Chapter 39: Concentrated Study and Research, Initial Quenching of the Five Viscera
The establishment of the "Elemental Property Variation Joint Research Group" caused a huge sensation in Elemental City and naturally attracted much skepticism.
Especially regarding the group leader, Yu Chen, who was only a "Soul King" and had shallow qualifications; the participants sent by the other four academies were somewhat unconvinced.
At the first plenary meeting, a hot-tempered Soul Emperor-level teacher from the Blazing Academy directly challenged him: "Team Leader Yu Chen, it is not that we doubt the decisions of the Thunder Academy, but the theory of property variation is unheard of."
"How can you, as a Soul King, lead such a grand project and convince the masses? Could it be based solely on empty words?"
The gazes in the conference room instantly focused on Yu Chen, filled with scrutiny, curiosity, and undisguised contempt.
Yu Chen's expression was calm; he did not get angry but slowly stood up, swept his gaze over everyone present, and spoke in a steady voice: "I understand the concerns of all Seniors and colleagues."
"The Foundation of property variation lies in the control of Soul Power. If one cannot even precisely control their own attributes, how can they speak of variation?"
He did not release any Soul Power pressure but slowly raised his right hand.
At his fingertips, a strand of blue electric arc as thin as a hair quietly emerged.
The next moment, under the astonished gaze of everyone, that electric arc began to undergo dazzling changes—sometimes condensing into a round, transparent, and silent thunder bead, floating at his fingertips like an exquisite work of art; sometimes stretching and extending, turning into a thin, cicada-wing-like, slightly rippling thunder water curtain, refracting elusive colors; immediately after, the thunder light collapsed, surprisingly simulating the thick and heavy texture of rock, although it was still lightning, it gave people the pressure of a mountain; finally, the electric arc suddenly dispersed, turning into a soft, drifting, smoke-and-mist-like thunder glow, flowing slowly in the conference room, without the slightest violence, but instead having a wind-like lightness.
The entire process was like flowing water, the control of the thunder power had already reached the realm of subtlety, precisely demonstrating the prototype of the thunder attribute simulating "water's gentleness," "earth's heaviness," and "wind's lightness" (it was just forcibly shaped by the control of the thunder attribute, having form but no Martial Soul)!
What was contained in this was a profound understanding of the essence of Soul Power and an unimaginable level of control!
The conference room was silent, and the sound of a needle dropping could be heard.
That Blazing Academy teacher who had challenged him opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing; his face was burning, leaving only shock.
Others who had originally held contempt also put away their negligence one after another, their eyes becoming solemn and focused.
Yu Chen dispersed the thunder light at his fingertips and said indifferently: "A mere trick, you have laughed at me. The road of research is long, and I still need everyone's full support."
After this incident, there was no more noise within the research group; everyone was convinced by the unfathomable control of this young group leader and began to cooperate fully with his work.
The boring and rigorous research work began, lasting for one year.
First step: Data summary and characteristic analysis.
Yu Chen first requested the four major academies to provide detailed data on their respective attributes regarding Soul Power characteristics, basic operation modes, and common forms of Soul skills expression (avoiding core secrets).
He buried himself in the vast volumes of files, relying on his powerful Spiritual Power and Comprehension Ability, absorbing the essence of the wind's lightness and speed, the fire's heat and rising, the water's flexibility and variability, and the earth's heaviness and bearing, just like a sponge.
He was not trying to learn the cultivation methods of these attributes, but to analyze the "inner laws" and "core Concept" of their power manifestation.
Second step: Establishing theoretical models and correspondence.
After fully understanding the characteristics of each attribute, Yu Chen began to build a theoretical framework.
He used the correspondence between the five viscera (heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney) and the Five Elements (fire, wood, earth, metal, water, with the lung replacing metal with wind) as an inner guide (this part was not made public), while publicly claiming to be looking for "mapping laws" between the property variations of different attributes.
He drew a large number of charts, marking the Soul Power operation routes and Spiritual intention guidance methods that might correspond to different property variations.
Third step: Guided experiments and data recording.
After the theory was initially established, it entered the most critical experimental stage.
Yu Chen took himself as the first experimental subject and, under the premise of extreme caution, began to try to guide his own thunder attribute Soul Power to simulate the properties of other attributes.
Simulating earth's heaviness: He guided the Soul Power to operate in a slow and solid way, mentally visualizing mountains and earth, trying to make the thunder power carry the characteristics of "bearing" and "stability."
In the Early Stage, he failed repeatedly, and the Soul Power was stagnant or even backfired, but he adjusted it time and time again with his strong physique and precise control, and finally, he was able to make the Thunder Strike Garment on his body carry a trace of the defense Concept like a rock.
Simulating water's flexibility: The operation of Soul Power pursued continuity and roundness, with the intention visualizing flowing water. This was a huge challenge for him, who was accustomed to the explosive nature of thunder, and it caused Soul Power disorder many times.
After countless micro-adjustments, he could barely make the released thunder possess a trace of "penetration" and "buffering" effects, although it was far from the healing and nourishment of the true water attribute, it already had a prototype.
Simulating wind's lightness: This had some commonalities with the Swimming Dragon Steps, but it focused more on the "lightness" and "speed" of the Soul Power itself.
He adjusted the output frequency of the Soul Power to make it more erratic, enhancing the speed advantage that the thunder attribute already possessed, and making the attack carry a trace of "omnipresent" penetration.
Simulating fire's rising: Trying to integrate the Concept of "explosion" and "scorching" into the thunder was the most dangerous, and a slight carelessness could lead to setting oneself on fire.
He was cautious, mainly drawing on the case of students with Lava Thunderbirds in the academy, and finally was able to make the thunder ball carry a trace of continuous burning scorching effect when exploding, making it even more powerful.
At the same time, he also guided Soul Masters of other attributes in the group to conduct reverse simulation experiments, such as guiding fire attribute Soul Masters to try to simulate earth's defense, and water attribute Soul Masters to try to simulate thunder's penetration.
The process was equally difficult, but there were occasional surprising discoveries, which constantly enriched the theoretical database of property variation.
Fourth step: Preliminary application and verification.
One year passed in countless failures, adjustments, and re-experiments.
Under Yu Chen's leadership, the research group achieved major phased results—successfully summarizing and initially realizing the thunder attribute simulation of twelve common property variations of the four major attributes (wind, fire, water, earth) (as well as simple simulations between some other attributes)!
Although these simulated property variations were far inferior to the original attributes in purity and effect, their significance was immense, proving the feasibility of "attribute property variation"!
Yu Chen compiled some relatively mature and safe property variation techniques into a book for the internal reference and study of the Five Elements Academies.
For a time, in Elemental City, Soul Masters began to try to make flames carry a trace of heaviness, make flowing water contain a trace of sharpness, and make strong winds carry a trace of scorching heat... Although most were just superficial, it opened up a brand new door for the development of Soul Masters!
The Senior management of the Five Elements Academies was ecstatic about this achievement!
They knew that once this technology matured, it would become a unique advantage and a golden signboard for the Five Elements Academies, distinguishing them from other Soul Master forces!
To commend Yu Chen for his outstanding contribution, the Deans of the five academies jointly decided to award him the noble title of "Honorary Dean of the Five Elements Academies"!
And some core Legacies mastered by the five major academies could also be opened to the protagonist.
When the Dean informed Yu Chen of this honor, he did not refuse the opening of the Legacy to him.
Although most of these core Legacies had little effect on him, as he carried his own Family's Legacy, he was quite interested in one technique—spirit ring fusion.
As for the position of Honorary Dean, he just humbly said: "Thank you for the kindness of the Deans, this is the result of the joint efforts of everyone in the research group."
"It is just that as a Junior, my strength is still shallow, and my qualifications are insufficient. Being in such a high position suddenly, I am afraid it will be difficult to convince the masses, and it will also attract too much unnecessary attention from the outside world, which will be counterproductive to the research."
"It would be better to temporarily hide this news and only announce it after I have improved in the future and the research results have further progressed; that would be more appropriate."
The several Deans heard this and felt it made sense.
A "Soul King" serving as the Honorary Dean of the Five Elements Academies was indeed too shocking, and the tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind.
They agreed to Yu Chen's request and temporarily suppressed this matter, but internally, they all regarded him as an equal core figure.
During the research process, Yu Chen also asked why the Plant Academy, which represented the "wood" attribute, could not be ranked in Elemental City.
The answer received was that for current plant-type Soul Masters, the mainstream of cultivation is to continuously strengthen their own Martial Soul, and then control external plants through the Martial Soul or fight directly using Soul Power, which is more like a route of "Life control" or "Martial Soul strengthening."
As for the excavation and control of the inner properties of the "wood" attribute Soul Power itself, such as "growth, nourishment, and dredging," they had little involvement, and the Plant Academy had taken this route to the extreme.
This was diametrically opposed to the "wood Concept" that Yu Chen wanted to comprehend to quench his liver.
Helplessly, Yu Chen could only find another way.
He recalled the "Jingzhe" solar term from his previous Life, where spring thunder shook, and all things recovered.
Spring thunder is not only thunder, but also contains the meaning of "germination" that awakens vitality and stimulates plants!
This might be the thunder variation closest to the "wood" attribute.
Therefore, the following spring, he found a vibrant valley outside Elemental City and sat in meditation to comprehend it.
In his ears was the rolling spring thunder, and before his eyes was the new green breaking through the soil. He tried to restrain the destructive and violent side of the thunder power and capture and amplify that trace of hidden "germination" Concept that awakens Life.
The process was not smooth.
Destruction and creation, seemingly opposite, yet coexisting in thunder. Trying to separate them and strengthen the latter was far more difficult than simulating other attributes.
He could only vaguely grasp a trace of the feeling of "vitality," and when used to quench the liver, the effect was far less obvious than when other four attributes were used to correspond to the viscera, which could only be said to be better than nothing, and the quenching progress of the liver lagged far behind the other four viscera.
"Wood attribute quenching still needs a real Opportunity." Yu Chen understood in his heart that this matter could not be rushed.
After a year of focused research and cultivation, his Soul Power, driven by his solid Foundation and continuous insights, had naturally improved to the Peak of level 66.
Although his Rank did not improve quickly, his understanding of Soul Power, his control over thunder, and the clarity of his own path were far from what they were a year ago.
The path of quenching the five viscera had already taken shape, and the resources of the Five Elements Academies had also been initially utilized.
It was time to look for a new Opportunity for the slowly progressing liver quenching.
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