96 A Little Golden Lotus and a Calling of Unrest 6 (1/2)

After settling all formalities, the Eldest Young Master could be considered a great teacher.

If An Fei ignored the fact that the youth before her with the insufferable, cold aura, was attempting to claim her life to preserve the family's dignity if necessary and without any hesitation, she would have mistaken him for a gentle elder brother who carefully explained certain concepts to his clueless younger sister.

Well, almost.

”The 's fundamental principle is to combine Yin attributed spiritual essence with Yang attributed spiritual essence,” the cold youth steadily spoke, pacing back and forth within the study at a slow pace.

”By fusing spiritual essence of polar attributes, the technique can produce a might several folds more potent than the individual components that form the finished product.”

”Yin attributed spiritual essence… Yang attributed spiritual essence…”

The young girl murmured to herself, her eyes nearly glazing over in her confusion.

Raising her head, An Fei glanced at the Eldest Young Master's cold visage, before moving her lips to ask a question that nearly tipped coals onto her foot.

”…Eldest Brother, what's the difference between Yin and Yang attributed spiritual essence?”

”Mh…” Wei Chang Feng froze, giving the girl a good glare of consternation.

Restraining his facial muscles, the youth clasped his hands behind his back, facing away from the girl.

”Spiritual qi and spiritual essence can be generalized into two major attributes, which are Yin and Yang,” the youth mulled.

”Yin and Yang do not refer to varying extremes of temperature, but rather refer to a generalized collection of properties. Yang contains attributes of aggression, imposing might, dominance, straightforwardness, and others upholding a direct, fierce role. Yin contains attributes of elusiveness, subtleness, and is oftentimes submissive in demeanor compared to Yang.”

”Fourth Little Sister can think of Yang as a domineering emperor, and Yin as an empress. When the emperor commands, the subject must obey; Yang possesses a direct influence over its surroundings, but can only alter the environment and never itself. On the other hand, an empress does not possess direct authority in either politics or over the citizens; Yin possesses a subtle influence over the surroundings, and mainly alters the self to better adapt to the environment.”

An Fei instinctively frowned at Wei Chang Feng's explanation, drumming on the drawing table with her fingers.

Listening to the rhythmic sounds of her finger tapping on the wooden surface, the girl smoothened her brow, firing off another question whilst preparing her brush.

”Then… spiritual essence can manifest in the same form regardless of whether its attribute is Yang or Yin, but the intrinsic properties will differ?”

”That's correct,” the cold youth affirmed with a curt tone.

”What does it mean to fuse spiritual essence of polar attributes?” the girl quickly asked, the brush in her hand tracing small movements on the paper.

”Attempting to combine Yin and Yang attributed spiritual essence, wouldn't it produce a similar effect as combining fire and water?”

”That is correct, but also drastically incorrect.”

An Fei pushed her bottom lip in a pout, her eyes narrowed in dissatisfaction towards the answer given by Wei Chang Feng.

As if sensing her discontent though his back was turned, the Eldest Young Master soon expanded on his reply as he stared towards the closed doors of the study.

”The easiest misconception to make during the path of cultivation is to assume that Yin and Yang are polar attributes; this misconception can occur even if one is fully aware that it is incorrect as they make further revelations. Yin and Yang are in itself, generalizations of a concept.”

”For example, a person may adopt a submissive attitude towards a superior being – it would be apt to declare the person's attitude to be of Yin. However, his actions may gravitate towards aggressive traits through his speech, expressions, or just about everything else; Yin and Yang are opposite sides of a border, with a thin line separating the two.”

”So when the states to merge spiritual essence gathered from a Yin acupuncture point with spiritual essence gathered from a Yang acupuncture point,” An Fei mused, placing the sheet of paper onto the drying rack and grabbing a fresh page.

”The is meant to combine spiritual essence of polar attributes,” the girl directed a glance towards the Eldest Young Master, ”as in combining aggression and diffidence? Or suppression with submission?”

Wei Chang Feng inwardly started in surprise at the girl's questions; she seemed to have begun to notice the interesting factor of cultivation.

Nodding his head, the cold youth tapped his fingers behind his back, pondering in silence for several minutes.

”If we were to reference Fourth Little Sister's analogy of fire and water,” the Eldest Young Master finally spoke, his voice flat and unchanging.

”Then it would be apt to notice that when we pour water onto a blazing fire, the fire loses heat to maintain its state of conflagration. Similarly, the water would gain heat and evaporate, establishing a delicate balance of neutrality.”

”In the world of cultivation, spiritual essence similarly possesses a state of neutrality, devoid of any attributes that define it as either Yin or Yang attributed spiritual essence. However, compared to the case of fire and water, of which the neutral state produces nothing, fully neutralized spiritual essence is one of the strongest and deadliest tools available to a cultivator.”