Chapter 2569 — Stacked Strength
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Only when two cultivate it together can their strengths be stacked," Old Master Zhuang said. "If one cultivates it alone, that person can only stack half of his own strength onto another who has never cultivated the method—the power is greatly reduced, and once that half is stacked, it can never be taken back..."
"Taken back? You mean it's given to the other person?" Wei Zhao asked.
"No. Once you stop circulating the method, that portion of true qi lent to the other person simply dissipates. It cannot be absorbed by the other," Old Master Zhuang said with a bitter smile. "That is why Niaoqiang and Niaopao cultivate it together. Cultivated alone, the drawbacks are far too many—this method was never meant for one person at all."
"I see..." Wei Zhao felt a pang of disappointment at Old Master Zhuang's words. If it took two cultivating together, then for him and Han Jingyi to combine their strength, both would have to cultivate this method simultaneously. But taking up a whole new cultivation formula from scratch was truly difficult.
"Just so. But Mr. Lin need not trouble himself over it—after all, a cultivator can only cultivate one method formula. That is an eternal, unchanging law; rarely does any cultivator manage two," Old Master Zhuang said. "This is the meaning of the saying that a single mind cannot serve two ends. To cultivate another method formula, one must first abolish the one currently cultivated—and even then success is not guaranteed. One may well lose the wife and the soldiers both, ending up with nothing at all. So surely Mr. Lin would not do such a thing, putting the cart before the horse?"
"That is true..." A thought struck Wei Zhao—it did seem to be so. Back when he had helped Gu Mengyao, Chen Jianshu, and the others find cultivation methods, he had looked through the records of many cultivators, and it was precisely because a cultivator could only cultivate one method formula that Wei Zhao had not casually chosen for Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. After all, choose rightly and all was well; choose wrongly, and it would be the same as ruining them!
At this, Wei Zhao could not help but smile bitterly again and again. So his idea had been sound enough, but putting it into practice was impossibly hard. However fine this method formula might be, Wei Zhao himself could not cultivate it—let alone Han Jingyi!
The Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art was Wei Zhao's trump card for victory. How could he abolish it just like that? That would be nothing short of wasting a heavenly treasure.
"And these are the joint-strike martial techniques, meant to be used together with the method from before. To Mr. Lin they are clearly of little use as well—fine to collect, but to cultivate..." Old Master Zhuang shook his head. "Mr. Lin cultivates fire-attribute martial techniques, I take it? And my techniques, though meant for a single user, do not match the attribute of Mr. Lin's method, so he should be unable to cultivate them either..."
"Oh, then never mind." Wei Zhao waved a hand. "I will copy down this joint-strike method and these martial techniques to keep in my collection. The rest are unnecessary."
"Very well." That Wei Zhao wished to copy the joint-strike method and martial techniques did not surprise Old Master Zhuang in the least. Most cultivators, even if unable to cultivate a thing themselves, still liked to collect martial techniques and methods.
(Two more chapters to come, to be updated a little later.)