Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The herb garden on the back mountain has become quiet for the time being.

After the three first-tier mid-grade demonic beasts were dragged away last night, the He family cleaned up most of the bloodstains and broken scales on the ground to the west, leaving only a few shallow pits on the outer edge of the formation.

The spiritual energy in the herb garden is much stronger than that in the mine.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged in the stone house, circulating the Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin Technique. The surrounding spiritual energy flowed into his body through his meridians. This place was originally the He family's special place for cultivating spiritual herbs. Once the formation was activated, the surrounding spiritual energy gathered in the herb garden, making cultivation much smoother than outside.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, got up and walked to the table.

Talismans and spirit ink were laid out on the table. The guards at the He family's back mountain herb garden weren't too busy. As long as the formation didn't malfunction and there was no disturbance on the outside, they could spare most of their time.

As the talisman brush fell, fire patterns spread out stroke by stroke.

He was already very skilled at drawing fireball talismans, his movements—from the initial stroke to the layering and finishing—were effortless. Before long, a talisman was complete, which he casually set aside. He drew two more before finally stopping and putting down his talisman brush.

Half a day passed, and the herb garden remained calm.

Li Yuan drew a few more talismans in between, and spent the rest of the time cultivating. The spiritual energy in the herb garden was already quite good, and with the addition of the Micro-Yuan Guiding Meridian Technique opening up all the meridians in his body, his spiritual energy circulated extremely quickly. By the end of the morning, the spiritual energy in his dantian had become much thicker.

In the afternoon, footsteps finally sounded outside the stone house again.

There was more than one person who came this time.

Li Yuan pushed open the door and went out, where he saw three people standing outside the herb garden. The one in the lead was a young man in his thirties, not very tall and rather thin. He was wearing a dark blue short robe with the He family's nameplate hanging from his waist. His cuffs were covered in dust, as if he had rushed over.

His face wasn't pale, but his eyes were clear. He landed in the herb garden, scanned the array and the herb patch to make sure nothing else happened, and then walked towards Li Yuan.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I am He Qing. I will now take over the affairs here with you."

He spoke frankly, without any unnecessary formalities, and after bowing slightly, he got straight to the point.

"Last night, three mid-grade first-tier demonic beasts were killed. My family has already confirmed that if Fellow Daoist Li doesn't need demonic beast materials, the materials from these three first-tier demonic beasts will cost a total of fifty-three spirit stones."

As he spoke, he patted the storage bag at his waist, took out a small pile of spirit stones, and placed them on the stone table.

The spirit stones were stacked neatly.

"In total, fifty-three spirit stones."

After He Qing finished speaking, he did not stop immediately, but looked at Li Yuan.

"Please click it."

Li Yuan glanced at it but didn't count the pieces one by one.

"Since Fellow Daoist He delivered it personally, the account should be correct."

He Qing smiled and withdrew her hand.

"That can't be wrong. We're short on manpower and spirit stones right now; if we make another mistake in the accounts, things will really get messy."

Li Yuan put the spirit stones into his storage bag and then spoke directly to them.

"I want a mid-grade spirit stone."

He Qing was clearly taken aback.

"A mid-grade spirit stone?"

"right."

"This stuff isn't cheap." He Qing's speech slowed down. "In normal terms, one mid-grade spirit stone is roughly equivalent to a hundred or so low-grade spirit stones. The key isn't the price, it's that we're short of it right now. The array in the herb garden, the small array in the courtyard, and other places all rely on this."

Li Yuan nodded.

He Qing then took out a mid-grade spirit stone from his storage bag, weighed it in his hand, and handed it to Li Yuan.

"We do have a few spares at home right now, but none of them are idle."

Li Yuan reached out and caught it. The spirit stone had a warm and lustrous surface and was much thicker than a low-grade spirit stone.

The moment I acquired the mid-grade spirit stone, the panel popped up again, proving that it could be equipped.

He Qing thought for a moment and asked, "What are you going to use to exchange for it? You're still short of those fifty-three spirit stones you just took."

Li Yuan didn't rush to answer, but first counted the things in his hands.

With the spirit stones and the money I just received, I can buy it, but I want to keep some spirit stones for myself.

There are some fireball talismans, and the narrow-bladed longsword left behind by the tall, thin cultivator is still in the storage bag, untouched.

"Spirit stones, talismans, and a magical artifact."

He Qing's eyes flickered.

"A magical artifact?"

Li Yuan patted the storage bag, and a short knife landed on the table.

The blade was long and narrow, with a gleaming edge. The hilt was wrapped with a dark leather cord; it wasn't particularly exquisite, but its practicality was its greatest asset. It was the very item left behind by that tall, thin monk.

He Qing reached out and picked it up, glanced at it, and then poured some spiritual energy into it to test it.

The blade emitted a soft hum, and a spiritual light rose from it, indicating that its quality was not bad.

Unfortunately, there was a slightly blackened spot on the blade, as if it had been burned.

"A good item among mid-grade magic weapons." He Qing put the knife back on the table.

After he finished speaking, he looked at Li Yuan again.

"Where are the talismans?"

Li Yuan took out a stack of fireball talismans from his storage bag, and added a few more cleaning talismans and warding-off-evil talismans, placing them beside him.

"Eight Fireball Talismans and ten Basic Talismans."

He Qing first looked at the fireball talismans, flipped through two, and his eyes became more serious.

"Did you draw this yourself?"

"Um."

"The condition is alright."

He said it was alright, but he didn't immediately put his hand down.

It's clear that the He family is currently lacking combat talismans that can be directly used to defend the garden.

He Qing scanned the knife, talisman, and everything on the table, but instead of immediately setting a price, he stood there thinking for a while.

After a few breaths, he spoke.

"Here's what we'll do, I'll give you a mid-grade spirit stone."

"But I can only give you one, no more."

Li Yuan nodded slightly, realizing that he couldn't afford to buy any more mid-grade spirit stones.

"That narrow-bladed longsword. I want six fireball talismans, six basic talismans, and twenty low-grade spirit stones. If this short sword hadn't been slightly damaged by the fire, it might have sold for more."

This price is fairly normal.

Li Yuan nodded.

"Can."

Li Yuan pushed over the spirit stones, the short sword, and the talismans.

He Qing put the items into his storage bag one by one, and after confirming that everything was in order, he reached out and handed the mid-grade spirit stone to Li Yuan.

"Here you go."

The panel reappeared.

[Equipable item detected: Mid-grade spirit stone (complete)]

[Entry Preview: Pure Spiritual Energy (Green) - Filters impurities from surrounding spiritual energy, while automatically purifying and removing impurities from the body's own spiritual energy, increasing cultivation speed by 50%]

This entry can upgrade an existing permanent entry: Aura Filter (White) → Pure Aura (Green)

[Method 1: Equip a mid-grade spirit stone, which will occupy an equipment slot. Existing attributes will be upgraded simultaneously and take effect immediately.]

[Method 2: Temporarily equip mid-grade spirit stones. This does not occupy an equipment slot, and the attributes will not take effect. It only accumulates the progress towards permanentization.]

[Method 3: Consume three mid-grade spirit stones to directly upgrade the existing permanent attribute; no need to make it permanent]

[Permanentization Conditions (Choose one): Accumulate 500 cycles of cultivation (0/500), or obtain a Dao Foundation (0/1)]

[Current equipment slots are full (3/3). Replace current equipment?]

Green entries.

Moreover, it's not just a regular green attribute; it directly raises the spiritual energy filter from white to green. Cultivation speed increases by 50%, and it also adds the effect of automatically purifying the spiritual energy within the body.

Li Yuan carefully put the spirit stone away, his expression remaining unchanged.

After He Qing finished speaking, he glanced around the herb garden again.

"I'll need your help on the back mountain these next few days. We can't spare any more manpower at home, so we'll have to rely on you to keep things going at the herb garden."

"Now that I've accepted the assignment, I'll naturally keep an eye on it."

He Qing responded and did not linger any longer.

The two men he brought left together, walking quickly, clearly indicating that the He family was not idle elsewhere either.

After the group left, the herb garden fell silent again.

Li Yuan stood still, not moving immediately.

The mid-grade spirit stone was still in his sleeve, close to his wrist, its spiritual energy surging gently and solidly.

He made his decision after only a glance at the three acquisition methods.

The third option is out of the question; three mid-grade spirit stones are simply not available right now.

The second method, while not taking up an equipment slot, doesn't activate the affixes, requiring you to slowly accumulate 500 weeks of experience. This is also unsuitable.

The first option is the most suitable at the moment.

It occupies a slot and takes effect immediately, allowing you to get the results right away.

Li Yuan turned around and went back into the stone house, closed the door, and sat down.

Consciousness sinks into the panel.

Currently, the Soul-Illuminating Mirror, the Essence Condensation Technique, and the Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin Technique are all present in the three equipment slots.

If you want to replace it, you have to remove one from inside.

The Soul-Illuminating Mirror must not be moved. Strengthening the soul is useful for both talisman making and cultivation.

The Condensation Technique is not suitable to be removed now.

All that's left is the Hundred Meridians Return to Origin Technique.

Li Yuan didn't hesitate and took action immediately.

[Equipment removed: Hundred Meridians Return to Origin Technique]

The entry for "All Rivers Flow into the Sea (Blue)" is temporarily unavailable.

[Permanent progress retention]

[Note: Once the same type of equipment is removed, it can only be re-equipped after twelve hours.]

Next up, mid-grade spirit stone equipment.

[Equipment Successfully]

[Acquired stat: Pure Spiritual Power (Green)]

[The original permanent entry has been temporarily upgraded: Aura Filtering (White) → Pure Aura (Green)]

As the panel retracted, a cool sensation spread outward from the dantian.

It wasn't the clarity of the Soul-Illuminating Mirror that touched the soul, nor the warm and gentle sensation of the Nourishing Vitality Technique, but rather an extremely clean and smooth feeling. It was as if the spiritual energy that was originally flowing in the meridians had been sifted through invisibly.

Li Yuan immediately activated his cultivation technique.

The surrounding spiritual energy was drawn into the body.

The next moment, he noticed the difference.

Normally, after spiritual energy enters the body, there is always a very faint layer of impurities that need to be gradually removed as the meridians circulate. The spiritual energy filtering system can do this, which is why his cultivation has always been faster than others. But now, before the spiritual energy has even truly entered his dantian, those impure energies mixed in with it have already been eliminated.

More importantly, there is the original spiritual energy within the body.

As soon as the cultivation technique was activated, the spiritual energy in the dantian began to flow on its own, as if it had been cleansed anew. Those impurities that were originally so subtle as to be almost imperceptible were squeezed out little by little, and the obstruction in the flow of energy through the meridians was immediately reduced.

It takes much longer than before to complete a full cycle.

And it's not just fast.

The spiritual energy became more condensed and purer, and even the condensation of the fireball spell seemed to be smoother when it flowed.

Li Yuan opened his eyes and raised his hand.

The flames gathered in his palm, instantly forming a fireball. The flames were brighter than usual, with the edges tightened, without any scattering.

Li Yuan flicked his fingers and extinguished the fireball.

The conflict was minor.

It was much lighter than I had expected.

After the Hundred Meridians Return to Origin Technique was dispelled, the flow of spiritual energy within the body should have become somewhat awkward. However, once the pure spiritual energy was raised, it managed to suppress most of this effect.

Li Yuan did not try a second time, and directly closed his eyes to continue practicing his internal energy.

After the mid-grade spirit stone was embedded in his equipment slot, it acted like a deeper spiritual eye, continuously drawing surrounding spiritual energy into his body. The herb garden was already rich in spiritual energy, and this made it even more noticeable. The spiritual energy in the stone house seemed to be gently stirred, constantly gathering around him.

After the mid-grade spirit stone was embedded in his equipment slot, it acted like a deeper spiritual eye, continuously drawing surrounding spiritual energy into his body. The herb garden was already rich in spiritual energy, and this made it even more noticeable. The spiritual energy in the stone house seemed to be gently stirred, constantly gathering around him.

The universe goes around and around.

The spiritual energy in his dantian steadily increased.

As night deepened, all was quiet outside the stone house, with only the cyan light curtain of the herb garden array flowing slowly outside.

Li Yuan sat inside the room, his breathing steady, his spiritual energy washing over his meridians again and again, circulating faster and faster, becoming increasingly pure.