Cultivation is Just That Scientific

Li Shiming recalled that the first time he met Chief Escort Wang in the garden, it was right at this rockery. The place where Chief Escort Wang arranged to meet him was also this rockery.

If Chief Escort Wang had a valuable item and was being pursued, he certainly wouldn’t carry it on his person. He would hide it somewhere within sight.

Perhaps Chief Escort Wang had hidden the item nearby. Li Shiming did not search the body of Chief Escort Wang but began looking around instead.

Li Shiming was aware that with his own experience, he probably wouldn’t notice anything unusual.

He thought of using the large IBM z15 server within his server room space, but the prerequisite was that whatever his eyes saw could be directly received by the IBM z15.

To enable his eyes to record, he needed to add them as an input device for the IBM z15.

He attempted to add his eyes as an input device in the Linux system settings. By connecting his consciousness to the input module, the system prompted that a usable device was detected.

Without needing to install a driver, the device was automatically installed and ready to use.

This was the first time Li Shiming operated the IBM z15 by diving deep into its components. After several attempts, he successfully registered his eyes as a legitimate input device for the IBM z15.

He scanned the area around the rockery with his eyes, capturing the surrounding environment into a video file on the IBM z15.

He then closed his eyes and used his consciousness to repeatedly review the recorded video.

His experience was limited, but by replaying the video multiple times, he would inevitably notice something unusual.

“Found it!” After over a minute of repeatedly examining the video nearly a hundred times, he finally spotted an anomaly.

Li Shiming approached the southern corner of the rockery(basically an artificial mountain). The grass here seemed the same as elsewhere, but the average height of the grass here was slightly taller.

This subtle height difference couldn’t be detected with the naked eye, but after being digitized by the IBM z15, the difference became apparent.

In just one minute, the IBM z15’s power consumption had already reached the warning threshold.

Chief Escort Wang had extensive experience hiding things. Without the IBM z15’s computational analysis, Li Shiming would never have found it by eye alone.

Li Shiming carefully dug up the soil, revealing a wooden box beneath it.

The moment he saw the wooden box, his heart filled with excitement.

Opening the box, he found two books and a small wooden sword inside.

The wooden sword was densely covered with intricate patterns, comparable to the printing techniques of his previous life, extremely detailed and clear.

He picked up the wooden sword and found it surprisingly heavy, weighing about eight pounds.

“This sword is no ordinary item—perhaps it’s a cultivation artifact!” The weight confirmed the sword’s extraordinary nature.

He stowed the wooden sword in his robe before picking up the two books.

The Five Elements Qi Absorption Art (五行纳气诀) and Introduction to Runes (符文入门). These were the titles of the books.

Li Shiming quickly skimmed through the books, then, after some thought, placed them back in the box.

He realized something: Chief Escort Wang was dead, but that cultivator was still alive and would continue the investigation.

He didn’t know whether the cultivator had means to find this place.

It was best to create a false impression so that if the cultivator did find the box, they would believe it only contained the two books.

The books had already been recorded in the IBM z15 and could be accessed anytime.

After recording the books, the IBM z15’s power entered sleep mode, and without recharging from the uninterruptible power supply, it couldn’t be used again for a while.

Having finished, he carefully restored everything, replacing the soil as it was.

He then stored Chief Escort Wang’s corpse in the server room space. Truth be told, he didn’t want to do this, but leaving the body in the garden was even worse.

He tidied up the scene, especially removing any possible traces where Chief Escort Wang had fallen.

Only then did he leisurely return to the courtyard. With the greatest pressure relieved, he felt light and relaxed.

Before going to bed that night, he used his consciousness to run the generator until he was mentally exhausted and finally fell asleep.

The following day was relatively calm. The authorities hadn’t found the cultivator, nor could they find Chief Escort Wang.

But that night, while in the courtyard, Li Shiming heard the sound of drums—a signal that a major incident had occurred in Nanling Prefecture.

He rushed out to investigate and encountered his servant, Mo Yan, bringing news.

“Young Master, something terrible has happened! The Wei Yuan Escort Agency has been wiped out! Including Chief Escort Wang’s entire family, all thirty-five people in the agency have been killed!” Mo Yan reported anxiously.

Li Shiming’s expression changed. He didn’t need to think to know this was the work of the cultivator.

Perhaps unable to find Chief Escort Wang, the cultivator resorted to this method.

Wiping out the Wei Yuan Escort Agency, slaughtering Wang’s entire family, was meant to drive Chief Escort Wang to desperation and force him to show himself.

But it was too ruthless—thirty-five lives extinguished just like that.

This was Nanling Prefecture, after all. No wonder the drum was sounded. Likely not only the city guards but also nearby troops would be dispatched.

Li Shiming grew even more worried. The item the cultivator sought was hidden in the garden. He couldn’t guarantee the cultivator would be satisfied with just finding the box.

He had taken the wooden sword. If that was what the cultivator was after, his household was in grave danger.

He doubted the authorities could oppose a cultivator. The likelihood was slim.

Perhaps he needed to add another layer of security before the cultivator found the box.

“Mo Yan, is the item I requested ready?” Li Shiming asked solemnly.

“I’ll press for it now. It will definitely arrive by tomorrow morning!” Mo Yan promised.

Li Shiming abandoned the idea of constructing the furnace. He had planned to build an electric arc furnace, but even if the materials arrived the next day, making silicon carbide rods would take time, and the UPS didn’t have enough stored power.

With an electric arc furnace, he could use his consciousness to craft precision metal weapons for self-defense.

But time was too short, and he needed another solution.

An idea struck him.

He performed chemical synthesis in the server room space and obtained a small amount of white phosphorus using the simplest method.

With the IBM z15, there were over ten ways to produce white phosphorus. He wasn’t particular and chose the fastest method available.

After obtaining the white phosphorus, he went to the garden again and placed some chemicals in the wooden box under the rockery. He then erased his traces once more.

Having done all he could, the rest was up to fate.