Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1318 - 705: Severing the Root (Part 2)
Upon his arrival, he immediately released the overwhelming pressure of a Great Cultivator, enforcing a strict realm suppression throughout the Treasure Pavilion.
Inside the structure, a Nascent Soul Middle Stage Peak elder was stationed. Having failed to ascend to the Great Cultivator Realm multiple times, he had remained at the peak of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage. Knowing his path to advancement was closed and his remaining lifespan was short, he had dedicated his final years to serving the sect within the Treasure Pavilion.
A typical Nascent Soul Middle Stage intruder would have been halted by this elder, whose combat prowess was formidable. At his peak, he was capable of contending with any cultivator of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.
The Treasure Pavilion might have even offered some resistance if a different Great Cultivator had attacked.
However, the intruder was Great Cultivator Luo Pei. With Li Shiming’s profound understanding of the pavilion’s mechanics guiding him, the building's defensive advantages were rendered entirely useless.
By simply striking specific nodes of the Treasure Pavilion with his Divine Sense, Great Cultivator Luo Pei allowed his realm suppression to flood the interior without obstruction.
Realizing the danger, the elder cultivator attempted a counter-move, but his limbs felt incredibly heavy. The suffocating realm suppression of a Great Cultivator caused his entire frame to seize up.
Fortunately for the elder, Luo Pei’s Cultivation realm was on the lower end for a Great Cultivator, which meant the suppression didn't completely sever the elder's connection to his own body.
The elder struggled desperately to manipulate the Treasure Pavilion’s systems to fight back against Luo Pei’s pressure.
Yet, because of the realm suppression, every movement he made was agonizingly slow.
Aided by Li Shiming, Great Cultivator Luo Pei shattered the defenses of the Treasure Pavilion in a single breath, sending the spiritual treasure 'Black Water Sword' flying inside.
In a mere flash, the 'Black Water Sword' executed the elder cultivator instantly.
With the guardian dead, the Treasure Pavilion, which had begun to activate its defenses, returned to a state of calm.
Luo Pei summoned back the 'Black Water Sword' and extended his Divine Sense to cover the building. With a surge of power, he forcibly pulled the entire Treasure Pavilion into his soul crystal ring.
Normally, a structure cannot be placed into a storage space if a living cultivator is inside.
Without its guardian, the Treasure Pavilion was nothing more than an ownerless magical artifact.
Luo Pei remained for ten breaths, during which time the Nascent Soul cultivators elsewhere realized the Divine Wood—the core of the 'Innate Wood' divine skill inheritance—had vanished. This Divine Wood served as the very heart of the Yimu Cave Heaven.
Because the Yimu Cave Heaven had lost its core, even the Fuliu Sect’s Nascent Soul executives with secondary access rights could no longer use the cave’s authority to track Luo Pei’s location.
They scrambled through the Yimu Cave Heaven like headless flies until the sect’s Nascent Soul Middle Stage leaders arrived to restore a semblance of order.
The Yimu Cave Heaven had previously been partitioned into various zones by spatial barriers, but these barriers collapsed once the Divine Wood was stolen.
The cultivators organized themselves into squads of sixteen Nascent Soul experts to begin a systematic search of the area.
"The Treasure Pavilion has vanished!" a Nascent Soul cultivator cried out upon reaching the empty site.
"Hurry! Check the Book Collection Pavilion!" another shouted in a panic.
By then, Great Cultivator Luo Pei had already slaughtered the guardians of the Book Collection Pavilion. Just as he had done with the previous building, he stored the entire Book Collection Pavilion into his soul crystal ring.
His objectives complete, he did not waste time trying to kill more members of the Fuliu Sect.
Unsure of the sect's hidden trump cards, he decided to retreat while the organization was still paralyzed by chaos.
The 'Hidden Phoenix Jade Talisman' proved exceptionally effective, keeping him invisible and allowing his aura to remain perfectly masked.
Utilizing his Earth Thunder Nascent Soul, he performed the 'Traverse the Distance' secret art, enabling him to teleport through space repeatedly.
He soon reached the exit of the Yimu Cave Heaven, which was being blocked by over a dozen Nascent Soul cultivators.
"You are seeking death!" Luo Pei muttered, knowing he couldn't afford a stalemate.
He unleashed the 'Black Water Flood Sky' technique through his 'Black Water Sword'—which he had suppressed to Fourth Grade Top Quality—while simultaneously letting his Great Cultivator aura explode.
Using 'Traverse the Distance,' he appeared right in the middle of the Nascent Soul guardians.
At such close proximity, his full-powered aura and terrifying realm suppression caused every Nascent Soul cultivator to freeze.
Even though they were positioned in a specialized fusion battle array, they were still rendered immobile by the pressure of a higher realm.
Luo Pei seized this fleeting window of opportunity. His 'Black Water Sword' turned into a titanic wave, crashing down upon the paralyzed Nascent Soul cultivators.
In a single surge, the dozen cultivators, helpless under the realm suppression, were stripped of their lives.
Their defensive measures were useless against the concentrated might of a Great Cultivator.
Luo Pei’s Divine Sense swept through the area, collecting the corpses and all the loot they carried.
Since he had engaged in combat, his invisibility had faded. He didn't bother to hide again, choosing instead to exit the Yimu Cave Heaven directly.
He knew that the Fuliu Sect's elite, specifically the Nascent Soul Middle Stage experts, were mostly Cultivating inside the Yimu Cave Heaven. Very few remained on the outside.
As long as he wasn't swarmed by enough Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivators to form a trapping array, he feared nothing from the sect's remaining forces.
He flashed out of the Yimu Cave Heaven and found four Nascent Soul cultivators waiting in the main hall.
These four were only at the Nascent Soul Early Stage. The moment he appeared, his aura left them completely paralyzed and unable to resist.
This was the true power of realm suppression—the very thing Li Yuanba feared most when facing stronger foes.
Now that he was the one wielding it, he finally appreciated how effective realm suppression could be.
Ignoring the four, he sent them crashing out of the hall with a casual blow.
The Fuliu Sect’s grand guarding formation had been fully mobilized, but Li Shiming’s intimate knowledge of the array made it easy for Luo Pei to dismantle it from the inside.
With his Earth Thunder Nascent Soul once again using 'Traverse the Distance', Luo Pei’s silhouette flickered across the sect grounds until he reached the formation's boundary.
Because of the crisis within the Yimu Cave Heaven, the protective barrier of the mountain gate had already failed, making his escape even easier.
Before stepping out, he cast one last look at the mountain gate.
"The grudge between the Fuliu Sect and me is settled!" his voice boomed throughout the mountain.
With that, he vanished past the formation as if it were his own front door.
The initial panic in the Fuliu Sect was short-lived. Once the Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivators emerged from the Yimu Cave Heaven, they began to restore discipline.
However, their faces were ashen as they tallied the sect's losses.
Elsewhere, Great Cultivator Mao Jing was traveling when he checked his Identity Jade Disc for updates from the sect.
Upon reading the report, his eyes turned bloodshot and his face grew deathly pale.
"Senior Brother, what has happened?" Great Cultivator Hu Shiming asked, noticing Mao Jing’s erratic aura.
"Ugh!" Mao Jing responded by coughing up a mouthful of blood.
He was so consumed by rage over the destruction at the mountain gate that he suffered an internal injury. He had never imagined Luo Pei would act with such ruthlessness.
Luo Pei’s actions were far worse than if he had killed a hundred Nascent Soul disciples. Even the death of Mao Jing or Hu Shiming would have been less catastrophic.
Luo Pei had severed the very foundation of the Fuliu Sect. The Divine Skill inheritances passed down through the ages had been lost under Mao Jing’s watch.
Furthermore, the theft of the Treasure Pavilion and the Book Collection Pavilion was a killing blow. Though the sect kept some copies of their texts elsewhere, they were nothing compared to the originals, leaving the Fuliu Sect with little to attract future cultivators.