Chapter 2569 — Stacked Strength

Easy as these things were to cultivate, in Wei Zhao's eyes they were worthless trash. He flipped open another volume and found more of the same. Old Master Zhuang had been right: these were display pieces, fine to look at and good for nothing.

"You see?" Old Master Zhuang smiled bitterly. "Perhaps Mr. Lin would care to look at these basic martial techniques and cultivation methods."

"Very well." Wei Zhao nodded and turned his attention to the few martial techniques and cultivation methods that had been set apart by themselves.

"These are the two cultivation methods of our Hidden Zhuang family. We of the Hidden Zhuang family all cultivate metal-attribute methods, built on hardness, ferocity, and wide, sweeping force," Old Master Zhuang said. "I myself cultivate a pure metal-attribute method, while Zhuang Niaoqiang and Zhuang Niaopao cultivate a paired metal-attribute method. Only when the two act together can they unleash their fullest power; alone, each is far weaker."

"Oh? A cultivation method for two people fighting as one?" Wei Zhao was rather surprised. Who would have guessed it—the Hidden Zhuang family really did have some good wares.

"Indeed. This joint-strike method is a most ingenious one, and it could only have been handed down from the ancient levels. My ancestors happened to acquire some treasures from the Mingri Fu Mingri sect, and one of them was the oral formula for this very method," Old Master Zhuang said.

"So this method lets two people's strength stack together and become a single, more powerful combination?" Wei Zhao asked, taking the method at its literal meaning.

"You could put it that way. Right now Niaoqiang and Niaopao are both experts at the peak of the early Earth rank, but when the two circulate this inner method at the same time, they are a match for the peak of the late Earth rank—and paired with their joint-strike martial techniques, they are deadlier still!" Old Master Zhuang said.

"Truly formidable!" Wei Zhao said in astonishment. "But this inner method—can it only be cultivated by two people at once? Does it have no effect if one person cultivates it alone?"

The first thing that came to Wei Zhao's mind upon seeing this method was whether he could join forces with Han Jingyi to refine pills together. If so, their combined strength should come close to the Heaven rank even if it fell short—after all, Zhuang Niaoqiang and Zhuang Niaopao together could reach the peak of the late Earth rank. Wei Zhao was at the peak of the mid Earth rank and Han Jingyi at the early Earth rank; reckoned by the quantity of true qi in their bodies, the two of them ought to be about equal to that pair.

So Wei Zhao forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked. If it worked, he could refine third-grade pills ahead of schedule—not only would the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill he had promised the little Ice Sugar girl be within reach, but the Qi Gathering Pill would have hope as well!

With that many Qi Gathering Pills, Wei Zhao could mass-produce several Heaven-rank experts! This, too, was why Wei Zhao was desperately cultivating. When he himself reached the Heaven rank, he could mass-produce experts at the peak of the late Earth rank, and then a single Qi Gathering Pill would let each of them break through to the Heaven rank. Only then would Wei Zhao truly stand on equal footing, face to face, with the ancient levels!

The very thought set his blood racing. True, they would only be early Heaven-rank experts, but that was still no small force—at least on par with the weakest of the ancient families or ancient sects. And by then, even the little Ice Sugar girl would have no way to look down on Wei Zhao!

Heh heh heh heh. Was the little Ice Sugar girl, that tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny wife of his, as good as secured? Wei Zhao thought, black-hearted glee rising in him.

"Only when two cultivate it together can their strengths be stacked," Old Master Zhuang said. "If one cultivates it alone, that person can only stack half of his own strength onto another who has never cultivated the method—the power is greatly reduced, and once that half is stacked, it can never be taken back..."

"Taken back? You mean it's given to the other person?" Wei Zhao asked.

"No. Once you stop circulating the method, that portion of true qi lent to the other person simply dissipates. It cannot be absorbed by the other," Old Master Zhuang said with a bitter smile. "That is why Niaoqiang and Niaopao cultivate it together. Cultivated alone, the drawbacks are far too many—this method was never meant for one person at all."

"I see..." Wei Zhao felt a pang of disappointment at Old Master Zhuang's words. If it took two cultivating together, then for him and Han Jingyi to combine their strength, both would have to cultivate this method simultaneously. But taking up a whole new cultivation formula from scratch was truly difficult.

"Just so. But Mr. Lin need not trouble himself over it—after all, a cultivator can only cultivate one method formula. That is an eternal, unchanging law; rarely does any cultivator manage two," Old Master Zhuang said. "This is the meaning of the saying that a single mind cannot serve two ends. To cultivate another method formula, one must first abolish the one currently cultivated—and even then success is not guaranteed. One may well lose the wife and the soldiers both, ending up with nothing at all. So surely Mr. Lin would not do such a thing, putting the cart before the horse?"

"That is true..." A thought struck Wei Zhao—it did seem to be so. Back when he had helped Gu Mengyao, Chen Jianshu, and the others find cultivation methods, he had looked through the records of many cultivators, and it was precisely because a cultivator could only cultivate one method formula that Wei Zhao had not casually chosen for Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. After all, choose rightly and all was well; choose wrongly, and it would be the same as ruining them!

At this, Wei Zhao could not help but smile bitterly again and again. So his idea had been sound enough, but putting it into practice was impossibly hard. However fine this method formula might be, Wei Zhao himself could not cultivate it—let alone Han Jingyi!

The Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art was Wei Zhao's trump card for victory. How could he abolish it just like that? That would be nothing short of wasting a heavenly treasure.

"And these are the joint-strike martial techniques, meant to be used together with the method from before. To Mr. Lin they are clearly of little use as well—fine to collect, but to cultivate..." Old Master Zhuang shook his head. "Mr. Lin cultivates fire-attribute martial techniques, I take it? And my techniques, though meant for a single user, do not match the attribute of Mr. Lin's method, so he should be unable to cultivate them either..."

"Oh, then never mind." Wei Zhao waved a hand. "I will copy down this joint-strike method and these martial techniques to keep in my collection. The rest are unnecessary."

"Very well." That Wei Zhao wished to copy the joint-strike method and martial techniques did not surprise Old Master Zhuang in the least. Most cultivators, even if unable to cultivate a thing themselves, still liked to collect martial techniques and methods.

(Two more chapters to come, to be updated a little later.)

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