Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

After completing his cultivation, Li Yuan picked up divination techniques again.

The structure of divination techniques was simpler than Li Yuan had anticipated.

The core operates on a single mode of divine consciousness. Lifespan is transformed into special sensory pulses, which are radiated outwards to capture subtle feedback from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which is then interpreted by the divine consciousness. The entire process is similar to echolocation, except that what is emitted is lifespan, and what is received is the trend of good or bad fortune.

Three points were specifically marked in the exercise manual.

First, performing too many divinations in a short period will significantly reduce their effectiveness. The feedback from the divination has a certain cooldown, similar to a past life game; continuous use will only result in increasingly vague signals, while the lifespan consumption will not decrease.

Second, the larger the scale of the event, the more lifespan is consumed, and the longer the corresponding cooldown period.

Third, one should not frequently consult the oracle about the same matter. The divine will of heaven and earth has a limited number of responses to the same question; repeatedly asking will only yield confused results.

Li Yuan used his late-stage Golden Core spiritual sense to drive the circulation of divination techniques.

It's extremely easy to get started.

The difficulty of this spell lies not in its control, but in its interpretation. The feedback signal received after the divine sense is radiated out is extremely blurry, like trying to discern a distant firelight in a thick fog. Only a general direction and brightness can be seen; the caster must determine the specifics himself.

But for Li Yuan, who possesses twelve lines of divine consciousness and the permanent attribute of spiritual clarity, interpreting ambiguous signals is precisely his forte.

[Divination: Beginner → Beginner]

He activated his divination technique, transforming a tiny amount of lifespan into a sensory pulse and releasing it.

The entry for the Heavenly Derivation Residual Number is activated the instant the pulse is released.

The basic divination, which should have consumed about six years of lifespan, was automatically canceled out by nine years by the entry. It's equivalent to no lifespan being consumed at all.

It's a pity I can't cut off my own lifespan.

The sensory pulses spread in all directions, and after a few breaths, the feedback signals slowly flowed back from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The signal contained no specific images or text, only a strong sense of directional trend.

The trend is pointing northwest.

The signal's tone was dark and oppressive, like the heavy clouds pressing down on the horizon before a storm.

Something big is about to happen.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, his face expressionless.

Several Golden Core cultivators were facing off towards the direction of Dry Bone Ridge, with various forces gathered, and a primordial spirit embryo might be hidden beneath the restrictions. This in itself was a major event.

The divination result was essentially meaningless.

Li Yuan put away his divination skills and turned to deal with another matter.

He had a communication jade slip on him, waiting for a reply.

Chen Yi's message arrived last night.

"The sect leader of Yuanyang Sect will be personally visiting Kugu Ridge soon. The sect hopes that Wulin Market can cooperate in terms of intelligence, including but not limited to monitoring the activities of cultivators in the surrounding area, reporting abnormal spiritual energy fluctuations, and early warning coordination with the market. The market is not required to participate in terms of manpower, as the battle for Kugu Ridge is a contest of Golden Core cultivators."

Sect Master of Yuanyang Sect.

Late stage of Golden Core.

If the Yuan Yang Sect Master personally intervenes, there will be two late-stage Golden Core cultivators in the direction of the Dry Bone Ridge—plus True Person Xuanpu. The Tian Yue Sect and the Yuan Yang Sect may not have the same attitude on this matter, but when facing the Yuan Sect and the Sha Mo Sect, the two righteous sects will most likely cooperate temporarily.

Li Yuan replied to Chen Yi via a jade slip: He agreed to cooperate in intelligence sharing.

After sending the reply, Li Yuan got up and walked out of the stone house.

The night was deep.

He concealed his presence and stealthily made his way towards the Dry Bone Ridge.

The distribution of aura above Dry Bone Ridge has changed.

The aura of the Golden Core cultivator was less than before.

Master Xuanpu was still there, his imposing aura undiminished. The mid-stage Golden Core cultivator from Yuanzong was also present, but the auras of the other two early-stage Golden Core cultivators had retreated to a more distant perimeter. The early-stage Golden Core cultivator from Bitanzong had also retreated a distance. Yuanyangzong had only one Golden Core cultivator remaining.

Instead, a large amount of Foundation Establishment level aura was present.

At least a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators were scattered around the perimeter of the Bone Ridge, their auras a mix of righteous and demonic paths. Their positions formed a loose, network-like structure, maintaining a safe distance from each other, yet connected by some unseen rule.

The Golden Core cultivators were severely depleted during the standoff and could not maintain such intense aura suppression day and night. Once the standoff entered a stable stalemate, you received a new chapter update: Chapter 444 Divination Technique, read here. Each side began sending Foundation Establishment disciples to stand guard, relay messages, and negotiate.

Jin Dan himself retreated to the rear to rest and cultivate, only appearing at crucial moments.

From the partially concealed spiritual transmissions of the Foundation Establishment disciples, Li Yuan pieced together the latest developments in the current situation.

The parties are discussing the division of benefits.

Things under the restriction, regardless of whether they are primordial spirit embryos or not, must ultimately have a distribution plan.

The problem is that if it's an Earthly Spirit Embryo, there's only one. Unlike spirit stones or materials that can be cut proportionally, it's a complete whole; dividing it renders it useless.

Several options were proposed: auction, exchanging resources for other resources, and even joint development. But each option met with opposition.

If it were to be auctioned, the highest bidder would most likely be the Tianyue Sect, as the other parties would not want to see the Tianyue Sect monopolize it. If other resources were to be exchanged, the valuations of the Earthly Elemental Embryo by the various parties would differ too greatly, making it impossible to reach an agreement.

Moreover, such a treasure that can help a Golden Core cultivator break through to the Nascent Soul stage cannot be measured in monetary terms.

If cultivators from other sects were to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, another Nascent Soul sect could immediately emerge and rule over all directions.

The negotiations have reached a stalemate.

Li Yuan recorded all the intelligence and returned to the market town via the same route.

After returning to the stone house, he did not go out again, but devoted all his energy to cultivation.

The Nascent Soul perspective is of great help to weapon crafting.

The spatial perception provided by the Mysterious Pearl allowed him to observe the internal spiritual patterns of magical artifacts with unprecedented precision. Previously, determining the direction and connection of spiritual patterns required repeated trial and error; now, a single scan from the Nascent Soul's perspective was enough to find the optimal solution.

Li Yuan set up a refining furnace next to the alchemy furnace and began to forge magical artifacts.

On the evening of the sixth day, when Li Yuan completed the forty-third magical artifact, the spiritual energy circulation in his hand presented a perfect sense of harmony at the final point of convergence.

[Second-Tier Weapon Refining Technique: Mastery → Perfection]

Second-tier weapon crafting complete.

The second effect of the permanent "Forging Refinement" attribute is activated simultaneously: When the weapon crafting proficiency reaches the current stage of perfection, the weapon crafting success rate increases by an additional 30%.

From then on, there was almost no chance of him failing in refining second-tier magical artifacts.

Li Yuan extinguished the refining furnace and tidied up the tools and leftover materials.

I closed my eyes and circulated the energy for one full cycle.

The low-grade golden core, a grayish-purple color, was slowly rotating in his dantian.

The permanent effect of "Consolidating the Essence and Prolonging Breath" continues to work. The solidity of the Golden Core is increasing extremely slowly. The fine, spiderweb-like patterns on the surface are now denser than when it first broke through to the later stage, and the color of the ghostly light is gradually shifting from grayish-purple to a deeper dark purple.

The low-grade Golden Elixir is slowly climbing towards the middle grade.

The ascent was slow, but the direction was clear.

Li Yuan carefully observed the structural changes inside the Golden Elixir from the perspective of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

When a Golden Core is broken down in rank during a breakthrough and tempering process, the crystal lattice structure inside the Golden Core is broken down and reorganized, changing from a dense arrangement of mid-grade to a loose arrangement of low-grade.

What Gu Yuan Chang Xi is doing is recompacting these loose lattices, gradually restoring their density.

It's only a matter of time before it returns to the mid-grade level.

But this event meant more than just an increase in his combat power.

During the process of the Golden Core recovering from the lower grade to the middle grade, every change in the crystal lattice structure was under his observation. How the demonic energy Golden Core operates internally, how the demonic energy flows between the crystal lattices, and which structural parameters specifically reflect the improvement in grade—these details are almost impossible to observe so clearly during normal cultivation breakthroughs.

Because a normal breakthrough happens in an instant, there's no time to observe.

However, the recovery process is a long and continuous one, and Li Yuan has ample time to observe every change frame by frame.

These observations are extremely valuable for the subsequent recondensation of the broken pills.

In any case, one will eventually have to shatter the core and start over. The improvement from low-grade to mid-grade only increases current combat power and doesn't affect the upper limit of the core's re-condensation potential. However, the observation data accumulated during the recovery process can directly influence the quality of the re-condensation.

Kill two birds with one stone.

Li Yuan withdrew his Nascent Soul perspective, activated the Profound Netherworld Fiend Technique, and continued his cultivation.

Spiritual energy and demonic energy flowed alternately within his meridians, and the permanent attribute of the shared origin of spiritual and demonic energy made the switching between the two energies as natural as breathing. The 50% cultivation speed bonus from the separation of his dantian from his body, combined with the spiritual energy nourishing his spiritual meridians and the continuous supply from his three personal spiritual meridians, resulted in cultivation efficiency that even he found somewhat absurd.