NOVEL WEB Comprehension
Elder Shoushan was not expecting this; usually the slab emits a color to indicate a level of talent.... but this was a whole new phenomenon entirely.
Awestruck by this display, Elder Shoushan states, "I'm going to assume this is some indicator of an extremely talented individual and give you the highest ranking of talent we can give for now. I will speak with the sect elder about this."
As Deimos opened her eyes, she began to drop to the floor..... where she quickly extended her legs and caught herself before falling completely. She straightened her back confidently and awaited the next test Elder Shoushan brought up.
Stepping off the slab, Elder Shoushan walked over to the tomes, grabbing one, flipping through it, and walking over to Deimos. He motioned for her to come over to him. Deimos, obliging and making her way to him, was handed the technique. It was labelled "Sun and moon circulation Technique."
Upon opening the book, Elder Shoushan stated, "I will be keeping track of how long it takes for you to understand this technique. When you are ready, I will question you about this technique for understanding. I will only know you are ready to answer if you tell me you understand the technique, so do keep that in mind."
Nodding in understanding, Deimos begins to read the first page. Simply stated, the technique was solely a way to move your QI to resemble that of the sun and moon. Taking advantage of the aspects of yin and yang, light and dark, sun and moon.
It shouldn't be too hard for Deimos; she just needs to control the Qi around her like she's been doing. What she didn't understand simply from the first page, though, was how exactly she could make the yin and yang properties take hold in the actual flow, causing it to resemble the sun and moon.
On the second page, there was a diagram of a man standing upright. Shown in lines throughout the body, the dantian was shown with multiple steps. The diagram had a description of how she should be moving the Qi to achieve the actual intended shapes.
The most interesting part of the technique was the fact that the movements were based on getting the small movements of Qi caused by the user of the technique to cause a sort of butterfly effect and make the Qi in the air actually move along with it.
It made use of properties of Qi that Deimos didn't understand yet. Noting that the Qi in the air was being moved when she would make the small actions described in the tome, she came to the conclusion that the specific actions must interact with Yin and Yang Qi, allowing a kind of second hand manipulation of it. A simpler version, per say.
That posed a question in her mind. If it makes use of altering Yin and Yang Qi both at once, how would one make use of that without both types of Qi? She knew women naturally had Yin Qi, while men naturally had Yang Qi.
How would she use both at once? Reading further into the tome, she understood why it was possible. The tome itself stated that one would release either Yin or Yang Qi from themselves, directly into the environment, while using Yin or Yang Qi naturally in the environment for the other half.
Continuing on the topic, it was directly stated that both men and women could not practice it at the same time unless working together. Men, having Yang Qi, needed to practice the technique at night, under the moonlight, to achieve the condition of Yin Qi in the atmosphere.
On the contrary, a woman using the technique needed sunlight and the Yin Qi from that to actually make use of it. Everything in the technique seemingly required great control over the individual's Qi and a good understanding of how it interacts with the Qi around it.
Once she realized that, it clicked in her mind. The whole point of the technique was not power, not cultivating, not anything like that. It was probably a base-line control technique that allowed an inexperienced person to interact with Yin and Yang Qi, all while improving the individual's control and efficiency with Qi.
It was not a technique that directly increased power, but one that worked for a much higher level of skill. With all of this in mind, and after finishing the entire tome and reading through it all, she connected the dots in her head and comprehended how it was supposed to work.
Deimos shut the tome and informed Elder Shoushan, "I understand the contents of the technique and how it works; I'm ready now."
Nodding and taking note of how long it took her, he exclaimed, "You were quite fast― 37 minutes is good! It's not the best we've had, but you're certainly up there. It usually takes people around an hour and a half to two hours."
Continuing to speak, he said, "For this test, we have 3 levels of understanding that can get your time marked as a good or bad time. A shallow understanding of the technique will almost invalidate the score. A mediocre understanding would mean you completely understand how it is done. Don't be mad if you get this, it's what everyone normally gets after all."
Elder Shoushan knew this final level of understanding usually got many disciples excited, since everyone who gets the second level always thinks they can do it.... Resuming his little talk, he states, "....The third level is if you can actually perform the technique well after reading through it once."
He goes off on a small tangent about how they only had one person who ever achieved that level of understanding in the short time given for the examination of comprehension, before catching himself and getting back on track.
He said to Deimos, "For the first question, you are to answer, which level of understanding do you think you are at? Keep in mind that I will ask harder or easier questions based on which you choose. While we're at it, I might as well tell you that you are not allowed to pick level 3. When choosing the higher question difficulty, we will test you on execution afterwards."
Deimos takes a good 10 seconds to think to herself. Barely even considering the easier difficulty. She felt confident in her understanding of the technique. "I think I'll go with the harder quiz."