80 Affection
[Six Stars Across the Sky]?
Qin Yi did not know what Six Stars Across the Sky was. His max-level comprehension had simply given him the creativity to infer three things from one.
After performing [Three Stars Chase the Moon], he soon sensed that further variations lay beyond this move. Three became six, six became nine, and nine was the ultimate!
He had intended to perform the subsequent [Nine] as well, but unexpectedly, just performing [Six] had already knocked Huang Tianrong off the martial arts platform.
This max-level comprehension really is useful.
He quietly rejoiced inwardly.
Knocked off the martial arts platform, Huang Tianrong felt he had lost all face. He let out a furious roar, his eyes turning red as he lost his reason.
Just as he scrambled up and was about to leap back onto the platform, a figure arrived from the inner courtyard on a gust of wind.
In a flash, that figure stood on the martial arts platform, hands clasped behind his back, his bearing refined. "Enough. I told you to cultivate the Dao properly, yet you have made such a racket. If your mind is not still, how can you cultivate your heart?"
Realizing that Gu Yiyi's father had arrived, Qin Yi immediately bowed respectfully with clasped hands and retreated several steps.
Below the platform, the disheveled Huang Tianrong's face was filled with rage. Halfway through his outburst, he saw his master appear and could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger back down.
"Tianrong, what are you doing?" the middle-aged scholar asked evenly.
Huang Tianrong immediately dropped to one knee. "Master, it was Qin Yi... he..."
He had just been about to complain and turn the accusation back on Qin Yi, but the middle-aged scholar seemed to understand everything. He merely raised a hand slightly, cutting him off. "As the eldest senior brother, are you behaving as an eldest senior brother should?"
Qin Yi seized the opportunity to speak. "Master, Brother Huang here has already decided to yield the position of eldest senior brother to me."
Huang Tianrong immediately protested, "I didn't..."
Before he could finish, the middle-aged scholar interrupted him again. "Disciples of the Famous Sword Sect must keep their word. Wouldn't you agree, Tianrong?"
In that instant, Huang Tianrong was like a mute forced to swallow bitter herbs, unable to voice his suffering. With his master putting it that way, could he possibly say no?
The middle-aged scholar looked at him expressionlessly. "Go back and tidy yourself up. Your clothes are in disarray, and you are a complete mess. What sort of decorum is this?"
"Yes!" Gritting his teeth, Huang Tianrong could only withdraw.
Seeing Huang Tianrong like this, the other disciples also fell silent. For the moment, they each returned to what they ought to be doing, sitting down cross-legged one after another to meditate.
Then the middle-aged scholar finally turned his gaze toward Qin Yi. "Qin Yi, where did you learn the [Three Stars Chase the Moon] and [Six Stars Across the Sky] you just performed?"
Gu Yiyi also looked at Qin Yi curiously, waiting for his answer.
Qin Yi said, "To tell the truth, I copied the gourd by following its outline and learned them from Huang Tianrong. I also feel that this sword technique should have a [Nine] variation."
Upon hearing this, Gu Yiyi immediately furrowed her delicate brows.
She did not believe it. Could the Heavenly Secrets Sword Technique really be learned just by copying the gourd's outline?
If it were that easy to learn, the Heavenly Secrets Sword Technique would not rank among the Famous Sword Sect's five great sect-guarding sword techniques.
But the middle-aged scholar did not question him. Instead, he smiled. "Your comprehension is indeed exceptionally high. From the very first moment I saw you perform [Three Stars Chase the Moon], I had already guessed that you had imitated it by drawing a tiger from a cat. Although your sword technique looks the same, it is actually somewhat different."
Now this was an expert!
Once an expert made a move, his skill was plain to see.
It was like calligraphy. Some people could imitate it with exquisite accuracy, but without mastering the brushwork, even if the characters they wrote were identical, the strength within them still looked different.
An ordinary person might find it difficult to tell, but an expert could spot the differences in no time.
True martial techniques and cultivation methods had accompanying mental methods and mnemonics. It was like a computer's graphics card: after installing the card, you had to install its driver.
Only a matching graphics driver could bring out a graphics card's display capabilities to their full extent.
The same principle applied to martial techniques and cultivation methods. Only their accompanying mental methods and mnemonics could let them unleash the greatest power with the least strength.
Although the sword technique Qin Yi had imitated looked the same, he actually needed several times as much True Qi to produce its normal power.
"Can you perform the variation of nine?" the middle-aged scholar asked him.
"No. Although I can sense that there is a variation of nine, I haven't figured it out yet," Qin Yi said against his true thoughts.
His max-level comprehension had already allowed him to understand everything thoroughly.
He could perform the variation of nine whenever he wished. Still, in front of his father-in-law, he had to hide a little of his ability.
Only by hiding his ability could he give his father-in-law an opportunity to instruct him. That way, once he comprehended the variation of nine later, the credit would belong to his father-in-law.
Then his father-in-law would naturally be happy.
The middle-aged scholar nodded. "Very good. With comprehension like this, you are no less than Hua Yunfeng. Come to the rear courtyard tomorrow. I will personally teach you the complete Heavenly Secrets Sword Technique."
"Thank you, Master."
The middle-aged scholar also seemed quite gratified to have accepted such a disciple.
"Master, about the eldest senior brother position..." Seeing that he was about to leave, Qin Yi hurriedly asked another question.
It would be best to settle this matter as soon as possible.
The middle-aged scholar waved a hand casually. "Since you wish to be the eldest senior brother, that is what you will be from now on. However, once you become the eldest senior brother, you must behave like one. If you fail to do so, you must bear responsibility for that failure."
Qin Yi smiled. Those were precisely the words he had been waiting for.
Now that he had his master's golden words, his position as eldest senior brother was as firmly fixed as a nail driven into an iron plate.
"Thank you, Master."
After the middle-aged scholar left, Qin Yi smiled at Gu Yiyi. "Junior Sister Yiyi, hurry up and call me Senior Brother. Let me hear it."
Gu Yiyi made a face at him and stuck out her tongue. "Dream on. I won't."
"I'm the eldest senior brother personally appointed by Master now."
"I don't care. I'm not calling you that."
The girl haughtily turned her head away, but Qin Yi could see that the affection above her head had suddenly increased by another 10 points.
(Having witnessed the host's excellence, her affection has increased by another 10 points.)
Her affection toward Qin Yi had now reached 80 points.
A question suddenly arose in Qin Yi's mind.
What exactly was this affection good for? He knew affection could bring them closer, but what else?
The system's gentle, mature female voice promptly offered an explanation: [When a woman's affection exceeds 50, you are at the level of friends. At 60, you are fairly close friends, and at 70, good friends. Upon reaching 80, she will begin to develop feelings of liking you. At 90, she likes you very much; if it reaches 100, it means that both her body and her heart already belong to you.]
So that's how it works!
Affection below 50 was the goodwill of a passerby. For example, a kind cafeteria auntie might give you extra food every time. That sort of affection could be disregarded.
Above 60 meant she was beginning to regard you as a friend.
80 marked a qualitative change: she would begin to develop a liking for you in her heart.
Junior Sister Yiyi's affection toward me has already reached 80. That means... she has already started liking me in her heart.
No wonder she looked a little bashful!
With this numerical information in hand, Qin Yi decided to strike while the iron was hot. He suddenly leaped off the martial arts platform, took Gu Yiyi's hand in front of the other fellow disciples, and ran outside.