Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Inside the stone house, a faint blue medicinal fragrance lingered in the air.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on the futon and put a freshly refined Soul-Gathering Pill into his mouth. The pill dissolved on the tip of his tongue, but instead of turning into spiritual energy that flowed into his dantian, it transformed into a cool mist that rushed straight to his mind.

During this period, Li Yuan has been consuming the Soul-Gathering Pills he refined himself every day. The medicinal power continuously nourishes him, gradually increasing the strength of his soul.

At this moment, the medicinal effects spread, and the invisible divine soul in my mind acted like a sponge, absorbing all of this cool mist.

Li Yuanmo silently used the technique of Concentrating the Mind and Guiding the Soul. Under his deliberate compression, the soul contracted and gathered inward, and the scattered spiritual energy at the edges was forcibly incorporated into the core. This compression brought a slight soreness, but as the medicinal effects soothed it, the soreness quickly dissipated.

As the last wisp of mist was completely absorbed, an almost imperceptible buzzing sound emanated from the core of Li Yuan's soul.

The previously tense mental barrier expanded outwards.

The panel appeared at the edge of the field of vision.

【Concentrating Mind and Guiding Soul Technique: Minor Success (0/1600)】

The changes brought about by the breakthrough in his cultivation technique were immediate. Li Yuan didn't open his eyes; he directly divided his divine sense into five parts in his mind.

Previously, when he was at the mastery level, forcibly separating the fifth line of consciousness would cause a noticeable throbbing pain, and it was difficult to maintain for long. But now, when the fifth line separated from the main soul, the process was extremely smooth. The five independent lines of consciousness were parallel in his mind, without interfering with each other, and there was no longer that tearing, burdensome feeling.

The fifth line of consciousness has completely stabilized.

Li Yuan released all five lines and assigned them to different tasks.

The first main principle is to guide the spiritual energy within the body into the dantian through the resonance channel of [Meridian Spirit Fusion], maintaining the circulation of the main cultivation technique.

The second line extends out of the stone house, sinks into the underground spiritual vein, and follows the texture of the main vein and branch veins, monitoring the faint fluctuations at the intersection of the ruins and the mineral vein.

The third line, covering the sky above the market, captures the footsteps of the patrol team, the conversations of the rogue cultivators in the trading area, and the flow of spiritual energy from the import and export formations.

The fourth line landed below the alchemy furnace in front of him, transforming into invisible tentacles that adjusted the positions of several pieces of earth fire stones.

The fifth line of inquiry went into a stack of jade slips piled up on the corner of the table, checking one by one the various expense accounts for yesterday's market shops and spiritual field reclamation.

The five lines run in parallel, each processing distinct information flows without any stagnation.

Li Yuan maintained this state for a full half hour, and only after confirming that he felt no discomfort did he withdraw most of his divine sense.

He stood up and walked to the wooden table against the wall.

On the table were talisman paper, a talisman brush, and a box of dark red spiritual ink. Li Yuan did not use his hands, but instead activated his Divine Soul Object Manipulation Technique.

A wisp of invisible divine power enveloped the handle of the talisman brush, lifting it smoothly from the brush holder. The brush tip, dipped in spiritual ink from the inkstone, hovered above a blank sheet of talisman paper.

The power of the soul pressed down on the brushstrokes.

The brush touches the paper, making turns and drags. Fine fire-elemental runes appear on the talisman paper. There is no tremor from the infusion of spiritual power; it relies entirely on the pure physical pull of the soul on the brush and the natural penetration of the ink.

Two breaths later, a first-order fireball talisman was completed.

Li Yuan picked up the talisman and glanced at it. The spiritual patterns were connected end to end, and the spiritual energy within was not dissipated. It was a qualified finished product.

He put down the fireball talisman, picked up a second-tier talisman paper, and prepared to try drawing a second-tier spirit water talisman.

The divine soul power once again gripped the brush and brought it down. The first third of the pattern flowed smoothly, but when it reached the middle section, where extremely high precision was needed to outline two overlapping spirit-gathering nodes, the divine soul's control over the brush tip showed a very slight deviation.

The brush tip was off by half an inch.

The spiritual energy flow on the talisman instantly became disordered, and a burst of moisture exploded from the surface of the paper, turning the talisman into a puddle of wet pulp.

Li Yuan dispersed the divine power that had been enveloping the talisman brush and swept the discarded talisman paper into a wooden basket in the corner.

Soul threads can be used to draw talismans, freeing up the hands. However, the current precision of Soul Manipulation Technique is limited to low-tier, first-order talismans that do not require overly complex transitions. Second-order talismans have too low a tolerance for error; even the slightest tremor can render the talisman unusable.

Drawing low-level talismans doesn't require much effort, but the profit is also extremely low, so it's not worth investing a lot of time in it.

Li Yuan's core focus remains on alchemy.

He turned and walked to the center of the stone house, took out the third alchemy furnace from his storage bag, and placed it next to the original two furnaces.

They were lined up in a row.

He planned to test whether he could simultaneously support three furnaces of pill refining after both his spiritual soul and cultivation technique had broken through.

The main storyline continues with controlling the dark red alchemy furnace on the left, using spiritual power to drive the flames and refine second-tier Gathering Yuan Pills.

The second method involves using the Divine Soul Manipulation Technique to control the bronze furnace in the center and refine a first-tier Rejuvenation Pill.

The third line also uses the Divine Soul Manipulation Technique to control the Iron Gray Pill Furnace on the right to refine a first-tier healing pill.

All three furnaces were started simultaneously.

The alchemical fire on the left ignited first, followed by the earth fire in the middle and on the right, which were also ignited by the power of the divine soul. Three different kinds of spiritual herbs were simultaneously put into different furnaces.

For the first quarter of an hour, everything was going smoothly.

However, problems arose when all three alchemy furnaces simultaneously entered the stage of purifying and fusing the medicinal liquid.

The left-hand alchemy furnace, controlled by spiritual energy, remained stable, but the furnaces in the middle and right began to show temperature discrepancies. The precision of the divine soul's power in simultaneously fine-tuning two flames of different sizes and burning speeds began to decline.

The middle batch of Rejuvenating Pills was heated a fraction too slowly, causing the medicinal liquid to mix sluggishly; the right batch of Healing Pills was heated a fraction too late, and a burnt smell wafted out from the cracks in the lid.

Li Yuan decisively cut off the earth fire of the right-side alchemy furnace, and used his divine soul power to forcibly fuse the medicinal liquid in the middle alchemy furnace, pulling out several waste pills of extremely poor quality.

He cleaned up the discarded pills and the burnt dregs.

The conclusion is clear. The current precision and stability of the Divine Soul Manipulation Technique are insufficient for simultaneously refining multiple batches of high-quality materials.

The main storyline focuses on producing high-difficulty pills, while the soul-based storyline handles a batch of low-difficulty pills. This dual-furnace system, with one main furnace and one auxiliary furnace, is currently the limit for ensuring both pill quality and efficiency. Forcing multiple furnaces will only waste medicinal materials.

Li Yuan put the third alchemy furnace back into his storage bag, leaving only two.

In the afternoon, Chen Yi arrived at the stone house.

"The sect just issued this mission document." Chen Yi placed a jade slip on the table, his expression somewhat solemn. "These past few days, the trade routes around the market have been almost completely cut off. Not only can the cultivators fleeing from Yunzhou not get in, but even itinerant merchants within Liangzhou dare not move around."

Li Yuan picked up the jade slip and probed it with his divine sense.

The document ordered Wulin Market to mobilize its personnel to clean up several demonic cultivator strongholds and activity points within a radius of dozens of miles.

"The Dark Abyss Gang didn't attack the market, but they blocked the roads outside." Chen Yi pulled up a wooden chair and sat down. "Several small cultivation families and independent cultivator settlements around here have been attacked in the past two days. The sect has decided to take the initiative and send people to clear the surrounding area from all the strongholds and markets."

Li Yuan put the jade slip down.

Without traveling merchants, materials in the market cannot circulate. Although the output from his spiritual fields and mines can support some of it, alchemy and weapon crafting still require a large amount of basic external resources. With trade routes cut off, his profits and resource acquisition are directly affected.

"I'll take this task," Li Yuan said.

Chen Yi nodded and took out another cyan jade slip from his sleeve and handed it over.

"This is a spell issued by the sect along with the official document, called the Qi Tracking Technique. It's specifically used to search for traces of residual demonic energy in the wild. All Foundation Establishment cultivators participating in the cleanup mission received a copy."

Li Yuan accepted the cyan jade slip.

Touching the surface of the jade slip with my finger did not bring up any panel prompts.

It has no equipable modifiers; it's just an ordinary support spell.

"You can arrange the other cultivators who will participate in the cleanup. I will set off tomorrow." Li Yuan put away the two jade slips.

Chen Yi did not linger; after explaining the details, he got up and left.

After seeing Chen Yi off, Li Yuan glanced at the sky but did not immediately go out to practice the tracking spell.

Cleaning up the stronghold inevitably requires physical labor. I'm going out tomorrow, so I must convert the stockpiled medicinal herbs into finished pills tonight for future use.

The night was dark.

Inside the stone house, two flames, one crimson and one dark yellow, lit up once more.

Beneath the dark red alchemy furnace on the left, flames formed from spiritual energy licked the bottom, and the Meridian-Sustaining Grass and various auxiliary herbs transformed into a pool of emerald-green liquid under the high temperature. Li Yuan was completely focused, controlling every subtle fluctuation of the heat, forcing out impurities from the liquid little by little.

Beneath the bronze alchemy furnace on the right, the earth fire burned steadily under the influence of divine soul power, and one by one, the spiritual herbs for refining Soul Condensing Pills were added into it. To ensure the success rate, he deliberately lowered the quality requirements for this batch of Soul Condensing Pills on the right, aiming only for the pills to be formed, not for them to be of the highest quality.

Inside the two alchemical furnaces, the medicinal liquid churned at different temperatures.

Time slipped away quietly during the refining process.

When the medicinal liquid inside the dark red alchemy furnace on the left completely fused together and emitted a crisp sound as the pill was about to be formed, Li Yuan clapped his hands on the furnace body.

Three round, second-tier Qi-renewing pills flew out of the furnace and landed in a jade plate beside it.

Almost at the same instant the pill was placed on the plate, the control panel popped up in the center of the screen without warning.

[Second-Tier Alchemy: Mastery (0/1600)]

Li Yuan's hands froze in mid-air.

In his mind, the pharmacology of second-tier medicinal herbs, the control of heat, and the extremely subtle differences in the fusion of medicinal liquids underwent a profound reorganization and integration at this moment. The pill-forming nodes that originally required repeated confirmation by divine sense have now become an almost instinctive intuition.

He picked up a newly made Meridian Regulating Pill.

The pill has a very faint halo around its surface, a sign that the medicinal power is perfectly locked inside.

He picked up a newly made Meridian Regulating Pill.

The pill has a very faint halo around its surface, a sign that the medicinal power is perfectly locked inside.

Li Yuan put three Qi-restoring pills into a jade bottle, pressed the stopper, and placed it in the row of wooden boxes filled with various pills on the corner of the table.