Three Nascent Soul Early Stage Thunder Cultivators, when facing regular Nascent Soul Middle Stage Practitioners, wouldnât necessarily all perish, and might even win while being weaker.
What he needed to do was find the Ten Thousand Beast Sectâs core practitioner and kill them to avenge their sectâs Thunder Cultivators.
Moreover, killing a core practitioner would be a significant blow to the Ten Thousand Beast Sect.
The number of core practitioners in any sect doesnât need to be many.
While disciples of Great Cultivators can directly become core practitioners, even Great Cultivators take on disciples in limited numbers.
In the Cultivation World, taking on disciples is a very cautious matter; the relationship between master and disciple is extremely close, even closer than that of father and son in the mortal world.
Cultivators place great importance on legacy, and disciples are the masterâs legacy.
Normally, accounting for a Great Cultivator taking three disciples, plus others who become core practitioners by different means, in a sect with five Great Cultivators, the number of core practitioners wouldnât exceed twenty.
Core practitioners are the foundation of a sect; they consume the most resources within the sect.
Losing even one core practitioner is a huge waste of the sectâs resources.
Feng Qian pondered over the data on the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, guessing which core practitioner might have arrived at that resource point, as he flew towards his target.
Suddenly, he felt a tremor deep within his soul, recalling a near-death experience from long ago, where he felt this sensation when facing imminent death.
His heart knew he was facing extreme danger, but knowing is one thing, reacting was another.
The critical distance of ten thousand meters was too close for the âThunderous Mysterious Bowâsâ arrow, close enough that once activated, it would instantly appear before the enemy.
Feng Qian sensed the breath of death, but it was futile, as the arrow hit his flesh simultaneously with his sensing deathâs presence.
The arrow entered his flesh, and the unmatched energy within it immediately exploded.
The terrifying energy swept through Feng Qianâs entire body, with his Nascent Soul not escaping the energyâs impact either.
Feng Qian would never know, even upon his death, what means led to his demise.
Li Shiming smiled slightly, directing the Heavenly Ghost to control the arrows fired from the âThunderous Mysterious Bowâ, choosing to release all energy upon hitting the target for maximum damage to a single opponent.
Even the Nascent Soul Middle Stage core Thunder Cultivator of the Yuqing Sect was too fragile in the face of arrows formed by converting Great Cultivator-level power.
This was akin to Living Dead Zhao Qingfengâs full-powered strike, using a Fourth Grade Top-level Artifact Tribulation weapon.
A Great Cultivator might withstand the âThunderous Mysterious Bowâsâ arrows, but a Nascent Soul Middle Stage practitioner stood no chance; the instantaneous energy not only destroyed the flesh but also the Nascent Soul.
The âThunderous Mysterious Bowâ has another attack mode, where the arrows wonât release their energy upon hitting the target; instead, they will continue shooting, piercing the first target, and rushing fifty thousand meters forward before slowing down.
Every target on the attack line, as long as they cannot defend against the arrow, will be pierced, causing damage close to a Great Cultivatorâs attack power.
Li Shiming collected Living Dead Zhao Qingfeng and dispelled the formation, flying towards the fallen Feng Qian.
He reached Feng Qianâs corpse, lightly touching it with his divine sense. The body turned to ash and scattered.
The terrifying energy on the arrow caused Feng Qianâs flesh to turn into powder.
Only a Fourth Grade Top-level âHeavenly Strike Thunder Hammerâ and a soul crystal ring were left on the ground, the entirety of Feng Qianâs belongings.
As for other spiritual objects, like the robe on Feng Qianâs body, they all turned to powder along with his flesh in this strike.
Seeing the soul crystal ring, Li Shiming realized Feng Qianâs identity might be extraordinary.
He cast a Master Recognition Technique on the soul crystal ring to claim ownership, then sent his divine sense inside the ring.
Perhaps Feng Qian believed he had enough strength to protect himself, which is why his soul crystal ring contained a large number of spiritual objects.
There were over thirty Fourth Grade Spiritual Medicine of Nascent Soul Middle Stage alone, in addition to many jade scrolls.
Li Shimingâs divine sense scanned through the jade scrolls, finding they all contained annotations on the âYuqing Thunder Scriptureâ, and noticed that these annotations were beyond the explanation capability of a Nascent Soul Middle Stage practitioner.
These annotations were recorded by Feng Qian during the long-term teachings from Master Wang He.
Master Wang He was a very responsible teacher, who would lecture his disciple at regular intervals.
Fearful of missing any details, Feng Qian recorded all of Master Wang Heâs teachings into jade scrolls.
Compared to Wang Yuanâs cultivation insights, while Master Wang He may not match his teacher, Master Wang He provided much deeper explanations to his Nascent Soul Middle Stage disciple.
Because Wang Yuan was only Nascent Soul Early Stage, whereas Feng Qian was Nascent Soul Middle Stage.
Li Shiming was quite satisfied with the jade scrolls obtained this time, although there was repetition with Wang Yuanâs cultivation insights, there were also many differences, and this time the jade scrolls had richer content.
"Oh, this is a protective jade talisman!" He examined the soul crystal ring again and found three jade talismans, determining their nature from the talismanâs aura.
Protective jade talismans, jade talismans that Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivators could use for protection, coupled with being core cultivators of the Yuqing Sect, meant these protective jade talismans were at least made by a Great Cultivator.
These three protective jade talismans were crafted by Master Wang He, storing Great Cultivator-level âThunder Escapeâ.
Master Wang He was among the top Great Cultivators, so the protective jade talisman he crafted was equivalent to a top Great Cultivator performing âThunder Escapeâ.
It is said that if Feng Qian had taken out a protective jade talisman, he could have instantly performed a top Great Cultivator-level âThunder Escapeâ.
Unfortunately, Feng Qian encountered Li Shiming, encountered the âThunderous Mysterious Bowâ activated by Living Dead Zhao Qingfeng, a Great Cultivator-level long-range attack.
This attack was heinously sudden and immensely powerful, leaving Feng Qian with no time to activate the protective jade talisman before being slain.
Li Shiming put away the protective jade talismans. He didnât need them himself, but his avatar Li Yuanba could.
Although Li Yuanba mastered the Divine Foot Skillâs âA Thousand Miles in a Stepâ, without the direct help of his life artifact IBMz15, he couldnât store âA Thousand Miles in a Stepâ in his brain for activation anytime.
Moreover, Li Yuanbaâs âA Thousand Miles in a Stepâ had intervals, significantly affecting his ability to save himself. However, as long as the protective jade talisman was out, he could escape ten thousand miles instantly.
Li Shiming valued these three protective jade talismans highly because he himself possessed a protective jade talisman given by Grandmaster Hu, so comparing the two, he could judge the superior far-escape effect of the three jade talismans.
Finally, he found a Fourth Grade Upper Stage flying boat in the soul crystal ring, a small flying boat with Fourth Grade Upper Stage quality and entirely covered with lightning runes, making it more compatible with the âYuqing Thunder Scriptureâ.
Unlike the previous Fourth Grade flying boat he acquired, he could use this Fourth Grade flying boat.
Now, with the Ten Thousand Beast Sect and even the four major sects warring against the Yuqing Sect, using the Yuqing Sectâs spoils presents no issues.
He also liked this Yuqing Sectâs Fourth Grade Upper Stage flying boat very much, casting a Master Recognition Technique to understand its name and functions from the information transmitted from the flying boat.
âLightning Flash Flying Boatâ, capable of triggering âThunder Escapeâ as a flying boat.
Though Thunder Cultivators can use âThunder Escapeâ if they perceive their primary thunder cultivation technique to a certain level, using âThunder Escapeâ for long-range flight continuously is extremely consuming.
The âLightning Flash Flying Boatâ leverages its materials and runic arrays on the flying boat to transform the whole flying boat into âThunder Escapeâ.