Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1492 - 792: Grandmaster Cultivation (Part 2)

He activated all of his one hundred and ninety-one brains. Right now, those brains, boosted fully by his spirit and immersed in the ascension phase, operated like they were supercharged. The one hundred and ninety-one brains broke down the rule fragments into countless segments, starting to grasp them piece by piece.

He remained unaware that his grasp of the ’Chaos Sword Intent’ rules, drawn from the ’Sword Intent Stele’’s sword intent rules, matched perfectly with the deepest essence of breaking through to become a Great Cultivator.

An ordinary cultivator at the Peak of Mid-stage Nascent Soul wouldn’t get this opportunity to sense the rules ahead of time. It’s only amid the breakthrough to Great Cultivator, in that unique ascension condition, that the heavens and earth grant cultivators some extraordinary insight.

During the breakthrough to Great Cultivator, by drawing on massive prior insights, a cultivator forms a personal rule understanding.

Naturally, this kind of insight can only create a fuzzy rule mark inside the Nascent Soul, turning into a drawn-out effort afterward to refine that rule mark step by step.

That’s why certain Great Cultivators end up incredibly mighty, while others lag behind; beyond variations in spiritual power, the main divide comes from how sharp the rule mark is in the Nascent Soul.

If a cultivator skips this vital rule-sensing phase while breaking through to Great Cultivator, pursuing fresh rules later means enduring a lengthy delay, and most Great Cultivators never manage to sense a second new rule.

Li Shiming, lacking any proper lineage, had gathered a huge trove of knowledge, yet it differed from structured heritage. For instance, he wasn’t fully aware of the warnings tied to the breakthrough into Great Cultivator.

Actually, had he held off until Li Yuanba hit the Peak of Mid-stage Nascent Soul, Li Yuanba would’ve gained the matching heritage from the Sword Intent Chongxiao Pavilion. That heritage activates solely for those at the Peak of Mid-stage Nascent Soul, ready to push toward Great Cultivator.

Knowing such details too early isn’t always helpful for Mid-stage Nascent Soul experts, since it might unsettle their mindset.

A hazy rule mark tied to the ’Chaos Sword Intent’ formed inside Li Shiming’s five Nascent Souls.

By now, inside the Nascent Soul sat a Five Elements Rule Imprint, a Thunder Rule Imprint, plus the fresh Sword Intent Rule Imprint he’d just grasped. Once he’d seized the Sword Intent Rule Imprint of the ’Chaos Sword Intent’, he gradually left the unique ascension condition.

After leaving that special condition, when he attempted to sense the sword intent rules on the ’Sword Intent Stele’ again, they seemed far less vivid than earlier, like shrouded in a thin mist.

Though it outshone his senses from the Mid-stage Nascent Soul days by a wide margin, it fell well short of the insight power during the breakthrough to Great Cultivator.

A wave of realization surged in his mind, making clear how crucial rule comprehension is amid the breakthrough to Great Cultivator.

He sensed the new rule mark that had emerged in his Nascent Soul and breathed out a deep sigh. He hadn’t noticed it earlier, but reflecting now, without grasping these rule marks beforehand, he’d have needed to set aside the lack of rule marks for the moment.

The Five Elements Rule Imprint formed the base for his ’Heavenly Human Technique’ practice, the Thunder Rule Imprint served as the essential groundwork at the Great Cultivator stage for the ’Yuqing Thunder Scripture’, and the Sword Intent Rule Imprint acted as the key base for the Great Cultivator stage of the ’Sky-Surging Sword Intent Technique’.

Thus, missing even one rule mark would block him from fully unleashing Great Cultivator might in that area.

Fortunately, he’d encountered the Five Elements Rules and Thunder Rules in the Half-Life Cave Heaven, so he didn’t waste his rare breakthrough to Great Cultivator state on those, freeing it up for the Sword Intent Rule instead.

From later reviews, had he lingered a bit more on the Five Elements Rule and Thunder Rule, he wouldn’t have managed to grasp the Sword Intent Rule Imprint.

Li Shiming’s ’Heavenly Human Technique’ hadn’t reached completion yet; the energy in his Nascent Soul had risen to Great Cultivator level, and the Great Cultivator level ’Chaotic Spiritual Power’ from the ’Heavenly Human Technique’ flooded into his flesh.

His flesh kept getting fortified by ’Chaotic Spiritual Power’. This initial fortification proved vital, building the strongest base for his form.

The benefit of five Nascent Souls showed up once more, letting his body face the Nascent Soul’s first fortification fivefold, basking in five cycles of Great Cultivator level body strengthening from the ’Heavenly Human Technique’.

His body shook nonstop, releasing booming thunder-like noises.

Nobody could tell how much time slipped by before he snapped out of the cultivation trance.

Powerful, unbelievably powerful—this rush of might stemmed purely from his own power surging forward in a massive jump.

The divide between Mid-stage Nascent Soul and Late-stage Nascent Soul in the Nascent Soul realm looms huge. In the Cultivation World, Mid-stage Nascent Soul experts get lumped with Early-stage Nascent Soul ones, just called Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

Yet Late-stage Nascent Soul experts earn the honor of being dubbed Great Cultivators.

When it comes to real battle strength, Great Cultivators hold a crushing edge over Mid-stage Nascent Soul experts.

The key split lies in Great Cultivators seizing a thread of Rule Power and brushing against the world’s core forces.

Li Shiming extended his hand, summoning a Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation into his grasp. Now, that Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation’s caliber had climbed to elite top-tier Fourth Grade level.

This matched his flesh; his body’s toughness equaled a Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation’s caliber. Elite top-tier Fourth Grade meant his flesh had hit the ultimate peak of Great Cultivator Body Refinement.

At this point, relying only on his flesh, he could shatter a standard Fourth-Grade Magical Treasure. Even if a Great Cultivator wielded a less-than-elite Fourth Grade Magical Treasure, breaking through his flesh’s guard would prove tough.

Naturally, this covers just raw spiritual power and force, ignoring certain unique traits of cultivation methods.

Though he boasted such a mighty flesh, he wouldn’t let a Great Cultivator skilled in ’Void-breaking Sword Intent’ land a hit on it, since the ruinous force of Great Cultivator level ’Void-breaking Sword Intent’ outstrips a standard Great Cultivator’s might.

Li Shiming skipped further tests of his power; he gathered his focus and slipped back into isolated cultivation.

Fresh from his breakthrough, the spiritual power stores in his five Nascent Souls sat dangerously depleted.

Before diving into practice, he checked his stock of high-level Great Cultivator Cultivation Spirit Pills.

After storing them for so long, he held one hundred and thirty-six high-level Great Cultivator Cultivation Spirit Pills. He skipped tallying the lower-grade Great Cultivator Cultivation Spirit Pills, since those served for gifting or bartering.

"Looks like I still need to take on more alchemy commissions from Great Cultivators!" he muttered to himself.

Should other Great Cultivators catch his grumble, plus see his Spirit Pill count, they’d likely leap to their feet and yell in fury.

Even for Great Cultivators from mighty groups, supplies for Great Cultivators stay terribly scarce. Based on Li Yuanba’s stint at the Sword Intent Chongxiao Pavilion, grabbing a set of Great Cultivator Spirit Medicine took about ten years.

His one hundred and thirty-six high-level Great Cultivator Spirit Pills, setting aside their superior quality, would demand an Alchemy Master to meticulously process a batch of Spirit Medicine—assuming no mishaps—and get two Great Cultivator Spirit Pills per batch, forcing a Great Cultivator to toil six hundred years to amass what he had.

Right now, among his one hundred and thirty-six high-level Great Cultivator Spirit Pills, a chunk came from handling tons of alchemy tasks for Great Cultivators via the Central State Commerce, letting him keep back some Spirit Medicine to craft them.

The bulk of commissions Li Yuanba handled from the Sword Intent Chongxiao Pavilion got stockpiled by the pavilion; solo commissions from Sword Cultivator Great Cultivators stayed few.

Li Shiming swallowed five high-level Great Cultivator Cultivation Spirit Pills, sending their vital essence streaming into his five Nascent Souls.

At that pace, the one hundred and thirty-six high-level Spirit Pills wouldn’t stretch far enough. More Nascent Souls meant more headaches.

For the first time, he realized he wasn’t as rich as he’d believed, unable to freely burn through high-level Great Cultivator Spirit Pills.

That feeling grated, since short on high-level Great Cultivator Spirit Pills, his practice pace would drag.

With that in his thoughts, he turned his spirit once more to training the ’Heavenly Human Technique’.