Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

After practicing the Concentration and Soul Guiding Technique until late at night, Li Yuan finished his practice and got up from the futon to stretch his muscles.

On the table was a leather scroll of the second level of the Iron Wall Body Refining Technique. I had read it through once after buying it from the Li family's independent cultivator stall, but I hadn't formally started practicing it yet.

Li Yuan sat back down at the table, unfolded the scroll, and began to guide his spiritual energy according to the cultivation method's circulation route.

The second-stage Iron Wall Body Refining Technique follows the same approach as the first-stage version. However, the second stage is much more refined, with spiritual energy being divided into dozens of thin streams, which are injected into different parts of the skin and bone gaps, penetrating and strengthening layer by layer.

The first-order Iron Wall Body Refinement Technique has been perfected, and the physical body is extremely familiar with this method of spiritual energy circulation. As soon as the spiritual energy is introduced into the meridians, the body spontaneously cooperates, and the spiritual energy channels in the bones and skin are unobstructed, requiring almost no additional guidance.

The transition was extremely smooth.

After the first cycle was completed, Li Yuan felt the difference between the second and first tiers.

The spiritual energy penetrated deeper into the skin, no longer just staying on the surface, but drilling down along the texture of the muscles, seeping into the extremely thin gap between the skin and muscles. The same was true for the bones; the spiritual energy seeped from the bone surface into the bone tissue, about 20% deeper than at the first level.

[Iron Wall Body Refining Technique (Second Stage): Beginner (0/200)]

I've gotten the hang of it.

Li Yuan stopped circulating his cultivation technique, put away the scroll of the Iron Wall Body Refining Technique, and then took out a second-tier Iron Wall Pill from his storage bag.

The dark gray pill felt extremely heavy in my fingers, with a rough texture on the surface, and I could feel the compressed force inside even through the pill itself.

The pill did not dissolve immediately after entering the stomach, but sank to the bottom and remained there for two breaths before suddenly exploding.

A heavy medicinal force surged from his abdomen, unlike ordinary pills that travel along the meridians, but instead poured directly into his body.

Li Yuan felt a surge of intense soreness throughout his body, and his skin felt tight and hot.

The body's vital energy and blood are being severely depleted.

As the medicinal power cleansed his body, Li Yuan continued to cultivate. At this time, his body needed a large amount of qi and blood to cooperate in repair and reconstruction. Every inch of skin and bone that had been penetrated by the medicinal power was consuming qi and blood at an extremely rapid rate to complete the strengthening process.

For an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, this level of energy and blood consumption wouldn't last long; they would have to stop and recover after about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

However, multiple permanent Qi and Blood-related entries within Li Yuan's body are operating simultaneously.

The medicinal effects surged through his body for nearly half an hour, and Li Yuan's blood and energy levels remained above 80%, without dropping to the point where he needed to stop and recover.

After several hours, the medicinal power of the first Iron Wall Pill was finally fully absorbed by the body.

Li Yuan flexed his fingers.

The feel of my fingertips is different now. When I press on the table, I can clearly feel that the skin is thicker and firmer, and my knuckles are also a bit harder than before.

The entry on strengthening the body through medicinal refinement is also at work. The body-refining elixir leaves no impurities; its medicinal power is absorbed cleanly by the physical body, leaving no residue to be expelled.

More importantly, Li Yuan discovered that while the Iron Wall Pill strengthened the skin and bones, it also had a slight auxiliary effect on other parts of the body. The meridian walls, internal organs, and muscles—areas not primarily covered by the Iron Wall Body Refining Technique—were also slightly cleansed by the residual effects of the medicine.

This portion of the medicinal power did not follow the path of the Iron Wall Body Refining Technique, but rather seeped in along the circulation channels of the Nameless Body Refining Technique.

The Nameless Body Refining Technique focuses on evenly strengthening the entire body, without emphasizing any one area, with spiritual energy channels spreading throughout the body. After most of the Iron Wall Pill's medicinal power was consumed along the main pathway, a small portion of the remaining power flowed through the channels already opened by the Nameless Body Refining Technique, dispersing to all parts of the body and producing a thin layer of overall strengthening effect.

The difference is small, but it's better than nothing.

Li Yuan swallowed the second Iron Wall Pill and continued to use the second stage of the Iron Wall Body Refining Technique to guide the circulation of the medicinal power.

In the following days, Li Yuan's schedule was packed.

During the day, I handle market affairs, go to the management office to review transaction records and entry/exit logs, and then refine elixirs.

The price of wartime elixirs continues to rise. The price of Meridian Continuation Pills has increased by 30% compared to half a month ago, and the price of Yuan Gathering Pills by 20%. Li Yuan refined two batches of Meridian Continuation Pills and one batch of Yuan Gathering Pills, selling them all and earning a considerable amount of spirit stones.

After the use of the Divine Sense Multi-Function Permanent, Li Yuan could refine pills while simultaneously cultivating the Iron Wall Body Refining Technique or the Concentrating Spirit and Guiding Soul Technique using another line of divine sense, with the third line connected to the spiritual vein monitoring system.

Do three things at the same time without them interfering with each other.

While refining pills, he also cultivated his martial arts techniques, and while cultivating his techniques, he monitored the spiritual veins. His daily efficiency more than doubled compared to before.

However, another layer of concern began to emerge regarding the operation of the market.

There are fewer itinerant vendors.

After the fall of the Qishui Sect's stronghold, the Dark Abyss Society retreated to the shadows, but its activities in Liangzhou intensified.

Although large-scale conflicts are rare, the frequent reports of demonic cultivators appearing on the outskirts of the market have made the traveling merchants increasingly cautious. On the trade route between Yunyang Market and Wulin Market, a group of itinerant merchants used to appear every two or three days, but now they only come once every seven or eight days.

The speed of goods circulation has slowed down significantly.

Most of the independent cultivators in the market dared not go out and instead stayed inside to deplete their reserves. The inventory of several material shops was dwindling at a visible rate, and some alchemy auxiliary materials had been out of stock for several days.

Li Yuan noticed this trend and began to consciously stockpile more materials that were difficult to replenish within the scope of what he could purchase.

That morning, Li Yuan was refining pills in the stone house when the spiritual vein monitoring line detected a familiar aura approaching from the direction of the market entrance.

Ji Huaiyuan.

Li Yuan put down the fire control on the alchemy furnace and got up to walk towards the entrance of the market.

Before even reaching the management office, Ji Huaiyuan had already entered the market and was heading towards the stone houses along the main street.

The two met on the way.

Ji Huaiyuan is not in good condition.

His complexion was sallow, and his breathing was weaker than when we last met. I could vaguely feel that his meridians were not flowing smoothly in his left shoulder, as if he had been injured and had not fully recovered.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Ji Huaiyuan cupped his hands in apology.

"What happened?"

Ji Huaiyuan gave a wry smile.

"I set off from home half a month ago and encountered a demonic cultivator halfway there. He was in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage."

"They've started fighting?"

"I had no choice. They blocked my way, so I attacked them directly," Ji Huaiyuan said. "I chased away the leader, but I also got hit, and two of my tendons in my left shoulder were severed. I didn't dare to continue on my way, afraid of running into someone else, so I had to retreat home to recover."

Li Yuan glanced at his left shoulder.

"Is it back to normal now?"

"It's about 70-80% done, just a little short." Ji Huaiyuan moved his left arm, his movements a bit stiff.

"We can't delay any longer. It won't benefit anyone if the matter of the Fire Fiend Stone is delayed for too long. We've come here before our injuries have fully healed."

"My family is currently receiving orders, otherwise we would suffer huge losses."

"No rush," Li Yuan said. "I'll keep the things for you."

The two returned to the stone house, and Li Yuan took out all the fire-evil stones from the two batches in the storage bag and arranged them on the table according to their quality.

When Ji Huaiyuan's gaze fell on those fire-evil stones, his originally sallow face regained some of its vitality.

He reached out and picked up a high-grade fire-evil stone, examined it over and over several times, and then probed its interior with his divine sense.

"It's better than I expected." Ji Huaiyuan put down the fire-evil stone and picked up the second one to look at it.

"The fire elemental composition is very even, and the penetration depth is sufficient. This quality of fire elemental stone is almost compatible with fire-type magical artifacts, requiring almost no additional adjustments."

"Four high-grade, six mid-grade, and three low-grade," Li Yuan reported the numbers. "The low-grade ones have too much fire-type spiritual energy, so they're not suitable for refining. I plan to sell them through regular channels."

Ji Huaiyuan nodded, raising no objection to the low-grade stones. He took all the high-grade and mid-grade stones, settling the payment in spirit stones on the spot. The price was 30% higher than the previously agreed-upon standard for purple fire stones, making the total price of ten fire stones no small sum.

"Is the subsequent output stable?" Ji Huaiyuan asked.

"The seepage channels have stabilized, and a batch will be produced every seven to ten days, with the quantity being similar to this time."

"Okay." Ji Huaiyuan put away the Fire Fiend Stone and said, "I plan to stay in the market for a few more days this time, and take the next batch with me. The road home is not safe, so I'll save myself the trouble of making that trip."

"Yes, there are available guest rooms in the market."

Not long after Ji Huaiyuan left, Wang Ting'an also arrived.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I heard that people from the Ji family have come to collect the goods?" Wang Ting'an asked directly as he entered the room.

"Just left, and took all ten Fire Fiend Stones."

Wang Ting'an's expression changed slightly, clearly indicating that he had done some mental calculations.

According to the profit-sharing ratio, the Wang family would take 30% of the ten fire-evil stones, which would amount to more spirit stones than the total value of pure fire-type spirit ore produced by that fire mine in a month.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I have an idea."

Wang Ting'an sat down at the table, his tone much more proactive than before.

"My family also has a small mine southwest of the market town. It's also fire-attribute, but the quality is a bit worse than this one, and the output has never been very good. If we could connect to that there too..."

"What are the conditions?"

"I'll give you the right to use the mining site, just like the previous one. I'll mine the minerals, and you'll connect and set up the array." Wang Ting'an paused after speaking, "However, it's divided into three veins here, and the output of Fire Fiend Stones will be changed from 30/70 to 40/60."

Wang Si and Li Liu.

It's 10% more than before.

Li Yuan thought about it.

Adding a new fire mine means a more abundant supply of fire-elemental energy. With its connection to the evil mine, the convergence area will be larger, further increasing the total output of fire evil stones. Giving up a portion of the profits in exchange for a larger production scale will only result in higher overall returns.

"OK."

After Wang Ting'an left, Li Yuan went out of the market that afternoon to see the new mining site.

It is located southwest of the former Wangjia Fire Mine. The two mines are separated by a low hill and are not far apart as the crow flies.

The mine tunnel was shallow and the cavity was small. The quality of the vein was indeed worse than the previous one, with a lower concentration of fire-type spiritual energy and an irregular shape.

However, for the transpulse method, poor quality is not the problem; the key is the location.

Li Yuan used his senses to scan the deep underground layers and confirmed the relative positions of the three mineral veins.

Li Yuan used his senses to scan the deep underground layers and confirmed the relative positions of the three mineral veins.

The Sha Mine is located at the easternmost point, the Wang family's previous fire mine is in the middle to the west, and the new mine is at the westernmost point. The three mines are arranged in a diagonal line deep underground, with the distance between any two adjacent mines being less than twenty zhang.

Li Yuan decided to first connect the new mining site with the first fire mine, and then connect the entire passageway to the Sha mine system.

The meridian guiding method is applied.

Spiritual energy was sent from the fingertips to the end of the vein of the new mineral deposit, slowly seeping in along the surface of the vein and guiding it little by little towards the deviation.

If it's not finished on the same day, do it again the next day.

On the evening of the second day, the end of the vein of the new mine broke through the rock layer and connected with the end of the vein of the first fire mine deep underground.

After the two fire mines were connected, the flow of fire-elemental spiritual energy immediately changed. Although the quality of the new mine was low, the overall concentration of fire-elemental spiritual energy increased at the point of convergence after the spiritual energy flowed into the first fire mine, and the speed at which it seeped into the direction of the evil ore also increased.

Li Yuan then connected the second fire mine to the evil vein.

The three veins are connected in pairs, forming a triangular network underground.

Li Yuan stayed at the confluence for a while to confirm that the flow of spiritual energy after the three meridians were connected was stable and there was no rejection or disorder before he withdrew from the mine tunnel.

It was already dark when we returned to the stone house.

Li Yuan sat down at the table, reviewed the day's business operations and changes in the mineral veins in his mind, and then sat cross-legged on the futon to continue his cultivation.