Cultivation is just so scientific! - Chapter 800 - 446: Human Dao (2)

Chapter 800: Chapter 446: Human Dao (2)

As soon as he entered the gate, he felt a lightness, and all the mental pressure disappeared.

He looked back at the gate, shaken, and shook his head with a sigh of relief.

If the trial outside the palace had been just a meter longer, he wouldn’t have made it through.

“If it weren’t for receiving the spiritual energy reward earlier, I might really have had to wait for the Nascent Soul Ancestors to come!” Li Shiming thought with some emotion.

Of course, joining the Nascent Soul Ancestors was the worst option, even though he was the best Alchemy Master on the Beishu Continent, capable of providing the finest alchemy for the Nascent Soul Ancestors.

But he was uncertain whether the Nascent Soul Ancestors would capture him and perform a soul search for the treasures within this grotto heaven.

Even if he did offer the rewards obtained from the grotto heaven, the Nascent Soul Ancestors might still suspect him of withholding secrets.

The rewards from the grotto heaven were not ordinary Spiritual Objects; they were prizes coveted even by Nascent Soul Ancestors and crucial for Li Shiming’s future cultivation. He was reluctant to reveal them.

Initially, he thought the reward of spiritual energy from the second trial was the worst, but now he realized that without the second trial’s reward, he feared he wouldn’t be able to pass this trial at all.

It was precisely because IBMz15 absorbed a large amount of spiritual energy that the 190 CPU virtual brains possessed their own spirit energy, enabling him to endure such terrifying mental pressure.

Li Shiming examined the grand hall, once again confronted by a central space gate.

The walls around him depicted the glorious history of the Asura clan, the scenes of war and death stirring a sense of agitation within him.

He turned his gaze away; everything here was too bizarre. Previously, he thought the Asura were imaginary, but the detailed historical engravings in this palace suggested otherwise.

His life-bound artifact IBMz15 recorded everything in the hall as future research material.

He didn’t linger in this place, entering the space gate.

When Li Shiming appeared in the familiar room, his body suddenly jerked backwards, startled by what he saw.

Anyone who had witnessed an Asura would react like him upon the sudden appearance of an Asura before them, perhaps even more intensely.

He steadied himself, and through ’Divine Eye Sight’ discovered that the Asura before him was sealed by a prohibition.

This reminded him of the protective measures for reward items; the Asura was guarded by the same measures as previous rewards.

“Congratulations on passing the ’Asura’. You are the first to complete the ’Asura’ trial and can receive a reward!” As he pondered, an emotionless voice spoke.

Li Shiming was somewhat alarmed as the prohibition on the Asura before him disappeared, fearing the Asura might attack him.

Although it was unlikely for the rewarded Asura to attack him, the presence of such a mythical being still made it hard for him to suppress his instinctive fear.

The Asura remained motionless, seemingly lifeless.

In fact, in Li Shiming’s perception, the Asura truly appeared to lack life.

He tried to probe with his divine thought, and upon contact with the Asura, he realized this Asura was indeed not alive; a message was transmitted back through his divine thought.

This is a puppet crafted from an Asura Body, only usable by a cultivator who has passed the Asura Palace trial. A cultivator weaker than this standard who attempts to forcefully drive it will suffer a backlash on their spirit.

Li Shiming awoke from the joy of receiving such a powerful puppet, recalling how he had cheated through the Asura Palace trial, not truly meeting the mental standard.

In essence, the Asura Puppet he obtained, like the Ghost Bracelet and the Blood of Body Refining Great Power, was useless for him until much later.

He couldn’t help but smile wryly and shook his head; this grotto heaven was truly too advanced.

He stored the Asura Puppet into his Mustard Seed Ring, and then was teleported away.

Just as he thought he was entering another space, he suddenly discovered that he was in a grand hall, with a space gate not far in front of him.

“Is this trial so simple?” Li Shiming muttered to himself in surprise.

The previous trials were all in massive spaces, those spaces almost equivalent to an entire world.

And this time, the trial only required him to walk the short distance in front of him to enter the space gate.

Before moving forward, he took a look at the layout of the grand hall.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered with faces of people, young and old, male and female, some laughing, some sorrowful, some crying, some angry, some worried, some greedy, and some filled with surprise.

It seemed that all human emotions were displayed on the faces within the hall.

“This is the ’Human Dao’!” Li Shiming came to an understanding.

He stepped forward, and his surroundings changed; he became a newborn infant, held by a young woman, with a heroic man standing beside her.

A strange energy was clouding his consciousness, but his life-bound artifact IBMz15 blocked that strange energy.

If that strange energy had succeeded in clouding his consciousness, he would become that infant, trapped in the infant’s entire life.

Since his consciousness wasn’t shrouded, he spent only a day as an infant before the world before him shattered.

At this moment, Li Shiming’s step had just landed, through his life-bound artifact IBMz15’s calculations; just a moment had passed.

Li Shiming realized he had been immersed in an illusion, but the illusion was so realistic that if his consciousness had been clouded, that might have been a real lifetime to him.

He didn’t understand the purpose of this trial, but with his life-bound artifact IBMz15, he boldly stepped forward with a second step.

With the second step, his surroundings changed again; this time, he became a beggar, and the strange energy reappeared to shroud his consciousness, again unsuccessfully.

After another day, this world shattered, and he returned to reality as he took the second step.

With each subsequent step, he would take on a different identity and enter a different world.

He transformed into a scholar, an official, an emperor, a farmer, a bandit, a hero, and more. Yet due to the presence of his life-bound artifact IBMz15, each time he entered, he remained conscious, knowing who he was and never assuming these identities.

After a total of ten steps, he entered the space gate.

Li Shiming didn’t experience the challenges of the Human Dao trial, but in fact, this trial’s complexity was more troublesome than the previous ones.

Th𝘪𝓈 𝘤hⱥpṯꬲr 𝙞𝐬 p𝟬𝙨ƚɛ𝗱 bყ 𝐾𝒾𝙩ɛпⲟ𝗏ℯḷ

The previous trials required finding the right method and possessing sufficient power to pass.

But this trial tested one’s mind, sending cultivators into illusions, which combined with the Human Dao Palace’s power causes cultivators to forget everything and adopt the identity arranged by the illusion.

The identities arranged by the illusions face numerous tests, scrutinizing all aspects of human nature, and once lost within, the trial is failed, resulting in an eternal loss of self, becoming one of the faces on the grand hall’s walls.

Li Shiming appeared in the room where rewards were received, seeing on the table before him a dark gold jade scroll protected by prohibitions.

“It’s a Cultivation Technique Jade Scroll!” he frowned slightly, with little enthusiasm.

He wasn’t lacking cultivation techniques; he was currently practicing the ’Five Rhymes Qi Cultivation Technique’, one of the top techniques, and in body refining techniques, he had the ’Taiqing Xuan Turtle Technique’.

Most importantly, due to the condition of the five Golden Cores within him, he couldn’t switch to another cultivation technique.

“Congratulations on passing the ’Human Dao’. You are the first to complete the ’Human Dao’ trial and can receive a reward!” An emotionless voice spoke.

Indeed, as the prohibition on the dark gold jade scroll on the table disappeared, the reward was precisely this dark gold jade scroll.

Despite feeling unwilling, it was the only reward available, and given that a Mahayana Great Power created the cultivation technique, its grade would certainly be high and perhaps useful in the future.

Li Shiming reached for the dark gold jade scroll, and just after collecting it, he was transported out of the reward room.