Outside the homestay,
Selene was side-eyeing her father while walking beside him. "Father, why did you do that? You said you are going to support me!" She spoke after a while.
"I am helping you," Magnus looked down at his short daughter, a physical trait that Selene and her older brother, Victor inherited from their mother. He smiled gently at her, giving a completely different expression compared to previously in Leyvi's place.
"You think I don't know you? You've been talking about him non-stop for the past week. You wouldn't be able to sleep or eat properly. I can feel your love aura from miles away. If I don't help you, who will?"
Selene felt her cheeks burn, "But, Father! Why did you have to be so...so..."
"So what?" Magnus looked at her curiously.
"So intimidating! Why are you so aggressive just now? How is that helping me?" Selene was angry again.
Magnus chuckled, "It's just to test his character. If he's a coward, he won't be able to handle you and your future. But I see, he's quite the man. He didn't even flinch under my pressure. Heck, even his wife didn't flinch. I thought you fell for some loser because you said he is goofy. But he turned out to be better than me when I was his age."
"But he must have bad impressions of me now, all because of you! Can't you test him in another way? Hmph!" Selene pouted.
"That's your problem. I only wanted to see what he was like. After this, it's up to you how you win his heart. Your mother and I won't interfere. I can't believe my daughter turned into a stalker." Magnus sighed.
"I'm not a stalker! I just followed him a bit while hiding!" Selene stomped her leg and refuted.
Magnus's eyebrow twitched. Girl, that is stalking. Did I forget to teach her common sense? He thought as he walked with Selene.
"Then, what about the family rule? Mother said I need to be the main wife." Selene asked.
"Hahaha! Screw the rules. I'm the patriarch! It's not like no one ever broke that rule. Many of your aunts and grandaunts had run away with their lovers in the past. It's not anything new." Magnus leaked some of their family's shameful past.
Selene was dumbfounded.
---------
A few days later, a day before the Alchemy Conference.
Leyvi was training in the pool again. From his right fist, cavitation bubbles were forming and disappearing continuously. Although it wouldn't do any damage, for now, Leyvi was satisfied with his progress.
Two days earlier, Layla had given him a jade slip that contained countless pieces of information about cavitation that had been studied by many scholars, cultivators, and truth seekers. She had used her mini clones to find them all over the city and compiled them together at such a high speed.
Because there were so many things he had to learn, to save a lot of time, Leyvi used the 'Log In' function of his talent bead and sent his consciousness into the internal storage room. In here, the time wouldn't pass even a second. So, he could study as much as he wanted without worrying about time.
Leyvi could use this place for the first time since his activity this time involved only studying, and nothing physically related. After all, it was just his consciousness here without a real physical body.
He spent more than three months here trying to have a basic understanding of everything recorded in the jade slip. He thought that he could stay here for as long as he wanted, but he was wrong. Staying in the internal storage room would still expend his mental energy and cause him to be mentally exhausted the longer he stayed.
Even with his dual mind alternating and resting, the most he could stay here was 2 months. After that, he returned to the real world and slept for a whole day before his mental fatigue disappeared and he sent his consciousness back into the internal storage room to continue studying.
From his study, cavitation occurs when the pressure in a liquid drops below its vapor pressure, causing the liquid to vaporize and form bubbles. For example, normal water would need to be heated to a certain temperature before it vaporizes, however, water could also vaporize when the pressure drops below its vapor pressure.
Using Reddie as an example, her club-like arms moved so fast in water that it rapidly reduced the pressure around her club to below the vapor pressure, instantaneously vaporizing the water in that area and creating vapor bubbles and it immediately collapsed violently due to the pressure difference between the water and the bubble. The collapse would generate a significant amount of energy depending on the conditions.
He had tried to use this method previously by practicing a fast movement in water but it proved to be too difficult for now.
However, that was not the only way to reduce the pressure of water rapidly. Instead of physically moving fast in the water, Leyvi thought of a way to produce a similar effect using his Qi.
By circulating his Qi rapidly around his fist, he was able to create a low-pressure zone around his fist and continuously create a cavitation bubble that immediately collapsed around his fist. He could feel each of the small impacts the cavitation collapse produced.
Leyvi was overjoyed. The Qi circulating method that he thought of was more efficient than trying to mimic the fast movement of Reddie. As long as he has the Qi to circulate, he can do this as long as he wants.
"Hahahaha! Layla is the best!" Leyvi shouted from the pool. Everyone in the house could hear Leyvi's voice clearly.
Layla who was discussing things with Anda blushed heavily when she heard his voice. Why are you shouting that so loudly? She complained in her heart.
Anda giggled. "Sigh looks like I'm not his favorite anymore. Layla, you can take over as the Big Madam now. I retired." Anda joked.
"Sister Anda, you are the one who told me to find all of that information for our husband, now I feel like a villain stealing your credit," Layla said.
Anda chuckled, "Who said you are stealing my credit? You are the one who collected all of that knowledge, of course, all the credit goes to you. Besides, I'm happy to see him so excited about his training."
"Madam, just like you said, my clone ability felt like a cheat. I could study so many things at the same time. Not only did I learn everything that our husband wanted to learn while collecting all that information, but I also reorganized, revised, and recompiled them so they could be understood more easily. But that was still a mountain of things to study, how did husband read all of them so fast?" Layla asked.
"If you want to know, just ask him directly. You are his wife too." Anda smiled mysteriously.
Leyvi made a fist in the water again. He entered a focused state to enhance his control over the Qi circulation around his fist with the help of his spiritual sense monitoring the flow. He visualized a continuous, rapid circulation of Qi in the form of a vortex around his fist as this was the most natural form of flow to him.
Leyvi ensured the Qi flowed smoothly and rapidly around the fist, creating a consistent pattern that maintained a low-pressure zone. After he produced a low-pressure zone around his fist, bubbles started forming and collapsing continuously. He had achieved this effect previously.
Now, what would happen if he further decreased the pressure around his fist? To do that, he had to increase the speed of his Qi circulation even faster. Leyvi focused more and gave his best to increase his Qi circulation speed. The vortex spun much faster and Leyvi could sense the pressure lowered further.
Soon, he witnessed the cavitation bubbles that formed were much bigger than the previous time, and their collapse produced a much bigger impact than before.
Leyvi smiled. He had made a small breakthrough. The faster his Qi circulation, the more bigger bubbles formed, causing the subsequent implosions to produce bigger force, and send ripples through the water. It was a sight to behold, and he knew that if he could harness this power in combat, it would be a game-changer.
Wait a second, if cultivators could create fire, water, or other things using their Qi, shouldn't he be able to create cavitation bubbles using his Qi too?
Leyvi realized something but felt like he shouldn't rush and have to do this step by step by understanding the basics first. If Anda could conjure a tangible fire out of nowhere, maybe he could do a similar thing in the future.
Leyvi decided to practice his Qi control first until he was able to form a Qi vortex around his fist without the need to concentrate and strain himself. After he was able to do this, then he would proceed to the next step.
He practiced forming the Qi vortex around his fist, increasing and decreasing its speed. The cavitation bubbles grew larger and smaller with each fluctuation. He studied the way the water behaved around his fist, the way the bubbles formed and collapsed, and the power that was produced.
Time passed and it was finally the day of the Alchemy Conference.