Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The next morning, several figures appeared on the gravel slope outside the mine.

The detection array sounded first, and He Ming stood up from his post to confirm the signal.

"All four of them are cultivators."

Li Yuan came out of the low house and looked at the gap in the earthen wall.

Four people walked up the slope. Leading them were two cultivators at the fifth level of Qi Refining, dressed in the royal family's standard gray robes, with magical artifacts at their waists. Behind them followed a middle-aged man in his forties, with broad shoulders, calloused hands, wearing a worn dark gray short shirt, and carrying a bulging storage bag on his back.

Weapon refiner.

At the very back was a young cultivator, at the fourth level of Qi Refining, wearing a gray-blue short robe commonly seen on cultivators of the He family.

Manager Liu came out from under the wooden shed to greet them.

The leading Wang family cultivator handed over the document, which Steward Liu took, glanced at, and nodded.

"Two people are responsible for guarding the mining, the weapon refiner uses the evil energy in the mine to make magical artifacts, and the He family is responsible for reinforcing and maintaining the formation."

Manager Liu put the documents away and beckoned to Li Yuan.

"Come here."

Li Yuan walked over.

Manager Liu took out another thin transfer order from his sleeve and handed it to him.

"Your transfer order has arrived. Fu Tang wants you to go back; there are enough people at the mine."

Li Yuan took the transfer order and glanced at it; it was stamped with Fu Tang's seal.

Manager Liu then rummaged through a wooden box next to him and pulled out a cloth bag.

"The rewards for the mine over this period, including the contribution to the discovery of the evil stone, have been counted. All of you who are guarding the mine will receive them."

Li Yuan opened the cloth bag, inside were spirit stones and several pieces of good-quality greenwood stone ore.

"How many?"

"Fifteen spirit stones, and the ore is worth about eight. It's not much, but since you were the one who discovered the evil stone first, the higher-ups gave you an extra amount."

Li Yuan put the cloth bag into his storage bag.

Back in the low house, he tidied up his things. He stuffed all the materials for making talismans, pills, evil stones, and animal hides used for cultivation techniques into his storage bag.

I bumped into Sun Liang as I was leaving.

"Gone?" Sun Liang leaned against the door frame.

"Okay, let's go back to the Talisman Hall."

Sun Liang nodded, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"Then I'll continue mining here."

Li Yuan nodded to him, left the mine, and walked along the gravel slope towards the talisman hall.

After walking for most of the day, the number of cultivators on the road gradually increased.

As Li Yuan passed through the area surrounding the Wang family headquarters, he noticed a construction site next to the fork in the road.

A dozen or so cultivators and dozens of ordinary people were moving stones and building a framework on an open space. Timber and stone blocks were piled up into a small mountain, and several cultivators who knew formations were squatting by the foundation, drawing something with mineral powder.

At the entrance to the construction site stood a temporary wooden sign with two characters written in ink: "Zhentang".

The Wang family is building a battle formation hall.

Continue walking forward and turn onto the stone-paved path where the talisman hall is located.

The courtyard of the Talisman Hall was not much different from when I left; gray bricks and black tiles, with the scents of spirit ink and cinnabar mixed in the air.

Li Yuan first reported to the steward, retrieved the key to his residence, and put his belongings away.

When I came out, I walked around the stone path towards Dantang.

The alchemy hall and the talisman hall are right next to each other, separated by a narrow alley. At the entrance of the alley, there are several temporary sheds, under which medicine furnaces and porcelain bottles are placed, and several rogue cultivators dressed in shady clothes are squatting under the sheds, busy with their work.

Outside the Dan Hall.

The news that the Wang family is recruiting more independent cultivators into the Pill Hall is true. These people should be independent cultivators who have passed the screening and been assigned to work on the periphery.

Li Yuan's gaze swept over the sheds and then suddenly stopped.

Under the innermost shed, an old man around sixty years old was squatting beside a medicine stove, stuffing a handful of herbs into it. His fingertips were yellowish, his eyes were bright, and his movements were nimble.

Old Sun.

Li Yuan walked over.

Old Sun was focused on adding medicine to the furnace when he heard footsteps. He looked up, saw Li Yuan, paused for a moment, and then grinned.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I'm from the Talisman Hall," Li Yuan said, squatting down beside the shed. "And you?"

Old Sun stuffed the remaining herbs into the stove and patted the broken leaves off his hands.

"A rogue cultivator outside the Pill Hall. The Wang family was recruiting recently, and I thought that instead of selling pills haphazardly outside, I might as well come in and work. At least I'd have a proper place to refine pills, and the materials would be easier to find than outside."

He gestured with his chin toward the row of medicine furnaces behind him.

"The position is a bit low-ranking, and there's a lot of menial work. But it's worth it to be able to use someone else's medicine furnace and materials."

Li Yuan glanced at the contents of the shed. There were two medicine furnaces, about a dozen porcelain bottles, herbs piled up on half the table, and a few small sealed jars in the corner.

"Is the Demonic Essence Pill still being made?"

Old Sun's eyes lit up.

"We've been making it, we've been making it all along. This stuff can't be sold outside, except for a traveling merchant who brought in a little bit before, but after it entered the Pill Hall, people started wanting it."

He pulled a porcelain bottle from under the table and shook it.

"you want?"

How many?

Old Sun rummaged through the stock in the shed and pulled out five porcelain bottles from various corners, lining them up in a row.

"Forty-three in total. These are the ones I've saved up over the past month, and I haven't had a chance to sell them yet."

"I'll take them all."

Old Sun cheerfully quoted a price, and Li Yuan didn't haggle. He counted out spirit stones from his storage bag and placed them on the table.

After putting the porcelain bottle into his storage bag, Li Yuan did not leave immediately.

"I have something to ask you."

Old Sun tucked the spirit stones into his sleeve and looked up at him.

"Where does the malevolent energy in the Malevolent Essence Pill come from?"

Old Sun tilted his head, as if he hadn't expected him to ask that.

"Made from a combination of herbs."

He casually picked up two different herbs from the table and compared them in his hand.

"Most herbs themselves do not possess malevolent energy, but some herbs have conflicting medicinal properties, producing this byproduct when combined in alchemy. Ordinary alchemists consider this waste and try every means to remove it. I do the opposite, specifically retaining this part and refining it into the elixir."

He put the herbs back on the table.

"The Sha Yuan Dan uses two kinds of first-grade low-level herbs, and the Sha Qi it produces is also at the first-grade low-level level."

Li Yuan moved on to the next question.

"Can you create a high-grade, first-tier malevolent aura?"

Old Sun paused for a moment.

He glanced at Li Yuan twice and tapped his fingers on the table.

"Theoretically, yes, but I've never practiced it."

He held up two fingers.

"Two first-grade high-quality herbs, whose medicinal properties counteract each other, when combined and refined together, will produce a baleful aura at the level of first-grade high-quality."

He pulled his two fingers back.

"However, top-grade first-level herbs are not cheap. Moreover, there aren't many combinations of herbs that can produce malevolent energy; I only know of three or four."

Which types?

Old Sun thought for a moment and then named a few people.

Li Yuan wrote down the name.

"Could you make one for me? I'll provide the ingredients."

Old Sun rubbed his chin.

"I can refine it. But I don't have any top-grade first-tier herbs on hand, so you'll have to get them yourself. Once you have the materials, I'll refine it for you, and I'll just charge you a small fee for your trouble."

"How many?"

Five spirit stones.

"OK."

Li Yuan stood up.

"I'll come find you when the materials arrive."

Old Sun grunted in agreement, then turned around and squatted back down next to the medicine furnace to continue his work.

Li Yuan left the shed area outside Dantang and walked back to Futang along the narrow alley.

I returned to my residence and closed the door.

Clean the desktop and spread out the talisman paper.

I first drew a few fireball talismans to warm up my hands. My proficiency level technique is already very stable; I completed all six spirit runes in one go, maintaining a success rate of over 70%.

Then they switched to drawing the Rejuvenation Talisman, the Vajra Talisman, and the Detoxification Talisman in turn.

After drawing a batch, Li Yuan took out the materials for refining talismans from his storage bag.

Two more were wasted.

There has been progress compared to last time, but we are still far from success.

He didn't waste any more materials, put away the Refining God Talisman, and took out the Fiend Essence Pill from his storage bag.

Pour out two pieces and put them in your mouth.

The permanent inscription on the refined medicinal power took effect, allowing the effective components of the Demonic Essence Pill to be absorbed efficiently, while the dregs were quickly expelled from the body's surface. After the demonic energy entered the body, the Demonic Energy Tempering inscription guided the demonic energy into the fascia and bones, while the Iron Ox Technique operated in sync, with both spiritual energy and demonic energy doubly cleansing the internal organs.

Meanwhile, the process of making the detoxification talisman permanent is also underway—the evil energy itself is a form of contamination.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and circulated his internal energy, with spiritual power and malevolent energy alternating within his body.

The sky outside the window gradually darkened, and only the even breathing could be heard inside the stone house.

Chapter update reminder: Chapter 117 Returning to the Talisman Hall, reading address.