"What is so impressive about that? It is just a crooked path."
Shiratori Riku smiled in disdain.
"But... but sending out the Yang Spirit is one of Quanzhen's arts, right?"
Rokudo Rinko asked.
"Quanzhen has always cultivated the inner elixir, polishing one's life and fate. Letting the soul leave the body is only a by-product once your essence reaches a certain level."
"It is like Longhu Mountain's Golden Light Mantra. The light is just a side effect produced while refining life."
"If you make the side effect the main road, you have already gone astray."
Riku studied many methods, but he knew the root was one's own life-force. If you cultivate techniques without cultivating the Way, you end with nothing.
In game terms, techniques are skills and life-force is your stats, while Quanzhen are pure stat monsters.
No fancy inputs or mechanics, just numbers, crushing others with absolute stats.
"Oh. Then Uncle, can you send out a Yang Spirit?"
Rinko nodded as if she understood, though not fully.
"No. I can let my soul leave the body, but I am not at the level of a Yang Spirit. My cultivation has not reached that point."
"Those two brats are not using Yang Spirit either. It is only the soul leaving the body. Do not mix them up."
What Riku knew as the Yang Spirit meant refining all yin from the soul until only pure yang remained. That was the hand of an immortal.
Humans are born with yin and yang. To scour away every trace of yin and leave only pure yang is hard beyond hard.
"But the brothers and people outside all say that is the Yang Spirit."
"That is just flattery from onlookers. If you take it seriously, you are a big fool."
They were speaking at a normal volume, not hiding anything, so Huang Ming and Liu Xingyang heard Riku clearly.
"Uncle, you do not have to put it that way. A soul form has its uses. It moves faster and can attack the spirit directly."
Huang Ming walked over.
"Proud, are you. Taking your soul and ramming it into someone is no different from charging a knife tip with your flesh."
"That act is what a certified fool would do. Do not get me wrong. I am not calling you a fool. I am saying whoever does that is a fool."
Riku did not sugarcoat it.
"Ahem, Uncle, Brother Huang has not been in the sect long. He is young. They were only sparring for fun."
Liu Xingyang came over. He was plump, wore sunglasses, and sported a full beard. He looked older, but in generation he still called Riku Uncle.
"Shut it, big fool. If I do not teach him now, the moment he goes down the mountain and meets a real expert, one slap will scatter his soul."
"There are not that many experts."
"I heard you loud and clear. You do not believe me, right? Then take one move from me. If you can take it, I will apologize."
"If you cannot, then polish your life-force honestly and stop playing with flashy tricks."
Riku gestured for Huang Ming to make the first move.
"Uncle, are you serious?"
Huang hesitated. He was unconvinced, but this was the junior uncle. If he hurt him, he would be finished.
"Yes. Come straight at me. I will hold back."
Riku nodded.
"Then here I come."
Huang Ming's soul emerged and shot at Riku at high speed. As he moved, he saw Riku's arm twitch and instantly changed direction to evade.
"I was just scratching my ear. Why the big reaction?"
Riku cleaned his ear and watched Huang flash in and out. "Now I am actually going to move."
The moment he finished, a crushing aura burst from him. In an instant he was before Huang Ming's soul, and in the next breath he pinned it to the ground.
Huang felt as if his spirit would be pulverized. That terrifying pressure shook his three souls and seven spirits until they roiled.
"Now you see why you must not leave your body lightly."
"If the other side has means against the spirit and you abandon the body's protection, you are dead for sure."
"If you stay in the body, with the life-force we of Quanzhen temper through inner-elixir work, their arts cannot shake your soul through your flesh."
"Letting the soul roam is fine for your own amusement. Do not think of using it to fight."
What Riku used now was a modified Conqueror's Haki, fusing his spiritual power with it to form a massive pressure.
The true version would condense that will into a strike like advanced infusion, injuring both body and soul.
But facing his own junior, he held back and used only pressure to teach the lesson.
"Thank you for the guidance, Uncle."
When the weight lifted, Huang Ming returned his spirit to his body and bowed.
The experience branded a lesson into him. The soul had its perks, and also its pitfalls. When to use it had to be judged with utmost care.