Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Starting from Luoxia Port, head south along the coastline.

As evening fell, a small harbor nestled between cliffs came into view.

Nanyuanfang.

The harbor is small, only large enough to accommodate seven or eight medium-sized ships at the same time. The dock is built of rough black reef stone, simple but sturdy. Dozens of stone chambers of varying sizes have been carved into the cliffs on both sides of the harbor, arranged in layers along the cliff face, forming the main buildings of the market town.

A faded blue cloth flag hangs at the entrance to the top-level stone chamber, with no patterns or words on it.

Li Yuan walked down the stone steps carved out from the top of the cliff.

The market was much smaller than the Misty Forest Market or the White Mirror Market, but it was more lively than he had expected. There were about thirty or forty cultivators coming and going on the stone steps, most of them were in the early to mid-stages of Foundation Establishment, and they were dressed in the coarse cloth short shirts of Shuizhou.

But there were a few different people mixed in with them.

A tall, middle-aged monk wore a dark blue robe sewn from sharkskin, with a seashell-shaped token hanging from his waist. His skin was tanned a deep bronze by the sea breeze and the scorching sun, and white salt stains from years of immersion in seawater were visible between his fingers.

The other two were even more conspicuous. A man and a woman, dressed in luxurious attire; the man wore a brocade robe embroidered with silver wave patterns, and the woman wore a string of emerald green coral necklaces. Both possessed the aura of late-stage Foundation Establishment, but their spiritual power carried a salty, sea-like scent that Li Yuan had never sensed from any land-based cultivator.

The cultivators of the island's forces.

Li Yuan walked past them without making a sound and followed the stone steps to the trading area in the middle of the market.

The trading area stretches horizontally along the middle of the cliff, with the facades of more than a dozen stone chambers connected to form a short and wide commercial street. The shelves are filled with various seafood materials, water-based magical artifacts, and elixirs.

The biggest difference from the land-based market is that you can hardly find any fire, earth, or metal materials here.

Li Yuan slowly walked along the shelves, his eyes scanning each item.

Deep-sea coral, tidal pearls, shark scales, seaweed, and ice silk. All are aquatic or ocean-related spiritual materials, varying in quality but extremely diverse in variety.

Conversely, the most common minerals on land, such as fire crystals, spirit silver ore, and star sand, are nowhere to be found here. Even the most basic spiritual herbs and medicines are scarce.

In the corner of the shelf, there was a small area specifically for displaying terrestrial spiritual materials. Several ordinary-quality Qi-gathering grasses and Qi-cultivating grasses were placed in the most conspicuous position, priced at nearly three times higher than the market price in Liangzhou Market.

The supply and demand relationship is extremely unbalanced. Marine spiritual materials are piling up like mountains, while land resources are ridiculously scarce.

Li Yuan continued walking forward and stopped at the door of a corner stone chamber.

Inside the stone chamber was a low table with several water-based magical artifacts on it: a light blue dagger, a small shield covered in scales, and a deep blue sphere the size of a fist.

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

Li Yuan picked up the ball.

The moment their palms touched, an extremely gentle water-based spiritual energy seeped from the surface of the sphere, spreading upwards along the meridians of the arm. The touch was cool and smooth, like immersing one's hand in a spring of life.

"That's called a Azure Tide Sand Compression Ball." The stall owner in the stone chamber was a dark-skinned young cultivator, in the early stages of Foundation Establishment, who was squatting in a corner mending a fishing net, speaking without looking up. "It's the raw ore mined from the Azure Tide Sand layer at the bottom of the sea, compressed and shaped like this. It's mainly used to power water-based magical artifacts, and can also be used as a cultivation aid."

"How many?"

"One hundred spirit stones. This thing is worthless at sea, but if you bring it back to land, its price will at least double."

Li Yuan did not haggle and directly took out spirit stones from his storage bag to make the transaction.

The stall owner took the spirit stones, counted them, and put them away with satisfaction.

Li Yuan held the Bi Chao Sand Compression Ball in his palm, and the panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected: Azure Tide Sand Compression Ball (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Tidal Convergence (Green)]

[Effect: Increases the speed of water-based spell casting by 10%; allows for slow replenishment of spiritual energy while in water.]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Accumulate 60 days of living in the sea (0/60)]

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

Green text. Both effects point to water-based combat ability and underwater endurance.

Li Yuan put the Bi Chao Sand Compressed Ball into his storage bag and continued walking along the commercial street.

The further you go in, the more obvious the scarcity of terrestrial spiritual materials becomes. Several stalls have handwritten purchase notices, with crooked handwriting offering high prices for various terrestrial spiritual herbs and medicines.

One stall even offered to buy up Peiyuan grass at five times the market price, with a note next to it saying "We'll buy as much as you have."

Li Yuan silently calculated in his mind.

The warehouses of Wulin Market are piled with a large number of low- to mid-grade spiritual herbs, many of which are already in oversupply in the Liangzhou market, resulting in extremely thin profit margins.

However, if the goods are transported to Shuizhou to be sold, the profit margin will at least triple.

The problem lies in the transportation costs. Crossing the Spirit-Severing Zone is quite costly, and the spiritual energy of spiritual herbs continuously diminishes after leaving their spiritual environment. Ordinary independent cultivators lack the capacity to conduct such inter-state trade; only cultivators with special methods or large merchant guilds can afford it.

But he has a teleportation array.

Traveling from Liangzhou to Mozhou via the teleportation array takes only a few breaths, while crossing the high mountains from Mozhou to reach Shuizhou takes at most a day. Throughout the journey, spiritual herbs can be preserved using sealing jade bottles, resulting in negligible loss of spiritual essence.

The profits from this trade route were extremely substantial.

As Li Yuan was making his plans, he heard steady footsteps behind him.

Golden Elixir.

Li Yuan turned around.

A middle-aged cultivator of medium build was walking along the commercial street towards them. He wore a gray-white robe and had an ordinary face with no striking features. However, the spiritual energy around him was like a deep, still pool, calm on the surface but containing extremely profound power beneath.

Early stage of Golden Elixir.

This is the rogue Golden Core alchemist mentioned by the Su family steward, and the owner of Nanyuan Workshop.

The other person's gaze paused briefly as they passed by Li Yuan.

"From out of state?"

His tone was flat, not like an interrogation, but more like casually confirming something he had already guessed.

Li Yuan nodded.

"Liangzhou".

"Liangzhou." The middle-aged cultivator repeated, his gaze lingering on him for a moment, as if judging something.

For a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator from Liangzhou to travel thousands of miles across the Spirit-Severing Zone to the small market town at the southernmost tip of Shuizhou is something no ordinary rogue cultivator could do.

"I am Li Yuan, the owner of Wulin Market." Li Yuan introduced himself.

A hint of interest appeared in the middle-aged cultivator's eyes.

"Master?"

"It's a small market town on the outskirts of Liangzhou's Ghost Mist Forest, mainly dealing in elixirs, talismans, and magical artifacts," Li Yuan said succinctly. "This time, I'm in Shuizhou to purchase seafood and spiritual materials, and also to see if there are any opportunities for cooperation."

The middle-aged cultivator remained silent for a few moments, then extended his hand.

"Zhou He. Master of Nanyuanfang."

The two shook hands briefly on the stone steps of the shopping street.

Zhou He's palms were dry and warm, his spiritual energy contained, showing no intention of testing him.

"Come on, let's go upstairs and sit down." Zhou He turned and walked towards the stone chamber at the top of the cliff, with Li Yuan following behind.

The uppermost stone chamber was Zhou He's private reception room. The interior was simply furnished with a stone table, two wooden chairs, and several hand-drawn nautical charts hanging on the wall. On the table sat a steaming teapot and two rough pottery teacups.

The two sat down opposite each other.

Zhou He poured two cups of tea and pushed one of them over.

"The shopkeeper from Liangzhou didn't come all the way to my little town just to buy a few kilograms of Bi Chao Sha," Zhou He said, taking a sip of his tea, his gaze calm yet sharp. "Do you have any plans to do business with me?"

"Trade land-based spiritual materials for seafood." Li Yuan thought about it and realized that doing business here would indeed be very profitable.

"You lack spiritual herbs and medicines here, and I lack water-based spiritual materials there. Let's establish a mutually beneficial exchange."

Upon hearing this, Zhou He smiled.

"What are your specific plans?"

The two then finalized the basic framework. Specific product categories, delivery schedules, and payment methods still need further refinement, but the core terms have been established.

Zhou He stood up, took a jade slip from the wooden shelf on the wall, and handed it to Li Yuan.

"This is Nan Yuan Fang's regular product list and price list. Go back and draft a purchase order based on it. Next time you come, we'll go through the formal process."

Li Yuan took the jade slip and put it away.

"Oh, right," Zhou He suddenly remembered something, "Since you're in the market business, you can go directly through here when you come to Shuizhou. I've set up a small teleportation node outside Nanyuan Market. It was set up by the sect before, and I've only finished half of it. It can only receive data in one direction, but it will save you time traveling along the coastline. I'll give you a positioning jade token when you get there."

Transmission node.

"Thank you." Li Yuan nodded.

After leaving Zhou He's reception room, Li Yuan took another stroll around Nanyuanfang.

Although the market was small, it covered almost all the daily necessities of cultivators. The finished pills in the pill shop were of extremely high quality, proving Zhou He's strength as a Golden Core alchemist. The magic weapon shop had a wide variety of water-based magic weapons, and the craftsmanship of some of the finest pieces was even comparable to the mid-to-high-end items in the White Mirror Market.

The only weakness is land resources. The scarcity of spiritual herbs, ores, and fire and earth elements severely restricts the development potential of Nanyuanfang.

This is precisely the gap he can fill.

From Liangzhou to Mozhou, use the teleportation array; from Mozhou, cross the mountains to enter Shuizhou; from Shuizhou, follow the coast to Nanyuanfang. The entire journey takes no more than two days.

A hidden trade route traversing three states is beginning to take shape.