Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

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

The two continued to feel their way into the valley along the edge of the mountain wall.

Old Zhao walked half a step ahead, his footsteps silent, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the valley floor and the mountain wall. Li Yuan followed behind, clutching the spirit-detecting disc in his hand, continuously channeling spiritual energy into it.

The fluctuations on the market are becoming increasingly frequent.

It wasn't from one direction; it was from all directions. The extremely faint fluctuations of spiritual energy spread like a thin mist over the entire valley floor, seeping up from the ground, evenly and continuously, without a clear source.

After walking several dozen feet, Li Yuan slowed down.

It's not because the fluctuations have changed, it's because the things under our feet are wrong.

Scattered across the gravelly ground at the bottom of the valley are numerous stones of varying sizes and shapes. Most are the same grayish-black color as the surrounding rock strata, with sharp edges, and were naturally broken off from the mountainside.

But some of them are different.

Scattered among the pebbles, they were light in color, grayish-white, with smooth, rounded surfaces and no sharp edges. Placed together with the surrounding grayish-black pebbles, they resembled a handful of white beans scattered among a pile of black sesame seeds.

It looks very ordinary.

It just doesn't fit quite right here.

The mountainside is composed of grayish-black rock layers, and the fallen rocks should also be grayish-black. These few grayish-white stones don't seem to have been formed naturally; they look more like they were placed there by someone.

Li Yuan squatted down and reached out to touch the nearest piece.

It's about the size of a fist, feels slightly cool to the touch, and weighs about the same as a regular stone.

It's just an ordinary stone.

Li Yuan flipped it over and looked at it. The surface was smooth, without any spiritual patterns or fluctuations in spiritual power.

He put the stone back in its place, stood up, took a few steps forward, and squatted down next to another grayish-white stone.

This piece is smaller than the previous one, about the size of an egg.

When you touch it with your finger, it's just an ordinary stone.

Li Yuan frowned and raised his hand to release a wisp of spiritual energy toward the stone.

The fire arrow spell was reduced to its minimum power, leaving only a thin, weak spark on the surface of the stone.

The stone was burned and a small black spot appeared, but there was no abnormal reaction.

Li Yuan stood up and glanced around.

There are at least seven or eight grayish-white stones visible in the field of vision, scattered in different locations on the gravel ground. The spacing is not very uniform, but they are roughly arranged in a loose arc.

He continued walking along the arc.

The third piece, the fourth piece, the fifth piece.

He squatted down and touched each piece twice, infusing it with a trace of spiritual energy to test it.

They were all ordinary stones.

Old Zhao followed behind, watching Li Yuan squat down and stand up repeatedly, without saying a word, but with a hint of doubt in his eyes.

The sixth piece.

Li Yuan squatted down and placed his fingers on it.

The panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected]

[Item Attribute Level: White]

[Note: Items not belonging to the user cannot be equipped, and detailed information cannot be viewed.]

Li Yuan stopped moving.

My fingers pressed against the surface of the stone, but didn't move.

There was a brief silence.

This stone looks no different from the others. It's the same grayish-white color, the same smooth and rounded shape, and the same size and weight.

But the panel is responding.

Items that do not belong to you cannot be equipped.

He used his fingers to dig away the soil around the stone, revealing a larger area underneath.

This was a rock about the size of a head, mostly buried in the soil. Li Yuan turned it over and found something on the bottom of the rock.

The texture is not natural; it was carved on by hand. Several extremely fine and shallow spiritual lines are embedded in the grooves on the stone surface, and they are not visible at all unless the entire stone is turned upside down.

Li Yuan had seen the arrangement of the spirit runes before.

Previously at the He family's herb garden, similar patterns were engraved on the stone platform at the core of the array. When Master Zhou led him into the Yuanheng Mountains to investigate the arrays, these smaller arrays also had similar patterns at their cores.

The key point of the formation.

Li Yuan dug the stone out of the soil and held it in his palm.

With a thought, I tried to equip myself.

[Note: Items not belonging to the user cannot be equipped.]

Still no good. It's already owned.

Li Yuan gripped the stone in his hand and looked around.

These grayish-white stones scattered across the valley floor were not placed randomly. They are arranged in an arc, and although the spacing is uneven, they form a certain layout. This stone with the spirit pattern is one of them; the others that did not react may be auxiliary nodes, or they may simply be a smokescreen for cover.

The faint fluctuations in the aura of this valley are most likely seeping out from this formation as it operates.

Old Zhao also came over, squatted down beside him, glanced at the stone in Li Yuan's hand, and his gaze fell on the spiritual patterns on the bottom.

"The core of the formation?"

Li Yuan nodded.

Without offering further explanation, he placed the stone back on the ground, raised his right hand, and unleashed a fire arrow spell towards the stone's surface.

It wasn't a full-power fire arrow; it only used about 10% of its spiritual power.

laugh.

The spark touched the surface of the stone, sending up a small patch of sparks. The stone remained motionless, and its surface showed no change.

But the spirit-detecting disc in Li Yuan's hand lit up.

The ripples spread outwards from where Li Yuan was standing. After spreading outwards, the ripples quickly subsided, but the amplitude was slightly larger than before.

There was a response.

Li Yuan fired another fire arrow, this time with 30% of his spiritual power.

laugh.

The fire was lit on the stone again, but still nothing was left.

The fluctuations on the spirit detection disc rippled again.

It's more obvious than the first time.

The faint mist at the bottom of the valley was no longer evenly distributed. Instead, a ring of slightly less dense voids appeared starting from where Li Yuan was, as if a small piece of the mist had been stirred up.

The formation is damaged.

Li Yuan did not stop.

The third fire arrow, the fourth.

Each burst of spiritual energy was kept very low, not to destroy it all at once, but to continuously apply pressure to the core of the array.

Scorch marks slowly appeared on the surface of the stone, and the faint spiritual patterns at the bottom began to darken. The fluctuations on the spirit-detecting disc grew larger with each passing moment, and the void in the misty aura at the bottom of the valley continued to expand.

The fifth shot.

The spiritual patterns on the bottom of the stone flashed briefly before fading away.

The luster on the entire surface of the stone disappeared, and the scorch marks completely faded away.

At the same time, the fluctuations on the spirit-detecting disc suddenly intensified, with violent ripples surging outwards from the stone in all directions. After the ripples spread outwards, the pervasive mist at the bottom of the valley began to dissipate rapidly from this direction, like a thin layer of ice shattering at a crack.

Li Yuan stared at the spirit-detecting disc.

The fluctuations are gradually subsiding.

The mist began to recede from one side towards both ends, and the rate of retreat accelerated.

After about ten breaths, the mist on this side completely dissipated.

The faint spiritual energy fluctuations on the right side of the entire valley disappeared completely, leaving it spotless.

The formation is broken. At least on this side, the formation is no longer functioning.

Li Yuan looked down at the array eye stone beside him.

Reach out and touch it.

The panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected: Spirit Stone (Complete)]

[Entry Preview: Aura Boost (White) - Can actively increase the intensity of one's own aura, up to a maximum increase of 50%]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Possessing Spiritual Pressure (0/1)]

[Current equipment slots are full (5/5). Replace current equipment?]

White text. Aura boost.

The effect is the exact opposite of the aura concealment. Concealment is suppressing the aura, while amplification is amplifying the aura. A maximum of 50% means that a Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator can outwardly display an aura intensity close to that of a Qi Refining Level 9 cultivator.

The condition for permanentization is possessing spiritual pressure.

Spiritual pressure.

Generally speaking, spiritual pressure is something that only Foundation Establishment stage cultivators possess. After Foundation Establishment, spiritual power undergoes a qualitative change, and the aura transforms from ethereal to tangible, generating a substantial sense of pressure on the surroundings—this is spiritual pressure.

Cultivators in the Qi Refining stage typically do not possess spiritual pressure.

But it's not entirely impossible.

After the Condensing Yuan Technique compresses spiritual power to its limit, the density of spiritual power far exceeds that of the same level, and it can also generate spiritual pressure.

The condition states that one must possess spiritual pressure, but it does not specify that it must be spiritual pressure from the Foundation Establishment stage.

Old Zhao squatted down and watched without saying a word.

Just now, Li Yuan continuously released fire arrows to attack the stone, and the fluctuations on the spirit detection plate changed drastically. These were quite a commotion.

Sure enough, not long after, hurried footsteps came from the direction of the valley entrance.

Three figures emerged from the bushes.

Manager Wang ran in the lead, his magical artifact already clutched in his hand, his expression grave. Behind him followed a cultivator surnamed Zhou and a young scout, one on each side, clearly having just arrived from the left side of the mountain wall.

"What's going on?" Manager Wang asked in a low voice, his gaze sweeping over Li Yuan and Old Zhao before looking at the scattered gray-white stones on the ground.

"An array." Li Yuan handed over the spirit-detecting disc. "There are array cores in these stones, and the fluctuations in the valley are the array in operation."

Manager Wang took the spirit-detecting disc and glanced at it. The fluctuations on the right half of the disc had completely disappeared, while there were still faint remnants on the left half.

He lifted his gaze from the spirit-detecting disc, swept it over the grayish-white stones at the bottom of the valley, and his expression suddenly changed.

"Walk."

One word, no explanation needed.

He turned and ran towards the valley entrance.

This wasn't just ordinary running; spiritual energy flowed into his feet, and his figure almost skimmed across the gravel ground.

"Back to the herb garden!"

Manager Wang's voice came from ahead, and he had already darted more than ten feet away.

Old Zhao reacted extremely quickly, taking a leap and following after them. The cultivator surnamed Zhou and the young surveying cultivator also turned and ran at the same instant, without any hesitation.

A flash of fire appeared beneath Li Yuan's feet as he activated his Fire Escape Technique, closely following behind the others.

Five people sped through the mountains and forests in the night.

It took me most of an hour to walk there, but on the way back I ran at full speed, three or four times faster than I had come. I leaped over ravines between low hills, and bushes flashed past me.

Manager Wang ran in the lead, his pace not slowing down at all.

After running for a while, he shouted something without turning his head.

"The array was set up there to conceal our presence. The fluctuations in this valley are not natural; they are artificially created false signals to make us think that someone is stationed here."

His voice was broken and intermittent due to the wind.

"Lure us out, and the herb garden will be empty."

The cultivator surnamed Zhou gritted his teeth and added a sentence from behind.

"Feng Lao Er and the alchemist alone cannot hold out."

No one spoke anymore.

The five of them ran in silence.

The mountains and forests swept past, the moonlight flickering overhead. The pebbles and fallen leaves crunched underfoot, the concealment effect of the concealment talisman no longer mattering as I ran at full speed.

The trees ahead gradually thinned out, and the outline of the mountain valley where the herb garden was located was revealed in the night.

The cyan light barrier of the formation was still there.

However, the light screen was much dimmer than when they set off.