Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1352 - 722: Advancement_2

Since Li Shiming was the one who forged the ’Traceless Illusion Sword,’ and his own cultivation is currently at the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ should technically undergo an artifact tribulation proportional to a Nascent Soul Middle Stage Heavenly Tribulation.

However, if a Great Cultivator were to get involved, the trial would scale up to match the higher cultivation level, resulting in a Heavenly Tribulation that reflects the most powerful participant.

As expected, the storm clouds gathering above the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’—viewed by Li Shiming through the eyes of the Great Cultivator Luo Pei—are indeed consistent with the Nascent Soul Middle Stage Heavenly Tribulation.

Even though the intensity of this tribulation is at the absolute peak of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, he felt no anxiety.

The ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ remained motionless in the air, its blade completely hidden and impossible to detect through either physical sight or divine sense sweeps.

Nevertheless, such concealment cannot deceive the heavens; the thunderclouds shifted to hover directly over the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’.

With a deafening crash, a pillar of Heavenly Thunder struck down, hitting the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ dead center.

The ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ made no attempt to dodge or strike back; the lightning, for its part, could not miss.

The sword simply accepted the full force of the Heavenly Thunder. Upon impact, countless rune lights shimmered across its surface, momentarily exposing the hidden blade.

Arcs of electricity danced across the steel, trying to destroy it. However, protected by the effects of four hundred million solid runes, the lightning only created a visual spectacle without inflicting any actual harm.

The second and third bolts of Heavenly Thunder descended in rapid succession. The ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ endured the bombardment obediently; Li Shiming knew from experience that resisting only serves to provoke the Heavenly Thunder into becoming more violent.

While a more powerful Heavenly Thunder would result in greater heavenly rewards once the tribulation concluded, Li Shiming preferred a safe passage over the risks involved in intensifying the storm.

Currently, the lightning faced by the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ was at the pinnacle of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage; any further increase in power would push it into the realm of a Great Cultivator level Heavenly Tribulation.

That would significantly lower the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’s chances of survival, and he had no intention of letting his Lifebound Flying Sword be destroyed by the heavens.

The sheer amount of time and energy poured into the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ represented a massive investment, not to mention the rarity of the two types of top-tier fourth-grade materials required for its creation.

As the final bolt of Heavenly Thunder faded away, the aura of heavenly rewards began to swirl around the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’.

After waiting for a moment, Great Cultivator Luo Pei released his powerful aura to drive away any spirit beasts or curious cultivators drawn by the commotion of the Heavenly Tribulation.

The presence of a Great Cultivator remains a terrifying deterrent, making any nearby cultivators hesitate to approach.

Once the energy fluctuations around the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ subsided, the blade vanished back into the emptiness, returning to its invisible state.

With a simple thought from Li Shiming, the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ glided back to Great Cultivator Luo Pei, who promptly tucked it away within his Cave Heaven.

Observing the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ through their spiritual bond, he could feel the potent Artifact Spirit residing within.

Regarding the development of a spiritual treasure Lifebound Flying Sword’s Artifact Spirit, he could draw upon the experiences of his avatar, Li Yuanba, to determine the most effective cultivation path.

It was well known that Li Yuanba had received personal instruction from Sword Elder and mastered the ’Soul Control and Treasure Breeding Secret Method,’ a specialized technique designed for spiritual treasures.

Hidden beneath the surface of the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ were ten billion sharp runes and four hundred million solid runes, leaving only two visible rule marks: a sharp rule mark and a solid rule mark.

Li Shiming’s goals for his Lifebound Flying Sword were entirely different from those of Li Yuanba. While Li Yuanba chased ultimate speed, Li Shiming relied on diverse combat techniques and the ’Traceless Illusion Sword’s stealth. For him, extreme speed wasn't a priority—the natural speed of a spiritual treasure-level sword was already ample.

The ’Traceless Illusion Sword’ required the highest possible armor-piercing capability. Enhanced by ten billion sharp runes and the sharp rule mark, it could shred the defenses of a Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator with ease, even without resorting to the ’Void-breaking Sword Intent.’

He began performing the ’Soul Control and Treasure Breeding Secret Method,’ slowly passing his and Li Yuanba’s mastery of the ’Sky-Surging Sword Intent Technique’ and various sword cultivator insights into the Artifact Spirit of the ’Traceless Illusion Sword.’

This would be a gradual process; the more the Artifact Spirit learned, the more formidable it would become in actual combat.

Meanwhile, Great Cultivator Luo Pei transformed into a liquid stream and dove into the sea, utilizing Water Escape to depart from the island.

He set his sights on the Sword Intent Chongxiao Pavilion; he needed to meet Li Yuanba to retrieve certain spoils of war.

Traveling was less of a concern for Great Cultivator Luo Pei now, primarily because the major Great Cultivators of the White Emperor Sect—those he feared most—had retreated from the Central State Continent.

Furthermore, the friction between the White Emperor Sect and the Sword Intent Chongxiao Pavilion had reached a breaking point, leaving them with no time to hunt him down.

Still, he couldn't be reckless. He was carrying valuable treasures, and if the White Emperor Sect found an opening, they would certainly move against him.

His reputation was quite poor; he was infamous across the lands. Being a Loose Cultivator was his only path now, as no Sect would ever admit him.

Regardless of his motives, having nearly wiped out the Fuliu Sect and pushing it to the brink of collapse made every other sect wary. They feared that he might lose his mind one day and bring the same ruin to their doorsteps.

He was indifferent to this; the primary utility of Great Cultivator Luo Pei was to gain access to Great Cultivator-level resources.

Li Shiming now possessed enough resources of his own; all he required was a long period of secluded cultivation to attempt his breakthrough into the Great Cultivator Realm.

Once he reached that stage, the combat strength of Great Cultivator Luo Pei would become secondary to Li Shiming.

However, Li Shiming had a crucial role for Great Cultivator Luo Pei: he would be responsible for all future corpse refining tasks.

As a Great Cultivator, Luo Pei could form contracts with Late-stage Golden Core corpses in vast numbers, allowing him to maintain a massive undead legion.

Since Great Cultivator Luo Pei was essentially a Heavenly Ghost and Li Shiming’s spiritual pet, Li Shiming’s authority over Luo Pei’s corpse refining was as absolute as if he were doing it himself.

After a month-long journey, the long-distance flying boat carrying Li Yuanba finally arrived back at the Sword Intent Chongxiao Pavilion.

While the Great Cultivators of the sect were busy with high-level strategy meetings, Li Yuanba lacked the standing to attend, leaving him with plenty of free time.

He turned down several requests for alchemy from fellow sword cultivators, claiming he needed time to recover.

The Sword Intent Chongxiao Pavilion was a tightly-knit sect; the secret of his alchemy skills was kept strictly within their walls and had not leaked to the outside world.

Flying out from the sect, he met Great Cultivator Luo Pei over a coastal area about a thousand miles away.

The two didn't need words. Li Yuanba simply transferred all his recent acquisitions to Great Cultivator Luo Pei.

This included the Treasure Lotus Hall, the ’Jiguang Xunying Boat,’ the Spiritual Jade Spring Eye, and the Fire Jade Furnace, along with the ingredients for two batches of Great Cultivator-grade healing Spirit Pills.

He also handed over a large collection of corpses. The most precious was the body of Great Cultivator Shi Dong, followed by twelve core Nascent Soul mid-stage corpses from the White Emperor Sect.

Refining all these into Golden Corpses would likely exhaust the Golden Corpse Cores within the Zhai Ge Cave Heaven. Without full control over the Zhai Ge Great Ability Cave Heaven, replenishing those cores was impossible.

Furthermore, the process would demand a staggering amount of Fourth-grade Corpse Refining Materials. Specifically, Great Cultivator Luo Pei currently lacked the power to turn Great Cultivator Shi Dong’s body into a Golden Corpse.

Luo Pei’s own cultivation level might not be high enough to suppress the refined corpse of Shi Dong. While both were in the Great Cultivator Realm, Shi Dong had been a mid-to-high tier powerhouse, whereas Luo Pei was only at the beginning of that level.