Chapter 13: Planting the Seeds

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This wasn't a question unique to Xu Yuan.

It was a doubt he had carried over from his previous life, only now surfacing after his recent breakthrough in soul power.

"Oh?" Mu Ye was somewhat surprised that Xu Yuan would dwell on this question and asked curiously, "What are your thoughts on it?"

"Before I awakened my martial soul, I already had this doubt. At the time, I thought soul power cultivation was a process of expansion—expanding the meridians or the dantian within the body. During meditation, it felt like an outward expansion, which made progress difficult, while recovering soul power simply replenished what was already expanded, hence the ease and speed."

"And now?" Mu Ye pressed.

"Now that I've personally begun cultivating, at least for now, my meridians aren't fully saturated, and there's still room in my dantian. There doesn't seem to be any expansion happening."

This was logical reasoning.

Xu Yuan actually had a detailed understanding of the soul master cultivation process, including specific details about high-level cultivation. He already knew that his earlier assumption was incorrect.

By raising this point, he was simply sharing his thought process with Mu Ye.

Mu Ye nodded, satisfied with Xu Yuan's line of thinking.

"In fact, your thoughts aren't wrong."

Not wrong?

Xu Yuan was momentarily stunned and looked at Mu Ye, puzzled.

"Soul power cultivation is indeed a process of expansion—but not of the meridians or the dantian. It's about breaking through the limitations of the martial soul."

"The martial soul's limitations?" Xu Yuan murmured, contemplating.

"The factor that determines the upper limit of soul power isn't the quality of the martial soul itself but its capacity—or control—over soul power. What soul masters expand during meditation is precisely this capacity." Mu Ye elaborated further: "However, this so-called capacity isn't directly tied to the martial soul's quality. Instead, the upper limit and the difficulty of expansion are related to the martial soul's quality."

Mu Ye then gave an example, one that felt vaguely familiar to Xu Yuan.

"For powerful martial souls, the process involves gradually unlocking their limitations and continuously increasing soul power. However, for weaker martial souls, even if they reach their full capacity without encountering any limitations, they might not be able to support soul power beyond level thirty. As a result, a soul master could remain stuck at level twenty-nine for life."

"But," Xu Yuan asked, "does the capacity or control over soul power really depend entirely on the martial soul?"

This deeper theoretical question was something Xu Yuan hadn't fully grasped, as novels from his previous life didn't delve into such specifics.

Mu Ye shook his head. "Of course not. A soul master's physical body and spiritual power can also share some of the burden placed on the martial soul, but this relief is ultimately limited. To overcome the innate limitations imposed by the martial soul, the only known methods so far involve using heavenly treasures to induce mutations or evolutions in the martial soul."

"On this path to solving the issue, your father's research was actually at the forefront."

Using symbiotic spirit souls to address the problem of capacity.

Mu Ye shifted the topic.

"In fact, the process of expanding the meridians and dantian you mentioned does exist, but it begins only at the Soul Elder stage, around level thirty. By that point, the soul power within the soul master's body has nearly filled the meridians. The next step is to compress the gaseous soul power into liquid soul power. Afterward, while newly cultivated soul power remains gaseous, it is gradually compressed into liquid form under the soul master's control. Thus, the soul power exists in both gaseous and liquid states simultaneously. Once the meridians are refilled, the process repeats—compression, refilling, and so on, until the meridians are completely filled with liquid soul power."

"From level thirty onward, each cycle of compression slightly expands the soul master's meridians and dantian. After the meridians are filled with liquid soul power, the liquid continues to compress, becoming increasingly viscous and dense. This phase continuously expands the meridians and dantian."

"The progress of different soul masters during these stages varies, primarily influenced by factors such as the quality of their martial soul, the meditation method they use, and the quality of their spirit souls."

Mu Ye shared his personal experiences of cultivation with Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan pondered deeply.

Combining Mu Ye's explanation, he felt a spark of realization.

After careful reflection, he pinpointed the crux of the matter.

"Teacher, do these two stages still hinge on the upper limit of capacity determined by the martial soul's quality?"

Could a weak martial soul trap someone before level thirty due to a lack of room for expansion? Would the same occur after level thirty?

Mu Ye paused, nodding and then shaking his head.

"Generally speaking, after breaking through to level thirty, soul power transitions to a liquid state. Before the meridians are fully saturated with liquid soul power, the demand for the martial soul's capacity isn't as pronounced."

The transition from gas to liquid causes a sudden spike in capacity requirements at level thirty.

Thus, it becomes a significant hurdle.

"What about afterward? Once the meridians are filled with liquid soul power, further compression is required. Although all soul power at this stage is liquid, there are differences in quality. What does this look like in terms of data?"

At this point, Xu Yuan emphasized the importance of data.

Mu Ye frowned, feeling somewhat at a loss.

"For accurate data, we'd need to consult the Spirit Pagoda. From my own experiences, it seems that soul masters aren't entirely restricted by their martial soul's quality at this stage. I believe this is because most soul masters have at least four soul rings by this point, significantly enhancing their martial soul's quality."

Xu Yuan remained deep in thought.

"Xiao Yuan, are you suggesting that the process of expanding the meridians and dantian also positively influences the quality of the martial soul, subtly improving it over time?"

"Precisely." Xu Yuan wasn't surprised. He didn't think of Mu Ye, who had reached level ninety-four, as a fool. Anyone could arrive at such thoughts, and he certainly wasn't the only one capable of doing so.

"There should be some truth to it. Some have even proposed developing methods to actively enhance martial soul quality using this process, though no results have been achieved yet."

Even if there were results, they would likely stem from more efficient utilization of heavenly treasures under this theoretical framework, maximizing their impact on martial soul quality.

A true secret technique that didn't rely on heavenly treasures had yet to emerge.

"Teacher, what if I synchronize this aspect with the forging of spirit souls?"

Mu Ye was taken aback.

"That depends on you. You can explore these ideas on your own, but they shouldn't interfere with your regular cultivation and studies."

Xu Yuan nodded.

Mu Ye pulled out a stack of documents.

"Enough of that for now. You should start learning mech design. These are the basics of soul-guiding arrays. Try to digest them in the coming days. Once you've gone through them, I'll give you the actual schematics of a mech's internal structure to study."

Xu Yuan accepted the materials without feeling daunted.

Since awakening his brain martial soul, his mind had become exceptionally clear, and thinking deeply didn't tire him at all. In recent days, listening to Zhen Hua explain blacksmithing theory had been effortless.

These mech design materials should be no different.

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