“Fellow Taoists, please don’t use harsh measures against Shiming. Just ask him to hand over the Dongtian inheritance and let him continue to make pills for us!” Patriarch Zuo said in a deep voice.
With so many Nascent Soul ancestors present, after finding the cave where Li Shiming was hiding, they were not worried that Li Shiming would escape.
If Li Shiming could really escape from under the noses of a group of Nascent Soul ancestors, then these Nascent Soul ancestors would have lived in vain.
Especially with the presence of Venerable Huike, with Venerable Huike's speed, he can definitely get close to Li Shiming within a certain distance in the first place. The pressure from the Nascent Soul stage alone is enough to make Li Shiming unable to resist.
"Fellow Daoist Zuo, do you really think Li Shiming doesn't know what the Shushan Sect has done?" Patriarch Lu looked at Patriarch Zuo and asked back.
Apart from the Shushan Sect, the other sect that paid the greatest price for Li Shiming was the Senluo Sect. The Senluo Sect forced away a Jindan genius, and did so by creating a great feud.
Whenever thinking of Li Yuanba's means of revenge, even Patriarch Lu felt his scalp tingling.
All the major sects in the Northern Shu Continent knew about the fate of Patriarch Li's cave and the mountain, which made Patriarch Li too embarrassed to show up in public.
This matter also became a topic of conversation among all major forces, and every cultivator was shocked by Li Yuanba's decisiveness and ruthlessness.
Unable to take revenge on Yuanying Ancestor, he instead destroyed Yuanying Ancestor's cave and mountain, which was a slap in the face to Ancestor Li.
Patriarch Lu has been in a bad mood recently, and his words are less calm than usual.
But what he said was also true. In order to track down Li Shiming, the Shushan Sect not only explored the Northern Shu Continent, but also sent cultivators to Tianhai Island.
In particular, this kind of investigation was conducted in cooperation with Tianxing Trading Company and Tianwen Sect, and did not take into account Li Shiming's original contributions to Shushan Sect.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, my Shushan Sect would never do anything to force our own disciples to rebel!" Patriarch Zuo was also in a bad mood and retorted.
The two Yuanying ancestors stared at each other, like a pair of roosters ready to fight.
"You two, let's catch Li Shiming first and then talk about other things!" Patriarch Zhan said, stopping the confrontation between the two Nascent Soul Patriarchs.
"Yes, do the work first!" Venerable Huike also advised.
Under the persuasion of the Yuanying ancestors, Ancestor Zuo and Ancestor Lu no longer confronted each other, and the six Yuanying ancestors went shallow into the seabed.
"The formation is a bit weak!" said Venerable Huike after making a discovery.
As he spoke, he performed the "A World Away" and his figure disappeared into the sea. The other Nascent Soul ancestors were afraid that if they were too slow, Venerable Huike would succeed first, so they all sped up.
When they arrived outside the underwater cave, the cave's formation was opened from the inside.
When they saw the situation inside the cave, the five Nascent Soul ancestors who came in from outside understood that Venerable Huike had not gained anything, because the cave had obviously been cleaned out.
Judging from the traces in the cave, no one has lived there for at least ten days.
They saw the formation plate on the ground of the cave and the contact card on the formation plate, and shook their heads helplessly.
"What message did Li Shiming send to Yin Shilan?" Patriarch Zuo asked Patriarch Zhan.
"He said he was waiting for him to come back!" Patriarch Zhan replied with a slight blush on his face.
It is not an upright behavior to snoop into the private information of disciples of a sect.
The Qianhuan Sect claims to be the righteous sect and does not act as recklessly as the Demon Sect. At least Patriarch Zhan still knows how to blush.
"Has Li Shiming left the Northern Shu Continent?" Patriarch Lan asked hesitantly.
She had her reasons for asking this. According to the judgment of all the Nascent Soul ancestors of the six major sects, Tianwen Sect, and Tianxing Trading Company, Li Shiming would only hide in the Northern Shu Continent no matter what.
This is because in order to leave the Northern Shu Continent, one needs the strength of the Nascent Soul Stage and a safe route.
Whether it is the strength of the Nascent Soul stage or a safe route, Li Shiming has no chance of obtaining it.
It is obvious that although Li Shiming obtained the Cave Heaven inheritance, he did not get much benefit from it. Most of the Nascent Soul ancestors here have entered the Cave Heaven and understand that the Cave Heaven with such intense tests is definitely not prepared for Jindan cultivators.
Although it is unknown how Li Shiming passed the test of the cave heaven, but with Li Shiming's realm, he cannot truly obtain the inheritance of the cave heaven before reaching the Nascent Soul stage.
Without the inheritance of Dongtian, Li Shiming would not be able to improve his strength quickly.
Even if Li Shiming raised his realm to the Nascent Soul stage, it would be futile without a safe route.
Why are there so few Nascent Soul ancestors of the six major sects in Bei Shu Continent who have ever left Bei Shu Continent? It is because there is no safe route.
Even though there were Yuanying ancestors who had safely reached other continents in history, they were unable to pass down their routes due to various reasons.
The route is not so easy to inherit. It is not something that can be accomplished by an Nascent Soul ancestor accidentally passing through the ocean. It requires long-term investment and constant inspection and modification of the route by Nascent Soul ancestors.
It was because Patriarch Lan knew all this that he had doubts. According to Li Shiming's message, Li Shiming had left the Northern Shu Continent.
"We can't judge Li Shiming with the abilities of a normal Jindan cultivator. He has passed the cave heaven test!" Patriarch Lou said lightly.
The other Nascent Soul ancestors also reacted. Yes, that cave test was very difficult. Even the Nascent Soul middle stage Ancestor Jin Kai was injured.
"Hey, there are cultivators coming!" Patriarch Lu suddenly reminded.
They looked at each other, and immediately formed a battle formation with Venerable Huike as the core.
Venerable Huike used the technique of "A World Away Yet So Close" and they instantly arrived on the surface of the sea.
At this time, the cultivators in the distance also came closer. They were the ancestors Jin Kai and Ren Xun from Tianxing Trading Company, and the ancestors Luo Wei and Han Xiao from Tianwen Sect.
It can be said that the Nascent Soul ancestors of Tianxing Trading Company and Tianwen Sect have all come, and judging from the attitudes of the four Nascent Soul ancestors of Tianxing Trading Company and Tianwen Sect, the two companies may have some private cooperative relationship.
"Where is Li Shiming?" Elder Luo Wei glanced at the six Nascent Soul ancestors who formed the battle formation and asked without caring.
If the six Yuanying ancestors really found Li Shiming, then even if the six Yuanying ancestors resisted, he would be sure that he could make them hand over Li Shiming.
Because he had reached a cooperation agreement with Patriarch Jin Kai, he would first control the Dongtian inheritance in the hands of their two forces, and then decide the distribution rights by other means.
This is intended to exclude the Northern Shu Continent, because the Northern Shu Continent is somewhat weak.
The biggest role of the Northern Shu Continent is to find Li Shiming. After finding Li Shiming, the role of the Northern Shu Continent will be gone.
"You will understand if you go down and take a look for yourself!" Patriarch Lu did not want to conflict with them, so he pointed under the sea and said.
He knew in his heart that these two forces must have planted many spies all over the Northern Shu Continent, and even the Northern Shu Trading Company had been bribed, otherwise how could they have tracked them here so quickly.
As soon as they received the information from Patriarch Zhan, they immediately gathered together. Although it took some time for the six Nascent Soul Patriarchs to gather together, Venerable Huike's subsequent "Close Yet Far Away" saved a lot of time.
With this analysis, it is very likely that the information was leaked from the Beishu Trading Company.
He thought about talking to Beishu Trading Company after returning.
After hearing the meaning of what Chu Lu said, Ancestor Luo Wei flashed into the sea, and soon he returned to the surface.
"Li Shiming left this cave ten days ago!" Elder Luo Wei said to Elder Jin Kai with certainty.
Such traces could not be faked, especially the array plate and the communication card on the ground, which showed that Li Shiming acted carefully.
They were not given any chance at all. Even the transmission of messages had to be activated after setting the time using the formation plate.
"What was the last message that Li Shiming conveyed?" Patriarch Jin Kai looked at Patriarch Lu and asked.
"Wait for him to come back!" Patriarch Lu answered without hiding anything.
"Left? That's not right. His strength has just broken through the late Jindan period. Even if he really wants to leave, he will at least wait until his strength can't be improved any further before leaving?" said Elder Luo Wei, shaking his head.
According to the current intelligence, Li Shiming should have quite a few third-grade elixirs in the late Jindan stage.
They analyzed that Li Shiming should be in seclusion somewhere, at least until he had consumed all the third-grade elixirs in the late Jindan period in his hands before taking the next step.
They also counted the number of third-grade elixirs that Li Shiming had refined in the late stage of the Golden Elixir, and concluded that Li Shiming would use up all the third-grade elixirs within five to eight years at most.
It is based on this analysis that the two mid-Nascent Soul cultivators from Tianxing Trading Company and Tianwen Sect stayed in the Northern Shu Continent and waited.
In fact, they didn't know that their calculations were wrong and they underestimated Li Shiming's alchemy skills.
The number of third-grade golden elixirs they calculated was too low. The third-grade elixir in the late golden elixir stage in Li Shiming's hand, even the public alchemy part, was three times more than they estimated.
Not to mention that Li Shiming also has the 'Mountain and River Fan', which produces a large amount of third-grade elixirs every year, and neither he nor his clone Li Yuanba can consume this output.
The expression on Patriarch Jin Kai's face changed slightly, and the eyes of Patriarch Ren Xun next to him flickered.
They naturally thought of the thirty-six drops of 'Tongxuan Kun Earth Immortal Dew'. Judging from the time, the time when Li Shiming left was roughly the same as the time when the thirty-six drops of 'Tongxuan Kun Earth Immortal Dew' were consumed.
In other words, Li Shiming decided to leave only after he had digested thirty-six drops of 'Tongxuan Kundi Immortal Dew' and his strength reached a bottleneck.
The two of them had no intention of telling this matter. It was too embarrassing. They paid a huge price but got nothing in return.
They couldn't blame Li Shiming yet, because it was ancestor Luo Wei who forced his way into the Shushan Sect's mountain gate, which allowed Li Shiming to escape and hide.
Li Shiming took away their ten fourth-grade spiritual medicines and the thirty-six drops of "Tongxuan Kundi Xianlu" paid in advance.
"Could it be that Li Shiming deliberately set up a trap? Maybe he is still somewhere on the mainland?" Elder Ren Xun brought the topic back to where Li Shiming was.
"So what? He is so cunning, it is not easy to find him!" said Elder Han Xiao in a deep voice.
"Everyone, we need your help in the search for Bei Shu Continent!" Ancestor Luo Wei said with a smile to the six Nascent Soul ancestors of Bei Shu Continent.
He seemed to have forgotten the coercion just now, but the six Nascent Soul ancestors of the Northern Shu Continent did not dare to raise any objections. At least, they could not resist before splitting the alliance between Tianxing Trading Company and Tianwen Sect.
"That's no problem. The previous exploration intensity will not weaken!" Patriarch Lu assured in a deep voice.
"Then we'll take our leave!" said Elder Luo Wei, nodding his head.
He took Ancestor Han Xiao and flew in the direction they came from. Ancestor Jin Kai also left with Ancestor Ren Xun, leaving only six Nascent Soul ancestors.
"Did we do something wrong?" Venerable Huike asked softly.
The other Nascent Soul ancestors knew what he meant. For the sake of a cave heaven inheritance, they forced Li Shiming, their own top alchemy master, not to show up.
However, they did not get the benefits they deserved. When Tianxing Trading Company and Tianwen Sect joined forces, they became the weakest party.
At this point, they realized that even if they obtained the Cave Heaven inheritance, they would not be able to preserve it.
"It's too late to say it now!" said Old Ancestor Zuo with a helpless smile.
"Too late!" Patriarch Lu shook his head and said.
Ancestor Zuo did it for Li Shiming, and Ancestor Lu did it for Li Yuanba.
The one who gave Patriarch Lu the most headache was Li Yuanba's master, Patriarch Jian. If Patriarch Jian knew how Senluo Sect treated Li Yuanba, he would probably have a hard time dealing with it as their master.
Patriarch Lu knew Patriarch Jian's background. Given Patriarch Jian's character, if he could really return to Jianyi Chongxiao Pavilion, he would most likely ask Jianyi Chongxiao Pavilion to protect Senluo Sect.
But if Patriarch Jian knew what happened to Li Yuanba, let alone protecting him, the most likely scenario would be that he would let Jianyi Chongxiao Pavilion destroy Senluo Sect, and at most leave a way out for his master, Patriarch Lu.
"Uncle-master, there is something I haven't reported to you!" Patriarch Han Xiao said to Patriarch Luo Wei.
While flying, Patriarch Luo Wei looked at Patriarch Han Xiao in confusion, wondering what he wanted to say.
"When Patriarch Jian of the Senluo Sect left, the formation we set up on the route sent back information that he left along our route!" Patriarch Han Xiao said in a deep voice.
It was impossible to deploy formations along the entire route, so after they arrived at the Northern Shu Continent, they set up some exploration formations at the end of the route.
These exploration arrays are normal safety behaviors, in order to prevent being ambushed by traps set by other forces along the way.
You have to know that at the end of the route, they are very likely to be discovered by the continental formation. If the continent is capable, they can set up a trap there and ambush them when they leave.
Of course, this kind of action is almost useless for the Northern Shu Continent, because the Northern Shu Continent is completely unable to carry out an ambush due to its strength.
But safety is something the Tianwen Sect has become accustomed to.
"How did he know our route? By the way, his disciple Li Yuanba and Li Shiming are good friends. Do you mean that Li Shiming might have also left the Northern Shu continent through the route?" The more Patriarch Luo Wei thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Originally, it might be a coincidence that the direction in which Patriarch Jian left the Northern Shu Continent was similar to the route of Tianwen Sect, but combined with Li Shiming's departure, it was inevitable that Patriarch Han Xiao had some speculations.