Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 464: Chapter 278: Growth_2

Li Shiming, when refining second-grade Spirit Pills, not only charged a third of the compensation but also used the “Hundred One-point Pill Technique” to obtain twice the number of Spirit Pills, resulting in his yield from each refinement being more than double that of the Cultivator who provided the Spiritual Medicine.

It was precisely because of these conditions that the Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake, which was fond of consuming Spirit Pills, grew rapidly.

As for Li Shiming’s own defensive capabilities, it could be said that relying solely on the Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake, he could become invincible among the Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Due to the unique qualities of the Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake, even Divine Thought could not detect it, and the snake’s attacks could use intense poison to directly penetrate a Cultivator’s defenses, making it impossible for any Foundation Establishment Cultivator to withstand the venom.

It is estimated that if there were any Foundation Establishment Cultivator who became his enemy, they would die a perplexing death without him needing to lift a finger.

Of course, given Li Shiming’s current status, there was no need to worry about his combat power.

The faction of Elder Ji, which used to oppose him within the sect, was now continuously showing goodwill toward him.

It is believed that if Elder Ji dared to show even a sliver of animosity against him, other Cultivators of his faction would likely dissuade him en masse, or even betray Elder Ji for their own interests.

Even though Li Shiming had reduced the number of pills he refined, his skill in Artifact Refining had greatly improved.

Apart from not refining Magic Artifacts due to his realm limitations, he could readily refine all kinds of other Magic Artifacts and Spiritual Artifacts.

Within the Beishu Trading Company’s merchandise, Magic Artifacts branded with Li Shiming’s mark, just like his Spirit Pills, became highly sought after by Cultivators.

The Spiritual Artifacts produced by Li Shiming were able to be crafted two grades higher than the materials used, and the quality was second to none.

If it were not for the limited quantity of Spiritual Artifacts he produced, he would even potentially impact the market.

“Looks like you’ll surpass me in no time,” Li Shiming said, stroking the Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake and muttering to himself.

Although the Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake was rapidly increasing in strength, due to its young age and instinctual loyalty, its Wisdom was not high, and it did not understand what he said.

This was an expression of his emotions, for by his estimation, if he continued like this, it was feared that he would not find an opportunity for a breakthrough in ten years.

To tell the truth, not to mention ten years, even spending forty or fifty years to reach the Golden Core Stage would still make him extremely young.

But he was not satisfied with that; knowing he was only one step away from the Golden Core Stage, he sought to cross that threshold as soon as possible.

His usual interactions were with Golden Core cultivators, which had vastly broadened his horizons from before, and he knew that once he became a Golden Core cultivator, his Alchemy skills would receive even more attention.

By then, not only Golden Core cultivators but even Nascent Soul Cultivators would seek his services, and only then would his influence truly grant him security.

He took a sip of Third Grade Spirit Tea, feeling the fluctuations of Spiritual Power within his Spirit Lake from the ingestion, causing slight ripples, yet unable to increase the Spiritual Energy in the lake by even a bit.

His Taoist Body had also reached its limit, a zenith achieved through cultivating the “Vajra Body Protection Divine Skill” and the “Sword Demon Secret Manual,” the Pure Dao Body meeting the theoretical limit of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

The only effect of this cup of Third Grade Spirit Tea was to clear his mind a little; all other benefits were wasted.

A white lotus appeared beneath his feet, and then his figure, along with the lotus, disappeared from sight.

When he reappeared, he was already inside his cave abode, which had undergone significant changes compared to two years ago.

Various ornamental and precious Spirit Plants and decorations made the main hall extremely luxurious.

All these were gifts from Alchemy Seekers who came to request pills, and in gifting, these Alchemy Seekers had indeed thought of everything.

Just to ascertain his preferences, even his three Senior Brothers had benefited greatly, each glowing with health and all their Spiritual Artifacts upgraded.

The Eldest Senior Sister had just advanced to the Golden Core Stage and was in closed-door cultivation, thus missing out on many benefits.

Ignoring the rare Spiritual Objects in the hall, he walked into the Cultivation Room.

The Third Grade Golden Lotus had grown much larger than it was two years ago, a result of continuous nurturing with third-grade spiritual items. The two Spirit Cleansing Carps had grown to a sizable length, swimming dynamically in the Spiritual Spring.

It was precisely because of the Third Grade Golden Lotus and the Spirit Cleansing Carps that the Spiritual Energy and environment inside the Cultivation Room were excellent. Whether he was cultivating or not, he spent most of his time in the cave dwelling here.

He took out a Jade Scroll and began to read with his Divine Thought; it was an Array Formation Jade Scroll.

Owing to the substantial contribution points received from the sect for refining Third-grade Spirit Pills, he had enough contribution to splurge on acquiring a great deal of Formation knowledge.

However, the Formation knowledge did not lead him to a breakthrough to become an Array Master. It only caused his Array Formation Starlight Sea to expand once more, nearly doubling the number of stars within its galaxy.

In the matter of breaking through to become an Array Master, he even sought the help of Yin Shilan to consult her master, Master Luo.

According to Master Luo, a breakthrough to become an Array Master required an epiphany. With the presence of the IBMz15, Li Shiming could address any Formation knowledge through data analysis.

This allowed Li Shiming to solve Formation puzzles more quickly, but it also deprived him of the chance to experience any epiphanies.

Fortunately, this did not hinder his application of Formations. As of now, in the field of Formations, there was hardly any distinction between him and true Array Masters—in fact, in many computational aspects, he even surpassed some Array Masters.

While he was quietly contemplating Formation knowledge, he suddenly sensed something. His consciousness entered the computer room space and connected with the IBMz15.

The IBMz15 projected the display onto his eyes, and he saw countless formulas and data flashing across the screen.

“It seems new experiments are needed!” He was very clear about the formulas and data, understanding the implications they held.

This was a brand-new research project. He planned to deploy satellites in near-Earth orbit.

The data on this subject, including all the technical aspects, was complete in the IBMz15, posing no substantial difficulty.

But in practice, he had already failed five times, marking the highest number of failures in his research.

Only five failures might not seem much, but keep in mind he had the support of vast amounts of data, buttressed by countless experimental trials of his predecessors.

Under normal circumstances, there shouldn’t have been consecutive failures at all.

Yet, after five failures, from the data gathered, he made a startling discovery: the world he inhabited did not seem to be spherical.

He remembered the first experiment, when he, seeking to minimize influences on the test, had taken the manufactured rocket to just below the Thirty-Three Heavens.

He did not endow the rocket with any cultivation techniques, at most he utilized artifact refining methods to strengthen the material.

Without any cultivation techniques, the rocket entered the Thirty-Three Heavens as he expected, and it was still able to constantly send real-time data back to him through the communicator.

While the rocket appeared as a product of high technology, the great technological challenge lay in the rocket engine. The demand for chips, by contrast, was laughably low.

The micro-scale chips he produced had a significant computational surplus when used in rockets.

In his opinion, with materials strengthened through artifact refining techniques, the rocket should at least reach the technological capacity of rockets from his past world without utilizing cultivation techniques.

Furthermore, with a complete accumulation of data, even if the world he was in wasn’t quite the same, the probability of a successful launch was very high.

But under the watchful eye of data, the rocket kept ascending, penetrated the Thirty-Three Heavens, and reached the designated orbital altitude.

Then it flew farther and farther away, never returning.

After this first experiment, Li Shiming thought the planetary data of the world he was in was not completely identical to that of the planets from his former life, so he recalculated based on the existing data.

This led to the second, third, and up to the fifth experiment, but each time the rocket could not return to its predetermined position.

Nonetheless, the rockets sent out in these five experiments were not a waste; they provided him with vast amounts of data. He reformulated the computational formula and used IBMz15 to calculate the near-Earth data appropriate for this world.