In front of him, the illusion clone summoned the ’Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer’, which is not a life-bound magic treasure.

Once this suspicion arose, Half-step Great Power Lian Lei recalled the various behaviors of the illusion clone, and new doubts he hadn’t considered before emerged in his mind.

The strength of the illusion clone does not match the rumors, which itself is the biggest suspicious point.

The illusion clone showed great power indeed, but it still fell far short of being able to easily kill Master Wang He and Yan Gao Great Cultivator.

Both Master Wang He and Yan Gao Great Cultivator are peak great cultivators of the Yuqing Sect and the White Emperor Sect, whose strength is top-tier even among peak great cultivators.

The illusion clone couldn’t possibly kill these two peak great cultivators simultaneously. Previously, Half-step Great Power Lian Lei didn’t doubt the illusion clone’s identity, so he hadn’t questioned this much. But now, the more he thought, the more he felt something was off.

"I am indeed Li Shizhen, but I’m an energy avatar of Li Shizhen!" The illusion clone revealed, smiling.

"How could you be an energy avatar, you have a physical body!" Half-step Great Power Lian Lei was greatly shocked, he couldn’t believe it and said.

"This is just a small trick, like this!" The illusion clone smiled and separated the Nascent Soul from its body.

When Half-step Great Power Lian Lei saw the Nascent Soul, no matter how incredulous he was, he had to admit there was definitely something strange about it.

From the Nascent Soul, he sensed the traces of the secret technique of devil cultivators controlling Nascent Souls; the aura of this Nascent Soul didn’t match the illusion clone at all.

The illusion clone is a thunder cultivator, at least it outwardly showed as a Thunder Cultivator, but this Nascent Soul belonged to a Water Element Great Cultivator.

Even the Nascent Soul isn’t real, lending much credibility to the energy avatar claim.

At this moment, Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s emotions were indescribable.

He spent the last of his life span thinking he captured Li Shiming, only to find out he had caught an energy avatar.

Even if he killed the energy avatar, it would only cause slight harm to Li Shiming, hardly even considered a significant injury.

"Gah!" Half-step Great Power Lian Lei spat a mouthful of blood.

Originally, at the end of his life, he planned to finish with one final battle, but now the identity of the illusion clone was exposed, dealing him a massive blow.

His mind was struck, causing his energy and spirit to collapse instantly, and his life force dropped drastically.

Just then, the illusion clone cast ’At Arm’s Length, End of the World’ at the released Nascent Soul.

His consciousness controlled the Nascent Soul to cooperate with ’At Arm’s Length, End of the World’, and the Nascent Soul vanished from the spot, appearing next to Half-step Great Power Lian Lei.

Then the Nascent Soul initiated a self-destructive explosion, which was a self-sacrifice secret technique Li Shiming acquired.

In the cultivation world, many sects have similar secret techniques meant for dragging enemies down with them at the last moment.

At this moment, Li Shiming chose the most powerful self-sacrifice secret technique.

The Nascent Soul exploded beside Half-step Great Power Lian Lei with a ’boom’.

The explosion power equaled a peak great cultivator’s Nascent Soul self-destructing, surpassing the strongest attack achievable by a peak great cultivator, and faintly approaching the level of Half-step Great Power.

Half-step Great Power Lian Lei was affected mentally, chaotic in spirit, and physically weak.

And given the life or death of the illusion clone hanging on his whim, he didn’t pay attention to the illusion clone.

In fact, from Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s perspective, even standing still in place, allowing the illusion clone to attack, couldn’t break through his defenses.

This is the real gap between a peak great cultivator and Half-step Great Power. But never did Half-step Great Power Lian Lei expect the illusion clone to be so decisive, finding the single possible overturning strategy.

This was thanks to Li Shiming’s life-bound magic treasure, the IBMz15, which excelled at analyzing every aspect in such situations, planning out an approach to harm Half-step Great Power Lian Lei with unimaginable computational power. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The Nascent Soul exploded almost at point-blank range, and Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s body was at its weakest, having not applied any defense yet, receiving the full brunt of the Nascent Soul’s self-destruction with his flesh.

Ferocious energy impacted Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s body, his skin ripped under the pressure, flesh evaporating in the energy surge.

Half of Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s body nearly vanished, flung off in one direction.

The illusion clone suddenly shifted, employing ’At Arm’s Length, End of the World’, and appeared at another position.

While at his original standing place, space abruptly collapsed, swallowing everything there.

This was the final attack launched by Half-step Great Power Lian Lei after suffering the Nascent Soul’s explosion, powerful enough to kill the illusion clone.

Yet the illusion clone already anticipated the possible final blow from Half-step Great Power Lian Lei, timely maneuvering to avoid it.

The illusion clone stood in place, preparing ’At Arm’s Length, End of the World’ again; this required some time, during which, if Half-step Great Power Lian Lei hadn’t fallen, he could have killed the illusion clone several times over.

Inside the Grotto Heaven, color seemed suddenly lost, eyes seeing only gray-white, even sensing the lament of the Grotto Heaven.

The illusion clone let out a long breath; this scene could only mean one thing, the owner of the Grotto Heaven had perished.

Even now, he couldn’t believe he survived facing a Half-step Great Power.

Though Li Shiming himself previously survived against a Half-step Great Power, this time facing an experienced Half-step Great Power like Lian Lei.

"What a pity!" He glanced at the Grotto Heaven, which was approaching its demise.

While not visible now, this Grotto Heaven would slowly collapse over time, an irreversible process.

He flew towards the direction where Half-step Great Power Lian Lei fell and found Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s corpse.

From Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s body, he found a soul crystal ring and a top-grade level-four ’Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer’, Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s life-bound magic treasure.

He collected Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s corpse and stored the spoils.

He searched back and forth inside the Grotto Heaven, finally locating a crystal stone with a thunder aura, which was the Heavenly Mechanism Treasure of the Grotto Heaven.

It was fortunate he found it in time, as later on, the Heavenly Mechanism Treasure would disperse into the Grotto Heaven as it perished.

Although this Grotto Heaven was heading towards death, it was still a rare experience.

He flew into the thunderclouds, feeling the thunder rules close-up, this sensation vastly surpassing distant viewing and perception.

IBMz15 recorded the data as he gathered it, greatly completing previous records.

After thirty minutes, the thunderclouds dissipated, everything within the Grotto Heaven dissolving, together heading towards death with its owner.

The illusion clone watched the Grotto Heaven now, the dead-silent Grotto Heaven, void of life, even the several spirit plants cultivated here by Half-step Great Power Lian Lei had turned gray-white, ultimately becoming part of the Grotto Heaven.

In the centuries to come, this Grotto Heaven would gradually disintegrate, erasing all traces of Half-step Great Power Lian Lei’s existence.

The illusion clone sighed deeply; outside, four late-stage Golden Corpses guarding this place, one of them moved.

This late-stage Golden Corpse was controlled by one of Li Shiming’s brains; it gathered the black and white chess pieces and lifted all spatial sealing formations.

Once everything was undone, the illusion clone appeared from the void.

At this moment, the illusion clone’s originally physical body like a flesh body was gradually degenerating, transforming into an energy-based form.

Without the support of the Nascent Soul, this body would, in due course, convert back to an ordinary energy clone.

Of course, Li Shiming had the method to grant the illusion clone a physical body, but that method required consuming a peak great cultivator.