"Ah! It seems I still need to enter the Green Field Cave Heaven!" Li Shiming let out a long sigh. He had been diligently cultivating for all these years, and felt he was just a breath away from that step, yet the barrier remained untouchable.
If other cultivators knew his thoughts, they would probably jump up on the spot.
He had stayed in the Great Elder Realm for only ten or so years.
A normal Great Elder usually requires a hundred years of accumulation to have any possibility of advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage.
But it’s no wonder he’s anxious, as his current state has reached the full level of a Great Elder.
Five Golden Cores, Body Refinement, Yuqing Thunder Scripture, Heavenly Thunder Sword Intent, and Spirit have all reached the Great Elder level, with no further advancement possible.
The only thing improving slowly is the ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ attack divine skill.
The slow improvement of ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ is not because of him, but because ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ is originally a skill only Nascent Soul Stage cultivators can cultivate. Without clever tactics, he couldn’t possibly cultivate ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ during the Golden Core Stage.
Li Shiming took out the ’Cloud Stepping Order’, which he originally intended to give its opportunity to his avatar Li Yuanba.
Obviously, he underestimated the difficulty of advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage and overestimated his own talent.
He has been in the Ten Thousand Beast Sect for ten years and has already become the fourth-ranked alchemy master in the sect.
In the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, perhaps the top three Nascent Soul Stage alchemy masters’ positions are indistinct, as their levels are quite similar, each with their own expertise.
However, the fourth ranking of Li Shizhen has no opposition from any cultivator, achieved through his growing fame in alchemy.
The top three Nascent Soul Stage alchemy masters hold their ranks as they can produce mid to late Nascent Soul Stage fourth-grade spirit pills, which Li Shiming cannot concoct.
As for the crafting of Nascent Soul Early Stage fourth-grade spirit pills, there is no dissent within the Ten Thousand Beast Sect. His consistent performance has led most of the sect’s orders for these pills to fall into his hands.
He produces fourth-grade spirit pills that reach intermediate quality, barely missing the threshold for high quality.
These years, he has never left the sect, and besides extensive alchemy and cultivation, his greatest achievement has been recording most of the jade scrolls from the Nascent Soul Stage Book Collection Pavilion, vastly outpacing many local cultivators in knowledge.
"I hope there’s no trouble on this outing!" Li Shiming murmured to himself.
He has never left the sect, which kept Elder Chen Zhou from taking new actions against him.
But if he leaves, who knows what may happen; nevertheless, he isn’t too concerned.
He sent a message to Master Jiang Hong and also to Sect Master Ji, informing them that he will leave to seek opportunities once his alchemy tasks are completed.
Master Jiang Hong replied, advising him to be cautious and to send a message if any trouble arises.
Sect Master Ji simply acknowledged, presumably occupied with other matters.
Li Shiming spent over ten more days finishing his alchemy tasks and handed over the mid-level fourth-grade spirit pills.
Alchemy brought him considerable rewards; his earnings are fifty percent higher than the usual rate, yet Nascent Soul cultivators still prefer to give him their fourth-grade alchemy materials.
Currently, he has accumulated a stockpile of fourth-grade array materials and up to fifteen sets of fourth-grade corpse refining materials, which are crucial for upgrading Silver Corpses to Gold Corpses.
It’s just that since he joined the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, where few cultivators choose corpse refining, amassing so many materials wouldn’t be feasible in a Demon Sect like Sun Concealing Sect.
The demand for fourth-grade corpse refining materials in the Ten Thousand Beast Sect is extremely low, lowering their value.
Unfortunately, even with so many fourth-grade corpse refining materials, along with a good number of Golden Corpse Cores, and quite a few Peak Silver Corpses, his inability to reach the Nascent Soul Stage means he can’t advance his Silver Corpses to Gold Corpses.
As Li Shiming was leaving, he took everything he could carry, uncertain how long he’d be away.
His avatar Li Yuanba and Venerable Huijing were taken into the system space for safety, as the Dongqi Continent is dangerous, with no intention of releasing Li Yuanba.
With plenty of resources, Li Yuanba’s main focus remains on cultivating, reaching the Great Elder stage sooner.
That day, the Cloud Stepping Order glowed, and Li Shiming took it out to see a scroll appearing on it, showing cloud-wreathed mountains. One mountain peak was specially marked.
He understood that this marked the location of the Green Field Cave Heaven, which only those with the Cloud Stepping Order could know where the latest entrance opens.
He didn’t even need to check the drone satellite system; holding the Cloud Stepping Order allowed him to sense the direction of those mountains.
As long as he holds the Cloud Stepping Order, he won’t lose his way to the Green Field Cave Heaven.
Having waited long enough, he swiftly left the cave dwelling, his figure transforming into a flash of lightning heading outside the sect gates.
His movements naturally caught the attention of other cultivators, and Elder Chen Zhou had been watching him all along.
Elder Chen Zhou immediately took out his Identity Jade Disc, prepared to use his authority to track Li Shiming’s movements.
Yet, when he brought out the Identity Jade Disc, he found he couldn’t trace Li Shiming’s Identity Jade Disc.