Chapter 632: Chapter 362: The Transformation into a Flood Dragon_2
From snake to Jiao, not every snake can accomplish this transformation.
Li Shiming never considered this aspect because, within the ruins of the Five Qi Sect, that huge Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake remained in its original snake form and had not transformed into a Jiao.
The evolution from snake to Jiao is a matter of probability, related to the bloodline within the snake’s body and also to the breakthrough environment and conditions.
The Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake itself possesses a trace of draconic blood, and throughout countless millennia, the snake eggs continuously absorbed Spiritual Energy for nourishment.
Eventually, the Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake encountered Li Shiming, an Alchemy Master who provided arguably the most optimal resources for its evolution, thus enabling it to meet the highest conditions for breakthrough.
The Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake, or perhaps it should be called the Absolute Spirit Illusion Jiao now.
The six-meter-long Absolute Spirit Illusion Jiao, with its body covered in blue scales, long and perfect, exuded a sense of power.
“Illusion Spirit Jiao, do you like this name?” Li Shiming communicated with the Absolute Spirit Illusion Jiao through his mind.
“Ao!” The Absolute Spirit Illusion Jiao let out a cry, resembling the chant of a dragon.
Li Shiming sensed that the Absolute Spirit Illusion Jiao was fond of the name, and as a Great Demon, it should indeed have its own name.
The Absolute Spirit Illusion Jiao flew to Li Shiming’s side, joyfully circling around him.
Li Shiming sensed fluctuations of Water Attribute Spiritual Power as the Absolute Spirit Illusion Jiao danced; it seemed that in addition to its poison attribute, it had also acquired control over the water attribute after its transformation into a Jiao.
“Illusion Spirit Jiao, try using your invisibility!” Li Shiming instructed with a smile.
The Illusion Spirit Jiao instantly became invisible. Even Li Shiming’s Divine Thought could not detect it, but through their contract, he could sense that it was right beside him.
It seems the Illusion Spirit Jiao’s strongest ability, invisibility, had not disappeared but had become even stronger.
Now that the Illusion Spirit Jiao had transformed, Li Shiming’s expectations of it had grown. He looked forward to the day when the Illusion Spirit Jiao would turn into a dragon.
“You return to the cave-dwelling first; I need to take care of things here!” Li Shiming instructed the Illusion Spirit Jiao after detecting that its breakthrough had alarmed many cultivators.
The Illusion Spirit Jiao flew towards the cave-dwelling, its speed extremely fast and its size continuously shrinking during flight, eventually condensing to just a few inches.
Li Shiming cast a spell and opened a channel in the Mountain Protection Array Formation.
Elder Su entered Sword Holding Peak while the other cultivators consciously left.
“Master, this is the Spiritual Tea I’ve roasted, please take it and enjoy it at your leisure!” After paying his respects, Li Shiming handed over a jade box and said.
“Shiming, is there anything you need my help with?” Elder Su asked with a smile, looking at his proud disciple.
Although Li Shiming regularly offered his respects, the gift of Third Grade Spirit Tea at their meeting clearly indicated a favor was being sought.
“Master, my Spiritual Pet is a bit special, and I would prefer others not to know about it. Please, can you explain on behalf of your disciple?” Li Shiming said, pushing the jade box into Elder Su’s hands.
Given the commotion this time, he was afraid that the sect would certainly inquire.
While his status was high, having his master cover for him meant he would not have to face those troubles personally.
“I don’t care what kind of Spiritual Pet you’ve taken, and the sect will care even less. As long as you do nothing to betray the sect, it will support you in everything,” Elder Su said, accepting the jade box.
With Elder Su’s statement, Li Shiming was much relieved.
Actually, even if the Illusion Spirit Jiao were exposed, the impact on Li Shiming wouldn’t be too great.
However, once word of a Jiao class Spiritual Pet reached the Spirit Beast Clan, it might well cause some trouble.
Li Yuanba’s clone was within the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, well-aware of matters concerning Spiritual Pets, especially those about cultivators accidentally obtaining powerful young spirit beasts and making them their Spiritual Pets.
This wasn’t entirely a good thing. The Spirit Beast Clans held strong views against human cultivators adopting Spiritual Pets. While they might turn a blind eye to ordinary spirit beasts being kept as Spiritual Pets, if one were to take a highly noble blooded Spiritual Pet, then the Spirit Beast Clan would likely act to rescue it.
After seeing off Elder Su, Li Shiming returned to his cave dwelling.
The tiny Illusion Spirit Jiao flew onto his hand, coiling around his wrist like a bracelet.
This was the place where the Illusion Spirit Jiao, while still in its juvenile form, liked to stay the most. Now that it had become a Great Demon, it had the ability to freely control its size but still favored staying like this.
Li Shiming simply let it be, as this also made it convenient for the Illusion Spirit Jiao to follow him.
If the Illusion Spirit Jiao maintained its six-meter state, the only option would have been to keep it inside a spatial item, which was somewhat cramped for its size.
After communicating with the Illusion Spirit Jiao, he took out two Mountain Peak Treasures.
He had refined both Mountain Peak Treasures, and during the time since his return, his mind had been continuously exploring knowledge related to Mountain Peak Type Magical Treasures.
The two Mountain Peak Treasures were gains from his last outing, known as Galaxy Peak and Rocky Peak, with the latter being a Great Elder Level Cultivator’s treasure, of a higher quality than the Galaxy Peak treasure.
After such a long period of research, he decided to merge the two Mountain Peak Treasures into one.
He didn’t need two Mountain Peak Treasures; one energy-consuming treasure was enough.
His life-bound magical treasure, the IBMz15, had provided a new design for the treasure, specifically tailored to the characteristics of both Galaxy Peak and Rocky Peak.
What he needed to do was to merge the two peaks together through Artifact Refining techniques, a task that was anything but easy.
Under the sight of ‘Divine Vision,’ every Array Formation Pattern and every marking on the two Mountain Peak Treasures was distinctly visible, and the materials they were composed of were clearly analyzed by him.
He exhaled a breath of alchemical fire, which came from a fire-attributed Golden Core.
In this period of cultivation, the overall spiritual power within his five Golden Cores had been greatly enhanced; a Golden Core cultivator like him, who continuously used Third Grade Cultivation Assistance High-level Spirit Pills, was exceedingly rare.
Third-grade Spiritual Medicines, although cultivated in large quantities by major sects, or harvested from resource-rich lands, were in limited supply given the number of Golden Core cultivators within such sects, leading to a very small allocation per cultivator.
Almost no Golden Core Cultivator had the luxury to focus exclusively on cultivation without considering the consumption of Third Grade Advanced Spirit Pills.
Golden Core Cultivators typically completed sect missions and exchanged the rewards for Third-grade Spiritual Medicines, or adventured outside, snatching Third-grade Spiritual Medicines from dangerous places, then hiring Alchemy Masters to refine Spirit Pills for them.
Only after accumulating a certain number of Third-grade Spirit Pills did Golden Core Cultivators choose to go into seclusion to enhance their strength.
Without the aid of Third-grade Spirit Pills, the advancement in cultivation for a Golden Core Cultivator relying solely on Spiritual Energy would be so slow that even a lifespan of five hundred years wouldn’t be sufficient to waste.
With a sufficient supply of Third Grade Advanced Spirit Pills, the spiritual power in Li Shiming’s Golden Cores was enough to refine artifacts.
A breath of alchemical fire was expelled, this fire influenced by the ‘Nanming Leaving Fire’, had its power significantly greater than the flames of a normal fire-attribute Golden Core.
The corners of both Mountain Peak Treasures began to melt, and the melted material, under the control of his Divine Thought, merged together to form a new embryonic form of the treasure.
Then he spewed out a second breath of alchemical fire, melting a small part of both Mountain Peak Treasures, which again merged and added to the embryonic form of the newly forming treasure.
This was an immensely complex task, and with Li Shiming’s alchemical fire, it was impossible to melt the entire Mountain Peak Treasure. He could only gradually melt parts with alchemical fire and then merge them to form a new embryonic treasure.
If an Artifact Refiner were watching, they would certainly criticize this method as unworkable due to its immense difficulty.
But Li Shiming was full of confidence; he continuously spewed out alchemical fire, and when his spiritual power was insufficient, he consumed Third Grade Advanced Spirit Pills to recover and resumed artifact refining with the fire.
An utterly unrealistic plan was taking shape detail by detail under the precise calculations of his life-bound magical treasure IBMz15 and Li Shiming’s artifact-refining methods.
Based on his understanding of Mountain Peak Treasures, combining the features of Galaxy Peak and Rocky Peak, as well as the artifact refining techniques from Li Yuanba’s Ten Thousand Sword Peak Treasure, a Mountain Peak Treasure was slowly taking shape in his hands.
With the aid of ‘Divine Vision,’ he added numerous micro-scale Array Formation Patterns to the Mountain Peak Treasure, which made many aspects of it far surpass both Galaxy Peak and Rocky Peak.