Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

After returning to the stone house, Li Yuan took out all the array materials from the demonic cultivator's storage bag, divided them into several piles according to type, and spread them on the table.

Stabilizing spirit sand, diversion stone, guiding spirit powder, and solidifying copper sheet.

There are four types of materials, and each type has more than a dozen portions.

After the inspection, Li Yuan found that the materials had not been tampered with, had no hidden array patterns, and were not contaminated with spiritual energy.

Clean and tidy, everything is in compliance with regulations.

But they shouldn't be in the same storage bag.

In normal material procurement, the quality of the same batch should be uniform. The purity of spirit sand produced from the same mine will not differ much, and the thickness of copper sheets refined by the same shop will not vary so much.

Unless someone deliberately takes materials from different batches and sources and mixes them together.

The consequences of mixing materials are almost imperceptible in daily use. Whether it's setting up the formation or its operation, the material quality of each node is within the compliant range, the formation as a whole can run smoothly, and no problems can be seen.

But it's a different story when operating at full capacity.

When forming the core, the spiritual energy load may be pushed to the limit of the array's design, and the spiritual energy flow at each node is at its limit.

At this point, the minute differences in material quality between nodes will translate into minute differences in the flow rate of spiritual energy.

Slight oscillations occur between nodes where the flow of spiritual energy is inconsistent. These oscillations accumulate and amplify under extreme loads, ultimately resulting in intermittent interruptions in the supply of spiritual energy.

Li Yuan put the materials on the table back into his storage bag and sat for a while.

Afterwards, Li Yuan went to the management office to find Chen Yi.

"I encountered a demonic cultivator while patrolling the outskirts of the market last night, and I've already killed him." Li Yuan placed the demonic cultivator's identification tag and storage bag on the table.

Chen Yi took the identity card and looked at it, then opened the storage bag and glanced at it.

"A Foundation Establishment stage demonic cultivator, alone?"

"A person, accompanied by a first-tier demonic beast. The beast is covered in demonic energy, so it's likely under his control."

Chen Yi nodded and pushed the ID card and storage bag back.

"Keep the items yourself, just report a contribution according to the sect's reward criteria."

"There are some things in the storage bag that I need you to take a look at." Li Yuan didn't put the storage bag away, but instead took out several array materials and placed them on the table. "Stabilizing Spirit Sand, Flow-Guiding Stone, Spirit-Conducting Powder, and Array-Solidifying Copper Sheets."

Chen Yi's gaze shifted slightly.

The names of these materials are too familiar.

"Materials for setting up the Core Formation Platform?"

"Yes." Li Yuan placed one portion of high-purity and one portion of low-purity Stable Spirit Sand in front of Chen Yi. "Take a look at the purity of these two portions."

Chen Yi picked it up and probed it with his divine sense, then frowned.

"The gap is not small."

"They're all within the compliance range, but their purity varies."

Li Yuan also took out two sets of the diversion stone and two sets of the array-stabilizing copper sheet. "Each set is qualified when viewed individually, but if materials of varying quality are mixed together and used to set up an array, the flow of spiritual energy between nodes will become uneven under extreme loads."

Chen Yi's expression had darkened.

"You mean the reason for the failed Core Formation wasn't that the formation was tampered with, but rather that the materials themselves were of inconsistent quality?"

"I can only say that if materials of such inconsistent quality are used in the auxiliary array of the Core Formation Platform, problems may occur when it is running at full capacity," Li Yuan said. "As for whether the materials actually used in the Core Formation Platform also have this problem, I have not been exposed to the core array, so I cannot judge."

Chen Yi stood up, took a few steps around the room, and then sat back down.

"Were these materials found on a demonic cultivator?"

"right."

Chen Yi remained silent for a while.

"I'll report this immediately." His tone was more serious than ever when he gave instructions. "I'll also take the materials with me so that the sect members can examine them personally."

Li Yuan pushed the storage bag containing the materials over without saying anything more.

After leaving the management office, Li Yuan returned to the stone house.

After sitting cross-legged on the futon, he first focused his mind on his spiritual meridians.

The entire spiritual vein unfolded in my perception. The seepage in the main vein, branches, and mineral veins was all normal.

However, the overall flow of spiritual energy is still biased.

For some reason, about 40-50% of the spiritual energy in the main vein was continuously flowing towards the Core Formation Platform, as if it was being attracted by the Core Formation Platform.

Li Yuan withdrew his perception of the spiritual veins somewhat and turned towards the direction of the mineral veins.

There was no change at the Sha ore site; the Sha cultivation array was operating normally, and the purple Sha stone was slowly condensing.

His attention shifted deeper, to the location where the two mines met.

The changes at the intersection are more obvious than when I last visited.

The seepage channels on both sides of the crack in the rock layer have basically stabilized, and the mutual permeation of fire-type spiritual energy and baleful energy has formed a fixed path. A new batch of ore has condensed in the center of the crack, nearly twice the quantity of the first batch.

Li Yuan withdrew his senses and got up to go to the mine tunnel.

Deep within a natural cavity, near the crack where the two mines meet, a dozen newly formed firestones are scattered on the rock wall.

Li Yuan squatted down and picked them up one by one to check them.

This batch is of much better quality than the first batch. The ratio of fire elemental energy to baleful energy is closer to 1:1, and the color is more uniform, a stable hue between dark red and dark purple, without the unevenness of the first batch that leaned more towards red or purple.

Once the seepage channel stabilized, the fusion of the two spiritual energies at the point of convergence became more effortless.

Li Yuan categorized the Fire Fiend Stones into three grades based on their quality.

The high-grade and medium-grade ore were stored separately in storage bags and delivered directly when Ji Huaiyuan arrived. Li Yuan kept the three low-grade ore pieces separately, which could be mixed into ordinary channels and sold as fire-type spirit ore, which would be more valuable than ordinary fire ore.

After finishing cleaning up the Fire Fiend Stone, Li Yuan stood at the intersection for a while longer.

The second batch has been sent out, but Ji Huaiyuan still hasn't arrived.

As previously agreed, Ji Huaiyuan should have come to collect the goods after the first batch was produced. Now the second batch has been condensed, totaling nearly a dozen Fire Fiend Stones, but no one from the Ji family has come or sent a message.

More than ten days have passed since the first batch was produced.

The Ji family's location is in Liangzhou, closest to Yunzhou, and that area was the first to be affected after the war in Yunzhou escalated. Ji Huaiyuan may have been unable to travel due to the war, or something else may have happened.

Li Yuan did not take the initiative to go there.

The fire-evil stone won't deteriorate if left unattended; wait for the other party to come on their own. If they don't come for too long, then we'll make other plans.

After returning to the stone house from the mine tunnel, Li Yuan sat at the table for a while, then took out the jade slip containing the Concentration and Soul Guiding Technique from his storage bag.

After the distraction skill was made permanent, the equipment slots became empty.

Li Yuan reached out and touched the jade slip.

A panel pops up.

[Equipable item detected: Concentration and Soul Guiding Technique (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Divine Soul Protection (Green)]

[Effect: Reduces soul consumption by 20% when casting spells]

[Preview of Permanentization Requirements: Achieve mastery of a second-tier Divine Soul Technique]

Li Yuan confirmed the equipment.

[Equipped: Concentration and Soul Guiding Technique (Complete)]

[Soul Concentration (Green) in effect]

The techniques and experience flooded his mind, and he instantly mastered the operating method of the Soul Concentration and Guiding Technique. Since the cultivation path was directly inherited from the Soul Concentration Technique, and he already possessed a solid foundation in the latter, the transition was virtually unimpeded.

At the same time, changes also occurred in their souls.

It's not that the soul has become stronger, but rather that the consumption of the soul has decreased.

Li Yuan maintained the simultaneous operation of the three divine sense lines and sensed them.

The main line, the spiritual vein monitoring line, and the daily perception line all operate in the same way, but the amount of spiritual energy consumed by each line is less than before.

The concept of "multitasking" addresses the issue of primary and secondary functions after the splitting of consciousness, allowing multiple threads to operate stably simultaneously without interfering with each other. "Concentrating the soul" addresses the energy consumption inherent in the operation itself, making each thread run more efficiently.

Li Yuan closed his eyes, sat cross-legged on the futon, and began to formally cultivate the Concentration and Soul Guiding Technique.

【Concentrating the Mind and Guiding the Soul Technique: Beginner (0/400)】