Chapter 9: Unparalleled Cultivation Technique
Zhang Su and Chu Dachuan walked toward their residence together.
Chu Dachuan was silent along the way.
But inside, his mind was in turmoil.
’The Triple Wave Sword Technique, he actually brought it to Perfection?’
He knew very well that Zhang Su had already achieved Perfection in the Nine Shadows Sword Technique long ago.
In other words, Zhang Su had now mastered two Perfect Level Sword Skills, and both were Superior Swordsmanship.
Although he still might not compare to the Ten Great Outer Disciples...
...two swordsmanship techniques at Perfection still hinted at the incredible height of Zhang Su’s talent in swordsmanship.
If Zhang Su were to try cultivating a Top-Level Swordsmanship technique, he might even be able to cultivate it to the Great Success Realm, just like the Ten Great Outer Disciples!
At that point, he might really be able to contend for a spot among the Ten Great Outer Disciples.
Zhang Su didn’t know what Chu Dachuan was thinking. He was busy examining his panel.
Host: Zhang Su
Cultivation: Ninth Layer of the Qi Blood Realm
Triple Wave: Compatibility 91% (Perfection)
Compatibility Value: 2
The first thing Zhang Su focused on was the Compatibility Value.
With the Triple Wave Sword Technique reaching Perfection, his Compatibility Value had increased by another point, bringing the total to two.
If applied to a Cultivation Technique, it could increase its Compatibility by 20%.
’But is a 20% increase in Compatibility enough?’
No, it was far from enough.
Zhang Su knew that if he planned to cultivate a Top-Level or even an Unparalleled Cultivation Technique, his Compatibility would be very low.
’I probably won’t even have 80% Compatibility. I’ll have to accumulate more Compatibility Value.’
"Chu Dachuan, you head back first. I’m going to the Instructor Pavilion."
With that, Zhang Su parted ways with Chu Dachuan and headed straight for the Instructor Pavilion.
Soon, Zhang Su arrived at the Instructor Pavilion.
Upon arriving, however, Zhang Su didn’t immediately start looking for Martial Techniques.
Instead, he selected some books on cultivation theory.
These books were collections of cultivation insights from the Guiyuan Sect’s predecessors, compiled into volumes and placed in the Instructor Pavilion for anyone to read free of charge.
A question had occurred to Zhang Su.
Why could every one of the Ten Great Outer Disciples reach two hundred threads of Qi Blood?
But after his own Qi Blood had reached a hundred threads, he had the faint feeling that he had hit a limit.
It seemed that no matter how much he circulated the Taotie Nourishing Blood Technique or consumed Blood Replenishing Pills, it was all meaningless.
Even now, Zhang Su still only had a hundred threads of Qi Blood.
There were many books on cultivation theory.
Zhang Su opened a book that elaborated on the two major realms of Qi Blood and Inner Strength.
The book described two ways to generate "Inner Strength."
The first was to reach a critical point with one’s Qi Blood and then slowly polish it. Although the quantity of Qi Blood wouldn’t increase, if its quality was enhanced to a certain degree, Inner Strength could be generated.
However, this method was very difficult.
It required years and years of polishing.
It could even take ten, twenty, or even more years of effort.
Most Martial Artists used this method.
This was also why many Martial Artists at the Ninth Layer of the Qi Blood Realm failed to generate Inner Strength even after many years.
The second method was to "stack quantity."
This involved cultivating as much Qi Blood as possible—two hundred, three hundred, four hundred threads, and so on.
Once the quantity of Qi Blood was sufficient, "Inner Strength" would be generated naturally.
This method was a natural progression.
The resulting Inner Strength was also extremely dense and highly malleable, laying a solid foundation for future Inner Strength cultivation and even higher realms.
However, generating a sufficient amount of Qi Blood was difficult!
Ordinary and Superior Cultivation Techniques could at most cultivate a hundred threads of Qi Blood, or slightly more.
Top-Level Cultivation Techniques could cultivate two to three hundred threads of Qi Blood.
Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques, it was said, could cultivate over five hundred threads of Qi Blood.
The denser the Qi Blood, the more malleable the resulting Inner Strength, and the smoother and farther one could walk on their Martial Dao path!
Zhang Su understood.
No wonder the Ten Great Outer Disciples all had over two hundred threads of Qi Blood.
They had most likely all cultivated Top-Level Cultivation Techniques.
They probably also wanted to generate Inner Strength through natural progression.
’It seems that to build a solid foundation, it’s best to cultivate an Unparalleled Cultivation Technique! But even someone as exceptionally talented as one of the Ten Great Outer Disciples can’t necessarily cultivate an Unparalleled Cultivation Technique...’
’So, could I cultivate other Ordinary Cultivation Techniques to stack Qi Blood?’
Zhang Su had thought of a method.
The book also mentioned this point.
Apparently, Zhang Su wasn’t the first person to think of "stacking" Qi Blood.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
Once one reached a hundred threads of Qi Blood, that was basically the limit.
This was the limit of the human body.
It couldn’t be stacked.
The reason Top-Level and Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques could surpass one hundred threads of Qi Blood was also very simple.
Top-Level and Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques were specifically created to allow geniuses to break the limits of the human body and forge an even more solid foundation for their Martial Dao.
Cultivating a Top-Level or Unparalleled Cultivation Technique was, in essence, an attempt to break the body’s limits.
That was why cultivating Top-Level and Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques was so difficult.
Take Zhang Su, for example. He had failed to even reach the entry-level of the Great River Divine Technique after a year of cultivation.
Therefore, if one wasn’t a true genius, they shouldn’t choose a Top-Level Cultivation Technique.
It was useless to choose one if you couldn’t practice it successfully.
Consuming more Blood Replenishing Pills wouldn’t help either.
You couldn’t just pile on resources to achieve it.
The mark that distinguished a genius from an ordinary Martial Artist was whether or not they cultivated a Top-Level Cultivation Technique.
Zhang Su put down the book.
Of the two paths to generating Inner Strength, Zhang Su would obviously choose the second.
So, should he choose a Top-Level Cultivation Technique or an Unparalleled Cultivation Technique?
There was no need to hesitate.
It had to be an Unparalleled Cultivation Technique!
However, the Great River Divine Technique that Zhang Su had previously tried to cultivate was an Unparalleled Divine Technique, and he had failed to reach the entry-level even after a year.
The difficulty of an Unparalleled Divine Technique had to be taken into account.
’The Great River Divine Technique is completely incompatible with me; the Compatibility is too low... I can choose the Unparalleled Cultivation Technique that is most compatible with me!’
Zhang Su immediately walked to a corner of the Instructor Pavilion’s first floor.
There was only a single row of bookshelves there.
But the shelves held Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques.
Zhang Su began to take out the Secret Manuals for Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques one by one to examine them.
He was mainly checking their Compatibility.
"Fiery Flame Divine Technique, Compatibility 18%."
"Blood Jade Divine Technique, Compatibility 13%."
"Tiger Demon Divine Technique, Compatibility 16%."
Zhang Su checked many Divine Techniques one after another.
As it turned out, their Compatibility was basically no higher than 20%.
Such low Compatibility was about the same as the Great River Divine Technique.
This meant that no matter how long Zhang Su cultivated them, he would never reach the entry-level.
This once again made Zhang Su appreciate the difficulty of "Unparalleled Divine Techniques."
If they were Top-Level Cultivation Techniques, the difficulty probably wouldn’t be this high, and the Compatibility would be a bit higher as well.
There weren’t many Unparalleled Divine Techniques on the bookshelf.
He estimated there were no more than fifty in total.
Zhang Su was on the forty-third book when...
...his eyes finally lit up.
"Heaven-Swallowing Blood Nourishing Technique, Compatibility 25%."
Of all the Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques Zhang Su had looked at, this was the only one to reach 25% Compatibility.
’No rush. Let me see if there are any with even higher Compatibility.’
Zhang Su immediately continued checking the Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques.
He checked almost all fifty Unparalleled Cultivation Techniques.
In the end, Zhang Su found that the "Heaven-Swallowing Blood Nourishing Technique" still had the highest Compatibility.
’This is the Divine Technique for me!’
Zhang Su had made his decision.
However, with only 25% Compatibility, even reaching the entry-level would likely be difficult.
Even if he managed it, it would probably take over a year.
As for Perfection, he couldn’t even dream of it.
He still had to find a way to raise the Compatibility of the "Heaven-Swallowing Blood Nourishing Technique" as quickly as possible.
To raise it to 100%, he would need at least eight more Compatibility Value points.
Even if he didn’t aim for 100%, reaching 95% would still require seven points.
Of course, to guarantee Perfection, he would need eight Compatibility Value points.
’Eight points of Compatibility Value... I only have two right now, so I’m short six points. That means I need to pick six more Martial Techniques and cultivate them to Perfection!’
’Six Martial Techniques... that won’t be easy to find...’
Zhang Su knew it would be difficult.
After cultivating for this period, he had figured out some patterns.
If the Compatibility was above 90%, it was highly likely he could reach Perfection on his own by seizing certain opportunities.
For example, the Triple Wave Sword Technique and the Nine Shadows Sword Technique.
If the Compatibility was between 80% and 90%, reaching Great Success was basically guaranteed.
But it would still take a certain amount of time.
Maybe a year, or maybe three to five years.
But Great Success was certain.
As for Perfection, there was a slim possibility, but it was minuscule.
If the Compatibility was below 80%, even reaching Great Success would depend on luck, let alone Perfection.
Moreover, Zhang Su also wanted to cultivate Top-Level or even Unparalleled Martial Techniques.
That would also require Compatibility Value to raise the Compatibility of the Martial Techniques.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to master Top-Level or Unparalleled Martial Techniques either.
’Compatibility Value...’
Zhang Su sighed.
The key right now was Compatibility Value.
He had to do everything he could to obtain more of it.
’I’ll search! Even if I have to turn the entire first floor of the Instructor Pavilion upside down today, I will find every Martial Technique with over 90% Compatibility!’
The number of Martial Techniques in the Instructor Pavilion was countless.
But if one day wasn’t enough, he’d take two. If two days weren’t enough, he’d take ten.
Going through every single Martial Technique was not an impossible task.
Acting on his thought, Zhang Su immediately began searching through the various Qi Blood Realm Martial Techniques on the first floor of the Instructor Pavilion.