Li Shiming sorted the items into categories within his machine room space, as the inner space of his storage bag was very small, only about one cubic meter.

    He now needed to deal with the spirit plants he had purchased, which was indeed the most important matter.

    Only the roots of the spirit plants were left; the chances of survival were already low, and waiting any longer would leave no opportunity at all.

    In the machine room space, his consciousness focused on the plant roots and the two branches, which had no leaves but five protruding buds.

    Based on these, he could not determine what kind of spirit plant it was; the ''Basics of Spirit Plant Cultivation'' did not mention it.

    Regardless of the type of spirit plant, judging by the size and shape of this root, it seemed to be a shrub-like plant.

    Li Shiming accessed the database on the large-scale server IBMz15, where he found the configuration for shrub''s soilless nutrient solution and the techniques for shrub grafting.

    He first created a sterilizing solution using chemical means, cleaned the roots thoroughly, especially the cut surface.

    Then, he placed the roots in the shrub soilless nutrient solution and performed the ''Spring Breeze and Rain Skill'' to water the roots.

    Next, he grafted the two branches onto the root''s cut surface using grafting techniques.

    Within the environment of the machine room space and through his controlled consciousness, Li Shiming could create a sterile environment for the spirit plant artificially.

    After completing all this, whether the spirit plant could survive was up to fate.

    Just as he prepared to study the newly obtained spell, footsteps came from outside his study.

    "Si Qin, what is it?" Li Shiming asked with a furrowed brow.

    He had long since ordered that there were to be no disturbances while he was in his study.

    "Young Master, Tributor Gu has arrived in the reception hall!" Si Qin replied softly.

    "I''ll be there right away!" Li Shiming hastily packed up his belongings and stood to leave the study.

    He had instructed everyone in the household that when Tributor Gu came, they should invite him in without announcement.

    The answers that Gu Jia had provided were greatly beneficial to him.

    Li Shiming stood at the center of the room and slapped his hand down towards the desk ruler.

    As he made this slap, he mobilized the spiritual power within the Spiritual Energy Vortex in his body, expelling it through his palm.

    His palm was still about a meter away from the ruler, yet the spiritual power emitted from his palm turned into a gust of wind that blew the ruler off the desk.

    When the ruler left the desk, it disintegrated into tiny wooden chips scattering on the floor.

    Li Shiming looked at his palm in surprise; he knew that this slap did not utilize any spells, but was completely formed by mobilizing Spiritual Power Patterns.

    It turned out that cultivators did not even need to use spells—their inherent spiritual power alone possessed immense destructive power.

    Additionally, infusing spiritual power into his legs, though not as fast as when augmented by a ''Basic Light Body Talisman,'' also managed to increase his running speed several times.

    Of course, these uses of spiritual power were the most basic; cultivators could unleash the full power of spiritual power only by using spells and magic artifacts.

    Take magic artifacts, for instance; each one is inscribed with a Rune Array, creating special effects.

    When using a magic artifact, one needs to activate the Rune Array with spiritual power to properly utilize it.

    As for how to recognize and activate a Rune Array, that''s not something that can be explained in a phrase or two; it requires going to a sect for learning.

    Although Gu Jia was optimistic about Li Shiming''s future, he was not his master and wouldn''t impart specific knowledge.

    Being able to give some pointers was already showing great favor to Li Shiming.

    Li Shiming had not truly entered the Cultivation World and didn''t realize that knowledge there was priceless.

    Until Li Shiming joined the Sky Sea Sect, such knowledge could not be imparted to him.

    The reason why there is a significant gap between the strength of sect cultivators and Loose Cultivators, despite differences in equipment and spells, also lies in the lack of basic knowledge among Loose Cultivators; the same magic artifact could vary in power between the hands of a sect cultivator and a Loose Cultivator.

    In the following days, Li Shiming paid attention to the condition of spirit plants in the machinery room space while learning the new spells he had acquired.

    The three spellbooks ''Light Body Technique,'' ''Fire Bomb Skill,'' ''Object Driving Skill,'' which he had purchased for twenty spirit stones, were repeatedly practiced using extensive video and photo data from the large IBM z15 server, using the senses as the playback device, until he finally grasped the essence of the three spells.