Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Early morning, in a secluded valley north of Wulinfang City.

Li Yuan and three other early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators lay in ambush behind the bushes. Ahead was a natural stone cave half-hidden under withered vines, with a very simple soundproofing and illusion array set up around the cave entrance.

According to the intelligence issued by the sect regarding the crackdown, this is an outer transit point for the Dark Abyss Society.

Li Yuan did not draw his magic weapon. With a slight movement of his divine sense, his keen perception instantly penetrated the crude illusion array and locked onto the auras of two early Foundation Establishment stage demonic cultivators inside the cave.

"Make this quick and decisive," Li Yuan whispered, before suddenly leaping into the air.

Without using any stealth spells, he charged directly into the cave entrance. The light barrier of the illusionary array shattered the moment it touched his body, like glass struck by a giant hammer. Fragments of the exploding array plate flew in all directions, striking the tree trunks with a thud.

The two demonic cultivators inside the cave reacted extremely quickly, rushing out from the left and right, each holding a bone blade that emanated black energy.

The demonic cultivator on the left raised his hand and unleashed a vicious thorn of malevolent energy, aiming straight for Li Yuan's face.

Li Yuan neither dodged nor evaded, but instead clenched his right fist and thrust it straight at the malevolent energy spike. The formidable physique resulting from his Medicine Refining True Body was now on full display. The malevolent energy spike, powerful enough to pierce through refined iron, struck his fist, leaving only a white mark before being crushed by the violent blood energy and the force of his fist.

The force of the punch did not diminish, and it slammed heavily into the demonic cultivator's chest.

With a series of muffled thuds of bones shattering, the demonic cultivator's chest instantly caved in, his entire body flew backward, crashed into the stone wall, and slid down, lifeless.

Upon seeing this, the other demonic cultivator's eyes flashed with extreme horror. He abruptly stopped his charge and turned to flee into the depths of the cave.

The three rogue cultivators following behind Li Yuan had already arrived. Several golden blades and fireballs passed over Li Yuan's shoulder, blocking the demonic cultivator's retreat. In a violent explosion of spiritual energy, the second demonic cultivator was directly blasted to death by the spell.

The battle lasted only a dozen or so breaths from start to finish.

Li Yuan stepped forward and skillfully tore off the storage bags from the two corpses. He forcibly erased the remaining marks on them with his divine sense and dumped the contents onto the open ground.

Common elixir ingredients, magical artifacts, and hundreds of low-grade spirit stones.

Li Yuan's gaze swept across the clutter, finally settling on a black stone box in the corner with a sealing talisman affixed to it. He removed the talisman and lifted the lid.

A dense and extremely condensed aura of malevolence surged out of the box, and the surrounding air temperature dropped instantly.

In the center of the stone box lay two rhomboid crystals, each the size of a fingernail. They were entirely black, and it seemed as if thick ink was slowly flowing inside.

This is a physical object formed by the condensation of malevolent energy under extreme conditions.

Li Yuan extended two fingers and pinched the crystal inside.

[Equipable item detected: Demon Crystal]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Gathering of Evil Energy (Green)]

[Effect: Increases the efficiency of gathering, compressing, and settling malevolent energy by 30%]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Reaching Perfection in Cultivating Demonic Techniques]

[There is an empty slot in your equipment inventory. Do you want to equip it?]

Green array-type amplification attributes.

"equipment."

[Equipped: Fiend Crystal]

[The "Evil Source Condensation (Green)" is in effect.]

Half a day later, Li Yuan returned to Wulinfang City and went directly into the underground mine tunnel behind the stone house.

He walked through a long, dimly lit passage and arrived at a natural cavity where the malevolent ore and the fire ore met. The Malevolent Energy Cultivation Array was operating smoothly, with dark purple light flowing through its patterns. Strands of wandering malevolent energy were drawn in and slowly settled at the array's core.

Li Yuan walked to the core of the formation, took out a high-quality purple evil stone that had been placed there as the core, and replaced it with a black evil crystal.

There were two evil crystals in total, and now there is one left.

The moment the entry took effect, the airflow within the entire underground cavity underwent a visible change.

The originally slowly drifting evil energy, as if subjected to some kind of strong suction, transformed into streams of gray-black air that surged wildly towards the evil crystal at the array's core. The array patterns of the Evil Energy Cultivation Array shone brightly, and the efficiency of absorption and compression nearly doubled compared to before.

Li Yuan stood at the edge of the formation and observed for a moment.

On the rock face, the purple aura stone embryos, which would normally take several days to fully form, showed a significantly faster surface solidification rate, and their color was turning a deeper purple. On the other side of the confluence zone, the penetration depth of the aura within the fire aura stone vein also increased.

The formation was operating stably, showing no signs of overload or collapse.

Li Yuan withdrew his gaze and returned to the surface along the mine tunnel.

For several days in a row, the sect's clearing teams frequently moved around the market. Those outlying strongholds that had lost the command of the demonic cultivators and were scattered and wandering in the wild were eliminated one by one. The outer intelligence and supply network that the Dark Abyss Society had woven around the Misty Forest Market was forcibly torn open in several places.

The security situation around the market has improved significantly. Although sporadic attacks still occur, their scale and frequency are much lower than before.

The security situation around the market has improved significantly. Although sporadic attacks still occur, their scale and frequency are much lower than before.

Moreover, in order to prevent the high-level demonic beasts in the Ghost Mist Forest from being used by demonic cultivators again, the Yuan Yang Sect mobilized a large number of people to carry out a concentrated hunt for demonic beasts of the second rank and above in the forest.

This directly led to drastic fluctuations in the internal market of the market.

At noon, Li Yuan walked along the unlicensed repair shops trading street in the expanded area.

The pungent smell of blood filled the entire street. Several monster-hunting teams dragged the massive carcasses of monsters directly to the side of the street and butchered and sold them on the spot.

"Top-grade, first-tier Wind Wolf blood, two large jars for only ten spirit stones!"

"A complete carapace of a Tier 2 low-grade Ironclad Boar, excellent for crafting defensive magic weapons. Selling cheap, sixty spirit stones!"

The ground was piled high with monster materials. The oversupply caused the price of monster materials, which had been high due to wartime premiums, to plummet in just two days.

Li Yuan walked through the crowd, his eyes carefully scanning each stall.

He stopped in front of a large stall set up by three independent cultivators from Yunzhou. In the very center of the stall was an extremely large skull of a demonic beast.

The skull is about half a zhang long, and the bone is a thick grayish-white color with natural dark brown bone patterns on the surface.

Green entries.

Second-tier mid-grade monster, Rock-Splitting Bear.

This monster is known for its extremely high bone density and immense strength.

"How much is this skull?" Li Yuan asked, pointing to the enormous skull.

The stall owner looked up, saw it was Li Yuan, and quickly rubbed his hands together, a smile spreading across his face. "Master Li, if you like it, give me a fair price, five hundred spirit stones. This Rock-Splitting Bear was a genuine mid-grade second-tier beast in life. Its bones are incredibly hard, making them excellent materials for both setting up formations and refining weapons."

Five hundred spirit stones.

Half a month ago, such a complete second-tier mid-grade demon beast skull would have sold for at least eight hundred spirit stones.

Li Yuan didn't haggle; he simply handed over the spirit stones and put the heavy skull into his storage bag.

Back in the stone house, Li Yuan activated the soundproofing and defense formations.

He took the skull of the Rock-Splitter Bear from his storage bag and laid it flat on the floor in the center of the stone chamber. He reached out and pressed his hand against the rough, cold surface of the bone.

[Equipable item detected: Tier 2 Monster Skull (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Bone Structure Condensation (Green)]

[Effect: Physical strength increased by 20%, bone toughness increased by 30%]

[Preview of Permanentization Requirements: All three second-tier body-refining techniques must be mastered]

[There is an empty slot in your equipment inventory. Do you want to equip it?]

The green attribute for enhancing body refinement.

His physical strength increased by 20%, and his bone toughness increased by 30%. This pure physical defense and strength amplification was extremely simple and brutal. When combined with [Bone Solidification] and [Medicinal Refinement of True Body], it was enough to make his physical strength reach a level that was difficult for an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator to comprehend.

Li Yuan looked at the conditions for permanentization.

All three second-stage body-refining techniques have been mastered.

There's only one more second-tier body-refining technique missing.

Currently, he doesn't have a suitable third-tier second-order body-refining technique. Most of the body-refining techniques circulating in the market are incomplete or extremely rudimentary first-order techniques. To obtain a complete second-order body-refining technique, he can only wait for the trade fair or exchange it for contribution points at the Yuan Yang Sect.