Chapter 118: Chapter 118: The Strongest is Also the Weakest

"Every qualified strand of Primordial Spiritual Qi, once successfully refined into the Qi Sea, can push this progress bar forward by a large margin. However, the extent of this progress varies drastically!" Qin Zhenyue held up three fingers. "The poorest quality Chaotic Spiritual Qi might only advance it by 8% to 12%. The common, decently packaged mid-grade Spiritual Qi on the market falls roughly between 15% and 25%.

"Some slightly flawed high-grade Spiritual Qi can push the progress between 25% and 32%, which theoretically is also enough to break through to the Profound Tier."

His tone turned solemn. "As for top-grade Primordial Spiritual Qi—those of exceptionally high quality, fresh, pure, and with almost no loss of vitality—a single strand can drive the progress by 33% to 38%!

"Suppose you are extremely lucky and obtain two strands of top-grade Spiritual Qi, each granting 35% progress. Added together, that makes 70%."

Qin Zhenyue made a few simple gestures on the blackboard. "Then, you still need to refine a Stabilizing Essence Spirit Guide of comparable quality.

"Its function is not merely Harmony. The Peaceful Essence it contains can also advance your progress. Its numerical value is usually the average of the two strands of Primordial Spiritual Qi you have already absorbed.

"Thus, two top-grade Spiritual Qi plus one top-grade Stabilizing Essence Spirit Guide totals 105%. This is enough to safely cross the 100% threshold of Yellow Tier Perfection, with some to spare. Breaking into the Profound Tier becomes practically a certainty.

"Furthermore! I must tell you that relying solely on breathing exercises at this stage to increase your Qi Sea’s progress by 1% to 2% is already the absolute limit!

"The only exceptions are if you possess a corresponding Elemental Affinity Superpower, which naturally grants a 2% to 15% head start, or if you use a Realm-Breaking Pill to boost your progress by around 5%.

"Aside from that, if your progress does not reach at least 93% after you finally fuse the Spiritual Qi, you can basically forget about successfully advancing to the Profound Tier. The minuscule growth gained from bitter cultivation is nothing but a drop in the bucket!

"So, do you understand now?"

Qin Zhenyue’s gaze swept across every face in the room. "In the High Martial Realm, especially during the critical realm-breaking stage, top-tier Spiritual Talent determines almost everything!

"If you could obtain tremendous power just by meditating and circulating a Heart Method, it would be far too easy.

"How far you can go in the future is tightly bound to whether you can acquire Spiritual Talent—and what quality you can acquire—the very moment you choose your Cultivation Technique!"

Qin Zhenyue paused briefly before continuing, "Now, let’s talk about the so-called ’Dead-end Road’ Profound and Yellow Tier Cultivation Techniques that you speak of."

He pointed to the columns marked ’Profound’ and ’Yellow’ on the fabric scroll. "Did you think that as long as you practiced the Li Fire: Nanming Pure Flame Skill, you could just casually gather any Fire Attribute qi?"

Qin Zhenyue’s voice suddenly rose. "Dead wrong! During the Qi Collection stage, if the attribute, purity, vitality, or even the unique Dao resonance of any Spiritual Talent deviates even slightly from the core requirements of the Cultivation Technique, the consequences will be unimaginable!

"Let’s use the Li Fire: Nanming Pure Flame Skill as an example.

"It demands the extraction of Southern Ming Li Fire Primordial Spiritual Qi, which must be supremely pure, belong to the Li Trigram, and contain the Dao resonance of Light Purification.

"If you mistakenly gathered the violently incinerating Bing Fire, the sinister and bone-corroding Ding Fire, or any other superficially similar Fire Attribute Spiritual Talent...

"There would be only one outcome—your body would explode on the spot! There is absolutely no room for luck!"

His gaze swept over the frightened faces of the audience below. "Do you know what it was like when the ancient ancestors first explored this path? There were no Cultivation Techniques to guide them, no beacons to light the way ahead!

"They relied entirely on their flesh and blood to test and touch the various violent or bizarre forms of Primordial Energy in the world!

"The Five Elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth; the Eight Trigrams of Wind, Thunder, Mountain, and Marsh; Yin and Yang, Clear and Muddy... As long as it was a qi that they sensed contained power, someone risked their life to test it!

"How fragile is the human body? Without the Harmony and physical modifications provided by a Cultivation Technique, forcefully guiding even a single thread of Jia Wood life-force qi could cause the body to lignify and wither.

"Absorbing a wisp of the frigid essence of Ren Water might freeze one’s marrow solid... let alone those even more extreme energies.

"Every initial inch of this seemingly glorious path of the Martial Dao was paved with the bones, blood, and tears of countless pioneers!

"It wasn’t until later, when individuals of great wisdom and perseverance combined their successful experiences of absorbing specific Spiritual Talents with their insights into the human body’s mysteries, that they created corresponding Techniques for guiding, Refining, and storing energy. These formed the earliest Cultivation Techniques, providing this perilous road with relatively safe ’guardrails’."

Qin Zhenyue’s tone was sorrowful and solemn. "Therefore, the ’Dead-end Roads’ you speak of so lightly...

"Little do you know that the birth of every single path is a miracle that our ancestors forcibly carved out of chaos and danger, using countless lives and long ages!

"Their endpoints may not be lofty enough, but they are, at the very least, verified and relatively safe paths!"

The room was dead silent. Many students showed ashamed expressions; their previous contempt and disdain vanished without a trace, replaced by deep respect for their Martial Dao predecessors.

"Alright, enough being sentimental." Qin Zhenyue changed the subject, his tone adopting a trace of realistic sternness. "Now, let’s talk about the current advantages of these Cultivation Techniques with lower upper limits.

"The advantage is actually quite obvious—it is easier to produce results, and much easier to obtain substantial improvements in combat power in the short term.

"Just look at those in the academy who have been enrolled for three or four years but are still stuck in the High Martial Realm. Nine times out of ten, they initially chose high-potential Cultivation Techniques in the ’Heaven’ or even ’Earth’ categories!"

"Huh?"

An uproar rippled through the audience once more, with many new students revealing looks of disbelief.

Fang Chen understood clearly in his heart, "Just as I thought. Everyone yearns for the highest quality Cultivation Techniques, but the competition for them must be intensely fierce. On the contrary, the Cultivation Techniques that seem to lack potential will definitely have far less competition."

Qin Zhenyue continued, "The higher a Cultivation Technique’s potential and upper limit, the harder it usually is to acquire its required Spiritual Talent!

"Take the Kan Water·Profound Nether Scripture for example. It requires gathering Profound Nether True Qi, which is of Supreme Yin and extreme cold, and belongs to the Kan Trigram.

"Ten years ago, this kind of Spiritual Talent was still occasionally produced. But over the last five years, according to the intelligence networks of the academy and various other factions, not a single newly born, qualified wisp of Profound Nether True Qi has been found within the entire Great Zhao Kingdom!"

His gaze swept over several students who were visibly interested in the "Kan Water" type Cultivation Techniques. "This means that over the past five years, everyone who chose this Cultivation Technique has been hopelessly stuck right before the threshold of Qi Collection!

"Those who couldn’t wait any longer might have had to settle for the next best thing and seek out inferior substitute Spiritual Talents.

"But by doing so, the Refining efficiency is greatly reduced, and the attribute compatibility is insufficient. Whether they can ultimately scrape together enough progress to push toward 100% depends entirely on the will of Heaven and their own luck. The risk of failure sharply increases.

"Moreover, even if an appropriate Spiritual Talent does appear, your competitors will be the absolute Direct Lineage descendants of wealthy aristocratic families and disciples of the Royal Family. The difficulty is evident."

"In contrast, for many Profound and Yellow Tier Cultivation Techniques..." Qin Zhenyue pointed at those names. "...although the requirements for their necessary Spiritual Talents are not low, there is less competition. Therefore, it’s relatively easier to find Spiritual Qi that suits you."

He finally concluded, "Thus, choosing a Cultivation Technique is by no means as simple as ’picking the best one’. What is considered the best might very well turn out to be the worst."

These words aligned closely with Fang Chen’s own speculations, and they also answered a question he had harbored since entering the academy.

The reason the senior students hadn’t widened the gap in strength between each other wasn’t due to a lack of diligence in their cultivation. Rather, it was because a single piece of Spiritual Talent equated to a single advancement quota. No matter how outstanding one’s natural talent might be, without the proper means to acquire resources, they could only remain helplessly stuck at the Qi Collection stage.

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