Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

That night, just past midnight.

Li Yuan left the market, fully activating his stealth ability, and his figure dissolved into the thick fog surrounding the Ghost Mist Forest.

The destination was the second transit point mentioned by the sallow-faced demonic cultivator. It was the valley behind the hills to the east.

The map of the northern supply route marked the approximate coordinates of the transit station. Li Yuan advanced rapidly along the ridgeline of the hills; with the speed of a Golden Core cultivator and the aid of earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape quickly), he arrived at the top of the valley in less than half an hour.

The passive perception network of Dark Insight spreads downwards.

At the bottom of the valley, in a depression hidden by rocks and bushes, five clusters of demonic energy signals are active.

Two are in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, and three are in the early-Foundation Establishment stage.

The transit station was smaller than the first one. There were no dedicated caves or buildings, just a few planks of wood serving as a roof in a natural rock shelter at the bottom of the valley. Next to the shelter were a dozen or so sealed wooden crates, and a very rudimentary demonic energy warning array was set up around it.

Of the five demonic cultivators, two were at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and stood guard on the east and west sides of the hut, each holding a magic weapon. The three at the early-Foundation Establishment stage were huddled inside the hut; two were dozing, and one was flipping through a list by the dim light of the array stones.

The man with the sallow face said that this transit station was about to be demolished. This group of people were probably doing their last few days of duty, and would leave after the next batch of supplies had passed through.

Li Yuan looked down from a high point on the west side of the valley for a moment, locking onto the positions of the five people and the coverage area of ​​the warning array.

The demonic energy warning array was only of the first-tier, high-grade level, rendering it virtually useless against Golden Core cultivators. Li Yuan didn't even need to avoid it; he only needed to kill the enemy the moment it was triggered, before the alarm could even sound.

Li Yuan did not make a move immediately.

His divine sense first slowly spread out at the bottom of the valley, dividing the entire transfer station into several clear areas.

The guard on the east side, in the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, stands at the outermost position. His alertness is average, and he subconsciously glances at the north slope every ten breaths.

The guard on the west side, also at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, had a communication bone whistle hanging from his waist, and his left hand was always lightly resting on the handle of the magic weapon. His reaction speed was half a beat faster than the person on the east side.

There were three people in the shack. Two were in the early stages of Foundation Establishment and were dozing off, while the third was flipping through a list. Next to the list were several fragments of jade slips used for communication. He would be the first to alert the others should anything be amiss.

A rudimentary first-order demonic energy warning array covered the outer perimeter of the hut, with a slight obstruction in the connection of the array patterns at the southeast corner, creating a natural blind spot.

The next instant, the hallucination spell landed first.

An invisible wave of divine sense swept across the wooden planks of the shack, enveloping the demonic cultivator who was flipping through the list. The cultivator paused slightly, his eyes momentarily unfocused, and his fingers hovered over the edge of the jade slip, not falling down.

At the same time, the Sky-Splitting Slash was unleashed.

The first gray fissure swept towards the throat of the western guard.

It wasn't because he was close by, but because the bone whistle at his waist was the most in the way.

The gray line flashed by, and before the bone whistle could even make a sound, the head of the mid-Foundation Establishment demon cultivator rolled into the grass, his body still in the position of gripping the handle as if about to pull it out, before he collapsed with a thud.

The second Sky-Splitting Slash followed the ground, slicing upwards diagonally from behind the knees of the eastern guard. The man had just sensed a chill in the spiritual energy behind him when his legs went numb. Before he could even cry out, his waist and abdomen were torn apart by the subsequent slashing force, and his entire body snapped in two.

The dull thuds of the two guards falling to the ground finally reached the shack.

The two Foundation Establishment stage cultivators who were dozing inside were suddenly awakened. One of them instinctively reached for a magical artifact, while the other opened his mouth to make a sound.

Li Yuan had already stepped into the shack.

With a slam of his left hand, the force of his palm penetrated to the bone. The demonic cultivator who reached for the magical artifact had his head smashed into the ground as if struck by a heavy hammer, and fell silent on the spot.

With a light tap of his right index finger, a highly condensed burst of spiritual energy shot into the last person's brow, exiting from the back of their head. The person only managed to utter half a broken syllable before the light in their eyes completely vanished.

As for the demonic cultivator who was looking through the list, he remained trapped in a hallucination spell until his death. What he saw was not the intruder, but his fellow guard entering the shack to relieve him.

So when the final Sky-Splitting Slash grazed past his neck, he didn't even put up the slightest resistance.

From the moment the first wisp of divine consciousness descended to the moment the last corpse fell to the ground, only two breaths passed.

All five were killed.

[Hallucination Technique: Beginner (100/200)]

Li Yuan withdrew his spiritual power and began cleaning up the scene.

The dozen or so wooden crates beside the shack were opened one by one. Most of them contained daily necessities for low-level demonic cultivators: demonic energy recovery pills, detoxification powder, simple energy-gathering talismans, and a batch of crudely made demonic energy array stones. There were quite a few, but the quality varied greatly.

The storage bags on the five corpses have been searched. There were less than one hundred mid-grade spirit stones in total, along with some miscellaneous magical artifacts and talismans.

The truly valuable thing is in a hidden compartment in the corner of the shack.

The hidden compartment was concealed in the soil beneath the wooden plank, sealed and concealed by demonic energy. Li Yuan probed it with his divine sense, and with a gentle touch, the seal crumbled.

There are three things in the hidden compartment.

A supply list details all types and quantities of goods that have been transferred through this transit point in the past two months.

A movement pattern record shows the shift change time of the on-duty personnel, the patrol route, and the frequency of communication with upstream and downstream transfer stations.

A spare coded jade slip contained some of the coded messages that Li Yuan had obtained from the previous ambush in Mozhou, but it also contained two new sets of coded messages that he had never seen before.

Li Yuan made copies of all three items and archived them.

Finally, he searched through the remaining supplies in the wooden crates. Most of them were worthless, but at the bottom of one crate he found a palm-sized, iron-gray plate with extremely intricate array patterns engraved on its surface.

The perception of words within a three-foot radius was triggered.

[Equipable item detected: Rune Plate (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Array Pattern Imprint (Green)]

[Effect: Increases formation inscription speed by 20%]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Complete the setup of a mid-grade Tier 3 formation once (not yet met)]

Green entry. The speed of array formation inscription has increased by 20%, which is an excellent bonus for a cultivator like him who frequently sets up arrays. However, the condition for permanentization is the setting up of a mid-grade third-tier array, which he cannot currently achieve as his array formation skills are still at the beginner stage of the third tier.

Li Yuan put the array pattern plate into his storage bag.

After clearing out the supplies, he picked up two jade slips from the storage bag of one of the mid-Foundation Establishment demon cultivators.

The first jade slip contained a encrypted message. After the demonic seal was broken, the message was brief: The Demonic Sect has dispatched a Golden Core cultivator from its northern branch southwards, expected to arrive in the direction of Mozhou within half a month. This person carries items related to the Abyss Cavern; full cooperation is required upon their arrival.

The novel "Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes" is full of classic quotes, so come and find resonance.

This corroborates the intelligence previously obtained at the first transit station. The Demonic Fiend Sect is indeed sending Golden Core cultivators to Mo Zhou, and this Golden Core cultivator is carrying items from the Abyss Cave.

The second jade slip caught Li Yuan's eye.

It wasn't intelligence, but a spell.

Second-tier demonic energy spell, Dark Erosion Finger.

The jade slip's description of the Dark Erosion Finger is concise: it condenses demonic energy at the fingertip, forming a dark-attribute finger beam with extremely strong penetrating power. This finger beam can ignore most outer layers of spiritual energy shields, directly invading the target's body and causing internal injuries. Its power depends on the caster's level of demonic energy concentration and the precision of their spiritual sense.

The disadvantages are also obvious: the range is extremely short, the effective distance is no more than three feet, and it can only be used at close range.

Li Yuan held the jade slip and looked at it for a moment.

Dark Erosion refers to a demonic energy spell. The condition for the permanent formation of the Mystic Stone is precisely reaching the entry level in a second-tier demonic energy spell.

He carefully put the jade slip away. Then, he used the Flaming Fiend Flame to incinerate the corpse and erase all traces of the transfer station.

After returning to the market, Li Yuan closed the door of the stone house and took out the magic jade slip of Dark Erosion Finger.

He probed with his divine sense and began to study the operational circuit of the spell.

The path of spiritual energy circulation in Dark Erosion Finger is completely different from that of spiritual energy spells. The meridian pathways in spiritual energy spells are precise and orderly, with strict rules governing the flow of spiritual energy in each meridian. In contrast, the circulation of demonic energy in spells is more crude and direct. The flow of demonic energy in the meridians does not pursue precise route control, but rather relies on the caster's will to forcefully guide it, winning through explosive power and penetrating force.

This difference poses a significant obstacle for spiritual practitioners who wish to switch to demonic magic. The refined control habits developed through long-term spiritual practice clash with the more aggressive operation of demonic magic, leading to spellcasting failures.

But Li Yuan does not have this problem.

His Demonic Essence Technique was now complete. His meridians, having been immersed in both spiritual and demonic energy for a long time, had become fully adapted to the two drastically different energy circulation methods. Furthermore, his Demonic Core provided an abundant reserve of demonic energy, more than enough to power a second-tier demonic energy spell.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and circulated his demonic energy, guiding a wisp of pure demonic energy to the end of the meridian in his right index finger.

The demonic energy flows along the unique path of the Dark Erosion Finger. It is rough, direct, and does not care about precise positioning; it only seeks to concentrate the largest amount of demonic energy at a single point on the fingertip through the shortest path.

First attempt. A layer of dark gray light appeared on the fingertips, but it wasn't concentrated enough. Most of the demonic energy dissipated from the fingertips, failing to form an effective finger beam.

The second time, the rate of demonic energy infusion was adjusted, slowing down the initial accumulation process and allowing the demonic energy to be fully compressed at the end of the meridians in the fingertips before being released. This time, a dark gray light about half an inch long condensed at the fingertips, but it dissipated in less than a breath.

The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time...

His abundant demonic energy reserves at the Golden Core stage allowed him to practice repeatedly without regard to consumption. Each failure refined his perception of the critical point for demonic energy condensation. By the twentieth attempt, the dark gray fingertip aura could be stably maintained for more than three breaths.

Late at night on the third day.

Li Yuan slowly raised his right hand, and a two-inch-long dark gray fingertip condensed at the tip of his index finger. The demonic energy on the surface of the fingertip flowed and contained itself, no longer dissipating, and its penetrating power was concentrated to an extreme point.

He gently pierced the spirit iron plate used for testing in front of him with his finger.

The surface of the spirit iron plate was covered with a second-tier spirit energy shield, which he created himself using the spirit shield technique.

The moment the fingertip touched the shield, there was no sound of impact, no sparks of spiritual energy exploding. The dark gray light seeped into the shield silently, as if passing through water, directly piercing the surface of the spirit iron plate and leaving a hole less than an inch in diameter on the plate.

The edges of the hole were dark gray, bearing traces of demonic energy.

I've gotten the hang of it.

[Dark Eclipse Finger: Beginner (0/100)]

Li Yuan withdrew his finger and looked at the hole in the spirit iron plate.

The penetrating power is indeed astonishing. The second-tier spiritual energy shield has almost no effect on blocking the Dark Erosion Finger; the finger's beam completely ignores the outer defense. If used in actual combat, the opponent's protective aura would likely be shattered from the inside.

The three-foot range is its biggest weakness. But in close combat, three feet is sufficient.

Once the Dark Erosion Technique has reached the entry level, the conditions for the permanent formation of the Mystic Stone have been met.

Li Yuan took out the gray-black black stone from the depths of his storage bag.

Currently, all five slots in the normal equipment inventory are full: Dantai Creation, Three Elements Return to One Bead, Teleport Stone, Condensing Essence Grass, and Heavenly Essence Pill.

To equip a Mystic Stone, you must free up one slot.

"Remove the Condensing Essence Grass."

[Removed: Condensing Essence Grass]

[The effect of Tripartite Cohesion (Blue) is paused]

The sense of fusion between the body's essence, energy, and spirit has weakened slightly.

Li Yuan immediately took the Xuan Stone in his hand.

[Equipable item detected: Mystic Stone (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Demonic Energy Condensation (Green)]

[Effect: Increases demonic energy concentration by 30%]

[Preview of Permanentization Requirements: One second-tier magic spell must reach the beginner level (met)]

"equipment."

[Equipped: Mystic Stone (Complete)]

[Demonic Energy Condensation (Green) has become a permanent entry]

The phantom of the mystic stone flashed briefly in the equipment slot before shattering and dissipating, turning into green light specks that merged into the body. The slot became available again.

The moment the permanent transformation was completed, a faint dark light appeared on the surface of the demonic energy golden core in the dantian. The demonic energy released by the golden core became more condensed and dense, with the quality of each strand of demonic energy increasing by 30%.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and sensed the changes after the demonic energy's condensation level increased.

The pulsation of the demonic energy core became more steady and powerful. The concentration of demonic energy released with each pulsation increased by nearly 30%, which meant that all methods driven by demonic energy had been directly enhanced.

The elusive, unseen demonic pressure is now even more convincingly disguised. The passive perception accuracy of Dark Insight has reached a new level. The penetrating power of Dark Erosion Finger will also increase accordingly.

More importantly, the efficiency of converting demonic energy into spiritual power is crucial. The more condensed the demonic energy, the higher the quality of the converted spiritual power. Previously, when he used a demonic energy core to convert spiritual power for spellcasting, the output was slightly lower than when directly activating a true spiritual energy core. Now, this gap has been further narrowed.

Even after the spiritual energy is converted, it remains the primary means of combat. The casting paths of all spiritual energy spells, such as Sky-Splitting Slash, Fireball, and Teleportation, remain unchanged.

However, Dark Erosion filled a previously blank spot: close-range penetration and armor breaking.

While the Sky-Splitting Slash is sharp against opponents with strong protective auras or magical artifact shields, the opponent might still be able to withstand its cutting power if they defend with all their might. The penetrating nature of Dark Erosion Finger can bypass this layer of defense and dismantle the opponent's protective system from within.

Ranged Sky-Splitting Slash, close-range Dark Erosion Finger. One spirit, one demon, the dimensions of attack methods have been broadened.