Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Inside the stone house, Li Yuan unfolded the jade slip containing the Netherworld Locking Array on the table and immersed his divine sense into it.

Second-tier superior enemy-trapping formation.

The core mechanism of the formation is not complex. Centered on the array's eye, several chains of spiritual energy extend outwards, each infused with Yin energy. Once an enemy enters the formation's range, the chains automatically contract and tighten, forming a spiritual energy blockade around the target.

Once the blockade is established, the Yin energy will continuously erode the spiritual power flowing in the enemy's meridians, suppressing its circulation speed, making it impossible for the enemy to cast spells, activate magical artifacts, or even sluggishly circulate energy to protect themselves.

The longer the confinement lasts, the stronger the suppression effect.

Li Yuan repeatedly deduced the core structure of the formation three times. After confirming that there were no difficulties, he closed the jade slip and walked out of the stone house.

Behind the stone house was a square open space, about ten zhang in size, which was usually used to dry medicinal herbs and store miscellaneous items. Li Yuan cleared the miscellaneous items aside and took out array stones and array flags from his storage bag.

Instead of setting up the complete version, he reduced the formation to a range of three zhang (approximately 10 meters), retaining only the core structure.

Five lines of divine sense were laid out: three were responsible for inscribing the array patterns, one guided the Yin energy into the chain loop, and the last one monitored the overall balance of the structure.

The blessing of the earth's spiritual core made the formation process extremely fast. Spiritual energy traced intricate patterns on the ground along his fingertips, array stones were embedded into the nodes, and array flags were planted at the four corners.

After an incense stick's time, the miniature version of the Netherworld Locking Array was set up.

Li Yuan took two steps back and threw a stone into the array's range.

The moment the stone hit the ground, several gray-black chains of spiritual energy erupted from the earth, wrapping around its surface like living things and binding it tightly within half a breath. Yin energy seeped into the stone along the chains, and a layer of gray-white frost quickly condensed on its surface.

The effect is excellent.

Li Yuan walked to the center of the formation, squatted down, and took the formation's core out of the ground.

The array's core was crafted by himself using array stones. The material was ordinary, but the quality of the array itself depended entirely on the precision of its carving and the purity of the spiritual energy injected.

The panel pops up the moment the finger touches the array's core.

[Equipable item detected: Netherworld Lock Array Core (Complete, Custom-made)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Nether Slowness (Green)]

[Effect: Attacks using one's own spiritual and demonic energy can slow down the spiritual energy circulation and movement speed of others.]

[Preview of conditions for permanentization: Both spiritual power and demonic energy cultivation must reach the second tier]

[Current equipment slots are full (5/5). Replace current equipment?]

Li Yuan glanced at the conditions for permanentization.

Spiritual power cultivation has reached the Foundation Establishment stage, level two or above, which satisfies the requirement.

His demonic cultivation has reached the Foundation Establishment stage, also at the second tier, which is satisfactory.

The condition has overflowed.

Li Yuan replaced the Returning to Origin Longevity Technique with the Netherworld Lock Array's core.

"equipment."

[Equipped: Netherworld Locking Array Core (Complete)]

[The Ghostly Slowdown (Green) effect is in effect]

The panel then popped up again.

The conditions for making the Netherworld Stasis (Green) permanent have been met.

The term "Ghostly Stagnation (Green)" has become a permanent entry.

The phantom of the array's core solidified briefly in the equipment slot before vanishing, freeing up a space.

The moment the entry became permanent, he felt that his spiritual power and demonic energy had gained an extremely subtle additional attribute. This attribute did not affect his own operational efficiency, but it would automatically add a layer of delay effect when spiritual power or demonic energy was released outward and came into contact with external targets.

Li Yuan raised his hand and condensed a cone of malevolent energy, which he then threw at a discarded stone brick in the open space.

The spike of malevolent energy struck the surface of the stone brick, blasting out a ring of grayish-black air. In addition to the normal erosion marks, the surface of the stone brick was now covered with a very thin layer of grayish-white frost, exactly like the effect of the chains in the array earlier.

Every attack thereafter will come with a slowing effect.

Li Yuan withdrew his hand, dismantled the array on the open ground, and restored it to its original state.

As soon as I walked back to the entrance of the stone house, I saw Sun Henian waiting outside.

The old man looked much better than when he first arrived at the market. Although his gray Taoist robe was still worn out, his spirit and energy had largely recovered.

"Master Li, I apologize for disturbing you." Sun Henian bowed respectfully.

"Come in and speak."

The two sat down inside the stone house.

"It's about the talisman shop," Sun Henian said bluntly. "The demand for talismans in the market is increasing, and our shop is almost unable to keep up. I'd like to discuss with the market owner whether we can expand our operations."

"How do we expand it?"

"I'll rent two more shops and hire a few freelance cultivators who can draw basic talismans." Sun Henian rubbed his hands together. "I'll purchase the raw materials myself and pay for the labor myself. I just want the shops to be located closer to the main street for easier shipping."

Li Yuan thought about it.

"Sure, you can decide this yourself. The market has a lot of freedom, and we're not restricting you. Just buy normally."

"We can reduce the rent for the shop by 30%, but there's one condition."

Sun Henian immediately sat up straight.

"Please speak, Master."

"After the expansion, 30% of the first-tier defensive talismans and first-tier offensive talismans produced by the talisman shop each month will be allocated to the market's defense reserves at cost price."

Sun Henian did the calculations and nodded in agreement.

Sun Henian did the calculations and nodded in agreement.

"No problem. I can manage at 30% of cost price."

"Then it's settled." Li Yuan stood up. "Also, give me a few of those new talismans you recently made to check."

Sun Henian quickly took out a stack of talismans from his storage bag and respectfully handed them over.

Li Yuan casually flipped through a few pages, his gaze lingering for a moment on a spirit control talisman.

A panel pops up.

[Equipable item detected: Spirit Protection Talisman (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Spirit Shield Stacking Protection (White)]

[Effect: Increases the thickness of the protective aura by 10%]

[Preview of conditions for permanentization: Cultivation level reaches level nine of Qi Refining (met)]

The entry is white. The condition is that one must be at the ninth level of Qi Refining, which has already far exceeded the required level.

Li Yuan calmly placed the Spirit Control Talisman aside, then looked through a few other talismans before returning the entire stack to Sun Henian.

"Good quality, keep it up."

Sun Henian thanked him and then took his leave.

After everyone had gone far away, Li Yuan took the spirit talisman in his hand.

Replace the Return to Origin Longevity Technique with the Spirit Protection Talisman.

"equipment."

[Equipped: Spirit Protection Talisman (Complete)]

[Spirit Shield Stacking (White) has become a permanent attribute]

The phantom of the Spirit Protection Talisman dissipated, freeing up an empty slot in the equipment bar.

The white affix has a minor effect, increasing the thickness of the protective aura by 10%. However, when stacked on top of existing defensive affixes like Magic Rune Protection and Iron Body, even a small increase is still significant.

That night, Li Yuan did not go to the cave to cultivate.

He took out the jade slip containing the fragment of the teleportation network map that he had previously copied from the west wall of the Xuanyou Branch Hall, and recalculated the coordinates of the hidden node in the Liangzhou region marked with the word "deep".

The node is not located below the market town, but about sixty miles southwest of Ghost Mist Forest, on the edge of a limestone plateau shrouded in thick fog year-round.

He had passed through that area several times during his previous patrols, and the surface showed no abnormalities, only large areas of severely weathered limestone and a few dried-up sinkholes. Because of its barren terrain, lacking both mineral veins and spiritual herbs, no cultivator had ever stayed there.

As midnight approached, the triple concealment was fully activated, and Li Yuan left the market town, quickly moving southwest along the forest line of the Ghost Mist Forest.

About an hour later, he arrived at the limestone plateau.

The fog was exceptionally thick in this area, reducing visibility to less than two meters. The limestone underfoot was weathered and eroded, leaving it pitted and cracking with each step.

Li Yuan stopped at the edge of the plateau, his feet firmly planted on the ground, and his perception of the earth veins spread downwards.

The geological structure of the limestone plateau is extremely loose, with numerous dissolution cavities that allow for rapid sensory penetration. Ten zhang, fifteen zhang, twenty zhang—all are natural dissolution layers, without any trace of human intervention.

Twenty-five zhang.

The senses touched an unusually dense layer of rock.

The density of this rock layer is completely different from the surrounding loose limestone. It is like a huge stone slab that has been artificially embedded deep into the earth, completely separating the above-ground erosion layer from the space below.

Ordinary ley lines would be blocked when they sensed this.

However, the enhanced spatial perception from the teleportation stone penetrated this dense rock formation, detecting an extremely faint fluctuation beneath the stone slab.

It was neither a fluctuation of spiritual energy nor a fluctuation of demonic energy.

It is a spatial fluctuation.

Extremely ancient, extremely faint, like the faintest pulse of a sleeping heart.

Li Yuan used the Earth Escape Technique to slowly disappear into the ground.

Passing through the loose, eroded layer was effortless, but the hardness of that dense rock was far beyond what was ordinary. He had to increase the spiritual power output of his Earth Escape Technique by 30% to painstakingly chisel through the barrier inch by inch.

The rock formation is about two zhang thick, and its inner surface has been artificially polished, retaining extremely ancient sealing patterns. This rock formation itself is a closed, insulating barrier, specifically designed to prevent any fluctuations from the space below from leaking upwards.

No wonder it couldn't be sensed at all from the ground. Even though he had used the Earth Vein Pivot to perform deep scans multiple times in the market, his perception had never pointed to this desolate plateau sixty miles away. The location of this node was deliberately chosen to avoid any areas that could be probed.

After passing through the rock barrier, Li Yuan entered a very small cavity.

The cavity was less than two zhang square, with all four walls made of smooth, hand-polished stone. In the center of the floor was a circular stone platform, about three chi in diameter. Most of the array patterns on the surface of the platform had cracked and fallen off, with only a small area at the core retaining the complete patterns.

The complexity and stylistic features of that pattern were exactly the same as the ancient teleportation array he had restored in Mexico.

The central array eye on the stone platform was empty, but the shape of the groove and the specifications of the spiritual energy interface indicated that a space crystal similar to the teleportation stone had once been embedded there.

Li Yuan squatted down, his fingertips slowly tracing the remaining array patterns.

The teleportation stone's spatial perception feedback returned extremely detailed structural information.

This teleportation array is far superior to the one in Mozhou. It has more nested layers of array patterns, higher precision in spatial folding, and a thicker cross-section for the spiritual energy channels.

High-privilege teleportation array.

The hidden node marked on the incomplete map is right here.

The array was severely damaged; nearly half of the core array patterns had collapsed, and almost all the spiritual energy channels were blocked. But the base and the framework were still intact.

Repairing is much easier than setting up from scratch.

Li Yuan carefully assessed the materials needed for the repair. He needed spatial array stones, guiding copper sheets, spiritual clay, and a suitable spatial crystal to serve as a temporary array eye. Most of these materials could be purchased at Yunyang Market, but the spatial crystal was more troublesome and required a separate solution.

The overall cost is far lower than setting up a brand new teleportation array.

He then examined the structure of the cavity's four walls. Several extremely fine spiritual energy conduits were carved into the stone walls, extending outward from the cavity and pointing northeast—the very location of the market's spiritual vein node.

These conduits belong to the same system as the broken spiritual energy transmission network in the Xuan You Branch Hall.

The teleportation nodes, the branch hall mist array, and the market's spiritual veins were all interconnected underground through this ancient network of conduits. However, the conduits had long since broken and blocked, rendering the connection virtually nonexistent.

Li Yuan inscribed the complete structure of the remaining array patterns on the stone platform into a jade slip, then used earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape through dense rock formations) to return to the ground.