Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The standoff in the direction of Kugu Ridge has lasted for more than ten days.

None of the Golden Core cultivators were willing to make the first move, nor were they willing to retreat. Xuanpu Zhenren's late-stage Golden Core aura dominated the east side, three Golden Core cultivators from Yuanzong occupied the west and north sides, the Golden Core cultivators from Bitanzong were stationed on the northeastern perimeter, and two Golden Core cultivators from Yuanyangzong guarded the southern line.

Li Yuan stopped on a low hill about fifteen miles northwest of the market.

All twelve divine sense lines were deployed, capturing all perceptible aura signals from the direction of Dry Bone Ridge one by one.

After sunset, the various Golden Core cultivators fell into a new round of silent confrontation.

Li Yuan silently slid down the low hill.

It operates at full capacity, remaining hidden and untraceable.

His aura, spiritual energy fluctuations, residual demonic energy, body temperature, and even the slight disturbance to the surrounding spiritual energy caused by his body's movement were all suppressed to almost zero. Driven by his late-stage Golden Core cultivation, the effect of his stealth ability was several levels stronger than when he was in the early-stage Golden Core stage.

He used earth-遁术 (a technique to escape into the earth) to sneak underground and slowly advanced towards the ruins along the geological fault lines surrounding the Dry Bone Ridge.

Half an hour later, Li Yuan arrived at the inner perimeter of the Dry Bone Ridge.

Seven zhang underground, he steadied himself in the rock strata and extended his senses upwards.

The aftershocks of the third-tier superior-grade restriction weighed heavily overhead. Although Yuanzong's previous attempt to break the restriction had failed, traces of forced prying remained on the surface of the restriction. Li Yuan scanned the outer layer of the restriction with the permanent entry of the array base reversal, and the reversed energy trajectory was clearly presented in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The restrictions were breached in more than one location.

There were at least four different attack points, distributed to the north and west of the barrier. The residual energy spectrum at each attack point was different, but they all belonged to the category of directional interference of the array, rather than direct forceful destruction.

Use formations to break formations.

The array master of Yuanzong attempted to weaken a specific area of ​​the restriction by using frequency interference created from materials of the same origin. This perfectly matched the first half of the deduction of the restriction-breaking plan that he had previously read from the encrypted jade slip.

However, the energy trajectory of one of the four attack points was clearly abnormal.

The interference frequency at that point suddenly shifted drastically after lasting for about 15 minutes, transforming from precise directional interference into an uncontrolled surge of energy. The surge covered a vast area, and instead of weakening the restriction, it activated the restriction's backlash mechanism, producing the tremor that swept across dozens of miles.

An error occurred during the execution process.

Li Yuan recorded the location, residual spectrum, and backlash traces of all attack points on the surface of the barrier, and then continued to extend his perception towards the sky above the ruins.

There was a sound coming from there.

The spiritual transmission between Golden Core cultivators would normally be impossible to eavesdrop on at this distance, but in order to convey information and test each other's attitudes, some of the communication between the parties in the standoff was deliberately conducted in a semi-public manner.

"...Everyone knows what's beneath the barrier."

The speaker was a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator from Yuanzong. His voice, amplified by spiritual energy, was calm and unhurried.

"Earth Spirit Fetus."

"Just a guess."

Master Xuanpu's voice was as calm as water.

"The restriction on the Bone Ridge is a high-grade third-order restriction. What the Xuan You Sect sealed inside back then may not have been the Earthly Origin Spirit Embryo. It could have just been a batch of high-grade spiritual materials or a cultivation technique inheritance."

"If Fellow Daoist Xuanpu truly thinks this way, why bother personally overseeing things?" Yuanzong, a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, chuckled.

Master Xuanpu did not respond.

Another voice broke in, sounding much younger; it belonged to the early-stage Golden Core cultivator from the Bitan Sect.

"The most likely possibility is the Earthly Spirit Embryo, but other possibilities cannot be ruled out."

"No matter what it is, no one can eat it all by themselves," a Golden Core cultivator from the Yuan Yang Sect chimed in.

"Instead of wasting time here, let's first find out the details of the restrictions, and then discuss the allocation among all parties."

The conversation ended there, and no one responded.

No one can confirm it. All the intelligence from various parties is speculative; no one has obtained concrete evidence.

Li Yuan withdrew his senses and returned to the market town along the original route.

Back in the stone house, he organized and archived all the intelligence he had gathered that night.

The situation at Dry Bone Ridge is unlikely to change in the short term. All the Golden Core cultivators are waiting, waiting for their opponents to show a weakness first, for the restrictions to loosen on their own, or for a higher-level force to intervene and break the stalemate.

The plan to shatter the elixir is temporarily put on hold.

I already have the materials needed for Core Formation, and the purple attribute of the Demon Core's Creation ensures a quality improvement in the re-condensation of the shattered core. The Reshaping Through Adversity provides compensation for aptitude and lifespan after a fall in cultivation level. Theoretically, starting over with a shattered core is now feasible.

However, after the Golden Core shatters in the later stages, the cultivator enters a period of weakness. It takes time for the Golden Core to shatter and reform, during which time combat power drops significantly, essentially equivalent to a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the peak. Highly recommend "Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes"! Go directly to the exciting part. Given the current uncertain situation in the Bone Ridge and the gathering of many Golden Core cultivators, it's best to play it safe.

Furthermore, with his late-stage Golden Core cultivation combined with the Nascent Soul perspective granted by the Mysterious Nether Pearl, his perception of spatial power is at an excellent window. Both the Sky-Splitting Slash and the Teleportation Technique are progressing rapidly, drawing ever closer to perfection. The underground spatial rift in the valley described by Sun Shiyi offers a safer path to achieving a higher level of spatial manipulation.

First, push the spatial technique to its maximum level, explore the stone chamber on the other side of the spatial rift, and then consider shattering the core.

In the days that followed, Li Yuan devoted most of his energy to practicing teleportation techniques.

The Nascent Soul perspective provided by the Mysterious Pearl allowed him to perceive spatial structures with a clarity far exceeding that of cultivators of the same level. The core of the teleportation technique was to tear open an extremely short displacement channel in space and instantly transfer himself to the other end of the channel.

The clearer the perception of the spatial structure, the higher the precision of tearing open the channel, the lower the consumption, and the faster the speed.

Strictly speaking, a Nascent Soul cultivator's Nascent Soul can achieve spatial teleportation, which is very similar to teleportation techniques. It's just a pity that I don't have a Nascent Soul to compare myself to right now.

With the enhanced spiritual power of the late-stage Golden Core realm combined with the assistance of the Nascent Soul perspective, cultivation efficiency is extremely high.

On the seventh day, the energy flow path of the teleportation technique underwent a complete optimization and reconstruction within the meridians.

[Teleportation Technique: Proficient → Minor Success]

That afternoon, Xu Zhang arrived and explained the business information of Yuanmingzhai to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan suddenly asked a question.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, does the Chamber of Commerce have any spells that deplete lifespan?"

Xu Zhang was taken aback.

"Something that consumes lifespan?" He frowned and thought for a moment. "Such things are extremely rare. Most cultivators avoid them like the plague. Who would willingly cultivate a spell that consumes their own lifespan?"

"I am useful."

Xu Zhang pondered for a moment.

"The Chamber of Commerce does have two such cultivation manuals in its possession. They were collected from various places in the early years, but no one has ever bought them."

"Wait me a moment."

Xu Zhang left first, then returned a moment later, taking out two jade slips and placing them on the table.

"This one is a secret technique that sacrifices lifespan to achieve a rapid increase in spiritual power in a short period of time. The side effects are severe; using it once can shorten one's lifespan by at least five years and up to ten years. The other one…"

He picked up the second jade slip.

"This is a divination technique. Second level, it consumes lifespan to deduce good or bad fortune and vague future trends. The effect is not too strong, but it is stable, and the lifespan consumed each time is controllable."

The perception of the term within a three-foot radius was triggered; the green term was "divination."

"Show me your divination skills."

Xu Zhang handed over the second jade slip.

Li Yuan took the jade slip, and a panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected: Celestial Divination Technique (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Celestial Residual (Green)]

[Effect: The lifespan consumed when performing divination is automatically offset by one percent of the total lifespan (one year for a hundred years of lifespan, ten years for a thousand years of lifespan)]

[Permanentization condition: Successfully cast divination thirty times in total (0/30)]

Green entries.

The effect is extremely subtle. The cost of divination itself is a fixed lifespan, but this entry links the cost to the total lifespan; the longer the lifespan, the lower the actual cost of each divination.

Having broken through to the late Golden Core stage, I now have over nine hundred years of lifespan, with each divination roughly offsetting about nine years of the energy expenditure. If I were to extend my lifespan to over a thousand years through methods like shattering and re-condensing my core, the amount offset would continue to increase.

Combined with the "Endless Longevity" attribute of the Longevity Jade Pendant, it's estimated that it can offset even more.

More importantly, this divination technique is one of the spells that consumes lifespan to make the Longevity Jade Pendant permanent.

"How much is this one?"

"The goods in the warehouse have been sitting there for years," Xu Zhang waved his hand. "The shopkeeper can take them and use them; it's free. Consider it a gift from the Chamber of Commerce."

"Then keep the other one too." Li Yuan put both jade slips into his personal space.

Xu Zhang nodded in agreement and got up to take his leave.

After seeing Xu Zhang off, Li Yuan took out the jade slip containing divination techniques and probed it with his divine sense.

The content of the technique is not complicated. The core principle is to use one's own lifespan as fuel to drive a special mode of divine consciousness operation, which captures the spiritual changes in the world in a very short time, thereby deducing vague trends of good and bad fortune.

Li Yuan carefully put away the divination technique, without rushing to practice it.

The condition for making this spell permanent is to successfully cast it thirty times. Each cast consumes lifespan, and even with additional debuffs, it cannot completely offset the high cost of the divination. It's necessary to carefully control the scale of each divination, ideally avoiding consuming lifespan, to achieve thirty effective casts.

Li Yuan circulated his internal energy and continued his cultivation.