Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The night was as dark as ink, and outside the western wall of the Misty Forest Market, all was so quiet that only the rustling of the wind through the leaves could be heard.

Inside the stone house, Li Yuan sat cross-legged on a futon. His four divine sense lines were spread out as usual.

Just after midnight, the spiritual line in his mind responsible for monitoring the external array twitched slightly. On the sensing array node on the west side of the market, a sensing stone buried in the soil emitted a very faint red light, which then quickly went out.

The warning lasted only three breaths.

This wasn't a demonic beast running into the net. Demonic beasts' spiritual energy fluctuations are coarse and continuous; once they touch the sensing array, the array will continuously beep. This precise technique of stepping on the edge of the warning threshold and immediately withdrawing is something only cultivators can do.

Moreover, this is the third consecutive night that the same thing has happened.

Li Yuan did not get up. He reversed the direction of the divine sense line responsible for monitoring the spiritual vein, and silently extended it forward along the tributary of the spiritual vein underground on the west side of the market.

His divine sense crossed the boundary of the formation and extended outwards for about a mile.

In a shady spot at the edge of the woods, the spiritual veins fed back three strongly suppressed meridian fluctuations.

Three Foundation Establishment stage demonic cultivators.

They didn't venture deeper, but merely lingered for a moment at the edge of the sensing array, testing its responsiveness. Once they confirmed the array was functioning properly, the three auras quickly retreated, disappearing into the depths of the Ghost Mist Forest.

Li Yuan withdrew his divine sense thread.

The next morning, Li Yuan reported the findings of his investigation the previous night to the management office.

After hearing this, Chen Yi slammed his hand on the solid wood table in front of him, making the jade slips on it rattle loudly.

"Where did so many demonic cultivators come from?" Chen Yi frowned.

"We killed quite a few before. The sect cleaned up again a few days ago, but the number of demonic cultivators doesn't seem to be decreasing."

"I immediately reported to the sect and requested that they send people over to oversee and verify the situation."

Chen Yi took a deep breath, threw a token into the drawer, and shook his head.

"News from the front lines indicates that three more cultivation families' strongholds were breached by demonic cultivators last night, and even their grand formations were destroyed. Now, all the rogue cultivators and small families are fleeing to the rear."

Chen Yi paused, then looked up at Li Yuan.

"A small portion of the people are crowding towards our side, while the majority have gone to Yunyang Market. They can't hold out there either. The sect is preparing to expand outwards and would like to ask you to come and help set up the outer defensive formations."

"However, this matter cannot be settled so quickly. The materials and manpower are not yet in place, so there is no rush."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan simply nodded, indicating that he understood.

After leaving the management office, Li Yuan walked back along the crowded street.

His gaze swept across the stalls, stopping in front of a secluded, unlicensed repair stall on the east side, his eyes landing on a dusty book.

"Turbid Fiend Technique", a first-level fiend energy cultivation method.

This technique was extremely rudimentary, barely enough to guide malevolent energy into the body, and no one paid any attention to it. Li Yuan tossed down ten low-grade spirit stones and put the jade slip into his sleeve.

That night, the doors and windows of the stone house were tightly closed.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground, carefully read through the text, and memorized the cultivation route of the Turbid Fiend Technique.

My understanding of malevolent energy is now quite profound.

He guided a wisp of malevolent energy to circulate within his body for less than half an hour.

The malevolent energy in the meridians flowed smoothly through three major cycles along the path of the cultivation technique.

[Turbid Sha Technique: Proficient (0/200)]

Without any obstacles, this first-level technique was directly advanced to mastery that very night.

Li Yuan then completely focused his mind and began to fully circulate the Concentration and Soul Guiding Technique.

As the cultivation technique progressed, the spiritual power in his mind, which had originally been like a clear spring, began to compress wildly inward. Every strand of spiritual power was rubbing and squeezing against each other, producing a sharp, throbbing pain.

This throbbing pain lasted for a full two hours.

When the last trace of spiritual power in the dantian was completely drawn out and transformed into spiritual nourishment injected into the mind, the extremely compressed spiritual power finally emitted a clear and melodious hum.

The original clear spring water has now completely transformed into a viscous, mercury-like substance.

【Concentrating Mind and Guiding Soul Technique: Great Success (0/3200)】

The moment of breakthrough, the phantom image of a certain item that had been hanging in the equipment slot suddenly lit up.

The conditions for permanent Soul Conservation (Green) have been met.

[A second-tier soul cultivation technique has reached mastery (met)]

Is it permanent?

"Yes."

[Soul Concentration (Green) has become a permanent entry]

With the prompts on the panel, the fatigue from operating multiple lines of divine consciousness in Li Yuan's mind was completely removed.

Li Yuan didn't pause at all. He took out two Soul-Condensing Pills, swallowed one, and equipped the other.

[Equipped: Soul Condensing Pill (Complete)]

[Soul Condensation Amplification (Green) in effect]

The conditions for making Soul Condensation Amplification (Green) permanent have been met.

Is it permanent?

"Yes."

[Soul Condensation Amplification (Green) has become a permanent attribute.]

Then, right in the center of my vision, a deep, azure light suddenly exploded, swallowing up all the original text.

[A permanent term matching the criteria for homologous fusion has been detected]

[Soul Light Tempering (Blue) + Divine Soul Condensation (Green) + Soul Condensation Amplification (Green)]

Should we proceed with the fusion?

Li Yuan's consciousness stirred.

"Integration".

The blue light swirled violently on the panel, eventually condensing into four large characters.

"Integration".

The blue light swirled violently on the panel, eventually condensing into four large characters.

【Soul Returns to True Nature (Blue)】

[Effect: Increases base Divine Soul strength and control precision by 20%, up to a maximum of 60%; reduces Divine Soul consumption by 20%; increases natural Divine Soul recovery speed by 30%; increases Divine Soul refinement by an additional 20%]

The instant the fusion was complete.

Li Yuan felt as if a taut string deep within his mind had been snapped. At that moment, the viscous, mercury-like divine soul power was completely freed from the constraints of size.

Without any deliberate guidance, five lines of divine consciousness, like tangible tendrils, spread out along the cracks in the stone house.

Within a radius of fifty feet, the subtle friction of insects digging in the soil, the trembling of leaves in the night wind, and even the pauses in the flow of spiritual energy in the meridians of patrolling cultivators were all reflected in his sea of ​​consciousness in great detail.

The precision of his control had reached a huge leap. If he were to use the [Soul Manipulation Technique] now to refine that batch of second-tier healing pills, there would be absolutely no deviation in the timing or intensity.

The massive influx of information did not cause any sense of mental or spiritual depletion. The 【Soul Essence Return to Truth】 technique reduced these everyday perceived mental strains to a negligible level.

Li Yuan withdrew his divine sense and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Just then, a communication jade slip placed on the corner of the table lit up faintly.

Li Yuan reached out and picked it up, probing it with his divine sense.

It was a message from Chen Yi.

In ten days, the Yuanyang Sect will mobilize resources from several surrounding markets to hold a large-scale temporary trade fair in the rear. The sect will not only release a large amount of wartime scarce supplies, but will also offer some rare spiritual items that are never normally circulated, in order to appease and win over the families and independent cultivators who have fled here.

Li Yuan put the jade slip down.

Ten days later.

He glanced at the tall pile of pill bottles and magical artifact materials in the corner of the stone house. His spirit stone reserves and sect contributions were already substantial enough, and this trade fair was the perfect opportunity to transform those resources into crucial trump cards.