Chapter 9: Base Numbers and Multipliers Aren't That Important, What Matters Is the Conversion Rate! |
The aura of a Qi Refining cultivator was naturally extraordinary.
You say a cultivator who reached Qi Refining using a Great Breakthrough Elixir is a joke among their peers?
It was still Qi Refining!
The moment Tang Nianqiu made his appearance, the rogue cultivators causing a scene and demanding discounted rooms immediately fell silent.
"Fellow Daoist Tang, Fortune Source Residence suddenly hiking its prices is hardly a dignified way to do business."
Fortunately, there was a Qi Refining cultivator among these rogue cultivators. He took a step forward, standing at the front of the crowd to reason with Tang Nianqiu.
"Fortune Source Residence had to cough up fifty spirit stones for the Unity Fee. We didn't want to raise prices either, but if we hadn't, Fortune Source Residence would go bankrupt!"
This was naturally absolute nonsense. If Fortune Source Residence was that easy to bankrupt, the Wang Clan would have stopped running it a long time ago. But at the very least, Tang Nianqiu had offered an excuse.
"If you think the rooms here are too expensive, you can go rent a courtyard yourself. The spirit springs in Senior Jiang's Prefecture Cultivator's Manor are all available for public rent."
Yes, that man surnamed Jiang was incredibly greedy; he even rented out the spirit springs that Hongdengzhao had assigned to him.
But if I could f*cking afford to rent that, would I still be staying at your Fortune Source Residence?
—
"What Qi Induction methods have you cultivated?"
At Forge Peak Residence, Householder Redbrow asked without turning his head as he controlled the artifact refining furnace.
"I have water and fire spirit roots, so I cultivate the standard Qi Induction Art used by Wang Clan descendants. Yu'an is a bit special; he cultivates the Hundred Forgings of Metal and Stone."
Householder Redbrow knew the Wang Clan had a long lineage, but he hadn't realized it stretched back a thousand years.
He was quite surprised that Yu'an was able to cultivate a technique perfectly tailored to his spirit roots. His actions while melting metal paused for a brief moment.
"What else? Do you have any understanding of supporting Dao arts like talisman crafting or the artificing path?"
"Since we were young, the clan taught us texts like A Brief Guide to Metal, Stone, Bone, Wood, and Spiritual Materials, Hundred Distinctions of Woven Fabrics, and Identification of Medicines and Poisons. As for talismans, we only learned the basic Qi Induction Talisman.
Regarding the artificing path, we've only heard of artifact refining and pill concocting. Those are subjects only the clan's Qi Refining cultivators are allowed to study."
Zhong Ningyao was somewhat puzzled.
"Your Wang Clan only teaches this much?"
Hongmei glared at his daughter, causing Ningyao's small face to tense up. She didn't dare to ask further.
"Alright, then you two will start with drawing talismans. Once you've practiced the Fire Control Spell and talisman drawing to a satisfactory level, we will begin the next stage of your training.
Ningyao, take them to the backyard to practice the Fire Control Spell first, then move on to drawing talismans."
Just as the group was about to leave, Hongmei added another instruction.
"Right, just use ordinary yellow burlap for practice. Don't mix it up!"
The Wang Clan was too sly. They had sent their children to him without teaching them anything in advance, terrified that he might uncover the secrets of their clan's inheritance.
Was this any way to treat a master?
This was treating him like a thief!
Towards these two cheap disciples, Hongmei's main principle was to be generous when necessary and stingy when possible—save every penny he could!
—
In the backyard, Yulou smoothly conjured a flame underwater, which was instantly extinguished by the surrounding liquid.
Beside him, Yu'an's face was flushed red with effort, but his hand submerged in the water remained completely empty.
"Junior Brother Yu'an, you need to focus when practicing the Fire Control Spell. As long as you concentrate, you will make progress. Eventually, you'll be able to ignite the fire."
Zhong Ningyao had never taught a disciple before and didn't understand how difficult it was for someone with metal and earth spirit roots to conjure fire underwater.
"Senior Martial Sister Ningyao, Yu'an's spirit roots aren't well-suited for this training method. Could we change it up a bit and let him try it under normal conditions?
He can start by conjuring fire using spiritual energy normally, and once he succeeds, switch to doing it underwater. What do you think?"
There was nothing profound about foundational cultivation. Yulou figured it was best to let Yu'an find the sensation of conjuring fire first before further refining his control over the flames.
Hearing Yulou's words, Yu'an pulled his hand out of the water. Instantly, flames flared up.
"Senior Martial Sister, look! As long as I'm not in the water, I can execute the Fire Control Spell perfectly."
The young boy eagerly sought praise.
Zhong Ningyao scratched her head, somewhat confused.
"Does the spirit root really have that big of an impact?"
Yulou considered his words carefully.
"I'm not entirely sure, but Yu'an doesn't have a fire spirit root, so he's naturally at a disadvantage.
Trying to conjure fire in the water when he also lacks a water spirit root makes it even worse.
Stacking both factors makes it significantly more difficult.
By the way, Senior Martial Sister Ningyao, what are your spirit roots?"
Towards the end of his explanation, Yulou casually slipped in a probing question.
"I have fire, wood, and metal roots, but my fire spirit root is the strongest and metal is the weakest, so I cultivate the Burning Mulberry Qi Induction Art.
It's a pity you don't have a wood spirit root, otherwise you could cultivate it too."
What a wonderful senior martial sister; her mind was incredibly pure.
With just a slight probe from Yulou, she revealed everything, and even felt regret that her Qi Induction art wasn't suitable for him.
"It's fine. The main cultivation art during the Qi Induction realm isn't that important; there isn't a huge gap in cultivation speed and power anyway," Yulou said.
Cultivation base and the practiced art shared a relationship of base numbers and multipliers.
On the scale of immortal cultivators, the base number corresponding to the Qi Induction realm was zero to one, and the multiplier for Qi Induction arts couldn't be very high either.
But once one reached the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment realms, the situation changed.
The base number in the Qi Refining stage could be seen as 1 to 10, or even 1 to 20. Someone like Tang Nianqiu might only be a 2 or 3, while a high-tier Qi Refining cultivator like Wang Rongyuan was at least a 10.
Factoring in the different influences of cultivation arts, magical artifacts, and special secret inheritances to multiply against this base number, the final cultivation base and strength would be worlds apart.
Take Tang Nianqiu, for example. Although he broke through to the Qi Refining stage using a Great Breakthrough Elixir, the cultivation art he practiced possessed decent power. If he had a suitable magical artifact on hand and a trump card secretly prepared...
In the end, 2.5 (the average of 2 or 3) × 2 × 1.5 × 1.25... his strength would reach ten or even over a dozen.
Of course, applying this formula to Wang Rongyuan would yield something even more extraordinary.
However, all of this was still very far off for Yulou.
His main task right now was to rapidly improve himself.
At the second layer of Qi Induction, he couldn't even leave Clear Stream Market alone; or more accurately, he wasn't allowed to.
The immortal path was long; he had to forge ahead with determination.
—
In truth, Yulou's calculations regarding a cultivator's strength were mostly correct, but he had overlooked one crucial point.
This was likely because he had never experienced magical combat between cultivators.
In the automotive industry of Yulou's previous life, there was a term called engine thermal efficiency.
In the cultivation world, there was an undefined concept akin to engine thermal efficiency: the conversion rate between a cultivator's raw strength and their actual combat prowess.
If calculated using simple, mechanical addition, the combined strength of five Tang Nianqius would roughly equal one Wang Rongyuan.
But in actual magical combat, even if twenty Tang Nianqius stood before Wang Rongyuan and hacked at him until their magical artifacts curled at the edges, Wang Rongyuan wouldn't even break a sweat.
This was also the confidence that allowed Wang Rongyuan to act as bait and wait for rogue cultivators to deliver themselves to death!
"Halt!"
After flying for over a thousand miles, he finally encountered some fools who weren't afraid of death. Instead of smiling, Wang Rongyuan acted so terrified that he couldn't even stabilize his flying artifact.
Only by pretending to be stupid could he seize the initiative with a surprise attack!
First, he let his flying artifact wobble in mock panic, and then he took the opportunity to descend into the forest below. Looking utterly dishevelled, he even fell flat on his backside.
"Hahaha, I finally caught one! Big Bro, hurry up, it's just an idiot in the middle Qi Condensation stage!"
"Fellow Daoists, what is the meaning of this?"
Wang Rongyuan struggled to his feet, staring in horror at the three figures rapidly approaching him from the sky.
"Hand over everything you have, and we can let you leave alive!"
The three rogue cultivators stopped flying about a hundred meters away from Wang Rongyuan. The one with the lowest cultivation base spoke.
Even the one with the lowest cultivation was at the eighth layer of Qi Refining. As for the other two, one was at the tenth layer of Qi Refining, and the other was at the Qi Refining Perfection stage!
Wang Rongyuan was at the tenth layer of Qi Refining. It looked like a one-on-three fight where the opposition possessed overwhelming strength.
But... was that really the case?
"Please let me go! I'm an Inner Gate Disciple of Dripdrop Cave, a vassal sect of Hongdengzhao. If you rob me, Hongdengzhao and Dripdrop Cave won't let you off!"
Hongdengzhao was one of the Ten Sects. The sect's cultivation arts were unique, renowned among the Ten Sects for their fire methods, and most of their disciples possessed fire spirit roots.
Dripdrop Cave was a vassal of Hongdengzhao. As the name suggested, the sect's disciples predominantly cultivated water methods.
Fire methods, water methods—was Uncle Rongyuan revealing his own background?
"Hahaha, Dripdrop Cave? My Big Bro is an Inner Gate Disciple of Wondrous Peak Mountain. Why would he be afraid of a mere Dripdrop Cave?"
Fake!
These guys were trying to deceive him too!
"Idiot, have you gone mad?" the cultivator at the Qi Refining Perfection stage shouted angrily.
Indeed, this guy at the eighth layer of Qi Refining really was an idiot!
There wasn't much that was special about the cultivation arts of Wondrous Peak Mountain's disciples, but they mostly used magical artifacts like needles, threads, and cloth—watch out for the needles!
"Big Bro, I'm just making him see the situation clearly so he gives up struggling.
Hurry up and hand over everything you have. We can give you a quick death, otherwise, humph humph~"
Wang Rongyuan's face was filled with indignation as he cursed.
"A disciple of Wondrous Peak Mountain resorting to being a rogue cultivator! I'm going to report you to the Immortal Alliance!"
After cursing, Wang Rongyuan executed a rather clumsy earth evasion technique and dove directly into the ground.
"A middle Qi Condensation cultivator still thinks he can escape? Dream on!"
That Wondrous Peak Mountain disciple, who was at the eleventh layer of Qi Refining, gave a cold snort and deployed a spiritual shuttle, shooting it straight towards the spot where Wang Rongyuan had disappeared!
The other two rogue cultivators also reacted quickly, immediately entering a state of magical combat as they searched for Wang Rongyuan's traces.
What a wonderful senior martial sister; her intentions were completely pure. With just a slight probe from Yulou, she revealed everything, even expressing regret that her Qi Induction method wasn't suitable for him.
"It's fine. The primary cultivation method during the Qi Induction realm isn't that important. It won't create a massive gap in cultivation speed or power," Yulou said.
A cultivator's cultivation base and their chosen method shared a relationship akin to a base number and a multiplier. On the scale of cultivation, the base number for the Qi Induction realm was between zero and one, and the multiplier provided by any Qi Induction method wouldn't be very high, either.
But once one reached the Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment realm, the situation would completely change. The base number in the Qi Refining stage could be seen as anywhere from 1 to 10, or even 1 to 20.
Someone like Tang Nianqiu might only have a 2 or 3, while a high-tier Qi Refining cultivator like Wang Rongyuan would be at least a 10.
When factoring in the various multipliers from cultivation methods, magical artifacts, and secret legacies, the final disparity in cultivation base and combat strength would be massive. Take Tang Nianqiu, for example.
Although he had relied on a Great Breakthrough Elixir to reach the Qi Refining stage, his cultivation method was quite powerful. If he also possessed a handy magical artifact and kept a hidden trump card in reserve...
Calculating 2.5 (the average of 2 and 3) × 2 × 1.5 × 1.25... his true strength would be a 10 or even higher.
Of course, applying this model to Wang Rongyuan would yield an even more astonishing result. However, all of this was still very far away for Yulou.
His main priority right now was to rapidly improve himself. At the second layer of Qi Induction, he couldn't even leave Clear Stream Market alone; more accurately, he wasn't permitted to.
The path to immortality was long, and he had to forge ahead. In truth, Yulou's calculations regarding a cultivator's strength were very accurate, but he had overlooked one crucial point.
This was likely because he had never experienced magical combat between cultivators. In the automotive industry of Yulou's past life, there was a term called "engine thermal efficiency."
In the cultivation world, there was an undefined concept that functioned much like engine thermal efficiency: the conversion rate between a cultivator's raw power and their actual combat prowess. Using simple, mechanical math, the combined strength of five Tang Nianqius roughly equaled one Wang Rongyuan.
But in actual magical combat, even if twenty Tang Nianqius stood before Wang Rongyuan and hacked at him until their magical artifacts chipped and dulled, Wang Rongyuan wouldn't even need to catch his breath. This was exactly the confidence that allowed Wang Rongyuan to act as bait, waiting for rogue cultivators to deliver themselves to their deaths!
"Halt!"
After flying for over three hundred miles, he had finally run into some foolish targets who didn't fear death. Wang Rongyuan didn't smile. Instead, he acted so terrified that he couldn't even keep his flying artifact steady.
He needed to play the fool to seize the initiative with a surprise attack! First, his flying artifact wobbled wildly, as if from shock.
Then, Wang Rongyuan took the opportunity to crash down into the forest below, falling hard on his backside to complete the pathetic image.
"Hahaha, I finally caught one! Big brother, come quick! It's just an idiot in middle Qi Condensation!"
"Fellow Daoists, what is the meaning of this?"
Wang Rongyuan struggled up from the ground, staring in horror at the three figures rapidly descending toward him from the sky.
"Hand over everything you have, and we might let you leave here alive!"
The three rogue cultivators stopped about a hundred meters in front of Wang Rongyuan. The one with the lowest cultivation base spoke first.
Yet even the one with the lowest cultivation base was at the eighth layer of Qi Refining. The other two were at the tenth layer of Qi Refining and the Qi Refining Perfection stage, respectively!
Wang Rongyuan was at the tenth layer of Qi Refining. On the surface, it was a one-on-three fight where the opposing side held an overwhelming advantage.
But... was that really the case?
"Please let me go! I'm an Inner Gate Disciple of Dripdrop Cave, a vassal sect of Hongdengzhao. If you rob me, Hongdengzhao and Dripdrop Cave will never let you get away with it!"
Hongdengzhao was one of the Ten Sects. Its cultivation methods were unique, reigning supreme in fire arts among the Ten Sects, and many of its disciples possessed fire spirit roots.
Dripdrop Cave was a vassal of Hongdengzhao. As the name implied, the disciples of this sect primarily cultivated water arts.
Fire arts and water arts... Was Uncle Rongyuan exposing his true background?
"Hahaha, Dripdrop Cave? My big brother is an Inner Gate Disciple of Wondrous Peak Mountain. Why would we fear a measly Dripdrop Cave?"
'Fake!'
'These people are trying to bluff me too!'
"You idiot, are you crazy?!" the cultivator at the Qi Refining Perfection stage roared. It was true—this eighth-layer Qi Refining cultivator really was an idiot!
The cultivation methods of Wondrous Peak Mountain disciples didn't have many special traits, but they frequently utilized needles, threads, and fabric-type magical artifacts—'Watch out for needles!'
"Big brother, I'm just making him understand the situation so he gives up struggling. Hurry up and hand everything over! We can give you a quick death. Otherwise, hmph!"
Wang Rongyuan's face was filled with indignation as he cursed.
"Disciples of Wondrous Peak Mountain actually moonlight as rogue cultivators! I'm going to the Immortal Alliance to report you!"
After cursing, Wang Rongyuan clumsily executed an Earth Escape spell and burrowed straight into the ground.
"A middle Qi Condensation cultivator thinks he can run? Keep dreaming!"
The Wondrous Peak Mountain disciple at the eleventh layer of Qi Refining snorted coldly, immediately launching a spiritual shuttle that shot directly toward the spot where Wang Rongyuan had vanished! The other two rogue cultivators reacted just as swiftly, rapidly entering a state of magical combat as they searched for traces of Wang Rongyuan.
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