Cultivation is just so scientific!-Chapter 616 - 354: Annihilation_2

He had already cursed Chu Ke and his father repeatedly in his heart for sending out a distress message to confront Master Li.

This was Master Li, the one whom a whole host of Golden Core cultivators begged for alchemy.

If Master Li were so inclined, to say that Zuo Tai was his enemy, it wouldn’t be many days before Zuo Tai’s head would likely be delivered to Master Li as a gift to curry favor.

As for how Master Li could appear within the Earth Evil Sect’s domain, he must have sneaked in, but what of it? If the sect learned of Master Li’s arrival, they certainly wouldn’t trouble him over such a trivial matter.

Even if Master Li were to kill Chu Ke, he would at most receive a reprimand.

Li Shiming was unaware of the influence his reputation held; his thought process was simple: since action had been taken, he might as well make it thorough.

He didn’t say much to Zuo Tai, moving swiftly toward him.

Since Ren Fei’er was present, he couldn’t eliminate her, so he did not deploy "Step by Step Lotus." However, his Body Refinement strength allowed him to be faster than Zuo Tai.

When Zuo Tai tried to retreat, Li Shiming closed the distance at full speed.

The battle began, and Li Shiming’s magical treasure, the IBMz15, also played a role. Through analysis and prediction by the IBMz15 and his activated "Telepathy," he was able to accurately predict Zuo Tai’s movement direction and even his next action, mastering the movements of his body and limbs.

Ren Fei’er’s experience was not insignificant; she had seen Golden Core cultivator battles as both her parents were Golden Core cultivators.

However, the battle before her was puzzling, completely beyond her understanding.

She saw Li Shiming, an Alchemy Master, engaging with the enemy up close in a manner wholly unbecoming of his status.

This combat style was rarely seen among cultivators and was exclusive to Body Refining Cultivators.

What surprised her more was the way the Golden Core Middle Stage Cultivator retreated, almost as if he was deliberately flying toward Li Shiming, moving seamlessly into the spot Li Shiming had anticipated.

If she didn’t know that Zuo Tai was Chu Ke’s called reinforcement, she would have thought Zuo Tai was cooperating with Li Shiming’s performance.

Not just Ren Fei’er, even Zuo Tai himself was in a state of extreme shock.

Normally, even if a pursuer was faster than the one fleeing, without a decisive speed advantage, it’s still hard to catch up.

This was because the one fleeing had the advantage of choosing the escape route; every change in direction meant they kept the initiative, preventing the pursuer from utilizing their speed effectually.

But he faced an odd situation. His battle experience was vast, and the route he chose to retreat he deemed optimal.

However, during his retreat, Li Shiming took a direct flight path and reached his retreat route first, making it seem as though he was delivering himself to Li Shiming.

This also brought him within close combat distance with Li Shiming, leaving him no choice but to block Li Shiming’s attacks first and think later.

With the Earth Evil Power-enhanced defensive magical treasure, Zuo Tai was quite confident in his defenses.

He had already planned to use a life-saving talisman to escape if he found no other options viable.

Li Shiming’s "Divine Sight" activated, revealing the flow of Spiritual Power throughout Zuo Tai’s body in his eyes.

The IBMz15, his magical treasure, analyzed the direction of Zuo Tai’s next Spiritual Power movement, a result based on previous battle analyses.

Next, Li Shiming’s attack with the Third-Grade Sword Foundation Magical Treasure came down.

Zuo Tai was ready; he planned to use the force of the blow to retreat and estimated the attack’s power—should it prove too strong, he would immediately activate the life-saving talisman to escape.

The strange aspect of the Third-Grade Sword Foundation Magical Treasure striking Zuo Tai was that it hit a gap in the Spiritual Power of his defensive magical treasure. Such gaps in Spiritual Power would change instantly, so normally, they wouldn’t represent a vulnerability.

But the issue was that Li Shiming’s magical treasure, the IBMz15, predicted the position of the Spiritual Power gap in advance; the attack from the Third-Grade Sword Foundation Magical Treasure was premeditated.

The Third-Grade Sword Foundation Magical Treasure sliced into the Spiritual Power Pattern slit, and the shield magical treasure, which was attached with the Earth Evil Power, failed to function as it should have.

The Third-Grade Sword Foundation Magical Treasure passed through next to the very body of the shield magical treasure along the Spiritual Power Pattern slit.

This was supposed to happen because the defense of the shield magical treasure isn’t entirely completed by the treasure itself but by activating special patterns inside it, forming a Spiritual Power defensive shield.

But this strike sliced into the Spiritual Power Pattern slit, rendering the Spiritual Power defensive shield ineffective.

With a ’pu’ sound, the Third-Grade Sword Foundation Magical Treasure chopped into Zuo Tai’s body, and the terrifying Thunder Sword Intent instantly spread throughout his entire body.

He couldn’t even activate a life-saving talisman, let alone use Divine Thought to take a life-saving talisman out of his Space Ring.

He never imagined that in a direct battle with a Golden Core Early Stage cultivator like Li Shiming, he would be slain before he could even access his Space Ring. freēnovelkiss.com

Li Shiming wasn’t surprised at all. This Mid-stage Cultivator, even if he were from a major sect, Li Shiming could have slain him in an instant using another method.

The reason he exchanged two moves with Zuo Tai was merely to test his own close-combat capabilities.

The result of the battle showed that he could easily slay a Golden Core Middle Stage Cultivator by relying solely on his Body Refinement strength. This was achieved without using "Step by Step Lotus" or any Thunder Skill.

His battle process could be displayed in public without worry that "Step by Step Lotus" would be known by Qianye Temple, nor would causing trouble by deploying dozens of Thunder Skills simultaneously, which might exceed other cultivators’ understanding.

He waved his hand and collected Zuo Tai’s corpse, then gathered up six Foundation Establishment cultivators’ storage bags and Chu Ke’s Space Bracelet.

"See if there’s anything of use!" he said to Ren Fei’er, tossing her six storage bags and the Space Bracelet.

Ren Fei’er clumsily caught the storage bags and the Space Bracelet, still not recovered from the shock of the previous fight.

What she saw was a Golden Core Middle Stage cultivator, and not just any, but a Golden Core Elder of the Earth Evil Sect. This single Golden Core Elder could easily defeat her parents combined.

Yet such a formidable being had no chance to counterattack in front of Li Shiming.

"It seems only a talent like my sister is worthy of him," Ren Fei’er felt a sense of helplessness rising within her.

She was no prodigy; she loved fun and games, and her dedication to cultivation was hardly serious.

Her sister, Yin Shilan, was different. From a young age, her parents used Yin Shilan as a benchmark to educate her.

Li Shiming didn’t pay attention to what Ren Fei’er was thinking. At this moment, he didn’t use Telepathy again. He took out the Meteor Ink Boat and asked Ren Fei’er to rest inside the Flying Boat.

He stood on the Flying Boat, heading deep into the territory of the Earth Evil Sect.

Chu Ke’s death was immediately known to Chu Xun, who was in the Earth Evil Sect’s main gate because Chu Xun had left a bloodline technique on his son.

Chu Xun knew about Zuo Tai going to the rescue. When he sensed Chu Ke’s death, he immediately contacted Zuo Tai, wanting to know what had happened.

But no matter how he tried, Chu Xun couldn’t reach Zuo Tai, and he feared that something had also happened to Zuo Tai.

Chu Xun couldn’t believe that within the Earth Evil Sect’s territory, there would be a cultivator who could easily kill Zuo Tai. Although Zuo Tai’s strength in the Golden Core Stage wasn’t the top, even if faced with the most powerful being at that stage, he should have been able to escape.

Defeating Zuo Tai, a midpoint Golden Core cultivator, was possible, but killing him wasn’t something an ordinary cultivator could achieve.

Combining the location of Chu Ke’s accident, Chu Xun deduced that this was the work of a cultivator who had infiltrated from outside.

He immediately sent a message to the checkpoint to activate the grand formation with full force.

He also gathered several fellow sect members with whom he had good relations and headed to the checkpoint to converge. Regardless of the assassin’s intentions within the Earth Evil Sect’s territory, they were bound to leave eventually.

The territory of the Earth Evil Sect was extremely xenophobic. Any foreign cultivator would be noticeably out of place. He planned to wait at the checkpoint for the sect’s intelligence, either to block the assassin there or to locate and besiege the assassin based on the intelligence.