Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

On the third day after the Core Formation Platform was opened, the Yuan Yang Sect officially issued a lockdown order.

The outer perimeter of the entire Core Formation area has been redrawn. What were originally just temporary arrays have now been replaced with formal restrictions and permanent guards.

A new layer of identification arrays was added to each end of the corridor leading to the core gate.

The list was drawn up by the outpost, and Li Yuan was on it.

When Chen Yi delivered the list, he casually mentioned it.

"Your privileges are half a level higher than those of a typical Foundation Establishment cultivator. You can move freely in the outer ring, but you need to report in advance to the core area, though you won't be stopped."

Li Yuan took the list and glanced at it. There were more than a dozen people on it, and only five of the Foundation Establishment cultivators had obtained this level of access.

"When can we use the Core Formation Platform?" Li Yuan asked.

Chen Yi shook his head.

"It's still early. The entire supporting formation is ruined; we'll have to start from scratch."

"We'll need to submit another batch of equipment requests to higher authorities, which could take anywhere from six months to a year; nobody can say for sure."

That's not surprising.

The previous Core Formation Manual clearly stated that the Core Formation Platform cannot be used simply by sitting on it; it requires a complete set of auxiliary arrays to activate.

The auxiliary array was destroyed when the ruins collapsed, and now only some old patterns and remnants are embedded in the stone walls and the ground, which are not enough to support its full operation.

The Yuan Yang Sect has a lot to do if they want to use this Core Formation Platform.

After Chen Yi left, Li Yuan did not immediately go to attend to the market affairs, but returned to the stone house first.

As soon as the door closed, he took out the purple evil stone from his storage bag.

When I took it from the vein last time, I only glanced at it briefly. This is the first time I'm seriously examining it.

The evil stone is dark purple all over and quite heavy when held in the palm of your hand. Its surface does not have the rough texture of ordinary mid-grade evil stones, but instead has a subtle luster similar to that of spirit stones.

Li Yuan first probed with his divine sense.

The malevolent energy was extremely concentrated, with a density far exceeding that of a mid-grade malevolent stone, just as it had been observed last time. However, after more detailed testing this time, another change became apparent.

The stone contains more than just malevolent energy.

Spiritual power is also present.

The two did not repel each other; instead, they seemed to be pressed together by something, forming a very stable state of coexistence. Li Yuan pressed his divine sense deeper, trying to discern the proportions of malevolent energy and spiritual power within them.

The score is close to 2 to 3.

It was even more accurate than the judgment made during the initial inspection of the vein last time.

The malevolent energy and spiritual power intertwined without becoming chaotic, like two threads of different colors tightly intertwined.

Li Yuan withdrew his divine sense and placed the Purple Fiend Stone on the table.

Last time, it was just a small amount of spiritual energy from the spiritual vein seeping into the evil ore and accidentally forming a piece. This time, the effect of the seepage is clearly deepening. The proportion of spiritual energy has increased from a small amount to nearly 40%, indicating that the seepage of spiritual energy from the spiritual vein towards the evil ore in the underground stone layer is still continuing and is more stable than before.

Currently, this seepage appears to have a positive effect on the mining industry.

The quality of the Purple Fiend Stone is significantly higher than that of the Medium-Grade Fiend Stone, and its internal structure is more stable, unlike what one would expect from an out-of-control product.

But whether it will continue to worsen, and to what extent it will cause problems, is still uncertain.

Li Yuan put the Purple Fiend Stone away again, not thinking about it any further.

In the afternoon, Li Yuan went to the management office.

The atmosphere in the market has become even more oppressive than before, and the Dark Abyss Society is making increasingly big moves.

A few days ago, they were just setting up a shop on the edge of the market selling longevity pills, but now they have started to expand to more areas.

Inside the management office, a monk responsible for patrolling the perimeter was talking to another person. His voice was not loud, but he wasn't trying to lower it.

"The Dark Abyss Society has posted another notice, openly recruiting array masters, with the price doubled compared to last time."

"Array masters? They're that desperate for array masters?"

"It's not just array masters. We're also recruiting cultivators whose lifespans are nearing their end. The offer is longevity pills plus high-grade medicinal materials. We'll give half upfront, and the other half after the work is done."

"I heard they even recruited a few Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Li Yuan sat beside him flipping through the daily entry and exit records without saying a word.

I've heard a lot of similar news these past few days. The Dark Abyss Society isn't just poaching people around the Misty Forest Market; it's said they're also making moves in the Cloud Sun Market, and even several more remote gathering places for independent cultivators have been targeted.

Rumors of high prices being offered for battle formation materials and longevity-promoting medicinal herbs are spreading throughout the market. Several auxiliary medicines that weren't originally scarce have seen their prices rise by 30% in the past few days.

The world created by the writing prodigy is all in "Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes".

Li Yuan closed the entry and exit register and got up to handle a few routine matters.

He returned to the stone house after nightfall, closed the door, and sat down.

Instead of immediately beginning cultivation, he closed his eyes and focused his mind on the large spiritual vein.

Everything within the spiritual vein's range unfolded as usual, clearly reflecting the spiritual energy flow of the main vein, branch veins, old faults, and underground stone layers.

Li Yuan's attention was not on the mine, but followed the main vein upwards until he reached that familiar location.

Directly below the Core Formation Platform.

The teleportation structure that was confirmed last time is still there, and the restrictions have not changed. After the core gate was opened, although there were many more people and newly set up formations in the Core Formation area above, all of those things were on the surface and inside the ruins, and did not affect this underground level.

Li Yuan slowly traced the edges of the teleportation structure with his mind.

The entrance is near the core node of the main vein, passing through several transit sections blocked by old restrictions, and finally leading to a sealed space directly below the Core Formation Platform. The entire route and length have been determined, and the structure itself shows no signs of collapse or breakage.

It is indeed feasible.

But the problems are also obvious.

Li Yuan stopped in front of a restricted node in the middle of the teleportation structure and examined it carefully.

Although this path is open, once you actually walk on it, the fluctuations of spiritual energy in your meridians will never completely disappear.

Especially when the teleportation structure is in operation, spiritual energy will spread to both ends along the old path.

If one's aura is detected, it will not only expose a secret path, but also lead to many unnecessary troubles.

Contain your breath.

This is the first problem that must be solved.

Although he possessed the permanent skill of Concealment, which could greatly conceal his aura, the fluctuations of spiritual energy within his meridians were not entirely the same as his surface aura. Concealment suppressed the outward aura, but once the teleportation structure was activated, the fluctuations generated when spiritual energy flowed through the old circuit leaked outward from the structure itself, so simply concealing himself might not be enough.

We need a method that can also suppress the fluctuations within the meridians.

Stable node.

This is the second problem. Although the old restrictions along the teleportation structure are still operational, once someone uses them, the flow of spiritual energy in the loop will inevitably leave traces at the nodes. If the sect finds signs of recent activation at a certain node when inspecting the underground structure in the future, it will be difficult to explain.

Li Yuan pulled his mind away from his spiritual veins and opened his eyes.

No rush, there probably won't be any problems before the final restriction is broken.

Li Yuan got up, stretched his limbs, and sat back down on the futon to begin his cultivation.

The next day, the management office delivered a document.

This is not a scene from the daily life of the market, but rather something that originated from the outpost.

The monk delivering the documents placed the items on the table, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Master, this is the accusation material submitted by the Wang family to the outpost, concerning the Li family. As usual, the outpost forwarded a copy to the administration office for filing."

Li Yuan reached out and flipped it open.

The document was short, but the wording was very sophisticated.

Instead of directly accusing the Li family of colluding with demons, a series of euphemisms were used. For example, "In a certain month of a certain year, suspicious auras were observed near a certain Li family stronghold."

After reading it, Li Yuan closed the document.

The Wang family's move wasn't particularly clever, but it was very effective. The Li family is now under the sect's watchful eye. The previous incident of the branch setting a trap brought up the Li family's old connections with the Demonic Sect. The sect was already investigating in secret, and the secret realm has also made the Li family a suspect.

At this point, the Wang family would submit another report from the sidelines. No matter how much evidence was contained, it would only add fuel to the fire of an already existing rift.

Moreover, the report was filed through proper procedures; once the outpost received it, it was archived and would naturally be brought up during the subsequent investigation.

Li Yuan put the document back on the table without saying anything more.

He couldn't and didn't need to concern himself with this matter. He didn't have any deep relationship with the Li family to begin with; he had only helped them break the formation for money. How the Li and Wang families fought now, and how the sect investigated, were none of his business.

After finishing his business at the management office, Li Yuan returned to the stone house to continue his cultivation.

Spiritual energy circulated through his meridians, and the spiritual energy within his dantian remained stable as usual. The blue affix on the superior-grade spirit stone continued to slowly advance with each cycle of cultivation, the large spiritual vein remained in his special equipment slot, and automatic cultivation and spiritual energy recovery never stopped.

After nightfall, Li Yuan finished his practice and went to meditate near the core of the spiritual vein.

The depths of the molten layer remained as quiet as ever, with only the main vein's spiritual light flowing slowly.