Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 470 A Chance Encounter on the Return Journey

After leaving the ruins of Lingxu, Li Yuan found a sheltered cave in a secluded valley a hundred miles away.

After setting up a simple concealment formation, he sat cross-legged in the cave and looked down at his arms.

From fingertips to forearms, countless wounds were still oozing blood. These were not ordinary lacerations, but cuts made by spatial forces, with unusually smooth edges, and their healing speed was much slower than that of ordinary injuries.

Li Yuan circulated his spiritual energy.

The white aura representing spiritual healing activated first, with pure spiritual energy seeping into the edges of the wound, gradually repairing the damaged skin and meridians. The Qi and blood flowed in quick succession, surging to the extremities to provide nourishment for recovery.

Life surges back, healing resumes, and several permanent entries related to recovery also begin to function.

The wound on my arm began to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye.

An hour later, the wounds had completely closed, leaving only a few faint white marks. Li Yuan flexed his fingers, feeling his spiritual energy flowing smoothly through his meridians without any stagnation.

He got up, put away the array in the cave, and transformed into a beam of light to leave.

Let's go back to Wulin Market first.

The route they took was the same as the previous trade route. When passing through Yunyang Market, Li Yuan casually sold off some of the array materials and mineral fragments he had collected from the Lingxu Ruins.

These items are the most expensive in Liangzhou's local markets, so taking them out isn't very cost-effective.

Li Yuan did not find any items with the inscription in the shops of Yunyang Market, and he did not linger there.

He arrived at Wulinfang Market in the evening.

Ji Wenchuan met Li Yuan at the entrance of the market and followed him all the way to the main hall.

"Master, there are two things I need your review." Ji Wenchuan took out a stack of documents. "First, the first batch of leases after the market expansion has been signed, and the occupancy rate of the outer shops has exceeded 70%."

Li Yuan flipped through a few pages and nodded.

"Secondly," Ji Wenchuan lowered his voice, "some news has come back from outside these past few days. There seems to be new activity at Dry Bone Ridge. Several factions are frequently mobilizing their Foundation Establishment disciples, and the situation is more tense than before."

Li Yuan put down the document in his hand without asking for details.

After spending a day in the market and dealing with a few backlogged matters, Li Yuan set off again for Tianyue Market.

The streets of Tianyuefang Market were even more crowded than when I last visited.

A large influx of cultivators from outside the region flooded into the market, making the shops bustling with business. Even the temporary stalls on the street had doubled in number. The news that Tianyue Sect's Nascent Soul cultivator was on the verge of reaching the Divine Transformation stage had spread far and wide, and various forces and independent cultivators had arrived ahead of time, hoping to get a share of the spoils in this upheaval.

Li Yuan sold the remaining high-grade spirit stones and unwanted materials from the Lingxu Ruins to several large shops, exchanging them for a large number of mid-grade spirit stones.

Afterwards, he took a stroll around the unlicensed repair stall area.

In front of a small stall specializing in general merchandise, the senses within a three-foot radius were suddenly triggered.

White light.

Li Yuan's gaze fell on a fist-sized piece of white jade in the corner of the stall. The jade had obvious carving marks on its surface, but only the general outline was completed, resembling a half-finished refining blank.

"How much is this jade blank?"

The stall owner was an elderly woman at the late stage of Qi Refining. When someone asked about this long-held stock, she quickly smiled and said, "Senior has a good eye. This was found among the relics of a weapon refiner. Twenty low-grade spirit stones."

Li Yuan threw out the spirit stone and took the jade blank in his hand.

[Equipable item detected: Jade blank (complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Craftsmanship (White)]

[Effect: Increases the speed at which one learns weapon crafting techniques by 30%]

[Permanentization condition: The condition has been met.]

"Equipment. Permanentize."

[Craftsmanship (white) has become a permanent term]

As the white light merged into his sea of ​​consciousness, a scene appeared in Li Yuan's mind.

This is the hidden information obtained after permanentification.

The scene depicts a small weapon-refining room. A middle-aged cultivator sits before a furnace, holding a fine carving knife, meticulously carving something into a piece of white jade.

His technique was steady; he controlled the depth and angle of each cut with extreme precision. The carving knife made a crisp sound as it sliced ​​across the jade surface, like a fixed rhythm.

The video fully demonstrates the entire process of the monk crafting the jade blank. From selecting the material and polishing to the initial carving, each step follows a clear procedure.

Then, the images in my mind faded away.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, and his understanding of weapon-refining techniques had indeed become more profound.

Although the person in the picture was not as skilled in weapon crafting as he was, the feeling of almost witnessing it firsthand gave Li Yuan a significant boost.

After strolling around Tianyue Market, Li Yuan returned to the outer island of Kunpeng via a teleportation array.

As soon as he returned to the Lingtai Palace Inn area, he noticed that the atmosphere on the island was completely different from before he left.

The streets were teeming with people, and a large number of unfamiliar cultivators appeared in every corner. In the distance, several temporary spiritual energy floating bridges had been erected between the several attached floating islands, connecting the originally scattered islands into one.

Li Yuan encountered Zhou He in the lobby of the inn.

"You're back?" Zhou He gestured for Li Yuan to sit down. "I just wanted to let you know. The final date for the auction has been set; it officially starts in five days."

"Has the venue been confirmed?"

"Confirmed." Zhou He pointed out the window. "Do you see those floating bridges? The Kunpeng Alliance has connected all the floating islands together. Including the core area of ​​the main island, almost half of the island group has been designated as a trading area. The independent cultivators and small forces on the outer perimeter trade freely on the attached floating islands, while the central circle contains the official stalls of various chambers of commerce and medium-sized forces."

"The core auction area is located deep within the main island, and only Golden Core cultivators and a small number of Foundation Establishment cultivators with special invitation tokens are allowed to enter."

Li Yuan nodded.

After returning to his room, Li Yuan did not rush into seclusion. Instead, he bought a detailed map of the spiritual veins and spread it out on the table.

The nautical chart marks the known locations of spiritual veins in the sea surrounding Kunpeng. Among the dense markings, a considerable number have been marked with red crosses, indicating that those spiritual veins have been exploited by others.

Li Yuan extended the perception of the compass and cross-referenced it with the markings on the nautical chart.

After excluding those that had already been mined, those located within the territory of high-level demonic beasts, and those at depths exceeding the safe zone, Li Yuan identified two miniature spiritual veins near the reefs.

After nightfall, Li Yuan left the island alone and dived into the open sea.

With the combined power of swift water escape and the ability to control water, the seawater automatically splits around him, allowing him to descend at an extremely fast speed.

The first group of reefs is located about forty miles southwest of the island. The seabed topography is complex, with layers of reefs, resembling a natural underwater labyrinth.

Li Yuan found the miniature water vein at the bottom of the reef group. The vein meandered through the cracks in the rock strata, emitting an extremely faint blue light.

He used the Sky-Splitting Slash to clear a path, and the Spiritual Vein Shuttle to uproot it. He was very familiar with this process, and the entire spiritual vein was completely extracted within a few breaths.

However, Li Yuan did not integrate it into his body.

He didn't stay where he was, but followed the ocean current to the location of the second spiritual vein.

Upon arriving at the location, Li Yuan did not see any trace of spiritual veins; all that remained was a long, shallow pit.

Li Yuan searched several more locations before discovering the second miniature water-based spiritual vein hidden in the side wall of an underwater cliff, in an even more concealed position. It took him the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to locate it deep within the rock strata, after which he used the same method to completely peel it away.

Afterwards, Li Yuan left, taking the two water-type spiritual veins with him. He then added another batch of spirit stones and exchanged them for two miniature wood-metal-type spiritual veins.

Fortunately, the Tianyue Sect's teleportation array has been opened, and many miniature spiritual veins with different attributes have flooded the market; otherwise, the price would be even higher.

[Spirit Transformation (Blue) Progress: 3/5 → 5/5]

[Conditions for permanent Spirit Extraction (Blue) have been met]

[The "Extracting Spiritual Essence (Blue)" skill has become a permanent entry.]

As the blue light exploded within his body, a scene flooded into his consciousness.

Permanently hide information.

The scene depicts a dimly lit underground workshop. An elderly cultivator dressed in a gray robe sits before a workbench, holding a shuttle-shaped magical artifact almost identical to the Spirit-Stripping Shuttle. He is meticulously inscribing spiritual runes onto the shuttle.

He was sitting opposite another monk, and the two were talking in hushed tones.

"The quality of this batch of spirit shuttles is still too low." The cultivator opposite shook his head. "They are barely enough for small spirit veins, and they are powerless against medium or larger ones."

The gray-robed elder didn't look up, his carving knife continuing to work: "I know. That's why I'm planning to make a higher-grade one. I already have a good idea of ​​the materials; all I'm missing is a spiritual vein of sufficient quality to serve as the core resonance source."

"Where should I look?"

The gray-robed elder paused, then lowered his voice and said, "Deep in the sea, about three hundred miles southeast of the outer edge of the Kunpeng, lies a large, extremely well-hidden spiritual vein beneath the seabed. It took me half my life to confirm its existence. I'll go there after this batch of spirit shuttles is sold."

The image disappeared.

Li Yuan opened his eyes.

Deep in the sea, three hundred miles to the southeast, lies a large, hidden spiritual vein.

After firmly memorizing this location, Li Yuan calmed his mind and sensed the changes after it became permanent.

The ability to extract and transform spiritual energy from veins has been completely solidified into the body. From now on, separating spiritual veins will no longer require magical artifacts; spiritual energy itself can accomplish the same task. At the same time, the ability to nurture and upgrade spiritual veins has also become part of the permanent attribute.

Just then, the system panel popped up again.

[Keyword resonance fusion detected]

[Spirit Vein Extraction (Blue)] + [Spirit Vein Refinement (Blue)] + [Tidal Surge Returning to Origin (Blue - Fusion)] + [Spirit Gathering Array Talisman - Spiritual Energy Convergence (White)]

Fusion begins.

[New entry acquired: All Spirits Return to the Source (Purple)]

[Effect: All micro-spiritual veins already incorporated into the body passively complement each other; the veins automatically absorb external spiritual energy, and their grade slowly increases; breathing efficiency is greatly enhanced.]

The moment the purple light exploded, the three spiritual veins within Li Yuan's body trembled simultaneously.

Originally operating independently, the spiritual veins began to exhibit a deeper level of interconnection under the influence of the purple phrase "All Spirits Return to the Vein".

The improvement in breathing efficiency was almost immediately apparent. Li Yuan took a deep breath, and the surrounding spiritual energy surged into his body, making the circulation of spiritual power in his meridians nearly twice as fast as before.

Li Yuan slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and opened his eyes in the dark seabed.

The sixth purple entry.