I Can See Your Combat Power

Under the collective efforts of everyone in the Secret Arts Pavilion, Tang Luo’s contributions were quickly tallied, but their expressions kept flickering between happiness and worry.

A whopping ninety-seven Mortal Realm martial techniques encompassing blades, spears, swords, halberds, punches, palms, kicks, and claws. Tang Luo was truly a genius when it came to improving martial techniques.

As they placed down the secret records, they couldn’t help but to recall their own trials. How many days did it take them to modify a single Mortal Realm martial technique?

Five days, or perhaps ten days.

All they could say was that comparing people can kill a man, and comparing goods was simply disheartening. Their hearts were filled with a mixture of complicated sentiments.

But in this world, not only were there honorable men who could put themselves in others’ shoes, there were also shameless men who held on stubbornly to their arguments.

“Ahahahaha. You only got 97 contribution points.” Tang Feizhou had triple-verified all the records Tang Luo had brought, examined the box thoroughly, cackled and squinted his eyes in delight, even his stomach was shaking from his laughter.

Tang Luo’s contribution was almost twice his own, but it was still far from Tang Guangyu’s. Since he’d chosen to challenge the entire Secret Arts Pavilion, it’d be unreasonable if he didn’t take the top spot according to the contribution-based selection process he’d proposed this month.

“Who said that’s all?” Tang Luo couldn’t be bothered to retort. Looking directly at Tang Hongtao, he asked, “How much contribution does the ‘Martial Finger’ technique worth?”

When his question was raised, the entire Secret Arts Pavilion fell into silence. Even Tang Feizhou, who was the first to provoke him, was taken aback with his mouth agape.

Pavilion elder Tang Hongtao was dumbfounded by this unexpected windfall.

He had, of course, entertained the idea of having Tang Luo contribute the ‘Martial Finger’ technique to the Secret Arts Pavilion to enhance the strength of the Tang Clan’s members in both the Mortal Realm and those who had transcended it. But this idea was only a fantasy.

If he were in Tang Luo’s shoes, and had created such a formidable martial technique, he definitely wouldn’t hand it over to the clan until he had achieved a much higher level of power. He’d rather keep it as a secret weapon for his own lineage.

Human nature would not allow this. Every great clan is made up of numerous families. Techniques capable of changing one’s power base were necessarily reserved for immediate family members.

Despite his vast experience, Tang Hongtao never expected Tang Luo to willingly hand over this secret technique at his very first participation in the Secret Arts Pavilion meeting.

Squashing his agitation, Tang Hongtao told him, “A Mortal Grade Combined Attack Technique is valued at twenty points. Technique improvements from the main lineage are multiplied by three, making it a total of sixty contribution points.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that his terms were too harsh and regretted it. He quickly added, “But this technique is unique, as it allows a lone individual to execute a combined attack technique. We still need to further discuss the actual contribution value. We need to discuss it.”

Since he’d never thought that Tang Luo would actually bring up this secret technique, he hadn’t assigned a contribution value to it yet. Now, Tang Luo had forced his hand, so he had to leave some room for negotiation.

However, Tang Luo generously declared, “There’s no need for further discussion, let’s just say sixty points.”

“Are you really willing to give this technique to the clan?”

Tang Guangyu’s sudden question surprised Tang Hongtao. He couldn’t understand why Tang Guangyu, of all people, would remind him of something like this.

After glancing at Tang Guangyu several times, Tang Luo answered, “Yes, this martial technique doesn’t need to be kept a secret. I hope to promote it throughout the clan.”

“Great!” Overjoyed, Tang Hongtao viewed this talented young man, who cared greatly for the clan, as a sign from heaven. He felt reassured about his future decision to pass the Secret Arts Pavilion to Tang Luo.

Not only was the elder thrilled, the members of the Secret Arts Pavilion also burst into applause. After all, the original intention of studying martial techniques was to make their clan more prosperous. As they matured, their initial goal became cluttered with personal interests and they even forgot why they pursued martial studies in the first place.

Inspired by Tang Luo’s magnanimous action, each person’s sense of aspiration was stimulated. While they couldn’t match the young man’s envious achievements, his spirit certainly recalled their fond memories.

The importance of contribution was trivial, as was the shame of defeat. The strength of the clan was the original intention when founding the Secret Arts Pavilion.

Henceforth, the Secret Arts Pavilion would formally accept Tang Luo, with their whole hearts.

“But…” Unsure how to begin, Tang Luo looked around at everyone’s faces full of admiration and decided he needed to come clean, “The ‘Martial Finger’ technique… is quite difficult.”

“It’s a mere Mortal Grade Combined Attack Technique that can be executed by one person. What could be so difficult about this?” Tang Hongtao waved his hand, comfortingly said.

“Since elder says so, shouldn’t we discuss it further since everyone is present?” Tang Luo cautiously suggested. He didn’t find practicing any martial techniques challenging, so he couldn’t assess the true difficulty level of the ‘Martial Finger’ technique. Maybe it’s actually quite simple.

“Why not?” Tang Guangyu volunteered. Everyone was eager for the opportunity to study this secret technique.

Seeing the united front in the Secret Arts Pavilion, Tang Luo felt relieved and began to painstakingly describe the details of the ‘Martial Finger’ technique.

As the explanation progressed, the formerly confident faces of the members slowly turned doubtful, then incredulous, and finally shocked.

Following the detailed explanation of the ‘Martial Finger’ technique by Tang Luo, everyone fell into silent pondering, uncertain about how to proceed.

In the end, it was the straightforward elder Tang Hongtao who broke the silence, “Can a Mortal Realm practitioner really achieve this?”

“Yes,” Tang Luo nodded emphatically.

The gathered faces were tense, their scalps tingling.

Even a Mortal Realm peak expert controlling over fifteen percent of his spiritual energy, exacting it into five equal parts to flow through five precise meridian pathways to their respective acupuncture points at the thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and pinky simultaneously, was practically impossible. Not to mention for the young Mortal Realm practitioners who had just started martial training.

Upon hearing how the ‘Martial Finger’ technique was executed, everyone in the Secret Arts Pavilion, who had devoted years to martial studies, believed it to be non-humanly possible.

Seeing everyone’s expressions turn so serious, Tang Luo roughly gauged the difficulty level of the technique. Tentatively he asked, “It’s really… too difficult?”

No one answered. After a moment of contemplation, Tang Guangyu admitted, “It’s not too difficult, it’s just too complicated. If it can be simplified somewhat, it might have the potential to be widely disseminated.”

Not everyone was a freak of nature like Tang Luo. Most martial artists were average individuals. To practice the ‘Martial Finger’ technique might require a decade of hard work.

The greatest benefits of this ‘Martial Finger’ technique were for those in the Mortal Realm, meant as a secret weapon. But if they were delayed for an entire decade to advance to the Transcending Mortal Realm, the power of the ‘Martial Finger’ wouldn’t be as impressive.

After all, Tang Guangyu had once managed to fend off the technique simply using a protective martial art.

Once they reached the Transcending Mortal Realm, the ‘Martial Finger’ would probably just be an excellent martial technique that saved energy.

“If the full ‘Martial Finger’ technique is too complex, you can start with the combined attack of the three acupuncture points of the thumb, index finger, and middle finger.” Tang Luo suggested. His initial plan had been to execute the ‘Wind Attack Thrice’ technique using only three fingers, hence, a simplified version of the ‘Martial Finger’ existed.

Upon hearing that there was a simplified version of the ‘Martial Finger’, it was as if they had seen the light at the end of the tunnel, reigniting their enthusiasm.

The difficulty of using three parts of the mind at the same time was much lesser than using five..