Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1417 - 755: Departure

Within the confines of the Little Lei Yin Temple, Great Venerable Hongfa moved among the fallen monks, carefully arranging their remains while intoning the Soul Calming Spell.

Grief etched deep lines into his face—a sorrow felt not only for his fallen brothers but for his own fate.

The tranquility he once knew had vanished forever; from this moment on, he was merely Li Yuanba’s servant, bound to live according to the whims of his new master.

His desperate cries for mercy before the end had not been born solely of a fear of death.

While the instinct to survive was undoubtedly the primary catalyst, he had also witnessed Li Yuanba wielding two distinct Spiritual Objects alongside that devastating ‘Chaos Sword Intent’. He was certain that Li Yuanba was destined for a future of unparalleled greatness.

As he organized the corpses, Hongfa took it upon himself to collect every spatial item he found, acting without needing instructions from Li Yuanba. He viewed this service as his newfound duty.

Now that he occupied the position of Li Yuanba’s servant, he had to prioritize his master’s benefits above all other concerns.

Being the Great Venerable of Little Lei Yin Temple, he possessed intimate knowledge of its treasures, and once the bodies were tended to, he began systematically stripping the temple of its assets.

He even went as far as dismantling the Space Acceptance Array; had the temple's defensive formation not been so complex to deconstruct, he likely would have taken that as well.

The only corpse he left untouched was that of Ming Fa—the remains of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage Practitioner, Bai Yong.

Bai Yong’s life had been snuffed out by the violent detonation of the Spiritual Object ‘Ten Thousand Sword Peak’, followed by the crushing force of a sustained gravity field that extinguished his soul entirely.

Li Yuanba cast Bai Yong’s body aside and deactivated the ‘Infinite Great Isolation Decree’.

He stood back, silently observing Great Venerable Hongfa’s efficiency; in truth, physical observation was unnecessary, as the soul-binding contract allowed him to feel Hongfa’s every emotion and share his very perceptions.

Furthermore, he could delegate the task of monitoring to IBMz15; should Hongfa harbor any thoughts of treason, IBMz15 would instantly annihilate his soul via the contract’s power.

The dominance of this soul-binding contract was absolute, with the contract rune having already permeated the majority of Hongfa’s soul; any backlash from the rune would result in total soul destruction.

Even if only a small portion of a soul is destroyed, a cultivator’s mind is shattered, leaving them in a state of permanent dementia.

Despite the immense power of a Great Venerable, targeting the soul directly ensured total subjugation.

Li Yuanba felt quite pleased with Great Venerable Hongfa’s initiative; though he had given no specific orders, Hongfa had anticipated his needs and surpassed all expectations.

"Once you have finished gathering everything, we shall leave!" Li Yuanba signaled with a wave of his hand.

"As you command, master!" Great Venerable Hongfa answered.

Utilizing the Divine Foot Skill, the two figures blurred and vanished from the grounds of Little Lei Yin Temple.

By the following day, a reinforcement party consisting of one Great Venerable and six Mid-stage Venerables arrived at the gates of the temple.

This group had been dispatched from Da Leiyin Temple following the urgent request sent by the information manager, Ming Fa.

The decision to send such a formidable force—a Great Venerable supported by six Mid-stage Venerables—was made specifically out of caution regarding Li Yuanba.

Given Li Yuanba’s history of slaying Great Cultivators, sending a single Great Venerable was deemed insufficient; however, the addition of six Mid-stage Venerables ensured they could hold their own in a confrontation.

This response from Da Leiyin Temple made it clear that the Cultivation World now viewed Li Yuanba’s combat prowess with extreme seriousness, treating him as though he were a Great Cultivator himself.

The lead Great Venerable scanned Little Lei Yin Temple, his expression clouded with suspicion.

To his senses, the temple felt eerily silent, devoid of any signs of life.

With a sharp gesture, he signaled the six Mid-stage Venerables to draw their magical items and form a defensive perimeter around him, locking into a battle formation.

This was the specific tactic Da Leiyin Temple had devised for Li Yuanba: the six Mid-stage Venerables would focus entirely on a collective defense.

This allowed the Great Venerable to ignore his own protection and focus solely on launching attacks.

They reasoned that while a Nascent Soul Middle Stage Sword Cultivator like Li Yuanba possessed terrifying offensive power capable of killing Great Cultivators, his defensive capabilities would likely be his weakness, given his actual Cultivation level.

They believed this formation would allow them to thoroughly suppress him.

However, as they entered the temple with extreme caution, they found the halls completely empty of monks.

"Did they all evacuate?" one of the Mid-stage Venerables asked in confusion as he surveyed the scene.

The temple appeared as though its inhabitants had simply packed up and moved.

It seemed impossible that anyone other than the temple’s own monks could have removed every portable Spiritual Object so cleanly, without causing any structural damage to the buildings.

Even the protective formations of Little Lei Yin Temple remained perfectly intact upon inspection.

The Great Venerable shot a cold look at the subordinate, questioning his intelligence.

"Amitabha, Little Lei Yin Temple has been wiped out!" he declared solemnly, pressing his palms together.

His senses picked up the lingering traces of soul energy that had not yet faded, a clear sign that a mass slaughter had occurred recently.

"Was this Li Yuanba? How could he be so bold?" the Mid-stage Venerable hissed through gritted teeth.

"If we find Ming Fa here, we are certainly going to face continuous setbacks!" the Great Venerable remarked with a heavy sigh.