Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 211: Chapter 152: Emerging from Seclusion

“Shiming, do not tell Lan’er about Zhuge Xuan’s death, lest it affect her breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Stage. I’ll have her go into seclusion to charge at the Foundation Establishment Stage as soon as I get back!” On the way back, Elder Yin hesitated for a moment but still spoke up.

“I understand, Uncle Yin!” Li Shiming nodded in agreement.

Yin Shilan didn’t have many close people in the sect, and Zhuge Xuan was definitely one of them.

Zhuge Xuan had given Yin Shilan no small amount of guidance on formations, and if she knew about Zhuge Xuan’s bad news while charging at the Foundation Establishment Stage, it would certainly not be good for Yin Shilan.

“Good child!” A fatherly smile flashed in Elder Yin’s eyes, and then he said sternly, “Your Body Refinement has improved too much, which will have some impact on your breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. You had better stop studying formations and other areas and take on more sect missions to exchange for more Foundation Establishment Pills, making thorough preparations for Foundation Establishment!”

Li Shiming was startled; he had always thought that Body Refinement could increase the chances of breaking through to Foundation Establishment, not realizing that being too strong could also be a problem.

“Too much is as bad as not enough. You have cultivated your body to a level beyond the Qi Refinement Realm. You are currently at the Qi Refining Seventh Level, and when you reach the peak of the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, your physical strength will further increase. Being too strong creates a bigger bottleneck for your breakthrough… But of course, with your situation, once you break through, your strength will increase much more than a usual cultivator!” Elder Yin pondered for a moment and then instructed.

He was doing this for his daughter, and because Li Shiming was quite obedient, he gave such pointed advice.

As for why that Golden Core Sword Cultivator had spared Li Shiming, he didn’t think much about it at all.

For himself, even if he encountered cultivators from hostile forces, at most, he would kill a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and that would be an action taken in extreme anger.

To a Golden Core cultivator, a Qi Refinement cultivator is like an ant, not worth the effort to deal with.

Elder Yin fully accepted the explanation for Li Shiming’s narrow escape from death at sea without the slightest doubt.

Returning to the vicinity of the sect, Li Shiming went back to his own cave dwelling. Elder Yin would handle the matter of the attack; there was nothing he needed to do.

Entering the familiar underground space, he thought of Elder Yin’s words and was reminded of something Yun Xingyi had once said.

Yun Xingyi had told him that with his talent and aptitude, the Foundation Establishment Stage would likely be his limit. At the time, he hadn’t paid much attention to it, but now he suspected that Yun Xingyi wouldn’t have said it without reason.

He had made great efforts to narrow the gap with the top talents, even coming up with ways to use a clone to assist in cultivation.

But such methods would only allow him to reach the peak of the Qi Refinement Realm faster, and would no longer work at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

The Foundation Establishment Stage is extremely important, as it is the time to lay the most solid foundation.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, he could not continue to cultivate the same main cultivation techniques with his clone, because the clone’s talent was too high, and he might end up holding the clone back, causing it to become ordinary.

The clone was another him; if the clone could cultivate to a higher level faster, then merely the cultivation resources it provided for the original body could make up a part of the gap in talent.

“Isn’t it said that my talent is poor and I can’t advance to the Golden Core? Then I’ll let the clone become a Golden Core first to gather a mass of resources for me. I don’t believe that piling up massive resources can’t produce a Golden Core. If clone becoming a Golden Core isn’t enough, then Nascent Soul!” Li Shiming’s eyes were firm as he clenched his fist and muttered to himself.

He thought of the “Ten Directions Sword Cultivation Technique” and the “Nine Heavens Thunder Strike Technique”, both of which were superior to the sect’s techniques.

He was somewhat puzzled why Yun Xingyi would be carrying three complete sets of techniques; such a thing was extremely rare among cultivators.

This was actually related to Yun Xingyi’s mission. He needed to cross the perilous sea this time to explore a safe route.

Before the mission, he had made the worst-case scenario preparations. If his life was in danger, he needed to be ready for a Body Seizing contingency.

These three techniques were preparations for the Body Seizing, as there could be memory confusion during Body Seizing, and having the right techniques ready was very necessary.

These preparations ultimately benefited Li Shiming.

Li Shiming was currently considering his future plans. He had contemplated this matter many times before, but due to the inability to obtain the cultivation techniques, even with IBM z15’s help in analysis, he had not been able to come to a useful conclusion.

Now it was different. He had two top-notch techniques that could be cultivated up to the Nascent Soul Stage, which was enough for him to make a choice.

He needed to decide whether to become a Sword Cultivator or a Magic Cultivator. The “Ten Directions Sword Cultivation Technique” was a pure Sword Cultivator path, while the “Nine Heavens Thunder Strike Technique” was a path of Magic Cultivators.

Probably Yun Xingyi also prepared the other cultivation path in case the body after Body Seizing could not cultivate as a Sword Cultivator, making provisions for the unforeseen.

Sometimes Body Seizing does not offer a choice, and for an extremely ordinary cultivator, the difficulty of cultivating the path of a Sword Cultivator is too great.

Li Shiming was also aware that relative to Sword Cultivators, the path of Magic Cultivation was much easier.

This could be judged from the number of Sword Cultivators versus Magic Cultivators; within the sect, only those cultivators with supreme talents would choose Sword Cultivation, whereas ordinary cultivators were nearly uniformly Magic Cultivators.

Of course, this does not mean the combat power of Magic Cultivators is inferior. The Magic Cultivation technique valued by Yun Xingyi, a Golden Core Sword Cultivator, also inherited the characteristics of Sword Cultivation, which is the ultimate attacking power, hence he brought the “Nine Heavens Thunder Strike Technique”.

Thunder Cultivation is the strongest in attack power among Magic Cultivation. If a Thunder Cultivator has a Thunder Spirit Root, then, of course, it is the best choice.