Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The magical artifact was completed on the ninth day.

Ji Huaiyuan sent someone to invite Li Yuan to the weapon-refining room to inspect the finished products.

The weapon-refining room was located in the low hill behind the fortified village. The cave was not large, and in the center was a weapon-refining furnace that was half a person tall. The furnace fire had been extinguished, but residual heat was still rising from the furnace mouth.

Ji Huaiyuan stood in front of the furnace, holding a ritual implement in his hand.

A flag.

The banner is about two feet long, and the pole is made of dark gray bone material, polished from the vertebrae of a giant dung beetle. The banner surface is dark red, with extremely fine armor patterns faintly visible on the surface, which are the patterns left after fragments of the giant dung beetle's shell were incorporated into the banner surface.

The edges of the banner were reinforced with the ribs of a dragon-scaled lizard, and the entire banner exuded a steady spiritual energy fluctuation, mixed with a faint trace of malevolent energy.

"The Demonic Spirit Banner." Ji Huaiyuan handed the magical artifact to Li Yuan.

"It's a second-tier low-grade item, but its quality is considered top-tier among second-tier low-grade items. The effect of adding the inner core is even better than I expected, and the banner has an extremely high affinity for baleful energy."

He briefly explained the function of the ritual implement.

"It has two core functions. First, it passively absorbs the surrounding malevolent energy and stores it inside the banner. The storage limit depends on the banner's load-bearing capacity, and it can store about thirty streams of concentrated malevolent energy. Second, it actively releases the stored malevolent energy to attack enemies. It can form a malevolent energy storm to cover an area, or it can condense into malevolent energy arrows to concentrate and attack a single target."

Li Yuan took the Demon Spirit Banner and held it firmly in his hand.

The moment my finger touched the flagpole, the panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected: Demon Banner (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Fiend Transformation (Blue) - Can convert fiend energy into spiritual power, and spiritual power into fiend energy. Spiritual power and fiend energy can be initially fused without affecting the original effect]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Consume the inner core of a second-tier evil-type demon beast (0/1)]

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

Blue entries.

Li Yuan's fingers paused on the flagpole for a moment.

Spiritual energy and malevolent energy can transform into each other and even begin to merge.

The "Sha Yuan Gui Yi" technique already has the function of converting Sha Qi into spiritual power, but it is unidirectional and the conversion efficiency is not high. The "Sha Ling" technique is bidirectional; spiritual power can also be converted into Sha Qi, and more importantly, the two can initially merge.

Fusion means that spiritual power and malevolent energy are no longer two separate energies, but can be used together. When attacking, spiritual power carries the corrosive effect of malevolent energy, while when defending, the heavy texture of malevolent energy can enhance the thickness of the spiritual power shield.

The actual value of this Demon Spirit Banner far exceeds the standard level of a second-tier low-grade magic weapon, considering both its inherent function and the effects of the blue text.

The condition for permanentization is consuming the inner core of a second-tier evil-type demon beast.

The Giant Demon Armored Beast is a demonic beast of the demonic type, but its inner core has already been put into the refining process. To make this entry permanent, another second-tier demonic beast needs to be found.

The Ghost Mist Forest is not lacking in malevolent beasts, but second-tier ones are hard to find. Make a note of that.

"Senior Ji, thank you." Li Yuan carefully put away the Demon Spirit Banner.

Ji Huaiyuan waved his hand, a hint of satisfaction on his face.

"With good materials, the finished product will naturally be excellent. I'm glad you're satisfied, fellow Daoist."

The two left the weapon-refining room and returned to the main hall to sit down.

Li Yuan took a sip of tea and remembered something.

"Senior Ji, there's something I want to tell you."

"Fellow Daoist, please speak."

"I went to Huode Market a few days ago." Li Yuan put down his teacup. "I sensed residual demonic energy on several people in the market."

Ji Huaiyuan paused for a moment, his hand holding the teacup hanging in mid-air.

Then he slowly put the teacup down and nodded.

"I know."

His tone was calm, as if he were talking about something he already knew.

"The Huode Market area is poorly managed and a mixed bag. Over the years, some people of dubious origin have been appearing in the market, and the Ji family has become somewhat aware of it."

He placed his fingers on the table.

"However, the Ji family's strength is limited, and they can't manage too much. I will report this matter to the Yuan Yang Sect and let the sect handle it."

Li Yuan nodded without saying anything more, returned to his assigned lodgings, and equipped himself with the Demon Spirit Banner.

The moment the equipment took effect, the spiritual power and baleful energy within the body changed simultaneously.

The changes were not drastic, but extremely clear.

A faint, dark ripple appeared on the surface of the liquid spiritual energy stored in the dantian, like a calm lake being ruffled by a breeze. The texture of the spiritual energy remained unchanged, but a new possibility emerged—it could transform into malevolent energy at any time.

At the same time, the evil energy passively gathered in the body by the evil essence also changed.

Previously, the evil energy existed independently within the body; if one followed the body tempering route, it would follow the body tempering route, and if one followed the transformation route, it would be transformed into spiritual energy. The two paths were clearly distinct.

Now there is a third state between malevolent energy and spiritual energy.

Fusion state.

Li Yuan attempted to simultaneously guide a wisp of spiritual energy and a wisp of malevolent energy into his right palm.

The two energies converged in the palm of the hand.

There was no repulsion, no conflict. The spiritual energy and the malevolent energy merged together naturally, like two rivers converging.

The fused energy's texture lies between spiritual power and malevolent energy. It is heavier and more corrosive than pure spiritual power, and more condensed and controllable than pure malevolent energy. Its color blends from the transparency of spiritual power and the dark red of malevolent energy into a deep, dark gold.

The next morning, Li Yuan bid farewell to Ji Huaiyuan and left Jijiawubao.

He activated the Wind Walk technique and flew towards the Ghost Mist Forest.

After most of the day, a gray-white wall of fog appeared in view.

Li Yuan landed and stepped into the thick fog.

The "Return of Evil Qi" technique is automatically activated, and evil energy gathers from all directions.

Li Yuan walked deeper into the area and found the open space where he had previously used for cultivation.

Sit cross-legged and begin practicing the Green Wood Longevity Technique.

After cultivating for two cycles, I switched to the Soul Condensation Technique.

The soul is repeatedly forged through compression and expansion. The soul-tempering effect of the unified evil energy operates simultaneously, and the evil energy is automatically cleansed when it passes through the nodes of the soul.

With the tempering of the Soul Condensation Technique and the refinement of the baleful aura, the condensation of the soul is steadily improving.

The permanent effects of Soul Light Tempering continue to take effect, with both the strength of the divine soul and the precision of its control slowly increasing.

After practicing for about four hours, my feel for the game changed.

The rhythm of the Soul Condensation Technique has changed from deliberate control to semi-automatic. The compression and expansion of the soul no longer require focused guidance, but instead form a stable self-circulating rhythm, requiring only minor adjustments at key points.

The panel popped up.

【Cultivation Technique: Soul Condensation Technique - Proficient (0/400)】

The Soul Condensation Technique has been mastered.

The efficiency of forging the soul has increased significantly. Each compression and expansion is greater than when it was first started, and the strengthening effect on the soul is more obvious.

Li Yuan finished his practice, stood up, and stretched his muscles.

I walked around the open space to check out the surroundings.

The terrain deep within the Ghost Mist Forest consists mainly of dead trees and scattered rocks, with visibility severely obscured by the thick fog. However, the ground is relatively flat and the space is large enough, much better than the courtyard of the market town.

Talismans can also be made here.

The making of the Spirit Water Talisman requires only talisman paper, spirit ink, and a quiet environment; no special facilities are needed. The depths of the Ghost Mist Forest are sparsely populated, even quieter than the courtyard of the market town.

Li Yuan took the talisman-making materials out of his storage bag and spread them out on a flat boulder at the edge of the open space.

The Spirit Water Talisman, the Divine Refining Talisman, the Yuan Gathering Talisman, and the Demon-Slaying Talisman are drawn in rotation.

Cultivation and talisman making are done alternately, making the process more than twice as efficient as in the market. The passive tempering of the body with baleful energy and the absorption of spiritual energy operate in sync. The intervals between talisman making are for cultivation, and the intervals between cultivation are for talisman making.

Three days passed like this.

On the evening of the third day, Li Yuan was meditating cross-legged when his divine sense suddenly detected two unfamiliar auras.

Approaching from the outer edge of the Ghost Mist Forest, their pace was slow, as if they were cautiously groping their way forward.

Two people. Both were at the late stage of Qi Refining, and their auras carried a very faint trace of malevolent energy.

Li Yuan opened his eyes and looked in the direction from which the aura was coming from.

A moment later, two figures emerged from the thick fog.

A man and a woman, both around thirty years old. The man was tall and thin, wearing a gray short robe with an iron sword hanging at his waist. The woman had an ordinary face, wore a dark blue long gown, and carried a bamboo box on her back.

The two of them stopped in their tracks the moment they saw Li Yuan.

The spiritual pressure emanating from the Foundation Establishment cultivators visibly tensed them up.

The male cultivator was the first to react and bowed with his hands clasped in greeting.

"senior."

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The male cultivator rubbed his hands together, carefully considering his words.

"My surname is Zhou, and this is my junior sister. We practice a technique related to malevolent energy, which requires us to cultivate in places where malevolent energy is abundant. We heard that the concentration of malevolent energy is extremely high deep within the Ghost Mist Forest, so we came to take a look."

He glanced at Li Yuan, his tone becoming more cautious.

"We sensed your presence when we arrived here, and that's when we realized there were already people here. If you don't mind, we'd like to find a place nearby to cultivate. We won't disturb you; we're just borrowing this space."

He paused for a moment, then added another sentence.

"The concentration of malevolent energy in this area is too high, and first-tier demonic beasts appear from time to time. It's very difficult for the two of us with late-stage Qi Refining cultivation to deal with them. If we could cultivate within the protection zone of a senior, we would be much safer."

"If you are willing, senior, I am willing to give spirit stones as protection money."

After saying that, the man took out spirit stones from his storage bag.

Li Yuan glanced at them.

The two individuals' auras did indeed carry fluctuations of malevolent energy, indicating that they had indeed cultivated techniques related to malevolent energy. Their auras showed no trace of demonic energy, suggesting they were not demonic cultivators.

For cultivators at the late stage of Qi Refining, venturing deep into the Ghost Mist Forest is indeed dangerous. First-tier high-grade demonic beasts are a life-or-death battle for them, while encountering second-tier demonic beasts is certain death.

"Okay." Li Yuan didn't pretend to be coy and took the spirit stones away. "Just find a place around this open space, don't go too far."

Both of them showed obvious signs of relief.

"Thank you, senior."

The two bowed respectfully and retreated to a patch of withered trees at the edge of the open space, where they each found a spot to sit cross-legged and cultivate.

"Thank you, senior."

The two bowed respectfully and retreated to a patch of withered trees at the edge of the open space, where they each found a spot to sit cross-legged and cultivate.

Li Yuan closed his eyes again and began to practice his internal energy.

Having two more people doesn't matter; their late-stage Qi Refining cultivation poses no threat to me. Their nearby cultivation actually provides an extra layer of early warning, allowing them to detect any unusual activity first.

However, this also made Li Yuan realize a problem.

He planned to cultivate in the Ghost Mist Forest long-term, and Chen Yi had designated a private area for him. However, this area was currently completely open and without any protective measures.

When cultivating, if someone approaches, one relies entirely on passive perception using divine sense. This is fine during the day, but at night, the coverage area of ​​divine sense shrinks, so if someone deliberately conceals their presence and approaches, it may not be detected immediately.

A formation needs to be set up.

The early warning array is used to detect intruders, the spirit gathering array is used to improve cultivation efficiency, and a defensive array is added as a last resort.

Li Yuan possesses a permanent entry on the Dao of Arrays, and has already entered the first level of array formation. However, at this beginner level, he can only set up the most basic arrays, with limited effectiveness.

To set up a complete array system that can operate for a long time deep in the Ghost Mist Forest, a more systematic inheritance of array principles is needed.

Keep an eye out for it at the next trade fair.