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Spirit power flowed through his body, coursing through his meridians, and Su Wen's mind was tranquil.
At his current speed, advancing one level in less than three months, he had a good chance of breaking through to level thirty within a year and a half.
This speed was extremely fast, yet Su Wen still felt it wasn't enough.
"I can be even faster!"
Su Wen believed that as long as he could solve the problem of his spirit power recovery "shunting," his cultivation speed would become even faster.
"Shunting..."
How could he make the heaven-and-earth energy he refined go toward raising his spirit power limit, and reduce the portion that was being used to recover his spent spirit power?
Su Wen carefully perceived his entire body, sensing the feeling of his spirit power breaking through at this very moment.
He sensed his spirit space, perceiving the accumulation and consumption of his "Original Spirit Power."
...
Original Spirit Power... This was a major foundation for all of Su Wen's achievements to date.
Looking back at it now, the word 'Original' wasn't truly accurate. It wasn't simply 'primitive' spirit power, but rather the 'source' of spirit power.
"It should be called 'Source Spirit Power' to be more fitting," Su Wen thought to himself.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration sparked in his mind.
In his Sea of Consciousness, the vast phantom of a library floated high above the entire "sea."
His visualization method.
This wasn't something Su Wen had visualized purely with his spiritual power; it was, to a greater extent, a projection of his spirit's own power, which he used as a foundation to gradually perfect the visualized construct.
Aided by his 'recording' characteristic, Su Wen's library was becoming more and more real.
As he cultivated in the academy's library, he would bit by bit "record" its aura and "feeling." Because of this, his visualized construct had gradually begun to replace the function of the physical mimicry environment.
Aside from its mimicry cultivation effect, the library's greatest function now was to capture Su Wen's flashes of inspiration.
It allowed his fleeting ideas to be captured and recorded, in effect "post-natally" enhancing his comprehension.
At least, judging by the results, his comprehension was stronger.
That fleeting spark of inspiration was captured. Su Wen's spiritual power delved into it, recalling the idea.
"'Source Spirit Power'... 'Source'..."
The source... the source of spirit power limit growth?
Su Wen activated his innate talent, sensing the changes of this "Source Spirit Power" within his spirit space.
"Source Spirit Power is produced and then consumed, and this is what raises my spirit power limit..."
This process of production and consumption was simultaneous. In fact, judging from the surface, it seemed as if no Source Spirit Power accumulated in his spirit space at all; it was always consumed the instant it was produced.
However, by perceiving it with his full effort, Su Wen was still able to sense the process of its birth and consumption.
"If increasing the spirit power limit requires the production and consumption of Source Spirit Power... then what about spirit power recovery?"
Su Wen had a premonition. If he could understand this answer—if he knew what process recovery relied on—he could solve the shunting problem.
"Source Spirit Power can be used to recover spirit power, but the spent Source Spirit Power is quickly replenished. This isn't true 'recovery'; it just means Source Spirit Power is an intermediate product that can be rapidly converted."
The true purpose of this "product" is to raise the spirit power limit. What is used to recover spirit power is still the normal conversion of heaven-and-earth energy.
But when heaven-and-earth energy is converted, doesn't it have to transition through Source Spirit Power first to become spirit power?
Su Wen raised one question after another, and then proceeded to answer each one.
"I think I've grasped the key point."
Heaven-and-earth energy can be directly converted into spirit power.
So how is it converted?
"Observe!"
Su Wen quickly used a few spirit skills, consuming his spirit power, and then carefully sensed the process of it recovering on its own.
"My spirit power circulates, the heaven-and-earth energy merges in, and then..."
And then... it's just... assimilated.
Su Wen even used his second spirit skill, "Control," just to make his perception of the heaven-and-earth energy more precise.
The result of his perception astonished him.
"Spirit power... assimilation..."
So, after spirit power is consumed, it just naturally assimilates heaven-and-earth energy until it's full? Is that the principle of recovery?
"No, it's more like the body's 'digestion'."
Su Wen stopped circulating his internal technique. As his spirit power roamed aimlessly, this assimilation speed decreased dramatically.
"So, spirit power recovery is really just the body's natural digestive ability, assimilating heaven-and-earth energy."
If that's the case, then according to this theory, when I perfect my internal technique's circulation pathway in the future, if I want to increase recovery speed, I need to use the most efficient pathway to circulate it to all parts of the body.
"If spirit power recovery is the body digesting heaven-and-earth energy, then by analogy, could spiritual power recovery be the soul digesting heaven-and-earth energy?"
If so, then what about Source Spirit Power?
"The 'spirit space' was just a concept I came up with. In reality, it's just a perceived existence, not a physical, tangible space. It's called a 'space,' but it's not enclosed; it's just a concept for the 'place' where the spirit resides."
The spirit is the bridge between a Spirit Master's body and soul, or rather, it is the fused part. Therefore, the birth of Source Spirit Power... rather than saying it's energy refined by the spirit, it's more accurate to say it's 'digested' by the soul and body together.
First, hypothesize, then verify.
Now that Su Wen had proposed this hypothesis, just looking back on it, he felt a sense of smoothness, of how self-consistent it was.
"I hope this hypothesis doesn't have any contradictions."
While Su Wen was meditating on the problem with his eyes closed, Yu Tianheng and the others had already finished their match.
"Little Wen, it's time to head back to the academy and cultivate."
At Yu Tianheng's reminder, Su Wen opened his eyes.
"Huh?" Yu Tianheng noticed that the aura Su Wen was giving off had changed.
Looking at those bright, clear eyes...
"Little Wen, did you... break through?" he asked, his face a mask of disbelief.
Su Wen had just broken through two and a half months ago, and now he had broken through again.
This meant that in the four months since he had entered Tian Dou Royal Academy, Su Wen had already advanced two full levels!
To be precise, five months after Su Wen broke through to level twenty-three, he had now reached level twenty-five.
One level every two and a half months!
It was terrifying.
"At this rate... Little Wen, you have a real chance of reaching the Spirit Elder rank before you turn thirteen."
Even if he was just one month shy of thirteen, he would still be twelve.
A twelve-year-old Spirit Elder...
Su Wen smiled faintly, showing no sign of pride.
The hypothesis he had just proposed, though not yet verified, gave him a strong feeling that it was the correct answer.
If his feeling was correct, then once he firmed up this direction, he would be able to rapidly increase his cultivation speed yet again.
"Knowledge... is a good thing."
What is knowledge?
This concept was even more abstract. In Su Wen's current cognition, anything he explored, pioneered, and understood... that was knowledge.
To start from theory, to understand cultivation from a theoretical perspective, and in turn to propel his own spirit power cultivation... that was his path.
"This... is what it means to be a scholar."
Hearing Yu Tianheng's shocked voice, the other team members all turned their heads to look at Su Wen in disbelief.
Only at this moment did Qin Ming also realize that, without him noticing, Su Wen's spirit power had become much stronger.
"Little Wen, you..." Yu Tianheng held it in for a long time before he couldn't help but blurt out, "You're not... 'using hacks,' are you?"
(End of this chapter)