Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 338: A Surprise in the Secret Room. Click to unlock now.

The secret room is hidden underground in the main courtyard of the Sun family's residence.

The entrance was behind a seemingly intact stone wall. Following the method provided by Sun Tong, Li Yuan injected a wisp of spiritual energy into a specific location on the wall, and the stone wall silently slid open to both sides, revealing a narrow stone staircase extending downwards.

At the end of the stone steps was a dark underground chamber less than three zhang square.

The dark room was extremely dry, with a faint medicinal fragrance permeating the air. Simple preservation array patterns were engraved on the four walls, and the array patterns were still operating weakly, barely maintained by the spiritual energy seeping from the rock strata.

Li Yuan's gaze fell directly on the stone platform in the center of the dark room.

On the stone platform sits a palm-sized jade flowerpot, within which grows a spiritual plant, its entire body as warm and smooth as jade.

320-year-old chalcedony fungus.

The spiritual plant is about half a foot tall, its main stem translucent like solidified fat, with a faint milky-white spiritual light flowing across its surface. Three leaves emerge from the top, their veins fine and dense, giving them a unique semi-transparent texture. Its root system is extremely well-developed, firmly embedded in the spiritual soil at the bottom of the pot.

The medicinal fragrance is not strong, but rather delicate and lingering, yet it has a warm and comforting quality that penetrates to the very core of one's being.

Li Yuan reached out and lifted the flowerpot along with the spiritual plant, carefully placing it into a separate compartment in his storage bag.

The core ingredient of Shangyuan Dan has been obtained.

He turned and scanned the other items in the dark room.

On either side of the stone platform stood a wooden box. Li Yuan lifted the lid, revealing neatly stacked spirit stones and various low-grade materials inside. There were quite a few spirit stones, roughly dozens of mid-grade ones. The materials were basic items for refining weapons and forming formations, of average quality but plentiful.

There was nothing else of high value in the dark room.

Just as Sun Tong said, the only rare material was that Jade Marrow Fungus.

After emptying the two wooden boxes, Li Yuan checked the other four hidden chests provided by Sun Tong one by one, following the coordinates marked on the bamboo slips.

Both places had been ransacked and were empty except for a few discarded, broken storage bags and scattered pebbles.

The other two locations were intact, with the restrictions untouched. The contents inside weren't particularly valuable, mostly low-grade spiritual herbs and some daily necessities, but the quantity was large.

Li Yuan packed everything he could carry into his storage bag, then conducted a final cleanup of the entire outpost. After confirming that nothing was left behind, he retraced his steps.

Two days later, in Wulin Market.

When Li Yuan entered the neighborhood from the south gate, he immediately noticed the changes inside the neighborhood.

The main street is much cleaner now.

The stalls were arranged more neatly than before he left, and the common problems of vendors setting up stalls beyond their designated areas and piling up goods on the street were almost gone. Every so often, a patrolman wearing the Ji family insignia walked along the street, mediating disputes on the spot with great efficiency.

The changes are more noticeable in the southern district.

After Ji Mingyuan took over the daily management of the South District, the registration and room allocation process for new cultivators was greatly simplified. Procedures that used to require queuing for half a day at the management office can now be processed on the spot at the Ji family's duty station in the South District.

Li Yuan didn't say much and went straight back to the stone house.

He took the Jade Marrow Ganoderma from his storage bag and placed it on the table for a careful inspection. The plant was in good condition; although the preservation array was weak, it was enough to maintain its medicinal properties for a short period. He put the flowerpot away and went on to attend to other matters.

That afternoon, Li Yuan went to see Ji Huaiyuan.

The rhythmic sound of hammering came from Ji Huaiyuan's weapon-forging shop. When Li Yuan pushed open the door, Ji Huaiyuan was forging a piece of red-patterned iron, sparks flying everywhere.

"Fellow Daoist Ji, there's something I'd like to ask you to help me find."

Ji Huaiyuan put down the hammer and wiped his sweat.

Li Yuan briefly explained Wang Ting'an's idea of ​​setting up cross-attribute meridians. The idea was to place a protective array on the fire meridian and a fire array on the protective meridian, accelerating the natural fusion of the two meridians.

"I lack experience in this matter and dare not act rashly. Wang Ting'an is also pressuring me."

Li Yuan said, "Fellow Daoist has a deep understanding of fire veins; could you possibly succeed in this area?"

Ji Huaiyuan thought for a moment.

"I myself am not capable, but there is someone from the Yuanyang Sect," he said.

"His surname is Lu, and his given name is Lu Pingyuan. He's a formation master in the sect who specializes in the mutual permeation of mineral and spiritual vein attributes. I've dealt with him a few times; his skills are good, and he's an honest person."

"Are you able to get in touch?"

"He's currently in Yunyang Market. You can find him directly next time you go to set up your formation. I'll let him know in advance."

Li Yuan nodded in agreement.

Three days later, when Li Yuan went to Yunyang Market again, Ji Huaiyuan had already arranged to meet Lu Pingyuan for him.

Lu Pingyuan was a middle-aged cultivator in his early forties, at the late Foundation Establishment stage. He had a peaceful face and spoke slowly and deliberately. The two sat down in a teahouse in Yunyang Market.

Li Yuan explained the situation of the mineral veins in detail. He described the interconnected network structure of the three mines, the layout of the Fire and Evil Veins, the natural merging trend of the Fire and Evil Veins at depth, and the cross-attribute distribution scheme proposed by Wang Ting'an.

After listening, Lu Pingyuan pondered for a moment.

"It is theoretically feasible to inter-attribute cultivation arrays," Lu Pingyuan said. "Fire veins and evil veins have a natural tendency to merge, which means that the spiritual power of the two attributes is not completely opposed underground. The key to artificially setting up an array to accelerate this process is to control the rate at which spiritual power is injected into both sides. The concentration of either side cannot be allowed to surpass that of the other in a short period of time, otherwise it will cause attribute clashes and lead to meridian disorder."

He drew a simple diagram on the table with his finger.

"The safest approach is to initially reduce the power of the Qi Sha array to 30% of its normal level when it is placed on the fire vein, and observe the vein's reaction every ten days. If there are no abnormalities, gradually increase the power. The same applies to the Qi Huo array. The entire process will take at least three to four months to complete the initial fusion."

Li Yuan wrote down all the key points Lu Pingyuan mentioned.

It's feasible. It just requires time and patience.

Upon returning to Wulin Market, Li Yuan did not immediately take action. Instead, he first compiled Lu Pingyuan's suggestions into a complete plan for reference during subsequent construction.

In the days that followed, Li Yuan's time was completely filled with three things: cultivation, alchemy, and formations.

His experience in setting up high-intensity formations in Yunyang Market, coupled with the continuous optimization and adjustment of the defensive formations in Wulin Market after his return, allowed his formation skills to accumulate imperceptibly through a large amount of practical combat.

That night, Li Yuan completed the final node optimization of the joint defense formation on the east side of Wulinfang Market inside the stone house.

He withdrew his spiritual power from the array patterns, and the moment his fingertips left the guiding stone, his understanding of the array underwent a profound reconstruction.

The paths of spiritual energy circulation that previously required repeated deductions to determine became as clear and intuitive as unfolded blueprints. The carrying capacity of each node, the spiritual energy attenuation rate of each circulation, and even the stress distribution of the entire formation under different attack intensities were all presented in an extremely intuitive way in my mind.

A panel pops up.

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

Mastery of second-order array formation techniques.

He has mastered both the formation and alchemy skills.