Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Inside the Shiyi Zhai, the old cultivator Sun Shiyi huddled in a chair, his cloudy eyes cautiously scrutinizing Li Yuan.

Since the goods in his cellar were seized last time, he has been staying in the market for more than half a month, neither daring to run away nor asking questions, and living in fear and anxiety every day in his shop.

Li Yuan walked in and sat down opposite him.

"The investigation is complete."

The old monk's body trembled violently, and all the color drained from his face.

"You have no direct connection with the Demon Sect," Li Yuan said calmly.

"The people who came to you to buy the goods were peripheral channels of the Demon Fiend Sect, but you yourself did not know their identities, and the transactions were not initiated by you. It can be considered a normal antique transaction."

The old monk paused for a moment, then let out a long breath, his whole body slumped back in the chair as if his bones had been removed.

"Thank you, Master Xie, for your wise judgment..."

"This is compensation." Li Yuan pointed to the storage bag on the table. "Some of the items confiscated earlier were useful to you; I'll return them to you in spirit stones. The array fragments and residue will remain."

The old cultivator took the storage bag with trembling hands, glanced at it with his divine sense, and his eyes immediately reddened.

The number of spirit stones was much greater than he had expected. Those array fragments and remnants were already worthless, but now the converted spirit stones were more than he would have earned from selling them to those dubious buyers.

"Fellow Daoist Sun." Li Yuan's voice made the old cultivator immediately composed himself and sit up straight.

"You said those fragments and remnants were dug up thirty years ago on the outskirts of the Ghost Mist Forest. Where exactly was that place?"

The old cultivator remained silent for a moment, seemingly weighing whether to speak or not. But the fear of narrowly escaping death was still lingering in his heart, and his hesitation lasted only two breaths.

"A valley about fifteen miles northwest of Ghost Mist Forest and from Dry Bone Ridge."

The old cultivator rubbed his hands together, lowering his voice slightly, "Thirty years ago, not many people went to that area, and the fog wasn't as thick as it is now."

"Back then, I was mining on the outskirts to supplement my family's income. Once, I walked several miles deeper into the mine vein and reached that valley. Suddenly, I felt dizzy all around, as if I had stepped into empty air."

"By the time I came to my senses, the person was no longer there."

"It was like entering a stone chamber buried in the mountains. The place wasn't big, and the surrounding area was full of rubble and cracked stone walls, as if it had collapsed. I was terrified at the time and only cared about finding a way out. As a result, I found a lot of metal fragments and powdery things in the pile of rubble."

"Back then, I only had a storage bag, and I didn't have much wealth. There was nothing in the storage bag."

"After I finished collecting them, the world spun around me again, and when I opened my eyes again, I was back in the valley outside."

"Later, I showed those things to some old acquaintances, who said they might be array components from the ruins of an ancient sect. Someone was willing to pay a price for them, and that's when I started doing this business."

"Did you go there again after that?"

"I've been there two or three times," the old monk shook his head, "but no matter how hard I search, I can't find that strange place anymore. The valley is still the same valley, but nothing like that has happened again. The last time I went was twenty years ago."

Do you remember the exact location?

The old monk pulled out an old, yellowed animal hide map from his robes and spread it on the table. The markings on the map were rough and hasty, but the location of the valley, the orientation of the stone gate, and the depth of the passage were all marked in great detail.

Li Yuan glanced at the animal hide map, and the location of the collapsed stone gate happened to fall in a blank area in the northwest region of the branch hall structure map.

"Fellow Daoist Sun." Li Yuan put away the rubbing of the animal hide map and returned the original to the old cultivator.

"You won't have to do your business secretly anymore. Have Ji Wenchuan handle the paperwork for you, so you can be affiliated with Yuanmingzhai as a partner. From now on, any old items and antiques you receive in your shop will be supplied to Yuanmingzhai first, and the prices will be based on market prices."

The old monk was stunned for a moment, then his face broke into a wide smile.

"Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!"

After seeing the old cultivator off, Li Yuan summoned Ji Wenchuan.

"The auction will be held in thirty days. The venue is the lobby on the second floor of Yuanmingzhai. I will give you the list of items later; you can start setting up the framework first. The consignment rules are the same as those in Baijingfang Market: a 20% commission, and the reserve price is set by the consignor. Remember to promote it when the auction begins."

"Understood." Ji Wenchuan turned to leave, but was stopped by Li Yuan.

"Tell Xu Zhang."

"I already told you," Ji Wenchuan chuckled. "Manager Xu heard about it and came to ask me about it. He said that the Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce also has a few hidden treasures they want to sell this time."

After Ji Wenchuan left, Li Yuan went to Yueqi Pavilion in the East District.

He left the preparations for the auction to Ji Wenchuan and Xu Zhang, as he needed to focus his energy on another matter.

When the shopkeeper saw that it was him, he was very polite.

"Is Master Li here to buy things again?"

"The Cold Binding Talisman," Li Yuan said bluntly.

"We have stock. This batch was just transferred from the sect, and the quality is even better than the last batch." The shopkeeper took a wooden box from the shelf. "Fifty sheets, same price as before."

Li Yuan paid with spirit stones and carefully put away the wooden box.

The Mirror Binding Talisman I bought last time was a variant of the Cold Binding Talisman.

Back in the stone house, Li Yuan spread out the talisman paper and placed a new Cold Binding Talisman flat on the table.

He didn't rush to act, but first closed his eyes and activated the Ice Seal spell.

After perfecting the Ice Sealing Technique, his ability to convert and condense ice-type spiritual energy had reached an instinctive level of proficiency. The core function of the Frost Binding Talisman is ice-type control, and the underlying principles of the two highly overlap.

Li Yuan used his divine sense to delve into the interior of the talisman, disassembling the array structure layer by layer.

This time, the perspective was different from before. He no longer tried to directly imitate the original array pattern of the Tianyue Sect, but instead used the logic of the perfected Ice Sealing Technique's spiritual power operation as a basis to reverse-engineer the functional allocation of each array pattern node inside the Frost Binding Talisman.

Li Yuan spread out a blank sheet of talisman paper, dipped his Qingling talisman brush in the prepared spiritual ink, and began to write.

With a flourish of the brush, the spiritual ink seeped into every fiber of the talisman paper.

The final touches.

The surface of the talisman paper shimmered with a very faint ice-blue luster, and the spiritual energy inside the talisman flowed smoothly and steadily.

It became.

[Second-Order Talisman Making Technique: Minor Success → Major Success]

Mastery of second-order symbol creation.

Within a three-foot radius, the entry perception is triggered.

[Equipable item detected: Frostbinding Charm (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Rune of Ice (White) - Increases the success rate of ice-type rune crafting by 10%, and increases the power of ice-type spells by 10%]

[Permanentization Requirements: Cultivate three water-based spells or techniques]

White text. Both effects are extremely useful.

The condition for permanent attainment is mastering three water-based spells. Li Yuan quickly went through it in his mind—Ice Seal Technique at its peak, Ice Cone Technique at a proficient level, and Cold Stream Technique at its most advanced stage. All the cultivation techniques or spells bound to the three water-based spells had reached at least the entry level.

The conditions are met.

The Ice Rune (White) has become a permanent entry.

The illusory image of the Frostbinding Talisman flashed briefly in the equipment slot. The success rate of crafting ice talismans is increased by 10%, and the power of ice spells is increased by 10%.

From then on, every ice-type talisman he crafted would have a 10% higher success rate, and the power of his Ice Seal and Ice Spike spells would permanently reach a new level.