After reviewing their battle, the discussion between master and disciple continued. The review was just a prelude; the truly important part was yet to come.
"Yan, what do you think is your biggest problem right now?" You Chen asked, knowing the answer but choosing to engage his disciple's thinking, encouraging him to reflect.
A teacher's role is not only to impart knowledge but also to develop the student's ability to learn and think independently. This was especially crucial as You Chen was about to leave.
With the recent battle review fresh in his mind, Yan's thoughts flowed more freely. Unlike usual, he didn't need to ponder deeply before answering, "Teacher, is it my control over soul power? If I could maintain the Vulcan Cannon without it collapsing, I wouldn't have been at such a disadvantage in the first exchange, leaving me almost powerless to counter later."
You Chen nodded but also shook his head, "Your idea isn't wrong. But to be precise, it's still an issue with your mental strength."
Seeing Yan's thoughtful expression, You Chen continued, "You don't have much time to spend on further improving your soul power control. At your current level, it's already sufficient. From here on, it's about gradual improvement."
He seamlessly weaved in the story of Feng Xiaotian, a genius with innate full soul power, who spent too much effort on creating soul skills and enhancing soul power control, ending up as a mere level 44 Soul Elder in his twenties.
Upon hearing this story, Yan exclaimed, "Innate full soul power, level 44 at twenty?! Did this guy spend twenty years living like a dog? Is that really a full soul power talent? Teacher, you aren't just making this up to scare me, are you!?"
Not being innately full of soul power himself, Yan believed he could reach level 44 in a couple of years. The story seemed too exaggerated!
You Chen silently thought to himself, 'Making it up? Just wait a few years, and you'll see this legendary tale for yourself.'
As for Feng Xiaotian's foolish decision to suppress his level due to infatuation, that was unnecessary to mention.
He spoke meaningfully, "Some endeavors, once you invest in them and get absorbed, you may find you've wasted a lot of time without realizing it. Especially for young people like you; without restraint, you'll regret it when you're older."
"Teacher, why does it feel like you're speaking in riddles?" A glint of insight flashed in Yan's eyes. He had long noticed that his teacher sometimes enjoyed speaking in enigmatic riddles.
"That's just your imagination."
You Chen cleared his throat, steering the topic back on track, "In any case, at your age, your soul power control is sufficient. In the coming years, there's no need to focus too much on this. After I leave, cut down your daily practice in this area by four-fifths, just enough to maintain your current state."
"But mental strength is different. Once your mental strength improves, it will also enhance your control over soul power. Previously, your training focused on pure technique and proficiency, but increasing mental strength boosts your foundational ability. Most importantly, honing your mental strength can increase your cultivation efficiency."
"Teacher, I haven't forgotten that."
Yan nodded, "It's just like you said, the cultivation of essence, energy, and spirit."
You Chen nodded in agreement.
The essence of Wuhun in this world is the combination of essence, energy, and spirit, creating a gift and miracle from the world.
In many cultivation systems across worlds, this foundational path is evident.
Especially since "Douluo Dalu" has certain roots in traditional martial arts novels, You Chen, after dedicating time and effort, confirmed his hypothesis's accuracy.
In this world, essence, energy, and spirit refer to physical body, soul power, and mental strength, respectively. More specifically, it's the physical essence and vitality, soul power, and mental will.
The requirement to awaken Wuhun at age six isn't because the number six holds special significance, or that the world's rules dictate awakening must occur after that age.
Rather, it's about allowing the body to grow enough not to be too frail, and for the mind to mature enough for essence and energy to reach a preliminary maturity, thus completing the final piece of the puzzle—soul power—to achieve a relative balance of essence, energy, and spirit, prompting Wuhun awakening.
Otherwise, there's a risk of inherent deficiencies.
For instance, in Douluo II, Huo Yuhao, under the oppression of the Duke's Mansion, had insufficient physical essence growth and excessive mental strength, resulting in an innate soul power deficiency.
Similarly, most body spirits, being initially weak, reflect the complete essence, energy, and spirit of the soul master. Since the body spirit is only part of the body, the essence attribute is proportionately lower, leading to generally low innate soul power.
Conversely, if the physical and mental will develop to the baseline early, awakening can occur before age six without any hidden dangers. This has been verified by the Spirit Hall.
Therefore, cultivating Wuhun is essentially cultivating essence, energy, and spirit, which mutually enhance each other.
Training the body, cultivating soul power, and honing mental will—any deficiency in one affects the overall cultivation speed, and conversely, improvement in one can indirectly boost the others.
However, relying solely on one aspect to drag up the weaker ones can result in side effects over time, known as an unstable foundation.
The proper path is to advance all three in harmony.
Regarding this knowledge, You Chen never kept it to himself. He had published related insights in the Spirit Hall's journal years ago.
But at that time, he was only 14 and merely proposed a hypothesis, which received less attention than works like "The Uses of Whale Glue," which directly benefited soul masters.
After he completed his validation and published the compiled content in a book, the leadership of the Pope changed shortly thereafter.
His treasured book was sealed away by the Spirit Hall for obvious reasons, likely known only to the upper echelons.
But while the book was restricted, the knowledge remained in his mind.
After taking on Yan as his disciple, he withheld nothing, even incorporating new insights from the years, fully imparting them to Yan.
He also informed Yan that much of this knowledge was in his book, which was considered forbidden by the Spirit Hall, so sharing it was strictly prohibited—even with his childhood friends.
Otherwise, it might lead to disaster.