Chapter 11: The Base Number and Multiplier Are Not That Important; What Matters Is the Conversion Rate!

The aura of a Qi Condensation cultivator is naturally extraordinary.

You say that Qi Condensation achieved by relying on Breaking Through with a Great Pill is a joke among Qi Condensation cultivators?

It is still Qi Condensation!

Once Tang Nianqiu appeared, the rogue cultivators causing trouble and wanting to stay in discounted rooms fell silent.

"Daoist Tang, the sudden price hike at Fuyuan Residence is not done with dignity."

Fortunately, there were Qi Condensation cultivators among these rogues; one such cultivator stepped forward, standing before the crowd, and began to reason with Tang Nianqiu.

"Fuyuan Residence paid fifty spirit stones as a unity fee; we didn't want to raise prices either, but if we don't raise them, Fuyuan Residence will go bankrupt!"

This was naturally nonsense; if Fuyuan Residence were so easily bankrupt, the Wang Shi would have stopped operating long ago, but Tang Nianqiu at least gave a reason.

"If you find the rooms here too expensive, you can rent a courtyard yourself; the spirit eyes in the residence of the guarding cultivator, Elder Jiang, are all available for rent."

The rogue cultivator who had stepped forward to lead was left in an awkward position by Tang Nianqiu's words.

Yes, the surname Jiang has a very greedy appetite, even renting out the spirit eyes equipped for him by Red Lantern Light.

But if I could afford to rent one, would I still be staying at your Fuyuan Residence?

"What Qi-Channeling Methods have you all cultivated?"

At Huafeng Residence, Red Eyebrow Daoist manipulated the alchemy furnace and asked without turning around.

"I have Water and Fire spiritual roots and cultivate the Qi-Channeling Art common to Wang Shizi descendants; Wang Yuan is special, he cultivates the 'Jin Shi Hundred Forging Chapter'."

Red Eyebrow Daoist only knew that the Wang Shi lineage was long, but did not know it had lasted a thousand years.

He was quite surprised that Wang Yuan could cultivate a Cultivation Method matching his spiritual roots; the action of refining gold even paused for a moment.

"What about the others? Do you have any understanding of auxiliary Dao arts like talisman-making and artifact refining?"

"The clan teaches from childhood the 'Jin Shi Bone Wood Spiritual Materials Brief Explanation', 'Hundred Distinctions of Textiles', 'Poison and Medicine Identification Chapter', and so on; for talisman-making, we only learned the basic Qi-Channeling Talisman.

In the path of refining, we have only heard of artifact refining and pill refining; these are things only Qi Condensation cultivators in the clan can cultivate."

Zhong Ningyao was somewhat puzzled.

"Your Wang Shi only teaches these few things?"

Red Eyebrow glared at his daughter; Ningyao's small face tightened, and she dared not ask further.

"Very well, then you will start with drawing talismans; once your Fire Control Art and talisman drawing are about the same level, begin the next stage of cultivation.

Ningyao, take them to the backyard to practice Fire Control Art first, then practice drawing talismans."

Just as the group was about to leave, Red Eyebrow added something.

"By the way, use ordinary hemp cloth for practice; do not get it wrong!"

The Wang Shi are too cunning; they sent their children here without teaching them anything beforehand, fearing the family's inherited knowledge would be learned by him.

Do they take me as a master?

They take me as a thief!

Regarding these two cheap disciples, Red Eyebrow's main approach is to be generous when being generous, stingy when being stingy; save one point whenever possible!

In the backyard, Wang Yulou smoothly ignited fire within the water, only for it to be instantly extinguished by the water.

Beside him, Wang Yuan's face turned red from holding his breath, yet nothing appeared in his hand within the water.

"Junior Brother Wang Yuan, you must focus when practicing Fire Control Art; as long as you focus, you will make progress, and slowly you will be able to ignite the fire."

Zhong Ningyao had never taught a disciple and did not understand how difficult it is to ignite fire in water with Metal and Earth spiritual roots.

"Lin Lin Lin Lin Shijie Ningyao, Wang Yuan's spiritual roots are not well suited to this practice method; could we perhaps modify it and let him try under normal conditions?

Start by igniting fire with normal spiritual power first; after success, switch to igniting fire in water. What do you think?"

There was nothing profound in basic cultivation; Wang Yulou simply thought to let Wang Yuan first find the feeling of igniting fire, then further refine his control over the flames.

Hearing Wang Yulou's words, Wang Yuan took his hand out of the water, and instantly, flames rose up.

"Lin Lin Lin Lin Shijie, look; as long as I am not in the water, I can perform Fire Control Art well."

The boy seeking credit spoke excitedly.

Zhong Ningyao scratched her head, puzzled, and asked.

"Is the influence of spiritual roots that great?"

Wang Yulou weighed his words.

"I am not entirely sure, but Wang Yuan lacks a Fire spiritual root, so he is already a bit lacking.

Igniting fire in water, and he lacks a Water spiritual root, making him lacking again.

The two combined make it appear much more difficult.

By the way, Lin Lin Lin Lin Shijie Ningyao, what are your spiritual roots?"

At the end of his words, Wang Yulou subtly tested the waters.

"I have Fire, Wood, and Metal, but Fire is the most abundant and Metal the least, so I cultivate the 'Burning Mulberry Qi-Channeling Art'.

It is a pity you lack a Wood spiritual root; otherwise, you could cultivate this as well."

What a wonderful senior sister; her mind is utterly pure.

Wang Yulou asked a little, and she revealed everything, even expressing regret that her Qi-Channeling Cultivation Method was unsuitable for Wang Yulou.

"It matters not; the primary Cultivation Method at the Qi-Channeling stage is unimportant; the gap in cultivation speed and power is not large," Wang Yulou said.

Cultivation level and the Cultivation Method cultivated are a relationship of base number and multiplier.

On the scale of cultivators, the base number corresponding to the Qi-Channeling stage is zero to one, and the multiplier corresponding to Qi-Channeling stage Cultivation Methods is not particularly high either.

But upon reaching Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment, the situation is different.

The base number for the Qi Condensation stage can be seen as 1 to 10, or even 1 to 20; people like Tang Nianqiu might only have a 2 or 3, while Wang Rongyuan, a high-level Qi Condensation cultivator, is at least a ten.

Combined with the influence of Cultivation Methods, magical artifacts, special secret transmissions, and other factors, performing multiplication on this base number results in a vast difference in final cultivation and strength.

For example, Tang Nianqiu, although he broke through to the Qi Condensation stage by relying on Breaking Through with a Great Pill, the power of the Cultivation Method he cultivates is not insignificant; he has a Handy Technique artifact at hand, and secretly prepares a trump card or something similar.

In the end, 2.5 (the average of 2 or 3) × 2 × 1.5 × 1.25… his strength would be ten or even over ten.

Of course, applying this model to Wang Rongyuan would be even more extraordinary.

However, all of this was still very far from Yulou.

His main task right now was to rapidly improve himself.

At the second layer of Qi-Drawing, he couldn't even manage leaving Qing Xi Fang alone—strictly speaking, he wasn't permitted to.

The immortal path is long; one must forge ahead with perseverance.

Actually, regarding that algorithm for a cultivator's strength, Yulou had calculated it quite correctly, but he had still overlooked one point.

This might be related to the fact that he had never experienced a cultivator's combat.

In Yulou's previous life's automobile field, there was a term called engine thermal efficiency.

In the Cultivation World, there was a concept that had never been defined, which could be seen as something akin to engine thermal efficiency—namely, the conversion rate between a cultivator's strength and their combat strength.

If calculated by a mechanical and simple addition, the combined strength of five Tang Nianqius would roughly equal one Wang Rongyuan.

But in actual combat, even if twenty Tang Nianqius stood before Wang Rongyuan, even if they hacked their magic artifacts until the edges rolled, Wang Rongyuan wouldn't even be winded.

This was also the confidence that allowed Wang Rongyuan to fish, waiting for bandit cultivators to come die!

"Halt!"

After flying over a thousand li, he had finally encountered some fearless idiots. Wang Rongyuan didn't show a smile—instead, he was so startled that his flying magic artifact couldn't stay steady.

Only by acting stupid enough could he catch them off guard and seize the first strike!

First, his flying magic artifact was jolted into instability, and then Wang Rongyuan took the opportunity to descend into the forest on the ground; because he was too disheveled, he even took a tumble onto his backside.

"Hahaha, finally caught one! Big brother, come quick—it's just an idiot at mid Qi Refining!"

"Fellow Daoists, what do you mean by this?"

Wang Rongyuan struggled to climb up from the ground, watching in terror as the three people rapidly approached him from the sky.

"Hand over everything you have, and we can let you leave alive!"

The three bandit cultivators flew to a spot about a hundred meters in front of Wang Rongyuan, and the one with the lowest cultivation among them spoke.

Even this one with the lowest cultivation was at the eighth layer of Qi Refining; the other two were one at the tenth layer of Qi Refining, and one at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining!

Wang Rongyuan was at the tenth layer of Qi Refining, and it looked like one against three, with the opponents crushingly stronger.

But… was it really so?

"Let me go! I'm an inner disciple of the Zhaofuyong Sect, the Water-Dripping Cave, under the Red Lantern. If you rob me, the Red Lantern and Water-Dripping Cave won't let you off!"

The Red Lantern, one of the Shi Sect, had a special sect Cultivation Method; among the Shi Sect, it reigned supreme in Using Fire Technique, and its disciples often had fire spiritual roots.

Water-Dripping Cave, a vassal of the Red Lantern—as the name suggests, the sect's disciples mostly Cultivate Water Technique.

Fire technique, water technique—Uncle Rongyuan has just revealed his own background… hasn't he?

"Hahaha, Water-Dripping Cave? My big brother is an inner disciple of Wonderful Peak Mountain—why would he fear a mere Water-Dripping Cave?"

Fake!

These people are also trying to bluff me!

"Idiot, are you out of your mind?" the cultivator at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining said angrily.

Really, this one at the eighth layer of Qi Refining is just an idiot!

Wonderful Peak Mountain disciples' Cultivation Method didn't have much special about it, but they often used needle, thread, and silk-type magic artifacts—watch out for the needles!

"Big brother, I'm letting him see the situation clearly so he gives up struggling.

Hurry up, hand over everything, and we can give you a quick end—otherwise… heh-heh~"

Wang Rongyuan's face was full of indignation, and he cursed.

"Wonderful Peak Mountain disciples still want to be bandit cultivators—I'm going to the Daoxian Alliance to report you!"

After cursing, Wang Rongyuan immediately used a somewhat clumsy Earth Escape, drilling straight into the soil.

"Mid Qi Refining and you still want to run? Dream on!"

That Wonderful Peak Mountain disciple at the eleventh layer of Qi Refining snorted coldly, then summoned a spirit shuttle, which shot straight toward the spot where Wang Rongyuan had vanished!

The other two bandit cultivators reacted quickly as well, swiftly entering a combat state and beginning to search for Wang Rongyuan's tracks.