With only 8 years to live at the start, I'm going all in.

Chapter 177 All in, the only choice

Ding Yi looked at the old man in front of him, and was momentarily taken aback.

"What are you talking about? I am Song Shu!"

Ding Yi argued.

“Song Shu isn’t as stupid as you. You’re not him.”

The old man shook his head like a rattle drum, speaking with great certainty.

Grass!

Ding Yi was getting anxious. The secret technique of the Yuanqiao was right in front of him, so why was this old man acting crazy at this time?!

"Alright, alright, you call me stupid? Let me ask you this: There are chickens and rabbits in a cage. Counting from the top, there are 35 heads; counting from the bottom, there are 94 legs. How many chickens and rabbits are there?"

"Huh? This, this..."

The old man was completely stumped by Ding Yi's question, and then he started counting on his fingers.

After a long while, having pulled out quite a bit of the old man's hair, he still hadn't made any progress, and kept repeating:

"Ten? No, thirteen? No, how can there be so many feet... Aaaaaah!!!"

In the end, the old man desperately clutched his hair, appearing somewhat broken.

Ding Yi watched this scene and secretly sneered to himself.

You can't even solve a linear equation in two variables? You think you can solve this chicken-and-rabbit problem in a second?

But the next moment, the old man said to Ding Yi:

"You don't know either, do you? You're just kidding me. Who can do such difficult math?"

"Hehe, then I'll tell you, there are 12 rabbits and 23 chickens!"

Upon hearing this, Ding Yi slowly gave his answer.

"What..."

Upon hearing this, the old man clearly did not believe it, and then sat down on the ground again and began to count on his fingers.

After a cup of tea, he was shocked to find that both the head and the feet matched perfectly, and he stood up abruptly.

"You really are Song Shu! Only Song Shu could be this smart!"

"Now you believe me? I'm just like you; I've forgotten a lot of things since leaving the sect. Hurry up and continue with the secret technique!"

Ding Yi urged.

"I've finished explaining the general outline of the secret technique! Actually, it's all nonsense. The main thing is this ball."

As the old man spoke, he took out a small iron ball from his pocket and presented it to Ding Yi.

Where did you take that out from?

Ding Yi's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Put it under your armpit."

The old man chuckled.

"What is this?"

Ding Yi looked at the rusty iron ball, but still took it and weighed it in his hand.

"This is the one you made back then, the magical artifact used to sense vibrations."

The old man pointed to the ball in Ding Yi's hand and continued:

"When vital energy is injected into it, it can trigger the mechanism inside the iron ball, causing the inside of the iron ball to shake."

"The greater the amplitude of the oscillation, the harder it is to hold the ball. Once you are completely accustomed to the rhythm of the oscillation of the essence within the ball, you will be able to master the return to the origin."

"That's easy? Then anyone who gets it can master the Return to Origin technique?"

Ding Yi was taken aback.

"You're oversimplifying things. Besides, this thing is a sect's secret artifact. But it still needs to have basic vibration patterns. Try to feel it."

As the old man spoke, he grabbed Ding Yi's wrist. Immediately afterward, Ding Yi felt a stream of energy spread from the old man's palm, flowing down his arm and into the ball in his hand.

The ball in Ding Yi's hand suddenly trembled slightly.

At the same time, Ding Yi also noticed the change in the iron ball in his hand.

At first, the iron ball vibrated very slowly, but after only a few breaths, the vibration speed increased several times, and the vibration speed continued to increase at an exaggerated rate.

At the same time, the tremor caused the iron ball to generate an extremely strong reaction force, almost causing it to jump out of Ding Yi's palm.

"How about that? You felt it, right? Left three, right two, right one, left three, left five, right seven. You have to start in this order. And when you can control the iron ball to vibrate stably for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, you've entered the first stage of the Returning to Origin Secret Technique!"

The old man clapped his hands and said.

As soon as the old man finished speaking, Ding Yi could no longer hold onto the iron ball. The iron ball flew out of Ding Yi's palm, but was caught steadily by the old man.

"how come?"

Ding Yi stared at his empty palm and fell into deep thought.

In that instant, a strange tremor occurred in the iron ball in his hand, instantly repelling his palm and freeing it from Ding Yi's control.

Moreover, this power is quite mysterious and cannot be controlled by brute force.

Otherwise, no matter how much the iron ball spins or how strong the reaction force it generates, it shouldn't be so strong that I can't hold onto it.

"Song Shu, you'll have to figure out this ball yourself. Remember the order I told you. Once you can control the ball, you'll remember the Return to Origin technique."

The old man still thought Ding Yi had forgotten to return to the origin, so he threw the small ball back to Ding Yi.

Ding Yi took the ball, nodded, and said:

"I'll remember it as soon as possible."

After saying that, Ding Yi took the iron ball and continued his research in the courtyard.

This research took an hour.

At this moment, Ding Yi looked at the small ball in his hand with some tension in his eyes, and fine beads of sweat dripped from his forehead.

The small ball in his hand lay quietly in his palm, but for some reason, the five fingers holding the ball had lost their color, clearly indicating that he had exerted extreme force.

"Snapped!"

The iron ball broke free from Ding Yi's grasp once again and flew into the sky.

The 368th time, I held on for 36 breaths.

Ding Yi silently memorized the data, then with a single wave of his hand, the iron ball in the air was once again enveloped by the force of the energy and returned to his hand.

"Song Shu, let's eat, I'm a little hungry!"

The old man's voice came from the treetops nearby.

For the entire hour, the old man remained in the tree, watching Ding Yi practice Guiyuan, as if he were observing something interesting.

Ding Yi remained silent, gripped the iron ball, and began his 369th practice session.

Through this hour of practice, Ding Yi did not entirely fail to make progress.

He began to realize that the ball eventually slipped out of his control not because he lacked strength, but because the vibration frequency of the essence surrounding the ball's surface could not keep up with the vibration frequency inside the ball.

Unless one's own vital energy vibration frequency can continuously suppress the small ball, once it falls, the small ball will be instantly bounced away by an irresistible force.

"interesting."

At this moment, Ding Yi witnessed the profound power system of this world for the first time, and felt as if he had opened up a new world.

"It seems that the key to mastering this secret technique is to practice until you can keep up with the ever-increasing vibration frequency of this iron ball."

"This little ball is simply meant to help people understand the patterns of oscillation."

"Currently, the oscillation frequency is based on one breath as the standard unit. The formula for ten oscillations within a unit is two on the left and three on the right. The formula for ten to twenty oscillations is three on the right and two on the left. The formula for thirty oscillations is three on the left and four on the left..."

"To push the frequency to a new level, you not only need to remember the oscillation pattern within this stage, but also ensure that the frequencies of all previous stages are correct."

"This secret method is a huge test of mental arithmetic and memory. If I hadn't practiced the Spirit Refining Method beforehand, I wouldn't have been able to withstand such a huge mental drain."

Ding Yi stroked the small ball in his hand, then sighed.

Ultimately, I didn't have the time to slowly practice memorizing.

Now that chaos has ensued, even if he had the time to study it slowly, the external evil would not give him that time.

Going all in is the only option.