Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1533 - 813: Late Stage
Previously on Cultivation is just so scientific!...
Li Shiming triggered the Corpse Refining Array. Evil energy, drawn from the spiritual veins of the three vein-locking plates along with countless Spirit Stones, surged through the Corpse Refining Array before swirling ominously inside the Formation.
One after another, the array bases glowed to life, while the evil energy rushed along the bases and the intricate formation lines, ultimately flooding into the central area where the corpses of the five Great Cultivators rested.
Refining corpse runes sprang into action across the surfaces of the five Great Cultivators’ bodies, their eerie blue glow pulsing and casting a spectral blue hue over the corpses.
This activation merely touched the outer layers of the Great Cultivators’ bodies. Deeper within, runes etched into the bones ignited as well.
Every single refining corpse rune hungrily absorbed the evil energy. With each influx of that dark power, the ghostly blue radiance intensified dramatically.
As soon as the refining corpse runes fully engaged, they launched into the sacred process of transforming the Great Cultivators’ bodies.
Using the late-stage Golden Corpse blood as the binding agent, this transformation unfolded far more effortlessly than Li Shiming had ever anticipated.
Furthermore, the perfectly balanced energies within the five Great Cultivators’ bodies ensured no disruptions from imbalances during the entire transformation, making the whole ritual flow with astonishing ease.
Truth be told, countless cultivators face nagging issues with energy equilibrium when attempting corpse refining rituals.
Even those armed with ancient corpse refining legacies struggle to precisely manipulate the runes inscribed on the corpses for true energy harmony.
That said, experts from lineages deeply rooted in corpse refining manage to handle energy balance far more adeptly.
Besides, amid the ritual, the corpse and the refining materials possess a subtle innate capacity for self-adjustment, allowing success as long as imbalances stay within tolerable bounds.
Li Shiming’s track record in corpse refining had always boasted an eerily high success rate. It was only after acquiring the ’Prohibited Book of Xuan Yin Yaksha’ that he uncovered the secret behind his exceptional prowess.
Likely owing to his mastery in Alchemy and Artifact Refining, he developed a natural knack for energy equilibrium, which guided him to craft refining corpse runes with balance as the cornerstone of every design.
Transformations swept over the five Great Cultivators’ bodies. Driven by the power of four million refining corpse runes, the forms swelled massively, soon towering beyond four meters tall, while their flesh shifted to a gleaming golden shade.
This marked the birth of the Golden Corpse physique, and deep inside that emerging Golden Corpse body, the Refining Corpse Spirit took shape.
The moment the Refining Corpse Spirit coalesced, it drew in vast quantities of evil energy to fuse with it, birthing the Golden Corpse Core at its heart.
During the Golden Corpse Core’s creation, the Heavenly Person Cave Heaven Golden Corpse Core, positioned atop the Great Cultivator’s body, got fully integrated into the new core.
Given the superior tier of the forming Golden Corpse Core, the influx from the Heavenly Person Cave Heaven Golden Corpse Core caused minimal disturbance, merely imprinting the Speed Rule onto the fledgling core.
On the outside, the Golden Corpse body’s growth halted, then reversed into shrinkage. As it compacted, the golden exterior deepened in tone, evolving toward a somber dark gold.
Just as Li Shiming assumed the completed Golden Corpse would settle at dark gold, an unforeseen twist occurred: upon compressing back to standard proportions, the skin reverted to a lifelike, ordinary flesh tone.
"Boom boom!" Right before his eyes, the hearts within the five Golden Corpses thrummed in perfect sync, pumping blood through their vessels to every corner of their forms.
Observing the vital blood flow coursing through the five Golden Corpses, a wave of relief washed over him.
He fixed his gaze on the five Golden Corpses, uncertain whether these were truly late-stage Golden Corpses. From his knowledge, late-stage Golden Corpses gleamed entirely in dark gold, yet these five looked eerily like everyday humans.
While he mulled this over, the whole Corpse Refining Array started disintegrating from the bases onward, drained of its vital special energies.
A chorus of sharp cracks echoed as the grand Corpse Refining Array—crafted from heaps of fourth-grade high-stage and pinnacle corpse refining materials—exhausted its power and shattered into fragments.
Time was running critically short for Li Shiming. He swiftly retrieved the ’Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer.’
Thanks to the protective barrier of the external formation, the spirit treasure essence of the ’Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer’ remained intact, allowing him to merge it with the ’Shenxiao Thunder Pearl’ from the machine room space and cast the lightning resistance boosting secret technique upon the five Golden Corpses.
If the odds of failure in the prior Corpse Refining Array phase loomed large, then facing the Heavenly Tribulation spelled doom for ninety-nine percent of all Golden Corpses.
Beyond their weakness in distant battles, Golden Corpses dominate in brutal close-quarters fights and unyielding defense, even acting as unbreakable shields against peers of equal power.
Yet Golden Corpses harbor a fatal weakness—the very factor that renders them scarce and deters most cultivators from pursuing their creation: they possess pitiful resistance against Heavenly Thunder.
As embodiments of dark, forbidden life, Golden Corpses clash directly with Heavenly Thunder, the divine scourge wielded by the heavens to eradicate all that is profane.
Li Shiming ventured into refining a Golden Corpse thanks to his cultivation of the ’Yuqing Thunder Scripture,’ bolstered by ownership of the ’Shenxiao Thunder Pearl’ and the spirit treasure ’Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer,’ enabling the application of that vital lightning resistance secret technique.
Frankly speaking, deploying the ’Shenxiao Thunder Pearl’ to fortify a Golden Corpse’s lightning defense would have been unthinkable for any lone cultivator back in the Yuqing Sect’s heyday.
The ’Shenxiao Thunder Pearl’ commanded immense might, and with the Yuqing Sect as a premier powerhouse in Thunder arts, they scorned outsider practices like corpse refining. No borrower of the ’Shenxiao Thunder Pearl’ would ever risk sullying it on such taboo pursuits.
Having applied the secret technique, Li Shiming extended his Divine Sense across the nearby formations, gathering up all one hundred and eight Buddha Beads alongside the Fourth Grade Array Flags.