Chapter 33: Deduction

Qingxi had no knowledge of Li Xingyao’s current situation, nor could he have imagined that Qiu Yingying would appear within the Tiger Roar Forest. At the moment, a satisfied smile lingered on his face as he spurred his swift horse onward, racing back to the Lingyuan Sect under the protection of Nie Yu, Tang Hai, and Tang Jiang.

By the next morning, they had safely reached the mission hall. There were few people about, and the disciple in charge of record-keeping quickly completed the exchange of points. With the addition of the various demon beast materials stored in Li Xingyao’s spatial bracelet, the total came to three hundred and seventy-three points.

Because Qingxi had turned the tide during the mission and subdued Li Xingyao, Nie Yu took it upon himself to allocate all the points to Qingxi. The Tang brothers raised no objection, and Qingxi, who was in dire need of points, certainly did not refuse.

After agreeing on another time to meet with Nie Yu, Qingxi returned to the residence of Ouyang Changfeng. Upon arrival, he found that Ouyang Changfeng and the siblings Qingfeng and Mingyue were absent, so he made his way to a quiet little room on the second floor. This was the accommodation arranged for him by Ouyang Changfeng.

Closing the door tightly behind him, he could hardly wait to pour out the remaining items from his spatial bracelet. Among them were five bottles of elixirs: Qi Condensation Pills, Foundation-Nourishing Pills, Physique Pills, Vitality Pills, and others. According to the system’s assessment, these were all of rank five or above.

“No time to waste—let’s refine them all!” Qingxi poured out a rank five Qi Condensation Pill and began absorbing its essence.

Now, he had thought of another way to quickly earn points: spend a little time raising his cultivation, then complete a few three-star tasks, and everything would fall into place.

A single rank five Qi Condensation Pill contained sixteen times the energy of a rank one pill. That surging medicinal power flooded into his body, immediately refined by the system into pure elemental energy that would not compromise his foundation.

A muffled boom sounded twice from within, and Qingxi felt his Sea of Qi swell twice in succession, his cultivation advancing smoothly to the seventeenth level of Qi Refinement.

He paused to adapt to the sudden surge of power, then continued to consume the pills. With the system’s help, he had no fear of a shaky foundation. At most, he would need to spend a little extra time acclimating to his newfound strength after cultivation.

Time slipped by, minute by minute. When the night had grown deep, Qingxi finished his practice.

Though he still longed to continue cultivating, he had exhausted all the Qi Condensation, Foundation-Nourishing, Physique, and Vitality Pills. His cultivation had risen by a full ten levels, leaping to the twenty-fifth level of Qi Refinement.

The total elemental energy in his Sea of Qi was now ten times what it had been at the fifteenth level, and his physical strength had increased to eight hundred and fifty jin, leaving him with a palpable sense of newfound power.

Qingxi reckoned that even without using elemental energy, he could punch a bull to death with a single blow.

“To think I only advanced to the twenty-fifth level of Qi Refinement… Li Xingyao was supposedly a genius who’d reached the peak of Qi Refinement, and yet he only had so few pills?” Qingxi was left wanting more.

If he could acquire more Qi Condensation and Foundation-Nourishing Pills, he was confident he could break through to the peak of Qi Refinement within days. Unfortunately, there simply weren’t enough pills.

If Li Xingyao knew what Qingxi was thinking, he would probably spit blood in rage. Had it not been for his own desperate push to reach the peak of Qi Refinement, he wouldn’t have exhausted ninety percent of his wealth, and his spatial bracelet wouldn’t have been left with so little.

“Ding! Host has advanced to the twenty-fifth level of Qi Refinement. A new system function, ‘Deduction,’ has been unlocked. Please consult the panel for details.” The assistant’s voice caught Qingxi’s attention.

He opened the system panel and noticed several changes. Both the Conversion and Reading functions had improved with his increased cultivation, not as dramatically as the effects brought by a spiritual root upgrade, but still noticeably better than before.

[New Function: Deduction]
[Effect: Based on existing martial skills, cultivation methods, and ultimate arts, deduce superior techniques. The number of elemental sources required depends on the degree of deduction.]

After reading the description of the new function, Qingxi was so excited he inadvertently crushed the teacup in his hand.

“Trying to bleed me dry for my elemental sources again?” In order to defeat Li Xingyao, he had already exhausted seventy-eight strands of Metal essence and three hundred strands of Wood essence.

And now, this new function required yet more elemental sources. To Qingxi, it was nothing less than a living vampire.

“Don’t be like that, Host. The Deduction function can evolve ordinary martial skills into ultimate arts—profit guaranteed!” The assistant kept explaining, patient as ever.

With his wealth of experience, Qingxi could only scoff. “I see through your tricks—you just want my elemental sources. Still, how many does it take to deduce an ultimate art?”

Ultimate arts stood above ordinary martial skills, and whether one possessed them could be the key to victory under otherwise equal circumstances.

Though he protested, Qingxi’s heart still longed for an ultimate art.

“Ding! Based on your current library of eighteen thousand martial skills, over a hundred ultimate arts can be deduced: eighty at Black Iron rank, twenty-five at Bronze rank, seven at Master rank, and one at Grandmaster rank.”

“To think a Grandmaster-level ultimate art can be synthesized! Hurry, deduce the Grandmaster ultimate art first!” Qingxi rubbed his hands together, eyes alight with anticipation.

“Ding! Deduction failed.”

“Reason: insufficient elemental sources.”

Though the assistant’s voice was sweet, to Qingxi it sounded grating.

“How many does it take?”

“For this Grandmaster-level ultimate art, the following elemental sources are required: Metal—one hundred thousand strands, Wood—thirty thousand, Water—twenty thousand, Fire—ten thousand, Earth—eight hundred.”

“A hundred thousand for Metal alone?” Qingxi felt a pang of helplessness.

That amount would almost suffice to upgrade his spiritual root to the Profound rank, and yet it could only be used to deduce a single Grandmaster-level ultimate art?

The assistant explained, “A Grandmaster-level ultimate art is an extraordinarily powerful inheritance; there isn’t a single complete Grandmaster art in the entire Yunchuan Prefecture. Naturally, the elemental source requirement is immense. With your current reserves, Black Iron level is your best option.”

“Alright, alright, just tell me how much is needed for Black Iron level.” Qingxi looked at his meager reserves on the system panel and sighed inwardly.

“With your current reserves, you can deduce nine Black Iron ultimate arts. Here are their descriptions; please select one.”

Following the assistant’s words, Qingxi browsed the new entries on the panel until his gaze settled on one called “Soaring Sword Qi.”

“This one—it sounds imposing, and it’s economical in terms of energy. It suits me.” Qingxi tapped the name of the art.

“Black Iron ultimate art ‘Soaring Sword Qi’ requires: Water—one hundred thirty-five strands (sufficient), Fire—forty-nine (sufficient), Earth—seventy-seven (sufficient). Begin deduction?”

“Deduce!”

Qingxi confirmed at once.

“Ding! Deduction complete. Please check your new ultimate art.”

In less than a second, the system had finished, and a stream of information flooded into Qingxi’s mind like a revelation, allowing him to instantly memorize the technique.

“So fast?” Qingxi gaped, feeling thoroughly fleeced.

This wretched system had surely prepared the ultimate art long ago; the elemental sources were probably just for some other purpose, not the real cost of deduction.

He felt a strong urge to turn the system into a punching bag and give it a thorough beating.