Soul Power Self-Consistency

Lin Xiao's finger was still poking below his right chest, his fingertips trembling.

Lu Yuan's charcoal pencil moved swiftly across the paper, drawing a curved but continuous solid line. The tip of the pencil made a hissing sound.

"Don't stop." He didn't even look up. "Continue guiding, follow the feeling you just had. Slow down this time."

Lin Xiao closed his eyes.

The faint purple light in his pupils faded. He sank back into his inner vision, carefully manipulating that wisp of Soul Power.

Smooth.

Unprecedentedly smooth.

The Soul Power flowed downstream like water finding its way into a natural riverbed, following the newly discovered "tributary." There were no obstructions, no whirlpools.

He slowed down. He clearly sensed every subtle turn in the flow of his Soul Power and then reported the location.

"There's a bend here... about three inches deep."

"Um."

"After the bend, the road ahead widens."

"Continue."

Lu Yuan's pen followed his description. The solid line on the paper continued to extend, branching out into tiny twigs, marking the depth, width, and angle.

It's incredibly boring.

But neither of them found it boring. Every time Lin Xiao reported a detail, the light in Lu Yuan's eyes brightened. That light wasn't excitement, but confirmation.

The predictions in the theoretical model are being confirmed little by little.

Half an hour later, Lin Xiao opened his eyes, his forehead covered in a thin layer of sweat.

"That's it." He took a breath. "Any further on, things get blurry."

Lu Yuan put down his pen.

A complete path diagram has been drawn on the paper. Starting from the lung node, it meanders laterally and downwards, bypassing the most congested area below the scapula, passing through the intercostal spaces, and finally connecting to a secondary meridian in the right arm.

It is 1 foot and 7 inches long and has 11 turns.

"This 'tributary'," Lu Yuan tapped the drawing with his pen, "Has only thirty percent of the main stream's flow, but its resistance..." He paused, "Is only one-tenth of the main stream's."

Lin Xiao licked his canine teeth.

"So it's smoother."

"More than that." Lu Yuan shook his head. "It's because it's compatible. After your Martial Soul Mutation, its energy characteristics leaned towards 'profound' and 'swift.' Forcing the family's cultivation method to follow a masculine and fierce path is like trying to pour ice water into a red-hot iron pipe—how can it not be sluggish?"

He pointed to several key turning points on the road map.

"And these curves, these changes in width... perfectly match the natural fluctuation frequency of your Martial Soul energy. When Soul Power flows through, it's not 'colliding,' it's 'resonating.'"

Lin Xiao stared at the blueprints without saying a word.

He recalled the tremor he felt deep within his Martial Soul when his Soul Power flowed earlier.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

Lu Yuan picked up another blank sheet of paper.

"Cure."

Solidification is harder than detection.

For the next three days, Lin Xiao hardly left the meditation cushion. Lu Yuan had him repeatedly circulate his Soul Power and walk along that new path again and again.

It's not cultivation, it's "taming".

The body needs to memorize this path, allowing the Soul Power to form a new inertia. At the same time, Lu Yuan is recording the subtle differences in each operation—the strength, angle, and rhythm of the Soul Power output, not missing any fluctuations.

Then adjust.

"Just now, when we went around the third bend, my Soul Power output was slightly stronger." Lu Yuan looked at the record sheet, "Take it back a bit."

Lin Xiao had his eyes closed, and the veins on his forehead bulged slightly.

How to collect it?

"Imagine that's not Soul Power, but water. Water flows faster on the outside and slower on the inside when it bends in a river. What you need to do is not to forcefully control it, but to follow the terrain of the riverbed... and slightly shift your center of gravity."

Lin Xiao tried.

As his Soul Power flowed through that bend, he no longer deliberately maintained a uniform output, but instead made the outer side of his Soul Power slightly faster and the inner side slightly slower.

Buzz--

The meridians trembled slightly.

The feeling of stiffness lessened a bit.

"Oh, right." Lu Yuan made a note of it, "Keep this feeling in mind, continue."

dull.

Extremely boring.

But Lin Xiao didn't complain. The smoothness brought by each subtle adjustment was like a Spark ignited in the darkness. Though faint, it was real.

On the evening of the third day, he completed his hundredth cycle.

The Soul Power originated from the lung node, flowed along the 1.7-foot path, and finally returned to the dantian. The whole process was smooth and effortless.

There was not a trace of hesitation.

Lin Xiao opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

"Did it work?" he asked.

Lu Yuan was checking the last few sheets of record. Hearing this, he looked up and glanced at him.

"As far as this path goes," he said, "It's successful."

Lin Xiao grinned, trying to smile, but his lips froze as soon as they opened.

"Just this one?"

"There are twenty-one similar points of blockage in your major meridians," Lu Yuan said calmly. "This pathway only resolved a small section from your right chest to your right arm. Moreover..."

He paused.

"This is a 'tributary.' Its flow is limited and cannot support your full Soul Power. If you really want to use it in battle, you need to connect it to the main channel to form a complete cycle."

Lin Xiao was stunned.

"Doesn't that mean working for nothing?"

"Working for nothing?" Lu Yuan put down the paper. "This path proves two things. First, the ' Soul Power Map ' theory is feasible. Second, your Martial Soul does indeed have its own preferred way of operating."

He picked up the charcoal pencil and drew an arrow at the end of the drawing.

"What we need to do now is to take this 'demonstration road' as a starting point and, like a jigsaw puzzle, expand and connect it piece by piece. We need to use the same approach to connect and reconstruct all other bottlenecks."

Lin Xiao remained silent for a moment.

How long will it take?

"I don't know," Lu Yuan said honestly, "But with each breakthrough, your Soul Power will circulate more smoothly. Little by little, it will add up."

He glanced at the hourglass in the corner of the cave.

The fine sand flows silently. Seventeen days have passed since I went into seclusion.

Time waits for no one.

On the afternoon of the seventh day, the third stick of incense for concentration was burned.

Lin Xiao sat cross-legged on the futon, his whole body soaked in sweat. He had been in this position for two hours.

Lu Yuan stood beside him, holding the latest route map in his hand.

The drawing on the paper shows a more complex circuit.

Starting from the lung node, it descends along the previously solidified "tributary," but before reaching the right arm, it suddenly makes a sharp turn—bypassing the most congested old main meridian in the scapular region, emerging from under the armpit, meandering along the outer side of the ribs, and finally circling back from behind to connect with the Martial Soul Possession point in the palm.

It is three feet and two inches long, with twenty-three turns.

This is the "Shinkansen" that the two of them painstakingly explored, connected, and adjusted over the past seven days.

"The final section," Lu Yuan said softly, "The Soul Power flows back from the elbow, through the armpit, and back to the lung node. The cycle is complete."

Lin Xiao didn't open his eyes, but simply nodded slightly.

He channeled his Soul Power, descending along the familiar path. It flowed through his arm and reached his palm—the point where the Hell Spirit Cat's Martial Soul Possession.

Normally, when you get here, your Soul Power will become stagnant and rebound.

But this time, he didn't stop.

The Soul Power paused slightly in his palm, and then... it changed direction.

Following the newly opened circuit, it circled from the back of the hand to the outside of the forearm, passed through the back of the elbow, and drilled into the armpit. That area was originally a forbidden zone for Soul Power, where each circulation caused unbearable stinging pain.

But now, when Soul Power flows through, there is only a slight feeling of swelling.

Like water flowing through a newly dug ditch.

Keep going.

It passes through the intercostal spaces, ascends along the side of the spine on the back, bypasses the scapula, and finally—returns to the lung node.

Complete the loop.

A complete circle.

Lin Xiao suddenly opened his eyes.

His pupils instantly shrank to vertical, and a surge of dark purple light erupted. He froze on the spot, his breath catching in his throat.

There is no sluggishness.

There was no stinging sensation.

The Soul Power circulated smoothly throughout the body, as naturally as breathing.

What made his scalp tingle even more was that the moment his Soul Power flowed through this new path and returned to his dantian, a clear tremor came from the depths of his Martial Soul.

It's not cold, nor is it arrogant.

It is... pleasure.

Like a slumbering Ferocious Beast, it finally settled into a suitable lair.

He was stunned.

Lu Yuan stared at the blueprints in his hand, then looked up at Lin Xiao's still glowing vertical pupils. The cave was so quiet that one could hear the soft sound of the ash from the meditation incense falling.

After several breaths, Lu Yuan spoke softly.

"It seems," he said, "That your Martial Soul prefers to follow the path of its own choosing."

Lin Xiao's throat moved, as if he wanted to speak, but no sound came out.

He looked down at his right hand. A surge of Soul Power rose in his palm, and a layer of dark purple mist quietly appeared, with a faint silver light flowing within it—that was the outward manifestation of the Nether Civet Martial Soul.

In the past, summoning Martial Soul was always accompanied by a stinging pain in the meridians.

Now, only smoothness matters.

"So..." Lin Xiao finally found his voice, which was terribly hoarse, "This path... it's successful?"

"This one's done." Lu Yuan put down the blueprints and rubbed his aching wrists. "But a problem has arisen."

He looked at Lin Xiao with a complicated expression.

"This 'Shinkansen' was something you and I spent seven whole days figuring out and adjusting, bit by bit. The precision requirements are extremely high; any mistake at any turn would render all our efforts futile."

He paused.

"And there are still twenty such paths that require your entire being to be reconstructed."

The excitement on Lin Xiao's face gradually froze.

"You mean..."

"It means," Lu Yuan said, "That we found the Key, but there are twenty-one keyholes. And each keyhole is a different shape."

He picked up a charcoal pencil and drew a rough outline of a human body in the blank space of the drawing, then placed twenty-one red dots inside.

"The next step is to extend the successful experience of this 'demonstration road' to the whole system."

How to promote it?

Lu Yuan did not answer immediately.

He looked out of the cave. The barrier rippled slightly, and he could vaguely see a figure standing in the herb garden with Qingzhu staff.

"We need a more systematic model, more precise measurements, and..." He turned his gaze away, "... more time."

Lin Xiao followed his gaze.

Outside the cave, the sky gradually darkened, and the twilight spread slowly like ink dripping into clear water.

Seven days have passed since the three-month deadline.

time.

What we lack most is always time.