Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 122: Chapter 107: Inventory Check_2

At the very least, Baili Jin Yan had never considered the possibility of being killed by a cultivator on this continent, confident in the treasures he possessed and the strength of his powerful father.

It was with such a mindset that the Jade Scroll Baili Jin Yan brought with him was left unencrypted.

Li Shiming read through the “Ice Heart Jade Thought Technique.” This was a cultivation technique for refining spiritual thought.

Spiritual thought is not an ability that a Qi Refining cultivator should possess; typically, a cultivator would need to wait until after succeeding in Foundation Establishment, their soul being sublimated by the Foundation Establishment, to possess spiritual thought.

The strength of a Foundation Establishment cultivator lies in their possession of spiritual thought, which plays an extremely important role in detection, attack, and defense against spirit assaults.

In the Qi Refinement Realm, the rudimentary form of spiritual thought manifests as the Object Driving Skill, and after refining this skill, a Qi Refining cultivator can create a hand made of spiritual power.

This hand of spiritual power possesses part of a Qi Refining cultivator’s perception abilities, and through it, one can feel heat, cold, the magnitude of force, and so forth.

Spiritual thought, by contrast, is countless times more perceptive than the hand of spiritual power. Once one refines spiritual thought, within its coverage area, one can sense everything around, with no details missed.

When needed to reach further, spiritual thought can be focused into a beam, exploring distances beyond its coverage area.

The “Ice Heart Jade Thought Technique” is precisely such a cultivation technique that should not be possessed by a Qi Refining cultivator, yet it is specifically designed for genius cultivators with top-level talents.

Cultivators with a Heavenly Spirit Root need only to continuously hone their spiritual power, compressing the spiritual power within their bodies to strive for a stronger foundation.

The so-called Foundation Establishment is about constructing the basis for cultivation. The better the foundation, the longer one’s potential for development in the future.

Those with a Heavenly Spirit Root usually don’t focus on the Foundation Establishment Stage but look towards a more distant direction.

Their cultivation speed is too fast, too swift to satisfy their need to refine themselves.

This necessitates that they practice Body Refining Techniques to strengthen their bodies and enhance their foundation to house more spiritual power.

They also need to find various ways to pass time, hone their temperaments, and prepare for the future.

Like Baili Jin Yan, his father knew about his son’s character flaws, but it was just his nature, which also made him competitive, ambitious, and unwilling to lag behind others—traits that naturally come with advantages and disadvantages.

To compensate for the temperament issues caused by his personality, his father had gone to great lengths to procure the “Ice Heart Jade Thought Technique,” a spiritual thought technique that could be cultivated during the Qi Refining phase.

Having cultivated the “Ice Heart Jade Thought Technique” and obtained spiritual thought, Baili Jin Yan would possess a stronger spiritual thought than other Foundation Establishment cultivators when he reached that stage, creating a gap that would lead to him being steps ahead.

Li Shiming set down the purple Jade Scroll of “Ice Heart Jade Thought Technique,” knowing he could learn this spiritual thought technique through the IBMz15 in the future.

He picked up another purple Jade Scroll and placed it against his avatar’s forehead, a vast amount of information likewise flooding into his avatar’s brain and then being transferred into the IBMz15.

“Sword Demon Secret Manual!” he softly uttered the name of this cultivation technique.

The previous “Ice Heart Jade Thought Technique” was a spiritual thought technique for the Qi Refinement phase, so naturally, there were no subsequent techniques.

The “Sword Demon Secret Manual,” however, was a complete work, offering techniques spanning all stages from Qi Refinement to Golden Core Stage.

From the “Sword Demon Secret Manual,” Li Shiming also learned that the strength of an elder was at the Golden Core Stage, and that stepping into Heavenly Platform Cloud would lead to the forging of a Golden Core that transcended ordinary flesh.

Through the “Sword Demon Secret Manual,” he understood why Baili Jin Yan practiced body refinement—it was indeed due to this “Sword Demon Secret Manual.”

The “Sword Demon Secret Manual” is an anomaly among sword cultivators, differing from the “Sword Control Technique” in its path.

The “Sword Control Technique” relies on using spiritual power to propel flying swords, a legendary path of sword immortals in the Cultivation World, and it is what most sword cultivators practice.

The “Sword Control Technique” primarily requires a cultivator to possess strong spiritual power, which drives flying swords and enhances their might.

Of course, the skill aspect of “Sword Control Technique” is just as vital, making it a powerful offensive strategy that relies equally on skill and spiritual power.

The “Sword Demon Secret Manual” is a martial art that refines the body through the sword, with the body in turn directing the sword’s attacks.

The purpose of cultivating the “Sword Demon Secret Manual” is to transform the body, endowing it with incredible strength and flexibility, enabling a better execution of the longsword’s power held in hand.

Indeed, the greatest difference between the “Sword Demon Secret Manual” and the “Sword Manipulation Technique” is that the sword never leaves the hand; one cultivates with the sword, returns nourishment to the sword with the body, and leads with the body and sword as one.

Sword cultivators who practice the “Sword Demon Secret Manual” employ sword techniques that may seem similar to the methods of mundane masters, but there is an immeasurable difference between the two.

Such sword cultivators excel in close combat, unleashing endless sword strikes upon approaching an opponent. Since the sword is led by the body, its power surpasses even that of flying swords.

This comparison is based on the assumption of equal cultivation level and equal strength.

Holding a longsword, one can freely mobilize the spiritual power within the body, and even allow the body’s full strength to be applied to the longsword.

With flying swords, however, the power depends on the amount of spiritual power attached to them, requiring a reinjection of spiritual power to enhance the might of the flying swords.

Of course, it’s impossible to say which is superior; both close-combat sword cultivators and flying sword users have their advantages and disadvantages.

But the fact that most sword cultivators today choose flying swords indicates their greater popularity.

Li Shiming, however, didn’t care; with his “Vajra Body Protection Divine Skill”, even without practicing the “Sword Demon Secret Manual”, he could still reference and adapt some of its sword techniques.

However, after repeatedly studying the “Sword Demon Secret Manual” via the IBMz15, he revealed a peculiar expression.

He controlled his avatar to stretch out a hand as per the methods described in the “Sword Demon Secret Manual”.

Minuscule particles from various parts within the avatar’s body converged towards his palm, slowly forming a longsword—a longsword emanating a strong aura of metal property.

The quality of this longsword even surpassed that of a top-grade magic tool, and more importantly, when the avatar held the longsword, it felt as a seamless extension of the body.

This was the “Sword Demon Secret Manual” practiced by Baili Jin Yan; because Baili Jin Yan’s body had not completely perished, the “Sword Demon Secret Manual” was perfectly inherited.

The longsword was the sword basis cultivated by Baili Jin Yan through the “Sword Demon Secret Manual”, made from third-grade materials.

Third-grade materials are normally used by Golden Core Elders. Baili Jin Yan’s father had specifically procured third-grade metal materials for him, aiming to lay a solid foundation.

While cultivating the “Sword Demon Secret Manual”, the sword basis could become the strongest sword weapon in its realm at each stage, all the way to entering the Golden Core Stage and matching the realm of a Golden Core Elder’s weapon.

The sword basis of the “Sword Demon Secret Manual” is a weapon that can grow alongside the cultivator, provided, of course, that the quality of the material for the sword basis is high enough.

Otherwise, the quality of the sword basis material would become a constraint, hindering it from reaching the goal of cultivating a Golden Core stage sword weapon from the Qi Refinement Stage.

One can imagine how terrifying the compatibility between the cultivator and a sword weapon that has been one with the body since the Qi Refinement Stage would be, nurtured through the “Sword Demon Secret Manual”.

For a sword cultivator, a highly compatible sword weapon greatly strengthens combat abilities, far more so than for the average cultivator.

Li Shiming couldn’t help but marvel at how the protagonist-like Baili Jin Yan was. Had it not been for his encounter with him, Baili Jin Yan would have certainly become an elder of a sect.

“What was I considering at the Qi Refining Fourth Level?” Li Shiming asked himself after some thought.

He was currently only at the fourth level of Qi Refinement, but previously he hadn’t considered the future much, not even the Foundation Establishment, let alone the distant Golden Core Stage.

What does it mean to lose at the starting line? He thought that only applied to his previous life, but now he saw it was the same in the Cultivation World.

But now that the avatar was his, even though the sword weapon was excellent, it had already been fully refined and integrated by the avatar. This was also why, after the avatar withstood two bomb blasts at close range, multiple rebound shocks, and extreme heat, the body was still preserved intact.

Who was stronger, the body refinement effect of the “Sword Demon Secret Manual” or the “Vajra Body Protection Divine Skill”? Li Shiming did not feel qualified to judge, but he would be extremely satisfied if he could have a physique like Baili Jin Yan’s at the same stage of cultivation.