You Can't Figure It Out, So You're Trying to Fake It?

Zhuge Qingchen stared at Su Li, studying him back and forth for a long while. Every so often, he furrowed his brow or looked puzzled.

His behavior got Yun Wanchu and Hua Yunxiao's hopes up, too. They thought he had already found a way to solve the problem.

"Huh?"

"That's not right!"

"How can this be?"

"Impossible?!"

"It still came out like this?"

"Strange, strange indeed!"

Zhuge Qingchen studied him back and forth for a long while, then formed all sorts of bizarre hand seals and unleashed waves of mysterious energy, shot through with a pale golden aura.

But the results clearly weren't to his satisfaction.

The confident expression he'd worn before had now given way to a hint of dejection.

He didn't look truly miserable, but he certainly wasn't the radiant, self-assured man he'd been a moment ago.

Seeing Zhuge Qingchen's expression change as dramatically as a Sichuan opera face-changing act, Su Li couldn't help growing curious. He opened Zhuge Qingchen's Life Archive.

The next moment, Su Li saw the information in Zhuge Qingchen's current archive.

[Yunhuang Calendar, September 1, 3030, 15:27. Zhuge Qingchen tried to use his "Profound Mechanism Deriving the Way" talent in conjunction with his "Severing Karma" ability, hoping to divine Su Li's fortune and misfortune and find a way for Su Li's friend to cultivate despite their unusual constitution. But he got nowhere.]

[The results of Zhuge Qingchen's divination were like a garment without a crown, like wood and water without roots—a castle in the air, a flower reflected in a mirror, the moon's reflection in water.]

[Zhuge Qingchen felt that this was beyond his understanding. In all his previous divinations, whether or not he got an answer—even when the matter was utterly impossible to divine—he had never gotten a result like this, as if he were trying to divine "thin air."]

[Zhuge Qingchen concluded that Su Li—or Su Li's friend—had either long since lost all vitality, died many years ago, and turned to dust, or else was completely rejected by heaven and earth, a person outside the bounds of fate.]

[After getting this result, Zhuge Qingchen felt humiliated. If he revealed it, he would only ruin his own reputation and bring shame upon the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. So he decided to tell a lie: Su Li's friend had a mutated soul and was a person outside the bounds of fate, unaffected by heavenly secrets.

At the same time, he planned to injure himself, pretending that the divination had backlashed, so it would look as if he'd exhausted himself and coughed up blood for the sake of this reading...]

The information in Zhuge Qingchen's current archive was laid bare before Su Li.

Su Li frowned slightly as he read the entries, sinking into thought.

Honestly, he wasn't too disappointed. He'd already considered the worst-case scenario.

How should I use "Reasoning to Convince" to reap Heavenly Secrets Value from Zhuge Qingchen? He seems like a talented tool. I should be able to get a lot of Heavenly Secrets Value out of him.

After thinking it over, Su Li didn't hesitate. He walked straight over to Zhuge Qingchen and said, "Stop trying to divine it. I know you can't."

"Who says I can't?"

Zhuge Qingchen immediately grew flustered.

"Were you planning to lie and say my friend's soul had mutated and he was someone outside the bounds of fate? Then you were going to injure yourself and pretend you'd suffered a backlash from divining for my friend—"

"Pfft—"

Before Su Li could finish, Zhuge Qingchen spat out a great mouthful of blood mist.

Then Su Li and Zhuge Qingchen stared at each other, both wide-eyed.

Even Su Li felt embarrassed for him.

Su Li glanced at the system's virtual panel. Another notification popped up on the glowing screen—

[Used Reasoning to Convince to expose Zhuge Qingchen's hypocrisy. Gained 1,888 Heavenly Secrets Value.]

Su Li felt much better.

"All right, you saw through me. But this wasn't a deception. The affairs of a Heavenly Secrets Mystic Master—how could you call that deception?

"I really was surprised by the results of divining your friend. It was like trying to divine something that didn't exist...

"In the end, I only did it because I didn't want to damage the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's reputation. Please, forgive me."

Zhuge Qingchen seemed to feel the weight of Yun Wanchu and Hua Yunxiao's gazes on him. He could barely save face.

"Mystic Master Zhuge, in this regard, you're not as honest as Master Su!

"If you can do it, say you can. If you can't, say you can't. As a mystic master, you should understand that better than I do.

"In my life, I've always despised people who try to fake their way through things!

"I was close friends with your father, and I watched you grow up!

"You've disappointed me greatly!"

Hua Yunxiao frowned slightly, displeased.

So this was the solution Zhuge Qingchen had kept promising him he'd find? The one he'd sworn wouldn't disappoint him?

This was it?

He couldn't figure it out, so he tried to fake it?

Hua Yunxiao had completely lost face in front of Master Su this time.

"Imperial Lord Hua..."

After Hua Yunxiao rebuked him on the spot, Zhuge Qingchen realized that he really had gone too far.

"Sorry, Imperial Lord Hua. This time, vanity got the better of me, and I lost my head for a moment. Still, my conclusion may not be entirely wrong.

"If Master Su's friend really is someone outside the bounds of fate, then this kind of result would indeed make sense.

"But if he wants to cultivate, we'll have to find another way."

As he spoke, Zhuge Qingchen fell silent and began divining once more.

This time, a faint golden light streamed from his entire body. At his brow, it was as if a golden gate to the void had opened, barely visible. The sight was truly breathtaking.

Su Li had been wondering how to gain more Heavenly Secrets Value. Seeing this, he couldn't help taking a closer look.

"It still won't work. There's nothing to divine at all. But as for Master Su... I've gotten some idea of the direction his friend should take in cultivation."

Zhuge Qingchen withdrew his ability. His face was noticeably paler, and his voice trembled slightly as he spoke.

"I've also had a few thoughts. Senior Hua, Holy Lord Yun, Mystic Master Zhuge, discuss them and see if they might work."

Su Li thought for a moment, then spoke.

"Please, Master Su," Hua Yunxiao said.

Yun Wanchu and Zhuge Qingchen remained silent.

"I've considered it. The problem is probably that my friend's body isn't suitable. There are two approaches we could try. First, find a place with a spirit spring and a dragon vein, then keep nourishing my friend's body with the spiritual energy of the earth. Let his body be thoroughly steeped and tempered by the spiritual veins of heaven and earth. Given enough time, his body should become spiritually attuned.

"Once his body is spiritually attuned, he'll naturally be able to set foot on the path of cultivation."

"What's the second approach?"

After thinking it over for a long while, Hua Yunxiao asked.

"The second approach is to find an extraordinarily powerful, peerless saintly body or something similar. Then I can help my friend leave his body, and his soul can possess the other person and use that body."

At Su Li's words, Yun Wanchu jolted and instinctively took a step back.

Clearly, he was afraid that Su Li had his eye on him and would make him the target of possession.

Zhuge Qingchen's eyes lit up. He immediately began divining again.

A moment later, he looked at Hua Yunxiao.

Hua Yunxiao remained composed and expressionless. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Zhuge Qingchen shook his head, a hint of regret on his face.

After a long silence, Hua Yunxiao said, "Master Su, your two methods are really just one and the same: obtaining a spiritually attuned body."

"That's right."

Su Li didn't deny it.

"It's difficult. Very difficult. Even without divining, my experience tells me it's nearly impossible."

Hua Yunxiao's tone was grave.

Su Li's heart sank.

The worst-case scenario had come to pass.

Su Li didn't think Hua Yunxiao and Zhuge Qingchen were deceiving him.

Even though he could use the Life Archive System to "divine" all sorts of things and even get the better of all three of them, the truth was that each of them was a major figure who could hold sway over an entire region.

If they said this, there had to be a reason.

"Three days ago, when Yan... when A Li told me about you, I started thinking about how to help your friend cultivate. I've been considering it ever since.

"Based on what I've experienced over the past thousand years, your friend's situation is already quite clear.

"The root of your friend's problem lies in his mutated soul, not his body. I imagine he had extraordinary talent when he was first born.

"But as time passed, the acupoints throughout his body closed up. He had truly been reduced to an ordinary person.

"So even if we gave your friend a nine-aperture glazed immortal body that could perfectly fuse with his soul, he might be comfortable for a time. But before long, he'd end up just as he is now.

"His cultivated abilities would gradually fade away, and he'd become an ordinary person all over again.

"So there's only one method that would truly work for your friend, Master Su: creating a cultivation technique that could keep his soul from changing constantly while also allowing it to harmonize with his body.

"Only then could he gradually return to normal.

"But by the same token, if such a cultivation technique really existed, his soul's fluctuations would return to normal and stop changing constantly. In that case, there'd be no guarantee he could retain the special abilities born from his mutated soul.

"The choice—and what he stands to gain or lose—would be up to your friend."

Hua Yunxiao's words carried an unspoken implication.