Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

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The next morning, Li Yuan got up and left the courtyard, walking along the dirt road towards the city gate.

After entering the city, I went straight to the side alley where I bought the spell last time.

The shop is still there, and the employee is still the same person.

"Are there any perception-type spells?"

The man rummaged through the drawer.

"Inspiration Technique and Qi Detection Technique are both low-grade, first-tier perception spells. Inspiration Technique is passive and costs five spirit stones. Qi Detection Technique is active and costs eight spirit stones."

"Inspiration"

He placed the five spirit stones down and carefully put away the bamboo slips.

After leaving the shop, I didn't linger and went straight out of the city to return to the outskirts.

Back at his residence, he closed the courtyard gate, sat down at the table, and unfolded the bamboo scroll of inspiration magic.

The content is extremely brief. It involves drawing a wisp of spiritual energy from the dantian and distributing it along a specific path to the sensory nodes throughout the body, thereby enhancing the perception of fluctuations in external spiritual energy.

The route wasn't complicated. With his current cultivation level and control over spiritual energy, he understood it immediately.

The permanent attribute that increases comprehension speed is working in secret, increasing spell learning speed by 50%.

Li Yuan followed the route twice.

The spiritual energy spread to several key acupoints on the eyes, ears, nose, and skin. After the first walkthrough, the perception of the outside world became clearer. Three faint fluctuations of spiritual energy were moving on the dirt road outside the courtyard wall. A trace of wood-type spiritual energy remained in the soil at the corner of the courtyard.

It became even clearer after the second time.

[Spell: Inspiration - Beginner (0/200)]

I've gotten the hang of it.

Perception-type spells achieved.

Li Yuan closed the bamboo slip and took out a detection talisman he had made earlier from his storage bag.

With a thought, he removed the Azure Spirit Talisman Brush.

Equipment Detection Rune.

The conditions for making Spiritual Awakening (White) permanent have been met.

Is it permanent?

Yes.

[Permanentization successful]

[Spiritual Awakening (White) has become a permanent entry]

[Equipment consumed]

The detection talisman transformed into a silver light between his fingers and disappeared into his body.

Overall, the sensitivity of perception has increased by 30%.

The spiritual energy fluctuations outside the courtyard wall that I could only detect with Inspiration before, I can now sense without casting a spell. The Sense Enhancement is a passive, permanent effect, and when combined with Inspiration, my perception has improved to another level.

Li Yuan re-equipped the Soul Nourishing Pill.

That afternoon, Li Yuan was drawing a fireball talisman in the courtyard.

Suddenly, a series of orderly footsteps came from the dirt road outside.

It wasn't the sound of a few scattered cultivators walking, but the rhythm of several people moving in unison.

Li Yuan put down the talisman brush, got up and walked to the courtyard gate.

At the north end of the dirt road, five people were walking this way.

Li Yuan recognized the two leaders at a glance.

Wang De.

He wore a long blue robe, had a thin face, and his short beard was neatly trimmed, much more so than when we last met. His aura as a seventh-level Qi cultivator was calm and restrained.

Qu Bo.

Walking beside Wang De, he wore a gray robe and kept his late-stage Qi Refining aura low. He hadn't changed much since their last meeting in the city; his steps were still steady.

Following behind were three cultivators dressed in royal robes, their cultivation levels ranging from the fifth to the sixth level of Qi Refining.

As the five of them walked along the dirt road, several independent cultivators on the side of the road made way for them. There weren't many cultivators at the late stage of Qi Refining in this area, and although Qu Bo's aura was suppressed, he still stood out like a crane among chickens when walking among the group of independent cultivators.

When Wang De reached the entrance of Li Yuanyuan's courtyard, he saw him and paused for a moment.

"You're staying here?"

"Wang Lu arranged for them to conduct an investigation on the periphery."

Wang De's gaze swept over the simple wooden house behind Li Yuan, then looked at the talisman paper and spirit ink spread on the table in the courtyard, and his lips twitched slightly.

Qu Bo glanced at Li Yuan from behind, said nothing, and simply nodded at him.

Wang De did not enter the courtyard, but stood at the gate and said a few words briefly.

"The men are all assembled; we're ready to take direct action against the Mist Raven Gang."

"We've basically figured out the area where the Fog Raven Gang operates. We'll make our move in the next couple of days after they go out."

He gestured with his chin towards the southern part of the outer perimeter.

"You don't need to participate in the main operations, but if the outer perimeter needs manpower, you might be called upon. Just follow instructions then."

Li Yuan hummed in agreement.

"Any new leads?"

"Yes," Wang De said, but didn't elaborate.

He nodded to Li Yuan and led his men south along the dirt road.

Five figures turned a corner past a row of sheds and disappeared from sight.

Fang Laosan squatted down at the door next door at some point, watched the group walk away, and then leaned over and asked in a low voice.

"Master Li, those guys don't look like ordinary people."

"An old acquaintance."

Fang Laosan chuckled, wisely refraining from pressing further, and retreated back into his room.

Li Yuan closed the courtyard gate and returned to his table.

Spread out the talisman paper and continue drawing.

The progress of the Spirit Essence Bottle's permanence increases by one point with each completed drawing. Herbal talismans paired with self-mixed spirit ink count as one valid count for each finished product.

Fireball Talisman, Heart-Locking Talisman, Qi-Gathering Talisman, Rejuvenation Talisman, Golden Blade Talisman, Blood-Replenishing Talisman, Exploration Talisman.

Seven different talismans were drawn in rotation. Switching between different types had a much greater impact on the overall proficiency of talisman-making than specializing in one.

After finishing drawing a batch of talismans, Li Yuan put down his brush, took out two Sha Yuan Pills from his storage bag, and sat cross-legged to circulate his internal energy.

The concentration of spiritual energy in the outer area was lower than in the city, but after the pure spiritual energy was purified of impurities, the clean spiritual energy condensed and sank into the dantian.

The Spirit Guiding Technique is now circulating faster than before.

It wasn't intentional acceleration; the cultivation technique itself was becoming increasingly smooth. Spiritual energy flowed through each meridian and each energy cycle point with almost no obstruction.

One cycle, two cycles, three cycles.

As the fourth cycle came to an end, Li Yuan sensed a change as spiritual energy flowed back to his dantian from his meridians.

The spiritual energy did not return along the path of the cultivation technique.

It found its own way.

The meridians themselves remember this route. Spiritual energy no longer needs the guidance of cultivation techniques; it can start from any peripheral node and flow back to the dantian along the shortest path on its own.

The seven-layered path of the Spirit Guiding Technique was traversed countless times. Every turn, every node, and every acceleration and deceleration rhythm was etched into the memory of the meridians.

The exercise became part of the body.

【Technique: Spirit Guiding Technique - Perfected (3200/3200)】

Consummation.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, circulated his energy for a full cycle, and then felt it.

The circulation of spiritual energy no longer requires any cultivation technique; the meridians complete the entire process of absorption, circulation, and settling on their own. The efficiency is even higher than before, with nearly 20% more spiritual energy sinking into the dantian each cycle.

But something's not right.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and walked through it again, carefully sensing its sensations.

The spiritual energy originates from the dantian, travels along the meridians throughout the body, and returns to the dantian. The process is extremely smooth, without any obstruction.

The problem isn't with the smoothness.

When the spiritual energy returned after traveling through the seven layers of its path, it passed through a set of meridian nodes below the dantian. He had never touched these nodes before because the Spirit Guiding Technique's route did not pass through there.

However, after the Micro-Element Guiding Meridian Technique opens up all the meridians in the body, that place is also open, and when spiritual energy reaches nearby, it can sense the existence of those nodes.

Those nodes were not activated.

The Spirit Guiding Technique covers the Qi Refining stages one through seven. Each breakthrough unlocks a new set of meridian nodes. Once all seven stages are unlocked, all nodes up to the seventh stage are activated, and the energy pathway reaches the limit of this technique.

However, the nodes on the eighth and ninth floors are still closed.

The Spirit Guiding Technique issued by the Wang family stopped at the seventh level. The path of this technique did not involve those deeper meridian nodes at all.

The practice has been completed.

However, the technique itself is incomplete.

It's like a ruler that's only seven inches long, with perfectly precise markings, polished smooth and shiny. But the thing you need to measure is nine inches long.

The spiritual energy traveled smoothly along the seven-layer path, but those few locked nodes stood there, and I could feel their presence every time I completed a cycle.

Li Yuan opened his eyes.

The Spirit Guiding Technique is merely a basic cultivation method distributed by the Wang family to its peripheral members. It covers the first to seventh levels of Qi Refining, which is sufficient.

The Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin Technique covers nine levels of Qi Refining, but that is a method of harmonization and regulation; cultivating it alone is much slower.

The best way is to obtain the complete routes for the eighth and ninth levels of the Spirit Guiding Technique.

We'll talk about it after we get back to the Wang family.

Li Yuan put the question aside and got up to stretch his muscles.

He rummaged through his storage bag and pulled out some monster meat, roasted it, and ate it. A warm current spread out, nourishing his bones and muscles with his vital energy, and the remaining demonic power was transformed into malevolent energy.

After finishing the meal, he returned to the table, spread out the talisman paper, and continued drawing.

The process of making the Spirit Essence Bottle permanent is still underway.

[Spiritual Liquid Transformation (Green) Permanentization Progress: 37/100]

One after another. The talisman brush fell and lifted on the talisman paper, spreading out one spiritual pattern after another.

The sky outside the window gradually darkened. A few lights flickered on in the outlying shantytown, and the sound of Fang Laosan humming a tune drifted from the room next door, intermittent and broken.

A few faint fluctuations of spiritual energy flashed briefly in the distance to the south, then quickly disappeared.

Li Yuan didn't look at it much and continued drawing talismans with his head down.

Progress is being made little by little.