CHAPTER 980: CHAPTER 536: HEAVENLY GHOST (PART 2)

Li Shiming summoned the Heavenly Ghost in front of him and sensed the condition of it.

The Heavenly Ghost was not much different from when it was at the third grade, only that its energy level had risen to the fourth grade; he did not find the presence of special runes inside the Heavenly Ghost.

But he knew that creatures as strange as the Heavenly Ghost should not be viewed from a normal perspective.

"This place is really nice, I’ve undergone two Heavenly Tribulations without being disturbed!" Li Shiming looked at the area he had casually found and curiously checked the drone satellite system, exclaiming in surprise.

He noticed that there were clearly multiple mid-sized forces in this area, yet no Nascent Soul cultivators came, nor even Golden Core cultivators.

When he reached the coastline, he roughly understood the reason; on the sea surface, under the observation of ’Divine Eye’, he could see within a three-thousand-mile range a sea filled with numerous cultivators.

Most of these cultivators were Golden Core cultivators, but the number of Nascent Soul cultivators was also substantial.

They were all battling spirit beasts, most of which were injured. Though the numbers were quite large, under the siege of numerous cultivators, they were quickly slaughtered.

From afar, Li Shiming could feel the joyful mood of these cultivators, as if it were a grand feast.

Looking at the number of cultivators here, it seems that all available Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators have come, no wonder there were no cultivators checking during the two consecutive tribulations on land.

Li Shiming wore a Fourth Grade Magical Robe, which was the robe of a core cultivator from the Ten Thousand Beast Sect.

Beside him followed two Gold Corpses, and Little Feng stood on the head of Golden Corpse Nanming, clearly very fond of it, possibly due to the fondness for ’Nanming Leaving Fire’.

This time he didn’t intend to hunt many spirit beasts, as he had told Grandmaster Hu, he was merely here to observe.

On the Beishu Continent, one cannot witness the simultaneous appearance of so many Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators.

He continued flying over the sea; within this three-thousand-mile area near the coast, he didn’t see any Nascent Soul cultivators from the Ten Thousand Beast Sect.

When he flew deep into the ocean, he finally saw sect cultivators.

Here, formations built by Golden Core cultivators were blocking sea spirit beasts. Weaker spirit beasts would be immediately killed by the formations, while the remaining ones were drawn into the formations and swarmed by Golden Core cultivators.

The cultivators from the Ten Thousand Beast Sect almost all had at least one spiritual pet whose strength matched their own, which made their battles with the spirit beasts seem particularly easy.

They only needed to maintain the formation themselves, while the fight was handled by their spiritual pets; with the formation’s aid, the pets cooperated seamlessly with their masters, continuously clearing spirit beasts within the formations.

Such formations were numerous, indicating that many Golden Core disciples from the Ten Thousand Beast Sect had come; the scene before them held at least several thousand Golden Cores.

Further ahead were Nascent Soul cultivators in battle, while compared to the Nascent Soul cultivators behind them, the Nascent Soul cultivators from the Ten Thousand Beast Sect were the true main force combatting the spirit beasts.

Dozens of towering Nascent Soul Dharma Manifestations continuously released powerful spells or magical treasures, fighting in squad units.

A massive flying boat was stationed in the sky, with the mark of the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, a superlarge flying boat of the sect, also serving as the resting place for Nascent Soul cultivators.

Nascent Soul cultivators cannot use their Nascent Soul Dharma Form for extended periods; they need time to recover their expended energy.

On this battlefield, there were not only these dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators; many Nascent Soul cultivators were either patrolling nearby or resting within the superlarge flying boat.

Li Shiming flew towards the superlarge flying boat and landed on its deck.

"Master Li!"

"Li!"

In the chorus of voices calling him Master Li, he heard a voice calling "Li" and saw Lu Heng sitting on one side of the deck resting.

He nodded and smiled at the Nascent Soul cultivators who greeted him in acknowledgment and went over to Lu Heng’s side.

"Junior Brother Lu, why are you here?" He asked curiously.

Even though Lu Heng was only a registered disciple of Grandmaster Hu, there was no need for him to participate in this task to earn resources.

"I’m here to gain some battle experience; usually, there are no cultivators to spar with me!" Lu Heng explained with a smile.

As a registered disciple of Grandmaster Hu, his status in the sect was high, and there wouldn’t be cultivators who would conflict with him; even sparring, they would show him leniency.

He was aware of this, which is why he seized the opportunity to come here to fight Fourth Grade Spirit Beasts.

"Li Shiming, you have two Gold Corpses!" Lu Heng suddenly noticed the two Gold Corpses beside Li Shiming and exclaimed in surprise.

He knew Li Shiming had just advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage; how could he have two Gold Corpses so soon?

Refining Gold Corpses is not easy, especially in a sect like the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, which lacks many Demon Sect-specific secret techniques; the success rate for Gold Corpses undergoing tribulations is very low.

"Originally, I had a Peak Silver Corpse, so when I had some Fourth Grade Corpse Refining resources, I used them all, luckily advancing it in one go successfully; as for the other Gold Corpse, I discovered it in a cave, about to advance to a Gold Corpse, and it succeeded in its tribulation without me using any resources!" Li Shiming explained with a smile.

Of course, he concealed crucial parts of the story; Lu Heng listened, eyes full of envy.

Lu Heng considered this as destiny, feeling that he too needed to venture out more to find his own opportunities.

The nearby Nascent Soul cultivators were also extremely envious upon hearing Li Shiming, who wouldn’t want to have a Gold Corpse, as it was the most favorable guarantee against enemy closeness and could shield oneself from attacks.

"Li Shiming, since you have two Gold Corpses, how about we form a team to try it?" Lu Heng’s eyes lit up with this thought, he spoke, and seeing Li Shiming hesitating, he smiled and said: "Four shares for the spoils, and I’ll take just one!"

"The spoils will be equally split; it’s perfect for letting Little Feng experience the battle!" Li Shiming shook his head and replied.

One couldn’t take more spoils just because of having two Gold Corpses; there was no such rationale for distribution.

Though he didn’t see it, Lu Heng certainly possessed his own spiritual pet, while his own spiritual pet Little Feng had barely any combat capability, and as for the Illusion Spirit Dragon, he didn’t want other cultivators to witness its combat style, so he had already put it away.

"Then I’m taking advantage of you, Li Shiming!" Lu Heng said.

In truth, he didn’t consider himself weak; Li Shiming had only recently ascended to the Nascent Soul Stage, merely stabilizing his realm, and even as a Thunder Cultivator, his combat strength was still quite limited.

His intention was merely to familiarize Li Shiming with spirit beasts to prevent him from being injured should he act alone.

The two flew out of the flying boat, with Lu Heng taking the lead, pulling out his identity jade disc to check, and quickly arriving at a battlefield.

Here, six Nascent Soul Early Stage practitioners were battling with Nascent Soul Dharma Forms; their spiritual pets had also invoked their Dharma Forms but were already showing signs of exhaustion.

Li Shiming also checked his identity jade disc and found that it displayed the rotating teams in this area.

They approached the Nascent Soul Early Stage practitioner team that had recently requested rest and rotation.

Although there were only two Nascent Soul Early Stage practitioners arriving, the six Nascent Soul Early Stage practitioners, seeing the fourth-grade magical treasure indicating a core cultivator on Li Shiming and recognizing Lu Heng’s status, withdrew from the battlefield without comment.

"Li, we are guarding here primarily to clear Fourth Grade Spirit Beasts, clearing Third Grade Spirit Beasts occasionally when their numbers are high will suffice!" Lu Heng introduced while summoning his spiritual pet.

This was a Green Armored Phosphor Bull, a fourth-grade spiritual pet species known for its balance of defensive and offensive capabilities.

He himself then activated his Nascent Soul Dharma Form, a flying sword magical treasure danced before him.

"Little Feng, come to my shoulder!" Li Shiming instructed gravely, worrying about Little Feng.

Little Feng cast a proud look at the approaching spirit beasts, and with a small hop, landed on Li Shiming’s shoulder.

It emitted a ’chirp’ towards the multitude of spirit beasts, the sound seemed harmless, but most spirit beasts trembled visibly.