NOVEL NEXT Chapter 563: Sneak Attack
This flying sword magic artifact's sword blank was the longest artifact refining endeavor Li Shiming had ever undertaken, spending a whole six months on it, not including the design phase.
To inscribe sharp runes on a sword blank imperceptible to Divine Sense, he conducted multiple experiments using other materials, relying solely on the tactile sensation in his workshop space, thereby enhancing inscription precision to 5 nanometers.
This is equivalent to blind engraving; Divine Sense is like the cultivator's eyes, and without its aid, it's akin to having no help from eyes.
With the help of his personal magic artifact IBMz15, he mastered the technique after practicing for a period.
Following that was the inscription on the sword blank, due to relying only on tactile sensation for inscription, the process was not fast.
As the inscription time lengthened, his mastery of the technique continuously improved, allowing him to increase brain capacity and perform multithreaded blind engraving, finally completing the refining process over half a year.
Otherwise, just the sword blank for this flying sword artifact might have taken ten years to finish.
Actually, ten years is not considered long for the refining of a top-level fourth-grade magical treasure.
Li Shiming, with his personal magic artifact IBMz15, anticipated all scenarios while designing the flying sword magic artifact, and during the refining process, every step aligned with the design, ensuring the 5-nanometer precision left no room for error.
A normal cultivator, during artifact refining, needs to continually adjust the flame temperature and think concurrently.
When inscribing runes, the material characteristics and the position to inscribe can influence the inscription, and the overall energy balance of the artifact must be maintained; any imbalance makes the artifact subpar.
During combat, internal energy imbalance becomes a fatal weakness of the artifact.
These factors must be constantly adjusted and considered during artifact refining; the higher the grade of the treasure, the greater the difficulty.
Ninety million sharp runes are concentrated throughout the sword blank, requiring extensive calculations for energy balance to position each sharp rune optimally.
All these tasks were executed by IBMz15, saving him considerable time.
"Ninety million sharp runes, ten million sharp formations, I wonder what kind of flying sword will emerge from this refining?" Li Shiming mumbled to himself while gazing at the sword blank in his hand.
Considering the time, his incarnation Li Yuanba is also approaching the Great Elder Realm in cultivation, meaning he needs to leave the sect to visit Li Yuanba.
Seizing this opportunity, he plans to find a secluded place away from the sect to complete the final step of refining this sword blank.
"Master, I need to leave the sect for a few days!" Li Shiming sent a message to Grandmaster Hu.
"Be cautious, the sect's relations with the Sun Concealing Sect have been tense lately!" Grandmaster Hu replied.
"Has something happened?" Li Shiming queried through his Identity Jade Disc.
Though the Sun Concealing Sect has always had a discordant relationship with the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, that's quite typical; a sect like Sun Concealing, being a Demon Sect, naturally has adversarial ties with righteous sects.
"During your two years of seclusion, the sect's investigation revealed that the Gu Feng Sect was provoked by the Sun Concealing Sect's machinations behind the scenes!" Grandmaster Hu replied.
It turns out that even after Gu Feng Sect's retreat, the Ten Thousand Beast Sect did not cease their investigations.
The Gu Feng Sect, having no capacity to oppose the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, shared intelligence, through which the Ten Thousand Beast Sect discovered traces of the Sun Concealing Sect.
"Master, I'll be careful!" This matter would not affect Li Shiming's travel plans.
Conflicts among sects never cease.
The Sun Concealing Sect's aim is clear: to weaken the Ten Thousand Beast Sect's strength.
The Ten Thousand Beast Sect has been performing exceptionally well these years, with the sect displaying formidable heritage in both the number of great cultivators and the core cultivators in reserve.
The four major sects on Dongqi Continent have closely matched strength levels; if the Ten Thousand Beast Sect grows too strong, that balance would be disrupted.
Li Shiming speculated that beyond the Sun Concealing Sect, perhaps other major sects might also be involved.
The Ten Thousand Beast Sect's cultivators are formidable combatants, with Nascent Soul Cultivators having potent spiritual pets matching their strength; even great cultivators show amplified battle prowess supported by spiritual pets.
Yet this is unrelated to Li Shiming, leaving the sect leaders and great cultivators to wrestle with such headaches.
Li Shiming departed the sect, his confidence in his personal safety absolute.
Currently clad in the fourth-grade 'Water Dragon Taoist Robe', he can fend off even a great cultivator's strike, let alone the assaults of Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivators.
Five 'Five-Colored Flying Phoenix Swords' surpassing the Third-Grade Artifact Tribulation Flying Sword 'Flowing Light Star Meteor' significantly, even more aligned with his Five Elements Attributes.
These alone enhanced his strength, especially defensive power, coupled with 'Distance in a Step', granting him a chance to escape even when facing a great cultivator.
Little did he know that upon leaving the sect, a cultivator observed him and used a special communication token to send out a message.
Mu Jing from the Sun Concealing Sect was irritably sipping Spiritual Wine in his cave abode.
His sect's Alchemy Master disappointed him yet again; the prepared alchemy materials ultimately yielded only a fourth-grade low-level Limb Regeneration Spirit Pill.
This was his fifth batch of alchemy materials, consuming the better part of his wealth.
He simply wished for the Alchemy Master to concoct a Fourth-grade Advanced Limb Regeneration Elixir to restore his lost left leg.