Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

At dawn, the five set off from the east side of the valley and searched along a new route.

He Shou walked at the front, his pace even slower than yesterday. He would stop at every open area and scan the surroundings with his spirit-detecting disc.

The five people crossed the ridge on the north side of the valley and entered the gentle slope area on the other side.

Not far away, Li Yuan's spirit detection disc detected two fluctuations of spiritual energy.

"Slightly to the left ahead, at both ends, first-tier low-grade."

He Shou made a gesture, and the five people dispersed.

Li Yuan moved to the side, slightly raised his right hand, and gathered spiritual energy.

A fireball took shape in his palm, the crimson light more solid than ever before.

Let go.

The moment the fireball left his hand, Li Yuan sensed something different.

Previously, the flight path of a fireball would deviate slightly after it was thrown. Wind direction, terrain, and subtle differences in the angle of the wrist during casting would all affect the final landing point.

This time, the fireball seemed to be guided by an invisible thread, flying straight toward its target.

boom.

A crimson flame exploded on the head of a gray hyena, and the hyena's head shattered.

One shot, one kill.

A second gray hyena darted out of the bushes and fled in the opposite direction.

Li Yuan flipped his right hand and switched to the Ice Spike Technique.

A hand seal, a condensation, a release—an ice spike shot from the fingertip, a beat slower than the fireball, but with the same precision.

The ice pick pierced the base of the gray hyena's hind leg, freezing the entire hind half of the rat's body. It fell onto the gravel ground and struggled for a moment.

Chen Qi circled around from behind and finished him off with a single strike.

It took less than ten breaths in total.

He Shou emerged from behind the bushes, glanced at the ruptured wound on the gray hyena's head, then at the one whose hind leg was pinned by an ice spike, grunted in response, and said nothing.

Li Yuan himself was also savoring the feeling of what he had just experienced.

The effect of precise word entry is not like the obvious changes in internal perception that occur with spiritual energy filtering or Zhou Tian acceleration. It is more like an instinct—the angle of the wrist, the timing of the release of spiritual energy, and the judgment of the target location are all more accurate than before at the moment of action.

It's not that I've gained any new abilities; it's that the abilities I already had have become more refined.

Panel appears:

[Precise (White) Permanentization Progress: 2/100]

Two hits, two points of progress.

The five continued to move forward.

Over the next half hour, they encountered three waves of monsters.

The first wave consisted of a lone horned lizard, a low-grade Tier 1, basking in the sun behind a rock. Li Yuan fired a fireball directly at the lizard's back, shattering its scales. He Shou then followed up with a finishing blow.

The second wave consisted of two Ironback Hyenas, one of mid-grade Tier 1 and one of low-grade Tier 1. The five of them coordinated to surround them, while Li Yuan provided fire support from a distance by alternating between fireball and ice spike spells.

Fireballs to the head, ice spikes to the legs—the two spells are used alternately in a fast-paced manner.

The mid-grade Tier 1 Ironback Hyena was clearly stronger than a typical mid-grade Tier 1 hyena. After being hit in the side by the fireball, it went berserk and its speed increased significantly as it pounced on Xu Mao. Xu Mao dodged to the side, but the hyena's front claws still tore a gash in his shoulder, tearing a piece of his patrol uniform and flesh apart.

He Shou arrived from the side, slashing his long sword into the hyena's neck and killing it.

Xu Mao clutched his shoulder and retreated, his face pale, blood trickling down his fingers from the wound.

"No broken bones." Xu Mao gritted his teeth and poured medicine onto the wound with one hand.

Li Yuan didn't stop. Another ice spike shot out, pinning the hind leg of the first-tier low-grade hyena. Liu Ping stepped forward and pierced its abdomen with his sword.

Throughout the entire process, Chen Qi was using magic from the rear.

[Precise (White) Permanentization Progress: 9/100]

[Ice Spike - Proficient (0/400)]

The Ice Spike technique has been mastered.

The transition from beginner to expert felt natural; the only difference was that the hand seals were more skillful, the ice cones formed much faster, and the ice cones were about half a size larger than when I first started.

The third wave of monsters is at the bottom of a dry ditch.

The three-headed lizards were squeezed into the crevices of the rocks at the bottom of the ravine, one of medium quality and two of low quality, but their position was tricky, with the rock wall blocking most of their view.

Li Yuan stood on the edge of the ditch, looking down from a high vantage point, his view covering the bottom of the ditch perfectly.

He Shou led Liu Ping and Chen Qi to circle around from both ends of the ditch to block them, while Xu Mao stayed at the edge of the ditch to provide support because of his injured shoulder.

Li Yuan's fireballs and ice spikes poured down from above.

The effect of precise word selection is even more obvious in scenarios where precise control of the landing point is required—the space at the bottom of the ditch is narrow, and the horned lizard is squeezed between the rocks. If it deviates even slightly, it will hit the rock wall and be wasted.

Six spells were cast, and five hit.

The three-headed lizards were killed in less than thirty breaths under the combined attack of long-range fire and ground encirclement.

But the last horned lizard's dying struggle struck Liu Ping, who was rushing towards it, and its tail whipped across his left leg with a sharp crack.

Liu Ping groaned and knelt down, his left calf noticeably twisted at an angle.

fracture.

He Shou kicked the horned lizard's carcass aside and squatted down to examine Liu Ping's legs.

"The bone is broken and needs to be set; you can't walk anymore."

He Shou took out medicine and splints from his waist and quickly performed a simple immobilization on Liu Ping.

"Two wounded." He Shouzhi stood up, his gaze sweeping over Xu Mao's shoulder and Liu Ping's leg, his expression darkening.

Chen Qi walked over from the end of the ditch, his clothes spotless.

He Shou glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Li Yuan stood on the edge of the ditch and looked at the spirit-detecting plate.

There are no new spiritual energy fluctuations within a radius of thirty feet.

"Captain He, let's turn back," Li Yuan said. "Both of them are injured; going any further is too risky."

He Shou remained silent for a moment, then nodded.

"withdraw."

The five of them started walking back.

Liu Ping, supported by Chen Qi, limped slowly. Xu Mao's shoulder bleeding had stopped, but he couldn't lift his right arm and could only grip the short sword with his left hand.

He Shou suddenly stopped walking less than a hundred feet from Qian Gou.

A grayish-white object was visible at the edge of the bushes ahead.

He Shoujiang drew half of his long sword and walked over slowly.

After the bushes were cleared away, the complete picture was revealed.

Three corpses.

They lay sprawled among the bushes and rubble, their clothes torn and their blood dried and blackened.

The outermost body was lying face up, its face gnawed away by something, leaving only half a face, making its original appearance unrecognizable. There was a bowl-sized penetrating wound on its chest, with the surrounding clothing and flesh torn into strips.

The second body lay face down, its back to the lumbar spine with a long gash torn open, the spine turned outward, and internal organs spilling out onto the ground.

The third body was leaning against a large rock, in a posture that suggested he had died sitting up. There were claw marks on his abdomen, but the wounds were not deep. His face was ashen, and there was black liquid left at the corner of his mouth.

Poisoning.

He Shou squatted down and used the scabbard to check the collar of the first corpse.

There was no badge, no items, nothing at all.

He Shou then inspected the other two bodies, and the situation was similar. They were dressed as rogue cultivators, and all their valuables had been taken from them, leaving only tattered clothes and empty pockets.

"He's been dead for at least three or four days." He Shou stood up and slowly pushed the knife back into its sheath.

"It doesn't seem like they were simply bitten to death by a monster."

Li Yuan noticed it too.

The wounds on the third corpse were not fatal; the real cause of death was poisoning. A black liquid remained at the corner of its mouth, unlike the color of a monster's venom.

Moreover, all the items on the three corpses had been looted; a monster wouldn't do such a thing.

"Someone killed him," Li Yuan said.

"Kill people, take the stuff, and leave the corpse here to feed the monsters." He Shou's voice was very low.

Chen Qi helped Liu Ping stand a few steps away, his face not looking good. He glanced at the three corpses and then looked away.

He Shou noted down the location and characteristics of the body and did not linger any longer.

"Walk."

The five continued walking back, this time at a faster pace than before.

He Shouyi didn't say anything more on the way.

After retracing their route for about 15 minutes, the group passed a low shale cliff.

Li Yuan suddenly stopped in his tracks.

On the side of the cliff, a large section of shale has peeled away, revealing a deeper layer of rock underneath.

There are patterns on the rock surface.

It's not a natural crack—the lines are regular and curved, consistent with the style of the spirit runes found in the valley before.

"Captain He."

He Shou stopped and looked in the direction Li Yuan was looking.

After a brief silence, He Shou walked over and used the tip of his knife to scrape along the lines of the skin.

"It's the trace of an array again."

He Shou took a step back and looked around.

This place is nearly two miles away from yesterday's search area in the valley, separated by a mountain ridge.

The traces of the formation were not only distributed in the valley, but also extended to more distant places.

He Shou marked the location on the simple map he carried with him without delay.

"Let's go back and talk about it first."

As we approached the main camp, several figures appeared on the dirt road ahead.

A group of people were slowly moving towards their base, their formation scattered and their pace very slow.

He Shou squinted and took a few breaths to discern the time.

"One of our own."

Upon closer inspection, the whole picture became clear.

Of the seven people, only four could walk normally. Two of them were supporting the wounded, while the other was lying motionless on a makeshift stretcher made of branches and animal hides, with a cloth covering his face.

One person died.

The leader's clothes were soaked with blood on one side, his right arm was in a sling wrapped with a strip of cloth, and he was walking unsteadily, but he was still moving forward.

Fanghe.

Fang He also saw Li Yuan's group. The old scar on his cheekbone stood out against the blood and grime on his face. He raised his movable left hand and nodded to Li Yuan.

He Shou walked over quickly.

"What happened?"

Fang He stopped, took a couple of breaths, and his voice was hoarse.

"We've run into three mid-tier Tier 1 hordes, all clustered together."

Fang He gestured with his chin toward the body covered with a cloth on the stretcher.

"Old Liu is gone. His abdominal cavity was ripped open, and he was already dead when they pulled him out."

He Shouxian clearly recognized Lao Liu, and his expression instantly darkened.

Li Yuan glanced at the stretcher, then at Fang He and the other wounded.

Of the seven-person team, one died, three were injured, and only three were still able to stand and walk—and these three all had some scratches and bruises on their bodies.

"Three mid-grade Tier 1 heads appearing simultaneously?"

"Not at the same time." Fang He moved his right arm, which was in a sling, and grinned.

"We encountered one first, and after the fight started, the other two were attracted by the noise. I also suspect that the first one was probably close to a high-grade first-tier beast."

"Aren't Captain Wang's men nearby?"

"They went deeper into the area, and we lost contact with them."

Fang He paused here, wiping the blood off his face with his left hand, which was covered by a boxing glove.

"The number of monsters in these mountains is getting denser. We've never seen so many mid-level monsters clustered together in the outer areas before."

He Shou didn't reply, but helped Fang He up, and the two groups joined together and headed towards the main camp.

Li Yuan walked at the back of the group, his gaze shifting from the cloth covering the face on the stretcher.

The spirit detection disc remained on, and no new spiritual energy fluctuations were detected within its range.