Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1532 - 812: Preparations (Part 2)

In the past, obtaining blood for corpse refining had been fairly straightforward. Early-stage and mid-stage Golden Corpses, at those two levels, remained plentiful across the Cultivation World.

Things changed dramatically with late-stage Golden Corpses, where only Great Cultivators stood a chance of refining them. Even so, scarcely any Great Cultivators bothered to pour resources into producing a late-stage Golden Corpse.

The primary issue stemmed from the sky-high failure rate of late-stage Golden Corpses, leading to massive resource squandering. Without a deep reservoir of prior corpse refining experience and a strong dependence on the corpse's battle prowess, no one would dream of wasting rare materials on such an endeavor.

Li Shiming had no clue how Central State Commerce sourced these late-stage Golden Corpse blood essences, though it was clear they possessed their own secretive pathways.

Regardless, possessing these late-stage Golden Corpse blood essences slashed the challenges of his ritual for crafting a late-stage Golden Corpse, justifying the additional costs involved.

Truth be told, resources for corpse refining ranked as a lesser worry. Should this attempt flop, securing five corpses from Great Cultivators of superpowers in the near future would prove nearly impossible.

Great Cultivators from superpowers aren't grown like common vegetables; moreover, he had picked the finest specimens among them. A failure here would spell losses beyond reckoning.

The golden blood from the late-stage Golden Corpse got blended with various ingredients, and at last, Li Shiming had to incorporate his personal essence blood.

With a mere flicker of thought, the Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation materialized in his grasp. He lightly dragged the blade over his fingertip.

An awkward mishap unfolded; the Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation scraped against his finger with a grating noise, yet failed to draw even a drop of blood.

His body's durability matched that of a Body Refining Great Cultivator, boasting resilience akin to a peak Fourth-Grade Magical Treasure.

The Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation hovered at that same caliber, utterly incapable of piercing his natural defenses.

Left with no alternative, he infused the Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation with 'Chaos Sword Intent', then sliced his finger with utmost care this time.

He fretted that applying excessive pressure might cause the 'Chaos Sword Intent' to sever an entire chunk of his finger.

At long last, empowered by 'Chaos Sword Intent', the Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation managed to slice a gash into his finger.

He squeezed out essence blood from the cut. Barely had he released half the needed amount when the injury sealed itself shut, no treatment required.

With no other option, he wielded the Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation laced with 'Chaos Sword Intent' once more to reopen his finger, repeating the process four times in succession to gather the full measure of essence blood.

Through this ordeal, he gained a true grasp of his physical body's unyielding strength.

Rumors had reached him that once the body achieved sufficient fortitude, injuries mended at astonishing speeds.

Yet this wound came from 'Chaos Sword Intent' itself. To ensure the 'Chaos Sword Intent' worked against his own flesh, he configured that portion to target anything without exception.

Though the cut was minor, merely a thin line, the lingering 'Chaos Sword Intent' actively hindered its closure.

As he hadn't actively dispelled the 'Chaos Sword Intent', the wound only cleared of it and mended through the sheer regenerative might of his formidable physique.

Such restorative power, amplified by the 'Innate Yi Wood' divine skill's effects, meant that barring instant death, he could endure and heal from wounds indefinitely.

Though he lacked a boon like the 'Innate Jianmu Tree Heart' that his clone Li Yuanba possessed, his cultivation had ascended to the Great Cultivator Realm, rendering his 'Innate Yi Wood' divine skill's potency only slightly below Li Yuanba's own.

Li Shiming sealed the prepared Corpse Refining Talisman Ink away in the machine room space; his mind swept over the Great Cultivator's form as a whole, with IBMz15 constructing a detailed model and dissecting every metric of the Great Cultivator's remains.

By the Cultivation World's standards, the Great Cultivator's corpse equated to Fourth-Grade Upper Stage materials at best; the five elite Great Cultivator corpses he chose topped out there as well, never surpassing that threshold.

IBMz15's data breakdown even suggested a method that caught him off guard.

Typically, corpse refinement entailed etching Refining Corpse Runes onto the exterior skin, but IBMz15's scan revealed the bones as the sturdiest vessels for bearing Refining Corpse Runes.

Without hesitation, Li Shiming launched into his initial trial.

Inside the machine room space, his awareness pierced all barriers, delving into the Great Cultivator's innards. His checks confirmed that a Great Cultivator's skeletal structure teetered just shy of Fourth-Grade Top Quality.

This made perfect sense, given how countless Devil Cultivators repurposed cultivator remains into magical treasures.

Furthermore, a refined corpse's resilience directly mirrored the original cultivator's bodily toughness. Lacking that baseline quality, piling on extra materials during refinement couldn't forge unbreakable defenses.

Following IBMz15's blueprint, Li Shiming set to work inscribing Refining Corpse Runes across the Great Cultivator's dermal layer.

Operating at 0.1 nanometer accuracy, he etched one billion Refining Corpse Runes onto the Great Cultivator's skin while sustaining the corpse's energetic equilibrium.

Yet that was merely the beginning; he thrust the 'Traceless Illusion Sword' into the Great Cultivator's frame to form a pathway, then channeled the Corpse Refining Talisman Ink to the bones via his Divine Sense, commencing rune inscription there.

This round demanded peak finesse, pushing his machine room space control to 0.05 nanometers. He sensed that despite his spirit's vast growth, finer precision yielded ever-diminishing returns.

Over the ensuing hours, he mobilized one hundred and eighty brains; sparing just a handful, the rest dove into the rune etching frenzy.

Every one of the Great Cultivator's 206 bones received its share of Refining Corpse Runes.

The job appeared basic on the surface, but its true complexity was staggering. In the Cultivation World, even rune masters at micron-scale precision couldn't replicate such feats.

Beyond the grueling precision work, upholding energy equilibrium posed the real nightmare.

The Great Cultivator's form functioned as a unified whole; throughout the Refining Corpse Rune inscription, the runes' energy harmony within the body demanded constant vigilance.

A single lapse in balance during refinement could trigger the Great Cultivator's body to detonate outright.

This principle extended to Artifact Refining and Alchemy alike; energy stability formed the bedrock of every triumph.

Imagine the computational torrent needed to carve hundreds of millions of Refining Corpse Runes onto the Great Cultivator's body while locking in perfect energy symmetry across them—without IBMz15's aid, no mortal mind could handle it.

In total, the Great Cultivator's body now hosted four billion Refining Corpse Runes, three billion of which adorned the bones.

Four billion Refining Corpse Runes pushed the body to its absolute brink; exceeding that offered no gain and risked shattering the structure entirely.

He replicated the entire procedure on the remaining four Great Cultivator bodies.

Next, he retrieved five Heavenly Person Cave Heaven Golden Corpse Cores and embedded them within the five Great Cultivators' torsos.

Ever since seizing dominion over the Heavenly Person Cave Heaven, extracting Golden Corpse Cores from its resident Golden Corpses had become effortless at any moment. After all, those Golden Corpses regenerated endlessly, so depleting their ranks held no concern.

With every preparation finalized, Li Shiming arrayed the five Great Cultivator bodies within the Corpse Refining Array.

He drew in a steadying breath to quell his mounting anxiety; the outcome hinged on what followed. A flop here would sideline his corpse refining pursuits for the next hundred years.

Out came heaps of Spirit Stones alongside three Vein-locking Plates, each harboring a Great Cultivator-grade spirit vein to fuel the Corpse Refining Array's demands.

Bound by Dongqi Continent's constraints, conducting corpse refinement inside a Grotto Heaven lay out of reach. The Heaven and Earth Rules within a Grotto Heaven diverged subtly, potentially compromising the refined corpse's integrity or spawning critical flaws.

On top of that, a Grotto Heaven-refined late-stage Golden Corpse, if successful, would still face Heavenly Tribulation upon emergence. Any imperfections would cripple its resistance to Heavenly Thunder even further.

The 'Prohibited Book of Xuan Yin Yaksha' highlighted this exact peril; time-honored research warned against corpse refinement in Grotto Heavens.