Chapter 266: Chapter 179 Trouble Part 2
He knew how terrifying talismans could be; even though he had reached the early stage of Foundation Establishment, he wouldn’t dare to withstand the attack of a talisman, not even if he had reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment.
A talisman’s power was roughly one-tenth that of a Golden Core Stage magic artifact, representing a certain kill against any cultivator below Golden Core.
In Li Shiming’s hand appeared a four-meter-long ‘Top-grade Magic Device Electromagnetic Gun,’ with six thick cables connected to the void at the rear of the electromagnetic gun.
The ‘Shock Thunder Array’ in the engine room space had already accumulated its limit of electricity and, in just a brief moment, it was channeled into the interior of the top-grade magic device electromagnetic gun.
The Third Grade Sword Base transformed into a projectile, loaded into the top-grade magic device electromagnetic gun.
Li Shiming was waiting for the top-grade magic device electromagnetic gun to be fully charged; electricity from the ‘Shock Thunder Array’ was fed through the six thick cables into the magnetic flux compression device.
Within two breaths of time, the top-grade magic device electromagnetic gun was ready earlier than expected, something even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator couldn’t achieve with a talisman within four breaths of time.
For a Golden Core, there wasn’t much difference between the early stage of Foundation Establishment and the late-stage of Qi Refinement.
Propelled by an indescribable force, the Third Grade Sword Base projectile traveled through the accelerator-wrapped barrel at unimaginable speeds, reaching an extreme velocity in an instant.
All the lightning within the Nine Palace Sword Formation twisted, and after the firing of the Third Grade Sword Base bomb, the shockwave of the projectile pushed the lightning aside, forming a beautiful corridor made of flashes.
The mid-stage Foundation Establishment old cultivator suddenly felt a chill from his soul, fear flashed in his eyes; his numerous near-death experiences let him know that this tremor stemmed from a premonition of death.
He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to retreat immediately or continue to protect the young master.
If he retreated, perhaps he could survive, but if the young master died, the lord would never let him off, and he would die anyway.
Staying might mean instant death; the dilemma flashed through his mind.
Unfortunately, he was overthinking it; the Third Grade Sword Base projectile shot from the top-grade magic device electromagnetic gun didn’t give him time to think.
With a “crack” sound, a hole appeared on one of his defensive spiritual artifacts, followed by his body being penetrated; and that wasn’t the end.
The Third Grade Sword Base projectile then entered the body of the young cultivator, passing through his heart.
A talisman, halfway activated, slid from his hands.
The light in his eyes dimmed; unwilling to accept his fate, he desperately tried to look towards Li Shiming, and through the corridor formed by the Third Grade Sword Base projectile, he got his last glimpse of Li Shiming.
“Young master, Elder Liu!” Two Foundation Establishment cultivators could never have imagined such a turn of events, with the young master dead and the mid-stage Foundation Establishment old cultivator seriously injured.
Just as they were about to aid the mid-stage Foundation Establishment old cultivator, a tall and bizarre figure had already appeared before them.
Nezha, with three heads and six arms, was empty-handed, but the black claws on his six limbs were as formidable as any spiritual artifact, striking at the two early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Over by the mid-stage Foundation Establishment old cultivator, Li Yuanba’s sword light had also arrived.
The mid-stage Foundation Establishment old cultivator, struggling with his injuries, tried to block the sword light but soon felt the female cultivator’s spiritual pain.
Had he not been injured, perhaps he could have fought back and forth with Li Yuanba based on his higher realm.
But the injured him couldn’t muster much spiritual power, and the destruction of one defensive spiritual artifact had caused a mental impact that he couldn’t shake off in a short time.
At his wit’s end, each of Li Yuanba’s sword strikes brought another shock to his spirit.
Li Shiming was in no hurry; he retracted the top-grade magic device electromagnetic gun, the Third Grade Sword Base bomb disintegrated into pure energy in midair and flew back into him.
He cast ‘Thunder Strike Skill’ again; with his current level of spiritual power, he could use ‘Thunder Strike Skill’ up to five times, each with a different attribute.
This time he employed the fire attribute ‘Thunder Strike Skill,’ a red lightning bolt entered the ‘Shock Thunder Array.’
Nezha did not resort to using the Mid-grade Magic Weapon Gatling, as its power was too small and no longer suitable for battles at the Foundation Establishment stage.
At least until the issue of greater energy was resolved, Li Shiming was unable to equip Nezha with more powerful firearms.
The defensive power of Foundation Establishment cultivators could not be compared with that of Qi Refining cultivators. Even multiple Qi Refining Eight Layer Ice Crystals could not affect Foundation Establishment cultivators, and such attacks were even less effective than a single swipe of Nezha’s own claw.
Li Shiming felt deeply gratified by the combat strength that Nezha, with three heads and six arms, demonstrated at that moment.
In a two-on-one situation, Nezha’s close combat completely overpowered the two early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Having reached the Iron Corpse state, Nezha was now able to mobilize the Yin Cold Spiritual Power within its body. This power strengthened the ‘Flowing Light Dazzling Armor,’ adding another layer of Foundation Establishment defensive power, on top of the Iron Corpse’s inherent defense of the Foundation Establishment stage.
In battle, Nezha did not need to consider defending, only to keep attacking relentlessly.
The Spiritual Artifact attacks of the early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were all blocked by Nezha’s sharp claws. Having three heads and six arms was far too cheating, leaving no blind spots on the entire body, and the eyes could observe the 360-degree battlefield.
Even if an attack was missed, there were extra arms to back it up.
An early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator’s defensive Spiritual Artifact suddenly exploded; it was the effect of fire-attribute lightning. The explosion’s aftermath opened up the cultivator’s defenses, who also suffered from the shockwave of the fire-attribute lightning.
His body stiffened, and without any defense, unable to move, how could Nezha let such an opportunity pass?
Under Nezha’s claw, the early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was directly ripped in two.
The remaining early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was greatly shocked and turned to flee, but with no sense of direction in the surging lightning, where could he possibly run?
Nezha’s speed was not slow. The reason why cultivators from the demonic sects focused on nurturing Corpse Refining was that corpses, at the same realm, could withstand attacks from cultivators of the same level, possessing speed and attack power beyond that of average cultivators of the same rank.
Of course, Corpse Refining was not invincible; if the distance was widened, spells could drag the corpse to its demise.
But Corpse Refining was never used alone; under the owner’s command in battle, the advantages of Corpse Refining could be fully leveraged.
Nezha was even more special, as its three heads and six arms made its close-combat advantage even more pronounced.
Li Shiming did not use the ‘Thunder Strike Skill’ again, as his Spiritual Power was not plentiful, and he couldn’t afford to use it all up.
With a wave of his hand, the nine flying swords of the Nine Palace Sword Formation split into two groups. One set of three flying swords targeted the early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, while the remaining six flying swords attacked the mid-stage Foundation Establishment elder.
This was the final strike before the end of the fight.
The early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, seeing the three flying swords coming at him, hurriedly defended with his Spiritual Artifact.
But each flying sword that struck the Spiritual Artifact caused part of its spirit imprint to be lost.
Before Li Shiming needed to control the swords for a second attack, Nezha swept away the largely-depleted spirit-imprinted Spiritual Artifact with a single claw, killing the Foundation Establishment cultivator instantly.
On the other side, the mid-stage Foundation Establishment elder was hit by a barrage of six flying swords on his defending Spiritual Artifact. Coupled with Li Yuanba’s previous attacks, his Spiritual Artifact completely lost its spirit imprint.
“My master Yi Zhen will avenge me; I’ll be waiting for you in hell!” The mid-stage Foundation Establishment elder shouted miserably.
Then he was pierced through the heart by Li Yuanba’s sword, extinguishing his life.
Li Shiming silently collected all the corpses and gathered the storage bags, finding a storage bracelet on the young cultivator.
Despite these gains, he felt not the slightest bit of joy, his gaze filled with resentment towards the female cultivator under his control.
He was unaware of Baoze Mountain, unaware of Yi Zhen, but anyone that a mid-stage Foundation Establishment elder would recognize as a master must be far superior in strength. He reasoned that Yi Zhen was certainly a Golden Core cultivator, and he had now thoroughly offended one.