Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Two days later, Li Yuan handed in the last batch of Refining God Talismans and set off with Captain Wang's team.

Unlike usual, Li Yuan had an extra storage bag on him, which he bought for several dozen spirit stones.

There are eight people in the team.

Captain Wang led the way, with Wang Lu following beside him, and four guards of cultivators behind them.

Li Yuan and another guard at the late stage of Qi Refining walked at the very back.

It's not far from the settlement to the entrance of the secret realm; just walk north along the dirt road for about two hundred steps.

The entrance is a stone gate embedded in the mountain wall, about two zhang high. The door frame is covered with densely packed runes, most of which are now blurred and indistinct due to their age.

Inside the door was a grayish-white light curtain, like a thin mist solidified in the doorway, obscuring the view inside.

A disciple of the Yuanyang Sect stood on each side of the stone gate, responsible for collecting tickets and maintaining order.

Captain Wang walked to the door, took out a stack of spirit stones from his pocket, and handed them over. The Yuan Yang Sect disciple counted them, nodded, and let them pass.

"Once inside, everyone can proceed as they see fit," Captain Wang said, stopping at the door and turning to the group.

"The teleportation to the secret realm is random. You'll land at different points after entering, so it's normal not to find each other. Just do your own thing and meet up at the settlement a few days later."

He took out several thumb-sized grayish-white stones from the cloth bag at his waist and gave one to each person.

Li Yuan took the stone; it was cool to the touch, and a faint spiritual energy was slowly flowing across its surface.

"Teleportation stones can be purchased with extra spirit stones."

Captain Wang said.

"Once inside, hold it in your hand; do not put it in your storage bag. After three hours, the stone will be fully charged with energy, and you can actively activate it to exit the secret realm."

"Don't panic if the stone is lost or broken. The secret realm itself has a time limit, and it will automatically send people out after three days."

"But it's best not to lose it," Wang Lu added. "When you encounter danger, there's a big difference between three hours and three days."

Li Yuan put the teleportation stone into a hidden pocket inside his sleeve and tied it tightly with a strip of cloth.

Captain Wang said nothing more, turned and walked into the light curtain. His figure disappeared as soon as he entered the grayish-white mist, as if he had been swallowed up.

The others followed in turn.

Li Yuan was the last to step into the light curtain.

The grayish-white light completely covered my vision, the ground beneath my feet disappeared, and my body seemed to be supported by an invisible hand, floating for a moment.

Then gravity returned, and my feet touched solid ground.

The light curtain dissipated.

Li Yuan opened his eyes.

Before us lay a dense forest.

The trees are tall and sturdy, with dark gray trunks and dense canopies that block out the sky, allowing only sparse patches of sunlight to filter through the leaves.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, soft and silent underfoot. The air was filled with the damp scent of earth, mixed with a faint smell of decay.

The concentration of spiritual energy was significantly higher than outside, at least 30% higher than in the mountains and forests near Qinghefang City.

There was no sign of anyone else around.

Captain Wang is right. The teleportation is random, and the eight people who came in were scattered to different locations.

The conditions for the permanentization of spatial perception (green) have been met.

[Is it permanent?]

With a thought, Li Yuan permanently made the storage bag permanent.

Spatial awareness (green) has become a permanent term.

There's nothing in my storage bag. I tried it before; if there are items, I can't equip them.

After equipping the "spatial perception" skill, the specific changes were vague; Li Yuan could only sense that the surrounding space seemed to have become "deeper."

After taking a few steps, Li Yuan took a look around.

The aura memory failed to detect any familiar aura, and the keen sense of hidden presence also failed to detect any malice.

Within a radius of about two hundred feet, there were only faint signs of life, probably small creatures like insects and snakes.

Li Yuan lowered his presence to a low level, concealed his aura and suppressed his cultivation level, and strode northward.

Without a clear sense of direction, Captain Wang had previously mentioned that the Li family cultivators' activity area was concentrated in the northern part of the secret realm. The northern region was at a higher elevation, with denser spiritual energy and stronger demonic beasts.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the terrain of the dense forest began to rise, and the distance between the trees gradually increased.

A demonic aura emanated from the right front.

A mid-grade first-tier weapon, moving slowly, is approaching.

Li Yuan kept walking, his right hand hanging at his side, spiritual energy gathering in his palm.

A few breaths later, a gray-black monster emerged from the bushes.

It has the body shape of a wolf, but a larger head, a protruding mouth with exposed fangs, long and pointed ears, and a row of hard spikes on its back.

Iron-Spiked Wolf. Tier 1, mid-grade, highly aggressive but with average speed.

The moment the Iron-Spiked Wolf saw Li Yuan, the hard thorns on its back exploded, it let out a low growl, and pounced forward with its hind legs.

Li Yuan stepped aside and raised his right palm.

Fireball.

The fireball formed in a very short time and struck the Iron-Spiked Wolf's abdomen at close range.

boom.

The monster's body tumbled in the air before crashing into a tree trunk three zhang away, tearing a large chunk of bark off. The Iron-Spiked Wolf struggled for a moment, its belly fur charred, and its internal organs burned by the intense heat; it quickly went still.

Li Yuan walked over and carefully removed the fangs and a few of the better-quality thorns from the Iron-Spiked Wolf's back. The hide was mostly burned and not worth keeping.

Li Yuan walked over and carefully removed the fangs and a few of the better-quality thorns from the Iron-Spiked Wolf's back. The hide was mostly burned and not worth keeping.

Continue heading north.

After walking for another half hour, they found several medicinal herbs along the way.

A clump of green reeds grew in a crack in the rocks by the stream, its leaves glowing with a pale green fluorescence, its appearance rather ordinary. Beside it were two other herbs whose names I did not recognize, with narrow, long leaves, thick stems, and a slightly bitter smell.

Li Yuan uprooted the herbs and carefully stored them. They weren't very valuable, but he could exchange them for a few spirit stones if he took them out.

The terrain continued to rise, and the dense forest gradually became sparser.

Ahead lay a wide, scree slope, with several huge rocks protruding from the top, forming a natural barrier.

On the other side of the scree slope, a group of people walked eastward along the path at the bottom of the slope.

He was at the sixth level of Qi Refining, carrying a bulging cloth bag on his back. He walked with a wary demeanor, glancing back every few steps.

They spotted each other almost simultaneously.

The rogue cultivator paused, turned slightly to the side, and a look of vigilance appeared in his eyes.

Li Yuan did not stop or change direction, and continued walking north at the same speed.

The rogue cultivator stared at Li Yuan for a couple of moments. Seeing that he showed no intention of approaching, he turned and quickened his pace eastward.

After passing the scree slope, the terrain turned into a hilly area. Narrow valleys were nestled between the undulating hills, with streams flowing through the valley floor and shrubs and weeds growing everywhere.

Li Yuan walked north along a valley for about 15 minutes when his keen senses suddenly reacted.

It wasn't malicious; it was just an unusual fluctuation of spiritual energy.

It was very faint, coming from the direction of the hills on the right.

Li Yuan stopped and turned to look in that direction.

The hillside was covered with thick bushes, revealing nothing unusual. However, the fluctuations in spiritual energy were definitely present, very regular, like some kind of array in operation.

Li Yuan lowered his body and slowly approached along the edge of the bushes.

When they reached a position about thirty feet away from the source of the spiritual energy fluctuations, the scene before them suddenly changed.

One corner of the bushes disappeared, replaced by a clearing about two zhang square. In the center of the clearing stood a low stone platform, with intricate patterns carved into it, and several dark red stones embedded in the patterns, slowly glowing.

Formation.

It's a formation with concealment capabilities. It's completely invisible from thirty feet away; it only becomes visible when you get close.

A bloody smell wafted out from inside the formation.

It's not strong, but it's very fresh.

Before Li Yuan could take a closer look, the bushes behind the stone platform moved slightly.

Three people emerged from behind the formation.

The leader was a tall, thin man wearing a gray-brown short robe, with an old scar on his face that stretched from the corner of his left eyebrow to the corner of his mouth.

The two behind them, one fat and one short, wore different styles of casual monk's clothes, each with a weapon hanging from their waist.

All three of them were at around the sixth level of Qi Refining.

The tall, thin man's expression changed the moment he saw Li Yuan.

It wasn't wariness, it was the look in one's eyes when they see prey.

"Don't let him get away."

The sound wasn't loud, but the two people behind them moved at the same time.

The fat man pulled a short axe from his waist, pushed off with his feet, and charged out at a considerable speed.

The short man didn't chase after him. Instead, he raised his hand and unleashed a burst of spiritual energy. A grayish-white arc of light streaked through the air and headed straight for Li Yuan.

Li Yuan turned his feet and dodged the arc of spiritual energy.

The three opponents split up, with the fat guy flanking from the left, the short guy providing ranged support from behind, and the tall, thin guy charging in from the front. Their coordination was excellent; it was clearly not their first time doing something like this.

Li Yuan no longer hesitated.

Fireball.

The first shot was fired at the tall, thin guy charging straight at him.

The speed and power of the fireball far exceeded the expectations of the Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator.

The tall, thin man's expression changed, and he dodged to the side. The fireball grazed the outside of his right shoulder, and the scorching heat charred a section of his sleeve.

The second shot followed immediately, targeting the fat guy who was coming around from the left.

The fat man raised his axe to block, but the fireball struck the axe head-on, exploding and pushing him and the axe back four or five steps.

His hand was torn open, and the short axe slipped from his grasp.

Fire Arrow Technique.

He simultaneously fired a fire arrow with his left hand, which passed through the gap between the fat man and the tall, thin man, heading straight for the short man behind him.

The short man was gathering his second spiritual attack when the speed of the fire arrow caught him off guard. He dodged to the side, avoiding a fatal blow, but the fire arrow grazed his left arm and exploded into a ball of sparks on his sleeve.

The three-person offensive was interrupted.

Li Yuan didn't give them time to regroup. His rapid-fire fire spells and his exquisite control of spiritual power greatly increased his spellcasting speed.

He activated the Divine Speed ​​Step, taking two steps forward and closing the distance between himself and the tall, thin man to within ten feet.

At this distance, precise keywords are almost equivalent to being locked in.

Fireball.

The third fireball flew out of his hand and headed straight for the tall, thin man's chest.

The tall, thin man's pupils contracted sharply, and his body tilted to the left, but the fireball's trajectory was slightly deflected by the precise wording, and it struck his right chest head-on.

He rolled over on the ground once, and then died.

When the fat man saw the tall, thin man fall, a look of fear flashed in his eyes, and he turned and ran.

Li Yuan did not pursue.

Fireball.

A fireball hit the fat man's back, knocking him to the ground, whereupon he too vanished.

The shorter man ran even faster, and had already covered twenty zhang (approximately 10 meters).

Li Yuan raised his hand and fired two fire arrows in quick succession.

The first nail pierced the short man's right leg, causing him to stumble and fall into the bushes. The second nail pierced his chest as he struggled to roll over.

From the moment the attack began until all three fell, less than twenty breaths had passed.

Li Yuan stood still, glanced around, and after confirming that there were no other signs of life, went over to search the corpse.

The tall, thin man's storage bag contained quite a few items: several bottles of pills, about ten spirit stones, a throwing knife, and a token.

The token was turned over, and a simplified pattern was engraved on the back.

The patterns of the Li family.

The fat man and the short man also had items in their storage bags, but no tokens.

The two people were dressed and equipped at the level of rogue cultivators, not like members of any family.

A hired helper, or a collaborating independent cultivator.

Li Yuan collected all three people's storage bags and checked their contents one by one.

There were over forty spirit stones in total. Several bottles of pills, mostly common types like Rejuvenating Pills and Qi-Replenishing Pills.

Then he found a cloth bag deep inside the tall, thin man's storage bag.

The cloth bag was opened, revealing several portions of medicinal herbs carefully wrapped in oiled paper.

Three stalks of Crimson Reed Grass. A small bag of Mystic Spirit Sand. A sealed porcelain bottle of Soul-Gathering Dew.

The auxiliary materials for Foundation Building Elixir.

These match the ingredients I heard about in Yunyang Market. Crimson Grass, Mysterious Spirit Sand, and Soul-Gathering Dew are all ingredients for the Breakthrough Pill.

Li Yuan put away the medicinal herbs, stood up, and walked towards the formation.

The formation was still in operation, and the dark red stones on the platform were still glowing.

As you get closer, the smell of blood becomes stronger. There are dark marks on the surface of the stone platform, like dried bloodstains seeping into the stone's texture.

The formation's structure is not complex, at the first-order level, but the arrangement of its runes is quite unique.

Li Yuan was only a beginner in the Dao of Array Formation and could not understand the meaning of all the array patterns, but he could tell that the core function of this array was not defense or attack, but a kind of "convergence".

What is being gathered cannot be discerned from the array patterns, but the bloodstains on the stone platform give a rather ominous hint.

Without hesitation, Li Yuan raised his hand and launched a fireball onto the stone platform.

The fireball shattered a corner of the stone platform, breaking the array patterns and disrupting the spiritual energy flow. The dark red stone's light dimmed rapidly, and the array's spiritual energy fluctuations completely dissipated within a few breaths.

The concealment function also failed, and the surrounding bushes returned to their original state.

After the stone platform shattered, several dark red stones fell from the array patterns and scattered on the ground.

Most of them shattered into pieces, with only one piece remaining intact. It was about the size of a fist, with a smooth surface and a dark red sheen. You could vaguely see strands of dark veins flowing inside, like congealed blood.

Li Yuan picked up the intact stone.

Semi-transparent text appeared before my eyes.

[Equipable item detected: Bloodstone (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Bloodthirsty Tempering Realm (Green) - Killing cultivators increases your own breakthrough probability; the higher the strength of the cultivator killed, the stronger the effect; the breakthrough probability can be increased to a maximum of 50%]

[Preview of conditions for permanentization: Kill five or more cultivators of the same level, or kill one cultivator at Foundation Establishment or above]

[Equipped?]

Green entries.

Li Yuan stared at the effect of the entry for a few breaths.

Killing cultivators increases the probability of breakthrough. The higher the strength, the stronger the effect. Maximum 50%.

The effect is extremely powerful, but it's strange. The effects of the attributes are likely closely related to the items, so this formation probably isn't anything good.

Li Yuan put the Blood-Devouring Stone into his storage bag; he had no equipment.

Li Yuan glanced around and then left the area.