"System, I've heard of the Purple Dawn Manual. It's the Huashan Sect Leader Yue Buqun's unique skill. But what does this Purple Dawn Congenital Skill mean? The Dan Strength cultivated within a National Arts Embracing the Dan realm practitioner's body shouldn't be related to inner force at all. Aren't you afraid I'll go into a cultivation deviation?" Qin Yu couldn't help but protest, muttering his dissatisfaction.
"Idiot, the Purple Dawn Manual in your memory is just a fragmented version of the Congenital Skill that Hao Datong obtained from Wang Chongyang. Forget that incomplete Purple Dawn Manual; even the complete version of the Congenital Skill is not worth mentioning in front of the Purple Dawn Congenital Skill. It doesn't even deserve to be compared," the System retorted mercilessly.
"Although National Arts cultivation doesn't rely on spiritual energy, if spiritual energy can assist, the cultivation speed will indeed increase significantly. However, spiritual energy is not as common as cabbage, readily available everywhere. Some National Arts powerhouses, considering future generations, created this cultivation method that assists cultivation by absorbing the first ray of purple qi in the morning. As for its effect, it's slightly inferior to top-tier cultivation methods, but still much stronger than average ones."
Under the System's disdainful gaze, Qin Yu, holding the mindset that one must bow their head when under someone else's roof, immediately put on a flattering smile and said, "Oh, it's just that my knowledge is shallow. How can I compare to you, System Big Brother? You are so knowledgeable. Please guide me more in the future. Speaking of which, is spiritual energy really that important? What about the inner force in wuxia?"
"That attitude is much better. Kid, I know you have questions, and it's actually very easy to understand. As for spiritual energy, in Jin Yong's wuxia novels, during the era of Wang Chongyang and others, although it was the end of the Dharma era and spiritual energy was already very thin, it still existed. Unlike this ghost place, Marvel, where there's not a trace of spiritual energy except for a few Small Worlds like Kunlun. If there were spiritual energy, martial artists could directly absorb and convert it into inner force within their bodies. Of course, the combat power obtained through inner force cultivation in the wuxia World definitely cannot be compared with the Dan Strength of National Arts. As the old saying goes, you reap what you sow," the System explained proudly.
Oh, Qin Yu suddenly remembered that in the Marvel Universe, Kunlun's Qi cultivation seemed somewhat similar to the inner force in wuxia, only much more destructive.
"System, I've always had a question: between the Qi cultivators of Kunlun and National Arts martial artists like me, who is stronger?"
"Kid, you're practically insulting yourself. National Arts is also called Ancient Martial Arts, and the National Arts in the secular World originated from Kunlun. However, even in a powerful force like Kunlun, true Ancient Martial Arts practitioners like you are extremely rare. Ultimately, it's because martial arts cultivation is incredibly difficult in this chaotic Universe."
"Ancient Martial Arts cultivation has strict requirements for aptitude, resources, age, and various other aspects. Take you, for example: your aptitude is first-rate. Under normal circumstances, with sufficient resources, it would take at least twenty years to enter the Transformation Strength realm. You're just lucky, kid. Through a series of coincidences, you successfully cultivated the Yellow-tier mid-grade skill, 'Easily Strengthening the Body,' and with the help of this System, you entered the Embracing the Dan realm in just over four years. Zhang Sanfeng's aptitude was no worse than yours, yet he only achieved Embracing the Dan at a hundred years old."
"From this, you can see how difficult Ancient Martial Arts cultivation is in this plane. After Kunlun found a secret realm with spiritual energy, they found a new path and developed the Qi cultivation method. This method skips the Striking Force, Dark Strength, and Transformation Strength realms. Practitioners start with basic body tempering and practicing martial arts. Once their bodies reach a certain standard, they directly go to the secret realm to absorb spiritual energy. In fact, this is similar to the inner force in the wuxia World, but Kunlun's spiritual energy is limited, only enough for them to cultivate to produce inner force. After that, they can only rely on their own vital energy or medicinal materials to enhance the inner force within their bodies."
"The early stage of Qi cultivation is divided into twelve layers of Qi refinement. The combat power of the first nine layers, every three layers, corresponds to Striking Force, Dark Strength, and Transformation Strength, respectively. The latter three layers correspond to the Half-step Embracing the Dan realm. The early stage of Qi cultivation progresses quickly and has low requirements for aptitude, so it quickly became popular among most cultivators in Kunlun, while Ancient Martial Arts gradually became rejected. The emergence of a large number of Qi cultivators led to the consumption of many high-grade medicinal materials. Gradually, even in Kunlun, century-old medicinal herbs became in short supply. Many Qi cultivators could only rely on overdrawing their vital energy to cultivate, at the cost of shortened lifespans."
Listening to the System's detailed explanation, Qin Yu suddenly understood why the Five Fingers pursued longevity and even betrayed Kunlun. This crude Qi cultivation method was simply exchanging life for power. Most importantly, isn't the purpose of cultivation to live better or longer? It's unacceptable for anyone to risk death to finally achieve the first layer of Qi refinement, only to be told that their lifespan might be shorter than that of an ordinary person.
Thinking of this, Qin Yu couldn't help but shake his head, feeling a bit more understanding towards the Five Fingers. Their strength was generally around Half-step Embracing the Dan, and if it weren't for the dragon bones extending their lives all these years, they would have probably died long ago.
The dragon bones, the System should reclaim them, right? After all, they can extend life, so their price certainly won't be low. Speaking of which, I haven't actually seen the System reclaim items. Now is a good time to check, after all, points are too difficult to obtain.
The System display showed a series of recyclable items: medicinal materials, superpowers, Mutant genes, divine weapons, special metals, technological armor, laser weapons, martial arts techniques, prescriptions, body techniques, martial skills, secret arts, energy, and even atomic bombs were prominently listed.
It turns out that so many things can be exchanged for points, but the exchange rate varies. For example, 10 tons of oil can be exchanged for 2 points, but the System also takes a 20% commission, so only 1.6 points actually end up in his hands. And 10 tons of oil are worth 35,000 great xia currency. You know, the cheapest vital energy soup for beginner National Arts martial artists in the System costs 10 points, which converts to nearly 200,000 great xia currency. He's not a super-rich person like Tony, so he can't afford to spend that much.
Qin Yu walked slowly home, carrying his fishing rod. An hour later, he appeared at his doorstep. He happened to run into Qin Ming, who was returning from outside. Qin Ming looked at his grandson, who spent every day with him and was carrying a fishing rod and basket, and vaguely felt that Qin Yu was a little different from usual, as if his temperament had changed slightly. But he didn't pay too much attention, and the two walked home side by side.
During dinner, Grandpa Qin Ming casually talked to Qin Yu about what happened in Manhattan, New York, in the Free Country two days ago, saying that two giants had a big fight and destroyed the entire street. Qin Yu heard this and was slightly lost in thought, thinking: The plot has begun, the Hulk has appeared.
Qin Ming noticed that his grandson was a little distracted and asked, "What are you thinking, Xiao Yu? Do you know the specifics of this matter?"
Qin Yu smiled and nodded, then briefly explained the situation. It was nothing more than a general in the Free Country Military who coveted supernatural powers and conducted reckless experiments, resulting in a huge mess. Afterwards, he didn't hesitate to send troops to use heavy weapons in the city, destroying the entire street, and finally pushing all the blame onto the Hulk.
Hearing the whole story, Qin Ming frowned. Qin Ming's son lived in the Free Country, and the Free Country Military's actions were truly unreliable, simply driven by greed. If they didn't have the ability, they shouldn't have messed around, and in the end, they even used tanks in an important city in their own country.
Qin Ming then asked, "Is that giant very strong?"
"Very strong. The normal state Hulk is a top-tier existence on the surface. If his potential is fully unleashed, he can even contend with a Father-level powerhouse for a short period. Anyway, if it were up to me, I would definitely not provoke him," Qin Yu answered with a serious expression.
"Surface-level, Father-level, what are all these?"
Qin Yu had no choice but to explain the Marvel Universe's extraordinary power levels to his Grandpa in detail. Based on combat power, they are divided into Surface-level, Father-level, Single Universe-level, Multiverse-level, Super-Grand Universe-level, and Omnipotent Universe-level. Among them, Surface-level is further divided into six grades from weak to strong: F, E, D, C, B, and A. Striking Force combat power belongs to F-grade, and Dark Strength combat power belongs to E-grade, while E-grade and F-grade are basically cannon fodder in the Universe.
These power level classifications almost made Qin Ming pull out his beard in shock. Someone who could unleash nearly three thousand catties of immense force with a full-power strike was considered cannon fodder? Then what was he, an ordinary person? Was he dust?