Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 180: Chapter 136: Invitation_2

Having achieved some competence in Body Refinement, he immediately determined that all four maidservants had practiced Body Refining Techniques.

Four maidservants with spirit root seeds, instead of cultivating Spiritual Power Patterns, chose to practice the even more difficult Body Refining Techniques, which was to neglect the essentials for the less important.

Even if the maidservants had poor spirit root seeds, once they cultivated Spiritual Power Patterns and formed a Spiritual Energy Vortex, their lifespans could be significantly extended.

By not cultivating the primary Spiritual Power Patterns and forcibly practicing Body Refining Techniques, the consequence was a shorter lifespan, and without the enhancement of spiritual energy, practicing Body Refining Techniques meant overdrawing their lives as the price.

Li Shiming could even surmise that the Body Refining Techniques practiced by the maidservants were of poor quality, which was related to his discerning eye.

He himself had cultivated the ‘Vajra Body Protection Divine Skill’ as well as the ‘Sword Demon Secret Manual’, both top-tier Body Refining Techniques.

“Junior Li jests, I’ve prepared good tea, not a bit inferior to the Spiritual Tea you served me before!” Yun Ze said with an unchanged expression as he pointed at the stone table beside them.

On the stone table, there was a jade pot and two Jade Cups, from which the fragrance of Spiritual Tea wafted.

Li Shiming’s Spiritual Thought swept over the yard, and apart from the four maidservants, he did not sense anything unusual.

Li Shiming sat down on the stone bench opposite Yun Ze, curious to see what Yun Ze was up to.

Such a private conversation should not involve four unrelated maidservants if there were any matters at hand.

One maidservant came over and poured him a cup of Spiritual Tea.

“Pure Spirit Suppressing Powder indeed, had the quality of this Spirit Tea been any higher, it would truly be undetectable!” Li Shiming hadn’t even touched the Jade Cup when he noticed the issue with the tea, speaking indifferently.

With all five senses and Spiritual Thought fully extended, IBMz15 was analyzing the situation at all times, and he detected the presence of Spirit Suppressing Powder immediately.

Spirit Suppressing Powder, a kind of drug that can suppress the spiritual energy in a cultivator’s body, is usually used to detain offending cultivators.

“Junior Li has sharp eyes, why must you be an enemy to Yun’s Trading House? Otherwise, we truly could have been friends!” Yun Ze didn’t get angry at the discovery of the poisoning, instead speaking with an air of helplessness.

Seeing Yun Ze’s demeanor, Li Shiming couldn’t help but grow solemn. Given the current situation, Yun Ze must have been absolutely confident that he could capture him, otherwise, just the act of poisoning a fellow sect member was enough to land Yun Ze in the sect’s prison.

“Yun’s Trading House is really something, charging me eight thousand spirit stones for goods worth five thousand, and refusing orders that earn fewer spirit stones. I am indeed curious, what kind of power has given Yun’s such benefits to behave this way?” Li Shiming was genuinely curious, trying to coax more words out of Yun Ze.

“I know what you’re thinking by asking this question, and since you’re about to die, I’ll tell you the truth. Holy Ice Sect wants your head, and the price they offered was too high for the trading house to refuse. Initially, if you hadn’t actively severed ties with the trading house, we could have postponed this matter a little longer!” Yun Ze shook his head, speaking regretfully.

In his eyes, Li Shiming was already a dead man, and since Li Shiming had had dealings with him before, allowing Li Shiming to die with understanding was also a way to conclude their past association.

“Holy Ice Sect!” Li Shiming understood; he thought that with Elder Baili in seclusion, Holy Ice Sect would no longer be a threat.

It seemed that Elder Baili had no intention of letting him go even when in seclusion, and Holy Ice Sect had already begun to act while he was none the wiser.

He considered whether he should find a proxy within Holy Ice Sect to expand the ‘Thousand-Mile Mutual View Second Generation’ there, so that he could monitor Holy Ice Sect himself.

“Now that everything’s been said, I’ll see Junior Li off!” Yun Ze poured the Spiritual Tea from his Jade Cup onto the ground as he said this with a cold voice.

At the same time, Li Shiming felt a formation pulse coming from beneath the stone table, followed by a strange fluctuation spreading outward from under the table.

He was about to use his spiritual energy, but found it completely unresponsive.

Even his storage bag could not be opened, and within the range of that strange fluctuation, the spiritual energy in the void seemed to have vanished.

Yun Ze had anticipated this, and he hadn’t moved at all. Though he also lost his spiritual energy and had the cultivation of the late-stage Qi Refining, he was completely without any combat power.

Seeing Li Shiming’s face filled with confusion and panic, Yun Ze’s smile couldn’t help but reveal a sense of lofty control over life and death.

The four maidservants simultaneously drew short swords from their waists, all of which were top-grade magic tools. Since they did not need to infuse spiritual energy, the short swords had no enhancements, just High Grade Sword Material.

However, a top-grade magic tool sword material is most suitable in this forbidden spirit environment; in contrast, magic artifacts that have been imbued with spells would be affected by the spirit suppression.

The four seemingly frail maids, when holding the short swords, had blood surging through their bodies like mighty rivers, signifying that their body refinement had reached an initial level of success.

“Kill!” the four maids shouted in unison with a sweet voice. Their dance-like movements, however, contained a fierce intent to kill.

The four short swords transformed into four swimming dragons, sealing off all routes of escape for Li Shiming.

This was a mortal close-combat swordsmanship rarely touched upon in the cultivation world, mainly because opportunities to use it were too few.

The smile on Yun Ze’s face grew ever wider; this problem was finally about to be resolved.

One should never underestimate the layout here; it was Yun’s Trading House’s strongest method of dealing with cultivators. The four maids, in conjunction with a special formation, had even dealt with peak Qi Refining cultivators before.

The four maids had been trained since childhood to be assassins, cultivating both body refinement techniques and swordsmanship.

In an environment where spiritual power was restrained, they were more effective than Qi Refining cultivators.

As Yun Ze had expected, the four short swords struck Li Shiming at critical points on his body.

Pity that what Yun Ze did not expect was that the four short swords could not penetrate even a hair’s breadth further upon touching his skin.

If they had struck his heart or lower back, maybe it could be assumed that Li Shiming had a piece of defensive armor inside.

But the sword that struck Li Shiming’s forehead made it abundantly clear how terrifying his body was.

‘Vajra Body Protection Divine Skill,’ enhanced by the blessing of the Buddhist relic gifted by Old Monk Du Yuan and cultivated with the strength of a high monk, allowed his ‘Vajra Body Protection Divine Skill’ to reach the pinnacle of his current realm.

‘Sword Demon Secret Manual,’ with Third Grade Metal as the sword base. Such a costly strengthening process was only possible with the full support of a Golden Core Elder; otherwise, one would never have the chance to practice it.

And for a Golden Core Elder to part with Third Grade Metal, even for a direct disciple, such a significant sacrifice would be unheard of.

Third Grade Metal was the material used by Golden Core Elders to forge their magic artifacts, which were the foundation of their strength.

Simultaneously cultivating two top-tier body refinement techniques was something even Baili Jin Yan had not achieved.

Li Shiming slowly stood up, his icy gaze turned towards Yun Ze; then he revealed a chilling smile, like a bloodthirsty beast awakening.

The four maids swiftly changed their moves, their short swords stabbing at him once again. Trained as death soldiers, these assassins would not give up after just one failure.

Either the target would die, or they would.

Merely in terms of physique, Li Shiming was far stronger than them, and close combat was purely about skill, ‘Sword Demon Secret Manual’ containing countless techniques surpassing those of the mundane world.

Since he was still a beginner in the ‘Sword Demon Secret Manual,’ he couldn’t summon the Third Grade Sword Base for battle, but his hands surpassed the power of an ordinary Mid Grade Magical Artifact.

Unlike the high-grade sword material in the hands of the maids, his hand’s power was standard against an ordinary Mid Grade Magical Artifact, surpassing the sharpness of an un-imbued high-grade sword material.

His figure was like a specter, his fingers-turned-swords slashing past the necks of the four maids, who fell with a lost gaze in their eyes.

“So your body refinement techniques have reached such a level!” Yun Ze said in horror, looking at Li Shiming.

You see, unlike cultivators who need to practice other techniques, these maids focused solely on body refinement techniques and swordsmanship. In theory, without spiritual power, cultivators couldn’t withstand their assault.

But what was unfolding before Yun Ze was a testament to the formidable nature of Li Shiming’s body refinement techniques.

The four maids had been practicing body refinement techniques far longer than Li Shiming—who could have imagined such a disparity that they stood no chance against him?