Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The interrogation results from the Yuanyang Sect came faster than Li Yuan had expected.

The next day at noon, Chen Yi arrived at Wulinfang Market.

The two met again on the second floor of the management office. There was nothing else on the table except the incomplete copy of the map that had been confiscated from the demonic cultivator, with a jade slip containing records lying next to it.

Chen Yi didn't beat around the bush after entering the room and said directly, "I got the answer."

"They're not targeting ordinary ore."

Chen Yi pointed to the area on the incomplete map, "To be precise, the Sha mine is just one of the clues to the entrance. What they are more concerned about is what kind of underground structure might be connected to the Sha mine."

Li Yuan's gaze fell on the incomplete map.

The map is incomplete, with many lines broken, but there are indeed a few unnatural connections between the predetermined directions of the mine, ruins, and outpost.

Chen Yi continued, "The contents of the jade slip are incomplete; we can only piece together a rough outline. The Dark Abyss is looking for some kind of old structure buried underground, which could be a passageway or a sealed-off area. They are inquiring about the Fiend Mine not to mine it, but to use it to find something below."

Li Yuan nodded and wrote those words down.

That makes sense.

The Fiend Mine south of the market is of average quality and would not be of interest to ordinary cultivators, but the Dark Abyss Society has been sending people to probe its territory, clearly not for the ore itself.

Chen Yi glanced at him and said, "You need to continue nurturing that evil vein of yours. It's best to make your move as soon as possible."

"The sect has compiled several old inheritances, including formations specifically for cultivating evil ore veins. The items aren't particularly valuable, but they're rarely used. If you want to exchange them, I can help you convert your contribution points into the exchange."

"Change."

Li Yuan answered quickly.

The second condition for making the evil vein permanent has always been there. Now that the sect happens to have a way, there's no need to delay.

Chen Yi nodded and took out the prepared jade slip and a handwritten picture book.

After handing the items to Li Yuan, he left the market. He was currently focusing most of his energy on the investigation of the Dark Abyss Society, so he couldn't stay here indefinitely.

After receiving the inheritance, Li Yuan did not immediately go into the mine, but instead looked through the entire set of items in the stone house.

There's a formation inside called the Pei Sha Formation.

The content itself isn't complicated; the real challenge lies in putting it into practice.

The key to the Qi-cultivation array is to place the array stones at key nodes of the ore vein one by one, using the array eye stones to connect the original Qi flow of the entire ore vein, making the scattered Qi more concentrated and the return flow more stable, so that it can slowly nourish the ore itself.

To put it simply, it's not about forcibly creating something, but about gradually transforming a turbulent river into a flowing river with dikes and canals.

After memorizing several node diagrams, Li Yuan went down into the mine early the next morning.

The mine tunnel remained the same, with the malevolent energy growing denser the deeper one went. However, now, with the special equipment for malevolent veins, this malevolent energy was no longer just mist to him, but rather clear streams flowing through it.

You can tell at a glance which section has fast backflow, which node has heavy accumulation, and where leakage is likely.

Li Yuan first went to a junction of branches on the left side of the main road. Once there, he took out the materials one by one.

The array plate is not needed; what is really needed are three evil-attracting stones, a ball of sealing sand, and a specially polished array eye stone.

Li Yuan squatted down and landed in the order recorded in the jade slip.

The formation is small, but it requires meticulous attention to detail.

As Li Yuan laid out the stones, he constantly compared the actual flow direction within the vein to adjust the location. Twice, right after he finished laying the stones, he discovered that the angle of the evil energy return was incorrect, and he had to lift the stones again and press them down.

When he reached the third node, his experience with first-order array formations suddenly seemed to be completely sorted out.

In the past, learning formations mostly relied on memorizing spirit patterns, lines, and node relationships. Now, standing in the mine, truly seeing how the evil energy moves and how the formation changes its direction accordingly, the layer of knowledge that was previously hidden behind paper is now completely transparent.

Another evil-attracting stone fell, and the spiritual patterns connected, naturally linking the three fine lines together.

The panel popped up quietly.

[Skill: First-tier Array Dao - Minor Success (0/1200)]

The basic skills of array formation have been achieved.

Li Yuan only glanced at it and did not stop.

Li Yuan spent the entire day in the mine.

By evening, the last eye stone was embedded in the side wall of the cavity.

Li Yuan raised his hand and channeled spiritual energy into the vein. The six array patterns lit up simultaneously, making the existing backflow within the vein even more stable.

The changes weren't drastic, but they were quite clear.

Previously, the malevolent energy circulated on its own, but now it seems to have been channeled more smoothly. Several areas with slow return flow have been filled, and several areas with heavy leakage have been suppressed, making the flow of malevolent energy along the entire mine vein significantly more orderly.

Just as the formation was fully formed, Li Yuan pressed his finger on the array eye stone, and a panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected: Spirit Stone (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Aura Detection (White)]

[Effect: Able to sense surrounding malevolent energy; the range of perception increases with the range of one's spiritual energy.]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Absorb the malevolent energy of a mid-grade malevolent stone (0/1)]

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

Li Yuan withdrew his hand after reading it.

The white attribute is quite useful, especially in places like mines and Ghost Mist Forest. However, my equipment inventory is still full, and given the conditions for making this item permanent, I won't be able to find a mid-grade evil stone anytime soon, so there's no need to do anything about it now.

Li Yuan took away the protective stone and replaced it with a new one.

Once the formation is complete, the rest is simple.

For the next few days, Li Yuan traveled back and forth between the mine and the market. Every day, he went to the mine to check on the operation of the formation and adjusted a few spiritual rune connections. Once all six nodes were stable, the cultivation formation was fully operational.

Three days after the arrangement was completed, the surface of the ore vein showed almost no change. Only in the perception of the evil vein, several streams of evil energy deep within had slightly deepened, as if more power had been stored underground.

Standing in the natural cavity, Li Yuan reached a conclusion in his mind.

Relying on it alone is too slow.

Now that the slow approach has begun, we must simultaneously pursue the second path.

As Chen Yi had previously stated, if there were sources of baleful energy of the second rank or higher, they could directly feed back into the ore vein. Although the quantity was limited, it could improve the ore vein's grade more quickly.

The next morning, Li Yuan left the market and headed directly deeper into the Ghost Mist Forest.

The fog is heavy in the south of Ghost Mist Forest, and the terrain is low, so the evil energy accumulates even more.

Li Yuan ventured deeper into the cave, unleashing his divine sense.

After walking nearly a thousand feet, the woodland ahead began to darken. It wasn't that the trees had changed color, but rather that the ground, rocks, and a few crooked old trees were all covered with a thin layer of dark gray. The stench of decay in the air also became stronger.

After exploring for another hundred feet or so, Li Yuan stopped.

There were drag marks on the ground.

The trail was wide, with fine scratches along the edges, as if something armored had slowly slid across the woodland. At the end of the trail was a low-lying patch of black mud.

As soon as Li Yuan's divine sense swept into the mud, a section suddenly bulged up in the center of the mud.

With a bang, the black mud exploded.

A monster more than two zhang long rushed out from inside, its body covered with dark gray armor, with a row of bone spikes standing upright on its back. Its head was long and thin, and what it exhaled was not hot air, but wisps of blackish evil mist.

The second-tier demonic beast's aura is around the middle grade of the second tier.

The monster had barely appeared when it pounced forward with incredible speed. Its bony claws swept across the muddy ground, kicking up a cloud of black mud and pebbles, and a menacing aura followed.

Li Yuan did not immediately strike hard; he turned his foot and dodged the attack.

The demon brushed past him, its mouth spewing out malevolent mist as it turned back. Li Yuan raised his hand and unleashed a Fire Python Technique. The crimson fire snake crashed into the malevolent mist, burning away most of it instantly, but a portion was also worn away by the subsequent surge of malevolent energy.

But Li Yuan didn't rush to fire consecutively.

He channeled his spiritual energy into his dantian and unleashed another fireball spell, then deliberately slowed down the pace. The demonic creature charged closer and closer, its bone claws striking the edge of the spiritual barrier several times, causing ripples to spread across the spiritual energy layer.

A moment later, a portion of the spiritual energy in his dantian was depleted.

With a thought, Li Yuan immediately drew out a stream of his blood and qi, channeling it into his dantian through the newly opened pathway. The warm and substantial power rapidly shrank during the transformation, with only about half remaining as spiritual energy to replenish it.

The spiritual energy has been replenished.

The demonic beast lunged again, its spines twitching as it unleashed several streaks of dark gray malevolent light. Li Yuan dodged most of them, but the remaining two struck the earthen shield, instantly eroding a layer of its surface.

Li Yuan did not retreat; instead, he suddenly pressed his divine sense forward.

Having achieved minor mastery of the Soul Condensation Technique, coupled with the tempering of soul light, the condensation of divine soul, and the unification of the three elements, his divine soul strength was already quite formidable. This sudden attack caused the demonic beast to momentarily pause, its fierce light fading slightly.

In that instant, Li Yuan raised his hand and pointed.

The Fire Serpent Technique is used again.

The crimson fire serpent was even more solid than before, and it burrowed directly into the side of the demon's neck, exploding with a bang and tearing half of its shoulder and back apart.

The demon roared in pain, its malevolent aura surging even more fiercely than before.

Li Yuan did not finish immediately, and tried the soul-to-spirit power conversion again.

His consciousness sank slightly, and a cool sensation entered his dantian. His spiritual energy was replenished.

Li Yuan nodded slightly in his heart, but in future battles, it would be best to consume blood and spiritual energy to replenish the other two, since both of them have self-healing abilities.

The demonic creature tried to charge again, but Li Yuan stepped forward and met it head-on. He pressed his fire-elemental spiritual power and heavy blood energy into his arm, raised his hand to slap away its bone claws, and with his other hand, he flashed a golden blade technique.

A thin, golden beam slashed diagonally upwards from below its throat.

puff.

The bones and armor cracked, and the flesh rolled up.

The demon's figure swayed, and Li Yuan followed up with another fireball, blasting it deep into the wound. A burst of fire erupted, and the second-tier demon staggered two steps before crashing heavily into the black mud, never to rise again.

The forest fell silent again, with only the malevolent aura slowly dissipating.

Li Yuan walked over, separated the evil demon, and took out the evil pill.

The evil pill is dark black, but its surface has fine purple patterns flowing on it. When you hold it in your hand, you can feel the heavy and solid evil energy inside, which is much purer than that of a first-grade evil stone.

Li Yuan carefully put it away, and without wasting the rest of the materials, he put them all into his storage bag before returning directly to the market.

It was already evening when we returned to the mine.

Without delay, Li Yuan went straight down into the natural cavity and took out the second-tier evil pill.

Under the perception of the evil veins, the locations of several of the highest-quality evil stones within the vein were exceptionally clear. These stones normally consumed the evil energy that slowly accumulated within the vein, at an extremely slow rate.

Li Yuan placed the Demon Pill on the reflux node in the center of the cavity and pressed spiritual power into it little by little.

The evil pill trembled slightly at first, then the purple patterns on its surface gradually lit up. The solid evil energy inside was drawn away by spiritual power, not rushing around, but being drawn deeper little by little along the original flow direction of the ore vein.

This process lasted for a full half hour.

Once the last trace of malevolent energy dissipated, the cavity returned to silence.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and used his senses from the evil veins to see the depths of the mine.

Changes are coming.

Those high-quality evil stones, which were already darker in color, seemed to have an extra layer of dark light covering their surface, making their evil aura thicker and their texture more condensed.

The range of malevolent energy absorption has expanded outwards. The malevolent energy that originally only flowed back within the mine vein and nearby strata can now be drawn back a little further outwards. The increase is not large, but it is a real growth.

Back in the stone house at night, Li Yuan sat cross-legged and began his meditation.

The malevolent energy flowing from the malevolent vein remained stable, but its purity seemed slightly higher than before. The difference was so small that he would hardly have noticed it if he hadn't been constantly surrounded by the mine and malevolent energy these past few days.

When Li Yuan opened his eyes after a night of cultivation, his aptitude seemed to have improved somewhat.

It wasn't particularly obvious, but my spiritual energy flowed more smoothly during cultivation, and the spiritual energy absorbed through my meridians was more readily absorbed. It wasn't the kind of immediate, dramatic increase in my cultivation level, but rather like a thin layer of water slowly seeping into the soil.

The nurturing of the evil veins is already working gradually.

This improvement isn't huge, but it's long-lasting.

Li Yuan didn't dwell on it and got up to leave as usual. But when he reached the entrance of the mine, he suddenly paused.

He sensed a fluctuation.

Like the residual energy of a spirit that had been severed and was slowly flowing back from the depths of the earth. It was very weak, very far away, and still hidden behind the strata surrounding the mineral vein, appearing and disappearing indistinctly.

Li Yuan stood still, his divine sense following the flow of blood for a while before finally breaking off.