Cultivation is just so scientific!

He infused Spiritual Power into the storage bag, but there was no reaction from it.

"Broken?" He considered a possibility, and it was a very likely one.

Given the explosion at that time, the force of two tons of solid explosives, it was lucky the storage bag had not turned to ashes.

Yet, he was still somewhat unwilling to give up. He switched to using Spiritual Thought and, this time, it went smoothly as the Spiritual Thought entered the storage bag.

The storage bag was roughly fifty cubic feet in size, and the items inside were fewer than he had expected.

A longsword, a shield, a small bell, a wooden flying boat, over five thousand low-grade spirit stones, and more than five hundred mid-grade spirit stones, along with several bottles of Elixir Pills.

There were no Jade Scrolls, nor any unnecessary clutter. It was evident that this Foundation Establishment Cultivator was a person with slight obsessive-compulsive disorder; all the items in the storage bag were neatly arranged, and no useless items were stored.

Li Shiming took out the longsword. He practiced the "Sword Manipulation Technique," had a strong interest in longswords, and was also a novice Sword Cultivator.

"This isn't a Magic Artifact, could it be a Spiritual Artifact?" Holding the longsword in hand, he felt something was off.

Being educated in imbuing techniques, he deeply understood Magic Artifacts; this longsword exceeded the category of Magic Artifact in terms of material, spiritual power fluctuation, and the imbuing techniques upon it.

A Spiritual Artifact, a kind of Magic Artifact that only Foundation Establishment Cultivators could use, is an upgraded version of Magic Artifacts, driven by Spiritual Thought, thus named Spiritual Artifact.

Of course, another interpretation of a Spiritual Artifact was that a Magic Artifact has a spirit, capable of resonating with the Cultivator's spiritual thought, thereby possessing greater power.

At this moment, Li Shiming didn't feel any spirit in the Spiritual Artifact longsword he held, although he was capable of Spiritual Thought.

The few Foundation Establishment Cultivators he had encountered didn't use Spiritual Artifacts; this signified that only a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators owned such items.

Wei Yun was a direct disciple of the Golden Core Elder Baili. Although Elder Baili didn't regard this disciple as highly as his own son, Wei Yun's treatment still surpassed that of most Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

This was also why Foundation Establishment Cultivators yearned to become Golden Core Elder's disciples. Even the casual rewards from a Golden Core Elder were the resources most Foundation Establishment Cultivators dreamed of.

Li Shiming didn't know the level of Spiritual Artifacts; this knowledge was beyond the scope of Qi Refining Cultivators.

He couldn't possibly take the Spiritual Artifact to inquire about it, as producing such a treasure would only invite big trouble.

He attempted to transmit a bit of Spiritual Power into the Spiritual Artifact and immediately stopped, as his slight Spiritual Power vanished into the artifact without causing the slightest ripple.

It seemed one would need to reach Foundation Establishment to qualify to wield a Spiritual Artifact.

At that moment, his interest in Spiritual Artifacts diminished significantly. Forget reaching Foundation Establishment; he did not even know how much longer it would take to advance beyond late-stage Qi Refining.

Putting away the Spiritual Artifact longsword, he picked up the shield, which was also a Spiritual Artifact, then picked up the small bell, another Spiritual Artifact, and both the shield and small bell were defense Spiritual Artifacts.

Now Li Shiming was somewhat puzzled; this Foundation Establishment Cultivator had two defensive Spiritual Artifacts in the storage bag, yet had not used them in the explosion.

He couldn't believe that this Foundation Establishment Cultivator possessed any more Spiritual Artifacts, considering just the number of Spiritual Artifacts here was surprising enough.

Moreover, using defensive Spiritual Artifacts might have at least lessened the injuries; it was hardly conceivable that they wouldn't be used in a moment of danger.

Li Shiming would never have guessed that Wei Yun had not used the two defensive Spiritual Artifacts because of his master, Elder Baili. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

Wei Yun had moved behind Elder Baili, believing that Elder Baili could block any danger.

Indeed, Elder Baili had blocked the first wave of the explosion, but his Magic Artifacts were destroyed, and he was injured.

Thinking that Golden Core was nearby, ready to ambush at any moment, Elder Baili used the Blood Escape Technique to flee, leaving Wei Yun to endure the remaining force of the explosion.

Poor Wei Yun didn't utilize any defensive Spiritual Artifacts and was exposed to the blast waves, perishing on the spot.

Li Shiming then took out the wooden flying boat, which he could use.

Flying Boats are a special type of Magic Artifact; most flying boats do not require Cultivators to supply Spiritual Power and fly using the energy of spirit stones or similar sources.

To travel using a Flying Boat usually meant embarking on ultra-long distance flights, so a cultivator had to maintain their strongest state, always ready to deal with any potential dangers.

This required the Flying Boat not to consume the cultivator's Spiritual Power Pattern, and only necessary, the cultivator would provide more Spiritual Power Pattern to increase the speed of the Flying Boat.

The Flying Boat he held was a single-person Flying Boat.

"Finally, I have something usable!" he chuckled to himself.

But he had only spoken halfway when he suddenly stopped, contemplating a serious matter.

This Foundation Establishment Cultivator was attacked alongside Elder Baili, who was at the Golden Core Stage. If the Holy Ice Sect came to know that he possessed this Flying Boat, what would the consequences be?

Although he had long been targeted by the Holy Ice Sect, the degrees of being targeted varied.

Previously, being targeted only went as far as sending assassins.

If he were implicated in the incident involving Elder Baili's injuries, he couldn't guarantee that a Golden Core Elder wouldn't personally come after him.

As for sect protection, he was even less certain—would the sect offend a Golden Core cultivator just for a small Mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator like himself?

"What is all this trouble!" he muttered while frustratingly stuffing everything back into his storage bag.

He was too lazy to even look at the bottles of Elixir Pills, their labels bore names he had never heard of, presumably meant only for Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Elixir Pills wouldn't expose anything, but could he, a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator, dare to use such pills?

A single pill could blow him up; what a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could endure, he could not.

The only usable items were the Spirit Stones. He took out the Spirit Stones and set them aside, then stored the storage bag in the machine room space to serve as a warehouse.

By now, he understood what the storage bag was all about—it was probably a Spiritual Artifact, hence it did not react to Spiritual Power Pattern but could be easily opened with Spiritual Thought.

He dared not use the spoils from the Foundation Establishment Cultivator, but the spoils from the two late-stage Qi Refining Cultivators from the Holy Ice Sect were of no concern.

From the intelligence he gathered, Elder Baili and the Foundation Establishment Cultivator suspected that the two late-stage Qi Refining Cultivators had been sent to assassinate him, so it would be normal for him to possess their items.

As for retaliation from the Holy Ice Sect, as long as it wasn't from Golden Core or Foundation Establishment stages, he could still withstand it.

Li Shiming took out two storage bags, these functioned normally; Spiritual Power Pattern was all that was needed to open them.

The insides matched a Foundation Establishment Cultivator's style: few items, two top-grade magic tool longswords, unfortunately of the water attribute and ice series. He had no trace of a Water Spirit Root, using a water attribute top-grade magic tool longsword would reduce its power, and the required Spiritual Power Pattern to drive it would increase.

Two similarly water attribute ice series top-grade magic tool shields, amounting to about two thousand low-grade Spirit Stones in total.

Fortunately, there was a glittering Jade Flying Boat, which made Li Shiming feel his efforts were not in vain.

Holding the Jade Flying Boat in his hands, he saw the mark of the Holy Ice Sect on it, probably meaning it belonged to the sect rather than the two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

This was normal; the same was true within the Heavenly Sea Sect. When cultivators needed to travel far for missions, they could apply for a Flying Boat from the sect.

To apply for a Flying Boat, the sect needed to assess the risks; Flying Boats were expensive and not just available upon request.

For the two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators from the Holy Ice Sect, who were on a mission assigned by Elder Baili, applying for a Flying Boat from the Holy Ice Sect was no problem at all.

Holding the Jade Flying Boat in hand, a cold icy feeling spread in the air.

This time, Li Shiming had no complaints; he used the 'Dragon Drawing Technique' to start refining the Jade Flying Boat.

Although the Black Sparrow Wing aided in flight, there was no convenience like that of a Flying Boat. After all, he always had a dream, like Yin Shilan, to travel across the cloud seas in a boat.

Of course, having Yin Shilan by his side to drink tea while boating would also be a delightful affair.

The refinement of the Jade Flying Boat was not very difficult; sect Flying Boats were generally easy to refine.