Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 1890: Chapter 991: Advancement (2)

The Jade Carving Ruyi contains recipes suitable for the ‘Eternal Water Bear’ spirit pills, but many of the spiritual medicines in these recipes have long been lost.

After Li Shiming set strengthening the ‘Eternal Water Bear’ as a project, a portion of resources from IBMz15 was allocated for related research.

In the Cultivation World, if Li Shiming considers himself second in alchemy abilities, no alchemy master dares claim to be first. In fact, the Cultivation World has already elevated Li Shiming’s status to another realm beyond that of alchemy masters.

But he is not only the strongest in alchemy; he also has an unparalleled advantage in researching elixir recipes.

All the spiritual medicines he has seen, including those from the Cultivation World and the Cloud Island Sea, have been archived in the IBMz15 database.

Therefore, finding substitutes for the spiritual medicines in the ‘Eternal Water Bear’ pill recipe is not too difficult. IBMz15 can compare known spiritual medicines to identify the most similar substitutes.

In fact, the Jade Carving Ruyi shows that ancient cultivators could only cultivate the ‘Eternal Water Bear’ to the Late Stage Fourth Grade before they could no longer advance it.

This is normal. Even with abundant Fourth-grade Spirit Pills, ‘Eternal Water Bear’ could only reach the Fourth-grade Late Stage; further progress is beyond ordinary Fourth-grade Spirit Pills.

It didn’t take long for IBMz15 to provide a new elixir recipe. The ancient recipe included several substitutions, and two of the spiritual medicines couldn’t even find substitutes and had to be reconciled with various modern spiritual medicines to achieve a semblance of effect.

When IBMz15 delivered the recipe, it considered that most of the spiritual medicines in the recipe were in Li Shiming’s possession.

Particularly, he has more Fourth Grade Spiritual Medicine than many powerful factions.

He spent some time collecting other spiritual medicines as well. With his reputation, numerous factions willingly serve him upon request for any spiritual medicine.

Three months after obtaining the recipe, Li Shiming retrieved his previous Fifth Grade Pill Furnace and cast a Master Recognition Technique.

With his soul at half-step Great Power level, recognizing the Fifth-grade Pill Furnace posed little difficulty.

This Fifth Grade Pill Furnace is named ‘Hundred Herbs Furnace,’ quite a mundane name. Yet, it’s the first of its kind he’d seen in the Cultivation World.

Perhaps there are Fifth Grade Pill Furnaces in the Cultivation World, but if they exist, they are inside the Grotto Heaven of some great power, which he hasn’t seen.

The new recipe was named ‘Eternal Water Bear Pill,’ created specifically for the growth of the ‘Eternal Water Bear.’

Currently, he has two thousand materials for the ‘Eternal Water Bear Pill’ and is continually acquiring more.

The spiritual medicines required for the ‘Eternal Water Bear Pill’ are not particularly precious, which was a key consideration for IBMz15 in researching the recipe.

Li Shiming is not aiming to craft merely high-grade spirit pills but top-grade ones.

Out of every hundred batches of ‘Eternal Water Bear Pill,’ he can produce one top-grade ‘Eternal Water Bear Pill.’ Two thousand materials are only enough to make twenty top-grade ‘Eternal Water Bear Pills.’

The alchemy process was smooth, especially since he used the Fifth Grade ‘Hundred Herbs Furnace’ paired with the Fifth-grade ‘Infinite Immortal Fire,’ reducing the alchemy time significantly.

After crafting the top-grade ‘Eternal Water Bear Pill,’ he didn’t immediately let the ‘Eternal Water Bear’ consume it but continued producing ‘Eternal Water Bear Pills.’

The ‘Eternal Water Bear Pills’ made in preparation for crafting top-grade versions are of high quality and aren’t useless spirit pills; they are entirely suitable for the ‘Eternal Water Bear’ to consume daily.

Time passed slowly, and two years later, Li Shiming finally stored up a hundred and eight top-grade ‘Eternal Water Bear Pills.’

Additionally, the number of high-grade ‘Eternal Water Bear Pills’ exceeded ten thousand, prompting him to attempt to see if he could help the ‘Eternal Water Bear’ breakthrough its realm.

The ‘Eternal Water Bear’ has lived unknown tens of thousands of years, and if not continually drained of life force, it might have naturally broken through already, or perhaps perished in a failed attempt.

After consuming large quantities of spirit pills, along with Li Shiming frequently using the ‘Innate Wood’ divine skill to boost its life force, the ‘Eternal Water Bear’ reached the limit of the Late Stage Fourth Grade.

Li Shiming summoned all the ‘Eternal Water Bears’; he made a deliberate decision not to cultivate them one by one.

He had all the ‘Eternal Water Bears’ start consuming high-grade ‘Eternal Water Bear Pills,’ whose quality had reached the theoretical limit of high-grade, containing very beneficial ingredients for the ‘Eternal Water Bear,’ though not as effective as top-grade versions.

His perception covered all the ‘Eternal Water Bears.’ As they consumed pill after pill, the energy within them slowly increased.

When the ‘Eternal Water Bears’ had consumed over sixty high-grade pills, their internal energy reached a critical point.

Li Shiming did not hesitate, distributing a hundred and eight top-grade ‘Eternal Water Bear Pills’ to all the ‘Eternal Water Bears.’

Top-grade ‘Eternal Water Bear Pills’ pack a higher-tier potency. After consuming them, the ‘Eternal Water Bears’ broke past the critical point.

Li Shiming then took all the ‘Eternal Water Bears’ and immediately arrived at the place where he initially refined corpses, using an instantaneous travel skill.

He realized things were amiss when he noticed the ‘Eternal Water Bears’ break through the critical point.

Sure enough, the hundred and eight ‘Eternal Water Bears,’ upon reaching past the critical point, had their life force increased more than tenfold, their aura rising to half-step Great Power level.

Along with the rise in aura came the looming presence of a Heavenly Tribulation.

This was when the advantage of having all the ‘Eternal Water Bears’ consume spirit pills simultaneously manifested.

For a spirit beast to surpass the Late Stage Fourth Grade, resources are one aspect; however, resources alone aren’t the primary obstacle.

Some spirit beasts encounter fortune and unexpectedly acquire sufficient resources to surpass the Late Stage Fourth Grade.

What hinders spirit beasts further is the rejection from the heavens; a half-step Great Power level Heavenly Tribulation can halt a spirit beast at the Late Stage Fourth Grade.

The ‘Eternal Water Bear’ faced the same rejection from the heavens, preparing to confront a half-step Great Power level Heavenly Tribulation.

Even with its strong defensive power, a single ‘Eternal Water Bear’ facing nine consecutive half-step Great Power level Heavenly Thunder has little chance of survival.

Yet, the hundred and eight Late Stage Fourth Grade ‘Eternal Water Bears’ formed an Earth Evil Formation, allowing them to achieve Great Ability level defense.

The current hundred and eight ‘Eternal Water Bears’ have broken through the Late Stage Fourth Grade, reaching half-step Fifth Grade.

Their defensive power is strengthened, and the Earth Evil Formation they composed could even resist attacks from strong Great Power existences.

The Heavenly Tribulation arrived swiftly, its force directly heightened to the extreme of half-step Great Power Heavenly Thunder.

Li Shiming recognized this Heavenly Thunder’s power, as it matched the strength of those he’d encountered before.

All hundred and eight ‘Eternal Water Bears’ tried crossing the Heavenly Tribulation together, escalating the thunder’s potency to its limit.

Alarmingly, the thunder’s count wasn’t just nine but multiplied by a hundred and eight, totaling nine hundred and seventy-two bolts of thunder.

As the Heavenly Thunder descended, the color of the skies changed; the thunder nearly enveloped the void in blinding electric white, with each space charged with electrical might.

Each ‘Eternal Water Bear’ was covered in thunder and lightning; merely the first batch of a hundred and eight bolts of thunder concerned Li Shiming greatly. He underestimated the thunder’s number, thinking it to be just nine bolts when it was actually nine hundred and seventy-two.