Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

One of the group members was a disciple of the Yuanyang Sect who was skilled in array formations. He was in the early stage of Foundation Establishment and his mastery of array formations was quite high.

He squatted in front of the stone gate for half an hour, repeatedly probing the remaining array structure at the entrance of the passageway with his divine sense.

"The formation was set up by the demonic cultivators to detect whether anyone has entered. Once triggered, it will send a signal to notify the person who set it up."

He looked up at Chen Yi.

"I can bypass these nodes without triggering the probe."

Chen Yi nodded. "Let's do it."

The array master took out several spirit stones and a piece of conductive spirit sand from his storage bag and made several fine adjustments to the spirit patterns on both sides of the stone gate. Spiritual power seeped into the spirit pattern structure along the conductive spirit sand, shielding the remaining detection nodes one by one.

No spiritual energy fluctuations were emitted throughout the entire process.

"Alright." The formation master stood up. "You can go in now."

Nine Foundation Establishment cultivators entered the passageway one by one.

The passageway descended for about fifty feet before leveling off, and the spiritual patterns on the walls became increasingly dense, changing from the dark purple spiritual patterns of demonic cultivators to more ancient gray-white spiritual patterns.

Two sets of spirit rune systems were superimposed on the same wall, clearly distinguishing the old from the new.

The dark purple ones were set up later by the demonic cultivators, while the grayish-white ones were originally part of the ruins.

At the end of the passageway was a massive stone gate, about three zhang high and two zhang wide. The stone gate had already been opened, and the door panels bore the marks of being violently broken open, with charred burn marks showing where the spiritual runes had broken.

After passing through the stone gate, the group stopped.

Before us lay a vast underground space.

The dome was over ten feet high, and most of the lighting stones embedded in it had gone out, with only a few still faintly glowing, barely illuminating the outline of the space.

The space was enormous; in the dim light, the distant walls could only be seen as blurry shadows. The floor was paved with neatly arranged stone slabs, and intricate arrays of spiritual patterns were carved into the gaps between the slabs, the exquisite craftsmanship of which far surpassed that of the passageway.

The architecture is grand and well-organized. Stone pillars, archways, corridors—every detail exudes a grand scale. Although most of the remaining formations and restrictions have become ineffective, the complexity and density of the spirit runes indicate that the defense level here was extremely high in its heyday.

Clearly beyond the level of the Demon Sect.

"This wasn't built by the Demonic Sect." Chen Yi stood at the entrance to the space, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding spiritual rune structures. "The style of the spiritual runes, the layout of the formations, and the specifications of the buildings are all typical of righteous sects. And a major sect at that."

He walked to the nearest stone pillar and wiped the dust off its surface with his finger.

At the base of the stone pillar is carved a sect emblem: a circular spiritual pattern with a combination of a sword and a mountain peak in the center.

Chen Yi stared at the sign and remained silent for a few moments.

"Sword Yue Sect."

His tone became serious.

"The Nascent Soul level sect that was destroyed before. The reason for the destruction is unknown. When the sect's former site was discovered, it was already a ruin. All the core disciples and elders had disappeared without leaving any clues."

This information perfectly matches the information provided by the elders during the investigation.

The legacy of a Nascent Soul level sect was collected into the treasure vault by the Demonic Sect. The ruins before us are part of that treasure vault.

The team continued deeper into the area.

The interior space was divided into several areas: the main hall, side halls, warehouses, cultivation rooms, and scripture pavilion. The structure was exactly the same as that of a normal sect building, except that they had all been moved underground.

But most of the rooms have already been emptied.

The warehouse shelves were empty, with only a few broken wooden crates remaining. The meditation cushions and magic array in the cultivation room were still there, but all the valuables had been taken away. The jade slip shelves in the scripture pavilion were in disarray, with a few broken fragments of jade slips scattered around.

The remaining supplies were almost entirely items belonging to demonic cultivators: dark purple banners, fragments of magical artifacts engraved with demonic runes, and used bottles of demonic cultivator pills.

After the Demonic Sect moved the Sword Mountain Sect's legacy into this underground vault, they also stored their own supplies inside. Later, the Demonic Sect was destroyed, and the vault was sealed. After the Dark Abyss Society found the entrance to the vault, they moved most of its contents.

It was basically emptied out.

After the team gathered in the main hall area, Chen Yi made a decision.

"The site is too large; it would be too slow for all nine of us to follow one route. We'll split into three groups and explore separately."

He pointed to the corridors in three directions.

"Each group consists of three people, heading in different directions. Meet in the main hall after one incense stick's time. If danger arises, immediately send a message to retreat."

Li Yuan was assigned to the second group, along with Li Ze'an and a disciple of the Yuan Yang Sect.

The three of them went deeper into the eastern corridor.

The corridor was lined with empty rooms, with occasional remnants of spirit patterns visible on the walls. The remaining spirit patterns at the doorways resembled a combination of the physical body, soul, and spiritual power, unlike the protective array patterns commonly found in the main hall. Most of the rooms had already been ransacked.

When I reached the middle of the corridor, I heard some noise ahead.

Li Yuan raised his hand to signal to stop, and then extended his divine sense forward.

Thirty feet away, two figures were squatting in a room, searching for something.

Demonic energy.

Both of them carried a heavy demonic aura, far exceeding the concentration of the three people in the market. It wasn't just residual demonic energy; it was a deep-seated infiltration from long-term cultivation of demonic arts.

Demonic cultivator. Early stage of Foundation Establishment.

Li Yuan said in a low voice, "Two demonic cultivators, early Foundation Establishment stage."

Li Ze'an and the Yuan Yang Sect disciples' expressions simultaneously turned somber.

Three against two, the stronger side has the advantage.

Li Yuan didn't say much, he raised his right hand and the Fire Python Technique condensed.

A crimson fire serpent shot out from his palm, rushing along the corridor straight to the room thirty feet away.

The fire serpent pierced through the door frame and struck the back of the demonic cultivator closest to the door.

boom.

The demonic cultivator was slammed away by the force of the fire serpent, crashing into the wall opposite the room, a large patch of his clothing charred black. He let out a muffled groan, and before he could even stand up, Li Ze'an's fire spell followed closely behind.

A fireball the size of a fist slammed into his abdomen, slamming him back against the wall.

The second demonic cultivator reacted extremely quickly, dodging the aftershocks of the fire serpent with a flash, and condensed a ball of dark purple demonic energy in his right hand, shooting it towards the corridor.

The Yuan Yang Sect disciples' spiritual shields blocked the way. The demonic energy orb collided with the shields and exploded. The dark purple erosion spread across the shield surface before being dispersed by spiritual power.

Li Yuan has already used his second Fire Python Technique.

The fire serpent bypassed the spirit shield and slammed head-on into the chest of the second demonic cultivator. Enhanced by the Condensing Yuan Technique, the fire serpent possessed extremely high spiritual energy density, piercing through the demonic cultivator's spiritual energy shield upon impact.

The demonic cultivator's body flew out and crashed heavily to the ground, his chest caved in, and his aura quickly dissipated.

The first demonic cultivator tried to struggle to his feet, but Li Ze'an pinned him to the wall with two consecutive fireballs.

A disciple of the Yuanyang Sect unleashed a golden blade technique, severing the demonic cultivator's last struggle.

The two demonic cultivators were killed in less than ten breaths from the moment they met.

The three entered the room and searched through the storage bags of the two demonic cultivators.

There weren't many spirit stones, a few hundred in total. There were also a few mediocre demonic cultivation artifacts, some demonic cultivation pills, and several jade slips engraved with demonic runes, containing demonic cultivation methods and some scattered information.

The spoils weren't plentiful, but the intelligence-related jade slips might be valuable.

Li Yuan quickly divided the spoils of war: the intelligence jade slips were left for Chen Yi to handle, while the magic weapons and spirit stones were divided equally among the three of them.

The three continued to explore deeper into the eastern corridor.

Most of the rooms were empty, just like before. Occasionally, some forgotten items could be found: broken magical artifacts, expired pills, and incomplete jade slips, but their value was limited.

When Li Yuan reached a side room at the far end of the corridor, he paused for a moment.

A fluctuation was detected in the entry's perception.

Purple.

An extremely strong purple aura emanated from the corner of the side room.

Li Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

Purple. This is a quality level I've never encountered before. Previously, the highest was blue; purple is a level higher than blue.

He went into the side room and followed the direction of the undulations to the corner.

In the corner lay a pile of rubble and broken wooden frame remains, like the ruins left after a storage shelf collapsed.

The pile of rubble was inconspicuous; when one scanned it with their divine sense, it appeared to be just a few pieces of waste covered in dust.

Li Yuan squatted down and used his hands to clear away the rubble.

A bead about the size of a thumb was visible beneath the pebbles.

The bead is dark gold in color, with a smooth and round surface, and fine spiritual patterns can be faintly seen flowing inside. The style of the spiritual patterns is consistent with the gray-white spiritual patterns on the ruins walls, indicating that it belongs to the Sword Mountain Sect.

However, the surface of the bead was shrouded in a faint restriction, which suppressed the spiritual energy fluctuations inside, making it look no different from an ordinary stone bead from the outside.

If it weren't for the term awareness feature, you wouldn't even notice it.

Li Yuan picked up the beads.

The panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected]

[Item Attribute Level: Purple]

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

Items that do not belong to the user.

Li Yuan subconsciously expanded his divine sense to perceive the area, only to discover that there were restrictions on it.

The restriction on the bead has not yet been broken. The restriction needs to be broken first before the bead can become your own item, and only then can you equip it and view the details of its attributes.

Li Yuan put the bead into the deepest compartment of his storage bag, his expression unchanged.

"There's nothing much here," he said to Li Ze'an. "Let's meet up back here."

The three returned to the main hall along the corridor.

The other two groups returned one after another, each reporting their findings. The ruins had been thoroughly cleaned, with few items of value. The other group discovered a warehouse in the western corridor that had not yet been completely cleared, finding some magical supplies and a few damaged magical artifacts.

After gathering all the intelligence and supplies, Chen Yi led his team to evacuate the ruins.

They did not encounter any other demonic cultivators on the return journey.

The group returned to Wulinfang City in the evening.

Chen Yi gave a brief summary at the Fangshi Management Office.

"The ruins have been confirmed as the former site of the Sword Mountain Sect, which was transformed into an underground treasure vault by the Demonic Sect. The Dark Abyss Society has already entered and removed most of the supplies. I will report the details to the sect, and we may organize a larger-scale investigation later."

He glanced at the people present.

"The contribution points and resource allocation for the operation will be distributed as soon as possible after I report back. I'll go back and rest now."

Everyone dispersed.

Li Yuan returned to the stone house in the market and closed the stone door.

He took the dark gold bead out of his storage bag and placed it in his palm.

The spiritual energy fluctuations from the restriction pulsated slightly in my palm, but they weren't too strong.

With my current cultivation level and spiritual power, breaking through this restriction shouldn't be difficult. The restriction is very old, and its spiritual power has greatly diminished, with only the outermost seal remaining.

Li Yuan channeled his spiritual power into the surface of the bead, allowing it to slowly seep through the gaps in the restrictive spiritual patterns.

The restriction gradually loosened under the continuous erosion of spiritual power. The spiritual patterns on the outer seal dimmed one by one, and the structure of the restriction peeled away layer by layer like ice.

About fifteen minutes later, the last sealing rune shattered.

The ban has been completely lifted.

The dark golden luster on the surface of the bead suddenly brightened, and the flowing spiritual patterns inside became clearly visible. A gentle yet profound spiritual energy fluctuation was released from the bead, spreading from the palm of the hand to the entire body.

The panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected: Trinity Bead (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Trinity Unity (Purple) - Increases Essence, Vitality, and Spirit by 20% each; Essence, Vitality, and Spirit are highly unified and coordinated, and can be converted into each other at a ratio of 2:1]

[Preview of conditions for permanentization: Condensing a high-grade Golden Core, or both physical body and soul cultivation reaching the third tier level (0/1)]

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

Purple entry. Tripartite integration.

Each of the five vital energies (vital energy, spirit, and essence) increases by 20%. These vital energies are highly unified and coordinated, and can transform into one another.

A 20% overall increase is already terrifying. Essence is the physical body's blood and qi, qi is the spiritual power in the dantian, and spirit is the soul and will. An increase of 20% in each of the three is equivalent to a significant boost in overall strength.

The most crucial part is the second half of the sentence: Essence, energy, and spirit can be transformed into each other.

If your spiritual energy is insufficient, you can replenish it by consuming your vital energy or soul power. If your soul is damaged, you can repair it by consuming your spiritual energy or vital energy. If your vital energy is depleted, you can replenish it by consuming your spiritual energy or soul power.

The three types of energy can be freely converted, effectively merging three independent energy pools into a single pool. This results in a qualitative leap in combat endurance, cultivation efficiency, and resilience. Although there is some loss during conversion, the overall power remains extremely strong.

The conditions for permanent attainment are extremely stringent. One must either condense a high-grade Golden Core or achieve a third-tier level in both physical and spiritual cultivation. Both conditions far exceed one's current cultivation level and are impossible to meet in the short term.

But the equipment effects alone are enough to take up a slot.

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