I Can See Your Combat Power

Upon returning to their residence on Chongming Peak, the three teammates bathed and changed clothes before gathering again in Tang Luo’s room. They had too many uncertainties in this trial and urgently needed their captain’s affirmation, just like students seeking validation from the top scholar after an exam.

Li Xuanba, ever direct, sat down with a look of anticipation and asked Tang Luo, “Captain, what do you think of the combination I chose? Is there potential for a good ranking with ‘Seven Evils Return to Origin Slash’ as the main attack, ‘Immovable White Bone Dharma Aspect’ as a secondary attack, ‘Ziwei Heavenly Star Intent’ to strengthen the soul, ‘Nine Curves Luminous Smoke Steps’ for evasion, and ‘Hundred Refinements Bear Strength’ to enhance the body?”

Seeing Li Xuanba’s hopeful expression, Tang Luo asked with a complicated look, “Have you not studied some of the works on Spiritual Power research?”

“What’s wrong, Captain?” Li Xuanba was stunned, a sense of dread suddenly gripping his heart, “Is there something wrong with my combination?”

The worst had happened, and although it pained him, Tang Luo still gave a straightforward explanation, “Well, ‘Immovable White Bone Dharma Aspect’ and ‘Ziwei Heavenly Star Intent’ are incompatible, as are ‘Seven Evils Return to Origin Slash’ and ‘Hundred Refinements Bear Strength.’ Theoretically, it’s impossible to cultivate these four secret techniques at the same time and even if by some fluke they do appear together in one person, the incompatibility issues will greatly diminish the power of each secret technique and will also make the martial artist extremely weak, so you need to be mentally prepared.”

Such mental preparation simply meant that the combination was too weak, and his final ranking would likely be disappointing.

Li Xuanba’s eyes widened with pain and confusion as he asked unwillingly, “Why? What exactly is this compatibility, and why does it affect the power of the secret techniques?”

“This so-called compatibility is a term used by martial arts researchers, referring to the degree of harmony between secret techniques. The simplest example is the mutual generation and overcoming of the Five Elements, the balance of Yin and Yang, light against heavy, fast against slow. When there’s compatibility, secret techniques can create effects greater than the sum of their parts, even exceeding a combined power of two or three times that. However, when there’s incompatibility, the secret techniques conflict with each other, sometimes even leading to collapse.”

Tang Luo explained to Li Xuanba, “Take your combination for example. The ‘Seven Evils Return to Origin Slash’ requires harboring seven forms of Evil Qi in the seven major acupoints of the torso, and the power of this technique relies entirely on the strength of these seven forms of Evil Qi. Now, ‘Hundred Refinements Bear Strength’ as a body refining technique also uses the torso’s major acupoints to store Spiritual Power and then stimulates the body to temper it with this energy. But you should know, Yin Evil Qi can contaminate Spiritual Power, and they cannot blend. If you want to ensure the power of the ‘Seven Evils Return to Origin Slash’, you must sacrifice the Spiritual Power of the seven acupoints, effectively rendering your ‘Hundred Refinements Bear Strength’ useless.”

“As for ‘Immovable White Bone Dharma Aspect’ and ‘Ziwei Heavenly Star Intent’, the former involves visualizing Yin Evil Qi to create a Dharma Aspect of a dark soul, while the latter is a noble technique that draws on the fire of the stars to strengthen the divine soul. The two have no chance of being cultivated together, and even if it were possible, when you face an enemy, initiating the White Bone Dharma Aspect would prevent you from activating the Ziwei intent, and vice versa. So these two techniques also conflict in compatibility.”

“Out of your secret technique combination, only ‘Nine Curves Luminous Smoke Steps’ doesn’t conflict with the others, but unfortunately, it does not benefit from any synergy either. If we consider the strength of a single secret technique as 1, then the combination you have chosen has a final strength of less than 3.”noveldrama

Li Xuanba’s face fell, realizing that the secret technique combination that he thought was well-rounded was actually so flawed. He cursed himself for not having thoroughly studied the sage writings, filled with regret.