When the flying boat was still fifty meters above the lake''s surface, Li Shiming leaped from the deck, his body tightly held straight as he plunged downwards.@@@@

    "Heh heh, a Qi Refining Early Stage kid trying to escape, I''ll go take care of it, you hurry up with the flying boat!" a Xuanming Sect Qi Refining Cultivator told his comrade.

    After speaking, he broke away from his associate and chased after Li Shiming.

    Li Shiming''s body entered the water like a needle, minimizing the splash to penetrate deeper into the water.

    Just now, he had consulted the national diving team''s research documents through an IBMz15, and with a cultivator''s control over their body, although he couldn''t reach a perfect score of 10 points, he believed he could surely score at least 9.5 points without a problem.

    Once submerged, due to the lack of a spell for breathing underwater, he immediately took out an oxygen bottle and a breathing mask from the mechanical space room.

    He had prepared this well in advance, when he saw the Xuanming Sect Qi Refining Cultivators release poison gas within Central Capital, he had thought of countermeasures and made the oxygen bottles and breathing masks.

    Only he hadn''t anticipated that the first use of the oxygen bottle and mask would be for underwater activity.

    He vigorously moved his limbs, trying to increase his swimming speed, to get as far away as possible.

    But he hadn''t swum far before he realized how flawed his choice was.

    The moment the Xuanming Sect Qi Refining Cultivator entered the water, a cloud of black mist blocked the water from closing in.

    In the water, the Xuanming Sect Qi Refining Cultivator moved slower, but compared to Li Shiming''s normal human swimming, it was many times faster.

    So even though Li Shiming was the first to enter the water, the Xuanming Sect Qi Refining Cultivator soon caught up.

    The Xuanming Sect Qi Refining Cultivator looked at the struggling Li Shiming, who was using both hands and feet, and a strange expression flashed across his face.

    He truly hadn''t expected someone with only normal human underwater abilities to have the courage to dive in.

    He also noticed Li Shiming''s age, and comparing it with Li Shiming''s Qi Refining Third Level, he assumed this must be a talented spirit root seedling harvested by the Sky Sea Sect this time.

    "What a pity, the order from my uncle-master is to exterminate, otherwise, you could have become my junior brother!

    Such good talent, should I leave a whole corpse for Corpse Refining, perhaps I could obtain a refined corpse of similar quality to my uncle-master''s!" the Xuanming Sect Qi Refining Cultivator muttered brazenly to himself.

    Even the role of spiritual power within it lacked sufficient theoretical basis at the current stage of IBMz15''s research, and the conclusions were likely to be erroneous.

    However, at this moment, Li Shiming couldn''t care less.

    He opened his mouth, from which emerged ultra-low frequencies and high-decibel sound waves, and he began singing the ''Great Compassion Mantra''.

    Although he didn''t know how to infuse spiritual power into the sound, with IBMz15''s control imitating the method of the Foundation Establishment Cultivator from Xuanming Sect, the ''Great Compassion Mantra'' was still infused with spiritual power.

    The Qi Refining Cultivator from Xuanming Sect never expected that Li Shiming would begin chanting Buddhist scripture.

    What was most bizarre was how the Early Stage Qi Refining Cultivator was managing to chant both the scripture and its accompaniment using just his mouth.

    The Qi Refining Cultivator from Xuanming Sect only felt his spirit impacted, as Buddhist scriptures inherently restrained Devil Cultivators. Furthermore, Li Shiming inexplicably deployed a bit of Xuanming Sect''s ''Devil''s Sound into the Ear'' technique, which multiplied the effect of the Buddhist scripture several times over.

    Of course, it wasn''t possible to kill the Qi Refining Cultivator from Xuanming Sect with just a bit of Buddhist scripture; it could only momentarily affect the cultivator''s psyche.

    As Li Shiming chanted the ''Great Compassion Mantra'', the water around them ceased to be repelled, pressing towards both him and the Qi Refining Cultivator from Xuanming Sect.

    With a wave of his hand, the Qingyuan Wood Sword shot out, carrying most of the spiritual power within his body.

    This was his strongest attack method, and at that moment, his only one.

    In such close proximity underwater, using either a ''white phosphorus grenade'' or an ''incendiary grenade'' would have resulted in mutual destruction, and while he was prepared for a desperate final stand, he opted for the Qingyuan Wood Sword, as there was still a chance to survive.

    The Qingyuan Wood Sword flew out, and due to the impact of the ''Great Compassion Mantra'', the defensive spells surrounding the body of the Qi Refining Cultivator from Xuanming Sect automatically dispersed, causing the lake''s pressure to bear down.

    Similarly, the Qingyuan Wood Sword faced no obstacles and pierced into the heart of the Qi Refining Cultivator from Xuanming Sect.

    After his heart was pierced, the Qi Refining Cultivator from Xuanming Sect regained his clarity of mind, but by then it was too late.

    He looked toward Li Shiming incredulously, having treated him as a mere child''s play because of his absolute advantage.

    Under normal circumstances, even if he stood still, the attacks of a Qi Refining Third Level cultivator shouldn''t have been able to breach his defenses.

    But the reality struck him hard, and took his life along with it. A Qi Refining Third Level cultivator held a High Grade Attack Magic Item in his hands and was even able to drive Buddhist scriptures with ''Devil''s Sound into the Ear'', and all this irrationality led to his demise.