Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

After bursting out of the mine, the armored giant dung beetle suddenly increased its speed.

The Fire Serpent Technique failed to break through the carapace.

The defense of a second-tier mid-grade demon beast is a level higher than that of a Flood Dragon Lizard. Its shell has been soaked in baleful energy for many years, making it far harder than ordinary scales or animal hides.

The giant dung beetle suddenly opened its mouth, and at the same time, a dark red light shone from the cracks on its body.

The next instant, it suddenly shook its carapace.

A large amount of condensed malevolent energy shot out from the cracks, transforming into a dark red, fan-shaped cloud of black mist that swept across the ground.

The phrase "returning to oneness of evil" came into play, quickly thinning out the incoming malevolent energy and significantly reducing the chilling, corrosive feeling within the sand tide.

The remaining malevolent energy was also absorbed by Li Yuan, which had a slight effect on his body.

Li Yuan did not continue using the Fire Python Technique.

The Fire Serpent spell is still in its early stages, and its full power has not yet been unleashed. In contrast, although the Fireball spell is a first-tier spell, its proficiency is close to perfection, and with the enhancement of multiple modifiers, its actual power is not inferior to the newly learned Fire Serpent spell.

Moreover, the explosive power of the fireball spell is more concentrated.

The Fire Serpent spell deals linear damage, distributed along the serpent's body. The Fireball spell deals point damage, with all spiritual energy compressed into a sphere and released instantly upon impact.

When dealing with heavily armored monsters, concentrated attacks are more effective than scattered attacks.

Li Yuan raised his right hand repeatedly.

Fireball.

A crimson fireball rapidly formed in the palm of his hand and shot out.

The first shot was aimed at the head of the giant dung beetle, striking the carapace between its two tentacles head-on.

boom.

The charred marks on the carapace expanded, and the cracks spread two inches outward from the point of impact.

The giant dung beetle's tentacles snapped back, and its mouthparts emitted a sharp, screeching sound.

Seeing that the baleful aura had no effect on Li Yuan, the giant dung beetle stretched out its limbs and charged towards Li Yuan. Its massive body rolled over the ground, leaving a deep claw mark.

The second fireball followed immediately, striking the same spot.

The crack widened, and a shallow dent appeared on the surface of the shell.

The giant dung beetle had already rushed within twenty feet.

Li Yuan touched the ground with his toes, activated his Divine Speed ​​Step, and dodged to the side. The charging of the giant armored dung beetle grazed past him, and the shockwave from its massive shell made Li Yuan's robes flutter loudly.

Unable to stop its limbs, the giant dung beetle crashed headfirst into a dead tree. The tree broke off at its roots, and the trunk flew more than ten feet away.

Taking advantage of its turning moment, Li Yuan fired three fireballs at the same spot in quick succession.

The first shot completely shattered the dented carapace, revealing the dark red muscle beneath. The second shot entered the crack and exploded within the muscle layer. The third shot penetrated deep into the same crack, the flames spreading and burning throughout the carapace.

The Giant Dung Beetle let out a deep roar, its massive body trembling violently. It did not continue its charge, but instead curled up, tucking its limbs in and its carapace closing into a huge spherical defensive posture, protecting the breach beneath its body.

It's shrunken.

Li Yuan stopped attacking and stood ten zhang away to observe.

After shrinking its shell, the Giant Dung Beetle's defenses are even stronger. All the gaps between its shells are closed, and fireballs can only leave a white mark when they hit it.

But it can't stay shrunken forever.

Li Yuan released the evil energy stored within his body once more.

A dense aura of malevolence emanated from his body, forming a visible dark red mist around him.

The tentacles of the giant dung beetle stretched out from the cracks in its shell, trembling wildly.

Monsters that feed on malevolent energy cannot endure such a concentration of malevolent energy for long.

Li Yuan released his malevolent energy while slowly retreating to create distance.

After about twenty breaths, the shell of the giant dung beetle began to loosen.

It couldn't hold on any longer.

Its carapace slowly opened, revealing four limbs, with tentacles pointing in Li Yuan's direction. Its mouthparts opened wide, and it began frantically absorbing the surrounding malevolent energy.

The crack was exposed.

Li Yuan raised his right hand.

Fireball.

This fireball took half a breath longer to condense than before, and the compression density of spiritual energy reached its limit.

The fireball in his palm was smaller than usual, but its color had changed from crimson to dark red, and the spiritual energy patterns on its surface were extremely dense.

Slipped from hands.

The fireball traveled ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) and precisely pierced the crack in the shell.

boom.

This explosion was more muffled than any of the previous ones. The fireball exploded inside the carapace, and scorching flames erupted from every crevice of the shell.

The giant dung beetle arched its body suddenly, its limbs convulsing and kicking a few times. A hoarse, piercing roar escaped from its mouth.

The panel popped up at that moment.

[Spell: Fireball - Perfect (3200/3200)]

The fireball spell is now complete.

Li Yuan did not pause and raised his right hand again.

Golden Blade Technique.

A silvery-white blade of light shot from the fingertips, with the Golden Edge amplification and Breaking Barrier Penetration boosted simultaneously. The blade of light cut into the crack, penetrated deep into the carapace, pierced through the muscle layer already burned by the fireball, and reached the internal organs.

The giant dung beetle's body crashed heavily to the ground, its limbs outstretched and its tentacles drooping.

The mouthparts slowly closed and stopped opening and closing.

The breath dissipated.

Li Yuan withdrew his hand and walked to the corpse of the giant dung beetle.

Second-tier mid-grade demonic beasts are much more difficult to deal with than the Flood Dragon Lizard.

With only the initial stage of Foundation Establishment cultivation, he was slightly weaker than cultivators of the same level than demonic beasts below the third rank, and he had enough attributes on his body, so the victory was relatively easy.

The hardness of its shell and its defensive posture of retracting it make a direct attack almost impossible. The only way to break through is to concentrate firepower on the same spot and then use the evil energy to lure it into exposing its weaknesses.

Li Yuan squatted down and began disassembling the materials.

The carapace is the most valuable part. After being soaked in malevolent energy for many years, the carapace is far harder than the defensive materials of ordinary second-tier demonic beasts. If used for weapon forging, it can be used to create extremely sturdy defensive magical artifacts.

Disassembling the carapace took quite a while. The joints of the carapace were extremely tight, requiring the use of the Golden Blade Technique to cut it off piece by piece.

The carapace, skeleton, tentacles, and horny flaps of the mouthparts were all collected into the storage bag one by one.

Then they probed into the abdominal cavity to retrieve the inner elixir.

The inner core was located deep within the internal organs, dark gray in color, with a layer of extremely fine dark red lines on its surface, and its spiritual energy fluctuations were steady. It was a size larger than the inner core of the dragon-scaled lizard and heavier in the hand.

Li Yuan placed the inner elixir in his palm and pressed it with his fingers.

No response.

No entry.

Li Yuan put the inner core into his storage bag.

As I was tidying up, I heard footsteps in the distance.

Chen Yi arrived from the direction of the mine with two Yuan Yang Sect disciples.

Chen Yi paused when he saw the remains of the giant dung beetle on the ground. He glanced at the remains and then looked at Li Yuan.

"The Giant Dung Beetle. It came from the branch mine and has been absorbing evil energy inside."

Chen Yi walked to the wreckage, looked at the marks of cutting and dismantling, and nodded.

"Thank you for your hard work. Everyone in the mine is safe; you lured them away in time."

Chen Yi glanced at him, as if carefully choosing his words.

"Fellow Daoist Li, since you cultivate the demonic energy technique, do you usually need a large amount of demonic energy?"

"need."

Chen Yi nodded and looked towards the depths of the Ghost Mist Forest.

"The Ghost Mist Forest is quite large, but no one has ever been stationed in the deeper areas for long. The concentration of malevolent energy is too high for ordinary cultivators to endure."

He turned his gaze back.

"Since you can cultivate in an environment filled with malevolent energy, why not allocate a piece of land in the Ghost Mist Forest for you? You can stay there to cultivate long-term, and also keep an eye on the mine area for the sect, so that any monsters that appear can be dealt with promptly."

Long-term stationed, exclusive territory.

"You can choose the location yourself," Chen Yi added. "Just pick any spot deep in the Ghost Mist Forest, as long as it doesn't interfere with mining operations."

"Okay." Li Yuan nodded.

Chen Yi nodded without saying anything more, and led his two disciples back towards the mine.

Li Yuan cleaned up the remaining debris on the ground and found a nearby open space with a strong malevolent aura to sit down.

He took out all the materials of the Giant Dung Beetle from the storage bag and examined them one by one.

The carapace consisted of twelve complete plates of varying sizes, dark gray in color and extremely hard in texture. Li Yuan sensed it, but there was no fluctuation in the astrological information.

The skeleton consists of several segments of the vertebrae and ribs, with extremely high density. No entry available.

Antennae, two in number, flexible yet strong, with fine veins on their surface. No entry available.

Mouthparts are keratinous flaps, four in number. No entry available.

The inner elixir. I checked again, but still nothing.

There are no entries for any of them.

Li Yuan put the materials back into the storage bag.

Materials from second-tier mid-grade demonic beasts are quite valuable; their carapaces and bones can be used to forge rather than simple defensive magical artifacts. The scales and bones of the Flood Dragon Lizard were still in my storage bag, and with the addition of this batch of Fiend Armor Giant Dung Beetle carapaces, I've accumulated quite a few materials for forging.

There's still one refining token left from the Ji family. You can talk to Ji Huaiyuan about it after the mining mission is over.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged and began to circulate the Green Wood Longevity Technique.

The concentration of malevolent energy deep within the Ghost Mist Forest is extremely high, and the passive effect of the "Unifying Malevolent Energy" is operating at full capacity. The malevolent energy automatically gathers, tempers the body, tempers the soul, and transforms into spiritual power, advancing along four lines simultaneously.