Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The stone house was quiet.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on the futon, but his mind was not withdrawn. He still sent out several lines of divine sense, following the subtle vibrations in the spiritual veins and the strata, to watch the movements at the ruins.

The outer layer of restrictions in the core area is still collapsing.

After the Core Formation Platform was removed, the third layer of restrictions lost its anchor, and the array patterns that had been tightly laid out against the platform began to loosen. The demonic cultivators clearly noticed the change as well, and their speed in breaking the array was even faster than before. Several bursts of spiritual energy struck down in succession, and the last layer of barrier was quickly torn apart.

Immediately afterwards, a surge of energy rushed in.

Li Yuan's perception did not penetrate the shielding array directly, but the spiritual energy vibrations emanating from the core area and the fluctuations in blood and qi caused by human movements were enough for him to judge what was happening inside.

The next moment, the energy fluctuations inside became chaotic.

Li Yuan closed his eyes, listening to the faint sounds coming from the spiritual vein.

Then came an even more rapid surge of energy.

Li Yuan remained seated, only scanning his senses once more in the direction of the outpost.

The battle over there is rapidly coming to an end.

The demonic energy that had been pressing down on the defenders suddenly retreated simultaneously, and the demonic beasts attached to the demonic energy also stopped pushing forward and instead retreated while fighting.

The sounds of spiritual energy clashing at night didn't last long; the distance between them quickly widened.

Then, a short, strange noise came from deeper north of the ruins.

It wasn't a clash of spells; it was more like some kind of pre-arranged signal.

After that sound, the demonic cultivators inside and outside the ruins began to retreat.

The withdrawal was very decisive.

Several demonic beasts on the outer edge were the first to dive into the forest, while the demonic cultivators behind them retreated in batches. The auras that had been searching back and forth in the core area also withdrew and stopped their pursuit.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the demonic energy surrounding the ruins began to rapidly recede, spreading out along several dark paths deeper into the Ghost Mist Forest and retreating in a north-northeast direction. The forces that had launched the feint attack from the outpost also disappeared into the forest quickly.

Li Yuan only slowly opened his eyes when the demonic energy fluctuations in his spiritual vein perception had completely receded.

The room remains the same.

The alchemy furnace on the table remained untouched, and the doors and windows were tightly shut, as if nothing had happened.

Li Yuan raised his hand and focused his mind on the control panel.

【Creation of the Altar (Purple)】

The item is already in the equipment slot, and its effect is active.

This thing is difficult to remove because it is very large and its spiritual energy fluctuations are easily detected. It takes twelve hours to re-equip it after it is removed.

He didn't try it immediately, nor could he possibly try it now. But just looking at the instructions, the meaning was already very clear.

During a breakthrough, one can suppress every bit of spiritual energy, changes in the dantian, and the condensation of spiritual energy to the utmost precision, without letting any energy leak out or wasting any. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, this is already a tremendous aid.

Moreover, this is equivalent to concealing the formation of the Golden Core. Since one can perfectly control one's aura, one can at least suppress the unusual phenomena and leakage of spiritual power during the breakthrough to nothing, making it extremely difficult for outsiders to detect.

The second one is even more effective.

You can actively increase the difficulty of forming a Golden Core, giving you another chance to form a Golden Core after one attempt.

The truly remarkable aspect of this effect lies not in the grade of the first golden core formed, but in the fact that it gives cultivators an extra chance to re-form the golden core.

If one successfully enters the Golden Core realm for the first time, one can rely on the foundation of the Golden Core stage to condense the core a second time and reshape the foundation.

Once you reach that stage, the difficulty will be much less than when you are building your foundation or breaking through to the next level.

The main concern is whether the Core Formation can be successfully completed after the Foundation Establishment stage becomes more difficult.

Li Yuan looked at it for a moment, then put the panel away.

This matter won't affect the preparations for Core Formation; we can consider it later.

Li Yuan didn't dwell on it further. Instead, he severed a line of divine sense and continued to monitor the movements between the market and the ruins. A quarter of an hour later, the patrolling cultivators from the Yuan Yang Sect and reinforcements from the outpost began to gather. Only then did he withdraw his senses and close his eyes to regulate his breathing.

As soon as it was light, the market was already in chaos.

Monks were bustling about everywhere on the main street.

Without hesitation, Li Yuan changed into a robe and left the stone house.

When Chen Yi saw Li Yuan coming over, he immediately waved.

"What did you see over there last night?"

"There are demonic cultivators active around the ruins," Li Yuan said, revealing the part of the story he could put on the table. "After I escaped, I saw many signs of a fight around the ruins."

Chen Yi's face was grim.

"Something happened in the core area of ​​the ruins."

"The Core Formation Platform?"

"That's all."

When Chen Yi uttered those two words, his lips were taut, and then he lowered his voice, "The people from the sect are already on their way. Don't spread this around yet."

Li Yuan pretended to be shocked, nodded, and didn't ask any more questions. He simply went to handle the aftermath as the head of the workshop.

The number of casualties on the periphery was not too high.

Several cultivators were injured at the outpost, but fortunately the demonic cultivators were only responsible for stalling, so there were no casualties for the time being.

The main damage was the destruction of several peripheral early warning nodes, and the corpses of several enchanted monsters lay on the edge of the forest.

Li Yuan led his men to inspect the outer perimeter of the ruins first.

The marks left on the ground were messy.

There were pits left by the giant claws of demonic beasts crushing the stone layers, as well as scorch marks and cracks from spells. Several outer array nodes that had been forcibly removed lay scattered to one side, the guiding stones were broken into pieces, and the array pattern copper plates were precisely cut, not like they were smashed randomly, but rather like they were dismantled according to the structure.

Before long, the people from Yuanyang Sect arrived.

The arrival quickly split into three groups: one group entered the ruins, one group went to the outpost, and the third group directly sealed off the market management office and several surrounding areas. All those who were on duty, patrolling, and maintaining the formation last night had their names and identities re-registered, and their statements were verified one by one.

The core area of ​​the ruins is off-limits, and the outposts are under temporary curfew.

As a market array master, Li Yuan was naturally summoned to accompany the investigation.

Among the group were two Foundation Establishment disciples from the Yuan Yang Sect, an experienced array master, and a late-stage Foundation Establishment steward overseeing the operation. The group began their search from the outer perimeter inwards, and Li Yuan followed along.

The breach in the outer layer of the barrier is quite obvious.

It wasn't forced open; rather, it was dismantled and pushed in from the nodes.

The old array master squatted beside a broken main rune, his face extremely grim.

"They've been scouting the location for more than just a day or two; they should have even figured out the restricted structure beforehand."

There's a mole.

These words immediately chilled the atmosphere.

The old formation master didn't care and continued leading his people towards the middle level, where even more restrictions were damaged.

While assisting in inspecting the breached defenses, Li Yuan also explained the changes to the early warning route from the previous night. He had personally overseen the joint defense of the market town, outpost, and ruins.

What I said is all true.

It's just missing the underground section.

As the investigation reached the middle level, Li Yuan's gaze swept over a stationed cultivator not far away.

It was the person he had noticed carrying a faint wisp of demonic energy during the previous re-examination in the Core Formation area.

The other person stood very properly today, said very little, and did not take the initiative to move forward.

After checking the middle level, when they headed towards the core area, the path ahead had been completely sealed off by the sect's people. Outsiders were not allowed to enter, and even those accompanying the investigation were stopped at the outside.

When the deacon came out, his face was even more somber than before, and his cuffs were still covered with dust from the broken array patterns.

He glanced at everyone and spoke very briefly.

"Continue the verification process. No one who came into contact with the ruins, outposts, or community defense groups last night should be missed."

After saying that, he turned around and went back inside.

Li Yuan stood by the outer corridor, his gaze sweeping over the resident cultivator.

The other person stood still, eyes downcast.

Li Yuan also withdrew his gaze, remained silent, and simply raised his hand to press down on a severed fragment of the array plate, continuing to examine it along the broken spiritual energy patterns inside.

Attention all die-hard fans of the writing prodigy! The latest chapter of "Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes" has been released!