Li Shiming approached the giant drum. It looked small in the sky, but when you actually stand before it, the drumhead alone measures three meters in diameter.
His Divine Thought landed on the giant drum, examining its condition.
The drum’s skin, of unknown origin, bore natural runes on its surface, while the drum body was crafted from Fourth Grade Spirit Wood, and the drum frame from the bones of powerful creatures.
The drumstick beside the giant drum is a long bone. Both the giant drum and the drumstick have a Fourth Grade aura.
Although this giant drum hasn’t been refined into a magical item, he has heard the Asura beat this drum before and knows its power is terrifying.
He tried it out and then stored the giant drum into his spatial items.
Having obtained the Six-fingered Sound Demon’s legacy, even though it mainly focused on the zither, it covered other instruments as well.
Thus, this giant drum is somewhat useful to him, especially considering its grade; a Fourth Grade giant drum is definitely a top-tier treasure on the Beishu Continent.
After acquiring the giant drum, some greedy thoughts arose in Li Shiming’s mind. Since the Asura couldn’t detect him, he flew around this space, hoping to find another giant drum beside an Asura.
Clearly, the discovery of this isolated giant drum means something happened to the Asura here. He spent quite some time but found no other giant drum.
Finally, he found a palace. There were no signs of any Asura around the palace.
Yet, as he approached the palace, he realized why there were no Asuras guarding here.
The palace was entirely black, adorned with intricate reliefs. Whether it was the palace itself or the reliefs, when he came within a hundred meters of the palace, he felt a terrifying pressure.
In his perception, this pressure exceeded that released by a Nascent Soul Ancestor many times over.
However, the Nascent Soul Ancestor’s pressure affects not only the spirit but also the physical body.
While the palace’s pressure purely affects the spirit.
On the spirit level, Li Shiming’s resilience is exceptionally strong; he has a hundred and ninety-one brains to share the spiritual pressure.
No matter how intense the spiritual pressure, once divided by a hundred and ninety-one, the damage it could cause is minimized to extremes.
So, although Li Shiming felt the palace’s pressure was very strong, he still walked towards the palace gates.
The first to be overwhelmed was the Heavenly Ghost, which signaled him. Though nearly invulnerable, it is not impervious to spirit-level attacks.
Even with the weakening effect of the Heavenly Demon shell, the Heavenly Ghost, being merely Third Grade, couldn’t withstand the overwhelming spiritual pressure.
Li Shiming mentally moved, collecting the Heavenly Ghost into the machine room space.
Step by step, he advanced towards the palace gates, with every step, the pressure from the palace intensified slightly.
One meter from the palace gates, he felt he had reached his limit. The spiritual pressure reduced to one one-hundred-ninety-first was still overpowering due to the palace’s immense pressure.
Considering this challenge from a Mahayana Realm Power to select a successor, only a Nascent Soul Stage Ancestor could catch the eye of a Mahayana Realm Power.
It wouldn’t be a regular Nascent Soul Stage Ancestor.
Moreover, as per the owner of this place, Great Power Zhai Ge’s judgment, an ancestor with insufficient strength wouldn’t reach the peak even with his legacy and wouldn’t protect it well.
Thus, all trials here are set according to the standard of the top talents among Nascent Soul Cultivators.
No one expected Li Shiming to exploit various loopholes, reaching the fourth test with only one meter left to pass.
He looked up at the plaque above the door, which read ’Asura’.
Li Shiming dared not advance further, as his life-bound magical artifact, IBMz15, warned him that if the spiritual pressure escalated, IBMz15 couldn’t withstand and would collapse.
He glanced at the final meter, considering a possibility.
Without hesitation, he took out the Fourth Grade Locking Vein Plate, sat atop the Sub-fourth Grade Locking Vein Plate, and activated the Nascent Soul Level Spirit Vein.
There, he began cultivating the ’Five Rhymes Qi Cultivation Technique’. He had long sensed the loosening of his advancement bottleneck, and now, cultivating the ’Five Rhymes Qi Cultivation Technique’, the bottleneck within him suddenly broke.
Copious amounts of Spiritual Energy surged into him. Five Golden Cores greedily absorbed the Spiritual Energy, and upon reaching a critical point, the five Golden Cores quivered together, enhancing their qualities.
Right before the Asura Palace, he advanced into a Late-stage Golden Core Cultivator.
Upon advancing to a Late-stage Golden Core Cultivator, his capability to withstand spiritual pressure improved.
Though only a tenth of his Spiritual Power Pattern remained within him due to the advancement, its refinement increased, multiplying its potency.
If battle ensued now, truthfully, he might not be as strong as before, reduced to short combat bursts, as prolonged battle would deplete his Spiritual Power Pattern.
Luckily, he need not engage in combat. With his spirit resilience boosted to a late Golden Core stage and after calculations by his life-bound artifact IBMz15, he completed the final step, the last meter.
He felt his spirit as if pressed under a mountain; if this pressure lasted beyond two breaths, he couldn’t endure.
However, he didn’t need to withstand beyond two breaths, as with this step, he entered within the gates.