Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1320 - 706: Cultivation (Part 2)

The Treasure Pavilion is a significant prize in its own right. Though not classified as a magical treasure, it contains an auxiliary artifact spirit. While its intellect is limited, it is capable of managing the Treasure Pavilion perfectly as long as it receives specific instructions.

In the past, the Yimu Cave Heaven’s own artifact spirit oversaw the Treasure Pavilion, leaving the building's internal spirit to act only in a supporting capacity.

However, Li Shiming realized that the Treasure Pavilion had been designed to function independently of a Cave Heaven Artifact Spirit; its internal spirit was more than capable of handling all management duties on its own.

Furthermore, the Pavilion contained a wealth of other Fourth Grade resources beyond the Fourth Grade Top Material that had first caught his eye.

Because the Treasure Pavilion was designed for Nascent Soul cultivators, it naturally held a vast stock of Fourth Grade materials. Given that the Fuliu Sect supported hundreds of Nascent Soul cultivators who relied on these stores, the sheer volume of the inventory was staggering.

The collection also included the accumulated wealth of the Fuliu Sect over many centuries. Even though no new supplies would be added, the current hoard was more than enough for Li Shiming to establish and nurture his own faction.

He dismissed the thought with a shake of his head; he had no immediate intentions of building a power base. He was still a fugitive being hunted and lacked the leisure or resources to establish a Sect.

His attention turned to the Book Collection Pavilion. Like its counterpart, it possessed its own independent hidden dimension.

Inside were high-level manuals and a plethora of texts Li Shiming had never encountered before, offering a massive boost to his knowledge base.

The database of his natal magic treasure, the IBMz15, similarly expanded its archives with this new information.

He had no plans to pick up new techniques for now. Currently, he was focused on his 'Ganlu Divine Water' and 'Innate Wood' divine skills. He intended to wait until these skills had sufficiently matured before he began the formal Cultivation of the 'Heavenly Human Technique'.

To his mind, none of the prestigious techniques he found could hold a candle to the 'Heavenly Human Technique'.

He decided to place both the Treasure Pavilion and the Book Collection Pavilion within the main hall of the 'Heavenly Human Dao'. Though the sight of two large buildings situated inside a single hall was bizarre, he currently had little control over the rest of the space within this Grotto Heaven.

Any further arrangements would have to wait until he mastered the 'Heavenly Human Technique'. Only then would he truly become the master of this Grotto Heaven.

With a flicker of movement, Li Shiming departed Zhai Ge’s Grotto Heaven and entered a different, smaller Grotto Heaven.

This was the Half-Life Cave Heaven. It was tiny compared to the 'Heavenly Human Dao' hall, but here, he was the absolute sovereign with total authority over everything.

The Half-Life Cave Heaven had been completely reshaped by the 'Esir Dust' and was now saturated with Earth-attribute Qi.

He knelt down, running his fingers through the soil to gauge the spirituality and Qi contained within the earth.

This appeared to be one of the forms the 'Esir Dust' could take. Originally, the volume of 'Esir Dust' was quite small; it would have been impossible to grow spirit plants directly upon it, as there was barely enough space for a single root.

When the 'Esir Dust' first merged with the soil, the process was too rapid for him to study.

Now that time had passed, the soil influenced by the 'Esir Dust' exhibited a level of spirituality that surpassed any standard spirit soil. He concluded that this was the 'planting form' of the 'Esir Dust'.

He was uncertain of the maximum area the 'Esir Dust' could influence, but the Half-Life Cave Heaven—with its modest hundred-meter radius—had been entirely transformed.

With a mere thought, Li Shiming summoned the Divine Tree from the Yimu Cave Heaven.

As he withdrew the Divine Tree, he carefully considered its placement.

The Divine Tree was an extraordinary entity and the core of the Yimu Cave Heaven; it undoubtedly possessed mysterious properties.

He wanted to ensure the Divine Tree thrived and that its potential was fully realized.

He had previously obtained the 'Esir Dust', a legendary substance said to be capable of nourishing any spirit plant in existence.

Regardless of how demanding the Divine Tree’s requirements were, the 'Esir Dust' should be able to meet them.

The tree had been kept in his soul crystal ring for some time, and he sensed its vitality beginning to wane. Though it looked fine on the outside, he could feel its internal decline.

He set the Divine Tree on the ground, intending to dig a place for it, but the soil beneath the trunk parted on its own to receive the tree.

The roots were quickly embraced by the earth, spreading out with a vitality that seemed almost sentient.

Simultaneously, Li Shiming felt a surge of Wood-attribute Qi filling the Half-Life Cave Heaven, radiating from the Divine Tree.

As the Divine Tree settled into the Half-Life Cave Heaven, Li Shiming felt a strange, new presence emerge within the dimension.

This presence was similar to the spirit of the 'Esir Dust'. He decided to refer to the consciousness within these divine objects as 'Ling' or spirit.

While an artifact spirit is the intelligence born within a crafted item, the 'Esir Dust' was a product of nature, not a manufactured tool. Thus, he viewed its sentience as a natural spirit.

The Divine Tree was likewise a natural spiritual object with its own wisdom. In fact, its spirit was far more potent than the artifact spirits of his various magical treasures.

Fortunately, while the Divine Tree’s spirit was highly intelligent, it clearly recognized Li Shiming as its master. He could also feel the overall vitality of the Half-Life Cave Heaven beginning to rise.

Li Shiming was unaware that the Divine Tree served as both the core and the artifact spirit of the Yimu Cave Heaven.

By removing the tree and leaving the Grotto Heaven behind, the Divine Tree had been rendered masterless.

Normally, a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Middle Stage—or even a Great Cultivator—would lack the status required to bind with a spiritual object of the Divine Tree's grade.

However, because he was the master of the Half-Life Cave Heaven, and because the Divine Tree recognized the superior environment provided by the 'Esir Dust', the tree voluntarily integrated itself into the space.

In doing so, it unintentionally formed a master-servant bond with Li Shiming.

Regrettably, though the Divine Tree possessed great wisdom, its intelligence was specialized for managing a Cave Heaven. Since the Half-Life Cave Heaven was only a hundred meters wide, there wasn't much to manage.

With only the tree itself and the 'Esir Dust' present, the spirit’s vast intelligence had little opportunity to prove its worth.

Li Shiming remained oblivious to the magnitude of what he had achieved; he was simply following his instincts.

He watched with satisfaction as the Half-Life Cave Heaven evolved. Previously, its internal laws were incomplete and fragmented.

Now, the Earth Dao rules within the Half-Life Cave Heaven were nearly perfected, and the Wood Dao rules were rapidly developing. It was only a matter of time before they reached completion.

He still didn't plan to use the Half-Life Cave Heaven for his primary Cultivation, choosing instead to use it as a window to observe the growth of the rules.

The primary benefit of the Half-Life Cave Heaven was that its rules were not hidden like those in other Grotto Heavens. He could perceive and sense every rule with absolute clarity.

It was the perfect environment for studying the fundamental laws of the world.

Of course, at his current level, attempting to master these rules was premature. Furthermore, this clarity of perception was a unique privilege he only enjoyed while inside the Half-Life Cave Heaven.

“What a pity, the Five Elements Qi is still unbalanced,” he sighed, sensing the atmosphere within the space.

The Qi was incredibly thick, but it was overwhelmingly Earth-based. Even with the addition of the Divine Tree, it only added Wood-attribute Qi to the mix.

His 'Five Rhythms Qi Cultivation Technique' and his future 'Way of Heaven and Man' both required a balance of all Five Elements. The current environment was not yet suitable for his training.

He briefly entertained the idea of finding other Five Elements Divine Objects to place within the Half-Life Cave Heaven.

But he knew it was a long shot. Just because he had been lucky enough to find Earth and Wood divine objects didn't mean such treasures were common; finding them required immense karmic luck.

Even a Half-step Mahayana cultivator like Qiu Hengyi had never managed to find 'Esir Dust' or the Divine Tree. If he had, the Half-Life Cave Heaven would never have remained in such a primitive state.