Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

On the third day after Zhou Yuan settled down in the market, Li Yuan went to see him with several pieces of fire-evil stones.

Zhou Yuan's residence was a small stone house on the east side of the expansion area. Inside the house was a simple refining furnace and several rows of material shelves, which were already piled with a lot of ores and metal blanks purchased from the market.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, please take a look at these." Li Yuan took two pieces of Fire Fiend Stone and two pieces of Purple Fiend Stone and placed them on the table.

Zhou Yuan put down his work, walked over, picked up a piece of purple evil stone, examined it, and then probed its interior with his divine sense.

"The ratio of malevolent energy to spiritual energy is acceptable, and the structure is relatively stable." He put down the purple malevolent stone. "It can be used for refining weapons, but I don't need much of it, and I don't have much experience with weapon refining techniques."

"Moreover, I have high quality requirements. This quality of purple amber stone is barely enough."

He then picked up a piece of fire-evil stone and examined it.

His brows furrowed slightly.

"This part is a bit lacking."

"What's the difference?"

"The fusion of fire-type spiritual power and evil energy is a bit lacking; I don't have the ability to harmonize and fuse them myself." Zhou Yuan held the Fire Evil Stone up to his eyes.

"To what extent does it need to be fused before it can be used?"

"At the very least, there can't be any distinct boundaries inside. The fire elemental energy and malevolent energy must permeate evenly, without any obvious layering." Zhou Yuan placed the fire-evil stone back on the table. "Just upgrade the quality by one level."

Li Yuan put the Fire Fiend Stone back into his storage bag and returned to the stone house.

The quality of the naturally formed Fire Fiend Stone is limited by the fusion speed of the seepage channels, making it difficult to improve in a short period of time. However, the experience of hand-crafting Purple Fiend Stone can be applied to Fire Fiend Stone.

Li Yuan took out a medium-quality fire-elemental spirit ore from his storage bag and placed it on the table.

With his left hand, he drew out a wisp of malevolent energy, and with his right hand, he drew out a wisp of fire-elemental spiritual power.

The two forces converged in the palm. The resonance of the evil spirits prevented the evil energy and spiritual power from immediately repelling and separating after leaving the body. The transformation of the evil spirits allowed the two to further merge, forming a semi-fused mixed power.

Li Yuan used micro-controlling spiritual techniques to slowly press this mass of power into the surface of the ore.

The technique was the same as when I rubbed the purple evil stone before, except that this time I pressed in a mixture of pure evil energy and spiritual power, but a mixture of evil energy and fire-type spiritual power.

The surface of the ore trembled slightly, and the internal fire-elemental energy structure began to be squeezed and reorganized by the external mixed forces.

Li Yuan continued outputting power for about 15 minutes.

He continuously adjusted the ratio of malevolent energy to fire-based spiritual power, attempting to ensure a more even penetration of both into the ore. Each adjustment required extremely precise control of spiritual power, showcasing his mastery of micro-control techniques to its fullest extent.

After stopping, Li Yuan picked up the piece of ore and examined it.

The color changed from the original dark red to a purplish-red, more even than the fire-evil stone naturally formed from the vein. Probing inside with divine sense, the distribution of fire-elemental spiritual power and evil energy was indeed more integrated than that of naturally produced fire-evil stone. The dividing line that Zhou Yuan mentioned had become much blurred, but it was still faintly visible.

It's better than naturally produced ones, but it doesn't yet meet Zhou Yuan's quality requirements.

Li Yuan put the hand-rubbed fire-evil stone aside and continued to try the second one.

[Evil Spirit Transformation Technique: Proficient (0/800)]

From proficient to expert.

Li Yuan picked up an ordinary fire-type spirit ore from the table and drew in a wisp of passing baleful energy.

The fire-elemental spiritual energy structure inside the ore offered almost no resistance, and the malevolent energy smoothly seeped into every spiritual energy pattern, merging with the fire-elemental spiritual energy.

The depth of integration is more than twice that of before mastering it.

After Li Yuan withdrew his hand, he probed the ore with his divine sense, and the internal boundaries completely disappeared. Fire-type spiritual energy and baleful energy were evenly distributed in every corner of the ore, and no layering could be seen.

The quality is good enough.

After mastering it, do it again. Li Yuan took out a new piece of fire-elemental spirit ore and began to hand-craft it again.

This time, it only took fifteen minutes, and the quality of the fire-evil stone produced was higher than any of the previous ones.

After carefully storing the batch of hand-rubbed fire-evil stones, Li Yuan was about to continue his cultivation when a notice arrived from the management office.

The sixth Foundation Building Trade Fair will be held in Yunyangfang Market in three days.

Three days later, Li Yuan arrived at Yunyangfang City.

The trade fair was larger than the last one. The venue expanded from one stone building to two, and there were more Foundation Establishment cultivators participating, many of whom were people who had fled from Yunzhou.

The atmosphere inside the venue was different from usual.

In the past, the trade fairs mainly focused on the buying and selling of cultivation techniques, elixirs, and materials. This time, the conversation quickly shifted to the frontline battles.

"The Demonic Sect has captured all of the Qishui Sect's strongholds in eastern Yunzhou."

A mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator in a brown robe leaned back in his chair and said, "In the last battle last month, the Qishui Sect sent six late-Foundation Establishment cultivators, but they still couldn't hold on."

"It's not just in the east," someone chimed in. "The west is retreating as well. The Demonic Sect has already pushed to the border between Yunzhou and Liangzhou, and their vanguard is less than three hundred li from the nearest market town in Liangzhou."

"What about the Qishui Sect?"

"What else can we do but retreat to Liangzhou?"

The group remained silent for a while.

Another cultivator spoke in a low voice.

"There's something you've all noticed. From beginning to end, not a single Golden Core cultivator participated."

Neither side has entered the fray.

"Yes. It's all Foundation Establishment cultivators fighting; the Golden Core cultivators haven't made a move. They've been fighting for so long, Foundation Establishment cultivators are dying one after another, but the Golden Core cultivators haven't interfered. Isn't that abnormal?"

"What's wrong with that?"

The cultivator in the brown robe scoffed. "If a Golden Core cultivator were to participate and die, the cost would be too high. If they don't participate, even if the sect is destroyed, a Golden Core cultivator will be fine. The enemy won't specifically hunt down a Golden Core cultivator; it's pointless. It's just that once the sect is gone, cultivation resources will be much scarcer."

"How many Golden Core cultivators does the Qishui Sect have?" someone suddenly asked.

"Four."

"What about the Demon Sect?"

Five.

"This doesn't make sense. The Demon Fiend Sect is much stronger, so how come they have the same number of Golden Core cultivators?"

The monk in the brown robe coughed and continued.

"Do you really think those demonic cultivators in the Demonic Cultivation Sect who have reached the Golden Core stage are willing to have new Golden Core cultivators appear in their sect and share their profits?"

"Only in situations like now, where new combat power is needed, will we be willing to cultivate new Golden Core cultivators."

"The more Golden Core cultivators there are, the more conditions we can negotiate with the Qishui Sect."

No one continued the conversation.

Li Yuan sat in the corner, listened to the general information, and then turned his attention back to the trade fair itself.

Midway through the transaction, a familiar figure walked over.

Short-bearded monk.

"Fellow Daoist Li." The short-bearded cultivator sat down opposite him, and without exchanging pleasantries, went straight to the point, "I have something I'd like to exchange with you."

"What is it?"

"I'll give you my 1,900 acres of spirit fields that I've already cultivated, along with the manpower and formations, all for free."

The short-bearded monk said, "Let's add another spell, the Soil Cultivation Technique. It's specifically used to cultivate spiritual fields, and it works very well when used in conjunction with them."

What do you want?

"Help me capture a second-tier demonic beast alive near the market." The short-bearded cultivator held up one finger. "Alive. Attribute doesn't matter, but it can't be of the evil attribute."

Li Yuan looked at him.

"Capturing a second-tier demon beast alive is no small matter."

The short-bearded cultivator said, "I don't care about the grade, just second-tier low-grade will do. I'll add another thousand spirit stones."

1,900 mu of spiritual fields.

Li Yuan's current spiritual fields are far from sufficient to support the subsequent demand for medicinal materials. The larger the spiritual fields, the higher the proportion of self-produced spiritual herbs, and the less dependent on external supply chains. With the sharp decline in itinerant merchants and the obstruction of the flow of goods, the value of spiritual fields is greater than ever before.

The Cultivation Technique is also useful. Even though I have my own spiritual fields, I lack specialized cultivation spells, so the production efficiency of spiritual herbs has always been relatively low.

"Okay," Li Yuan nodded, "but it takes time to capture the monsters. Capturing them alive is much more difficult than killing them, so there's no guarantee of time."

"No rush." ​​The short-bearded monk stood up. "I'll leave the things with you first. We'll hand them over whenever the demon beast is caught."

The two made a verbal agreement on the spot, without signing a written agreement.

After the trade fair ended, Li Yuan returned to Wulin Market from Yunyang Market.

He walked along the road, pondering as he went.

There are quite a few second-tier demonic beasts near the market; we just need to wait for the spiritual veins to detect them.

Li Yuan noted this down in his plan and continued his cultivation after returning to the stone house.