Cultivation is just so scientific!

Only when you face the vast sea can you comprehend the enormity of the world.

Li Shiming stood above the sea, surrounded by no landmarks. Without the IBMz15 plotting his course, his eyes alone would have been unable to discern the location marked on the ancient map.

His heart filled with excitement, many cultivators in the Cultivation World would embark on adventures to various places.

This was related to the numerous unknown ruins that existed within the Cultivation World. Given the vast number of cultivators, many who died from injuries or age left behind caves and abodes that became targets for other cultivators to explore.

Li Shiming and his clone, Li Yuanba, had only explored one cultivator's heritage site together before, and that experience had yielded considerable fortune, as well as extreme danger.

This time, Li Shiming's exploration of the Five Qi Sect's ruins was what could be considered his second real exploration venture.

He halted his sword light. According to the IBMz15's comparison, this should be the location of the Five Qi Sect marked on the ancient map.

Surrounded by seawater, he couldn't help but sigh at how the world changes over time.

He cast a Spiritual Power shield about himself and then dove into the sea.

The site was nearly three hundred li from the shore, with excellent visibility in the water. He could see tens of meters in the sea, while his Divine Thought could probe even further.

Before long, he had descended to the sea floor.

To his disappointment, there seemed to be nothing of interest in this stretch of the seafloor.

His Divine Thought scanned downward, but the silt greatly reduced the distance it could cover.

His Divine Thought could penetrate roughly fifty meters of seabed silt at most, any further and it was powerless.

He didn't hurry, slowly moving across the seabed while probing with his Divine Thought.

Suddenly, a feeling of palpitations struck him, and almost instinctively, Li Shiming used "Step by Step Lotus". A white lotus appeared under his feet, with another emerging a hundred meters away.

A slender-bodied venomous snake lunged out from the seabed silt, its mouth wide displaying four fangs, biting at what seemed to be Li Shiming's body but was in fact only an afterimage.

Li Shiming's hair stood on end, his wariness towards the seabed spiking. Had he not been so vigilant, he would have been unable to evade the snake's attack.

The snake, approaching Demon Level strength, was particularly frightening because Li Shiming hadn't detected it until it struck, despite maintaining constant Divine Thought awareness.

He had always heard that the sea was the most dangerous place. He dared to come here because it was not far from the shore, within the range of the coastal sea.

The snake's initial strike missed, but it didn't relent. It cut through the water swiftly, pursuing Li Shiming.

Underwater combat was not Li Shiming's forte; in fact, unless one specialized in underwater fighting, normal cultivators would find themselves severely hampered.

Whether using spells or magic artifacts, both would be affected by seawater.

Particularly Spirit Powers like fire would be greatly suppressed.

The resistance of the water would also slow down the speed of magic artifacts; adapting to these conditions was necessary to fight effectively.

Even moving through the sea was impeded by the resistance of water, making it impossible to reach the third of the speed achievable in the air.

This was not a concern for Li Shiming; "Step by Step Lotus" did not depend on moving between the two lotuses, as he moved instantly between them.

Seeing the snake approaching, Li Shiming opted to use Water attribute thunder spiritual power to unleash a "Thunder Strike Skill".

Upon releasing the "Thunder Strike Skill", numerous currents of electricity formed in the water before him. He promptly dodged to avoid being affected by his own spell.

When he employed "Step by Step Lotus" to appear a hundred meters away, he was shocked to discover that the venomous Spirit Snake had vanished.

He was one hundred percent certain that the snake hadn't been killed by the "Thunder Strike Skill"; not only had the seawater dispersed the power of the spell, but even a direct hit would not have been enough to kill a Spirit Snake near Demon Level with a single strike.

"Sly creature!" Li Shiming's expression soured as he activated the "Thick Earth Shield Pearl", providing his body with a powerful defense.

The "Thick Earth Shield Pearl" was a trophy from when his clone Li Yuanba had killed a True Inheritor of a sect, possessing exceptionally strong defensive capabilities. Its only drawback was the need to be pre-charged with Earth Attribute Spiritual Power.

With the defense of the "Thick Earth Shield Pearl", he felt significantly more at ease.

Due to the recent commotion, the silt on the seabed had been stirred up, reducing visibility as the muddy water swirled around.

Additionally, having already discovered that his Divine Thought could not detect the Spirit Snake, he became even more cautious.

He did not draw his flying sword, knowing that its speed underwater would be slower than that of the Spirit Snake.

Sensing a slight disturbance in the water beside him, another lotus appeared in the distance. He materialized upon it, just as the original spot was viciously bitten by the Spirit Snake.

"It's the Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake!" Having dodged another attack, Li Shiming identified the species of the Spirit Snake.

Li Shiming had read numerous miscellaneous texts from the Shushan Sect, or rather, he had scanned a vast number of books into the IBMz15's hard drive.

Just now, the IBMz15 matched the brief contact with the characteristics and combat style of the snake with similar descriptions found in the database.

The "Absolute Spirit Illusion Snake" was an ancient venomous Spirit Snake species. The information on the snake was obtained from a Jade Scroll discovered by the sect in ancient ruins.