No Talent?

Just as Bai Shenfei had expected, the Qi and Wang families both became obedient, no longer stirring up any trouble. They even made concessions in certain matters involving the interests of all three families.

The reason was simple enough: Lin Shen's punch that had blasted the Giant King to death had been far too terrifying.

They had not encountered Tian Xin and assumed that, aside from themselves, only the Lin Family brothers had been there. Naturally, they were terrified that the person in question had been one of the brothers and would come back to settle scores with them.

For the time being, Lin Shen had no intention of making a move against the Qi and Wang families. First, his strength was not sufficient yet; second, he truly had no extra time or energy to spare.

These past few days, he had been studying the Gene Mutation Technique under Wei Wufu, yet he still had not made the slightest progress. He simply could not sense the flow of power Wei Wufu had described.

"Old Wei, help me take a look at this Gene Mutation Technique." Lin Shen decisively gave up. With his current attributes, if he could master it, there should have been results after several days. If there were none, continuing would only be a waste of time.

Lin Shen had never been a particularly stubborn person. When it was time to let go, he let go without hesitation. He did not like waiting for miracles to appear.

Wei Wufu took the notebook Lin Shen handed him and slowly flipped through it.

This notebook was not the one Bai Shenfei had given Lin Shen. It was another copy Lin Shen had transcribed himself.

After Wei Wufu finished reading it once, he went back and read it again. He flipped back and forth several times in between, spending over two hours on it.

Lin Shen waited patiently at the side and did not rush Wei Wufu.

"Ask." After setting down the notebook, Wei Wufu looked at Lin Shen and spoke.

"Can I practice it?" Lin Shen asked bluntly.

"Try." Wei Wufu answered with only one word.

"If I can practice it, I'll practice it. If I can't, I won't. What does 'try' mean?" Lin Shen frowned.

"Advanced. Errors. No continuation. Fix. Try. No harm." Wei Wufu said.

Lin Shen understood. Wei Wufu was saying that this Gene Mutation Technique was very advanced, but there were some errors in the middle, and it lacked the later portions.

Wei Wufu could help revise it. There would be no harm in Lin Shen trying to practice it.

That was more or less what Lin Shen had expected. There was indeed no harm in giving it a try.

As for the erroneous parts in the Gene Mutation Technique, Lin Shen had deliberately copied those wrong.

"Old Wei, help me revise it. I plan to give it a try," Lin Shen said.

"Alright." Old Wei brought over paper and pen and corrected every part he believed to be wrong.

Lin Shen watched from the side. Every place Old Wei corrected was somewhere Lin Shen had intentionally written incorrectly. He found no problems with the rest.

"Old Wei, do you know what Gene Mutation Technique this is?" Lin Shen asked casually as he took the revised technique from Wei Wufu.

Originally, Lin Shen had not expected Wei Wufu to truly know what technique it was. After all, such an advanced Gene Mutation Technique should have been a secret to anyone who possessed it, not something that would be casually spread around.

Who would have thought that Wei Wufu would hesitate before actually saying, "Maybe... know..."

Lin Shen was greatly surprised and hurriedly asked Wei Wufu what was going on. Only after Wei Wufu explained for a long while did Lin Shen understand.

Wei Wufu had never seen this Gene Mutation Technique before, but he had heard of one that was extremely similar to the technique Lin Shen had copied down.

The vast majority of Gene Mutation Techniques cultivated by humans had been passed down from the cosmos. Only a very small number had been created by humans themselves.

Among that small number of human-created Gene Mutation Techniques, most had likewise been made by drawing from or copying other techniques.

As for a Gene Mutation Technique that had been entirely conceived by humans, from its theory to its methods, Wei Wufu knew of only one.

It was the "Theory of Talent," a Gene Mutation Technique painstakingly created by Bai Zai, the man renowned as the "foremost figure in Gene Mutation."

It was precisely because the "Theory of Talent" followed a completely different line of thought from other Gene Mutation Techniques that Wei Wufu, despite never having seen it, could guess it might be the "Theory of Talent."

Of course, Wei Wufu had used the word "maybe," meaning he could not be completely certain that this was the "Theory of Talent." He merely believed the possibility was very high.

Wei Wufu said Bai Zai had been nearly invincible with the "Theory of Talent." At first, Lin Shen was puzzled why he had never heard of such a famous person.

Only later did he learn that Bai Zai's greatness was limited to the Gene Mutation Level, because no matter how one practiced the "Theory of Talent," one could not break through the Gene Mutation Level.

In other words, Bai Zai could only be invincible at the Gene Mutation Level, with no possibility of advancing further. Moreover, its entry requirements were far too demanding; ordinary people simply could not master it.

Later, even stronger people had studied Bai Zai's "Theory of Talent," but unfortunately, the result had always been the same. No matter who practiced it, they could not break through the Gene Mutation Level.

Even now, there was still a school of thought persevering in the study of the "Theory of Talent." It was said that they had made some breakthroughs over a decade ago, but after all these years, no one had been seen achieving anything through cultivating the "Theory of Talent."

In fact, apart from Bai Zai, only a handful of people in history had managed to master the "Theory of Talent," let alone break through with it.

"This is quite interesting. Without talent, you can't master it. With talent, even if you do master it, you can't break through. This Gene Mutation Technique truly has no value in being spread around. It would be better suited for ruining geniuses." Lin Shen decided to give it a try.

As long as one had not broken through the Gene Mutation Level, Gene Mutation Techniques could be replaced, so trying it would not hurt.

He acted as soon as he decided. Lin Shen began attempting to cultivate the Gene Mutation Technique Bai Shenfei had given him, only to be disappointed once again.

This Gene Mutation Technique still did not allow him to sense the flow of power within his body, leaving Lin Shen somewhat frustrated.

According to Wei Wufu, only humans with exceptionally good talent had a chance of mastering the "Theory of Talent." If Lin Shen could not master it, that meant his talent was not very good—at the very least, he was not a one-in-ten-thousand genius.

"I refuse to believe this." Lin Shen directly took out the "Celestial Unity Mental Formula" he had gotten from Tian Xin and began practicing it. He wanted to first experience what that sensation of power flowing felt like, then try cultivating the "Theory of Talent" or the secret Gene Mutation Technique taught by Wei Wufu.

He would never have known if he had not tried, but the moment he did, Lin Shen was stunned.

He still could not master the Tian Xin Art, a technique that nearly anyone could practice and that any Steel Gene Mutator could get started with.

"Is my talent truly this terrible?" Lin Shen felt somewhat disappointed, but upon further thought, he felt that something was wrong.

No matter how poor his talent was, it could not be so poor that he could not handle a Gene Mutation Technique that everyone could practice, could it?

Still unwilling to give up, Lin Shen had someone obtain the other two of the five great classic Gene Mutation Techniques for him to test.

He first tried the Source Scripture, but the result was the same—he could not cultivate any results from it. Then he practiced the Transformation Scripture, only to find the same outcome. He still could not master it no matter how he practiced.

"Could it be that I truly have no talent for cultivation? That can't be right. The foundation required for ordinary Gene Mutation Techniques is completing gene mutation. Since I've already completed gene mutation, that proves I have talent. So why can't I master them?" Lin Shen was utterly baffled.

Wei Wufu could not explain what was going on with Lin Shen either. He had never heard of a Gene Mutator who could not master any of the five basic Gene Mutation Techniques.

Lin Shen still refused to give up. He went directly to Third Brother's study, smashed the lock, and dug out several Gene Mutation Techniques Third Brother had collected to practice.

He tried several more Gene Mutation Techniques, and Lin Shen's expression grew increasingly grim. Just as he thought he truly could not master any Gene Mutation Technique, another attempt finally produced results.