[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method heard its true name spoken aloud and was instantly struck with terror.]
[It could not fathom how an utterly unremarkable outer-sect disciple could possibly know its true name — a name that not even the assembled elders of the Wenjian Sect had ever learned.]
[Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method: Favorability +15]
[Current Favorability: 20 / Stranger]
Gu Chengming nearly did a spit-take.
How much favorability?
Fifteen?!
When he'd been working on romancing Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following Sword Art, he'd plagiarized poetry, endured a tongue-lashing, and spent half a month grinding away just to squeeze out a few measly points.
And now he'd just said a name — one name — and got fifteen points?
Complaints aside, Gu Chengming's eye for detail was sharp enough to catch the anomaly buried in this.
This cultivation method seemed to have an unusually acute sensitivity toward being known by its true name. Sensitive to the point of... panic, even.
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method swayed back and forth, its thoughts in utter chaos — unsure how much you knew about it, and equally unsure how to face you.]
[By all rights, this should be classified information of the highest order. Under the whole of heaven, only the Sect Master of the Wenjian Sect ought to know it.]
[It wracked its mind and could not work out: how on earth had you come to learn of this?]
Gu Chengming: "..."
Didn't you just accidentally spill every secret you had?
Still, from those few lines of inner monologue, he'd already extracted the key information he needed.
If this was a secret personally sealed away by the Wenjian Sect's Sect Master, how could it have ended up in the hands of an outer-sect disciple? And on top of that, spread around under the name "Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method" — something that sounded cheap enough to buy by the catty?
Unless the Sect Master had tacitly allowed it. Or even deliberately let it loose.
But if it had been deliberately released, why the extreme secrecy around the true name?
"Why do you believe only the Sect Master knows? Could it be that you were created by the Sect Master?"
The moment the words left his mouth, text erupted onto the screen.
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method heard this and completely lost its composure!]
[It began to suspect that it might have encountered a true powerhouse — and very possibly the kind that could peer through causality itself and perceive both past and future.]
[But the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method wasn't entirely certain. Its left brain and right brain wrestled each other into a draw, and it abandoned all resistance.]
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method forced itself to appear calm. Since you had already seen through it, there was no point in hiding further. Indeed — it had been forged by the Sect Master's own hand.]
Reading those words, Gu Chengming laughed inwardly.
As expected — one bluff and it caved entirely. This technique might have impressive origins, but its mind was pure and simple to an almost endearing degree. A little prodding and it gave up everything.
After a one-sided interrogation that Gu Chengming conducted entirely by himself, the full truth behind the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method was peeled bare.
As it turned out, the thing was no dark art. If anything, it was a product of considerable good intentions.
At its core, it was a "Dao-heart technique" — similar in nature to the Qingxin Formula, a supplementary method for cultivating the spirit-soul. But its approach was far more unorthodox.
The Wenjian Sect's Sect Master had grown deeply troubled by the deteriorating conduct of the sect in recent years. Disciples with mediocre aptitude harbored sky-high ambitions, only to crumble at the first setback and fall into despair; disciples with passable talent were lazy and complacent, spending their days scheming for shortcuts.
The old man had nearly worried himself into the grave over it. He fretted about disciples succumbing to qi deviation, and agonized over their stalling cultivation. Reviving the sect's former glory consumed his every waking thought.
And so, taking an unorthodox path, he had created this technique — originally named the Let's Do Our Best Formula, later renamed the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method.
The mechanism was simple: psychological suggestion.
Disciples who practiced it would develop the illusion that "as long as everyone cultivates together, progress will be faster."
In reality, what the technique called "spiritual resonance" was nothing more than the method subtly adjusting the practitioner's mental state — making them more focused, more confident.
And the more people who practiced it, the stronger this collective psychological suggestion became, and the more "remarkable" the results appeared.
In plain terms: it was a placebo effect. Immortal cultivation edition.
However, the technique had one glaring flaw — it only worked on lower-tier disciples below the second realm.
Once a cultivator broke through into the second realm and their spirit-soul solidified, the power of suggestion would drop sharply in effectiveness, or fail altogether.
Having learned all this, Gu Chengming found it difficult to keep a straight face.
"Sounds kind of weak, honestly..."
But then he reconsidered. For those outer-sect disciples still scraping by at the bottom, this kind of psychological comfort might actually be more effective than any genuine wonder-pill.
That said, the name "Let's Do Our Best Formula" really was bottom-of-the-barrel stuff.
No wonder the technique was so sensitive about it. The Sect Master's terrible sense of humor had clearly left it with some deep psychological scars.
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method pushed back, somewhat indignantly: Nonsense! This is a supreme method that points directly at the Grand Dao! As long as the number of believers — that is, practitioners — reaches a sufficient scale, quantitative change will trigger qualitative change. One day it will break through its shackles and truly achieve the convergence of all things!]
Despite the words, its tone was noticeably lacking in conviction.
Gu Chengming watched it put on airs while clearly being a pushover underneath, and thought: this is exactly like one of those shut-in types who spends all day fantasizing in their room — a fearsome keyboard warrior online, but the moment someone recognizes them in person, they immediately go meek and mumbling.
Alright, so the target's personality had been analyzed.
And Gu Chengming had spotted something even more interesting.
The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method seemed to harbor a near-obsessive fixation on the identity of "shadowy mastermind."
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method sighed. It had hoped to use this method to secretly manipulate the winds and tides within the Wenjian Sect, becoming the hidden hand that pulled all the strings from behind the curtain. And yet... before it could even begin, it had been seen through by you in a single glance.]
[It felt a little dejected, and wondered if perhaps it truly lacked the talent for being a shadowy mastermind. Not only had its true identity been exposed — even after operating within the sect for so long, the number of disciples practicing it barely reached a few dozen. Its goal of "controlling the entire sect" remained an impossibly distant dream.]
What was this — an indoctrination-type protagonist with shadowy-mastermind delusions?
Gu Chengming stared at the sky in speechless disbelief. One cultivation method with a xianxia-protagonist complex was already absurd enough; now here was another one with dreams of being a puppet-master? What was next — would romancing this one require him to build a secret society? Set up a ██████-style operation?
"Actually..." Gu Chengming rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I don't think it's a problem with your talent. I think it's a problem with your methods."
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method blinked, then grew somewhat defensive. Methods? Its Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method drew on the most advanced organizational structures from the mortal world — layered, progressive, mutually beneficial. How could there be anything wrong with it?]
"That's a pyramid scheme."
Gu Chengming punctured its illusions without mercy.
"Sure, you can recruit people in the short term. But the appeal is too low-brow — it breeds resentment easily. And the moment the truth gets out, the whole thing collapses overnight."
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method looked somewhat lost: Then... in your view, what should be done?]
"A truly effective shadow organization doesn't need numbers. It needs quality. It needs mystery — that dread of something half-seen, seemingly omnipresent yet leaving no trace."
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method grew curious. It asked: then how?]
"Simple."
Gu Chengming smiled slightly, and began to enlighten it on the classic concept of the "Tarot Society." Naturally, he made a few small modifications to fit the aesthetic of the cultivation world.
"First, you establish an organization called the 'Myriad Mysteries Assembly.'"
"The members of this organization don't need to know each other, and don't need to know anyone else's true identity. Each person has a codename — something like Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tiaoyao, and so on."
"Day to day, they are scattered throughout the sect — possibly complete strangers who have never crossed paths. Only at designated times, through your 'Gate of Myriad Mysteries,' do they gather as spirit-projections."
"At these gatherings, they exchange intelligence, trade resources, issue commissions. And as the Lord of Myriad Mysteries, all you need to do is sit enthroned at the head seat, occasionally offering a few cryptic, ambiguous utterances — and the whole game is in your hands."
"Think about it."
Gu Chengming's voice was full of temptation.
"When those true-lineage disciples who normally look down on everyone else, those elders, even the Sect Master himself — when they have all unknowingly become your pawns; when every shift in the sect's direction is being discussed and decided within your Myriad Mysteries Assembly..."
"That is what it truly means to be a shadowy mastermind. That is the true meaning of myriad mysteries converging at one source!"
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method grew pensive — then had a sudden epiphany — then erupted in wild, unbridled joy.]
[It had never imagined that being a shadowy mastermind could work like this! Simply build the platform, and the powerful would willingly come to work for you of their own accord!]
[This was a stroke of absolute genius!]
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method looked at you with utter adoration, convinced you were a natural-born shadowy mastermind!]
[Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method: Favorability +20]
[Current Favorability: 45 / Friendly]
Gu Chengming stared at the instantly skyrocketing favorability and felt a jolt of surprise himself.
Good grief.
That shot up fast.
It had been 20 just moments ago — and in the blink of an eye it had rocketed to 45, blowing straight past the 30-point threshold, and the status had flipped from "Stranger" to "Friendly."
What's more, with the rise in favorability, he felt his mental power strengthen by a noticeable degree in an instant.
[Fixed Mental Attribute +2]
[Current Spirit: 16]
Gu Chengming was quietly astonished.
It seemed that while the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method wasn't particularly high-tier in rank, the gains it offered were nothing to scoff at — probably about on par with Hundred Bones Resonance.
Not that Gu Chengming was paying much attention to that. The things he'd said were nothing more than a dating-sim veteran's instinctive impulse to stroke fur in the direction it grew naturally. Compared to the stat boosts from the technique, what he really cared about was the act of romancing cultivation manuals itself.
Just as he was preparing to press his advantage and instill another round of ██████-style operational doctrine into this freshly-minted "devotee" —
A familiar line of system text popped up.
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method has entered a state of enlightened comprehension.]
Gu Chengming: "..."
What the —?
You achieved a breakthrough too?
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