Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1542 - 817: The Great Battle (Part 2)

In the skies overhead, a duo of formidable Great Thunder Cultivators hurled relentless lightning strikes toward one another, all while relying on Thunder Escape to swiftly evade. Their bodies had long since blurred into nothingness, reduced to mere twin bolts of lightning that danced wildly without pause, as endless streaks of thunder rent the heavens.

"Come on!" Li Shiming roared with booming laughter, a wave of sheer exhilaration surging through his entire frame.

The thrill of unleashing his Thunder Skill to its utmost limits filled him with ecstasy; foes from before had proven far too feeble. Not even the formidable Great Cultivator Ren Mu of Central State Commerce had delivered such a thrilling clash.

Great Cultivator Ren Mu approached everything with cold logic, and since the grudge against Central State Commerce hadn't escalated to a fight to the death, he chose to yield once he sensed Li Shiming's superior might.

Master Wang He stood apart; capturing Li Shiming was imperative, commanded by a mighty force.

Thus, he threw himself into the fray with everything he had, holding nothing in reserve.

These two masters of Thunder handled their Thunder Skills with effortless flair; one had honed his prowess as a Great Thunder Cultivator for close to a millennium, pushing Thunder Skill toward the pinnacle attainable by any Nascent Soul Cultivator.

The other, Li Shiming, drew strength from his life-bound artifact IBMz15, which offered unmatched analysis and decision-making on the battlefield throughout the entire Cultivation World.

As the duel with Master Wang He unfolded, the data IBMz15 collected from applying Thunder Skills mounted up, drawing Li Shiming's Thunder Cultivation battle methods ever nearer to those wielded by his rival.

Master Wang He started with the advantage, yet he gradually sensed mounting strain from Li Shiming's ripostes, finding it impossible to dominate him within just a hundred breaths.

Shock gripped him as he beheld a Great Thunder Cultivator evolve from awkward handling of Thunder Skills to masterful command—a shift that would demand decades or centuries from typical Thunder Cultivators—accomplished by Li Shiming in mere hundreds of breaths.

Master Wang He realized that overpowering Li Shiming grew ever more improbable, particularly because Li Shiming's lightning carried no trace of the 'Shenxiao Thunder Pearl's aura.

In other words, from the battle's outset, Li Shiming had fought using only his own Thunder Spirit Power, without drawing on the 'Shenxiao Thunder Pearl'.

Should Li Shiming's Thunder Cultivation combat prowess rise to match his own, bolstered by the 'Shenxiao Thunder Pearl', Master Wang He knew he couldn't prevail.

"Mr. Li, why not reveal your true power?" Master Wang He asked in a solemn tone.

Though the Yuqing Sect had reports of a Thunder Cultivator detecting the 'Shenxiao Thunder Pearl's aura on Li Shiming, Master Wang He hadn't sensed it himself, leaving him uncertain if the pearl accompanied Li Shiming.

This detail mattered immensely; without the 'Shenxiao Thunder Pearl' on Li Shiming, killing him was off-limits, as his survival was needed to uncover the pearl's location.

Moreover, he aimed to compel Li Shiming to expose the technique hiding the 'Shenxiao Thunder Pearl'.

Not even the Yuqing Sect's supreme powers could detect the 'Shenxiao Thunder Pearl's presence, much less retrieve it outright.

What trick could evade the senses of such titans, especially with the mark they had imprinted on the 'Shenxiao Thunder Pearl'?

"Mr. Wang, if you want me to go all out, you'll have to step up your game!" Li Shiming shot back with a grin.

A profound sense of satisfaction washed over him; at last, he'd met a foe worth his mettle, absorbing countless lessons from Master Wang He.

These fighting insights defied simple words; they embodied the almost thousand-year depth of Master Wang He's grasp on Thunder Skill, a profound philosophy of battle beyond easy capture.

Before, Li Shiming's Thunder Skill deployment had been blunt and basic: one lightning strike failing meant unleashing ten, ten not sufficing called for twenty or thirty, until a barrage of simultaneous bolts crushed the opponent.

Such a brute-force style stemmed from his brief time as a Thunder Cultivator. Though IBMz15 provided solid analysis and forecasts of combat scenarios, lacking rich examples from elite Thunder Cultivator fights meant its projections missed vital backing data.

Through this clash with Master Wang He, IBMz15 now absorbed the ways top Thunder Cultivators waged war, refining its strategies for battles ahead to mirror the elite tactics of Great Cultivators.

The skirmish pressed on, and Li Shiming had synced with Master Wang He's battle tempo, their exchanges now dead even.

The Thunder Spirit Power, transformed via Li Shiming's 'Heavenly Human Technique', rivaled the peak Great Cultivator Spiritual Power Master Wang He forged through the 'Yuqing Thunder Scripture', rendering the contest perfectly poised in any Great Cultivator's eyes.

Yet Li Shiming puzzled over why Master Wang He, for all his Thunder Skill mastery, refrained from infusing strikes with the full might of Thunder Rules.

A Peak Great Cultivator's real might sprang not from sheer spiritual power volume, but from deep rule comprehension, at least in their core cultivation path.

Though Peak Great Cultivators held limited Rule Power reserves, unleashing attacks saturated with it was rare—only a handful per fight—but devastating enough to tip scales against peers.

Still, Master Wang He displayed no will to tap that force, seeming instead to drag out the engagement.

"Is he biding time for Yan Gao Great Cultivator to finish his fight?" Li Shiming mused inwardly.

No need arose for him to watch Yan Gao Great Cultivator's duel with the five late-stage Golden Corpses; IBMz15 fed him constant updates straight to his mind.

He understood that Yan Gao Great Cultivator's bout against the five late-stage Golden Corpses might drag on for a full day without resolution.

As he dodged Master Wang He's lightning once more with Thunder Escape and fired back his own, Master Wang He, after his own Thunder Escape, didn't reappear in their skirmish zone but materialized amid the other fray.

Master Wang He had clearly prepared a ploy, and the instant he showed up there, he triggered a 'Thunder Flash Show'.

Dozens of lightning arcs erupted from the 'Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer', lancing straight at the five late-stage Golden Corpses.

Hampered by the gravitational pull and the 'Invisible Primordial Magnetism' divine power field, the five late-stage Golden Corpses couldn't leverage their swiftness, leaving them vulnerable to the sudden assault.

All five late-stage Golden Corpses took direct hits from the barrage of lightning in the 'Thunder Flash Show'.

The lightning shredded the garments of the five late-stage Golden Corpses, baring their actual forms as late-stage Golden Corpses, with features and builds mimicking ordinary cultivators.

"What a freakish abomination!" Yan Gao Great Cultivator and Master Wang He had long synced their teamwork flawlessly; bolstered by Master Wang He's aid, he unleashed 'Meteorite Descent' in full, summoning meteors that plunged from above, morphing into massive blazing orbs on the way down.

The 'Thunder Flash Show' inflicted scant real harm on the late-stage Golden Corpses, its chief impact being the lightning's numbing jolt, which froze the five late-stage Golden Corpses for a fleeting instant.

This opened the way for the flaming meteors of 'Meteorite Descent' to slam true, the enormous fireballs smashing into the late-stage Golden Corpses.

Blasted from the air, the late-stage Golden Corpses plummeted, slamming hard into the earth far below.

Spotting Master Wang He abandon their duel, Li Shiming pursued without delay.

But as he closed in on a particular spot, every hair on his body bristled, and overwhelming terror flooded his senses.

"Danger—utter peril!" his thoughts screamed in frenzy.

Were this a realm free of spatial limits, he'd have invoked the Divine Foot Skill to flee already, yet here, such an escape proved impossible.

As he hurtled into the empty expanse of the adjacent battlefield, a lone finger materialized, jabbing downward at him.