After the formation is no longer useful, even if itâs placed here, it will only await destruction by heavenly thunder.
He has done all he should, and now it depends on the result of the heavenly tribulation.
He issued a mandatory command to the five golden corpses. During the refining of the golden corpses, he used his own essence blood, so the recognition of the owner has already succeeded.
The five golden corpses spread out to five areas, with enough distance between them to pass through the tribulation without interfering with each other.
They stood on the ground without any extraneous movements.
In the sky, five patches of thunderclouds were gathering, and it didnât take long before they formed five dense black clouds.
Inside each black cloud, electric lights continuously flashed, beginning to brew the first bolt of heavenly thunder.
Li Shiming glanced at the condition of the thunderclouds, feeling slightly worried. This time, the thunderclouds were at the Great Cultivator level, and he was not very familiar with the condition of the five golden corpses. It was uncertain whether the five golden corpses, with his Thunder Resistance Secret Method, could survive the tribulation.
"Boom," five bolts of heavenly thunder descended simultaneously, creating a resonance-like thunderous sound.
Five massive bolts of heavenly thunder fell straight down from the thunderclouds, striking the five golden corpses.
The five golden corpses stood motionless, allowing the heavenly thunder to strike them.
Li Shiming, being highly experienced in tribulation crossing, knew that any life daring to challenge the heavenly tribulation would suffer even stronger retaliation from the tribulation.
Of course, those who challenge the tribulation and receive the baptism of a stronger heavenly thunder will gain benefits far greater than a normal tribulation, once they pass.
Many sword cultivators like to forcibly break the thunderclouds during the Nascent Soul Tribulation to seek greater rewards from the rules of heaven and earth, establishing a more solid foundation for themselves.
But the timing is important. In the case of golden corpses crossing the tribulation, especially in the manner of late-stage golden corpses, any movement daring to challenge the might of heaven would likely attract the heavenly thunder at the Great Cultivator Peak level, or even beyond that.
The first bolt of heavenly thunder caused some charred marks to appear on the surface of the five golden corpses, but it wasnât serious; such injuries were negligible to the golden corpses.
Since the five golden corpses allowed the heavenly thunder to fall without any other movements, the thunderclouds in the sky didnât greatly amplify, brewing the second bolt of heavenly thunder according to the normal amplification level.
"Boom," there was a simultaneous sound again as the second round of five heavenly thunders fell.
This time the power of the heavenly thunder was significantly greater than the first, but still within the normal range, allowing Li Shiming to sigh in relief, nothing unexpected happened.
He had read in the âProhibited Book of Xuan Yin Yakshaâ about many Great Cultivators refining late-stage golden corpses, where tribulations sometimes went out of control, suddenly increasing in power tenfold, directly obliterating the golden corpses, even without challenging the tribulation.
After the second heavenly thunder, cracks appeared on the skin of the five golden corpses.
When Li Shiming saw the blood flowing from the cracks in the golden corpsesâ skin, he was shocked because the blood was red.
The late-stage golden corpseâs blood he bought from Central State Commerce was golden.
The Central State Commerce wouldnât deceive him, plus the âProhibited Book of Xuan Yin Yakshaâ also recorded that the late-stage golden corpsesâ blood was golden.
But the five late-stage golden corpses he refined using the late-stage corpse refining method had red blood in their bodies, and along with their skin indistinguishable from ordinary people, what difference was there from a normal cultivator?
As he pondered, the injured skin of the five golden corpses began to close up little by little, visibly healing.
He took a sharp breath; this was damage from heavenly thunder in a tribulation. Not even the top healing spirit pill could heal such wounds quickly.
Heavenly thunder energy continually erodes the wounds, and the fact that the golden corpses could remove the heavenly thunder energy and heal so quickly indicated they had energy within them capable of resisting heavenly thunder.
Unfortunately, the five golden corpses were undergoing the tribulation, and he couldnât connect his Divine Sense to them, or interact with them in any way during the process.
Otherwise, it would be considered assistance in the tribulation, and the power of the tribulation would include Li Shiming as well.
The only thing he could do now was stand by and watch.
The commotion over here was somewhat significant, and some cultivators from the Ten Thousand Beast Sect Tai Chu Branch in the distance were preparing to come and see.
Five Great Cultivator level tribulations had not occurred on the Dongqi Continent, perhaps not even in the entire cultivation world; yet it was within a grotto heavenâs isolated space.
Despite Li Shimingâs prior instructions, it didnât stop the curiosity and concern of the cultivators.
However, this matter wasnât something Li Shiming needed to worry about. Great Cultivator Luo Pei was on the outermost perimeter; his aura surged, a strong warning that stopped the cultivators who intended to observe.
Li Shiming had no time to bother with those cultivators; his eyes were constantly on the five patches of thunderclouds in the sky.
More and more electric lights accumulated in the thunderclouds, yet no heavenly thunder immediately descended. The accumulation of electric light indicated the final heavenly thunder would be even more powerful.
An expression of worry appeared in his eyes, as the last heavenly thunder could likely inflict considerable harm on the golden corpses.
The longer it took, the lower the chances of the golden corpses successfully passing the tribulation.
As he worried, the thunderclouds finally seemed unable to hold any more electric light, and a heavenly thunder twice as massive as the second one struck down.
The heavenly thunder enveloped the golden corpses entirely in lightning, and even with âDivine Eyeâ, he couldnât see what happened to the golden corpses inside the heavenly thunder.
Only through the connection with the golden corpses could he sense their intense pain.
It was a good thing to feel pain; not receiving any feedback would be the worst situation.
Due to his connection with the five golden corpses, sharing their sensations made the time pass incredibly slowly, as if several two hours had passed in the brief period of the third heavenly thunder.
Finally, the third heavenly thunder ceased its power, and the five patches of thunderclouds in the sky dissipated.
He saw his five golden corpses, with more than half of their skin and flesh gone, exposing the bones inside.
Had they been ordinary life forms, such injuries would have been enough to die several times over.
But the robust vitality of the golden corpses meant that all five of them were still alive.
Before Li Shiming could deploy the âInnate Woodâ divine skill, the rewards from heaven and earth arrived, acting upon the five golden corpses first.
The missing flesh of the five golden corpses rapidly regenerated under the effect of strange energy, restoring them to a human cultivator state in just a few breaths, without any wounds.
Once the rewards from heaven and earth concluded, Li Shiming continuously released his Divine Sense to perceive the condition of one of the golden corpses.
Inspecting the golden corpse core, he confirmed that his golden corpses were late-stage, a judgment that could be made from the core.
The core was shielded by the body of the golden corpse, preventing any aura from leaking, which meant that when a cultivator perceived the golden corpse, they would only sense a Great Cultivator cultivating Yin Cold Spiritual Power and not recognize it as a golden corpse.
In some way, the core functioned like a Great Cultivatorâs Nascent Soul, and once its aura was sealed, it could completely pass as a genuine Nascent Soul.
On the core, aside from the âSpeed Rule Imprintâ, there were two additional rule imprints, a âPower Rule Imprintâ and a âDefense Rule Imprintâ.
Li Shiming never imagined that when he inscribed four billion âRefining Corpse Runesâ on the body of a Great Cultivator, he merely considered the possibility of a qualitative change with that number of runes.
In artifact refining, when runes reached a count of four billion, corresponding rule imprints would appear after overcoming the Artifact Tribulation.
But with four billion âRefining Corpse Runesâ, the late-stage golden corpses he produced had two extra rule imprints, beyond his expectations.
He thought for a moment and realized that typically, when a golden corpse was refined, it mainly focused on strength and defense.
It was possible that the âRefining Corpse Runesâ enhanced the strength and defense of the corpse, and when he increased the number to four billion, it gave rise to the âPower Rule Imprintâ and the âDefense Rule Imprintâ.