explain why the "Land of Lightning Strikes" is both dangerous and full of opportunities, why a specific token is needed, and why family records are vague—because its operating principles may have long exceeded the mainstream understanding framework of the current Soul Master World.
If this hypothesis is correct... then the first step in exploring the "Land of Lightning Strikes" will no longer be blindly searching for an entrance, but rather finding a way to verify whether this "energy vortex" model is valid, and how to find or create a "Key" frequency that can "resonate" with the environment.
Lu Yuan slowly leaned against the stone wall, the warmth slightly relaxing his tense nerves. He raised his hand, looking at the slender blade of grass that quietly emerged from his palm, gleaming with a pale blue light under the dim glow of the Soul Power lamp.
The path seemed to become clearer once more.
Outside the stone chamber, the faint sound of wind from deep within the mine tunnels drifted in, like a distant and ancient echo.