The Most Cost-Effective Attribute

"Smack, smack, smack..."

An unbroken barrage of smacks rang out as Tian Hao traded blow after blow with Wu Buyi, meeting force with force in a clash of masculine passion. Every punch struck flesh, making for an exhilarating fight.

As they continued exchanging blows, Tian Hao was driven back less and less with each strike, while Wu Buyi swayed more and more violently.

"Smack!"

Their fist and palm collided again. Finally unable to steady himself, Wu Buyi staggered back over a dozen steps before arresting his retreat.

"That force of yours is damned uncomfortable to fight against, brat. You're just like those people from the Wudang Sect!"

Wu Buyi shook out his hand and grumbled, though inwardly he was quite astonished.

Every time he exchanged a blow with Tian Hao, his center of gravity was disrupted, upsetting his balance. It was just like fighting disciples of the Wudang Sect in his youth.

With his footing unsteady, he naturally struggled to muster the strength of his entire body, gradually falling behind.

"Senior Uncle Wu, thank you for the match!"

Tian Hao cupped his fist in salute, bringing their sparring session to an end. He held Wu Buyi's strength in high regard, particularly his physical conditioning.

The Primal Chaos Skill cultivated both the internal and external aspects of the body. Although it fell short of hard-body martial arts, it could still strengthen the muscles and bones.

In terms of physical conditioning alone, he was inferior to Wu Buyi, who had trained diligently for decades.

There was no helping it. Physical improvement could not be rushed; it had to proceed step by step.

Moreover, the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt focused on the defensive strength of the skin and membranes, offering only modest gains in strength. It was a seriously lopsided martial art.

He would have to find martial arts that trained muscular and skeletal strength to make up for that deficiency, striving to become an all-round star student.

At that thought, Tian Hao looked forward to their upcoming trip to the Putian Shaolin Temple even more.

Among all the martial sects under heaven, Shaolin stood foremost in body-tempering hard skills. Even the Wudang Sect fell short in that regard.

Even if the Putian Shaolin Temple was inferior to Northern Shaolin, the gap would not be too great. It surely possessed numerous martial inheritances, including some of the Seventy-Two Supreme Arts.

Those were all treasures worth drooling over!

"See? That's one of the wonders of the Perfection Realm. You can incorporate a martial art's underlying principles into other martial arts and enhance their power."

Ning Zhongze rubbed her daughter's head, feeling deeply envious herself.

She had only read about the mysteries of martial arts in the Perfection Realm in the sect's records. Apparently, that Sword Saint of the Sword Sect had also mastered this principle.

However, that Sword Saint had already been in his thirties when he brought Mount Hua Swordsmanship to perfection. He had also reached the half-step Innate Realm and even possessed another inheritance of his own.

Tian Hao, on the other hand, was only eighteen this year and had practiced martial arts for less than four years. His potential was clearly greater, and his eventual surpassing of that Sword Saint was as certain as a nail driven into an iron plate.

"If they can merge and stack together, wouldn't mastering several martial arts to perfection make you invincible under heaven?"

Yue Lingshan's bright eyes widened as her imagination ran wild.

Just thinking about it made the answer obvious. If the principles and strengths of different martial arts were continually fused and combined, how powerful would one become?

"It's not that exaggerated. Only martial arts with similar characteristics can merge. Fusing the principles of opposing martial arts is harder than climbing to heaven."

Ning Zhongze explained with amusement, though her heart was full of anticipation.

Perhaps it was all but impossible for ordinary people, and even that Sword Saint might struggle to accomplish it, but Hao'er had greater comprehension. He might be able to reach that point.

So this is what the Perfection Realm is.

Tian Hao recalled the fight just now and grasped its mysteries. A perfected martial art was indeed superior in application to one at major accomplishment.

It represented an understanding of a martial art's essence, as well as the flawless application of one's own abilities.

When I look for more cheat-granting young ladies, I should put more emphasis on the Innate Spirit attribute.

Having experienced the wonders of martial arts in the Perfection Realm, he began forming some ideas.

To cultivate a martial art to the Perfection Realm, the key was comprehension, and comprehension was a product of the Innate Spirit attribute.

The stronger his Innate Spirit, the greater his comprehension would be. Whether he wanted to cultivate martial arts to the Perfection Realm or create stronger new ones in the future, he would need sufficient comprehension to support him.

After all, higher-level martial arts were bound to demand greater comprehension to cultivate, and the same applied to creating new ones.

Even breakthroughs in cultivation realms depended heavily on comprehension.

Viewed that way, Innate Spirit offered the best value among the three main attributes of essence, qi, and spirit.

Innate Qi and Innate Essence were somewhat less cost-effective. Besides, he could use the superpower of money to purchase large quantities of precious medicinal ingredients to aid his cultivation, which would still progress quickly.

He could even improve his Innate Qi once his internal cultivation reached the Innate Realm. Presumably, there were methods for improving Innate Essence as well.

After all, qi and the body were tangible and the easiest to cultivate, whereas spirit was elusive and insubstantial, leaving him with no obvious place to start.

Nor had he heard of any medicinal ingredient that could strengthen the mind and will. Even lingzhi, hailed as the finest medicine for nourishing the spirit, could only provide a little nourishment and restore depleted mental energy. That fell far short of the assistance medicinal ingredients offered to internal qi cultivation and external body training.

Tian Hao

Spirit: 2.5+61

Qi: 0.1+54

Essence: 2.5+22

Fate: -100-195

With a thought, the Heaven-Defying Mirror appeared before his eyes. Looking at his current stats, Tian Hao pondered his next candidate for a cheat-granting young lady.

There were not many young women with wretched fates in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. Ning Zhongze and Yue Lingshan counted as two, and this version's genuine Aunt Dongfang counted as another. There were few others left.

I wonder whether Ren Yingying and Yilin meet the requirements?

Thinking of those two girls from the original story, Tian Hao decided it was time to venture into the Jianghu. Girls with miserable fates would not come knocking while he holed up on Mount Hua.

He had to take the initiative!

Wait, would artificially created fake girls count?

Suddenly remembering the Bixie Sword Manual and the Sunflower Manual from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, Tian Hao had a bold idea.

The Jianghu was a man's arena. Over ninety percent of its martial experts were men, and its martial grandmasters were almost all men as well.

Talented girls with miserable fates were truly rare.

If he could turn those powerful men into women, he would have far more choices.

For instance, old comrade Zhang in the neighboring Yuan Kingdom, Dugu Qiubai, the king of all show-offs over in Southern Song, and the Five Greats were all excellent targets.

To look no farther afield, Yu Huatian, the Western Depot's resident beauty currently staying at Mount Hua Academy, was a fine candidate. Once Tian Hao obtained the Bixie Sword Manual, he could go have a little exchange with him.

It might not succeed, but what if it did?

Better to believe there was a possibility than dismiss it outright. He had to give it a try, at least.

"The meteoric iron has indeed shed quite a bit of slag and impurities, but it's still a long way from black iron."

At that moment, a middle-aged man who had been studying the piece of meteoric iron spoke up. He had seen black iron with his own eyes. Although it had only been a tiny amount, it still gave him some firsthand knowledge.

The piece of meteoric iron before him was still far from becoming black iron.

"It does still have a long way to go, but another thirty or forty rounds should about do it. This ingot will be enough to forge one of our Mount Hua Sect's standard longswords."

Tian Hao nodded. He had also studied records concerning black iron. With his knockoff Wild Wind Hammer Technique, another thirty or forty rounds should remove all the impurities, hammering and refining it into highly pure black iron.

"Judging by the records on black iron, a longsword of our usual dimensions would probably weigh close to twenty jin."

An elderly man drew his own longsword and made an estimate. The newly forged sword would weigh twenty jin, seven or eight times the weight of his current weapon.

Getting used to such a heavy longsword would not be easy. Even taking a shortcut to quickly master the Embrace Origin Force would hardly suffice.

After all, the Embrace Origin Force was a gentle form of external training that primarily cultivated internal force. Its effects on tempering the muscles and bones were modest, and it certainly could not temper them quickly.

If the longsword did not handle comfortably, it would undoubtedly affect their swordsmanship.

When experts crossed blades, victory hinged on the finest margin. Moreover, their next opponents belonged to a major sect like the Putian Shaolin Temple, which was no weaker than the Mount Hua Sect at its former peak. They could not afford carelessness.

"Let's do this. Hao'er, first forge twenty-jin longswords from hundred-forged steel for your martial uncles, so they can practice their swordsmanship and get used to the weight."

Yue Buqun came up with a solution. It was the only approach available.

Black iron was heavy, far heavier even than gold. A treasured sword made entirely from black iron was hard to come by, so they could only take the initiative and adapt to their new longswords.

Fortunately, they had all practiced swordsmanship for years, giving them arm and wrist strength far beyond ordinary people. Although a two- or three-jin longsword suited them best and allowed them to strike at maximum speed, that did not mean they could not wield a twenty-jin black iron sword.

Besides, this was only temporary. Once they had time to cultivate the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, their strength would increase considerably, and the swords would suit them perfectly.