Cultivation is just so scientific!

Fan Ancestor felt the aura of Ancestor Luo Wei, the aura of a Nascent Soul Middle Stage being locked onto him, causing the Nascent Soul within him to be suppressed.

He could indeed forcibly perform a Nascent Soul Emergence, using the Nascent Soul Dharma Form to resist Ancestor Luo Wei, but he dared not move, not out of fear, but for the sake of the sect's legacy.

He detected a strong sense of threat from Luo Wei Ancestor's tone, believing that any movement would bring catastrophic disaster to the sect.

Furthermore, even if he acted, it would probably be impossible to hold off Ancestor Luo Wei for even a moment.

As Ancestor Luo Wei saw Fan Ancestor stop, his figure did not pause, arriving outside the Sword Holding Peak.

With a similar strike, he easily broke through the formation that Li Shiming was proud of.

"Where is he?" He sensed around the Sword Holding Peak and did not find any trace of Li Shiming.

"Senior, Li Shiming is an Alchemy Master; if you're seeking pills, you might as well wait until he advances to the Nascent Soul Stage before coming!" Fan Ancestor said, seeing Ancestor Luo Wei approaching the Sword Holding Peak, though he dared not obstruct him.

Ancestor Luo Wei glanced at Fan Ancestor, realizing from his words that Fan Ancestor also did not know Li Shiming's whereabouts.

It's worth noting that at this time, Fan Ancestor was within his sensing range, and any slight change in Fan Ancestor's thoughts would be perceived by him.

Ignoring Fan Ancestor, Luo Wei Ancestor did not want to waste time; he circled above the Shushan Sect, thoroughly investigating it, and confirmed one thing: Li Shiming was not within the Shushan Sect.

"Did he escape?" Ancestor Luo Wei muttered in disbelief.

From performing the Heavenly Inquiry Secret Technique to setting out, he had not delayed a moment.

The intelligence from the Heavenly Inquiry Sect showed that Li Shiming had been staying at the Sword Holding Peak and had never left, so why did this situation arise? Li Shiming had disappeared.

"Let's go back!" Ancestor Luo Wei instructed Ancestor Han Xiao.

At this time, he did not act against the Shushan Sect, considering that he might have to interact with the six major sects for a while, and if he really wiped out the Shushan Sect, a true life-and-death feud with the Beishu Continent would ensue, making it inconvenient for him to do anything there.

Being a decisive person, without finding Li Shiming, he decided to return and activate all intelligence; as long as Li Shiming was on the Beishu Continent, he would definitely be found.

The two Nascent Soul Ancestors came swiftly and left quickly, leaving Fan Ancestor feeling inexplicably.

"Why on earth did Shiming cause the Heavenly Inquiry Sect to come looking for him?" Fan Ancestor, while instructing the sect to stabilize the situation, flew to the Sword Holding Peak.

There really was no sign of Li Shiming within the Sword Holding Peak; the cave mansion was almost cleared out, indicating he must have prepared for departure.

"Master, did something happen to Shiming?" Elder Su arrived and asked at this moment.

When Ancestor Luo Wei arrived, he did not even have the qualification to fly into the air; the aura of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage suppressed all cultivators below the Nascent Soul within the mountain gate.

Even though he was concerned about Li Shiming, he could do nothing.

"I don't know, but it's fortunate Shiming fled in advance!" Fan Ancestor shook his head and said.

"During the Heavenly Inquiry Sect's visit, Shiming rarely left the mountain gate, and he had no contact with them. Why then did they come looking for Shiming?" Elder Su said curiously.

He tried to contact Li Shiming through a communication token but found it couldn't connect to Li Shiming's token.

To prevent being tracked, Li Shiming had already stored the communication token in his personal space.

Such tokens seemed untraceable, but in reality, if the Beishu Trading Company was willing, they could find the general location of the token by cross-referencing feedback from communication arrays spread across the Beishu Continent.

The stakes in the Grotto Heaven affair were too high, and he trusted no one now, preferring not to contact anyone.

He even left no message for Yin Shilan, not because he distrusted her, but to avoid bringing her trouble.

As long as he stayed hidden and uncontactable, even if someone tried to use Yin Shilan to threaten him, there'd be no target to aim the threat at.

Elder Jin Kai did not bring Ancestor Ren Xun along, as taking him would slow his speed; after all, he was injured, and minimizing expenditure was beneficial.

He, along with the six Nascent Soul Ancestors of the Beishu Continent, was delayed by Ancestor Luo Wei's interference for some time. Upon learning that Luo Wei was heading to the Shushan Sect, they proceeded towards Shushan.

Meanwhile, Ancestor Lu and others, through the continent's Investigation Array, tracked the movements of Ancestor Luo Wei and Ancestor Ren Xun.

Venerable Huike, gathering the spiritual power of the other five Nascent Soul Ancestors, performed "Inch-distance, spanning the world," leading the way, with Elder Jin Kai following behind, intercepting Ancestor Luo Wei and Ancestor Han Xiao midway.

"Mr. Luo, what is the meaning of this?" Elder Jin Kai asked in shock upon seeing Ancestor Luo Wei.

He had met Ancestor Luo Wei not long ago, but now Luo Wei's appearance was almost unrecognizable.

With such an aged look, it seemed Luo Wei's life span was nearing its end.

This was, after all, the Beishu Continent—who could render Ancestor Luo Wei into such a state? Elder Jin Kai considered himself equally matched with Luo Wei, and being injured himself, if Luo Wei couldn't handle an adversary, neither would he be able to.

"I encountered some issues while cultivating, nothing major. I came because I heard Li Shiming was extremely skilled in alchemy, hoping to consult Master Li, only to find he is not within the Shushan Sect. It was a wasted trip!" Ancestor Luo Wei replied with a smile.

Although his reasoning seemed plausible, neither the six Nascent Soul Early Stage practitioners opposite him, nor Elder Jin Kai believed a word of it.

Li Shiming, merely a Late-stage Golden Core Alchemy Master, how could he assist a Nascent Soul Middle Stage like Luo Wei?

Even if he could help Luo Wei, Luo Wei should not have used such means, forcibly breaching the Shushan Sect's great array, which was making a grave enmity with Shushan. Later, trying to ask Li Shiming for alchemy services would no longer be an option.

See, even Elder Jin Kai brought out precious resources to establish good relations with Li Shiming to facilitate future alchemical requests.

"Senior Luo, I address you as a senior, but forcibly breaking my Shushan Sect's great array violates the agreement with the Beishu Continent!" Elder Zuo spoke angrily at this time.

He was discussing with the other five Nascent Soul Ancestors whether to engage in battle with Luo Wei.

It was not an easy decision; although Luo Wei indeed broke the Shushan Sect's array, there were no casualties, mostly material and prideful losses.

"I did not break the agreement, I did not deliberately harm any Beishu Continent cultivator. The urgency led to my recklessness, and I express my apologies to the Shushan Sect!" Ancestor Luo Wei slightly bowed and said.

Not wanting to fall out with the six major sects of the Beishu Continent at this time, although he would certainly overpower them, it being their stronghold after all, a multitude of Nascent Soul Ancestors jointly attacking would give him considerable trouble.

More importantly, he still wanted to find Li Shiming, which might require involving the six major sects.

Perhaps he did not yet realize that Li Shiming had already guessed Luo Wei's intentions concerning the Cave Heaven inheritance and thus chose to flee.

Using seeking alchemical services from Li Shiming as a pretense, he intended to lure him for a meeting to capture him.

Elder Zuo hesitated; he could not, over matters of pride, compel the other five sects to go to war for Shushan.

Luo Wei's explanation and apology helped Zuo save a little face, making a total fallout less appealing.

"I am willing to compensate for the Shushan Sect's Mountain Protection Array damages, and to be honest, I indeed have a Spirit Pill that I wish to request Master Li to refine. I am willing to offer a Heavenly Inquiry Sect's set of Nascent Soul resources as compensation!" Luo Wei added after noticing the change in Elder Zuo's expression.