"Spend 10,000 contribution points to perform a divine ability deduction? The initial deduction has a one percent chance of success. Each continuation will increase the probability of success until it reaches one hundred percent."
Li Fan watched the prompt pop up from the Heavenly Profound Mirror, his face devoid of expression as he selected confirm.
Cultivators within the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' establishment gradually unlocked certain privileges as their merit ranks rose.
These manifested in every aspect of life and cultivation, such as reduced contribution point costs for using teleportation arrays, an increased quota for the Heavenly Profound Mirror to buy back items at standard market value, and so forth.
But certain crucial privileges only became available upon reaching specific ranks.
For example, the Yan-5 privilege: once a year, one could apply for a free ultra-long-distance teleportation.
The Yan-10 privilege: when searching for information within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, one could view relevant materials and item information that would otherwise require cultivation a realm higher to access.
The Yan-15 privilege: once every ten years, one could randomly contact a cultivator a major realm higher in cultivation through the Heavenly Profound Mirror. However, neither party was bound by any duty or obligation; whether one could maintain that connection depended entirely on one's own skill.
And the Yan-20 privilege was the ability to spend contribution points within Sit and Debate the Dao to deduce divine abilities and combat arts.
Only, this deduction was truly a bit of a trap.
Not only did it burn through an exorbitant number of contribution points, it did not even guarantee success.
It was widely mocked by cultivators within the establishment as a lethal tool designed solely to siphon back contribution points.
Once Li Fan confirmed, a miniature figure identical to his current appearance sprang into motion at once.
With a solemn expression, it stared straight into the void ahead. Its left hand struck with a palm; its right hand slashed with a sword.
A faint glow erupted near the miniature figure, and space warped and blurred.
Unsurprisingly, a prompt arrived from the Heavenly Profound Mirror: "This deduction has failed. Spend 15,000 contribution points to continue?"
"If you continue, the probability of success will be two percent."
"If you abandon the attempt, all deduction data will be cleared, and you must start from scratch next time."
"You may also choose to supply additional details for the divine ability's data to increase the probability of success."
Li Fan chose to continue without hesitation.
The next moment, the miniature figure moved again.
This time, the scene of it executing the Congyun Sword and the Heaven-Overturning Palm seemed slightly more vivid than before.
But the probability of success was simply too low. Before long, another notice of failure arrived.
For the third deduction, the required contribution points jumped to 20,000, while the chance of success merely crept up to three percent.
Li Fan's expression remained steady as he chose to carry on.
The third attempt failed as well.
Then came the fourth, the fifth...
As the miniature Li Fan executed the Congyun Sword and the Heaven-Overturning Palm with more and more of the divine abilities' authentic resonance, Li Fan vaguely began to understand how the Heavenly Profound Mirror's deduction actually worked.
In simple terms, one defined a target divine ability that could plausibly exist for the Heavenly Profound Mirror, appending the desired effects and might.
The Heavenly Profound Mirror would then work backward from the outcome, deducing the various requirements needed to master the ability, distilling them into experiential knowledge, and passing them to the cultivator.
It could be compared to ancient times in the cultivation world, when mighty experts watched other cultivators battle and could master and replicate their divine abilities at a single glance.
This was what was meant by comprehending by analogy, reaching the same goal through different paths.
The more deductions performed, the more contribution points were consumed.
By the time the price per attempt climbed to 100,000, the probability of success had barely scraped up to 18 percent.
"This technique deduction really isn't something an ordinary person can afford to mess with."
"The Heavenly Profound Mirror's innate deduction capabilities certainly wouldn't be this dismal. It's clearly a deliberate design meant to maliciously burn through contribution points."
"And having reached this stage, after sinking so much into it, the sunk cost is simply too high. Very few would ever be willing to give up. It's like falling into a bog and finding it impossible to pull yourself out," Li Fan observed with clarity.
After a moment's thought, he uploaded his own insights regarding the Congyun Sword and Heaven-Overturning Palm to supplement the data.
Instantly, the success rate skyrocketed from 18 percent to 78 percent, while the price for the deduction remained unchanged.
"It seems deductions backed by real theory are vastly superior to fabricating something out of thin air."
Li Fan thought to himself and ran the deduction once more.
An instant later, a beam of Seven-Colored Divine Light descended from the sky, bathing Li Fan's miniature figure.
The miniature figure seemed to have attained sudden enlightenment, its expression bearing the sentiment of: *Having heard the Dao in the morning, one may die content in the evening.*
It unleashed a resonant cry and thrust out a single palm. In the void ahead, time and space twisted abruptly, turning heaven and earth upside down. Multiple arcs of blue sword light flashed incessantly, tearing through space and time.
Before Li Fan himself, a golden radiance surfaced, accompanied by stirring music ringing in his ears.
"Congratulations, you have successfully comprehended the divine ability: [Sky-Breaking Heart Sword]."
"Divine Ability Description: Unfettered by form or stance—a fist, a palm, a saber, a sword. All move at will, wielding the might to break the heavens."
"Spend 500,000 contribution points to undergo divine ability infusion?"
"You may also continue deducing [Sky-Breaking Heart Sword] to strive for perfection and reach a higher level. Know that the Dao has no limits."
"The first advanced deduction enjoys a 50 percent discount, requiring only 50,000 contribution points. Success rate: eight percent."
As the Heavenly Profound Mirror's string of prompts chimed, Li Fan's expression shifted through several nuances; he could barely keep a straight face.
He had originally thought his contribution points were vast enough that he might never exhaust them in a lifetime.
From the look of it now...
You still win, Heavenly Profound Mirror!
With the mindset of giving it a try, Li Fan initiated an advanced deduction.
First attempt: discounted at 50,000 contribution points, eight percent success rate. Failed.
The cost for the second attempt surged to 150,000 contribution points, though fortunately the success rate rose to ten percent. Still failed.
...
Even though the immense fortune of contribution points Li Fan possessed had practically fallen into his lap like windfalls, watching the numbers constantly tick down and evaporate still made his heart ache.
Within this technique deduction, contribution points seemed to have lost all their usual value, reduced to nothing more than fuel feeding the deduction engine.
If the success rate had steadily climbed every time, Li Fan reckoned he could have gritted his teeth and seen the advanced divine ability through to completion.
But the Heavenly Profound Mirror's tricks genuinely exceeded his expectations.
When the success rate reached fifty percent, after yet another failure, Li Fan noticed that it actually stopped rising!
In its place, another progress bar appeared before his eyes.
"Specialized Directional Deduction."
"When an advanced deduction fails to increase the success rate, progress will be added to directional deduction. Once the bar is filled, you may specify the enhancement path for the deduced divine ability."
"For example: lethality, unpredictability, priority, and so forth."
...
The probability of success was not steadily increasing, yet the contribution points required for each deduction were climbing with brutal certainty.
At this rate, deducing an advanced version of [Sky-Breaking Heart Sword] would likely cost an astronomical figure.
Chapter 627