The name “Supreme Martial Secrets” sounds like a rare endgame upgrade in Where Winds Meet, but in practice it behaves more like an in-world scam than a real cultivation manual. Players report buying the book, trying to “cultivate” it several times, and only ending up with the negative status Spellbound IV and temporary cosmetic changes.
What Supreme Martial Secrets is in Where Winds Meet
Supreme Martial Secrets is a consumable manual sold by certain NPCs. The pitch is that it contains powerful, mysterious martial arts that can be “cultivated” for stat gains, similar to other odd manuals scattered across the world.
In reality, using the book repeatedly only applies a debuff (Spellbound IV) and sometimes alters your character’s appearance for a while. There is no confirmed way to turn it into permanent attributes or real martial skills.
Players who bought the manual, used it multiple times, and then tried again later report that it stops working entirely after a few attempts, with no visible benefit beyond status ailments and temporary visual effects.
How the manual behaves when you use it
When you consume Supreme Martial Secrets, several consistent effects have been observed:
- You gain the negative status Spellbound IV, described as leaving your character “spellbound” or mentally affected.
- Your character can look different for a period of time (for example, a distorted or “cursed” appearance).
- After using the book a handful of times, further attempts no longer trigger the effect at all.
- No increase in core stats, martial arts, or permanent prowess has been demonstrated.
Some players initially assume they used the book with the “wrong posture” or in the wrong place, because another odd manual from an old boatman asks you to cultivate it in water. With Supreme Martial Secrets, no equivalent positional requirement has been discovered that converts it into a genuine upgrade.
Is there a hidden puzzle tied to Supreme Martial Secrets?
A few players suggest that the manual might be part of a hidden puzzle, possibly connected to factions like Nine Mortal Ways, but no concrete solution has emerged. The pattern of behavior is instead consistent with a deliberate in-world scam:
- You pay for a grandiose-sounding manual.
- It harms you instead of helping, via Spellbound IV.
- NPC dialog can later acknowledge that you were tricked.
The closest parallel in the item ecosystem is Ultimate Jianghu Secrets, a “Mysterious Martial Arts” development material described as waiting for someone fated to unlock its power. That item is designed to shape your character’s long-term growth. Supreme Martial Secrets, by contrast, does not share that development role and functions mainly as a narrative gag and status trap.
How to deal with Spellbound IV and the visual changes
Using the manual can be alarming if you are not expecting the side effects. Three things matter here:
- The look is not permanent. The altered appearance wears off on its own after a while.
- Healing can help. Visiting a healer can clear negative conditions more quickly instead of waiting it out.
- You cannot “fix” the manual. Once you have triggered Spellbound IV several times, the book will simply stop doing anything when used again.
Tip: If you are experimenting with odd consumables, keep a bit of silver aside for healing services so an unlucky effect does not leave you stuck during a longer session.
What to do after you discover it is a scam
Once it is clear that Supreme Martial Secrets will not improve your build, the only practical follow-ups are roleplay and cleanup:
- Confront the seller NPC. Players who went back to the NPC that sold the book could get them to admit they were a fraud. This fits the game’s Jianghu storytelling more than it does character optimization.
- Stop wasting attempts on cultivation. Treat it as a one-off curiosity rather than part of your development loop.
- Refocus on real progression systems. Shift your attention to martial arts ranks, Inner Ways, gear enhancement, arsenal, and mystic skills, which directly feed into martial mastery and long-term strength.
Where Supreme Martial Secrets fits next to real “secret manuals”
Supreme Martial Secrets sits in an odd space between flavor item and practical tool. To put it in context, it helps to contrast it with genuine development materials:
| Item/manual | Type | Observed role |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Jianghu Secrets | Development material | Designed to increase long-term prowess with permanent buffs. |
| Boatman’s water manual | Situational odd manual | Requires cultivation in water; intended as a small stat or effect puzzle. |
| Supreme Martial Secrets | Scam manual | Applies Spellbound IV and cosmetic changes, then stops working; no proven stat gain. |
Only the first category meaningfully shapes your character’s martial performance. The scam manual is best seen as environmental storytelling about charlatans in the open world, echoing the in-game marketing language of instant forbidden arts and unstoppable power.
Where to invest if you want real martial power
For players chasing higher martial mastery and raid viability, resources are better spent on systems that clearly contribute to prowess:
- Talent points: Invest in nodes that raise core stats such as precision rate, life, defense, and min/max damage; these feed directly into martial mastery.
- Mystic skills: Equip mystic arts you actually use and push them to Tier 2 with full upgrades. Every fully upgraded mystic art adds a fixed amount of martial mastery, regardless of its damage type.
- Inner Ways: Focus on Inner Ways that match your build and have higher rarity and breakthrough levels; these strongly influence martial prowess values.
- Gear enhancement and tuning: Max enhancement levels and good rolls (min/max physical attack, bell strike stats, precision, affinity) significantly increase both raw power and martial mastery.
- Arsenal and old gear: Slot previous level gear into the arsenal to gain additional stats such as min/max bell strike attack.
- Oddity vendors: Buy upgrades that adjust core stats like max physical attack, physical defense, and HP; these also show up in your mastery total.
These systems tie directly into thresholds recommended for group content, such as needing around 9,500 martial mastery to avoid dragging down early Hero’s Realm runs and around 11,000 or more for level 56 raid bosses.
Supreme Martial Secrets is therefore less a hidden path to power and more a lesson in being wary of overblown promises in the Jianghu. Treat it as a one-time curiosity, clear the Spellbound IV status, confront the scammer if you like the story beat, and then channel your time and currency into the systems that reliably move your martial mastery and actual combat performance forward.
