Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Deep within the market, the closer to the core area, the higher the grade of the items sold at the stalls.

Li Yuan stopped in front of a large, heavily guarded stall.

Behind the stall owner stood several tightly sealed glass pillars, with water swirling inside and faintly visible streams of light, like swimming dragons.

Spiritual veins.

These are all miniature water-based spiritual veins forcibly extracted from unclaimed sea areas.

Li Yuan stepped forward and glanced at the price tag, his eyebrows twitching almost imperceptibly.

The price at the auction is not yet clear, so it's best to wait until the auction is over before making the purchase.

Li Yuan didn't linger and turned to leave.

Walking on the streets of Liupin City, Li Yuan suppressed his spiritual energy fluctuations to the extreme.

Dark Fiend's perception network is like an invisible net, silently spreading out in all directions.

The Kunpeng Alliance welcomes all outside cultivators, which has led to an extremely chaotic atmosphere on the island.

In Li Yuan's perception, in addition to pure spiritual energy, the air also contained a lot of cold and gloomy demonic energy fluctuations.

Li Yuan carefully discerned the frequency of these demonic energies.

"These two frequencies belong to the Demonic Fiend Sect and the Abyss Sect."

Li Yuan quickly made a judgment in his mind.

Li Yuan was all too familiar with the aura and characteristics of these two local demonic sects in Liangzhou.

However, at the edge of the perception network, three completely unfamiliar demonic cultivator auras still lingered.

Li Yuan paused slightly.

According to information previously obtained from independent cultivators in the outer seas, there are only two well-known demonic cultivation island forces in the surrounding seas.

There are only two known demonic forces in the outer seas, but now three completely different unknown demonic energy frequencies have appeared.

This means that, in addition to the two native demonic sects and the two demonic islands in the outer sea, there is at least one other deeply hidden third-party force that has infiltrated these outer auxiliary islands.

The undercurrents were more turbulent than he had imagined.

The night market was drawing to a close, but the number of people on the streets did not decrease.

As Li Yuan was preparing to return to the teleportation array, he caught a glimpse of a dimly lit alleyway ahead, where two cultivators dressed in black robes were handing a bulging bag of spirit stones to a stall owner.

The stall owner swept a pile of dilapidated magical artifacts with black markings into his storage bag and handed them to the two.

Those black markings were the same kind that Li Yuan had seen on the street before.

Li Yuan did not approach them, but kept his distance of more than ten feet, his gaze sweeping over the two men in black robes.

The two concealed their auras very well, appearing to have only the spiritual energy fluctuations of the early Foundation Establishment stage, but Dark Fiend Insight easily penetrated their disguise.

Deep within their dantian, there resided extremely pure and violent demonic energy of the Fiend Sect.

The two put away their magical artifacts, turned around, and quickly walked out of the street.

Li Yuan swayed and disappeared into the shadows at the street corner.

Mastery of the Shadow Step.

Without any spiritual energy fluctuations or footsteps, Li Yuan moved like a weightless phantom, skimming the ground as he traversed the alleyways, quickly closing the distance between himself and the two.

When they were less than ten feet apart, Li Yuan flicked his right index finger.

Li Yuan did not use any magic; he simply mobilized a trace of extremely condensed demonic energy under the high-level perspective granted by the Xuan You Pearl.

He compressed this wisp of demonic energy to almost transparent, like dust drifting in the wind, silently attaching itself to the hem of the robe of the last black-robed man.

The pure, high-precision use of demonic energy at the Nascent Soul level is completely undetectable to demonic cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage.

The two continued on their way without noticing anything, and soon disappeared into the night.

Li Yuan stopped following and turned to step onto the teleportation array back to the main island.

Back in the jade guest room of Lingtai Palace, Li Yuan activated the array inside the room and sat down cross-legged.

He closed his eyes, his mind sinking into the demonic energy mark that had been laid out long ago.

The mental markers transmitted back a clear sense of direction.

A rough topographical map of the islands surrounding Kunpeng appeared in Li Yuan's mind.

The mark changed location several times on the island, eventually leaving traces of varying depths in three different places.

Restaurants, pawnshops, and shipping companies.

These three seemingly unrelated industries are actually strongholds secretly established by the Demon Sect on the outskirts of Kunpeng.

When Li Yuan's consciousness locked onto the stronghold called Haifeng Shipping through the marker, a peculiar sense of perspective instantly extended outwards.

The effect of 【Remnant Netherworld Exploration】 has been triggered.

Penetrating the surface structure of the shipyard and the rock and soil more than ten feet underground, the outline of a dark red array base was clearly reflected in Li Yuan's sea of ​​consciousness.

It was a concealed array that was in operation.

The array pattern's structure is not complicated, and it has no defensive or offensive power whatsoever. All the lines point to a core function: reconnaissance and information gathering.

Li Yuan opened his eyes.

The Demon Sect secretly drove piles into other people's territory and set up this extremely covert intelligence gathering array deep underground.

Because the formation itself has extremely low spiritual energy fluctuations and is buried deep underground, it just so happens to avoid the Kunpeng Alliance's security formation.

Li Yuan did not disturb them.

Since the Demon Sect wants to gather intelligence, these three strongholds are excellent bait. Keeping them around might allow them to intercept useful information in the future.

After memorizing the location of the stronghold, Li Yuan calmed his mind and began his seclusion.

For the next few days, Li Yuan didn't leave his house. He used the high-purity spiritual energy of Lingtai Palace to fully deduce the spells he had just acquired.

The demonic energy within his body surged along a specific route. With each cycle, a trace of his essence blood would be drawn out, condensing outside his body into a blurry blood shadow.

Several days later, a low, explosive sound came from inside the room.

A blood-red figure, almost solidified, with an aura completely identical to Li Yuan's, stood before the bed. After persisting for three breaths, it dissipated into a pool of demonic energy.

[Demon Blood Substitution Technique: Beginner → Proficient]

A skilled clone can condense faster and withstand a significantly higher level of fatal damage.

With about ten days left before the auction, Li Yuan didn't plan to just wait idly in his room, so he put his plan to find the spiritual veins on the agenda.

Li Yuan walked out of the gate of Lingtai Palace and came to the sea market on the main island, which specializes in selling magical artifacts for the sea.

After browsing through several large shops on the main island, Li Yuan spotted a small black boat displayed in the center of a shop called Duobaoge.

The small boat was made entirely of deep-sea black wood and filled with special crystals, turning it into a magical piece the size of a fist.

The surface was coated with a layer of waterproof monster grease. Although it was only ten feet long, it was covered with array patterns and looked very sturdy.

Green entries.

Li Yuan looked at the shopkeeper beside him: "How much is this water-avoiding boat?"

Upon seeing a customer arrive, the shopkeeper immediately stepped forward: "Senior has excellent taste. This water-avoiding boat is not only extremely fast, but it also has a certain diving capability and can withstand the water pressure of fifty feet deep in the ocean."

"Only eighty mid-grade spirit stones are needed."

Li Yuan tossed out a storage bag and put away the water-avoiding boat.

Li Yuan returned to his residence in Lingtai Palace and gently touched the edge of the small boat crystal.

[Equipable item detected: Blackwood Water-Resistant Boat (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: The Will of Water (Green)]

[Effect: Possesses the ability to control water flow; the strength of this ability is directly proportional to the user's cultivation level.]

[Permanentization Condition: Accumulate equipment for 60 days in a deep-sea environment.]

The green entry is also an extremely useful environmental control capability.