Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

After returning to the market, Li Yuan dealt with Yuanmingzhai's restocking while listening to Ji Wenchuan's report on the recent surge in customers at Yueqige and the unusual presence of Tianyue Sect cultivators frequently coming and going.

After processing the market information, Li Yuan picked up the spirit detection talisman he had previously placed near the fur shop, probed it with his divine sense, and quickly read the fluctuation data stored within.

Continuous wave transmission, constant frequency, no segmentation. Standard peripheral characteristics of the Yuanzong (a type of communication system).

This wasn't the first time Li Yuan had pursued this line. The previous two times, he had managed to find the rendezvous points on the outskirts of Dry Bone Ridge and deep within Ghost Mist Forest, but he had only reached the end of the chain. The person who truly controlled the entire supply chain remained hidden in the shadows.

This time, the new echo appearing in the south is very likely that shadow.

That night, Li Yuan left the market and used earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to travel to a place five miles outside the south gate).

The echo transmission point recorded by the spirit detection talisman was located in a low-lying area covered by bushes. Li Yuan did not approach rashly, but stopped a hundred feet away underground and spread the Dark Fiend Insight's perception network towards the low-lying area.

There is no one on the surface.

However, beneath a bluestone slab half-buried in the soil in the center of the low-lying area, there was an extremely faint remnant of an array.

The array's structure is extremely simple, with only two key nodes. Their function is to store and relay communication signals. This is a supporting facility for a supply point, specifically designed to receive messages from lower-level outposts, store them temporarily, and then forward them to higher-level outposts.

The supply point itself has no permanent staff.

Judging from the degree of spiritual energy decay remaining in the array, the last time someone maintained this relay node was two days ago. After the maintainer left, the array entered a low-power automatic operation mode.

Li Yuan lay in wait on the perimeter for a period of time, confirming that no one was permanently stationed at this relay node; it only received messages from fur shops at regular intervals.

The next afternoon, someone finally arrived.

Late stage of foundation building.

The way this aura was concealed was far more sophisticated than any of the Yuan Sect's outer circle members they had encountered before. His aura was extremely well-controlled; if it weren't for the Dark Fiend Insight combined with the 30% expansion of the Spirit Detector's perception range, they probably wouldn't have been able to even touch the edge.

The person stopped for a moment outside the supply point, seemingly to confirm that there was nothing unusual in the surroundings.

Li Yuan remained motionless.

Half an hour later, the aura fell into the low-lying area.

A cultivator dressed in a dark gray short-sleeved shirt flipped over a bluestone slab, squatted down, and activated the relay array with an extremely short pulse of demonic energy. He extracted the communication data temporarily stored in the array's core all at once, and then injected a new batch of maintenance spiritual power.

The entire process takes no more than twenty breaths.

Having done all this, the monk in the dark gray short robe put the bluestone slab back in its original place and got up to fly northeast.

After Li Yuan and others left the supply point area, they silently emerged from the ground.

The tracking rune silently activated in the equipment slot. The white entry for "Tracking" was activated, adding a special filter to the field of vision.

A very faint gray-blue trail of spiritual energy appeared in the air, winding forward in the direction the dark gray-robed cultivator had left.

Li Yuan followed.

He didn't get too close, always maintaining a distance of over two hundred feet. The Earth Escape Technique moved silently underground, while the Dark Fiend Insight's sensory network tightly gripped the oppressive late-stage Foundation Establishment aura ahead.

The opponent's counter-tracking awareness was very strong. They changed direction three times along the way, and twice released brief pulses of energy to probe for any tails behind them. Li Yuan sensed each probe in advance, completely burying his own energy deep within the rock strata before the pulses arrived.

After chasing for about forty miles, the terrain began to change.

The concentration of spiritual energy dropped sharply.

The edge of the Spirit-Slaying Zone.

There is a long, narrow, gray corridor at the border of Liangzhou and Jingzhou, flanked by rolling low hills and a dry riverbed with almost no spiritual energy running through it. This corridor has a rather unpleasant name among the rogue cultivators: Gray Road.

The Gray Road is one of the unofficial routes connecting Liangzhou and Jingzhou. Due to the scarcity of spiritual energy, patrols from righteous sects rarely venture here, making it a natural haven for smugglers and shady forces.

The monk in the dark gray short-sleeved shirt moved even faster after entering the gray road, speeding northeast along the dried-up riverbed.

Li Yuan followed through the sand and gravel layer at the bottom of the riverbed. The geological structure of the gray path was loose, and the slight vibrations generated by the earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of technique used in martial arts) were easily detected by keen cultivators. He suppressed his spiritual power output to the limit, sacrificing speed for silence.

They chased for about twenty more miles.

The monk in the dark gray short-sleeved shirt stopped at a bend in the river.

At the bend in the bridge stands a stone bridge, half-buried by sand and dust. In the archway beneath the bridge, another person is waiting.

Li Yuan stopped three hundred feet underground, compressing his perception to the narrowest possible fan-shaped area to avoid being detected by the other party.

The second person in the bridge arch had an even deeper aura. Dark Fiend Insight swept over and detected a higher concentration of demonic energy than the cultivator in the dark gray short robe.

Peak of late Foundation Establishment stage. Almost at the half-step Golden Core stage.

The exchange was extremely brief. The monk in the dark gray short robe handed over a storage bag, receiving a smaller one in return. There wasn't even a word exchanged; they simply confirmed the exchange with hand gestures before parting ways.

The monk in the dark gray short-sleeved robe returned to Liangzhou via the same route. The second person in the bridge arch continued northeastward along the gray path, heading towards Jingzhou.

A complete diversion route took shape in Li Yuan's mind.

Having seen this, Li Yuan had roughly pieced together the structure of this line: Fangshi accepts orders, relays information, gray road changes hands, and Jingzhou receives the response.

The layers are so distinct that it's extremely difficult to trace the source.

The person who came to meet us from Jingzhou was the key to the true path to the Yuan Sect's main body.

Li Yuan did not catch up with the second person.

He chose a different direction.

Starting from the bend in the stone bridge, follow the path taken by the second person as they departed, using traces to capture the remaining spiritual energy trails.

A gray-blue trail meandered forward across the gravel of the gray road. This person's escape technique was more refined than the cultivator in the dark gray short-sleeved shirt; the residual spiritual energy trail was less and dissipated faster. However, the tracking accuracy was sufficient, and with the expanded range of the spiritual detective's perception, the trail, though faint, never truly broke.

They chased after him for about ten miles.

The terrain of the gray road changed from a flat, dry riverbed to a series of uneven gravel piles. A few clumps of dead shrubs grew in the gaps between the gravel piles, and not even insects could be seen.

The gray trail abruptly broke off above a pile of gravel about half a person's height.

It didn't gradually dissipate, but rather seemed to be cut off by an invisible pair of scissors.

The opponent used some advanced escape technique here, instantly crossing an extremely long distance and completely escaping the tracking range.

Li Yuan stood beside the pile of gravel, closing his eyes to sense the last remaining directionality at the fracture point.

Northeast by north.

The direction in which the trail disappeared was exactly the same as when they had tracked the righteous Golden Core cultivator in the Dry Bone Ridge.

A panel popped up in front of me.

[The conditions for permanent trace tracking (white) have been met (3/3)]

Li Yuan did not hesitate.

"Permanentization".

[Traces tracking (white) has become a permanent entry]

The illusory image of the tracking talisman flickered briefly in the equipment slot before transforming into a white dot of light and merging into the body. The slot became available.

Change is instantaneous.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, and the world around him was filtered through an extremely subtle layer. Without any deliberate effort, the residual spiritual energy trails in the air naturally appeared at the edge of his vision. On the surface of the gravel pile beneath his feet, the broken gray-blue trail from before became even clearer, and he could even discern a trace of yin-cold attribute mixed in with the other party's spiritual energy.

From then on, this ability to passively capture the traces of spiritual energy would accompany him for the rest of his life.

Li Yuan took out the Dark Element Magic Mirror from his storage bag.

The surface of the bronze mirror shimmered with a faint light, but what was reflected in the mirror was not his face, but a swirling mass of dark mist.

[Equipped: Dark Elemental Mirror (Complete)]

[Dark Demon Concealment (Blue) activated: Maximum Demonic Energy increased by 30%; Demonic Energy power increased by 30%]

The moment the illusory image of the bronze mirror disappeared into the equipment slot, Li Yuan felt a sudden jolt within his body.

A deep, eerie light suddenly emanated from the surface of the mid-grade demonic energy golden core in the dantian. The already extremely condensed demonic energy expanded again under the enhancement of the Dark Yuan Demonic Mirror's inscription. The demonic energy flowing through the meridians became thirty percent thicker, and the destructive power contained in each wisp of demonic energy also increased accordingly.

Li Yuan clenched his fist.

The Xuanming Sha Gong has reached a minor level of mastery, but is still quite far from mastery. However, with the Dark Yuan Demon Mirror in the slot, the efficiency of demonic energy circulation will be continuously enhanced when practicing the Xuanming Sha Gong, which is equivalent to adding an accelerator to the sprint to mastery.

After packing his things, Li Yuan did not return to the market via the same route.

He turned south and traveled along the edge of the gray road for about twenty miles before entering a sparsely populated swamp.

The swamp is connected to an underground river, forming a network of waterways. He had crossed this underground river when he last used the permanent Tide Scale Pill, and was already extremely familiar with the underwater terrain.

Li Yuan found an entrance to the underground river and submerged himself in the water.

The permanent Water Release: Swiftness modifier took effect the moment he entered the water, resulting in an extremely high degree of harmony between his body and the water flow. He slithered deeper into the underground river, stabilizing himself in a section about ten zhang wide, and sat cross-legged on a flat rock at the bottom of the river.

Freeze spell.

This second-tier, low-grade water-based spell is currently only at the beginner level. The requirement to make Frost Armor permanent requires mastering a second-tier water-based spell to perfection; the road ahead is long.

However, Li Yuan's current conditions are completely different from when he first learned this spell.

The precision and efficiency of spiritual energy provided by Golden Core cultivation are overwhelming. Water Vein Comprehending increases the precision of water-based spiritual energy perception by 30%, Water Movement Speed ​​Enhancement increases the casting speed and power of water-based spells by 10%, and Water Escape Swiftness further increases the power of water-based spells by 30%. With these multiple attributes combined, each use of the Ice Sealing Technique is far superior to that of ordinary cultivators.

In addition, with the passive enhancement of a series of permanent attributes such as spiritual energy condensation, skill improvement, and increased comprehension, the cultivation speed far exceeds the norm.

Li Yuan activated his spiritual power, circulating it along the meridian pathways of the Ice Sealing Technique.

A chill surged from his dantian, condensing, compressing, and cooling within his meridians. The icy waters of the underground river and the chill on his body created a natural resonance environment, resulting in extremely high efficiency in the conversion of spiritual energy.

Extend your right arm horizontally, palm facing down.

A thin layer of ice spread outward from his palm, instantly covering the water surface three feet in front of him. The thickness, density, and diffusion speed of the ice layer—every parameter was gradually optimized under his precise control.

He performed it again and again, each time faster, more stable, and more solid than the last.

Layer upon layer of ice formed on the rocks at the bottom of the river, which he shattered with his spiritual power and then reformed, repeating the cycle endlessly.

Time flows silently in the underground river.

When Li Yuan emerged from the water, the sky at the entrance of the underground river had already gone through several cycles of day and night.

The spiritual energy within his body circulated for a full cycle, and the cultivation path of the Ice Sealing Technique had become extremely smooth and stable. The leap from beginner to proficient was completed on the second day, and the breakthrough from proficient to master was achieved naturally at the end of the third day.

[Icebound Spell: Beginner → Expert]

After mastering the Ice Seal spell, the precision of his control and the speed of its formation underwent a qualitative change. With a casual wave of his hand on the river, Li Yuan conjured a semi-transparent ice wall, about half a foot thick and as hard as iron.

Li Yuan concealed his aura and circled back to the market from the direction of the swamp.

It was already dusk when we arrived at the market.

Inside the stone house, he sat cross-legged and circulated the Xuanming Sha Gong for one full cycle. The effects of the Dark Yuan Demon Mirror were clearly felt in his meridians, and the flow of demonic energy was much smoother. After each cycle, the purity of the demonic energy that settled in his dantian was significantly higher than before.