Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 473 Undersea Relics

As the ferry docked, Li Yuan stepped away from the pier.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait."

Someone called out to him from behind.

Li Yuan stopped and turned around, only to see a middle-aged man walking briskly towards him from the other side of the dock.

He wore a dark blue robe with fine silver array patterns embroidered on the hem. He had a refined and scholarly appearance, with a short beard under his chin. His aura was very well controlled, indicating that he was a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator.

"I happened to be near this dock when the ferry docked just now, and I was fortunate enough to witness your action, fellow Daoist."

The middle-aged man approached and respectfully bowed with his hands clasped in greeting.

"His water magic is exquisite, and his control over spiritual power is admirable."

"My name is Mo Baichuan, a Golden Core Elder of the Coral Palace, and I also hold the title of Guest Elder in the Outer Sea Loose Cultivator Alliance."

Li Yuan nodded slightly and casually asked, "As an elder of a sect, how come you can also serve as a guest elder in a rogue cultivator's faction?"

Mo Baichuan smiled.

"Fellow Daoist, you may not know this, but although this Loose Cultivator Alliance is called Loose Cultivator Alliance, it has actually long been a force of its own. In order to maintain relations with the major sects, the alliance often invites us sect cultivators to serve as guest elders. To put it bluntly, we don't have to do anything and just receive a monthly salary for free."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Mo Baichuan got down to business.

"I am a formation master. I recently took on a job that requires me to go to an underwater ruin to investigate the formation structure there."

I had originally arranged to travel with a fellow traveler, but unfortunately, they had something come up and couldn't make it.

He looked Li Yuan up and down.

"When you cast the spell just now, your precision and range control of spiritual power were excellent. It would be even better if you could act as my assistant."

"Can."

Li Yuan readily agreed.

Mo Baichuan's eyes lit up.

"As for the reward, I have a high-grade ancient water magic spell on hand, which can be used as payment."

As he spoke, he took out a magic jade slip. Li Yuan glanced at it but found no entries.

"There is no shortage of magic."

Li Yuan shook his head. "If you have information on formations, we can discuss it further."

Mo Baichuan paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist, you are indeed a fellow practitioner. I do have a few rubbings of underwater formations secretly kept by the Coral Palace, which are practical experience in setting up formations accumulated by formation masters over the generations."

"These items are indeed valuable, but they are also quite common. As a guest retainer, I have the right to dispose of the copies I possess as I see fit."

"make a deal."

That night, the two boarded a medium-sized spirit boat that Mo Baichuan had prepared, sailed away from the affiliated island, and sped into the depths of the open sea.

As Mo Baichuan steered the boat, he gave a general overview of the site.

The ruins are located about a hundred miles southwest of the outer edge of Kunpeng, below a group of underwater reefs.

According to him, it was discovered by chance by a Coral Palace sea patrol disciple while hunting a third-tier sea monster. The entrance was hidden at the bottom of a trench in the deepest part of the reef group, and the surrounding area was full of natural water pressure traps and chaotic spatial rifts, making it extremely dangerous.

"The Coral Palace sent down two groups of people." Mo Baichuan's expression darkened slightly.

"The first group was trapped by a water pressure trap as soon as they reached the outer perimeter, losing three Foundation Establishment disciples. The second group, with an elder in the early Golden Core stage stationed there, barely managed to advance to the entrance of the ruins. However, the restrictions at the entrance are very strange. If they are forcibly broken, the entire ruins will probably collapse."

He shook his head.

"That's why a formation master is needed to resolve it with skillful force."

The spirit boat sped across the sea for half an hour before slowly descending.

As the depth increased, the surrounding seawater grew colder and darker, and the defensive array on the spirit boat emitted a low hum, resisting the ever-increasing water pressure.

When they descended to a depth of about sixty feet, Li Yuan's senses were the first to detect the anomaly.

At the bottom of the reefs, the flow of the seawater becomes unnaturally distorted, with several undercurrents acting like invisible nooses, forming high-speed rotating vortexes of water pressure in specific locations. Any object that gets too close will be instantly pulled into them and crushed into pieces under the extreme water pressure.

Water pressure trap.

Mo Baichuan maneuvered the spirit boat to a stop outside the trap, his expression solemn.

Li Yuan walked to the bow of the spirit boat, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

In his mind, the network of arrays operated on its own.

Those seemingly chaotic water pressure traps and spatial rifts were quickly stripped away, dismantled, and reconstructed in Li Yuan's perception. The direction of the undercurrents, the center of the vortex, the pressure nodes—all this information converged into a clear three-dimensional network in his mind.

This is not naturally formed.

Among the rock layers at the bottom of the reef group, there are traces of extremely ancient array patterns. These patterns, with the help of the natural flow of the seabed veins, weave water pressure and spatial fissures into a complete defense system.

"Come with me."

Li Yuan opened his eyes, leaped from the bow of the boat, and plunged directly into the sea.

Driven by his will to control the water, the surrounding seawater automatically dispersed around him.

Li Yuan followed the safe route marked by the array network, traversing between vortexes and rifts, each step landing precisely on a blind spot in the array network.

Mo Baichuan followed closely behind, his surprise growing stronger.

He was quite skilled in array formations. He studied this water pressure trap for several days before he could barely grasp its general pattern.

However, this rogue cultivator in the late Golden Core stage saw through the underlying structure of the entire defense system with just one glance.

A moment later, the two passed through the water pressure trap area and arrived at the entrance to the ruins.

The entrance is a stone gate about two zhang high, with dense ancient runes carved on the lintel. On each side of the stone gate is a fist-sized array eye stone, the surface of which glows with flickering spiritual light, and the restriction is still in operation.

Li Yuan reached out and pressed his hand on the stone door, his spiritual energy slowly seeping into it along the array patterns.

The ability to complete the array network was then activated.

The array patterns, damaged by the erosion of time, were rapidly repaired in his perception, and the core structure of the restriction emerged. The structure was not complex, but rather nested layer upon layer, interlocking in a way that forcibly breaking it would inevitably trigger a chain reaction of collapse.

However, from the perspective of the overall network, these nestings only take a few extra breaths.

Li Yuan tapped the stone gate seven times with his right index finger, each tap precisely landing on a key node of the array's circuitry. Spiritual energy flowed in reverse along the path he specified, dismantling the nested structure of the restriction layer by layer from the inside.

Click.

The stone door slid open silently.

Mo Baichuan stepped forward, looked at the intact stone door, and remained silent for a moment.

"Fellow Daoist's mastery of array formations far surpasses that of me."

His tone was sincere, not just polite.

The two stepped into the ruins.

The interior of the ruins is much larger than it appears from the outside, clearly having been expanded. The walls on both sides of the corridor are covered with murals and inscriptions, recording the rise and fall of an ancient monk family.

The corridor splits into three at the end, with each of the three paths leading to different areas of the ruins.

The two chose the left passage and entered a spacious side hall.

Inside the side hall were several stone platforms, with various magical artifacts and spiritual materials scattered on their surfaces. Most of them had lost their spiritual power due to their age, with only a few well-preserved items still emitting a faint spiritual light.

The moment Li Yuan stepped into the side hall, his senses within a three-foot radius were simultaneously triggered.

Two beams of light, one blue and one green.

The blue light came from the corner of a stone platform deep inside the side hall. It was an old bronze chime, its body covered with verdigris, but the surface remained smooth as a mirror when struck.

The green light came from a broken bead-like object on another stone platform, with a very faint water-based spiritual energy slowly flowing on its surface.

Li Yuan didn't rush to retrieve them; instead, he looked past the two items and into the deepest part of the side hall.

In the shadows behind the two items, a stone humanoid puppet, about ten feet tall, stood quietly. The puppet was made entirely of some kind of extremely hard water stone, with blue spiritual energy crystal cores embedded in its joints, and its body was engraved with driving array patterns.

Tier 3 High-Grade Guardian Puppet.

Mo Baichuan also noticed the puppet, and his expression turned slightly serious.

"Its grade is not low. It won't be easy to deal with if we fight it head-on."

As soon as the words were spoken, the puppet's eyes suddenly lit up with a ghostly blue light.

The heavy stone arm suddenly rose, and the spirit patterns on the fist suddenly lit up. A fist wind carrying terrifying water pressure slammed out, heading straight for the two men's faces.

Mo Baichuan reacted extremely quickly, his hands rapidly forming hand seals, and a thick water shield materialized in front of him. The force of his fist collided with the water shield, producing a muffled explosion, and Mo Baichuan was forced back three steps.

Li Yuan dodged the punch by sidestepping it, his gaze sweeping over the puppet's body structure.

The array instantly locked onto the core location of the puppet: in the center of its chest cavity, a fist-sized blue crystal core was spinning at high speed, driving all of the puppet's movements.

"I'll hold it off from the front, fellow Daoist, find an opportunity to break its drive circuit!" Mo Baichuan shouted, his hands flashing as several water chains wrapped around the puppet's arms and legs from all directions.

Li Yuan nodded, and with a flash, he circled around to the side of the puppet.

Mo Baichuan's water chain only lasted for a few breaths before being forcibly broken by the puppet. However, after the break, a new water chain immediately sprang up, slowing down the puppet's movements considerably.

Li Yuan seized the opportunity and reached out with his right hand.

No spiritual power was used.

A wisp of extremely pure demonic energy silently seeped from Li Yuan's fingertips and seeped into the gaps in the array patterns on the puppet's back.

The erosion of this wisp of demonic energy made no sound. It did not damage the array pattern itself, but precisely seeped into the spiritual energy transmission node between the drive circuit and the crystal core, condensing into an extremely thin film of demonic energy at the node.

This thin film completely cuts off the transmission of spiritual energy between the crystal core and the array patterns.

The puppet's movements suddenly stopped.

Its arms hung limply at its sides, and the eerie blue light in its eyes flickered rapidly a few times before fading completely. The entire puppet stood frozen in place, like a soulless stone statue, motionless.

Mo Baichuan retracted the water chain and stared blankly at the puppet that had suddenly stopped.

"Fellow Daoist, you've broken its drive circuit?"

"There's a hidden door in the array pattern; you can enter from behind," Li Yuan said calmly.

Mo Baichuan went around to the puppet's back to check, and sure enough, he found several unusual marks in the gaps between the array patterns. He nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

After confirming that the side hall was safe, the two began to take inventory of the items on the stone platform.

Li Yuan's gaze fell on the two items, one blue and one green.

Ancient chime and water droplets.

After the inventory was completed, the two divided the spoils. In the side hall, besides the ancient chime and the water droplets, there were several well-preserved fragments of magical artifacts and a batch of high-grade spiritual materials.

Mo Baichuan glanced at the total and offered, "Fellow Daoist contributed the most, so please choose two items first, and the rest are mine."

Li Yuan didn't stand on ceremony and directly took the Chaoyin Ancient Chime and the Water Spirit Pearl.

[Equipable item detected: Ancient Chime of the Tide (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Tidal Wave (Blue)]

[Effect: When using sonic spells, penetration and range are increased by 60%]

[Permanentization Condition: Injure a cultivator of the same level using sonic waves in the deep sea.]

Blue entries.

Li Yuan put Gu Xin down and picked up the water droplet again.

[Equipable item detected: Water Spirit Orb (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Water Affinity (Green)]

[Effect: Increases affinity with water-based spiritual energy by 50%]

[Permanentization Conditions: Cultivate a water-based cultivation technique and break through a cultivation realm in an environment rich in water-based spiritual energy]

Mo Baichuan put all the remaining fragments of magical artifacts and spiritual materials into his storage bag, and nodded with a smile, saying, "Fellow Daoist has good eyesight. Although these two items don't look particularly remarkable, I still feel that they have some extraordinary qualities."

The two ransacked the side hall and then returned along the corridor to the fork in the road.

Just as Li Yuan was about to step out of the gate of the ruins, he suddenly stopped.

The passive perception of the array network detected an extremely faint fluctuation at that moment.

The fluctuation originated from the deepest part of the ruins, at the end of the third fork in the road. It was a frequency unique to an extremely ancient and dilapidated spatial array, intermittent in nature.

A damaged teleportation array.

Li Yuan glanced at the depths of the third fork in the road, then casually looked away.

"Let's go." Mo Baichuan had already stood at the entrance of the ruins.

Li Yuan nodded and followed him out of the stone gate.

The barrier was resealed after the two left.

After surfacing, Mo Baichuan took out several jade slips from his storage bag and handed them to Li Yuan.

"These are the four copies of the underwater array formation for the Coral Palace that we agreed upon earlier." Mo Baichuan bowed respectfully. "I am truly impressed by your mastery of array formations, fellow Daoist. I hope we can cooperate again in the future if the opportunity arises."

Li Yuan took the jade slip and put it into his personal space.

"it is good."

The two parted ways on the sea. Mo Baichuan sailed towards the Coral Palace, while Li Yuan turned and fled towards the affiliated island.

During the journey, he repeatedly confirmed the location of the dilapidated teleportation array in his mind three times, memorizing it firmly.

There are things deeper within the ruins, but it is not advisable to explore them in the presence of outsiders.

After the auction ends, I'll find some time to come back alone.