Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 497 The Wind Rises over the Bone Ridge

After returning to Liangzhou from the sea, Li Yuan went straight to Qinghefang City.

When the light of escape landed outside the east gate of the market, the scene before them had changed considerably from when they last came.

At the end of the main east street, where there used to be an empty lot, a row of brand-new wooden and stone buildings has sprung up. The exterior walls haven't been painted yet, but the framework is already in place. Construction is also underway on the outer perimeter of the alley to the south, where several Qi Refining cultivators are moving stones.

Xu Zhang acted quickly.

Wang Ting'an was already waiting in the main hall of the market.

A thick stack of documents lay on the table: land deeds, shop lists, personnel rosters, and account records, all neatly arranged and categorized. Wang Ting'an handed the documents to Li Yuan one by one; each one bore the Wang family's seal.

"Thirty-seven land deeds, covering all existing buildings and land in the market. Twenty-one shops, fourteen of which are in operation and seven are vacant. As for personnel, there are more than sixty people in total, including patrol teams, servants, and accountants, all of whom are registered."

Wang Ting'an put down the last list, stood up, and bowed.

"From this day forward, everything in Qinghe Market belongs to Master Li. The entire Wang family is at his beck and call."

Li Yuan flipped through the personnel roster and nodded.

"The personnel will remain unchanged for now; continue doing what they were doing before. Xu Zhang will coordinate with you regarding any adjustments."

Wang Ting'an agreed.

Xu Zhang walked in from the side hall, holding a set of expansion plans in his hand.

"Master, the foundation and main structure of the new commercial street on East Street have been completed, and it will be ready for use in another half month. The warehouse area on the south side is also under construction and is expected to be completed within a month."

Xu Zhang spread the blueprints on the table and pointed to the location of the new commercial street on East Street.

"The Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce's ten shops have been completed. Goods are being sourced from Jingzhou, and they will open next month."

Li Yuan glanced at the blueprints, his gaze lingering on the west side of the market.

One shop in the middle of the main west street has a different sign than the others; it has a cross drawn on it.

"What's going on here?"

Xu Zhang glanced at it: "The shops belonging to the Yuanyang Sect moved out last month."

Li Yuan looked at Wang Ting'an.

Wang Ting'an replied, "It's a normal relocation. Yuanyang Sect has shops in various markets throughout Liangzhou. They recently made some internal adjustments, closing down several poorly performing locations, Qinghe Market being one of them. They even informed me before leaving, so there were no disputes."

Li Yuan nodded without asking any further questions.

Xu Zhang put away the blueprints and then brought up another matter.

"The Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce sent word that they want to participate in the preparation of the auction. The chairman's idea is to expand the scale, not only selling our own products, but also soliciting auction items from outside, and making Qinghefang Market famous."

"Sure," Li Yuan said. "You can coordinate the specific arrangements for the auction with the Chamber of Commerce. I have some third-tier magic artifacts and third-tier demon beast cores; I'll put them in then."

Xu Zhang agreed.

Having finished explaining things at Qinghe Market, Li Yuan didn't linger and set off back to Wulin Market that same day.

It was already dark when we arrived.

The patrolling monks bowed at the entrance of the market, and Li Yuan walked straight towards the main hall. Before he even entered, Ji Wenyuan came to greet him.

"Master, Fellow Daoist Chen Yi of the Yuanyang Sect is waiting for you in the side hall."

Li Yuan walked into the side hall.

Chen Yi was sitting on a guest chair drinking tea. Upon seeing Li Yuan enter, he immediately put down his teacup and stood up.

"Senior Li, you're back."

"Have you been waiting long?"

"It's alright." Chen Yi smiled. "I'm here for the reward for setting up the formation last time. The sect leader said that the third-tier composite formation at Dry Bone Ridge should be paid in full. What does Fellow Daoist Li need?"

"Materials for the magic weapon," Li Yuan said. "My natal magic weapon is still missing a few spiritual materials. I'll give you the list."

Li Yuan took out a copy of the materials list from his personal space and handed it over.

Chen Yi took it, looked at it once, and nodded.

"Most sects have them in their reserves, I'll go back and allocate them. There are two possibilities where we'll have to purchase them from outside, which will take some time."

"No rush."

Chen Yi put away the list and then brought up another matter.

"By the way, the outpost in Ghost Mist Forest is going to be dismantled."

Li Yuan glanced at him.

"There haven't been any unusual fluctuations deep within the Ghost Mist Forest lately. Maintaining the outpost is pointless; it's just a drain on manpower and resources."

"Understood." Li Yuan nodded.

The disturbances in Ghost Mist Forest have indeed subsided for quite some time. The value of the outpost lies primarily in monitoring and early warning; if the threat has been eliminated, continuing to station personnel there would be a waste.

After seeing Chen Yi off, Li Yuan took out the Yuan Yang Sect's token and checked his contribution balance.

There are still a little over a hundred points left.

Li Yuan flipped through the exchange list, his gaze lingering on the spell-related items.

Wood-based magic.

The Fire and Wood dual-attribute cycle of the Burning Wood Everlasting Spring Technique has stabilized, but in terms of Wood-type magic, he only has the cultivation method and no offensive spells. The Fire type has the Fire Python Technique and Fireball Technique, the Water type has the Tide Sound Technique and Ice Cone Technique, and the Metal type has the Golden Blade Technique, but the Wood type only has the Burning Wood Everlasting Spring Technique as an auxiliary cultivation method, leaving him with no means of combat.

The list happened to include a second-tier, high-grade wood-type spell called the Wood Binding Spell. Its function is to use spiritual energy to cultivate wood vines, used to bind and trap enemies. While its grade isn't high, its practicality is its strength, and it can be used in conjunction with fire-type spells.

Li Yuan exchanged for the Wood Binding Technique and stored the jade slip in his personal space.

That night, Li Yuan meditated in his secluded meditation room.

He activated the Demon Spirit Fusion Technique.

The cultivation progress of this technique has been steadily advancing. Since reaching the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, the spiritual energy and demonic energy within the body have formed a relatively stable coexistence pattern, and the depth of their fusion continues to deepen with the increase in cultivation time.

Spiritual energy and demonic energy circulate alternately in the dantian. With each complete cycle, the barrier between the two forces thins one bit.

The cultivation lasted for three days.

On the third night, the barrier between the spiritual energy and demonic energy in the dantian subtly loosened.

It wasn't a rupture, but rather the barrier itself became more flexible, allowing spiritual and demonic energy to penetrate and exchange more freely. The efficiency of fusion increased significantly, and the switching speed between the two forces also improved considerably.

[Demon Spirit Fusion Technique: Minor Success → Major Success]

Li Yuan opened his eyes and sensed the changes after achieving mastery. The switching between spiritual power and demonic energy required almost no conscious guidance; it could be completed with a mere thought. The interval between the conversion of the two powers had shortened from several breaths to less than a breath.

After finishing my practice and leaving the secluded room, I was stretching my muscles in the courtyard when I suddenly felt a very faint vibration under my feet.

The tremor came from the northeast.

Dry Bone Ridge.

Li Yuan's divine sense spread out in that direction. With the expanded range of his divine sense using the sensitive communication modifier, even from more than two hundred miles away, he could vaguely sense the spiritual energy fluctuations from the direction of the Dry Bone Ridge.

The frequency of the fluctuations was much higher than before, and the intensity was also increasing. It wasn't the fluctuations of battle, but more like the resonance generated when a large formation was repeatedly impacted.

Someone is breaking the formation.

This isn't the first time. Over the past two weeks, tremors have occurred intermittently in the direction of Dry Bone Ridge several times, each lasting for several hours before subsiding. But this time, the intensity is significantly greater.

Ji Wenyuan walked out of the main hall with a somewhat solemn expression.

"Master, the commotion at Dry Bone Ridge is getting bigger and bigger."

Ji Wenyuan added, "Business in the market has been a bit slow these past few days. Many independent cultivators have gone to Yunyang Market, making it much quieter."

Li Yuan nodded without saying anything.

The Xuan You Sect ruins at Kugu Ridge are protected by an array of restrictions, and various forces have been negotiating the ownership of the ruins for a long time. Now, the commotion of breaking the array is getting bigger and bigger, indicating that the negotiations are nearing their end, and the various forces have reached a consensus on at least one thing: break the array first.

If the formation is not broken in advance, various forces will get involved, and even sea cultivators may get involved as the teleportation array is completed.

As for how to divide it after breaking it open, that's another matter entirely.

The tremors underfoot continued for a while, then gradually subsided.

Li Yuan turned around and went back to his secluded cultivation room to continue his practice.