Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1684 - 888: Corrosion (Part 2)

A wry smile crossed his face as he shook his head, convinced that his speculation was highly probable.

Back on Duiyi Island, certain cultivators had bargained with him for high-level spirit pills, and though others never voiced it outright, he detected the raw greed burning in their stares.

Under the Yuzhu Islands' half-step great power's intimidating presence, those cultivators refrained from any bold moves.

Yet now that Li Shiming had departed the Yuzhu Islands, these opportunists would surely plot to rob him at the first chance they got.

"This might be for the best, at least it eliminates a lot of trouble!" Li Shiming declared in a solemn tone.

Suspended in the void three thousand meters from the Yuzhu Islands, he had deployed a basic concealment array nearby, leveraging the Yuzhu Island Array to slip past detection by other cultivators.

Without any trace of an outside invasion, cultivators across the other islands stayed mostly composed, their gazes locked on the central island.

A few cultivators whispered that the Yuzhu Islands' own researchers might have botched their experiments with the 'Magic Fog', sparking this disaster.

No one among the cultivators dared step up to tackle the 'Magic Fog' ravaging the main island—not from lack of desire, but pure inability.

Had the 'Magic Fog' been a simple foe to vanquish, subduing the prior 'Xuan You Wujin Beast' wouldn't have proven such a grueling challenge.

On top of that, this batch of 'Magic Fog' surged with unprecedented ferocity; the slightest misstep could pull anyone into its deadly grasp.

Cultivator Dai Biao turned his gaze toward the main island, shock flashing across his eyes.

As a disciple of the Purple Cloud Sect, he commanded access to far superior information.

He knew full well that many on Duiyi Island had schemed to surround and eliminate Li Shiming—they'd even pressed him to join, but he steadfastly refused.

He was equally informed about the Yuzhu Islands' plots; Grandmaster Wu Ding had extended an invitation to him too, laced with lavish rewards.

However, after crossing paths with Li Shiming, an enigmatic depth always clung to the man, compelling Dai Biao to turn down the offer once more.

"Such coincidence, could it be Li Shizhen’s revenge?" Cultivator Dai Biao mused inwardly.

Grandmaster Wu Ding had ventured out to ambush Li Shiming, but before he could even return, catastrophe struck the Yuzhu Islands— the timing was suspiciously perfect.

This thought left him feeling exposed on Duiyi Island, yet when he attempted to depart, the array blocked all movement for the island's cultivators.

Blasting through would equate to challenging the array head-on.

In the end, Cultivator Dai Biao held his ground motionless, silently observing everything, poised to unleash his full speed and escape at the first sign of danger.

Beneath the watchful eyes of countless cultivators, the 'Magic Fog's sheer terror unfolded in full horrifying glory.

Main island edifices, fortified by arrays and crafted from precious spiritual materials, succumbed to the 'Magic Fog's relentless corrosion, decaying into worthless scraps unable to bear the structures' weight, causing them to crumble.

The cultivators ensnared by the 'Magic Fog' fared even worse—some dropped dead on the spot, while survivors poured every ounce of strength into fending off the erosion, only for their treasures and protective spiritual energy to shatter after just a handful of breaths.

After devouring heaps of spiritual treasures, the 'Magic Fog' swelled with fresh vigor, expanding its reach instead of contracting.

All the while, a deathly hush gripped the entire Yuzhu Islands; powerless as they were, the local cultivators could merely witness the main island's slow, inexorable decay.

As the last stubbornly enduring building finally caved in, it unveiled a space gate glowing with subtle luminescence.

When the 'Magic Fog' brushed against the space gate, such portals resisted easy corrosion, though it suffered minor impairment nonetheless.

This intrusion at last jolted the space gate's Cave Heaven master—the half-step great power—awake from his ongoing recuperation.

Every action by the half-step great power exacted a heavy toll, drawing vital energy straight from his Cave Heaven reserves.

His Cave Heaven sat in a delicate growth stage, where internal energy equilibrium hung by a thread, demanding lengthy stabilization after each depletion.

Sensing disturbances rippling through the space gate, the half-step great power finally turned his attention outward.

That single look left him stunned; before he knew it, 'Magic Fog' had blanketed the main island, gnawing it down to a mere shell and laying bare his Cave Heaven's space gate.

"Extinguish it for me!" Unable to hold back any longer, he summoned the Cave Heaven’s energy and hurled it straight toward the main island.

The ’Magic Fog’, impervious to every cultivator’s touch, dissolved swiftly beneath the half-step great power’s force.

As the gray ’Magic Fog’ cleared, the devastated main island lay exposed, its toll in cultivators far from light—all of them elite forces from the Yuzhu Islands.

Core cultivators filled the main island; only a handful who dwelled beyond the ’Magic Fog’s initial reach escaped with their lives, while the others all fell victim inside it.

"How dare you, courting death!" A booming roar thundered across the skies above the Yuzhu Islands.

Standing atop Duiyi Island, Cultivator Dai Biao felt his entire body go limp at that voice, unable even to stir his spiritual power.

Such was the dominance of the half-step great power—a mere wisp of its aura sufficed to paralyze all nearby cultivators.

Though alarm gripped Cultivator Dai Biao’s heart, he understood this half-step great power had no designs on him.

The half-step great power’s furious words revealed it had unmasked the true offender.

Battling the enfeebling sensation, he fixed his gaze on the main island, burning to behold the half-step great power unleash its wrath.

Prior to the half-step great power’s outburst, Li Shiming had detected a unique energy sweep, and at that instant, the control jade token in his grasp failed, severing his array connection completely.

Clearly, the half-step great power commanded superior access. Li Shiming even guessed the array’s core sat near the space gate, letting the great power wrest back control the moment it sensed trouble.

The half-step great power’s roar confirmed Li Shiming’s exposure.

He triggered ’One Leap’ without a second’s delay—not singly, but by rallying multiple brains at once for successive ’One Leap’s.

Right as the lock-on gripped him, ’One Leap’ yanked his form from its spot, depositing him eight thousand miles distant in the next breath.

A colossal energy blast erupted from the main island’s void, smashing directly into Li Shiming’s prior location.

Missing Li Shiming entirely, the immense energy barreled onward unabated, streaking a hundred thousand meters before fading away.

A warped shadow twisted through the void in its wake, sending shivers across every cultivator who felt the strike, their scalps numbing and pulses racing.

Li Shiming’s ’Divine Abilities’ remained trained on the main island, capturing the full horror of that assault.

Thankfully, for all its dread power, the strike hadn’t pierced the eight-thousand-mile barrier he’d dreaded, sparing him the need for his stockpiled ’One Leap’s.

"The half-step great power simply can’t leave the Cave Heaven—judging by the space gate’s design, it’s a binding-type Cave Heaven!" Activating another ’One Leap’ in unease, Li Shiming finally found a breath to mull over the spectacle.

A space gate as the Cave Heaven entrance—this trait marked only the binding Cave Heavens tied to various sects.

In the cultivation realm he knew, sects with Cave Heavens anchored their heritage ones to mountain gates, fixing the entrances in place forever.

Such Cave Heavens offered a key boon: a peak great cultivator mastering it could deploy hidden arts to fuse it wholly with themselves, shattering barriers to true great power.

With the Yuzhu Islands’ half-step great power laying bare the Cave Heaven entrance’s spot and its binding nature, their modest might likely doomed them to lose it soon.

Even absent Li Shiming’s meddling, tranquil days seemed beyond the Yuzhu Islands’ grasp.