I will be stronger after the remake

The same move, the same spiritual energy consumption, the same user, yet the power increased by 10% just by shouting the move's name. What kind of twisted principle is this?

Moreover, he called out the wrong move name the third time, so he couldn't enjoy the enhanced power. Who was making the judgment?

Brahma Wheel Breaking Boundary Finger is one of the two spiritual martial arts techniques newly created by Tang Ping. He named it himself without any special reason, just because he felt that the name was both vivid and imposing. Other candidate names included "Brahma Wheel Vajra Finger" and "Wind Wheel Breaking Illusion Finger". In the end, he randomly selected "Brahma Wheel Breaking Boundary Finger".

He had tried before, and neither shouting "Brahma Wheel Vajra" nor "Wind Wheel Breaks Illusion" would increase its power; only shouting "Brahma Wheel Breaks Boundaries" would work.

But he never registered it with anyone, so on what grounds does he assume that "Brahma Wheel Breaking Boundary Finger" is the official name of the martial art?

This martial art existed only in his conception from beginning to end; there wasn't even a formal manual for it.

"I can't understand the reason. I can only assume it's a rule of the Illusionary Realm. As long as you shout out the correct move name, you can increase the power by 10%. It works the same way for spiritual techniques. But neither Fu Zhengyi nor Zhou Canglan mentioned this to me. It's not exactly a secret, so there's no point in hiding it. So they really don't know... Could it be that no one has ever discovered this before?"

For ordinary moves, increasing the power by 10% is almost imperceptible, and the movements are too fast for the mouth to keep up with. However, for special moves or ultimate techniques that require charging, a 10% difference might determine victory or defeat, or even life or death.

Tang Ping felt like he had seven or eight cats scratching at his heart, desperately wanting to find someone to discuss things with, but he was limited by his undercover identity. The armed forces wouldn't recognize him, and he needed to be even more wary of the New Territories Alliance.

Fortunately, even without colleagues, he still has friends.

A moment later, Ma Yiming arrived and, seeing Tang Ping, exclaimed with delight, "So you really did go undercover! I knew you were such a calm and composed person, how could you possibly seriously injure someone just because of an argument? It seems the Psionic Administration Bureau used this as a reason to fire you, making it easier for you to infiltrate the enemy as an undercover agent, right?"

He had just come from the psionic training base and had been out of contact with them until yesterday.

"That's pretty much it. Remember to keep it a secret for me."

Tang Ping briefly explained why Fu Zhengyi had asked her to be an undercover agent.

As for any confidentiality regulations, forget about them!

Unlike the miserable undercover police officer in "Infernal Affairs", he is a rare talent as a psychic. Even if his undercover mission fails and Fu Zhengyi blames him, he can simply walk away and join the psychic management bureau of another city.

Even if Fu Zhengyi lied to him, didn't tell his superiors about his undercover work, and didn't acknowledge his undercover identity, it wasn't a big deal.

As a young person who has just entered university, it is inevitable that he may be misled and choose the wrong career. As long as he can repent in time, the authorities will probably be willing to accept him. After all, a prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold.

Ultimately, he didn't do anything wrong after joining the New Territories Alliance, and even from a legal perspective, he was innocent.

Even if we take a step back and assume the country can't contain him, he can always go abroad and join a foreign psionic organization.

Tang Ping is very open-minded about this and doesn't get stuck on trivial matters. He agreed to go undercover purely out of interest, without any sense of responsibility, mission, or moral obligation.

The two exchanged updates, and Ma Yiming finally teased, "You'd never guess what kind of unique spiritual personality I've awakened, haha, even I never thought it was possible. Although I'm very famous, I have absolutely no resemblance to this spiritual personality."

Upon hearing this, Tang Ping became curious and immediately used her spiritual energy "Three-Eyed True Radiance" to investigate.

He was worried that using psychic powers would cause a mental shock and alert the target, so he did not use this psychic power to spy on his colleagues in the New Territories Alliance. He took this opportunity to test it and see if the target would sense anything.

The next moment, his psionic energy activated, and a message flowed into his mind.

[Character: Ma Yiming]

[Spiritual Rank: Ghost Soldier - Zhong Kui]

[Separation of Soul and Body: Your soul can exist independently of your body, but it requires spiritual energy to maintain.]

[Imperial Decree from the Underworld: A divine position endorsed by the Underworld, possessing a natural aura of authority over wandering ghosts and spirits, and capable of resisting life-snatching techniques]

[Feeding Ghosts: You can devour ghosts and refine them into pure spiritual energy. Ghosts you bite will lose their ability to resist.]

[Yin-Yang Eyes: You possess a pair of Yin-Yang eyes, which can see all traces related to Yin energy, and can also see the soul regardless of the physical body.]

It's Zhong Kui!

Tang Ping was also very surprised, after all, according to the folk tale, Zhong Kui was stripped of his title of top scholar because of his ugly appearance, and he died by hitting his head against a palace pillar because of his upright and unyielding character.

There are three theories about the origin of Zhong Kui.

The first theory is that Zhong Kui originated from a ghost-expelling ritual implement called "Zhong Kui," which was then renamed as a person's name for warding off evil.

The second type is that Zhong Kui evolved from the mask image in the ancient Nuo ritual.

The third interpretation is that Zhong Kui is someone who drives away evil spirits.

Regardless of its origin, Zhong Kui's image is always fierce, ugly, and righteous. The idea is to use evil to overcome evil, and to deal with ghosts, one must use an even more wicked appearance to suppress them.

No matter how you look at it, Ma Yiming is a handsome young man. Even if he can't be called a stunningly handsome man, he is definitely not ugly.

It is evident that the awakened unique spiritual personality is truly random and has no connection to the psychic himself.

While pondering, Tang Ping carefully observed Ma Yiming and found that the other party did not show any abnormality. She breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the "Three-Eyed True Radiance" was very secretive and would not easily arouse the target's vigilance.

He pretended not to know and replied, "You only gave such a few hints, 'famous' and 'unrelated to you,' but there are a lot of characters who fit these two requirements. How am I supposed to guess?"

Ma Yiming said with a smile, "Then I'll add one more thing, it's related to catching ghosts."

Tang Ping, too lazy to continue acting, directly gave the answer: "Zhong Kui".

"Wow! You guessed so accurately!" Ma Yiming exclaimed in surprise. "How did you guess? Why couldn't it be Black and White Impermanence?"

"While Black and White Impermanence are indeed very famous, their strength is generally not high in various myths and legends. I suspect that the third reincarnation is their limit. If your unique spiritual personality is one of these two, you definitely won't be so smug. While Zhong Kui's strength is not top-tier, he is still much stronger than Black and White Impermanence. At least you won't be stuck because the character's reputation is insufficient."

With Tang Ping's wisdom, it's quite easy to deduce the cause from the result; if you really want to analyze it carefully, you can come up with a whole bunch of reasons.

Ma Yiming, unaware of this, was filled with admiration: "Impressive! You noticed even such a subtle detail in my expression. From now on, please let me call you strategist!"

At this moment, Tang Ping said with ill intent, "I heard that spirit attributes can subtly influence psychics, and appearance is practically an essential label for Zhong Kui. Will your looks decline in the future?"

"Impossible. I've only heard that spirit level affects a psychic's temperament, not that it makes them ugly," Ma Yiming said suspiciously.

"It is certain that Lingge can change a person's appearance. For example, Lingge 'fox spirit' can make a person more beautiful. Since Lingge can enhance appearance, it can also reduce it. Others probably don't want you to think too much about it and are deliberately not telling you."

Ma Yiming was a little flustered: "This, this is different, isn't it? Becoming beautiful is a positive blessing, while becoming ugly is a negative blessing. It doesn't make sense that my ability value has decreased after I became a psionicist."

Tang Ping countered, "Does the influence of spiritual attributes on a psychic's temperament mean they all become calm and gentle, and never become irritable and easily angered? Isn't the latter a negative influence? Where do you get the confidence to believe that spiritual attributes will definitely bring a positive effect?"

Ma Yiming's expression shifted between light and dark, clearly frightened. Finally, with a mournful face, he asked, "Can I give up the uniqueness and only keep the general-purpose spirit attribute?"

“This is a question that those psychics who are limited in their potential because of their low unique spiritual reputation have thought about countless times.” Tang Ping reached out and patted the other person on the shoulder. “Many people would love to trade their looks for abilities but can’t get them.”

"That's because it doesn't matter whether their looks drop or not. What's the difference between 40 points and 20 points? But I'm different! I plan to make a living off my looks in the future and find a beautiful rich woman to live happily ever after!"

Overwhelmed with grief, Ma Yiming beat his chest and stamped his feet, lamenting: "In order to accurately distinguish which women are gold diggers and which are love-struck, I have spent a lot of effort studying this. Just in terms of judging women, I have reached the third level, all for the sake of finding a long-term reliable meal ticket in the future."

Tang Ping comforted her, "Actually, those players who are particularly good at winning over girls are often not particularly good-looking. They rely on providing emotional value to linger among women. After all, most girls are emotional creatures. Even if they know that a guy is a fraud, they will still think, 'Why don't you deceive others, but choose to deceive her?'"

Ma Yiming raised his head and said, "My goal is to live off others without having to do it myself. I don't want to rely on winning other people's favor to make a living. Instead of wasting my time on that, I'd rather use it to improve myself!"

Tang Ping gave a thumbs up, admiringly saying, "It's truly astonishing that you can say such shameless things with such confidence!"

I clearly don't remember Ma Yiming being this kind of person...

Hmm, why do I have this impression?

I haven't known Ma Yiming for very long, so how can I be so confident as to say that he's not that kind of person?

"Hmph, she's just learning from those scumbag girls. Things like 'I'll give you a chance to pursue me,' 'You should know what I want even if I don't say anything,' 'Don't make me say anything, you have to buy me gifts first.' Aren't they similar ideas? There's no reason why girls can do it but boys can't. We all make a living with our looks, there's nothing shameful about it."

Ma Yiming waved his hand dismissively, then said, "No, I have to go back and ask the others if there's a way to avoid having one's appearance lowered by spiritual attributes."

He raised his hand to cast the Returning Spirit Technique, but Tang Ping quickly interrupted his thoughts and stopped him, saying, "This is not urgent. You accompany me to do an experiment first."

"What experiment could be more important than my looks?"

"I have discovered a pattern in the Illusionary Realm, a phenomenon similar to the laws of nature: as long as you shout out the name of the move when using it, the power will increase by 10%."

Ma Yiming was taken aback, then chuckled, "Are you still asleep? How could there be such an absurd law of nature?"

"Whether it's there or not, just try it and you'll know."

(Note: I forgot to mention that Linxi's spiritual identity has been changed to that of a singer, which is one of the common spiritual identities in Christianity.)

Chapter 161 Hidden Secrets

Ma Yiming's spiritual attribute is "Ghost Soldier Zhong Kui". The spiritual arts he learns are mainly of the Yin attribute. However, this does not mean that he is completely ignorant of other spiritual arts. It just means that he is relatively unfamiliar with using them.

After discussion, the two decided to use the classic fire-based basic spiritual technique "Flying Star Technique" as the testing method.

This spiritual technique is somewhat like a "compressed fireball" from Western fantasy novels. When used, it condenses a flame the size of a fingernail in the palm of the hand. When fired, it travels at a speed close to that of a crossbow bolt. Upon hitting a target, it causes an explosion and flames. In actual combat, it is similar to a combination of a hand grenade and a Molotov cocktail.

"Speedy Starburst!"

Ma Yiming first shouted out his move and used his spiritual technique to bombard the stone wall, creating a crater. Then he silently chanted and used his spiritual technique again, bombarding the other side of the stone wall and creating another crater.

In domestically created spiritual arts, chanting incantations is not a necessary step. However, in Western spiritual arts created based on religious concepts, chanting is a must. If the chanting is omitted, some spells cannot be cast directly, while others can be cast but their power will be greatly reduced.

When instructors at psychic training bases teach newcomers psychic arts, they often require them to chant incantations in order to develop muscle memory.

In real combat, novices often fail to perform their spells due to nervousness. However, if they develop muscle memory, even if their minds are blank, as long as they start chanting the incantation, their bodies will naturally follow a fixed procedure to circulate spiritual energy upon hearing the sound, greatly increasing the success rate.

Just like Ma Yiming now, his casting speed when chanting incantations is noticeably two seconds faster than when he doesn't chant incantations.

Since this wasn't actual combat, the two didn't pay attention to that. They went forward to examine the two pits and then both frowned.

The Brahma Wheel Breaking Boundary technique concentrates power in one place, so the strength of the power can be directly compared. However, the power of spiritual techniques is explosive, spreading outward after hitting the target, and the result is difficult to control.

What lay before them was a pit that was wide and shallow, and another that was narrow and deep. It was hard to say which one was more powerful.

Tang Ping sighed, "Now I understand why such a simple rule has remained undiscovered until now. There's no conspiracy theory involved; it's simply that the effects of spiritual arts are difficult to compare."

Martial arts emphasize concentrating power in one place and making breakthroughs at a single point. The target is an individual. At least Tang Ping has no intention of creating martial arts with wide-range destructive power. Spiritual arts all have a range of damage. The Flying Star Technique, which only creates a crater, is the most standard single-target spiritual art. However, according to the evaluation standards of martial arts, it is undoubtedly a wide-range destructive art, and the energy is wasted.

Ma Yiming suggested, "How about we borrow a spiritual energy measuring device from the spiritual energy training base?"

"It's useless. Shouting out the name of the move only changes the final result, it has no effect on the process. The weight of the spiritual energy is the same as if you didn't shout out the name of the move."

Tang Ping had already noticed this when testing martial arts skills; whether or not the move name was called out, the spiritual energy fluctuations emitted by the finger strikes were the same.

"This doesn't conform to the law of conservation of energy. The same amount of energy is used, but the results are different. The difference lies in whether or not the name of the move was shouted out. What is this? A variant of the observer effect—the speaker effect?"

Ma Yiming began to doubt Tang Ping's conclusion once again.

Tang Ping still didn't give up, saying, "It's hard to compare individual items, so let's compare the whole. It's like flipping a coin ten times. Maybe all ten times will be heads, but if you flip it enough times, the probability of heads or tails will get infinitely close to 50%."

"You mean you want me to use it more often?"

"Use until your spiritual energy is exhausted. Use all Flying Star Techniques with the spell name shouted out to attack the left stone wall, and use all Flying Star Techniques without the spell name shouted out to attack the right stone wall, forming two contrasting sets."

A difference of 10% may not seem like a big deal, but it's not insignificant either. It's hard to see the difference in a single group comparison, but when the number of comparisons is high, 10% is not 1% after all, and it becomes quite noticeable in the data.

Ma Yiming was still skeptical, but there was no harm in trying, so he did as instructed.

Then came a series of rumbling sounds, flying fragments of broken stone, and the stone wall instantly transformed into the surface of the moon. After firing sixteen shots in a row, Ma Yiming exhausted his spiritual power and collapsed like a dead dog on the spot.

After comparing enough examples, the two were finally able to visually confirm that the pit on the left was on average larger than the pit on the right.

"It's actually true!" Ma Yiming exclaimed in amazement. "I'm impressed. Such a simple rule has gone unnoticed... Tang Ping, you're wasting your talents as a psionicist. You should have become a scientist. Maybe you would have discovered gravity after watching an apple fall, just like Newton."

After witnessing the entire experiment, Tang Ping could understand why no one had discovered it before.

There is a difference between the use of martial arts and spiritual arts. The former is purely used by consuming one's own spiritual power, so it can be precisely controlled. The latter, however, uses one's own spiritual power as a medium to draw on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to form spells, and is inevitably affected by the environment.

When the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is richer, the spiritual techniques cast will be stronger. Alternatively, when casting fire-type spiritual techniques in a watery environment, the power will be weaker than usual. If both sides cast spiritual techniques at the same time, interference is inevitable, resulting in more variables and more unpredictable outcomes.

A difference of only 10% is within the normal margin of error for spiritual arts, and no one would care.

Tang Ping thought for a moment and said to Ma Yiming, "Just remember this yourself, don't tell anyone else."

"This is your discovery, how could I possibly steal your credit?" Ma Yiming said dismissively.

"It's not a matter of merit, it's purely a matter of interests. If it were a very complex technology, I wouldn't mind handing it over to the country. But 'calling out the name of a move can increase its power by 10%' is a piece of paper that's easy to understand, it doesn't involve any technical skill. Believe me, if I hand it over to the country today, tomorrow all the psychics in the world will know about it."

"Ah, it's not that exaggerated, is it? The Psionic Administration is a classified agency, after all."

Tang Ping snorted, took out the "Complete Collection of Basic Spiritual Techniques" that Zhou Canglan had given him this week, and threw it to Ma Yiming, saying, "These are spiritual techniques shared within the New Realm Alliance. Check them against the collection and see if there are any spiritual techniques that you know but are not recorded here."

Ma Yiming took the book with some skepticism and flipped through the table of contents to check the contents.

After a moment, he sighed, closed the book, and said, "You're right, there's no way to keep it a secret."

Tang Ping spread his hands and said, "So the results of the two choices are very clear. If we hand it over to the country, the country will not gain an advantage, and you and I will lose an advantage. If we don't hand it over to the country, the country still won't gain an advantage, but you and I will be 10% stronger than our opponents of the same level."

Ma Yiming nodded, patted Tang Ping on the shoulder, and said, "I won't thank you enough. In two years, when my sister goes to university, I'll introduce her to you."

"It will take two more years to deliver; you're just making empty promises."

"There's no way around it, we have to prevent high school students from falling in love too early."

(Master: There will be another update tonight)

Chapter 162 Famous Journalist

"...The case involving suspected bribery, corporate bribery, possession of a huge amount of property of unknown origin, intentional injury, and harboring and condoning organized crime has been concluded by the Supervisory Commission of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and transferred to the procuratorial organ for review and prosecution."

Two months after the director of Inner Mongolia TV was arrested, Tang Ping finally saw the indictment notice online and entered this process. Even if the other party had powerful connections, they must have given up on him and there was no possibility of a reversal.