This High Martial World is Too Crazy!!!

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: A Minor Boost Is Hardly a Boost

”He went mad?” Fang Can asked in disbelief.

Yang Lie nodded gravely. ”That genius read too many books and started to question the very existence of the Martial Dao. He claimed the human body has no such thing as meridians, that some downward force must be holding everything to the ground, and that it was impossible for his master to float in mid-air without any support.”

”In the end, he even wanted his master to cooperate with his research to find out how humans could possibly fly. This enraged the Sect Master of the Supreme Profound Sect, who immediately expelled him from the Sect.”

”After leaving the Sect, according to the grapevine, the genius’s Realm began to slowly decline. Eventually, his Realm collapsed completely, and he reverted to being a mortal.”

”I heard his fiancée even broke off their engagement later. All because he read a few too many books. See? Isn’t reading a terrifying thing?” Yang Lie said with utter conviction.

’My god... A perfectly good budding scientist, led astray by the brutes of this Martial Dao world,’ Fang Can couldn’t help but complain to himself.

”So, you see, there’s no need to be literate at all. If there’s a manual you can’t read, just have one of those weakling scholars—the kind who can’t even truss a chicken—read it to you. If you’re afraid they’ll trick you, just get a few more to make sure their stories match up. All you really need to do is believe in your own strength.”

With that, Yang Lie waved his hand dismissively. ”Go memorize your acupoints. If you can’t generate a sense of qi within a month, it means you’re not cut out for this. In that case, you can just report to the service courtyard yourself.”

After speaking, Yang Lie clasped his hands behind his back and ambled away, leaving Fang Can alone to stare blankly at the iron statue before him.

’Why does it feel like... the average person in this world is a complete simpleton?’ Fang Can wondered.

Why is it that the more pristine and simple-minded someone is, the more they can excel in the Martial Dao? By that logic, wouldn’t the number one genius of the Martial Dao have an Innate Pure-and-Simple Sacred Body?

From Yang Lie’s brief explanation, Fang Can could already tell: the Martial Dao of this world and ”scientific research” were complete opposites.

Scientific research requires a pragmatic, truth-seeking spirit. These martial artists, on the other hand, are all fanatics. One new discovery and their Dao hearts would probably shatter.

After all, science is a method for exploring the laws of nature. Its findings must be repeatable and falsifiable.

But the Martial Dao of this world is, in a way, an idealistic, fanatical religion. The moment their beliefs are proven wrong, their Dao hearts shatter and they lose all their power.

”Damn it, a bunch of lunatics,” Fang Can muttered, but he still walked up to the iron statue to start memorizing the eighty-eight acupoints.

After a quick glance to get the general location of each acupoint, Fang Can looked away. He turned his gaze instead toward the distant group of his fellow disciples, each one displaying their own unique skills.

Footwork, palm techniques, fist techniques, blade arts, spear arts...

All kinds of martial arts were on display among the Tiger Slaughter Sect disciples, every style fierce and domineering. Naturally, some of them were practicing the Thirty-six Tiger Addiction Fist Skill.

After watching in silence for a few minutes, Fang Can took a quiet breath. It was time to pop a pill and activate his cheat.

With that thought, Fang Can pulled out a small, sealed bag. Inside were seven transparent, colorless pills.

The pill’s scientific name was arsenic trioxide, but it was more commonly known as arsenic. Once swallowed and dissolved in the stomach, a mere 0.1 grams was a lethal dose.

Each pill in the bag Fang Can held was at least double the lethal dose. Once he swallowed one, the outer capsule would digest, and his death would be imminent.

As someone with a superpower, it was only natural to develop and utilize it.

Fang Can’s superpower was one that turned misfortune into fortune. It only triggered in adverse conditions. Under normal circumstances, besides being a bit more handsome, he was no different from an ordinary person.

So, the problem became how to stimulate his superpower under reasonably ”safe” conditions.

If there was no danger, he just had to create some to trigger his power.

And this small bag of arsenic was something he, a former rich heir, had paid to have custom-made.

Each arsenic pill was encased in an edible, digestible softgel capsule that would be dissolved by his stomach acid in about an hour. Once it began to react with his body, it wouldn’t be long before Fang Can would die a painful death, bleeding from all seven orifices.

It was potentially lethal, but that was the point: the closer he came to death, the more his superpower would be activated.

As death drew nearer, his superpower would elevate his natural aptitude to a level unattainable by ordinary people.

He had always carried these pills with him to guard against unexpected situations, allowing him to turn into a mini-genius on demand.

When he’d transmigrated, these pills, kept close to his person, had naturally come along with the pajamas he was wearing.

’So... surge forth, my talent.’

A slight grin touched Fang Can’s lips as he took a transparent pill from the plastic bag and popped it into his mouth.

GULP! With a swallow, the arsenic entered his system.

The moment it went down his throat, as the probability of death increased, Fang Can’s passive ability triggered instantly.

In an instant, Fang Can felt a tingling numbness spread through the nerve endings in his brain. The entire world became more vivid.

It was as if a blind man could suddenly see, or a cripple could run. Fang Can felt his body fill with vitality, while in contrast, his mind grew preternaturally calm.

Negative emotions that affected the body, like sloth and lust, were suppressed. In their place, pure reason took hold of his mind.

The sound of his accelerating heartbeat, the wild brandishing of weapons in the distance, the shouts—everything was forcibly crammed into his brain. Simultaneously, memories previously ignored or forgotten could now be recalled with ease.

As his brain processed and absorbed this flood of information at incredible speed, his newly-genius self had already committed the locations of the eighty-eight acupoints to memory from that single, fleeting glance.

’This is the difference between a genius and an ordinary person,’ Fang Can thought.

But he knew this was only the beginning. He was nowhere near his peak state.

Over the next hour, as the capsule in his stomach continued to dissolve, his talent would evolve and improve step by step.

Right up until the moment he withered and died, his aptitude and luck would reach their absolute zenith.

Of course, as long as he forced himself to vomit and expel the arsenic from his stomach beforehand, the crisis would be averted.

Fang Can watched the disciples practicing before him, his expression impassive. ’So... let’s see just how idealistic your so-called Martial Dao really is.’

’Or if my own aptitude and luck will prove superior.’

As these thoughts surged through his mind, the entirety of the Thirty-six Tiger Addiction Fist Skill, which he had only skimmed through moments before, was already committed to memory.

And in his eyes, the Cultivation Techniques practiced by the disciples before him began to be analyzed, one by one.

Info Panel:

Host detected in adverse environment... Triggering Talent 1... Corresponding hidden attributes increased...

[Thirty-Two Tiger Devouring Fist Skill] Learned

[Unknown Staff Technique] Analysis: 3%

[Unknown Spear Technique] Analysis: 1%

[Unknown Palm Technique] Analysis: 5%

[Unknown Leg Technique] Analysis: 2%

...

What no one knew was that in the eyes of one new disciple, all the techniques they practiced were being learned with effortless ease.