The time finally arrived at the fifteenth of the month. This day was the night of the full moon, and it was also the day for Yu Yan and Xiao Wu to verify the conjecture in their hearts.
As usual, on the eastern mountaintop, Yu Yan and Xiao Wu sat cross-legged, waiting for the moon to rise.
During these days, Xiao Wu had already returned to normal, eating and drinking as she pleased. She even held onto Yu Yan's arm and acted spoiled to get three meals of Crayfish in different flavors.
Everything seemed as if nothing had changed.
Actually, that's not right; Xiao Wu's attitude toward Cultivation was obviously much more serious than before.
Yu Yan didn't guess the reason, but Xiao Wu's willingness to Cultivate seriously was a great thing for him.
"Do you think our conjecture will be proven?"
Xiao Wu was a bit nervous, worried that the conjecture about the moon producing Essence of Sun and Moon on the night of the full moon would be declared a failure tonight.
"I think it will succeed."
Having taken Xiao Wu's advice to heart, Yu Yan did not say anything disappointing or expectation-lowering at this time; instead, he comforted her.
From this perspective, Yu Yan was influencing Xiao Wu, and Xiao Wu was likewise influencing Yu Yan.
This is how people get along; you are changing the other person, and they are changing you.
A full moon slowly rose, casting soft moonlight upon the world, stroking everything in the mountains and fields, and coating them in a layer of silver gauze.
Without needing Xiao Wu to urge him, Yu Yan closed his eyes and exerted his mental force to the fullest, using the Meditation Technique to perceive his surroundings.
With his mental force at full throttle, Yu Yan successfully perceived a special energy within the soft moonlight.
This energy was silver-white, flowing toward the world with the moonlight as its center.
Seeing this scene from this perspective was incomparably beautiful and soul-stirring.
Yu Yan's mental force made contact with the silver-white energy. Unlike the purple qi of the rising sun, the first sensation this energy gave was one of gentleness.
Approaching this energy was like being close to one's own mother.
His mental force contacted this Lunar Essence, and using his experience in refining purple qi, he guided a small wisp of energy into his body.
As the Lunar Essence entered Yu Yan's body, the mild energy emitted a faint, soft chill, making one subconsciously lower their guard.
Having been prepared for this, Yu Yan instantly completed his Martial Soul Possession, stimulating the fire fish's flame energy.
Fire and chill clashed within Yu Yan's body, and the Lunar Essence was refined during this process.
Seeing Yu Yan perform Martial Soul Possession, Xiao Wu understood that there was no problem with their conjecture; a special energy indeed existed within the moon and could be absorbed.
Knowing that Lunar Essence truly existed excited Xiao Wu even more than knowing about the purple qi.
The purple qi was discovered by Yu Yan alone, but the Lunar Essence was discovered by her and Yu Yan together; the significance of the two was completely different.
Lunar Essence, or the essence of the moon, was the name Yu Yan had given this special energy in advance.
After taking a few deep breaths to calm her emotions, Xiao Wu quickly sat cross-legged and entered a state of Cultivation. She wanted to see if she could discover and absorb the Lunar Essence on her own.
The method of deep breathing to calm emotions was something Xiao Wu had learned from practicing Taiji with Yu Yan.
In her meditative Cultivation state, Xiao Wu did not perceive the existence of the Lunar Essence.
Having anticipated this, Xiao Wu wasn't too sad. She turned instead to absorb the high-quality spirit power dissipating from Yu Yan's body.
After this period of Cultivation, Xiao Wu could feel that the quality of the spirit power in her body was significantly higher than before.
The essence of her Rank 10 spirit power hadn't changed, but her sustained combat time using spirit power was one-tenth longer than before; this was clear progress.
Speaking of which, one must disparage Yu Xiaogang's Ten Core Competencies of Spirits—the theory that the spirit ring Bottleneck does not affect spirit power accumulation.
Regarding this theory, Yu Xiaogang's explanation was that when a spirit ring has not been obtained, spirit power can still be accumulated. For example, a Rank 30 Spirit Master who hasn't absorbed a spirit ring can directly reach Rank 31 or even higher after a Breakthrough.
With such a pointed theory specifically mentioning not breaking through at Rank 30, it was obvious at a glance who was being stubborn and who was daydreaming.
Yu Xiaogang might still be dreaming of a day when he could break through and jump straight to Rank 40 or higher based on years of accumulation.
These full-of-holes theories were the real reason Yu Xiaogang became a clown in everyone's eyes and was mockingly called 'Grandmaster'.
Back to the topic.
The full moon hung in the sky, and the Lunar Essence did not vanish in the blink of an eye like the purple qi in the morning sun.
It remained hanging in the sky, and the Lunar Essence continued to flow down from the heavens.
After refining that wisp of Lunar Essence, Yu Yan pulled in another wisp and began refining it again.
Yu Yan was very happy; he could continuously refine Lunar Essence tonight, and the benefits of this Cultivation were self-evident.
Xiao Wu was also very happy; she could continuously absorb the high-quality spirit power dissipating from Yu Yan's body to Cultivate, gaining no small benefit.
In the blink of an eye, the time of the rising sun arrived. Yu Yan, who had been Cultivating all night, sensed the appearance of the purple qi. He quickly stimulated the Ice Fish's power and turned to begin absorbing and refining the purple qi.
This time, as the purple qi entered Yu Yan's body, some very obvious changes occurred.
The purple qi traveled through Yu Yan's body, triggering the residual Lunar Essence.
The purple qi and Lunar Essence intertwined and merged, forming a brand-new energy. This energy emitted neither heat nor chill and appeared to have no abnormalities.
Yu Yan used the Meditation Technique to move this brand-new energy. Without any hindrance, the new energy was guided and refined.
The entire process was exceptionally smooth—so smooth that Yu Yan began to doubt if it was an illusion.
The energy was completely refined, and Yu Yan could feel that both his spirit power and physical fitness had made significant progress.
Xiao Wu, who had been Cultivating all night, opened her eyes. She looked at Yu Yan with some confusion. It should have been the time when refining purple qi caused spirit power to dissipate, but no high-quality spirit power was dissipating from Yu Yan's body.
Did something happen that I don't know about?
Xiao Wu stood up and did some simple stretches. Whatever happened, she would wait for Yu Yan to finish his Cultivation before asking.
While Xiao Wu was moving her body, Yu Yan was perceiving his current state.
First, the most joyful thing was the growth of his spirit power. After a night of Cultivation, his Rank 9 progress had reached 54%. If he did this again in the middle of next month, he was confident he could successfully Breakthrough to Rank 10.
Second were the physical changes. After the energy from the Fusion of purple qi and Lunar Essence was successfully refined, Yu Yan could clearly feel a surge of strength and could clearly feel his body changing—changing for the better.
Yu Yan called the energy resulting from the Fusion of purple qi and Lunar Essence the 'Essence of Sun and Moon'. The name was borrowed, but it was the most appropriate one.
Yu Yan wasn't very clear on why this energy was born, but what was certain was that this energy brought him only benefits and no harm.
The benefits of spirit power growth naturally went without saying; spirit power was the root of the Xuanhuan power on the Douluo Continent.
The improvement in physical fitness would allow Yu Yan to absorb spirit rings of a higher age.