CHAPTER 962: CHAPTER 527: NANMING (PART 2)

Li Shiming’s heart sank as his worst fears came true.

According to the analysis of his Life-bound Artifact IBMz15, a Heavenly Thunder of this magnitude was far beyond what Nanming could withstand.

This Heavenly Thunder exceeded Nanming’s limits, and Nanming’s body was being continuously destroyed.

Even if Li Shiming wanted to intervene now, he couldn’t do anything; he was unable to transfer the Heavenly Thunder from Nanming’s body, and could only watch Nanming’s aura steadily decline.

Just as Nanming was about to be destroyed by the Heavenly Thunder, a surge of energy flowed into his body, rapidly restoring it.

This energy was the remaining energy from the Golden Corpse Core, playing a decisive role at the critical moment.

Almost without needing conversion, the Golden Corpse Core’s energy was directly absorbed by Nanming’s body.

Although the Golden Corpse Core’s energy couldn’t dispel the Heavenly Thunder, it could preserve a sliver of life in Nanming.

While the Heavenly Thunder continued to ravage Nanming’s body, the Golden Corpse Core’s energy kept restoring it, managing to retain a bit of vitality in Nanming by the time the Heavenly Thunder ended.

As the Heavenly Tribulation concluded, the lightning on Nanming’s body suddenly vanished.

What followed was a reward from the Heaven and Earth Rules, as a peculiar energy arose within him, quickly repairing the areas of his body destroyed by the Heavenly Thunder.

Li Shiming let out a long breath of relief; in the tug-of-war between the Heavenly Thunder and the Golden Corpse Core’s energy, the latter was no match. Had the Heavenly Thunder lasted just a bit longer, it would have utterly destroyed Nanming’s life force.

Surviving the Heavenly Tribulation, as long as a sliver of life remained, the energy from Heaven’s reward would repair the damage.

Nanming’s charred body tissue began to fall away, and new tissue began to grow.

In Li Shiming’s perception, Nanming had undergone changes after the baptism of the Heavenly Tribulation, becoming different from before.

The Golden Corpse is an extremely important transformation node in Corpse Refining, undergoing a process of transitioning from death to rebirth, much like what was happening with Nanming, whose body tissue was no longer driven by Yin Cold Energy.

In particular, Nanming’s corpse core was like an engine, sending energy throughout his body via countless golden threads.

This process was much like how the human heart circulates blood, except the corpse core circulated energy.

Nanming’s body actively accepted the energy delivered by the corpse core, activating his tissues, turning them from dead matter to something alive.

Li Shiming had seen this from afar on the Golden Corpses of other Nascent Soul Cultivators in the past, but back then, his strength was too weak to perceive details with Divine Thought.

Now, he truly sensed the breath of life in Nanming; Nanming was no longer a dead object, but a genuine life form.

Perhaps as Nanming continues to cultivate, his life aura will become even denser, eventually fully transitioning into a life form.

Nanming had not only changed physically, but his soul had become stronger as well, transforming from a mere Corpse Soul into a true soul, something only living beings could possess.

A while later, Nanming had fully recovered, standing in front of Li Shiming.

Though he showed signs of life, with a six-meter tall body, clawed hands, and fangs, he still couldn’t shake the appearance of a refined corpse.

This was the initial state of the Golden Corpse, with Nanming unable to fully control his power yet.

When Nanming can suppress this form and revert to a normal human appearance, that will be when he’s truly mastered the Golden Corpse power.

This form is a transitional state for the Golden Corpse, where the body’s energy is mixed and impure; only when it shrinks to around two meters will it be at its strongest combat state.

Even in his current form, Li Shiming could sense Nanming’s terrifying power.

Nanming had extreme speed and mastery over ’Nanming Leaving Fire’; combining the two, even a Nascent Soul Early Stage Practitioner struck by ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ would face complete annihilation.

Li Shiming issued a command to Nanming, and flames appeared at Nanming’s fingertips, precisely the ’Nanming Leaving Fire.’

Nanming’s ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ divine skill surpassed even Li Shiming’s own, a legacy from Patriarch Weng Zhao’s Nascent Soul, inheriting the divine skill of ’Nanming Leaving Fire.’

Upon reaching the Golden Corpse Realm, Nanming’s ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ divine skill fully awakened.

Li Shiming did not put Nanming away; using Tribulation Mountain this time wasn’t a secret, and cultivators would undoubtedly wonder why he used it.

Given his current rank and status, he needn’t worry about any objections regarding his Golden Corpse refining.

Just like when he was at the Shushan Sect on the Beishu Continent, as long as he had enough value and status, he could break certain rules.

With Golden Corpse Nanming, Li Shiming left Tribulation Mountain and flew back to his peak.

Soon enough, every cultivator in the sect who needed to know became aware of his Golden Corpse, which provoked no criticism, considering he joined the sect at the Great Elder Realm.

As long as he did not violate the sect’s rules, no cultivator would say anything to him.

Back at his cave dwelling, Li Shiming continued studying Golden Corpse Nanming’s condition.

After a series of experiments, he discovered that aside from absorbing Yin Cold Energy to enhance itself, Golden Corpse Nanming could now also absorb Spiritual Energy to advance through cultivating ’Nanming Leaving Fire.’

Previously, the cultivation of ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ by Golden Corpse Nanming didn’t elevate his realm, only enhancing the fire’s power.

Now, however, it was as if he were a normal cultivator, using Spiritual Energy to cultivate ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ and elevate his realm, which aligns with the traits of life.

Li Shiming took out the Fourth Grade Thunder Radiance Profound Iron and handed it to Golden Corpse Nanming.

Currently, his Red Sun Spirit Fire and ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ are involved in Alchemy, especially since ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ is being used to refine a Nascent Soul Late Stage Fourth Grade Spirit Pill, which takes forty days and ties up ’Nanming Leaving Fire.’

Previously, he could only manipulate ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ to refine artifacts during breaks in Alchemy.

But now it’s different; with Golden Corpse Nanming, he essentially gained another ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ to use.

He only needed to employ one mind to control Golden Corpse Nanming, using Nanming’s ’Nanming Leaving Fire’ as if it were his own.

The Fourth Grade Thunder Radiance Profound Iron was a recently acquired thunder-attribute Fourth-grade Refining Material, a gift from his Second Senior Brother, Yue Shan.

He had ideas for the Thunder Radiance Xuan Tie for some time; in the Nascent Soul Stage, there is a matched artifact in the ’Yuqing Thunder Scripture’ known as the ’Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer.’

Although he possessed an existing Fourth Grade Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer, the prior owner had refined it into a Life-bound Artifact.

Moreover, the quality of that Fourth Grade Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer was too low for his liking; with the acquisition of Fourth Grade Thunder Radiance Profound Iron, he intended to refine his own Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer.

If the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer he refined this time met his expectations, he also planned to sanctify it as a Life-bound Artifact, seeing as he still had four empty slots available.

Before refining the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer, he certainly wouldn’t follow the ’Yuqing Thunder Scripture’ method verbatim.

His Life-bound Artifact IBMz15 was redesigning the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer based on the ’Yuqing Thunder Scripture’ and Li Shiming’s artifact refining skills.

This maximized the Hammer’s authentic attributes, being the ’Yuqing Thunder Scripture’s’ matched artifact, capable of unleashing maximal power.

Meanwhile, he intended to use his mastery in a computer lab space, with its 5-nanometer precision, to inscribe more runes onto the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer.

In this area, his abilities trumped those of any Artifact Refining Master by manifold, as 5-nanometer precision could only be achieved in such a surreal space.

Even if an Artifact Refiner also used the ’Divine Vision Skill,’ they couldn’t achieve 5-nanometer precision, let alone exert control at that scale, exceeding the capacity of Nascent Soul Cultivators.

Any mistake during the refining process could result in a failed artifact, wasting all the materials.

Without the help of the Life-bound Artifact IBMz15, Li Shiming would find it nearly impossible to guarantee success, not to mention other Artifact Refiners.