Cultivation is just so scientific!

Of course, this was his last resort, for the two masters, perhaps two types of third-grade materials weren't considered very precious, but for him to ask them was somewhat overstepping.

Elder Su and Elder Ma didn't only have him as a disciple, if every disciple were to ask for third-grade materials, Elder Ma might still manage due to his considerable assets, but Elder Su would probably be bleeding dry.

The issue was that he was just a registered disciple of Elder Ma, which made it even less appropriate for him to make such a request.

Li Shiming smiled as he looked at the "Heavenly Fragrance Enlightenment Spirit Pill." If he had known about this Spirit Pill earlier, he might have directly killed Ji Hongbo.

"Thinking too much, would Elder Ji really send a Golden Core cultivator after me just for a 'Heavenly Fragrance Enlightenment Spirit Pill'?" he chuckled to himself and shook his head.

He stopped considering these matters and closed his eyes, beginning to connect with the IBM z15. The IBM z15 uploaded all the recent analyses and research on formations, including processes and results, directly into his brain.

Above his head, an Array Formation Starlight Sea emerged, a cluster of galaxy clouds had formed and started connecting with each other.

"Just a bit more, after this trip I will let those cultivators seeking pills replace their compensation with knowledge on formations!" he murmured as he sensed the Array Formation Starlight Sea.

He thought becoming an Array Master was achievable, but even after acquiring the Senluo Sect's formation knowledge through his clone Li Yuanba, and digesting the formation knowledge of both Senluo Sect and Shushan Sect, he was still just short of the final step to fully elevate the Array Formation Starlight Sea, constantly hitting a bottleneck just a thread away from becoming an Array Master.

He didn't have a master to teach him about formations; had he had one, they would have told him how challenging it was to become an Array Master.

Every Array Master was an aggregation of knowledge from hundreds of schools, who only after centuries of dedicated study could attain enlightenment and breakthrough.

His situation, where he had studied formations for just a few years yet was thinking about becoming an Array Master, was extremely rare in the history of the cultivation world.

Of course, in terms of applying formations, his skills were not far off from those of an Array Master.

What was most critical for him now was the issue of his cultivation realm. If he had the power of the Golden Core stage and could access third-grade materials to make flags for formations, he could make a temporarily set up formation withstand an attack from a Golden Core cultivator.

Just look at him now, trying to gather all the third-grade Five Elements Array Materials needed through his own and his clone's efforts. His main body and clone were doing quite well in both righteous and demonic sects, yet he still hadn't managed to gather all the Third-Grade Five Elements Array Materials needed, not to mention obtaining more third-grade formation materials to create formation flags.

"Once my level in alchemy increases to that of an Alchemy Master, I'll start preparing to learn about artifact refining!" Li Shiming made plans for his future.

Upon reaching the Golden Core stage, refining artifacts became a necessary skill for most Golden Core cultivators. At the Golden Core stage, a cultivator could use the Golden Core's fire to refine third-grade artifact materials, forming the basis for artifact refining.

The fire of the Golden Core was indeed a Spiritual Fire, but its nature was too fierce to be used in alchemy; however, it was suitable for artifact refining.

For a Golden Core cultivator to obtain third-grade artifact materials was an effortful task—either serving the sect for many years and exchanging contribution points for them, exploring dangerous places, or relying on one's own fortunes to acquire them.

Whichever way they acquired third-grade artifact materials, cultivators would highly value them; having someone else use third-grade artifact materials to craft artifacts was rarely reassuring for Golden Core cultivators.

Not to mention, many Golden Core cultivators' life-bound magic weapons needed to be crafted according to the inheritance techniques recorded in their sects, involving significant secrets of their cultivation. Entrusting others with this task could expose their secrets and bring dangers to themselves.

Any inheritance, by the time one reached the Golden Core stage, contained the most crucial parts that involved the secrets of one's cultivation. A single mistake could be exploited by enemies.

Therefore, even if Golden Core cultivators were not proficient in the art of artifact refining, they still needed to master some techniques to craft their own magic weapons.

In the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, Li Yuanba was examining twelve fine-needle spiritual artifacts; the more he looked, the more he realized the extravagance of Yu Piao.

The twelve fine-needle spiritual artifacts were made of Third Grade Metal, and as he had little research on artifact refining, especially third-grade refining materials, he was unable to identify the exact type of Third Grade Metal used.

These third-grade metals were few, but if a suitable Artifact Refiner could be found, at least a small magical artifact could be made.

Li Yuanba did not know that Yu Piao had obtained the set of third-grade spiritual instruments purely by chance.

Originally, the set of fine-needle spiritual instruments was crafted by a Golden Core cultivator for his own use, specifically because of the scarcity of third-grade metals—opting for needle-shaped magical artifacts and ambitiously planning to use all the third-grade metals to craft a set of twelve needle-shaped magical artifacts.

However, this Golden Core cultivator overestimated his skills in refining artifacts; his mediocre skills might have yielded somewhat better success rates if he had focused on crafting individual magical artifacts.

Eventually, he wasted the set of needle-shaped magical artifacts made from third-grade metals and, in a very bad mood, sold this set of junk at a low price to an adept Artifact Refiner.

That cultivator, having obtained the set of twelve needle-shaped magical artifacts, also failed miserably after much effort, degrading the artifacts further into spiritual instrument-level trash.

Yu Piao, having learned of this, paid a significant price to acquire this set of trash from that cultivator.

For Golden Core cultivators, spiritual instruments are naturally considered trash, especially those made from third-grade metals; actually using such an artifact would likely be met with derision from other Golden Core cultivators.

No Golden Core cultivator would want to be seen using such spiritual instruments, but for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, they would indeed be an absolute treasure.

The twelve needle-shaped spiritual instruments are amongst the highest grade within spiritual instruments, thanks to the material used, and regardless of how poor the refining skills were, they were still processed by two Golden Core hands, with the latter being adept at artifact refining.

If it weren't for the first Golden Core digging such a big hole, the second, who was skilled in refining, might truly have been able to turn trash into treasure.

The grade of the twelve needle-shaped spiritual instruments was roughly equivalent to Li Yuanba's Third Grade Sword Base, both based on third-grade metals and both being spiritual instruments.

Of course, there were also significant differences between the two; the Third Grade Sword Base was currently a decent spiritual instrument, but this was merely a transitional stage. The Sword Base could grow, and once Li Yuanba reached the Golden Core Stage, the Third Grade Sword Base would evolve into a magical artifact.

Meanwhile, the twelve needle-shaped spiritual instruments could only remain as spiritual instruments, incapable of further grade advancement.

Li Yuanba did not refine the set of twelve needle-shaped spiritual instruments. Although he disagreed with the sole philosophy of pure Sword Cultivators concerning the flying sword, the twelve needle-shaped spiritual instruments were useless to him, doing nothing to enhance his strength.

His offensive power was well supplied with the Gale Golden Light Sword for long-range and the Third Grade Sword Base for close combat, making the use of needle-shaped spiritual instruments by a Sword Cultivator like him a laughingstock.

However, the twelve needle-shaped spiritual instruments did have some uses for the original Li Shiming, at least adding a method of setting formations, perfectly compatible with the Nine Palace Sword Formation.

Li Yuanba stored away the twelve needle-shaped spiritual instruments. He opened one storage bag and bracelet after another, taking out useful spiritual objects and setting them aside while placing useless items separately.

He couldn't help but shake his head and lament the vast difference between the true inheritances of Senluo Sect and those of Shushan Sect.

In fact, he had misjudged; Lin Ping, Du Ke, and Yu Piao would not be fighting over his Golden Core resources if they had powerful backgrounds in Senluo Sect.

These three True Disciples were peripheral figures among the Senluo Sect's True Disciples, not favored by influential Golden Core Elders but taken under the wings of slightly weaker Golden Core Elders instead.

Knowing that these slightly weaker Golden Core Elders were not doing well within the sect, how could they lavishly care for their disciples?

Especially regarding crucial resources, these naturally prioritized the disciples of powerful and influential Golden Core Elders.

Likewise, Li Yuanba was one of the powerful and influential True Disciples, casually granted a set of Golden Core resources by Ancestor Lu, and with Elder Jian's strong presence in the sect, he naturally disdained the items of these other True Disciples.

And Ji Hongbo was indeed the child of the most powerful Golden Core Elder in Shushan Sect, with no comparison between the two.