Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 468 Escaping from the Collapsed Core

The moment Li Yuan got his hands on the Collapse Core, he knew that the trouble was much bigger than he had anticipated.

This fist-sized red crystal resembled a shrunken, raging sun, with spatial energy constantly seeping out from its surface cracks.

Li Yuan simultaneously channeled both spiritual energy and demonic energy into his palms, covering the spiritual energy with his left hand and the demonic energy with his right, barely managing to suppress its tremors.

Even though it wasn't actually pressed against my palm, I still felt a sharp burning pain.

Every crack on the core surface spewed out fine, hair-like spatial fragments, slicing through the skin on Li Yuan's arm inch by inch. The dark golden luster of his flesh was repeatedly cut by the spatial power, which could only barely slow down the spread of the injury, but could not completely stop it.

Blood seeped through his fingers and dripped into the void. Before it even fell, it was churned into a blood mist by the surrounding spatial turbulence.

The consumption of demonic energy is even greater.

The core was like a bottomless pit, frantically devouring the demonic energy within Li Yuan's body to prevent itself from collapsing further. The mid-grade demonic core was operating at full speed, and the deep purple demonic energy that could be seen with the naked eye was being drawn away from Li Yuan's body, continuously flowing into his palm.

Just holding it is already this tricky.

The condition for equipping items is to actually touch the items, which is difficult to do in the current situation.

Li Yuan tried to completely attach his spiritual power to the core surface, but the spatial oscillations emanating from the core constantly interrupted the attachment of the spiritual power. Each time, the connection was broken in less than half a breath before it was forcibly shaken off again.

It's like pressing your hand against a constantly cracking iron plate.

There's no time to try again.

Li Yuan looked up and glanced around.

Above the canyon, the escape light of the early-stage Golden Core elder of the Yuan Yang Sect was rapidly retreating in the distance.

His body was slightly crooked, his left arm hanging at his side, and his entire arm had turned an abnormal grayish-black, a sign that demonic energy had penetrated deep into his meridians.

His flight speed wasn't slow, so it seems that Blood Fiend True Man and Yuanzong Golden Core cultivator didn't intend to kill him, but merely injured him casually and then left him aside.

Further out, more than a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators were also scattering and fleeing, none of them looking back.

Both Blood Fiend True Man and Yuan Zong Golden Core cultivator had their eyes fixed on Li Yuan.

More precisely, it's locked onto the red core in his hand.

"Put that thing down."

Blood Fiend Master's voice was icy cold.

Although he dodged the Sky-Splitting Slash, the aftershock severed the spiritual energy connection between the spatial artifact in his hand and its core, and the artifact was also blasted away several feet away.

Before he could even retract his thoughts, the anger on his face was already barely contained.

Yuan Zong, in the late stage of the Golden Core realm, silently moved a step to the flank, blocking Li Yuan's right retreat route without making a sound.

The two exchanged a glance and attacked simultaneously.

Blood Fiend Master pushed forward with both palms, and thick, blood-red fiendish energy transformed into a sky-covering blood curtain, pressing down from the front.

Yuan Zong, a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, raised his hand and pointed. A long, jet-black snake of demonic energy shot out from his fingertip, bypassing the blood curtain and attacking from the flank.

The two attacked together, one facing forward and the other side, leaving Li Yuan almost no room to maneuver.

Li Yuan made a hand seal with his right hand.

A wisp of his essence was instantly extracted from his body, and demonic energy wrapped around the blood energy surged out of his body, condensing into a blood-red figure with the same aura as his original body half a zhang in front of him.

Demon Blood Substitution Technique.

As soon as the Stand was formed, it crashed into the combined attack of the Blood Curtain and the Demon Serpent.

boom.

The blood curtain engulfed the substitute, and the demonic serpent of Yuanzong's Golden Core followed closely behind, coiling and strangling it. A violent explosion of spiritual energy erupted in the canyon, with surging air currents and flying rocks.

The stand-in only lasted a moment under this combined attack before shattering into a cloud of blood mist.

But this breath was enough.

At the very moment the stunt double blocked the attack, Li Yuan's real body had already moved.

Instead of retreating, he charged towards the direction of Blood Fiend Master.

Teleportation spell activated.

Li Yuan's true form vanished into thin air, and the next instant he appeared three zhang away from Blood Fiend True Man. The spatial magic weapon that had been blown away by the aftershock of the Sky-Splitting Slash was hovering in mid-air and slowly rotating, only about zhang away from Blood Fiend True Man and also only about zhang away from Li Yuan.

Blood Fiend Master reacted extremely quickly, grabbing back with his right hand to retrieve the magical artifact.

But Li Yuan's left hand was faster, grabbing the spatial artifact that had lost its master's control.

Blood Fiend Master grasped at empty air, his expression changing drastically.

"court death!"

Enraged, Blood Fiend Master attacked, unleashing a streak of blood-red light that pierced the air.

Yuan Zong Jin Dan also caught up at the same time, and the two attacks hit Li Yuan almost simultaneously.

But Li Yuan was no longer there.

Teleportation Technique combined with Shadow Step.

After leaving a residual image in place, the true body silently shifted several feet away, its figure flashing continuously among the canyon walls and rocks. Each time it appeared, it perfectly avoided the blind spots locked by the divine senses of the two late-stage Golden Core cultivators.

The teleportation technique at the perfect level leaves no spatial ripples, and the Shadow Step at the advanced level doesn't even leak out demonic energy fluctuations. The two movement techniques are used together, with teleportation and high-speed escape techniques alternating, making the pursuer's divine sense always a step behind.

A few breaths later, Li Yuan had already rushed out of the canyon's blockade area.

A furious growl came from behind them, but the two did not give chase.

Li Yuan made a judgment in his mind.

The two men's primary objective was the Spirit Ruins Secret Realm. Now that the secret realm has been destroyed and its core seized, there may still be something they need in the remains.

Compared to hunting down a demonic cultivator of the same level with unpredictable movements, going back to deal with the situation there is obviously more important.

A large amount of demonic energy surged out from Li Yuan's body, condensing in his palm, and was continuously consumed by the collapsing core.

After fleeing for a hundred miles, Li Yuan settled in a secluded underground cave.

He looked down at the two things in his hands.

In his left hand was a spatial artifact he had just seized, a grayish-white, spindle-shaped object covered with spatial runes, and of considerable quality.

The right hand is the collapsing core.

The core tremor was now even more intense than before. Li Yuan's forearms were covered with countless tiny wounds, and his demonic energy consumption was nearing the brink of danger.

Li Yuan focused his thoughts on the spatial artifact in his left hand.

After the spiritual power was poured in, the spatial runes on the surface of the magic artifact lit up one by one. The core function of this magic artifact is to isolate spatial fluctuations. Blood Fiend True Man originally used it to hold the core.

Li Yuan slowly pushed the core into the spatial rune field of the magic artifact.

The grayish-white runic light enveloped the core surface, suppressing most of the spatial oscillations.

The cutting sensation on Li Yuan's arm suddenly weakened, and the rate at which demonic energy was being lost also decreased to a tolerable level.

However, the brightness of the runes on the surface of the artifact is decreasing at a rate visible to the naked eye.

This magical artifact is still not of the required grade.

The spatial power emanating from the collapsing core of the red entry far exceeds its carrying capacity; a complete lockdown is only temporary and cannot last long.

Blood Fiend Master may have other methods, but Li Yuan has a better one.

He did not hesitate.

Taking advantage of the window when the spatial tremors were suppressed to their lowest point, Li Yuan simultaneously poured demonic energy and spiritual power into his palms, his right hand reaching into the rune field, his five fingers gripping the core surface tightly.

Spiritual energy and demonic energy seeped into the core little by little through the pores of the palm.

This time, without the interference of the violent spatial shattering blades, the spiritual energy finally successfully adhered to the core shell. A scorching connection spread from his palm to his entire body's meridians, as if he were pressing his palm against a red-hot iron plate, but Li Yuan gritted his teeth and did not let go.

The connection progresses inch by inch amidst the pain.

Spiritual energy and demonic energy intertwined to form a fine net, completely enveloping the core.

equipment.

[Equipped: Minor Boundary Collapse Core (Complete)]

[Minor Boundary Collapse Core (Red) in Effect]

The core in his palm trembled violently, then transformed into a crimson light and disappeared into his equipment slot.

My hands are empty.

The grayish-white spatial artifact lost its target, the runes dimmed, and it lay quietly in Li Yuan's palm.

Li Yuan looked down at his hands.

From fingertips to forearms, numerous deep, bone-revealing wounds were still oozing blood, but under the combined effects of the Qi and blood flow and spiritual energy healing, the edges of the wounds had begun to slowly heal.

In the equipment slot, the red attribute glowed steadily yet intensely, completely different from the other attributes.

An unprecedented sense of spatial control spread from the depths of his body, permeating every meridian and every bone in Li Yuan's body.

The surrounding space became exceptionally clear in his perception.

The cracks in the rock wall, the airflow, and even the subtle spatial stress distribution in the tens of meters thick layer of soil overhead were all clearly visible.

Li Yuan leaned against the rock wall, closed his eyes, and began to circulate his internal energy to recover his demonic energy.

The passive recovery of the spiritual veins, along with the spiritual energy supply from the nine personal spiritual veins, operated simultaneously. The shared origin of demonic and spiritual energy continuously transformed spiritual power into demonic energy, replenishing the reserves that had been nearly depleted.