Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Before dawn the next day, the camp began to move.

The captain of the guard, along with two members of the royal family and a small squad, ventured into the depths of the valley under the cover of morning mist.

The remaining people were divided into three groups according to the arrangements made last night, and each group was assigned a search area.

Li Yuan, He Shou, Xu Mao, Chen Qi, and Liu Ping advanced northward along the eastern side of the valley.

"What kind of traces are you looking for?" Chen Qi asked.

"The patterns on the rock." He Shou briefly recounted the characteristics described by the Wang family members last night. "They're not natural cracks; they're man-made carvings. The lines are regular and curved."

"Sometimes we have to dig underground, because some rocks are hidden underneath."

The five people searched along the mountainside, stopping and starting intermittently.

The rock strata on the mountain wall are exposed, and the gray-black shale surface is covered with natural cracks and moss. It is not easy to distinguish the traces of human spirit patterns from them.

After searching for nearly an hour, Chen Qi discovered something unusual on a protruding rock face.

"here."

Several people crowded around to take a look.

There is an arc-shaped indentation on the surface of the rock wall, about a finger's width and very shallow, almost covered with moss.

He Shou used the tip of his knife to scrape away the moss, revealing the bottom of the indentation.

It is smooth, much smoother than the surrounding natural rock surface, with regular curved edges.

"It's a spirit rune." He Shou sheathed his sword.

Li Yuan squatted down and traced the path of the indentation with his fingers.

The indentation extended from the rock face, turned left, and disappeared beneath a pile of rubble.

He noted down the location of the garrison commander and led the group to continue searching northward.

Over the next half day, the five of them discovered three more similar traces of spiritual patterns.

Some are carved on the rock face, and some are carved on the surface of large rocks that are half-buried underground. They are scattered in location, but the style of the patterns is consistent - regular arcs, smooth bottoms, and they are still recognizable despite being weathered and eroded.

In the afternoon, the search teams gradually returned to the valley camp to regroup.

The other two groups also made gains, and together they discovered more than a dozen traces of spirit patterns around the valley.

When the captain of the guard returned with the royal family members from the depths, it was already past dusk.

The expressions of the two members of the royal family were even more solemn than yesterday. One of them had a roll of rough animal hide in his hand, which was covered with dense markings.

The captain of the guard team collected the location information reported by each team and gathered with the Wang family members to check it against the markings on the animal hides one by one.

This time, they didn't try to hide it from people.

Standing not far away, Li Yuan could see a simple topographical map drawn on the parchment. The outline of the valley, the direction of the mountain walls, and the location of the streambed were all clearly marked. A dozen or so red dots were scattered throughout the map, with a few small words written next to each dot.

The Wang family members used charcoal pencils to draw several lines on the topographic map, connecting some of the dots.

The lines form an irregular arc, like part of a larger pattern.

"Indeed, there's more than one place." A voice from one of the Wang family members drifted over from the crowd, carrying a sense of confirmation.

"I have no idea what they're up to, but a formation this big is impossible."

The captain of the guard remained silent for a few moments, then rolled up the parchment and tucked it into his sleeve.

He then turned around to face everyone.

"Continue the reconnaissance in teams tomorrow."

……

That evening, Li Yuan sat cross-legged and began his cultivation.

Spiritual energy surged in from all directions, and the convergence of spiritual energy extended the absorption range to more than five or six zhang (approximately 10-13 meters). The already abundant spiritual energy within the Yuanheng Mountains was gathered in large quantities.

The efficiency was much higher than when it was in the market.

Li Yuan was completely focused and single-minded, completing one cycle of Qi circulation after another.

After an unknown amount of time, the feeling of circulating the Spirit Guiding Technique suddenly changed.

It's not a change in spiritual energy, but the technique itself.

In the past, when spiritual energy circulated, there was a very brief pause between the nodes of the meridians. When spiritual energy transferred from one meridian to another, it needed to slightly adjust its direction, like a river slowing down when flowing through a bend.

Now those pauses have disappeared.

The circulation of spiritual energy in the meridians becomes a complete and uninterrupted flow, starting from the dantian, traveling through all the meridians of the body, and returning to the dantian, without any stagnation in between.

Li Yuan opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath.

The panel appears.

【Cultivation Technique: Spirit Guiding Technique - Great Success (0/3200)】

In two months, I gained nearly 800 proficiency points.

The most noticeable change after reaching the Great Perfection is in cultivation efficiency.

In the same cycle, the Great Completion of the Spirit Guiding Technique absorbs nearly 40% more spiritual energy than the Lesser Completion version, and the loss of spiritual energy in the meridians is almost zero.

Previously, after each cycle of spiritual energy circulation, a small portion would dissipate at the turning points of the meridians, which, if accumulated, would amount to a considerable waste. Now, this loss is gone, meaning that every wisp of absorbed spiritual energy is delivered intact into the dantian.

Moreover, the speed at which the spiritual energy is absorbed from the spirit stones has also increased.

Li Yuan put away the panel and closed his eyes to continue cultivating.

Li Yuan continued his practice until late into the night before finally concluding his session.

[Aura Gathering (White) Permanentization Progress: 7/10]

In one night, it absorbed all the spiritual energy from two spirit stones.

Qi Refining cultivators don't need much sleep. The higher their cultivation level, the less sleep they need. At the fifth level of Qi Refining, one or two hours is enough.

Li Yuan leaned against the mountain wall with his eyes closed, his body rapidly recovering its strength under the influence of the Five Grains Nourishing Qi.

……

Before the morning mist had completely dissipated, the five of them began to advance northward along the eastern side of the valley.

He Shou walked in front, Li Yuan followed behind, and Chen Qi, Liu Ping, and Xu Mao brought up the rear.

Today's search area is further out than yesterday's, requiring us to bypass a ridge on the north side of the valley and enter a gentle slope on the other side.

Li Yuan held a spirit stone in his hand and began to absorb spiritual energy.

Li Yuan was surprised to find that after mastering the Spirit Guiding Technique, absorbing spiritual energy while walking became much smoother.

Yesterday, I had to absorb spiritual energy slowly to avoid making mistakes while circulating my energy. But now, the spiritual energy is flowing rapidly in my body. Although I haven't reached the point where I can cultivate, walking no longer affects my absorption of the spiritual energy from the spirit stones.

After walking a short distance, Chen Qi started muttering to himself.

"It's just about finding patterns on stones again. What's the point? They don't give you spirit stones, they just give you useless contribution points. Plus, there are lots of monsters around, and it's dangerous."

The sound wasn't loud, but He Shou in front of him could definitely hear it.

He Shou did not turn around.

Chen Qi muttered a couple more words, and seeing that no one paid attention to him, his voice gradually faded, but his steps became noticeably slower, putting him several steps behind the person in front of him.

The search did not go smoothly.

The rock strata on the gentle slope to the north are severely weathered, with the surface broken into thin flakes of shale. There are hardly any traces of spirit patterns, and even intact rock surfaces are rare.

The five of them spent most of the morning searching the gravel slope, but only found a small indentation on the side of a large rock that was half-buried in the soil, which they suspected was a spiritual pattern. They couldn't be completely sure yet.

On the way back in the afternoon, they encountered two more monsters.

A low-grade first-level gray hyena darted out of the grass and was pinned to death by Liu Ping with an ice spike.

On the other side was a low-grade first-tier horned lizard, lying behind a rock, which was killed by Li Yuanyi's fireball.

The two demonic beasts were dealt with cleanly and efficiently, but Chen Qi's expression grew increasingly grim.

"We encountered three yesterday, and two more today." Chen Qi sheathed his short sword, his fingers rubbing the hilt. "There are more and more monsters in this area. What if we, the five of us, run into a high-grade first-tier monster while we're out here?"

He Shou turned back this time.

"Run if you run into them."

"Run? Where to?" Chen Qi's voice rose a fraction. "There's no village or shop in sight."

He Shou glanced at Chen Qi for two breaths, his tone unchanged.

"Once you sign the contract, you have to work. Don't forget, you shed your blood on this contract."

Li Yuan looked at Chen Qi and saw that Chen Qi's mouth moved, but in the end he didn't say anything and followed the group with his head down.

Breaking the contract won't result in immediate death, but this drop of essence blood will let the royal family know your approximate location to prevent you from escaping.

……

At night, Li Yuan looked at the system panel.

[Aura Gathering (White) Permanentization Progress: 10/10]

[The conditions for permanent Spiritual Energy Gathering (White) have been met]

Is it permanent?

Li Yuan had a sudden thought.

Yes.

[Permanentization successful]

[Aura Gathering (White) has become a permanent entry]

[Equipment consumed]

[Five white-grade or higher affixes have been permanently enhanced, unlocking the third equipment slot]

[Current Equipment Slots: 1/3 (Three or more green-grade or higher attributes: Breakthrough Refinement Late Stage/Permanent; completing one of these will unlock the fourth equipment slot)]

[Equipped Item: Condensation Technique]

[Equipment Attribute: Spiritual Energy Condensation (Green)]

[Permanent entries: Cleansing Body (gray), Spiritual Energy Filtering (white), Five Grains Nourishing Qi (white), Accelerated Qi Circulation (white), Scaled Armor Protection (white), Spiritual Energy Gathering (white)]

Six permanent entries, five of which are white.

The third equipment slot has been unlocked, meaning that you can equip three items at the same time.

Looking at the requirements for unlocking the fourth equipment slot, the condition for unlocking it in the later stages of breakthrough refining is still there.

"It's possible that the cultivation level requirement and the accumulation of affixes are two conditions that run in parallel; meeting either requirement will unlock the next affix."

Li Yuan made a guess, put the waste spirit stone into his sleeve, and took out the Iron Ox Technique manual. The cooldown timer had long since passed.

equipment.

The book transformed into light and merged into my body, and the warmth that enveloped my internal organs deep within my abdomen surged back up.

Current equipment slots: 2/3

[Equipped Items: Condensation Technique, Iron Ox Skill]

[Equipment Attributes: Spiritual Energy Condensation (Green), Internal Organ Enhancement (White)]

There was still one empty slot, so Li Yuan thought for a moment and equipped the Flame Serpent Tube.

The current situation in the mountains is perfect for accumulating progress on the Flame Serpent Tube entry.

Current equipment slots: 3/3

[Equipped Items: Condensation Technique, Iron Ox Technique, Flame Serpent Tube]

[Equipment Attributes: Spiritual Energy Condensation (Green), Internal Organ Enhancement (White), Precision (White)]

Nine entries are active simultaneously.

The spiritual energy is filtered and purified, the circulation of spiritual energy is accelerated, the spiritual energy gathers and expands the absorption range, the spiritual energy is condensed and compacted, the internal organs are strengthened and protected, the accuracy is improved, the scales protect the body from external injuries, the five grains nourish the qi and enhance physical strength and blood circulation, and the cleansed body is kept clean.