Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 1500: Chapter 796: Interest (Part 2)

Although the Water Escape technique significantly reduced the damage from the Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation, Cultivator Lu still felt his body and Nascent Soul enduring the erosion of the ’Chaos Sword Intent’.

More terrifyingly, Li Shiming’s figure flickered, and he was once again in close combat range, rendering the defensive spells and magical treasures ineffective.

This ability to penetrate defensive spells and treasures came from the space movement effect of the Divine Foot Skill combined with the secret techniques of close combat sword cultivators.

In fact, even without the Divine Foot Skill, a close combat sword cultivator could achieve proximity by breaking through the enemy’s defense with rapid assaults and unique secret techniques.

This close combat secret technique noted in the ’Nameless Sword Manual’ is central for sword cultivators, allowing them to engage easily in close-quarters combat.

It’s known that most cultivators enhance themselves with defensive spells during battles, usually requiring one to break through these defenses to attack the cultivator’s body directly.

However, close combat sword cultivators can pierce through a cultivator’s defenses using their secret techniques to attack the unprotected body directly.

"Is this a close combat sword cultivator?" Cultivator Lu no longer entertained thoughts of escape, instead focusing on battling the ’Chaos Sword Intent’ within him, delaying the inevitable. Until his last moment, he wished to understand Li Shiming’s methods.

"Yes, it’s precisely the sword cultivation books inscribed in the jade scroll you gave to Li Yuanba!" Li Shiming, with a steady voice, held aloft the Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation.

Not allowing Cultivator Lu further opportunity to speak, the Fourth-Grade Sword Foundation pierced his body, allowing more ’Chaos Sword Intent’ to invade and instantly extinguish his life force.

Regret and remorse were evident in Cultivator Lu’s eyes in his final moments.

Yet, what he did not know was that these techniques of the close combat sword cultivator were the weakest forms of combat Li Shiming had mastered.

Had he not wished to test his various combat abilities, Li Shiming could have easily killed Cultivator Lu with just one casual strike.

The consecutive deaths of two great cultivators left the long-distance caravan of the Central State Commerce, which had activated its defensive array, at a loss.

Given the current situation, even if Li Shiming spared them, with their remaining strength, they could not safely return to the Central State Continent across the seas.

Such a sizeable long-distance caravan would be an obvious target, and without the escort of great cultivators, any cultivator they encountered would surely attack for profit.

However, the Central State Commerce caravan overthought their situation; Li Shiming had no intention of allowing them to leave alive.

Having revealed too many secrets, Li Shiming wouldn’t let any cultivator survive to spread these insights.

Moreover, he had old scores to settle with Central State Commerce; this caravan would be taken as interest in advance.

With a flash, he used the ’One-Step Arrival’ technique to enter within the caravan’s defensive array.

With just a glance, he thoroughly analyzed the caravan’s defensive array. Though the array forbade space-based entry, once he identified its flaws, he could easily infiltrate through them.

Upon entering the caravan’s defensive array’s interior, he unleashed his own great cultivator aura.

Previously, he had been suppressed by the realm pressure of higher-level cultivators, but now, he finally had the chance to exert his realm pressure upon his enemies.

This was a capability he wished to test. First, he released the pressure of a Nascent Soul stage, eliminating all cultivators below the Nascent Soul Stage within the caravan.

Next, he released the pressure equivalent to five Nascent Souls, akin to five great cultivators practicing the ’Heavenly Human Technique’ releasing combined realm pressure. Any Nascent Soul cultivator within this range faced five layers of intense pressure.

Within two breaths, all early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators were killed, spurting blood; within ten breaths, mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators began to fall one by one. Throughout, no Nascent Soul cultivator managed any resistance.

This illustrated the actual gap between a great cultivator and a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. In the cultivation world, there are few like Li Shiming and Li Yuanba who can battle across realms even at the mid-stage Nascent Soul level.

Even for Li Yuanba, facing the pressure of a great cultivator required cautious measures. If not for the ability of the ’Chaos Sword Intent’ to counter realm pressure, Li Yuanba wouldn’t have been able to engage great cultivators repeatedly.

As for Li Shiming, with 191 mental faculties, he could dissipate the realm pressure of a great cultivator across them.

As he no longer sensed any living presence, Li Shiming withdrew the realm pressure.

His Divine Sense swept through the five long-distance flying boats, disposing of the cultivators’ corpses before retracting the ’White Emperor Light Cloud Boat’ to enter the lead flying boat.

This particular long-distance flying boat couldn’t fit into the soul crystal ring.

Upon examining the five long-distance flying boats, he found them installed with spatial formations, with immensely large internal spaces. The storage size of each flying boat was nearly equivalent to that of the soul crystal ring.

The internal holds of the five boats were filled with an abundance of resources, indicative of the valuable cargo that two great cultivators had escorted.

The Central State Continent, the center of the cultivation world, demands vast resources from all over, which are shipped back there due to its immense resource needs.

Inside the hold of the flying boat, he discovered not only cultivation resources for different levels but also materials for crafting spells. Most space, however, was occupied by entire logs of spirit trees and massive blocks of spiritual jade and spirit rocks.

Spirit trees and spiritual jade and rocks are construction materials necessary for building ships and cultivator structures alike.

The sheer quantity here could be counted as being in abundance; although the value of each individual good wasn’t vast, the combined value was something even Li Shiming was unwilling to forgo.

Shaking his head, he spread his Divine Sense, allocating forty mental faculties to manage forty divine senses, directing the long-distance commercial fleet to change course towards the Dongqi Continent.

He had already decided to deal with this shipment upon reaching the Dongqi Continent.

The speed of these long-distance flying boats couldn’t compare to the Fourth-Grade Top Quality ’White Emperor Light Cloud Boat’. Although driven by his own spiritual power, the increase in speed was modest.

What originally required a journey of over twenty days now doubled, taking over forty days to reach the Dongqi Continent.

And that’s with him being a powerful great cultivator; a weaker one might need at least two months for the same voyage.

After contemplation, he released Great Cultivator Luo Pei. Though his strength was poor, he was nonetheless a great cultivator.

The presence of two great cultivators in the commercial fleet would significantly reduce their troubles.

Great Cultivator Luo Pei was adeptly controlled by the Heavenly Ghost. When Li Shiming summoned him, he noticed the Heavenly Ghost’s aura was somewhat unstable.

This instability suggested that due to Li Shiming’s breakthrough, the Heavenly Ghost’s realm limitations faded, offering it the chance to push into the Late Stage Fourth Grade.

However, Li Shiming didn’t wish for the Heavenly Ghost to advance at this time; its advancement needed a more suitable environment.

Not only the Heavenly Ghost, but both Little Feng and the Illusion Spirit Dragon also needed opportunities to advance, alongside the previously prepared Corpse Refining, all critical to enhancing his strength.

Under the Heavenly Ghost’s mastery, controlling Great Cultivator Luo Pei became effortless. Furthermore, Li Shiming’s ascension to Great Cultivator freed the Heavenly Ghost of its limitations and even made suppressing Luo Pei’s cultivation unnecessary.

Previously, to prevent backlash due to Luo Pei’s high cultivation level, his cultivation had been suppressed in consideration of Li Shiming’s then-mid-stage Nascent Soul level.

Hence, Luo Pei’s capabilities had remained at their lowest; without the Spiritual Treasure Black Water Sword, he would have been the weakest in the Great Cultivator Realm.

Even after decades, under the Heavenly Ghost’s deliberate suppression, Luo Pei’s cultivation hadn’t improved one bit.