Chapter 80: Deduction Method

“Senior Sister, Master told you to give me these basic Dao Techniques.”

Inside the Stone House, Li Si took out a piece of paper and respectfully handed it to Jiang Ying. On it were written six Dao Techniques: [Water-Guiding Curse], [Wind-Guiding Curse], [Cloud-Gathering and Rain-Summoning Curse], [Truth-Discerning Curse], [Deduction Method], and [Thunder-Summoning Curse].

Jiang Ying took the paper, glanced at it, and then looked at Li Si with a smile. “Good junior brother, your ambitions are quite high. You should know that the Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique is widely recognized as one of the nine hardest Divine Abilities to master below the Nascent Soul Realm in our Floating Cloud Sect. But if you want to learn it, you must have thought it through carefully. Alright, wait a moment.”

Jiang Ying was very pleased and became much happier. The Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique was indeed difficult, but it would be disappointing if someone didn’t even have the courage to try. The Floating Cloud Sect finally had a worthy successor.

“However, junior brother, you shouldn’t focus too much on this Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique. Right now in our Floating Cloud Sect, Senior Brother Xu Shen handles internal affairs, and Senior Brother Ji Chang manages external matters. You need to calm your mind and cultivate the [Heaven-Turning Scripture]. Breaking through to the Golden Core Realm as soon as possible is the most important thing, because you are the most outstanding genius among the new generation.”

“Wait, why do you want the [Deduction Method]? The Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique doesn’t require the Deduction Method, does it?”

“Senior Sister, I’m just a little curious. I want to take a look for reference. I won’t practice it, and I definitely won’t waste time.” Li Si spoke casually, like a teenage boy full of energy with nowhere to put it…

“Alright then. Did you practice the Soul-Searching Curse I gave you last time?” Jiang Ying didn’t probe further. The Floating Cloud Sect’s Dao Techniques were vast as the sea. Being curious was normal, and learning more by referring to predecessors’ insights could be beneficial.

Especially now that the situation had finally stabilized, they didn’t need to only think about immediate survival anymore; they also had to consider the future.

Xu Shen advancing to the Golden Core Realm and Ji Chang restoring his Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation were actually preparations for the Floating Cloud Sect to produce another Nascent Soul.

And Li Si was undoubtedly the best candidate.

“Not yet, but I’ve glanced through it. I always felt the Soul-Searching Curse and the Deduction Method are somewhat related, so I wanted to borrow them together.”

“Good, that’s the right attitude. Also, during this time, you should stop hunting the Little Mushrooms. Master told me that you’ve become picky from drinking the Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction. Isn’t the Great Soul-Returning Broth good enough? So I’ve decided that from now on, we’ll drink the Great Soul-Returning Broth, and leave the Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction for you youngsters.”

Hearing Jiang Ying say this, what could Li Si do? He just grinned and nodded in agreement. As for his secret meetings with the Little Mushroom, of course, they would continue as usual. Otherwise, where would such plentiful daily rewards come from?

Where would the development funds for Kao Mountain Town come from? Did the Floating Cloud Sect still want to rise or not?

Ah, being the leader of the Four Heroes of Floating Cloud was tiring.

Besides, one pot of Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction could restore 2000 points of Magic Power, four times that of the Great Soul-Returning Broth. He didn’t believe they could resist drinking it.

Magic Power was the foundation of everything.

After taking these Dao Technique booklets, Li Si said goodbye and left. Passing by Xu Shen’s Quiet Room, Li Si dropped in under the pretense of seeking advice. Before leaving, he took away two medicine cauldrons suitable for brewing the Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction. These were newly forged by Xu Shen. They might not be as effective as the Old Madam’s, but their performance was similar. No pressure to secretly cook something extra for himself.

Of course, to show his gratitude, Li Si left behind 50 portions of Mushroom Remnant Husk.

Passing by Ji Chang’s Quiet Room, Li Si sneaked in sneakily. Shortly after, he came out with a hundred Martial Arts Talisman Puppets in hand. Again, he left behind one medicine cauldron suitable for private cooking and 50 portions of Mushroom Remnant Husk.

After all, Magic Power was the root of everything.

On average, four portions of Mushroom Remnant Husk plus other materials could brew one pot of Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction. 50 portions of Mushroom Remnant Husk were equivalent to obtaining 25000 points of Magic Power at the lowest wholesale price.

According to the measurement unit used by Cultivators, this was equivalent to five shi of Magic Power, with each shi being 5000 points.

In the Hall of Fate, those True Immortal ancestors would quibble over just one shi of Magic Power. So even though both Xu Shen and Ji Chang earnestly advised Li Si to stop hunting the Little Mushrooms—that the Little Mushrooms were so cute and that they should take over…

The problem was, they had tried hunting the Little Mushrooms themselves and returned empty-handed every time. So, the Mushroom Remnant Husk really tasted sweet.

They had also suspected why Li Si could hunt Little Mushrooms without any consequences. Li Si simply revealed his low-grade version of the Disaster Warding Aura, which was already at the half-step Divine Ability level. Anyway, this matter had already been reported to the Old Madam.

This instantly made Xu Shen and Ji Chang convinced. The Calamity-Dispelling Curse was just too damn hard to practice, let alone reaching the half-step Divine Ability level. They had nothing more to say; they were sincerely impressed.

Big-time impressed.

Returning to his own Quiet Room, Li Si enveloped it with a layer of Demon Sealing Aura and bolted the door from the inside. Only then did he carefully ponder the mysterious Evil Spirit.

First, he was sure that the mysterious Evil Spirit definitely existed and was certainly near the Floating Cloud Sect village. Of course, it might also be in that huge ruins within the Illusory Realm.

Second, this mysterious Evil Spirit knew the Floating Cloud Sect very well. It could even clearly predict Qin Ke’s weaknesses back then, and now it could precisely predict the critical moment of Ji Chang’s Foundation Building.

Third, this mysterious Evil Spirit didn’t act frequently. Over fifty years, it had only acted twice, and both times it struck vital points. This showed that the opponent was an old, cunning schemer who liked to think, had intelligence, and especially left no traces when acting. Even the Old Madam couldn’t deduce anything.

Li Si estimated this was also why the opponent wouldn’t act easily—because there were originally no traces, but if one acted too many times, traces would appear. The words of the ancient sage Lu, the Demon-Slayer Saint, were indeed correct.

Fourth, the mysterious Evil Spirit was definitely very afraid of the Old Madam.

Fifth, this mysterious Evil Spirit and the Evil God were not on the same path.

Sixth, activating the four grand arrays touched the opponent’s soft spot. So the opponent’s interests must be underground or nearby, and not too far away.

Lastly, Li Si had another speculation: back then, when the Old Madam failed to deduce the truth, could it be related to the Evil Spirit possessing a Divine Ability similar to the Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Curse?

Because even for the current Li Si, as long as he maintained the Track-Finding Domain and the Annihilation Domain at all times, even the Old Madam couldn’t deduce his traces.

So, obtaining first-hand evidence was very important.

Thinking up to this point, Li Si already had an idea in his heart.

The mysterious Evil Spirit was deeply hidden; simply searching for it wouldn’t work. Its only weakness was the moment it acted, but because it had the ability to erase traces, it could destroy evidence immediately.

So, the best method was to lure it into acting once more, then instantly lock onto the opponent’s traces and perform the strongest deduction possible.

“Then I’ll use my breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm as bait. I believe this Evil Spirit wouldn’t want to see a second Golden Core appear in the Floating Cloud Sect.”

“But before that, I need to make thorough preparations.”

Li Si thought carefully, then put away the basic Dao Technique booklets related to the Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique. He didn’t need them for now. Next, he had several things to do.

First, continue cultivating the [Heaven-Turning Scripture]; this was the foundation.

Second, strengthen the [Soul-Searching Curse], [Deduction Method], and [Truth-Discerning Curse] to the level of advanced Divine Abilities.

Third, during this period, over at Kao Mountain Town, the Lanshan Sect leader Zhang San was cultivating at an astonishingly fast speed and might soon build his foundation. So Li Si needed to return there to protect him. If the Evil Spirit also went to attack Zhang San, that wouldn’t be fun.

Fourth, he wanted to continue improving the evolution progress of his Bloodline and Bone Foundation, to see if he could obtain another Dao Body.

Fifth, continue farming the Little Mushrooms and research the recipe for acquiring a second Dao Heart.

So busy. But over the past half month, through daily farming of the Little Mushrooms, he had indeed gained quite a lot. His current fixed assets were 3001 portions of White Fate Firewood, his pocket money was 2250 portions of Black Fate Fuel, and he also had 30810 portions of Gray Fate Fuel to use as tips.

All he could say was that the previous extortion by the Evil God’s Blood Coffin had severely damaged him until now. If he didn’t take revenge for this, he swore he wouldn’t be human!