Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Deep within the Ghost Mist Forest, the fog was as black as ink.

Li Yuan had been traversing the forest for most of the day. The deeper he went, the thicker the fog became, and visibility gradually decreased from tens of feet to less than five feet. A damp and chilly atmosphere permeated the air, and occasionally the low roars of demonic beasts could be heard from afar, only to be swallowed up by the thick fog.

The triple shielding was never removed.

After traveling approximately 140 li, the terrain began to sink rapidly.

A massive cliff appeared ahead. It plunged abruptly from the thick fog, its walls almost perpendicular to the ground, and its depth was estimated to be over a hundred feet. The bottom of the cliff was completely obscured by even thicker fog, and nothing could be seen.

Li Yuan stood on the edge of the cliff and closed his eyes.

Dark Fiend's perception network spread downwards, penetrating layers of mist and sweeping across the entire cliff face.

The feedback from most areas indicated that the rock mass was normal and there were no abnormalities.

However, in a location slightly below the middle section of the cliff, the sensory network detected an extremely faint fluctuation of demonic energy.

That location was completely covered by a large expanse of dense vines and bushes, making it impossible to see anything from the top of the cliff. If it weren't for Dark Fiend's extremely high sensitivity to demonic energy, even if Li Yuan were standing directly opposite, he would never have been able to spot it.

Li Yuan did not jump down directly.

He took two steps back, planted his feet firmly on the ground, and activated the Earth Escape Technique.

Enveloped in spiritual energy, his figure slowly disappeared into the rock formation at the top of the cliff.

His perception, guided by the Earth Vein Spirit Pivot, expanded fully within the rock mass. The density, hardness, and fissure distribution of every inch of rock were clearly reflected in his mind. He traveled diagonally downwards along the interior of the rock mass, avoiding several abnormally dense mineralized zones and an underground river.

After traveling for about a few miles, the rock structure ahead suddenly changed.

At the end of the natural rock strata, a man-made cavity appeared. The walls of the cavity had been finely polished, and the rock strata still contained extremely ancient but still discernible spiritual energy patterns.

Li Yuan poked half his body out of the rock mass and stopped at the edge of the cavity.

Before them lay a passageway about ten feet wide. At the end of the passageway, a semi-transparent gray light curtain completely blocked the way.

Prohibition.

Li Yuan emerged completely from the rock wall and stood in the passageway, carefully examining the light curtain.

The surface of the light screen was engraved with extremely ancient array patterns, the style of which was exactly the same as the relics of the Xuan You Sect described in the disciple's diary. In the gaps between the array patterns, faint spatial fluctuations and the mixed aura of spiritual and demonic energy flickered alternately.

A three-dimensional nested spatial lock.

Li Yuan did not rush to make a move.

He first fully released the spatial perception of the teleportation stone, doubling his perception ability and making the internal structure of the restriction incredibly clear in his eyes.

The surface of the light curtain appears to be a flat barrier, but its true structure is far more complex than it appears when perceived in space. The entire restriction consists of three nested layers of space, with each layer concealing key array nodes within the gaps of the folded spaces.

Ordinary cultivators cannot even see the structure of such a restriction, let alone break it.

However, the teleportation stone fully presented the hierarchical structure of the spatial folds to Li Yuan's perception.

He closed his eyes, and five lines of divine sense slowly emerged.

The first line of divine sense slid in along the edge of the outermost spatial folds, precisely finding the first keyhole in the crevice of the folds. The keyhole was shaped like an extremely tiny vortex of spiritual energy, rotating in the opposite direction to the movement of the array patterns.

With a gentle flick of his divine sense, the vortex stopped spinning.

The light from the outermost layer of the barrier dimmed slightly.

A second thread of divine sense probed into the second layer of folded space. The keyhole in this layer was hidden deeper, sandwiched between two intersecting spatial rifts. Li Yuan controlled the thickness of the thread of divine sense, compressing it to its limit, and passed it through the gap in the rift, opening the second keyhole.

The third keyhole is on the innermost layer.

This level features the most complex spatial folds, with a three-dimensional nested structure forming a nearly spherical enclosed space. The keyhole is located at the center of this sphere.

Li Yuan slowly pushed the third line of divine sense along the curvature of the spherical space, precisely touching the last vortex at the center of the sphere.

With a gentle flick.

"Buzz".

The entire gray light curtain, like a curtain with its frame removed, rapidly disintegrated from the center outwards, turning into tiny gray light specks that dissipated into the air.

The passageway was unobstructed.

Li Yuan withdrew his divine sense thread and walked forward.

The passageway was not long; it ended after about twenty zhang.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

A vast hall came into view. The hall was far larger than expected, at least fifty zhang deep and over thirty zhang wide, with a dome over ten zhang high. The entire hall was built of huge black stone bricks, and the walls were densely engraved with array patterns. Although most of them had faded and become ineffective, a few were still faintly flickering.

It was preserved better than expected.

Li Yuan did not rush in.

With both feet planted on the stone bricks at the entrance of the main hall, the perception of the earth veins instantly penetrated into the ground.

The structure beneath the stone bricks was clearly imprinted in my mind. Cola Novels makes reading always a chapter faster.

Three zhang directly in front of the entrance, a trap lies hidden beneath the floor tiles. The trigger condition is stepping on two specific tiles; once stepped on, the trap will be activated.

There is also a trap about five zhang (approximately 10 meters) to the left of the wall, in the middle right of the main hall.

Li Yuan memorized the locations of all the traps and then followed a safe route deeper into the main hall.

Footsteps echoed in the empty hall.

When Li Yuan reached the center of the main hall, he stopped.

A colossal array, approximately five zhang in diameter, occupied the center of the hall. The array's patterns were extremely intricate, unfolding in layers upon layers, far exceeding any array he had ever seen.

The formation is in operation.

Grayish-white mist seeped out from the gaps in the array patterns, spreading in all directions like countless thin snakes, converging into every corner of the hall, and finally diffusing outward from the cracks in the stone walls.

The source of the fog in the Ghost Fog Forest.

This thick fog, covering an area of ​​hundreds of miles, was not formed naturally, but was continuously released by this underground formation.

Li Yuan crouched down and carefully examined the core of the formation.

Embedded in the very center of the formation was a jade bead the size of a fist. The jade bead had an extremely dull luster, and its surface was covered with fine cracks, making it look as if it might shatter at any moment.

However, the formation's operation entirely depends on this jade bead for energy.

Li Yuan used his Dark Insight perception to penetrate deep into the formation and quickly discovered the anomaly.

A crimson energy was continuously flowing in from a certain direction on the outer edge of the formation, converging along the formation patterns into the jade bead. This energy was extremely weak, but it never stopped, as stable as the blood circulation of some kind of organism.

However, the formation itself is constantly drawing energy from the jade bead to maintain the release of mist.

With income coming in and expenses going out, the income is insufficient to cover the expenses.

The cracks on the surface of the jade bead are the result of long-term overexertion.

Li Yuan stood up and glanced at the spiritual energy circulation paths around the outer edge of the formation.

There were obvious signs of breakage at the junction of the loop. Judging from the remaining structure, this formation should have originally had an external power supply pipe, continuously transmitting energy from some spiritual vein to the core of the formation. However, that pipe has been broken, whether intentionally severed or naturally collapsed is unknown.

Without external power, the formation was forced to draw energy from the jade bead itself to maintain its operation. The crimson energy might be some kind of backup power source, but it was far from enough to fill the gap.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and used the Earth Vein Spiritual Pivot to perceive the geological structure above his head.

Perception penetrated dozens of meters of rock layers and touched a very familiar spiritual vein.

The large spiritual vein of Wulin Market.

Directly above this main hall is the spiritual vein node of the market he manages every day.

The two are almost completely overlapping in the vertical direction.

This hall seems to have some kind of mechanism that is imperceptible from the outside, but easy for those inside to perceive the outside.

Li Yuan kept this discovery in mind, but did not rush to make any judgments. He turned around and walked towards the end of the main hall.

At the far end of the main hall, in front of the stone wall, a stone shelf about half a person's height stood against the wall. Several jade slips were placed on the shelf, their surfaces covered with a thick layer of dust, but their spiritual essence was still relatively well preserved.

Li Yuan picked them up one by one and probed them with his divine sense.

The first jade slip.

Netherworld Locking Array. A high-grade, second-tier enemy-trapping array. Its core mechanism is to construct a spiritual energy blockade network with Yin energy, trapping the enemy within the array and continuously suppressing their spiritual energy circulation, preventing them from casting spells, activating magical artifacts, or even using their internal energy for protection.

The formation is extremely ingenious, combining both offense and defense.

The second jade slip.

Sky-Splitting Slash. A spatial attack spell. It condenses spiritual energy into an extremely thin spatial rift, inflicting cutting damage on enemies. The rift itself contains no elemental spiritual energy; it attacks purely by fracturing space, making it virtually impossible to defend against with conventional spiritual energy shields.

The jade slip begins with a line of small print: Disciples of the Xuanyou Sect often practice magic.

Spatial magic.

The first piece of the puzzle to make the teleportation stone permanent.

The third jade slip.

A comprehensive explanation of the fundamental theories of third-order formations. This book is extremely detailed and was written by a master of formations. It begins by explaining the essential differences between third-order and second-order formations, gradually delving into core concepts such as spatial folding, spiritual energy collapse, and multi-dimensional nesting. Each key point is accompanied by numerous examples and annotations.

Li Yuan put all three jade slips into his storage bag.

He searched the stone shelf again, but found nothing except a few broken and lifeless slips of paper.

Li Yuan turned around, his gaze slowly sweeping across the entire hall.

The massive mist array continued its slow, sluggish operation, with grayish-white mist seeping continuously from its patterns. A dim jade bead shimmered faintly in the center of the array, like a wick about to burn out.

He neither activated the formation nor touched the jade bead.

Before clarifying the exact relationship between this formation and the spiritual veins of the market, rash intervention could trigger unpredictable chain reactions.

Li Yuan exited the main hall and returned to the passageway via the same safe route he had taken.

Currently reading: Chapter 357, Xuan You Branch Hall, latest chapters available here.