Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1555: 824: Insight

Li Shiming tucked away the formation bases, then pulled out the jade compass that still carried a master recognition imprint.

That imprint likely belonged to Master Wang He spiritually, yet slaying Master Wang He wasn't required at this moment, given the techniques Li Shiming knew to manage such an imprint.

He spun around and beckoned the Heavenly Ghost over, its colossal form drifting effortlessly beside him as it pressed a bulky finger against the jade compass.

When it came to neutralizing spiritual imprints, the Heavenly Ghost excelled above all.

The Heavenly Ghost swiftly dismantled the spiritual imprint, consuming every trace of it without any loss.

Master Wang He, gripped tightly by the late-stage Golden Corpse, shook uncontrollably, struck by the fierce backlash from the imprint's annihilation.

Li Shiming promptly performed the master recognition ritual, thereby securing full control over the jade compass.

Known as the ‘Space-locking Compass’, this item wasn't classified as a magic treasure but rather as a distinctive artifact, boasting the remarkable power to generate a zone that blocked spatial shifts.

Though the ‘Space-locking Compass’ often seemed impractical, it served as the ultimate restraint against cultivators skilled in spatial divine power.

What set it apart most was the ‘Space-locking Compass’s ability to trigger instantly whenever needed, contrasting with certain space-sealing treasures that demanded advance preparation.

Never dismiss this feature lightly; the instant activation trait rendered the ‘Space-locking Compass’ far more practical and adaptable in battles.

Li Shiming shot a look at the Heavenly Ghost, issuing a silent mental directive. The Heavenly Ghost then adjusted the grotto heaven anchor at the ‘Space-locking Compass’s core, causing the bead-shaped anchor pearl to emerge from within.

The pearl soared into Li Shiming's form, settling near the five Nascent Souls and joining the anchors from the Half-Life Cave Heaven and the Heavenly Person Cave Heaven.

Through this action, the freshly formed grotto heaven became utterly inaccessible to outsiders or any other cultivators.

His attention returned to the Heavenly Ghost, whose immense frame could no longer squeeze into Master Luo Pei’s body like earlier, not even briefly.

After a brief deliberation, Li Shiming stored the Heavenly Ghost inside the Heavenly Person Cave Heaven, offering plenty of room for it to maneuver freely.

From then on, the Heavenly Ghost's duty involved steadily compressing its spiritual energy until it shrank back to its initial dimensions.

While spiritual bodies typically controlled their own sizes at will, this rule didn't extend to the spiritual energy absorbed by force and left undigested.

Finally, the five late-stage Golden Corpses remained unretrieved by him.

Li Shiming had no plans to hide these five late-stage Golden Corpses, intending them to instill heavy dread across Dongqi Continent's factions, heightening their wariness toward the Ten Thousand Beast Sect.

With preparations complete, Li Shiming ascended skyward, trailed by the five late-stage Golden Corpses, as they sped toward the Taichu branch.

He chose not to head back to the Ten Thousand Beast Sect because he bore two peak great cultivators from super-sects, and hauling such liabilities home would spell disaster. The Taichu Cave Heaven in the Taichu branch counted as his own grotto heaven essentially, making it simpler to manage those two peak great cultivators there.

The sight of Li Shiming, five late-stage Golden Corpses, and the pair of seized peak great cultivators soaring as one proved utterly breathtaking.

Each late-stage Golden Corpse radiated the might of a great cultivator, forming a lineup of eight great cultivators in flight, surpassing the full roster of great cultivators the Ten Thousand Beast Sect openly claimed.

A powerhouse assembly like this could virtually obliterate any power across the Dongqi Continent, be it the surviving two sects or the super-sect outposts on the land.

This flight path cut across nearly the whole Dongqi Continent, and thanks to Li Shiming's deliberate show of force without any hiding, every key faction on the continent learned of their approach by the time he neared the Taichu branch.

Once at the Taichu branch, Li Shiming repositioned the eighteen hundred formation bases, encircling the Taichu Cave Heaven's entry point.

He passed along the entry and exit protocols for the formation to his master, Grandmaster Hu, as the eighteen hundred formation bases were on hand and ought not to go to waste.

This setup matched the scale of a mid-tier sect's protective array, and focused on guarding merely the narrow zone by the Taichu Cave Heaven entrance, it delivered defensive strength close to that of a major sect's barrier.

Supported by this formation, it became feasible to block any lingering Taichu Sect cultivators from sneaking into the Taichu Cave Heaven.

After all, with the grotto heaven now claimed, numerous ex-Taichu Sect cultivators were aware of the Taichu Cave Heaven entrance's position, which proved impossible to shift.

All tasks finished, Li Shiming willed a transfer in his spirit and stepped into Yang Xing's half-step great power cave heaven.

Stepping inside, his immediate sense was how incredibly delicate it felt.

His judgment held true—the cave heaven appeared perilously weak, to the point where he wondered if one burst of Sword Intent might demolish it entirely.

In reality, the cave heaven's vulnerability stemmed from his own actions.

Yang Xing's prior half-step great power cave heaven hadn't been this brittle, built mainly on Thunder Rules with Fire and Wood Rules as backups, plus a handful of lesser rules, crafting a rudimentary yet functional rule framework.

Even if that framework fell short of ideal stability, it had been enough to hold the cave heaven steady.

But Li Shiming had drained a massive quantity of Spiritual Energy from the cave heaven's depths, leading those loosely formed rules to unravel progressively as the energy waned.

All Yang Xing, as a half-step great power, managed to preserve was the core framework of the Thunder Rules, leaving the cave heaven in its present shaky state.