"Two pills a month?" Li Yuan sighed inwardly.
A Basic Source Power Essence Pill cost 100,000 Blue Star Coins/points each. If he took two, his monthly budget would soar dramatically.
"You haven't taken Source Power Essence Pills before, have you?" Xu Bo looked at Li Yuan.
"No." Li Yuan shook his head. How could his family afford to supply such cultivation treasures?
Families like his uncle and aunt's, able to provide their children with Basic Blood-Qi Potions over the long term, were already in the minority.
Source Power Essence Pills? Those who dared buy and use them long-term were probably all billionaires.
"Then let me tell you about them. In essence, Source Power Essence Pills are substitutes for Advanced Cultivation Methods." Xu Bo said, "Do you know the fundamental difference between Basic Cultivation Methods and Advanced Cultivation Methods?"
"Cultivation efficiency," Li Yuan said.
"That is the result, not the cause." Xu Bo said, "Basic Cultivation Methods efficiently absorb the energy generated by the food we eat, thereby driving the evolution of life."
Li Yuan could not help nodding.
The most essential difference between modern humans and the traditional martial arts of ancient times lay in cultivation methods.
They were the key that unlocked life evolution.
"But Basic Cultivation Methods have limits." Xu Bo said, "No matter how strong our digestive systems are, we might be able to eat ten jin of nutrient meals a day—but could we eat a hundred jin of food?"
"We couldn't," Li Yuan said, shaking his head.
"Exactly. Even high-energy food contains impurities, and if you eat too much, your body cannot take it either." Xu Bo continued, "But for powerful martial artists, let alone continuing to drive bodily evolution, even maintaining their physical condition consumes enormous amounts of energy."
"Like an electric vehicle: the more powerful its engine, the more electricity it consumes."
"Take your teacher, for example."
Boom!
Xu Bo took one step forward. His whole body flickered like a phantom, and the air instantly exploded with a sharp crack as the currents surged into wind.
Xu Bo had already stopped at the other end of the office.
"This?"
"So this is a Level 19 martial artist?" Li Yuan held his breath as he watched, a faint thrill stirring in his heart.
He was certain that Teacher Xu's instantaneous burst of speed had absolutely exceeded fifty meters per second.
And that had been a burst from a standstill, far from Xu Bo's fastest explosive speed.
This was a truly powerful martial artist.
Xu Bo slowly walked back, speaking as he went. "Every day, just to maintain this powerful body, if I relied only on eating, I would need at least dozens of jin of high-energy food."
"And that is while living in a city. If I were fighting Star Realm Creatures, the expenditure would be even greater. Even two hundred jin of high-energy food would not be enough."
Li Yuan was speechless.
He thought of animals like elephants and giraffes, which spent most of every day eating.
If they exercised, the consumption would be even greater.
"That is why we developed Blood-Qi Potions." Xu Bo said, "Blood-Qi Potions are essentially extracted from food. They are easier for the human body to absorb than high-energy food and contain almost no impurities, though they are expensive."
"Taking them reduces the need for food."
Li Yuan nodded slightly.
Using Blood-Qi Potions not only reduced the burden of eating, but also increased cultivation efficiency by at least double.
"But further down the road, once one becomes a Level 15 martial artist—or an even stronger one—even Blood-Qi Potions alone are difficult to sustain."
"In recent decades, Source Power Essence Pills have appeared, allowing us to directly absorb Source Power."
"What is Source Power?"
"Several centuries ago, after the Six Great Star Bridges underwent their mutation, the most miraculous kind of energy appeared in the starry sky of the Universe—'Source Power.'" Xu Bo spoke with deep emotion. "Once one can absorb Source Power, the speed of bodily evolution can increase tenfold, even a hundredfold."
Li Yuan listened with bated breath.
Source Power was extraordinarily miraculous.
Powerful martial artists could fly through the skies and burrow through the earth within mere decades, even walk safely out from the center of a nuclear explosion... all by absorbing Source Power and driving their bodies' evolution.
With a human body, they stood shoulder to shoulder with deities.
"There are three ways to absorb Source Power."
"The first is for one's physical fitness to reach at least Level 19, while one's skill is sufficiently profound and body, heart, and will are perfectly united. Then one can barely sense Source Power and achieve preliminary absorption." Xu Bo said in a low voice, "This is the most primitive absorption method. Its efficiency is extremely low, but the first generation of martial artists relied on this method to grow stronger step by step."
"Later."
"As the number of martial artists grew greater and greater, and they became increasingly powerful, they finally deduced the first Advanced Cultivation Method, increasing the efficiency of Source Power absorption by more than tenfold." Xu Bo said, "Then they created the second, the third... and by now, our Human Civilization has produced the Seven Great Advanced Cultivation Methods."
"Moreover, if one can match the corresponding Advanced Cultivation Method, even ordinary people can achieve preliminary Source Power absorption, causing the rate at which their physical fitness improves to surge." Xu Bo looked at Li Yuan with considerable regret.
Li Yuan understood what his teacher meant.
Awakening Martial Arts Spirituality was not as mystical as the "spiritual roots" in novels.
Its essence was one's compatibility with the Seven Great Advanced Cultivation Methods.
A compatibility rate above 85% meant an awakening.
Why did Human Civilization place such tremendous importance on Martial Arts Spirituality? Because if ordinary people cultivated an Advanced Cultivation Method, they could gradually absorb the Source Power in the Universe and use it to strengthen their bodies.
With that, the efficiency of bodily evolution would soar, and their hopes of becoming Source Martialists would greatly increase.
This was why Elite Class students generally possessed such formidable physical fitness.
Furthermore, Source Power existed everywhere throughout the starry sky of the Universe.
Not only was it vastly more effective than Blood-Qi Potions, it was inexhaustible. It could save the entire Human Civilization tremendous resources.
"Absorbing Source Power through an Advanced Cultivation Method is the second method, and also the best method." Xu Bo shook his head. "But you cannot do it right now... Li Yuan, if you want to absorb Source Power from the Universe through your own body, you can only use the most primitive absorption method."
"Then you must raise your physical fitness to Level 19."
Li Yuan nodded slightly.
Raising his physical fitness to Level 19 without absorbing Source Power? One could imagine how difficult that would be.
He would have to rely on vast amounts of external resources.
"Of course, if you truly become an exceptionally powerful Source Martialist in the future, perhaps you may even create an Advanced Cultivation Method suited to yourself."
"Perhaps even an Advanced Cultivation Method suitable for vast numbers of ordinary people." Xu Bo sighed. "Then you would be a great contributor who benefited Human Civilization."
"The world's strongest person, Dongfang Ji, once said that every person is uniquely favored by heaven and should have an Advanced Cultivation Method suited to them."
"If our Human Civilization can produce one hundred Advanced Cultivation Methods, then everyone will find an Advanced Cultivation Method suitable for themselves from their youth onward, and there will no longer be any talk of Martial Arts Spirituality."
"At that time, the rate at which martial artists are born in Human Civilization will be more than ten times faster than it is now." Xu Bo quoted Dongfang Ji's words. "And that will require generations of martial artists to struggle and strive for it."
"One hundred Advanced Cultivation Methods?" Li Yuan sighed inwardly.
Since the beginning of the Life Evolution Era nearly two centuries ago, Human Civilization had only produced seven universal Advanced Cultivation Methods in total.
Yet compared with the three Advanced Cultivation Methods of more than eighty years ago,
the rate at which martial artists were born in Human Civilization had already increased severalfold in this era.
The greater the number of martial artists, the larger the base. More and more powerful martial artists emerged, and the birth rate of Advanced Cultivation Methods also accelerated.
It was a virtuous cycle.
One that allowed Human Civilization to continuously grow stronger.
"The third way to absorb Source Power is through Source Power Essence Pills. They only appeared in the last twenty or thirty years." Xu Bo said, "The pills contain wisps of Source Power, which can be absorbed as soon as they are consumed."
"Only, Source Power is overbearing."
"Without an Advanced Cultivation Method to help refine it, absorbing it is extremely difficult." Xu Bo said, "Therefore, one pill a month is enough for ordinary people."
"Your physical talent is actually among the very best. You simply do not have a suitable Advanced Cultivation Method." Xu Bo looked at Li Yuan with regret. "Combined with your exceptionally strong Spiritual Power, perhaps you can use two pills a month."
"Thank you for your guidance, Teacher." Li Yuan nodded, then smiled with composure. "There is no Advanced Cultivation Method suited to me."
"Then in the future, I will strive to create one."
"Haha." Xu Bo laughed at that. "Ambitious. Your teacher will wait and see."
"This Starry Sky Spear Technique and this Dragon Movement Technique come from the same lineage as the Rock Cultivation Method. I suggest that you exchange for them." Xu Bo continued, "Both secret manuals point directly toward the Fifth Skill Stage, and they are quite famous among martial artists."
"Point directly toward the Fifth Skill Stage?" Li Yuan pondered it.
His own skill was only at the Third Stage.
"Teacher, can't you teach me Second Order secret manuals?" Li Yuan could not help asking.
"Me?" Xu Bo was first stunned, then smiled. "I have indeed cultivated many Second Order secret manuals. I have dabbled in spear techniques, saber techniques, movement techniques, and more."
"But I cannot teach you." Xu Bo shook his head. "Didn't you notice that I have never instructed you in cultivating Second Order secret manuals before?"
"Why?" Li Yuan was astonished.
"I only have the right to learn them, not the right to teach them." Xu Bo said, "The fist techniques, spear techniques, movement techniques, and so on that you are studying now are all First Order secret manuals, suited for students at the First Stage and Second Stage of skill."
"A great many First Order secret manuals and cultivation methods are completely public and free for all citizens."
"But starting from Second Order secret manuals, all of them are copyrighted." Xu Bo said, "They can only be used after being purchased."
(End of chapter)
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