Cultivation is Just That Scientific

Li Shiming’s consciousness returned to the server roomonce again, and this time, his eyes were fixed on the generator.

The hand crank of the generator had long become redundant. Through mental manipulation, he detached the hand crank and two sets of gears from the generator.

With a hand crank and two sets of gears, making a manual centrifuge was not a difficult task.

Especially since he had already stored wooden boards and tools in the server room. Under his mental manipulation, the rest of the necessary components were easily fabricated.

Thus, the first centrifuge in this world was made. As he looked at the centrifuge before him, a thought crossed his mind: since he could manipulate everything directly within the server room, why did he bother making the centrifuge at all?

In an instant, the joy of creating the world’s first centrifuge vanished. He began to reflect on his way of thinking.

An hour later, various materials and case files were delivered. During this time, Si Qin also brought back a small box containing about fifty Rosary peas.

Li Shiming fetched a stove and a sand pot, and without asking Si Qin for help, he started brewing the concoction according to Chief Escort Wang’s prescription.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone, various materials in his server room were already undergoing processing.

For safety reasons, he used wooden boards to partition off a corner of the server room, creating a separate space to prevent chemical substances from affecting the equipment.

In truth, if done manually, using chemical methods to formulate specified compounds from these raw materials would be somewhat difficult.

But within the server room’s space, where he had complete control, this task became exceedingly simple.

In the server room, he could perceive materials at the micron level and detect any changes occurring within them, making chemical experiments remarkably straightforward.

No experimental apparatus was needed; his consciousness could serve as the container.

Phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, ammonium sulfate, glycerin, abrin, and nitroglycerin—all were synthesized by him. After the fifty Rosary peas were shelled, they were transformed into a small amount of liquid abrin.

Who would imagine that this tiny amount of liquid could claim multiple lives? It could indeed be considered one of the deadliest substances in this world.

This was not a naturally occurring poison, but one refined through scientific means—something that, in a certain sense, shouldn’t even exist in this world.

He also produced several kilograms of nitroglycerin, sealing it in airtight jars and storing them in the server room warehouse.

After completing these tasks, Li Shiming found that the medicine was still not ready. This showed just how smoothly things went with mental manipulation in the server room space.

He calculated his plan carefully, knowing better than to underestimate Chief Escort Wang.

During the process of formulating chemicals, Li Shiming realized he didn’t have a good furnace. Using wood as fuel in the server room couldn’t achieve ultra-high temperatures.

Although ultra-high temperatures were rarely needed in chemical experiments, he was thinking ahead.

For this reason, he sketched several components and listed some materials, handing them over to the servant Mo Yan to procure.

Mo Yan, who had received many rewards for his services, confidently assured that he would deliver the items promptly.

Neither Si Qin nor Mo Yan questioned Li Shiming’s sudden interest in buying these peculiar items or his brewing of medicines.

While the young masters of other families indulged in food, drink, and entertainment, if their young master bought a few harmless items to broaden his knowledge, it wasn’t a big deal. It certainly wasn’t their place to comment.

Li Shiming picked up the case files Mo Yan had brought. Outsiders might not have access to such files, but as the son of the prefect, no one in Nanling Prefecture’s Head office would refuse his orders.

The case files were meticulously detailed, describing the incident from multiple perspectives.

They contained testimonies from the bawd, song-and-dance girls, attendants, and guests of the Tianxiang Tower, along with conclusions from the crime scene investigation. The professionalism of the files was evident.

Tianxiang Tower was a renowned brothel in Nanling Prefecture. On the day in question, the third floor had been reserved by the Weiyuan Escort Agency. Chief Escort Wang and seven other escorts were gathered there.

A man in white suddenly appeared and killed the seven escorts.

According to guests on the second floor, the multi-layered floorboards of the third floor were shattered by a terrifying force, and Chief Escort Wang fell through the broken floorboards before escaping through a shattered window.

The man in white, whose legs emitted a blue glow, pursued him.

No one on the second floor could describe the face of the man in white, as his features were obscured by a veil of mist.

Moreover, the man in white exuded a chilling aura, causing many who saw him to lose control of their bowels on the spot.

The final conclusion of the case files suggested that the man in white was a cultivator.

Seeing mention of a cultivator in the files, Li Shiming felt a sense of having traversed worlds once more. He hadn’t found any trace of cultivators in his predecessor’s memories.

This wasn’t the predecessor’s fault; he was merely a fifteen-year-old scholar focused solely on the Four Books and Five Classics.

He had few friends, partly due to his dedication to studying and partly because of his age.

Ordinarily, scholars in the same city would often meet to discuss the classics or indulge in romantic escapades.

But how could fifteen-year-old Li Shiming blend in with a group of adult scholars?

Even among the scholars, those in their twenties were rare, and there were none his age.

This didn’t mean that Nanling Prefecture lacked young scholars; it was just that they appeared only once every decade or so. The previous young scholar was now over twenty years old.

Furthermore, his predecessor avoided those who sought to curry favor with the powerful. As a result, his circle of friends naturally shrank.

With no friends and an unwavering focus on the classics, his predecessor’s knowledge was narrow, mostly confined to studying.

Of course, Li Shiming was somewhat grateful for his predecessor’s situation. At least this way, he didn’t have to worry constantly about interacting with people and exposing himself.

“No wonder Chief Escort Wang hid in the Head office. It turns out he’s being hunted by a cultivator!” Li Shiming thought to himself.

If a cultivator was after Chief Escort Wang, it meant the escort possessed something that had drawn a cultivator’s attention, which piqued Li Shiming’s interest.

If this world were merely an ordinary one, Li Shiming could leverage the server room space to achieve great success here.

But if this was a world of cultivation, he would have to alter his plans.

Longevity and freedom—to roam the world unrestrained—was a deep-seated desire. Even the slightest chance was worth pursuing.

Once the medicine was ready, Li Shiming instructed Si Qin to prepare a food box and placed the medicine, now in a large bowl, inside.

“Si Qin, don’t follow me. I’m going for a walk in the garden,” Li Shiming said as he picked up the food box.

Under Si Qin’s puzzled gaze, he left the courtyard.