Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 59 News (Please collect, please follow!)

"When will I be able to break through!" Li Shiming, feeling the spiritual energy vortex within his body, murmured to himself.

Ever since he had drunk spiritual tea at Gu Jia's place, his internal spiritual power had surged, and with half a year of cultivation and the supplement of spirit food, he had finally reached the peak of the Qi Refining Second Level.

He could feel a barrier appearing in front of him, and breaking through this barrier would allow him entrance into the Qi Refining Third Level.

His consciousness entered the spatial room, where he saw the spirit tea tree that had grown six branches. There were not many leaves on it, and he somewhat reluctantly refrained from picking them.

Compared with the spirit bamboo, the growth rate of the spirit tea tree was much slower.

In more than half a year, the spirit tea tree had barely managed to branch, but it was still far from its normal form.

Harvesting now would definitely harm the growth of the spirit tea tree, slowing down the time it would take for the tree to mature.

"Let's wait a bit longer!" Li Shiming gave up on the idea of harvesting spiritual tea, as his cultivation was not considered slow.

Of course, his speed of cultivation was compared with that of a Loose Cultivator. It had taken him a year to come from having no foundation at all to just a step away from reaching the Qi Refining Third Level.

The Loose Cultivators he had encountered had generally taken about ten years to reach this stage.

During these six months, he had accumulated over two thousand catties of spirit rice and a large amount of various low-level talismans.

If not for the lack of materials for making talismanic ink, he would have produced even more talismans.

Since the Hao Family had been destroyed, other cultivators had also tried to engage in the talisman business, but due to resource issues, these businesses had remained small.

Li Shiming had a great demand for talismanic ink, and moreover, he did not want to attract attention, so he had not conducted any transactions with Loose Cultivators again.

He was very aware of his situation; it seemed that no one dared to provoke him, but that was not due to his power, but rather the influence of Gu Jia.

Since Gu Jia could not always be by his side, he needed to keep a low profile as much as possible to get through this period.

Just as he was thinking about Gu Jia, a 'Hundred-Mile Communication Token' flew towards him, the small bird formed from the token still holding a talisman in its mouth. Find more to read at empire

Li Shiming reached out, and the small bird hopped into his hand.

The bird transformed into a letter, along with the talisman, and both fell into his hand.

"Recently, a cultivator has been controlling corpse refining to commit murders. Keep this 'Hundred-Mile Communication Token' safely; if you encounter trouble, activate it immediately for help!"

Li Shiming looked at the letter in his hand. Even if Gu Jia had ulterior motives towards him, he had to accept this kindness.

He had seen the 'Hundred-Mile Communication Token' many times before, but unfortunately, he did not possess the spells needed to make it himself.

The 'Hundred-Mile Communication Token' sent by Gu Jia had already set the transmission target, which was the small courtyard in the Imperial Palace where Gu Jia spent most of his time every day.

"Corpse refining?" Li Shiming tried to recall his limited knowledge of immortal cultivation but found nothing about corpse refining.

Yet, by the name alone, he could tell that this was a method of transforming corpses for one's own use.

Li Shiming was not without channels of information; he was in contact with fellow Advanced Scholars of his cohort.

These Advanced Scholars had entered various departments within Great Xia, and during their exchanges, he would hear many internal news.

The scholars of his time were a tightly knit group, but they had not grown significantly yet and were still at the early stages of their careers.

The conflicts between Advanced Scholars during this period were rare. Furthermore, traditionally, those who passed the exam in the same year were one of the greatest supports in the bureaucratic circles; hence, they maintained relatively close contact.

Even though Li Shiming held no official position, the Emperor's favors towards him were not lacking. His fellow Advanced Scholars would not look down upon him, and they would invite him to any gatherings.

At these gatherings, he heard about the strange cases that had recently occurred, involving at least a dozen instances of victims being drained of all their blood.

At this moment, combining this with Gu Jia's reminder, Li Shiming suspected that these were probably the deeds of Corpse Refining Cultivators.

However, the information available to ordinary people was different from that of Cultivators. He thought he should find a Cultivator to inquire about the major recent events.

He immediately thought of Mr. Liu, who had dealt with him a few times in the past six months and had shown him a great deal of courtesy.

He also knew that Mr. Liu had recently lived in the city, not because the Liu Family, like some Loose Cultivators, had moved into the city.

Instead, the Liu Family was divided into two parts, one part of the Cultivators stayed in the original family location, and the other part entered the city.

This was to prevent instances like the destruction of the Hao Family, being caught in one fell swoop.

The other three Cultivation Families had handled it similarly to the Liu Family.

It is a common perception among Loose Cultivators that everything would get better after the Ascension Conference, anticipated to only last until the end of that event.

It was precisely because of the Ascension Conference that so many Cultivators came to the Central Capital, and also took the opportunity to earn more spirit stones in the markets of the city.

Upon Li Shiming's visit, Mr. Liu personally welcomed him at the door.

"Mr. Li, what brings you to my place?" Mr. Liu invited Li Shiming into the living room, and after both were seated, host and guest respectively, Mr. Liu asked with a forced smile.

"I learned from Brother Liu that some Cultivators are creating chaos with Corpse Refining. I came to inquire about the details!" Li Shiming was straightforward in stating his purpose.

"I am aware of this matter. Just yesterday, a Corpse Refining Cultivator killed Mr. Gu of Qi Refining Third Level less than a mile from here. Mr. Gu has already reported this to his sect, and additionally, Loose Cultivators have accepted the mission issued by Mr. Gu to track the whereabouts of the Corpse Refining Cultivator!" Mr. Liu explained with a worried look.

Li Shiming now understood why Gu Jia had warned him. There had been a murder in Central Capital, and the victim was a Cultivator.

At other times, even if a Cultivator was killed, it would not have much to do with Gu Jia.

But these Loose Cultivators came to seek refuge under Gu Jia and ended up being killed. If Gu Jia didn't take any action, the Sky Sea Sect would likely find it difficult to manage these Loose Cultivators in the future.

"Is this Cultivator very strong? Brother Gu is even preparing to report it to the sect?" Li Shiming asked in surprise.

Gu Jia was the strongest Cultivator in the vicinity. Even he had to report to the sect, which made Li Shiming realize the seriousness of the situation.

"I am not sure how strong exactly, but he is at least as strong as those in the middle stage of Qi Refining, and he might even be at the late-stage of Qi Refining, just like Mr. Gu!" Mr. Liu replied with a bitter smile.

Li Shiming's hair stood on end. A powerful Cultivator, hidden like a hunter, posed a significant danger to someone like him who was only at Qi Refining Second Level.

No wonder Gu Jia had sent him a 'Hundred-Mile Communication Token'; the danger was indeed severe.

"Currently, Cultivators are trying to stay together as much as possible and are no longer acting alone. We suspect that the Cultivator who came this time may be related to the one who exterminated the Hao Family six months ago!" Mr. Liu continued.

"I hope we find this Cultivator soon; otherwise, I won't be able to sleep peacefully at night!" Li Shiming said gravely, careful not to reveal the whole truth.

Having collected the information, he didn't linger much longer with Mr. Liu. Taking advantage of the early evening, he headed home.

He certainly did not want to be walking outside after dark, becoming prey to the hidden Cultivator lurking in the darkness.