After Aqua practiced for a while and then grew restless and started causing a ruckus, Chinatsu once again corrected Aqua's attitude back into the obedient student state of mind, and then officially began teaching.
On the desolate lunar surface, Chinatsu briefly informed Aqua of the five core principles of the "Taixu Sword Qi."
"Heart, Form, Intent, Soul, and Divine?" Aqua counted on her fingers, her golden eyes full of curiosity. "That sounds like a lot~ ☆ Let's learn the most powerful one first! Is it the Divine Principle?"
"No," Chinatsu shook her head decisively, ignoring the last item. "The Divine Principle... you don't need to worry about it right now." She recalled the dangerous information regarding the Divine Principle and felt it was too early for Aqua to be exposed to it.
She focused on the starting point: "We will begin with the 'Heart Principle.' This is the first principle for entry, and it is the foundation for all changes."
She paused, then added an evaluation she had found in her knowledge base.
"... In a sense, it is also the most difficult principle, besides the Divine Principle."
"The most difficult?" Aqua was not scared; instead, she became even more eager to try. "This King loves challenges!~ ☆ Teach me quickly!"
Chinatsu looked at Aqua, who resembled a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger, and sighed internally: (Fortunately, according to the High Immortal, adolescence is the best period for tempering the Sword Heart. The purer the mind, the faster the progress. This Aqua... setting aside everything else, when it comes to 'purity,' perhaps no one can compare to her.)
She said no more, sinking her consciousness inward and, through the soul link, opening up a stream of memory information to Aqua regarding the "Taixu Sword Qi: Heart Principle," which originated from the The core of reason.
Aqua only felt a massive, indescribable surge of information entering her mind. It was not specific text or images, but a profound and mysterious rhythm, a passage consisting of four hundred and sixty-two strange syllables that could not be expressed in words or form—the "Sword Heart Formula."
"Wow! What is this? So many strange sounds are ringing in my head~ ☆" Aqua exclaimed in surprise.
"Calm your mind and feel it; do not force Understanding," Chinatsu guided. "You only need to recite, silently chant, and listen. Even if you do not comprehend its meaning, the Sword Heart Formula itself is already taking effect."
Aqua seemed half-Understanding, but she had an instinctive trust in Chinatsu.
Copying Chinatsu, she sat cross-legged with a wobbly posture in the moon's low-gravity environment, closed her eyes, and began to diligently "listen" to the syllables in her mind, attempting to silently chant along.
To Chinatsu's surprise, Aqua's progress on the "Heart Principle" was astonishingly fast!
Her state of mind, pure to the point of being nearly blank, seemed to exist naturally just to hold the "Sword Heart Formula."
The obscure and hard-to-understand syllables echoed in her mind, naturally activating her spiritual power and subtly beginning to temper her nascent "Heart."
The spiritual power that had been restless around her also began to show faint signs of converging inward and cycling repeatedly as she chanted silently.
Not long after, Aqua excitedly opened her eyes and announced triumphantly:
"Weak Goodness! I felt it! My head feels cool and clear, and the power in my body seems... seems a little more obedient?~ ☆ It's too simple! Quickly teach me the next principle!"
Chinatsu looked at Aqua's "praise me quickly" expression and rubbed her forehead helplessly.
"The Form Principle and the Intent Principle require specific weapons and techniques as vessels. You don't even have the basics yet, so you can't practice them."
She flatly refused, then looked at Aqua's pair of golden eyes, which were bright but always carried a hint of "clear foolishness," and sighed.
"The Soul Principle... demands extremely high comprehension. Given your current state..." She left the rest of her sentence unspoken, but her gaze made everything clear.
Aqua's little face instantly fell, and she pouted discontentedly: "Then... then I'll just learn the Divine Principle! You just said not to worry about it, but you didn't say I couldn't learn it!~ ☆"
This sentence, however, was like a bolt of lightning, instantly awakening Chinatsu!
(Wait a minute... Aqua's situation is exactly the same as Kiana's next door. The essence of the Divine Principle is to shape and extend power, giving it stronger malleability and penetrative force... while Heart and Form are for better control of immense power. In a sense, they truly lay the foundation for the Divine Principle...)
(Aqua is naturally capable of controlling vast spiritual power, which is her advantage, but her foundation is almost zero. Forcing herself to cultivate the Divine Principle would be like having a baby wield a giant hammer; the only result would be self-injury!)
Having figured out the key point, Chinatsu became even more resolute.
"Absolutely not!" She refused flatly. "The Divine Principle requires a solid foundation. You have only just entered the 'Heart Principle.' Forcing cultivation will only cause your spiritual power to spiral out of control, or even backfire! Honestly, focus on mastering the 'Heart Principle' first!"
Aqua pursed her mouth in grievance but still sat back down obediently, only mumbling softly, "Oh..."
Seeing her demeanor, Chinatsu knew that mere lecturing wouldn't suffice; she had to provide specific guidance. She recalled the essentials of the Sword Heart Formula, attempting to summarize them in the most concise language:
"Sever stray thoughts, converge the breath."
Aqua blinked her large eyes, looking utterly confused: "...I don't understand. Who would understand if you say that?~ ☆"
Chinatsu: "..."
She took a deep breath of the nonexistent "lunar air," forcefully suppressed the urge to knock her on the head, and resignedly began to "translate":
"It means—Focus! Stop letting your mind wander! Empty your brain! Relax your body! Then, carefully feel the most subtle sensations within your body, and how the power inside you is flowing! Do you understand?"
"Oh! If you had just said that earlier, I would have understood!~ ☆" Aqua realized, a smile returning to her face. "Focus, empty, relax, feel! Simple!~ ☆"
She closed her eyes again, and this time, she seemed to genuinely start trying to follow Chinatsu's "translated" instructions.
Although her posture was still not standard, and she occasionally swayed slightly due to the low gravity, she was indeed attempting to eliminate distracting thoughts and fully concentrate her attention on the subtle flow of her own spiritual power.
Chinatsu watched her diligent yet somewhat clumsy appearance, feeling amused and helpless, but also harboring a faint sense of anticipation.
(Perhaps... this kind of "foolish" persistence, this purity undisturbed by stray thoughts, is precisely the quality most needed for cultivating the "Heart Principle"?)
The silent moon once again became the best training ground.
A mentor and a student were conducting a unique cultivation concerning power and temperament on this land far removed from the noise of the mortal world.
And those four hundred and sixty-two silent syllables were quietly rippling across Aqua's pure Heart Lake, laying the first, and most important, cornerstone for her future control over that world-destroying power.
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