You're Not Useless Enough to Learn This

This is the Tidal Power Sword Art, a technique that has slain countless high-tier Wraiths and shaken the True Spirit Continent to its core. Are you really going to give it up just because it requires you to remain chaste?

Chuyan finally understood: this was a man even more lecherous than her late father and brother, who had died in the beds of their palace maids!

In their youth, her father and brother had also been upright gentlemen who sought the Dao and remained chaste. It was only after discovering they lacked the talent, coupled with their failure to govern during the Dharma Ending Era, that their ideals collapsed, leading them to indulge in debauchery until they met their ends in women's beds.

This fellow possessed peerless talent and an invincible physique, yet he was rejecting the legendary Tidal Power Sword Art simply because he craved the company of women...

Chuyan's eyelid twitched, and her forehead was covered in black lines.

She had a sinking feeling that her own purity would sooner or later be lost to this scoundrel.

Heh, greedy for wealth and lust, unlearned and unskilled—just wait until Grandmaster scolds you to death!

However, Lingzhou Yue did not scold him.

She merely shook her head with a faint smile, her sword-like eyes shimmering as she gazed deeply at Xiao Ran. Then, she tilted her head back to take a swig of wine and turned toward the Sword Bamboo forest.

"Don't you go regretting this."

Xiao Ran wasn't actually lecherous; it was just that the Tidal Power Sword Art didn't suit him. His Master's words were merely a deliberate tease.

Women are made of water—the name alone made it clear. The Tidal Power Sword Art could only be practiced by women; if a man practiced it, he would surely suffer from kidney deficiency.

In fact, Xiao Ran had just checked the system shop and found an entry for the Tidal Power Sword Art, though it remained in a sealed state, unavailable for purchase.

The description only mentioned that the sword art required a woman with a special physique to practice, but it placed no requirements on the practitioner's chastity.

Master is quite the cunning one! Xiao Ran also realized that his Master wasn't some "kaleidoscope of swordsmanship" who knew every technique in existence. She didn't know a single low-tier cultivation method.

Coupled with her excessive talent, she lacked the detailed experience of learning, making her a rather poor teacher. No wonder she hadn't taken on any disciples for so many years.

Fortunately, Xiao Ran didn't need his Master to teach him anything; he just needed her to provide the "resources."

Xiao Ran browsed the system shop. The variety of sword arts was dazzling, but any that reached the Profound-tier cost thousands of Filial Piety Points.

All Heaven-tier and Profound-tier sword arts were completely sealed.

Everything he could afford was trash.

What defined a Lifebound Sword Art?

It required the practitioner's physique, temperament, sword, and sword art to exist on the same frequency, achieving a four-in-one state—the realm of Man-Sword Unity.

And what was Xiao Ran's physique? A Balanced Five-Elements Endowment—a talent considered "Heaven-abandoned."

Cultivating immortality was an act of defying the heavens by taking an unconventional path.

Among the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, one had to have a particularly prominent talent to siphon Spiritual Energy and construct a Qi Sea Dantian.

For example:

Suppose the total score for human talent was the same (though not entirely identical, the gap between humans was relatively small), say 100 points.

If one of the five elements reached 60 points, one could refine Qi and become a cultivator. It didn't matter if the other four elements only added up to 40; after refining Qi, one could use Spiritual Energy to nourish the body and maintain physical balance.

Xiao Ran's Balanced Five-Elements Endowment gave him 20 points in each, far below the passing line. In terms of cultivation, he was truly Heaven-abandoned.

But being "abandoned" to the extreme was also a form of talent.

A perfect Balanced Five-Elements Endowment allowed for deep insight into the Dao, the nature of all things, and the harmony of Yin and Yang. His Dao Heart was exceptionally clear and firm.

At the same time, his physical body had a high threshold for tempering. Especially when defending, he could distribute any attack across all five elements, granting his body and Dantian extremely high resistance.

This was why Xiao Ran could withstand Ye Fan's Netherking Punch with nothing but his mortal body and Resonance Power, remaining completely unscathed.

It wasn't just about defense. In Xiao Ran's view, the Balanced Five-Elements Endowment was like having a large radar with a wide frequency spectrum. Combined with the Art of Resonance, he could listen to all things, modulate Spiritual Pressure of various frequencies, resonate with the world, and unleash stacked critical hits.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran suddenly realized that when his Master said on the first day that she had the most suitable cultivation method for a Balanced Five-Elements Endowment...

It was actually true! Was she truly "wise but appearing foolish," or was there some hidden providence at work?

His Master's Tidal Power drew upon the Spiritual Energy and gravity of the moon, pushing the unconventional path to its absolute limit.

And in the legends of the True Spirit Continent, the moon was where the Immortals resided.

The Tidal Physique was, in a sense, a type of Immortal Body.

Meanwhile, the Resonance Power of a perfect endowment, which listened to all things and peered into the laws of the Great Dao, walked the path of divinity.

Theoretically, the Resonance Power was of a higher order!

This meant he didn't need to go looking for a more suitable sword art.

That was his physique.

Now, consider his temperament.

Xiao Ran didn't like the "old schemer" personality that preferred to develop in the shadows. Instead, he relied on the system to actively engage with the world and take the initiative.

As a transmigrator, he feared nothing. Xiao Ran liked to skip all the foreplay and pull the progress bar straight to the "driving" phase... he never dragged his feet or missed an opportunity.

For instance, on his first day of apprenticeship, the moment he received the system, he began experimenting on his Master. He didn't wait to spend a few days getting to know her temperament before silently performing his filial duties.

This was the Dharma Ending Era; everyone was busy, and there was no time for dawdling.

She was the one who chose you, not the other way around—what was there to be afraid of?

After digging out his first pot of gold from Master, he didn't wait until the next day to continue his experiments. That very afternoon, he ran to the Outer Sect to dabble in architectural design, rapidly rolling his money into more money.

On the second day, when Chuyan came knocking to stir up trouble, he countered her defense with an offense, exploiting her obsession with Master to forcibly recruit her as a tool-disciple, thereby increasing the efficiency of his future fleece-shearing.

On the third day, the moment Master left, he went straight to the Main Peak Sword Terrace to accept the Disciple Challenge, never once thinking of waiting until he had developed enough to be absolutely certain of crushing the entire field.

The Dharma Ending Era was a turbulent age where winds rose and clouds surged; opportunities were fleeting. By the time you prepared yourself to a state of perfection, the opportunity would have already been snatched away by those brave enough to strike.

Zongzhi Mountain was currently a greenhouse well-suited for development, but with the Sect Leader about to undergo the Tribulation, this situation could not last much longer.

This was why Xiao Ran refused to exchange for skills until the very last moment—opportunity was accompanied by danger, even mortal danger. Sufficient Filial Piety Points could be exchanged for health packs, which served as his final guarantee for survival.

Xiao Ran felt that his own personality was not actually suited for practicing the Art of Resonance, but he didn't need to be suited for it.

The system had taught it to him with a single click!

Once learned, the Art of Resonance provided a second layer of protection for Xiao Ran's style of conduct, one that existed outside the system.

With the dual protection of the system and the Art of Resonance, Xiao Ran was able to forcibly disguise himself as an unfathomable, cold, and aloof figure during the Disciple Challenge.

Next, he looked at the sword art.

The Resonance Sword Art was merely Xiao Ran's term for it; in essence, it was an application of the Art of Resonance.

By using low-level Spiritual Power to resonate with all things, he could accelerate and amplify force layer by layer, finally resonating with the enemy's own body to achieve the clever feat of using a thousand pounds of force to deflect ten thousand.

Once mastered, there was nothing that could not be severed. It could be considered a god-tier skill for leaping across cultivation levels, worthy of a transmigrator's cheat-status.

Finally, the sword.

To complement the Resonance Sword Art, he needed a blade that appeared plain and unremarkable, with mediocre spiritual sharpness, yet possessed extreme resilience, an indomitable spirit, and a nature that blended into the Dao.

Such swords were likely rare; it was questionable whether the Sword Tomb even held one.

Xiao Ran felt it was necessary to visit Sword-Tempering Mountain before the Sword Inheritance Assembly to ask True Person Moxia if the Sword Tomb contained any similar ancient swords.

If there was no such sword, then what was the point of inheriting one! He would have to plan another path in advance.

After finalizing the Resonance Sword Art, Xiao Ran checked his System Panel.

Filial Piety Points: 88!

And the goal for the next stage—

Foundation Establishment Cultivation Pack: 1000 Filial Piety Points!

A despairing number.

It seemed that the Balanced Five-Elements Endowment was indeed difficult to upgrade; even with the system, it was still hard!

Xiao Ran was lost in a daze, having lost his small goal, until he took out the original fragment of the Art of Resonance once more.

The system responded immediately! Detected Heaven Tier mental cultivation method—Fragment of Myriad Resonance. Given that the Host has already learned the mortal version of this art and has entered the Qi Refining Realm, consuming only 100 Filial Piety Points will upgrade it from the mortal version to the Spiritual Power version.

There was a Tier 2 Spiritual Power version? Xiao Ran only then remembered that the Art of Resonance he had purchased back then was only at the mortal level!

There was an even more suitable Tier 2 Resonance for cultivators!

There was even a Tier 3 version, though it required the Host to reach the state of Ascension after the Mahayana realm before it could be purchased. He estimated that once he bought the Tier 3 Resonance, it would be a path of slaughtering immortals and gods...

Whoo-hoo!

Xiao Ran thought to himself, if not for the fragment Master gave him, this thing would probably cost hundreds of millions of Filial Piety Points. Even without the system, such a Master was worth fawning over.

Xiao Ran's filial piety surged, and he couldn't wait to go perform his filial duties.

Off to the side.

Chuyan, who was kneeling on a rush mat with her legs tucked beneath her, saw Xiao Ran silent for a long time, as if thinking of something lewd, and asked with a look of disgust:

"What kind of sword art is this Resonance Sword Art, anyway?"

Xiao Ran snapped back to reality and thought for a moment.

"That night, you experienced it yourself."

Chuyan was dumbfounded, taking a long time to recover.

"You're talking filth! I'm going to tell Grandmaster."

Xiao Ran said eerily, "That evening, the setting sun was like blood, and a certain young girl was pressed to her knees by a single finger of mine. That finger was the Resonance Power... The so-called Resonance Sword Art is merely an extended application of the Resonance Power."

Only then did Chuyan unlock her memories, recalling the humiliation of that time, as well as the conditions she had proposed back then.

A glimmer of pleasure, as if resonating with Grandmaster like fish in water, flashed through her pure eyes.

"I want to learn it too!"

Xiao Ran stood up and patted her cute, exquisitely groomed head.

"You aren't trashy enough; you won't be able to learn it."