Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 505 Rumors from Three Sides

After the Yuanyang Sect's resource points were eliminated, the power structure of Liangzhou began a rapid reshuffling.

The people from Tianyue Sect were the first to move.

The Tianyue Sect took over the mining sites and spirit fields that the Yuanyang Sect had vacated almost the next day. The efficiency was extremely high, as if they had been watching these locations for a long time and waiting for the Yuanyang Sect to vacate them.

Within just half a month, the Tianyue Sect's strongholds in Liangzhou surged from three to more than ten, covering a large area in central and western Liangzhou. Consequently, Tianyue Sect patrols and market caravans frequently appeared on the official roads, and the deep blue robes of the Tianyue Sect became almost the most common attire for cultivators in Liangzhou.

The demonic cultivators are also making moves.

Taking advantage of the Yuan Yang Sect's retreat, the Sha Mo Sect expanded its territory significantly in the northeastern part of Liangzhou. Several second-tier spiritual material gathering points that originally belonged to the Yuan Yang Sect were occupied by the Sha Mo Sect's Foundation Establishment disciples, who openly displayed the Sha Mo Sect's banner.

Strangely, however, the number of incidents of demonic cultivators attacking cultivators and factions has decreased sharply.

The reason is not hard to guess. Tianyue Sect is a Nascent Soul sect, and its sect leader is about to break through to the Divine Transformation stage.

After a large influx of forces into Liangzhou, with the support of the Meiyuan Sect, even the arrogant Shamo Sect had to think twice.

The situation has stabilized for the time being.

Li Yuan seized this window of opportunity and set off for Qinghefang City.

When the light of escape landed outside the east gate of the market, Li Yuan barely recognized it.

When I last visited, it was just a small market town with a well-organized layout but limited scale, consisting of two main streets to the east and west, four side alleys to the north and south, and about twenty shops.

Everything has changed now.

At the end of the main east street, a new commercial street has been completed and put into use. Two rows of three-story wooden and stone buildings line the street, with wide facades and brand-new signs. Several shops are already open for business, with display shelves of various spiritual materials and elixirs placed at their entrances. Large areas have also been expanded around the two alleys to the south, complete with warehouses, secluded meditation rooms, and inns.

The market has expanded at least five times in size, and is heading towards a tenfold increase.

There were many more people than last time. There were groups of cultivators coming and going on the main street, including independent cultivators buying spiritual materials, traveling merchants selling their wares, and several groups of cultivators who were clearly disciples of sects strolling around the market.

A huge notice was posted on the bulletin board at the main entrance of the market, with several lines of text written in striking red ink.

To celebrate Li Yuan, the head of Qinghe Market, breaking through to the Golden Core stage, Qinghe Market will soon hold a trade fair and auction. All are welcome to participate, and the auction items will include third-tier magic artifacts, rare elixirs, and high-grade spiritual materials.

The announcement also included a small print line: From now until the opening of the trade fair, all newly rented shops will be offered at half price for the first month.

Xu Zhang's work.

Li Yuan walked around the new commercial street. Xu Zhang had indeed handled things very well; the expansion was fast but not chaotic, and the transition between the old and new areas was natural.

When Li Yuan reached the middle of the new commercial street, a small shop caught his attention.

Above the door hangs a plain white plaque with the words "South China Sea Journey" written on it. The shop is simply furnished, with several rows of wooden shelves displaying some marine spiritual materials and water-based elixirs. The variety is not large, but the quality is not low.

A male cultivator who looked to be in his thirties stood behind the counter, wearing a light gray robe and with a handsome face. When he saw Li Yuan pass by the door, he bowed slightly and gave a respectful smile.

Li Yuan didn't go in; he continued walking forward.

Xu Zhang was found in the steward's office behind the market.

Xu Zhang was checking a purchase list with Wang Ting'an when he saw Li Yuan enter and immediately put down the documents in his hand.

"The shop owner has arrived."

"The market has expanded quite well." Li Yuan sat down in a chair.

Xu Zhang smiled and said, "The Chamber of Commerce is doing a great job; the manpower and materials arrived quickly. In about ten days, the last batch of shops will be fully operational. Preparations for the trade fair are also progressing, and it's scheduled for the beginning of next month."

Li Yuan nodded, then changed the subject.

"There's a Nanhaixing store in the middle of the new commercial street. What's its background?"

Xu Zhang's expression changed.

"The shop owner has noticed it too." Xu Zhang put down the list, his tone becoming cautious.

"This shop opened ten days ago. The owner claims to be surnamed Fang and says he is a freelance merchant who came from the southern sea area to do business. He has all the necessary permits, pays the rent readily, and has not violated any market rules since opening."

Xu Zhang paused for a moment.

"But I feel like something's not right."

"What's wrong?"

"Two things." Xu Zhang held up two fingers. "First, this shopkeeper surnamed Fang is always polite on the surface when dealing with the market manager and patrol team, but he always subtly probes the market's rules. For example, he asks how often the patrol team changes shifts, how large the coverage area of ​​the outer perimeter security array is, and how loose the market's control over independent cultivators' transactions is. He asks these questions very casually, like chatting, but the content is always very targeted."

"Secondly, he chatted with the shopkeepers of several shops in the market, repeatedly asking if anyone was selling fragments or relics of ancient sects."

Xu Zhang looked at Li Yuan.

"I don't know what he's looking for; it doesn't seem like he's just doing business. I've had the patrol team watching him, but there haven't been any unusual movements yet."

Li Yuan remained silent for a few moments.

"Keep an eye on him, but don't alert him," Li Yuan said. "Let him do his business normally, but keep an eye on who he contacts..."

Write down everything: what was asked, where we went.

Xu Zhang agreed.

That afternoon, Li Yuan went into seclusion in the newly built mansion of the ward master in Qinghefang Market.

The auction is about to begin, and the items up for auction are of utmost importance.

It is expected that Golden Core cultivators will participate, and second-tier magic artifacts will not be enough to support the event, so third-tier items must be brought out for auction.

Li Yuan took out the refining materials from his personal space and laid them out on the stone platform.

The quantity of Sea Essence Iron, Spirit Silver Ingots, Fire Jade Marrow, Red Copper Essence, and various auxiliary materials is plentiful.

Begin refining.

His proficiency in the third-order weapon forging technique was continuously solidified through repeated forging, and his feel for it became increasingly stable.

The day after the refining was completed, the supplies from the Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce arrived.

Three spirit-powered transport vehicles drove in from the east gate of the market, their cargo piled high with wooden crates. The Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce's employees carried the crates one by one into the storage area, while Xu Zhang counted them.

Most of the supplies were auction items provided by the Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce.

Li Yuan entered the storage area ahead of time to inspect each item for auction.

After each item was taken out of the wooden box, Li Yuan would carefully examine it within a three-foot radius.

Most of them have no entries.

When he checked the twentieth item, Li Yuan paused for a moment.

A third-tier Xuan Guang Ring. The dark gold ring is engraved with intricate divine sense-like patterns on its surface, and its spiritual energy fluctuations are steady.

Blue light.

Li Yuan put the Xuan Guang Huan aside and continued his inspection.

More than a dozen more items passed by.

A third-tier Azure Stream Pot. It is entirely emerald green, with water-based spiritual patterns flowing freely on its surface.

It's still blue light.

Two blue entries.

Li Yuan continued his inspection, looking at the last item.

Linggang Jade.

Needed to make one's own personal magical artifact.

Li Yuan took out the three items separately and called Xu Zhang over.

"I'll buy these three items. The price will be four times the starting bid in spirit stones, deducted directly from my account."

Xu Zhang glanced at the items, nodded, and marked them on the list.

Li Yuan then looked at the two items.

[Equipable item detected: Tier 3 Mystic Light Ring (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Mystic Light Condensation (Blue)]

[Effect: Increases the penetration power of soul attacks by 20%; greatly enhances the accuracy when casting spells based on divine sense]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Destroy the spiritual defense of a cultivator of the same level three times using a soul attack]

[Equipable item detected: Tier 3 Azure Stream Pot (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Azure Stream (Blue)]

[Effect: Increases meridian resilience by 50%; when circulating two or more elemental spiritual energies simultaneously, they can mutually promote and fuse.]

[Preview of conditions for permanentization: Continuously and simultaneously operate the three-attribute spiritual energy cycle for three thousand days]

After the auction items were inventoried, Li Yuan took out the items he had prepared from his personal storage space.

Two Tier 3 demon beast inner cores. One from a Tier 3 Carapace Crab Demon hunted during a deep-sea cleanup mission, and the other from a Tier 3 Ice Serpent Demon. The inner cores are of excellent quality and rich in spiritual energy; they would definitely fetch a good price at an auction.

Two Upper Yuan Pills. Second-tier Foundation Establishment Pill.

"Add these four items to the auction list." Li Yuan handed the items to Xu Zhang.

Xu Zhang took it, carefully examined its quality, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

The two then sat down in the steward's room to discuss other matters related to the auction.

Xu Zhang opened a document and proposed a new idea.

"Master, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

"explain."

"Should we designate a specific area in the market district as a black market?"

Li Yuan glanced at him.

Xu Zhang explained, "Many large markets do this. Official transactions follow formal channels, but there are always some shady things that can't be sold openly. Spiritual materials of unknown origin, supplies from demonic cultivators, and stolen magical artifacts—you can't stop these things from being sold directly. It's better to give them an outlet and keep them under our watchful eyes."

"Moreover, the black market is the best channel for gathering intelligence." Xu Zhang lowered his voice. "Who is buying what, who is selling what, and what information is circulating in the dark—all of this can be found out from the black market. That's what Baijing Market does, and it works quite well."

Li Yuan thought about it.

"Where should it be marked?"

Xu Zhang pulled out a map of the market.

"The black market can't be divided into areas. Most of them exist in the courtyards and basements of shops. We just need to guide them deliberately. I think these two places are good."

"Okay, go ahead and do it." Li Yuan nodded.

Xu Zhang put away the map, got up, and went out to make arrangements.

Over the next few days, Li Yuan focused his energy on setting up the formation in Qinghefang City.

The defensive system of the expanded market town was built almost from scratch. The array formations of the Misty Forest Market Town were repaired and upgraded time and again based on the original foundation. Each adjustment had to take into account the operation of the existing array formations, which imposed many limitations. The Green River Market Town was different. It was a blank slate, and it could be designed from scratch according to its current array formation skills.

Li Yuan first set up a detection array around the market, covering an area of ​​several miles around the market. The array flags were inserted into the pre-set nodes along the direction of the earth's veins, and the spiritual energy loops spread out in the underground rock strata.

After the detection array was completed, a warning array was nested inside it. The warning array and the detection array share some spiritual energy circulation, and the connection between the two arrays is calibrated by the intuitive judgment of the permanent array abbreviations.

The innermost layer is a protective array.

Setting up something from scratch was much easier than patching things up in the misty forest market.

Without the limitations of old formations or compatibility issues with existing structures, each node can be placed in the most appropriate position.

The entire formation was completed in four days.

After setting up the formation, Li Yuan stood on the high ground outside the market and spread his divine sense to scan the entire formation's operation.

The spiritual energy circulation of the three-layered formation was completely unobstructed, and the connection between the nodes was precise and in place. The efficiency of spiritual energy circulation was at least 20% higher than that of the one at Kugu Ridge.

The defense level of Qinghefang City has been raised to a new level.