Li Zhiyuan: "It's not like I volunteered to go."

Zhao Yi: "I mean, what's the point of going to Fengdu now?"

Li Zhiyuan: "There is a point. The gap is obviously this huge, yet they're still trying to stop us from going to Fengdu. Doesn't that make it even stranger?"

Zhao Yi: "Ugh, fine, I won't live to see it anyway. Once you see it, hehe, 'at the family sacrifice, never forget to inform…'"

Li Zhiyuan: "The deduction failed, but we've found the method."

Zhao Yi: "…My son."

Li Zhiyuan stood up, looking at the scrap paper Zhao Yi was holding—the ones he himself had tossed away: "When the difference in strength is too big, pure deduction stops working. No matter how good an ant is at fighting, it can't beat a human."

Zhao Yi: "Bro, can we talk about it a bit more concretely?"

Li Zhiyuan: "Remember how you survived the first stick of incense?"

Zhao Yi: "If I'd known, I'd have had the nerve to ask for an extra flower."

Li Zhiyuan: "That curse—it's the one that blocked it for you. You know very well, even if it were willing to give again, to the same person, it couldn't give a second flower… And precisely because of what's special about you, that flower was actually able to work."

Zhao Yi rubbed his nose and said slowly, "I think I'm starting to get what you're thinking. Rather than doing tricks at the method level, better to…"

Li Zhiyuan: "Better to just find someone with a high Life Chart, and let the tall one take the hit for you."

Zhao Yi: "Fuck. The Zhao family ancestor's spirit is not on me. If I'd known, before the split, I should've secretly dug up my own ancestral grave."

Li Zhiyuan: "Is it really not?"

"You mean this?"

Zhao Yi flipped his palm, and a string of Copper Coin landed in his hand. With a flick, it instantly formed a sword.

Li Zhiyuan: "This is Zhao Wuyang's sword. On it there are not only bloodstains left from when Zhao Wuyang slew demons back in the day, but also Zhao Wuyang's spirit."

Zhao Yi: "But the ancestor is already dead, unlike the one under the Peach Forest who's still alive. Even if this sword was the weapon ancestor used back then and bears his traces, without the ancestor personally activating it, where would the Life Chart come from?"

Li Zhiyuan: "I can be your ancestor."

Zhao Yi: "Huh?"

Li Zhiyuan: "I have a way to fake Zhao Wuyang's aura. Not much, but it should be enough."

When using the Fengdu Twelve Commandments, in order to boost the power of the skill, Li Zhiyuan would use Liu's Qi Observation Technique to disguise himself with a trace of the Great Emperor's aura.

He was originally the Great Emperor's Inheritor, so he could fake the look.

By the same logic, thanks to Zhao Yi constantly hauling over the Zhao family Cultivation Techniques for him recently—the direct-line inheritance of the Zhao family, the line Zhao Wuyang left behind—Li Zhiyuan had learned those too.

And barring any surprises, he probably knew more of it than most people surnamed Zhao.

Zhao Yi: "What else do you need me to do?"

Li Zhiyuan: "Mm, I need you to give me…"

Zhao Yi: "Whatever you want, as long as I have it, it's yours!"

Li Zhiyuan:

"Give me a kowtow."

…

How things were developing had already gone beyond what anyone else present could imagine.

When there are two top-tier smart people in the room, they can figure out most problems just by bouncing ideas off each other. Everyone else, even if they bring their brains along, they're just extra deadweight.

Take right now, for example: nobody understood why this was happening.

Run Sheng was told to take out that simple pre-made-offering mini altar from his hiking pack.

Once the incense and candles were lit, Li Zhiyuan sat upright behind the offering table, while Zhao Yi stood in front of it. First, he performed the Zhao family's inner-door salute juniors use to greet elders, then he directly knelt and really started kowtowing, loudly calling:

"Ancestor above, please receive the rites of your later-generation descendant!"

Li Zhiyuan sat straight and solemn, while Zhao Yi kowtowed without the slightest sloppiness.

When the ritual ended.

Zhao Yi stood up, and Li Zhiyuan sensed his own eyelids trembling ever so slightly.

Zhao Yi was one of the very few in the clan who could read Zhao Wuyang's notes. So, given Zhao Yi's status and his extremely "intimate" connection with ancestor Zhao Wuyang, if an outsider accepted his worship, they really did have to worry about not having the fortune to bear it.

Fortunately, the identity Li Zhiyuan showed on the surface was impressive enough to suppress that pressure.

To stay alive, to walk the rivers and lakes, a bit of empty ritual—no one was going to feel awkward about it in their heart.

Zhao Yi: "Li…"

Li Zhiyuan lifted his eyes and looked at Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi immediately bowed his head, bent at the waist, and said, "Ancestor, from here on out, we're counting on you." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The show hadn't even started yet; the atmosphere had to stay hot till the curtain rose.

Li Zhiyuan needed Zhao Yi to provide him with a stronger sense of legal-ritual legitimacy, so that at the critical moment, he could better fake Zhao Wuyang's aura.

The young man crooked his finger at Zhao Yi. Zhao Yi instantly trotted over and offered up the copper coin sword with both hands.

Li Zhiyuan shook his head and pointed at Zhao Yi's chest.

Zhao Yi understood, dismantled the sword, and stuck all the Copper Coin over his heart.

Li Zhiyuan reminded him, "This trick can only be used once. The price of using it to keep you alive is that from now on, you'll never be able to sense Zhao Wuyang's spirit again—if he did leave one behind."

Zhao Yi didn't care and said, "Ancestor already walked his path. Next, I'm supposed to walk mine. Your… your family didn't leave a spirit either, right?"

Li Zhiyuan: "One more thing. If you're still not dead by the second stick of incense, then what the third incense is will basically be confirmed."

Zhao Yi: "They'll finish things off in the safest way possible."

Li Zhiyuan: "Mm."

The first stick of incense was the curse from the Book of Life and Death; the second was the substitute-death, return-to-yang Puppetry Technique. Both were high-end, profound stuff.

Very much like that time Grandma Liu, at her home in Nantong, raised her sword and stirred the Feng Shui currents, wiping out the entire inheritance of a Daoist Temple inside Dujiangyan.

This kind of method is certainly clean and crisp, carrying that aloof, freehand flair—but it's prone to accidents and can't guarantee timely, thorough cleanup.

When Li Zhiyuan and the others entered that Daoist Temple back then, there were still survivors inside.