Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The next morning, Li Yuan set off for Jingzhou.

The route was the same as before: from the market town, we headed east through the Sunset Corridor, entered Jingzhou territory, then turned north, and followed the official road straight to Baijing Market Town. The speed of a Golden Core cultivator was far greater than that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator; traveling at full speed, the outline of Baijing Market Town appeared in our sight in less than half a day.

From afar, the market town appeared to be at least five times the size of Yunyang Market Town. Towering stone walls enclosed a massive city structure, topped with dense defensive formations that shimmered with spiritual light. The city gates were teeming with people, with cultivators constantly entering and exiting.

Li Yuan slightly adjusted his appearance and aura using the illusion mask, changed into an inconspicuous gray robe, and blended into the crowd to enter the city gate.

Upon entering the market area, the view suddenly opened up.

The main street was wide enough for three beast-drawn carriages to run side by side, and the shops on both sides were lined up one after another, ranging from elixir shops to magical artifact shops to spiritual material shops. The variety of goods was far superior to that of the markets in Liangzhou.

The overall strength of the cultivators was indeed significantly higher than that of Liangzhou.

The three sects of Jingzhou have long complemented each other, and with the suppression of the Nascent Soul sect, Tianyue Sect, a major sect, there have been frictions between the sects, but no large-scale wars have ever broken out. The most direct result of peace is the stable accumulation of resources. Centuries of continuous accumulation have made the cultivation market in Jingzhou extremely prosperous, and the average cultivation level of the lower-level rogue cultivators is almost half a realm higher than that of Liangzhou.

Li Yuan walked around the main street and noticed that many cultivators wearing gray and white Taoist robes with gold mountain patterns embroidered on the cuffs were swaggering around the market.

Disciples of the Tianyue Sect.

Li Yuan withdrew his gaze and walked towards the city center.

Walking down the street, I passed a roadside stall.

He stopped and glanced down at it.

In the corner of the stall, buried in a pile of rubble, lay a fist-sized, grayish-brown stone. The stone's surface was rough and unremarkable, but the panel had already popped out.

Li Yuan asked the stall owner the price and casually took out three spirit stones to buy it.

[Equipable item detected: Bloodstone (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Toughness (Gray)]

[Result: Slight improvement in muscle flexibility]

[Permanentization Condition: Cultivate a mortal cultivation technique]

Grayed-out entries. The effect is extremely weak, almost negligible.

"equipment."

[Equipped: Bloodstone (Complete)]

[Resilience (gray) has become a permanent term]

The effect is minimal, but even a mosquito's leg is meat.

Li Yuan continued on his journey, and the term perception was triggered again.

[Equipable item detected: Nourishing Resin (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Nourishing Vitality (Gray)]

[Effect: Increases cultivation speed of the technique by 10%]

[Condition for Permanence: Mastering a cultivation technique to a minor level]

Li Yuan also spent several spirit stones to purchase

[Nourish Yuan (Gray) has become a permanent entry]

move on.

At a stall next to a stone pillar of a pavilion on the street, the entry perception captured the third signal.

This time it cost more than ten spirit stones.

[Equipable item detected: Spirit Rune Shard (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Slight Increase in Inspiration (White)]

[Effect: Increases sensitivity to spiritual energy perception by 30%]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Possess one permanent perceptual term (already satisfied)]

The white entry indicates that the conditions have been met.

Li Yuan took out the rubble and equipped it.

[Slight Increase in Inspiration (White)] has become a permanent entry.

The three entries, two gray and one white, don't have particularly good effects. However, the total number of permanent entries has increased by three, and the cumulative improvement in overall quality is real.

The main store of Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce is located on the most central commercial street in Baijingfang City. The store is ten times larger than the branch store in Yunyangfang City. The three-story spirit wood pavilion is magnificent, and the logo of the Chamber of Commerce is engraved on the two stone pillars at the entrance.

Li Yuan entered the shop and went straight to the second floor.

The second floor was the VIP reception area. A middle-aged cultivator who appeared to be in charge came forward, and Li Yuan showed the referral token given to him by Xu Zhang.

The middle-aged manager immediately became warmer after verifying the token.

"He's a friend of Manager Xu. Please have a seat. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything."

"Third-tier pill formulas." Li Yuan sat down in the chair. "How many kinds are there?"

The steward paused slightly, then took out a jade box from a hidden compartment behind the counter. Inside, several jade slips were neatly arranged.

"Third-tier pill formulas are a rare category for us, and we currently have four types available for sale."

The steward introduced each jade slip in turn: "The Heavenly Origin Pill is a basic cultivation pill commonly used in the Golden Core stage, with the highest demand. The recipe costs 800 mid-grade spirit stones. The Soul Condensation Pill is used to strengthen divine sense, costing 1,200 mid-grade spirit stones. The third-tier version of the Solidifying Origin Pill costs 1,000 mid-grade spirit stones. The last one is the Barrier Breaking Pill, which assists Golden Core cultivators in breaking through minor realms, costing 2,000 mid-grade spirit stones."

Li Yuan picked up the jade slip containing the recipe for the Heavenly Origin Pill and probed it with his divine sense.

The recipe is extremely detailed. The proportions of the medicinal ingredients, the refining steps, the required heat, and the unique spiritual energy condensation process for third-tier pills are all clearly marked.

The refining of Tianyuan Pills consists of seven steps. The first three steps are similar to those for second-tier pills, mainly involving the pretreatment of medicinal materials, activation of spiritual energy, and initial condensation. Starting from the fourth step, the core area of ​​third-tier pills is entered, requiring the construction of a miniature spiritual energy condensation field within the furnace to forcibly compress the dispersed medicinal essence into an extremely small space to complete the final pill formation.

This core-condensation step is the most fundamental difference between third-tier and second-tier alchemy. Second-tier pills are formed naturally; as long as the heat and spiritual energy are properly controlled, the medicinal liquid will gather and form a pill according to its own inherent properties. Third-tier pills, however, require the alchemist to actively construct a core-condensation field, forcibly intervening in the pill-forming process with external force. This demands extremely high precision in spiritual energy and the ability to manipulate and divide one's divine sense.

"I'll take this." Li Yuan put down the jade slip.

Eight hundred mid-grade spirit stones. He counted the spirit stones from his storage bag, and the transaction was complete.

The steward solemnly handed over the jade slip containing the prescription, along with a purchase list of commonly used medicinal materials for the Tianyuan Pill.

"We also have medicinal herbs in stock. Do you need any?"

"One, please."

He spent another three hundred mid-grade spirit stones to purchase a complete set of raw materials for the Heavenly Origin Pill. After putting everything into his storage bag, Li Yuan got up and left the Chamber of Commerce's main store.

That night, they returned to the stone house in Wulinfang.

Li Yuan placed the deep blue-green fine alchemy furnace on the table, took out the jade slip containing the recipe for the Heavenly Origin Pill, and carefully studied the complete refining process once again.

Then we got to work.

The first step is the pretreatment of medicinal materials.

The main ingredient of Tianyuan Pill is the root of a third-tier spiritual herb, Tianyuan Vine, supplemented with several second-tier spiritual materials. The key to pretreatment is to thoroughly remove impurities from the roots of Tianyuan Vine without damaging its core spiritual fibers.

The second process, the third process, the fourth process...

When it came to the fourth step, Li Yuan slowed down.

This involves the unique spiritual energy core condensation step of the third tier.

The description on the prescription is very clear: when the medicinal liquid is concentrated to a critical point, the alchemist needs to construct a stable miniature spiritual energy condensation field inside the furnace. The structure of the condensation field is similar to a tiny array, composed of dozens of interwoven spiritual energy lines, which lock the essence of the medicine in the core area and forcibly compress it into a pill.

Li Yuan took a deep breath, and spiritual energy lines shot out from his fingertips, beginning to weave the framework of the condensation field above the medicinal liquid according to the angle and spacing marked in the pill formula.

The first spiritual energy line landed steadily. The second and third followed closely behind, precisely fitting into the preset nodes.

Problems arose with Article 7.

The structure of the condensation field began to destabilize. The spiritual energy lines laid in the front were slightly deflected by the impact of the medicinal vapors. The deflection was less than a fraction of a second, but under the precision requirements of a third-tier pill, this was enough to prevent the subsequent spiritual energy lines from embedding correctly.

Li Yuan immediately adjusted, attempting to forcibly correct the deviation using his divine sense lines.

However, the concentration of the medicinal solution had reached a critical point, and every breath was consuming the window of time of the nucleation field. His correction speed could not keep up with the cumulative rate of deviation.

The moment the twelfth spiritual energy line landed, the entire structure of the condensation field collapsed in a chain reaction.

The spiritual energy lines snapped one after another like broken strings. The medicinal liquid, freed from its restraints, expanded outwards violently, and the inner wall of the furnace emitted a dull thud.

Li Yuan quickly withdrew his divine sense line and simultaneously sealed the furnace opening with his spiritual power, suppressing the impact of the explosion inside the furnace.

The alchemy furnace trembled violently a few times before settling down.

Lifting the furnace lid revealed only a pool of charred remains. The spiritual essence of the Tianyuan Vine roots had been completely destroyed, rendering the entire batch of medicinal herbs unusable.

failure.

Li Yuan put down the stove lid without any regret.

The construction of the core condensation field is the core technical barrier of third-order alchemy. His ability to successfully complete the first three steps indicates that his foundation in second-order perfection is solid enough. His failure in the fourth step was due to a lack of practical experience in weaving the spiritual energy lines of the core condensation field.

No matter how detailed the description in the formula, it cannot replace the feeling of doing it. This feeling can only be accumulated through actual refining batch after batch.

Three hundred mid-grade spirit stones worth of medicinal herbs are only enough for one trial; more raw materials will need to be purchased later. However, this failure was not without its lessons. He has identified the problem: the spiritual energy lines lack the ability to resist interference and need to be improved in both weaving speed and stability.

The door to third-order alchemy has been opened a crack.