I Can Copy the Talents of All Creatures

Chapter 236: Chapter 174: Cultivation Technique Compatibility

"Great Master, you have a new message. Would you like to view it now?"

Xiaohai peeked half of his pitch-black head in through the doorway. His black top hat was tilted ninety degrees, having slid down onto his ear, yet it somehow didn’t fall off.

"Show me!"

He put on his virtual reality headset and looked at the message Ye Shuping had sent.

[Complete Collection of Three Realms Cultivation Assistance Resources]

[Analysis of the Efficacy of Five Types of Basic Pure Yang Essence]

[An Introductory Guide to the Three Religions Spiritual Secret Skill from the Middle Ages]

This was the information Ye Shuping had sent. Yu Fei reviewed each item and, considering his own needs, placed an order in the "Bringing Order to the World" campus system for four special resources to aid his cultivation.

[Blood Boiling Factor-β Concentrate]

Price: 600 Merit Points,

Effect: Activates Qi Blood, extending cultivation time.

[Star Shield Circulation Repair Liquid]

Price: 1,000 Merit Points

Effect: Protects acupoints and meridians, increasing the speed of Qi Blood enhancement.

[Golden Crow Radiance Dew]

Price: 3,000 Merit Points,

Effect: Enhances the absorption of Purple Qi from the East.

[Shadow Wood Cold Toad Ointment]

Price: 900 Merit Points

Effect: Dispels evil and reduces internal dryness, nourishes the body, and extends the cultivation time for Yang-attribute Cultivation Techniques.

The entire set cost 5,500 merit points, which was about the price of a single pot of Ice Soul Condensing Eyebrow.

Yu Fei didn’t mind spending on cultivation resources. He believed in spending freely where it counted. Besides, Ye Shuping had mentioned the university offered loans, and he figured he should probably take out one for several million merit points.

Goods purchased through the "Bringing Order to the World" system were delivered by robot if the address was within Shenhan University, with a delivery time similar to ordering takeout. However, off-campus deliveries required a special courier.

While waiting, Yu Fei opened the file about the Spiritual Secret Techniques of the Three Religions of the Middle Ages. Ye Shuping had strongly recommended he cultivate these, even mentioning them back at the teahouse. Martial Saints possessed many profound abilities, allowing them to perceive the deeper essence of things. To them, the mental fluctuations of a lower-level Martial Artist were as clear as the lines on their own palm. A Martial Saint didn’t judge a person solely by their outward appearance; they made judgments by combining it with the changes in the lower-level Martial Artist’s spiritual will.

In other words, it was nearly impossible for a low-level Martial Artist to hide their innermost emotional fluctuations. The moment their physical reactions and spiritual will were out of sync, the truth would be exposed. Back in the Great Hall of Returning to Truth, it was precisely because Yu Fei had been so shocked, causing his spiritual will to fluctuate wildly, that he had piqued Ye Shuping’s curiosity.

To prevent such a situation, one had to cultivate a Spiritual Secret Technique to a certain level, allowing their spiritual will to become restrained and extremely difficult for others to perceive. The other option was to advance one’s spiritual soul, creating a fundamental difference in power.

A successfully cultivated Spiritual Secret Technique could conceal one’s killing intent, aura, and more. This made them a core supportive ability for auxiliary-class Martial Artists.

As Yu Fei studied the material, he discovered that the so-called Three Religions of the Middle Ages referred to Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. According to historical records, these three were the world’s absolute rulers for nearly ten thousand years during that era. Consequently, a vast number of their secret scriptures and techniques have been preserved. Many of the Cultivation Techniques and secret arts practiced today bear their influence to varying degrees.

Ye Shuping had also elaborated on the characteristics of each of the Three Religions’ techniques.

Buddhist Secret Techniques focused more on elevating one’s state of mind. Progress required using the technique as a guide while upholding certain precepts. These techniques had a high power ceiling and a respectable floor. However, they shared a common weakness: if one’s core conviction was broken, they were susceptible to a backlash.

Daoist Secret Techniques emphasized comprehension and aptitude. They were easy for those who understood them, but impossible for those who didn’t. They had a high power ceiling but a low floor, ultimately boiling down to one’s personal affinity.

Confucian Secret Techniques, however, emphasized the unity of knowledge and action. Their value lay in persistence, placing a heavy focus on perseverance.

Of course, the above was not absolute, but merely the general trend.

The list of recommended techniques from Ye Shuping contained nearly a thousand Spiritual Secret Techniques from the Three Religions. The densely packed text file with their descriptions alone was 5MB. This couldn’t help but remind him of the more than one million Second Realm Cultivation Techniques in the Scripture Pavilion of the "Bringing Order to the World" system. It was utterly absurd.

This staggering variety of Cultivation Techniques was the result of 800 years of continuous, in-depth research and innovation by the Yu Kingdom. In ancient times, techniques were guarded as unteachable secrets, and the divisions between sects and lineages ran deep. Techniques were simply refined by successive generations within the same school, with each holding back their ultimate, hidden trump cards. It was nearly impossible for a few lone geniuses to drive any real innovation in martial arts theory. Consequently, the Martial Arts Extraordinary World had stagnated for tens of thousands of years, even regressing slightly.

After the dawn of the New Era, Martial Artists, under the leadership of the Grand Ancestor, shattered the divisions between sects and revolutionized martial arts theory. Since then, the strength of Martial Artists has been steadily increasing.

But... after several hundred years of development, there were simply too many martial Cultivation Techniques. Many of the low-level ones were extremely homogenized. Anyone who wasn’t a professional researcher would be completely lost when faced with the vast sea of available techniques.

Yu Fei was struggling with which to choose when he found that the old headmaster had attached a questionnaire at the end.

[Spiritual Secret Technique Cultivation Compatibility Survey]

This survey contained over three thousand questions. It instructed the test-taker not to overthink but to answer instinctively. The final result would narrow down the list of suitable Spiritual Secret Techniques to about ten.

He found this novel approach to cultivation a bit strange. ’Does the choice of a Cultivation Technique really depend on personality traits?’

Ye Shuping’s brief explanation stated that this survey was not yet widely implemented. It was a joint research project in the field of education conducted by the "Seven Greats." Over decades of centralized martial arts education, instructors at the major academies had discovered that Martial Artists with different personalities and behavioral tendencies had vastly different success rates and compatibility levels when cultivating Spiritual Secret Techniques.

Previously, this was simply attributed to aptitude, but there were always many cases that couldn’t be explained.

Later, a professor from Yuqing University combined this with research on human personality traits from a Mortal World University. They began by creating a binary classification for Martial Artist personalities and then tested their performance when cultivating different Spiritual Secret Techniques. After several decades of this work, they had successfully mapped personality traits to the characteristics of various Secret Techniques, saving countless Martial Artists a huge amount of time that would have been wasted on trial and error.

The [Spiritual Secret Technique Cultivation Compatibility Survey] analyzes a Martial Artist’s personality and behavioral tendencies from multiple dimensions. For instance, it determines whether a person prioritizes logic or emotion when making decisions. Some people prefer to reach conclusions through logical, objective analysis, while others value empathy and relationships, making choices based on their personal preferences and values.

For another example, some people were more reliant on intuition, while others put more faith in concrete facts—things they had witnessed themselves or that had been empirically proven.

Some people like to do things in a planned manner, preferring a sense of control, while others enjoy free exploration and dislike constraints and a monotonous life.

And so on. A person’s character and behavior are unique; they might be similar to others, but never identical.

In the early days, Yuqing University had only analyzed 16 types of Martial Artist characteristics, but found that this was still not accurate enough to guide a Martial Artist’s cultivation.

Later, building upon the research from the Mortal World, they incorporated new factors, such as how an individual responds to external challenges or how they perceive themselves. For instance, some people remain confident no matter the circumstances, while others are more prone to anxiety.

Furthermore, these classifications were too simplistic, and human nature is incredibly complex and nuanced. Therefore, the researchers at Yuqing University incorporated a chaos model. This ultimately led to the identification of 121 distinct personality and behavioral profiles for Martial Artists, grouped into 7 major categories. By cross-referencing these profiles with the unique and universal aspects of the Spiritual Secret Techniques of the Three Religions, the system could finally recommend about ten suitable techniques for each Martial Artist. The recommendations included options from all three religions, though they would lean toward a specific one.

’Hmm... How should I put this?’ After reading about the theory, Yu Fei felt that the forebears of the Martial Arts Extraordinary World were surprisingly open-minded. ’On one hand, they keep the Mortal World under tight surveillance, but on the other, they absorb its scientific wisdom without any prejudice, even adapting and improving it to better fit their own extraordinary world.’

’This behavior shows a fundamental acceptance of their own origins, as well as an acknowledgment of all the contributions made by the Mortal World.’

’Although a division between Martial Artists and ordinary people exists, they are still viewed as being of the same kind. A philosophy endorsed by the top academies in the extraordinary world surely represents the view of the majority of Martial Artists.’

’Come to think of it, that’s actually pretty great.’

’The extraordinary world has done an excellent job of protecting its "back garden"—the Mortal World.’

’But then, he couldn’t help but think of the Illuminati. With such tight surveillance, how could a human rebel faction be stirring up trouble?’