Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

After nearly half a month of continuous interception and decryption, the intelligence leaked by the mole finally pieced together a complete route.

The Dark Abyss's intelligence flow around the Ghost Mist Forest does not directly connect to the spatial nodes deep inside. Instead, it first gathers at a transit point, organizes and encrypts the information, and then sends it to the node by a designated person.

Li Yuan gradually narrowed down the location of the contact point to a group of abandoned mines about 210 miles northeast of Ghost Mist Forest.

That group of mines was abandoned in the early stages of the development of Ghost Mist Forest. After the mineral veins were depleted, no one cared about it. Its remote location and low density of monsters made it an excellent hiding place.

Li Yuan spent an entire day conducting covert reconnaissance.

With all three layers of concealment fully activated, the Dark Fiend's perception network covered the entire perimeter of the mine complex.

The mine complex consists of seven or eight pits of varying depths, most of which have collapsed or are flooded. Only the deepest pit retains its intact structure, its entrance crudely camouflaged with withered vines and rubble.

At least three Foundation Establishment stage demonic cultivators reside in the cave.

Judging from the intensity of the demonic energy fluctuations, the three individuals were at the early, middle, and mid-Foundation Establishment stages, respectively.

There is no protection from spatial nodes, and no cover from large-scale formations.

An exposed physical location.

That night, at midnight.

The Ghost Mist Forest was completely silent, the thick fog completely obscuring the moonlight.

Li Yuan approached silently from the periphery of the mine complex. The triple concealment compressed his presence to nothingness; under such a dense fog, even standing face to face, one might not be able to detect his presence.

He didn't rush in directly.

Instead, they first went around to the mine's only exit.

Five lines of divine sense were laid out: three were responsible for inscribing array patterns, one guided the evil energy into the chain loop, and the last one monitored the movements of the demonic cultivators inside the cave.

The Netherworld Locking Array quickly took shape on the ground at the cave entrance. Array stones were embedded in the soil, array flags were inserted into the cracks between the rubble, and the gray-black array patterns were faintly visible beneath the surface.

The formation is complete.

The entire process was conducted without making a sound or leaking any spiritual energy fluctuations.

Our escape route is cut off.

Li Yuan turned to face the depths of the mine, his spiritual energy rapidly circulating within his body.

Teleportation technique.

The space silently tore open a rift in front of him, and Li Yuan's figure disappeared from the spot. The next moment, he appeared behind a corner about thirty feet deep inside the mine.

It landed silently.

Dark Fiend's perception immediately fed back all the information inside the cave.

The three demonic cultivators were scattered in a natural cavity at the deepest part of the mine. One leaned against the stone wall with his eyes closed, resting; another sat cross-legged, meditating and circulating his internal energy; and the third was looking at something in front of a stone table.

Li Yuan peeked out from around the corner and, with a thought, equipped the Dark Demon Token.

The closest one was the early Foundation Establishment stage demonic cultivator who was resting against the wall, about fifteen feet away.

No preparation is needed.

Li Yuan raised his right hand, and the effect of the "Integration of Flame and Fiend" attribute was fully activated. The fire-type spiritual power condensed to its limit in his palm at the instant it switched into fiendish energy, which was then compressed into an extremely thin cone.

The Sharp Edge of Spirit Breaker adheres to it. The Slowing Effect of Netherworld Regrowth is poised to be unleashed.

The aura cone flew out of his hand, silently traversing a distance of fifteen zhang.

Before the demonic cultivator leaning against the wall could even open his eyes, the spike of demonic energy pierced through his protective demonic aura and throat. The Spirit-Piercing Sharp Edge tore the thin demonic energy shield to shreds, and the Netherworld Slowing Effect instantly froze the circulation of the remaining demonic energy within his body.

The body slowly slid down the stone wall.

The mid-Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, reacted extremely quickly. The aura fluctuations from his companion's death made him instantly erupt, his entire body exploding with demonic energy, and he formed hand seals to activate a pitch-black demonic energy shield.

Li Yuan did not give him time to solidify his defenses.

He used the teleportation technique again, his figure disappeared from the corner, and appeared directly three zhang to the side of the demonic cultivator.

The distance is too close; the demonic energy shield has not yet fully formed.

Li Yuan unleashed a punch. With the combined power of his Iron Bones and Golden Body physical foundation and the 40% power of his Flame Fiend technique, his fist, wreathed in flames and malevolent energy, smashed through the half-finished shield.

The piercing blade pierced through the protective demonic light, and the fist slammed into the demonic cultivator's ribs.

The sound of ribs cracking echoed through the mine. Fiery energy poured into his body, burning his internal organs to charcoal.

The demonic cultivator's body flew several feet away, crashed into the cave wall, and died.

The third demonic cultivator in front of the stone table jumped up and turned to run wildly towards the cave entrance.

He had run less than ten feet when his feet were suddenly bound by a ring of gray-black spiritual energy chains.

The Netherworld Locking Array is activated.

Chains erupted from the ground, binding his legs tightly. Yin energy seeped into his body along the chains, drastically slowing the flow of his demonic energy. He struggled to activate his escape technique, but his spiritual power was trapped in his meridians like mud, impossible to rouse.

Li Yuan walked up to him.

A spatial slash was unleashed from his fingertips, and a three-foot-long spatial rift silently swept across the demonic cultivator's neck.

His head hit the ground.

Silence returned to the mine.

The three bodies were scattered in different locations.

Li Yuan first took the three people's storage bags, then walked to the stone table.

On the table were more than a dozen communication jade slips, and next to them was a stack of thin silk sealed with demonic energy. A palm-sized bronze mirror was pressed under the jade slips, its surface dark and its back engraved with a circle of twisted demonic runes.

Li Yuan first picked up the bronze mirror.

A panel pops up.

[Equipable item detected: Bronze Mirror (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Dark Magic Training (Green)]

[Effect: Reduces the negative effects of demonic energy cultivation by 30%; enhances the effect of demonic energy-based escape techniques by 30%]

[Preview of Permanentization Requirements: Master three or more minor-level or higher demonic energy spells (0/3)]

Three or more minor-level demonic spells.

The Demonic Essence Technique is a cultivation method, not a spell, and therefore does not count towards the requirements. Currently, the demonic energy spells I possess still need to be organized and supplemented; this permanent requirement cannot be rushed.

Li Yuan put away the bronze mirror and turned his gaze to the communication jade slip and encrypted silk on the stone table.

He hadn't forgotten about the storage bags either. The seals on the three people's storage bags were broken one by one, and apart from the usual magic pills and spirit stones, there were no items that triggered the affixes.

All three Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators were at the second tier of cultivation. The condition for making the Dark Demon Token permanent was to kill a demonic cultivator at the second tier of cultivation, and the condition had now been met, so it could be made permanent immediately.

But Li Yuan did not do that.

The physical form of the Dark Demon Token is likely an identity token used within the Dark Abyss Society. Previously, when tracking the demon cultivator, the latter used a similar token to open the entrance to the spatial node.

If it becomes permanent, the token disappears, and he loses a pass that could potentially grant him access to the demonic cultivation space node.

The Dark Demon Token was put back deep inside the storage bag.

After Li Yuan looted the mine and cleaned out everything of value, he removed the Netherworld Locking Array at the entrance and restored the mine to its original state.

He moved the three corpses to an abandoned mine pit on the outskirts of the mine complex and buried them several feet deep using earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape from a mine).

They evacuated and returned to the market.

Inside the stone house, Li Yuan spread out all the captured communication jade slips and encrypted silk scrolls on the table.

The contents of the communication jade slips were mostly daily contact records and material lists, which were of little value. What was truly important were those few encrypted silk scrolls.

The encryption method is the same as the demonic energy encoding used by the mole, but it is two levels more complex.

Li Yuan used his Dark Insight to discern the frequency differences in the fluctuations of demonic energy, and combined this with the coded vocabulary he had already mastered to decipher the words one by one.

It took all night.

When the last piece of text on the thin silk was fully translated, Li Yuan sat at the table in silence for a long time.

The contents of several intelligence reports corroborated each other, piecing together an extremely crucial fact.

Both the Yuan Yang Sect and the Sha Mo Sect are searching for something in this area, but the information did not mention whether the materials collected earlier were related to this matter.

What they were looking for was a rare and wondrous object from heaven and earth called the Earthly Spirit Embryo.

The intelligence report described the Earthly Spirit Embryo very briefly, but several key pieces of information were repeatedly mentioned.

This wondrous object is cultivated by absorbing spiritual veins and requires an extremely long time to mature.

Its core function is to assist Golden Core cultivators in forming their Nascent Soul.

Remnants of the Xuanyou Sect.

Li Yuan's gaze lingered on the last three words for a long time.

Remnants of the Xuanyou Sect.

According to the disciple's diary, in order to break through to the Nascent Soul stage and ascend to immortality, the sect leader of Xuanyou Sect drained the spiritual veins of Mozhou and also planned to take action against Liangzhou.

However, the function of the Earthly Spirit Embryo is to assist in the formation of the Golden Core and the Nascent Soul, not to assist in the ascension to the Divine Transformation stage.

There is an entire major realm separating the Nascent Soul stage and the Deity Transformation stage.

If the Xuanyou Sect Master's goal back then was to ascend to the Divine Transformation Realm, what would he need the Earthly Spirit Embryo for?

Li Yuan crushed the deciphered intelligence into ashes in his palm.

I can't spell out the answer yet.

However, one thing is certain: directly beneath the large spiritual vein of Misty Forest Market, the array that continuously releases ghostly mist, and the jade bead whose energy is being slowly extracted, are very likely connected to the Earthly Spirit Embryo.

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