Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Cola Novels: turn the page and you're in another world.

After walking for most of the day, the outline of the mine came into view.

The earthen walls were still the same earthen walls, the wooden sheds were still the same wooden sheds, and the entrances to the three mine shafts were still dark.

But a few things appeared outside the mine.

Several gaps in the earthen wall were rebuilt, and although it was still made of gravel and yellow mud, it was much sturdier than before.

Several new stone pillars have been erected outside the earthen wall on the west side, with faint spiritual patterns engraved on them.

The reconnaissance array has been expanded.

When Li Yuan approached, someone had already stood up at their post.

It wasn't Sun Liang, nor was it Steward Liu.

He was a young cultivator in his early twenties, with a fair complexion and short stature, wearing a worn gray-blue short robe. He exuded the aura of a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

Li Yuan glanced at him twice and felt that he looked somewhat familiar.

The He family.

I had met him once or twice when I was stationed at the He family headquarters.

I think he was one of He Qing's men in charge of patrolling, but I can't remember his name.

The young cultivator recognized Li Yuan and bowed respectfully.

"Fellow Daoist Li."

Li Yuan nodded, asked no further questions, and walked straight into the mine.

Under the wooden shed, Steward Liu was squatting on the ground, whittling a wooden stick with a short sword. Hearing footsteps, he looked up.

"You're back?"

"Mm." Li Yuan sat down on the stone stool opposite him.

He gestured with his chin toward his post.

"What are the He family members doing here?"

Manager Liu cleaned the splinters off the wooden stick and set it aside.

What happened after you left.

He patted the sawdust off his hands.

"You were gone for only a few days when they sent two more people to fill the vacancy. One is at the fourth level of Qi Refining, and the other is at the third level. Including me, Lao Zhou, and Sun Liang, there are a total of five people at the mine."

He held up one hand to indicate a number.

"But before things had calmed down for even a few days, something else happened."

"What is it?"

"A cultivator attack." Manager Liu's tone turned somber. "Seven or eight people, they sneaked in at night and rushed straight into the mine. Although the detection array went off, they arrived too quickly. By the time we reacted, they had already breached the earthen wall."

"They fought a battle. The new guy, who was at the third level of Qi Refining, couldn't block it and was struck in the chest by a wind blade, dying instantly."

Manager Liu drew a line on the ground with his finger.

"The rest of the people were injured, but they survived. The other side didn't gain any advantage either; they got away."

Li Yuan didn't respond, waiting for him to continue.

"Later, the higher-ups sent people to handle the aftermath, and they also arranged for the He family to come over."

Manager Liu gestured with his chin toward the new stone pillars outside.

"That kid's name is He Ming, from the He family. He knows a basic set of formations. The higher-ups sent him here to reinforce the mine's detection formations, and he's also part of the guards."

"Didn't the He family move away?"

"They moved. The whole clan moved to the Wang family's place."

Manager Liu stood up and sheathed the short sword back at his waist.

"So now the He family is part of the Wang family. The Wang family absorbed the He family, and the He family's cultivators were also redistributed. Some went to the front-line strongholds, while others stayed behind to work. He Ming was one of those who were sent here."

Manager Liu leaned against the shed pillar and added another sentence.

"It's not just the He family. Recently, the Wang family has taken over several smaller families, most of whom were forced to their deaths by the demonic beasts and the Li family. The Wang family provides them with land, resources, and protection, on the condition that their people are at the Wang family's disposal."

He rubbed his chin.

"To put it bluntly, it's about taking this opportunity to control all those small families under our control. Before, we were all in a subordinate relationship; you worked for me and I protected you, but we each went our own way. Now it's different. People are directly incorporated into our organization, and they're no different from family."

Li Yuan hummed in agreement.

The situation is escalating. While fighting the Li family, the Wang family is also consolidating the surrounding smaller powers, transforming loose vassal relationships into direct control.

How many people are working at the mine now?

"Including you, that makes five," Manager Liu counted on his fingers. "Me, Lao Zhou, Sun Liang, He Ming, and you."

There are still not many people, but with the formation reinforced by He Ming, the warning range is at least wider.

Li Yuan nodded, picked up the storage bag, and returned to the low house where he had previously lived.

Put the things away and latch the door.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on the bed and took out two previously prepared meridian talismans from his storage bag.

The Meridian Expansion entry has been made permanent, but the Meridian Expansion Talisman itself has another use: it can temporarily widen the meridians after use, and when combined with cultivation techniques, it can increase the throughput of spiritual energy in a short period of time.

Li Yuan affixed a meridian-activating talisman to his chest and infused it with spiritual power to activate it.

The spiritual patterns on the talisman glowed briefly, and a gentle power seeped into the body, spreading along the meridians to the limbs. Under the talisman's influence, the meridians expanded slightly, increasing the space for the flow of spiritual energy.

Li Yuan immediately activated the Spirit Summoning Technique.

Spiritual energy surged into the body from all directions, increasing by 20-30% compared to usual. Pure spiritual energy was simultaneously activated, impurities were eliminated, and clean spiritual energy flowed into the dantian.

After completing one cycle, the amount of spiritual energy that sank into the dantian was significantly more than the amount needed for a normal cycle.

The effect of the Meridian Opening Talisman lasted for about half an hour before fading, and the meridians returned to their original state.

However, the amount of cultivation done in this half hour is equivalent to more than half an hour in normal times.

Li Yuan put away the used talisman paper, pasted on a second one, and continued his cultivation.

After using up the two meridian-expanding talismans, Li Yuan stopped his practice and stood up.

He walked to the table and spread out the copy of the method for making the Divine Refining Talisman.

Take out the special materials for refining the divine talisman from the storage bag.

The golden talisman paper lay on the table, its texture completely different from the blue-patterned paper. The paper was heavy, with a restrained luster, and when you pressed your finger on it, you could feel a very subtle fluctuation of spiritual energy beneath the surface.

Dark golden spiritual ink was poured out of the jade bottle. The ink itself was warm, and when it was dipped into the tip of the brush, one could feel the spiritual energy flowing in the ink.

This was Li Yuan's first time encountering a first-tier high-grade talisman-making material.

The difference between it and a first-grade low-grade spirit energy is not just in quality, but also in the fact that the requirements for controlling spiritual energy are completely different.

Li Yuan dipped his brush in ink and began to write.

The core spiritual rune of the Refining Spirit Talisman is called the Concentration Spirit Rune, which follows a precise spiral path. After the spiritual energy flows out from the tip of the brush, it needs to form concentric spirals that contract inward on the talisman paper, with the spacing between each spiral decreasing and the density of spiritual energy increasing.

The first lap went well. The spiritual energy spread out, and the initial section of the spiral wasn't much different from drawing ordinary spiritual runes, except the direction changed from a straight line to an arc.

The problem occurred on the second lap.

The spacing between the spirals needs to begin decreasing. The distance between the second and first spirals is nearly 30% shorter than the arc length of the first spiral, meaning the pen tip needs to spread the same spiritual energy over a shorter distance, requiring an increase in spiritual energy density.

Li Yuan's wrist was halfway turned when the spiritual energy density failed to keep up.

The second ring of spiritual runes was laid too thinly, creating a noticeable gap between it and the first ring. The spiritual energy was interrupted at this gap, and the entire concentration rune immediately disintegrated.

The spiritual patterns on the golden talisman darkened, and the paper emitted a very slight hissing sound, with a scorch mark curling up at the edge.

obsolete.

Li Yuan picked up the discarded talisman and set it aside, then laid out the second one.

This time, he deliberately increased the spiritual power of the second ring earlier. But it went too far again—the spiritual power was too heavy, and the spiritual patterns of the second ring were squeezed together with the first ring. The patterns overlapped, and the spiritual power interfered with each other at the point of overlap, causing a small wisp of gray smoke to rise from the talisman.

It's ruined again.

The third and fourth photos.

Each one fell in a different position. Some had problems in the second round, some barely made it to the third round, but by the fourth round—the spacing had shrunk to an extremely small size, and the spiritual energy density needed to be nearly twice that of the first three rounds—the coordination between the wrist and the spiritual energy simply couldn't keep up.

All four golden talismans were rendered useless.

Li Yuan put down his talisman brush and looked at the four burnt talismans on the table.

The gap between a first-grade high-quality item and a first-grade low-quality item is greater than he anticipated.

It's not that he lacks skill, but rather that his control over spiritual energy is not precise enough. The spiral path of the Concentration Rune requires extremely high precision in controlling the density of spiritual energy, with each rotation needing precise adjustment, and his current level of control is insufficient to achieve this continuous and incremental precision.

It can't be rushed.

Li Yuan put the remaining materials for the Divine Refining Talisman back into his storage bag, without wasting any more.

But as Li Yuan drew these discarded talismans, he noticed something.

When drawing the Concentration Rune, the spiritual energy travels from his fingertips to the tip of the pen and then to the paper; every link in this transmission chain requires extremely precise control. Although all four drawings were ruined, his perception of every detail of the spiritual energy transmission became clearer during the drawing process.

Making talismans is itself a form of training in the manipulation of spiritual power.

With each stroke, spiritual energy is drawn from the dantian, flows along the meridians to the arm, enters the brush handle through the fingertips, and is poured into the talisman paper from the brush tip—the more one walks this path, the more refined the control becomes.

Especially for high-grade first-tier spirit runes, the requirements for control are far higher than for low-grade first-tier runes. Even if the drawing is ruined, the process itself is refining the precision of spirit power control.

Compared to deliberately practicing spiritual power manipulation, talisman making is a more efficient method because it provides clear feedback—if it succeeds, it succeeds; if it fails, you'll know where the refinement was lacking.

Li Yuan cleaned the table, left the low house, and headed towards the mine.

The depths of the mine had changed since he left.

The main mine tunnel extended for about ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), at which point a new cavity was carved out. Several pieces of fluorite were added to the cave walls, making the light brighter than before.

The concentration of malevolent energy in the air is significantly higher than before.

The secluded side path was still there, but Li Yuan continued deeper into the area and found a spot to sit down on the edge of the newly carved-out cavity.

The malevolent energy seeped up from the cracks in the rock beneath their feet, its concentration nearly twice that of the side passage.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged and took out the book on the Iron Ox Technique from his storage bag.

I didn't put any equipment in it; I just flipped through it once.

The mastery of the Iron Ox Kung Fu has been stagnant for a long time.

Previously, we had been promoting the Nourishing Vital Energy Technique and the Subtle Vital Energy Guiding Meridian Technique, while the Iron Ox Technique was put on hold.

The advanced stage of cultivation requires continuously using Qi and blood to cleanse the five internal organs and improve their resilience, so progress is always very slow.

But the situation is different now.

After mastering the Nourishing Vitality Technique, Qi and blood circulate continuously, and the muscles, fascia, and internal organs throughout the body are in a state of constant nourishment. Coupled with the cumulative effects of multiple permanent attributes such as Body Tempering with Killing Qi, Iron Membrane Protection, and Meridian Expansion, physical fitness is significantly improved compared to the initial stage of mastery.

With improved tolerance of the internal organs and increased total amount of Qi and blood, the efficiency of flushing will naturally increase as well.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and began to practice the Iron Ox Technique.

Qi and blood are drawn from the dantian, bypassing the conventional routes of the meridians, and instead flow directly into the internal organs along the unique path of the Iron Ox Exercise.

The liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys are cleansed in sequence.

At the same time, he introduced the evil energy into his body.

The malevolent energy from deep within the mine seeped up from beneath my feet, penetrating my skin through my pores. Drawn by the body-tempering properties of malevolent energy, it seeped into my fascia and the area around my internal organs.

Qi and blood, along with malevolent energy, act simultaneously on the internal organs.

Qi and blood are flushed from within, while malevolent energy is squeezed from the outside. These two forces advance and retreat, and the internal organs are repeatedly kneaded under this dual action, their resilience increasing at a visible rate.

The progress of the Iron Ox Kung Fu began to increase.

【Technique: Iron Ox Technique - Mastery (387/800)】

It's increased quite a bit. I was stuck in the mastery stage for so long, with the value hovering around 300, but now it's jumped dozens of points in one go.

Li Yuan continued to practice his internal energy.

Third time, fourth time, fifth time.

The rate of improvement decreased with each round, but the total improvement was still considerable. The dual cleansing of the malevolent energy and the vital energy continuously increased the resilience of the internal organs, pushing the progress of the Iron Ox Technique all the way to over four hundred.

But by the sixth time, the changes started to slow down.

It's not a problem with qi and blood, it's a problem with malevolent energy.

The same concentration of malevolent energy is most effective the first time it is washed away, then the effect is reduced by 20% the second time, and then reduced again the third time. By the sixth time, the malevolent energy has penetrated into the internal organs and there is almost no feeling of pressure.

The body is adapting, and the physique is getting stronger.

As the intensity of the baleful energy decreases, the effect of tempering naturally weakens as well.

It's like getting slapped to toughen your skin—at first, a slap leaves you red and swollen, but after being slapped every day, the same force no longer hurts. If you want to continue training, you have to increase the force.

Li Yuan opened his eyes and looked around.

The concentration of malevolent energy deep within the mine was already the highest level he could find. Going any deeper, the rock strata hadn't been broken through, making it impassable.

Unless a stronger source of malevolent energy is found.

Li Yuan didn't hesitate. He temporarily stopped using the Iron Ox Technique and switched back to the Spirit Guiding Technique to continue cultivating his spiritual power.

After cultivating in the mine for another two hours, Li Yuan got up and walked out.

When we came out of the mine, it was already completely dark.

A dim oil lamp shone from the low hut, and Sun Liang was squatting at the doorway, munching on dry rations. Seeing Li Yuan walking back from the direction of the mine, he held up the dried meat in his hand to him.

"Deputy Captain Li, you've been inside all day?"

"Um."

Li Yuan walked over and sat down on a nearby rock.

One or two low growls of monsters came from the direction of the distant mountain valley, intermittently.

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