Five minutes later, Wang Hou showed up outside Jiang He’s front door.
“My mistake!”
Jiang He scowled and was left speechless. “I wanted to give Old Wang a surprise… what am I supposed to give him when the cultivation manual isn’t even ripe?”
Even as he complained inwardly, he was actually smiling as he greeted the other man with a smile. “You’re finally here, Minister Wang. Quick, come in.”
Wang Hou followed Jiang He into his mansion with a neutral expression.
As they took their seats, Boa Hancock brewed a pot of Old Tea of Enlightenment and served a plate of mutated grapes. After having a sip of tea, Wang Hou could not help asking, “Was what you said over the phone true, Jiang He?”
Jiang He smiled and nodded while he ate a grapefruit.
Wang Hou’s expression finally changed then—looking as if he had seen a ghost, he said in confusion, “You’re not really accomplished in martial arts, but you actually created a martial cultivation system…”
Pausing for a moment, he then asked, “So, what level does your martial cultivation system reach?”
Though he mainly cultivated immortal arts, Jiang He had cultivated martial arts himself. It made sense that he could develop a martial cultivation system that could match divine-tier… not!
Wang Hou promptly perished the thought.
Jiang He made it clear over the phone: he had developed a new martial cultivation system…
One should know that the current martial cultivation system had been perfected by two thousand years’ worth of trial and error, by Wang Hou’s preceding martial artists and martial prodigies. Even so, the tiering in martial arts became extremely shaky after reaching Zero-Void, with no specific cultivation technique recorded.
On the other hand, Jiang He had managed to create a brand-new martial cultivation system in just a few days?
Nonsense!
Jiang He, however, clearly was not bothered.
He continued eating the mutated grapes and savored the sweetness on his taste buds before retorting, “My ears are burning, Minister Wang… What do you mean I’m not accomplished in martial arts?”
“I cultivated up to Void-tier in just a month. If I didn’t decide to change to immortal arts out of preference, my martial arts cultivation would definitely be above yours!”
Wang Hou was dumbstruck.
He would be snorting and laughing if anyone else had said that… but he didn’t doubt it at all when Jiang He said it.
Jiang He then continued, “Moreover, I am quite accomplished in martial arts… but what does individual cultivation have to do with creating a cultivation system? I remembered that I had no immortal arts manuals or had any grasp of its cultivation when I started on that field either, and therefore created a manual for myself… even so, I still reached Heavenly Immortal.”
Wang Hou actually had no comeback against that simple example.
He could not help thinking… could Jiang He really have founded a brand-new martial cultivation system?
Nonetheless, that was when Jiang He’s tone changed and he sighed. “That said, developing a martial cultivation system is really difficult. I had to look through many information online and read through many wuxia and xianxia novels to barely create this Martial Scripture.”
“Martial Scripture?”
“Oh… I forgot to tell you—I named the martial cultivation system I created Martial Scripture.”
“Hold on…”
Wang Hou’s eyes bulged and he cried out involuntarily, “You’re saying that you based your martial cultivation system… on stuff found online, as well as wuxia and xianxia novels?”
Jiang He nodded.
Wang Hou facepalmed, speechless and chuckling bitterly.
“What?”
Able to tell what Wang Hou was thinking, Jiang He promptly lifted a brow and said seriously, “Minister Wang, are you belittling online data or the inspiration those novel authors have?”
“The cultivation methods in the novels are all made up, and the writers are 99.9 percent normal people who know nothing about martial arts. And you based your martial cultivation system on their novels?”
Wang Hou felt like he was falling apart!
You are already a Grand Luo, Jiang He… how could you not have some common sense?!
“You mainly cultivate immortal arts, and you should know that the cultivation techniques in xianxia novels are all made up. Could you cultivate anything based on those?”
Jiang He thought about it and seriously said, “I can!”
Wang Hou was rendered speechless.
Are you messing with me here?
Still, before he could say a thing, Jiang He said, “Minister Wang, you should know that I’m different from you chosen ones. You people would either have family legacies, a mentor, or some lucky relic find when you start cultivating, while I…”
“I have nothing from the very start. All I could do to train in martial arts is create my own cultivation manuals.”
“Even so…”
“How could a normal person who knows nothing about martial arts create cultivation manuals?”
“By reading novels!”
“Reading all kinds of novels was the only path for me to create a cultivation system… I occasionally got my stuff online as well, and stuff like the Indestructible Diamond, Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, Nine Yang Techniques, and Dragon-Elephant Prajna are all developed based on wuxia novels. Even the immortal arts I cultivated later on is based on Lü Dongbin’s poem anthology circulating online,” Jiang He explained calmly.
On the other hand, Wang Hou’s face stiffened.
This is absolutely illogical!
Creating martial arts manuals based on wuxia novels?
Creating immortal arts based on poems?
After spacing out for a long while, Wang Hou regained his senses. More or less accepting Jiang He’s explanation and forcing a smile, he said, “This is unbelievable!”
“Well, it is creating cultivation manuals—you need inspiration and imagination.”
Jiang He said humbly, “I am limited in both those things, but since the novel authors never lack imagination and the cultivation system in novels are endless, I would create a handful of cultivation systems when I have the time later!”
Unwilling to continue on that subject, Wang Hou’s tone changed as he asked, “By the way, could you talk about the martial cultivation system you created?”
“That’s what I plan to do.”
Jaing He smiled. “I actually have many questions for you since I’m not that learned in martial arts, Minister Wang. I basically made up… I mean, theorized the latter half part, and I wonder if it would work.”
“Made up?”
“What? No. How could I make anything up since creating cultivation manuals is such a serious business?’
Jiang He cut to the point, saying, “Minister Wang, Martial Scripture divides the martial cultivation system into fourteen tiers… I am a hundred percent confident on the first half, which consists of the Postnatal-tier, Congenital-tier, Blank-tier, Tempest-tier, Yin-Yang-tier, and Deva-tier. I need your help with the latter half, however…”
“For example, I named the twelfth-tier Grotto-Heaven-tier. At that level, martial artists could create their own grotto-heaven and used its power to strengthen their physique and Martial Yuan Spirit, even wield it in battle… even if the user is killed, they could blow the grotto-heaven up too.”
“For Grotto-Heaven tier, my idea is that it would be equal to Golden Immortals. Sure, their movesets would not be as numerous as Golden Immortals’, but their combat strength would be stronger than Golden Immortals’… and it is around your current level.”
As he spoke, he turned to look at Wang Hou, asking, “Have you opened a grotto-heaven yet, Minister Wang?”
Wang Hou, left utterly confused, asked in shock, “What are you talking about?”
Huh!
Jiang He chuckled bitterly. “I almost forgot that my martial cultivation is a brand-new system and different from the path you took… why don’t we eat first, and I’ll cultivate the new martial cultivation system with you later for further examination.”
