Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 508 The Spirit of the Vast Ocean

When Li Yuan returned to Wulin Market, he lingered for a while on the official road outside the east gate of the market.

To the east, about ten miles away, the outline of Yunyang Market could be vaguely seen. The sect flags hanging above the market had been changed; the original dark red flag of Yuanyang Sect was gone, replaced by a new flag with a dark blue background.

The banner of the Tianyue Sect.

Yunyang Market has changed hands.

Li Yuan withdrew his gaze and walked into the Misty Forest Market.

Ji Wenyuan reported on the recent situation in the main hall. The overall environment in Liangzhou is indeed improving.

After the Yuanyang Sect retreated, the Tianyue Sect poured in to fill the power vacuum, and patrols and order maintenance in Liangzhou became much stricter than before.

The security pressure around the market has been greatly reduced.

After Li Yuan had been cultivating in seclusion for three days, a surge of spiritual energy came from outside the main hall.

Golden Core level.

When Li Yuan pushed open the door to the secluded cultivation room and walked into the main hall, a middle-aged cultivator dressed in the deep blue robes of the Tianyue Sect was already sitting in a guest chair. His aura was calm and profound, indicating he was in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

It wasn't Master Xuanpu, but another Golden Core cultivator from the Tianyue Sect.

Upon seeing Li Yuan emerge, the visitor immediately rose and bowed.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I am Zhao Heng, an inner sect elder of the Tianyue Sect."

"Fellow Daoist Zhao." Li Yuan sat down opposite him.

Zhao Heng didn't beat around the bush.

"I have come here for two reasons. First, the Tianyue Sect will soon be holding a grand ceremony to celebrate the breakthrough of a cultivator from the Earth element to the Nascent Soul stage. I have come specifically to invite Fellow Daoist Li to attend the ceremony."

2

Li Yuan nodded.

Zhao Heng continued, "The second thing is a request."

"The Tianyue Sect has discovered a ruin in the sea, located near a small island on the outskirts of the South China Sea. The entrance to the ruin has been found, but the array restrictions inside are of a high grade, and our array masters have not been able to break through them."

Zhao Heng looked at Li Yuan.

"I've heard that Fellow Daoist Li is a skilled array master. The array at the Bone Ridge was set up by you. I would like to ask Fellow Daoist Li to go and assist in dismantling the array."

"And the reward?" Li Yuan asked.

"Fellow Daoist Li, name your price."

"Void Crystal".

Zhao Heng was taken aback.

Void Crystals are top-tier spiritual materials with spatial properties and are extremely rare on the market.

Zhao Heng pondered for a moment.

"I need to send a message to confirm."

Zhao Heng took out a communication token and poured his spiritual energy into it. After a moment, the token glowed slightly, sending back a reply.

"Alright." Zhao Heng put away the token. "There is a small piece of Void Crystal in the sect's treasury, of excellent quality, which will serve as payment for this commission."

"I'll go," Li Yuan said.

Three days later, Li Yuan and Zhao Heng set off for the sea.

The two first entered the teleportation array through Tianyue Market. Then, they set off from the island and flew for most of the day using their escape techniques, arriving at their target location on the outskirts of the South China Sea.

The island where the ruins are located is small, only two or three miles in circumference. The island has sparse vegetation and jagged rocks, with no trace of human construction.

However, beneath the ground in the center of the island, there was an extremely faint fluctuation of spiritual energy.

Zhao Heng led Li Yuan to a flat rock in the center of the island.

There is an opening less than three feet square on the rock face, with the edges of the rock cut by human hands, revealing the passage below.

The passage extends downwards, and about two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) deep, a stone gate can be seen.

The stone gate was covered with array formations and restrictions.

"This is it." Zhao Heng stood beside the opening. "Behind the stone door is the interior space of the ruins. The array formation is of a high grade; our array masters tried twice but failed to break it."

Li Yuan jumped into the passage and landed in front of the stone gate.

He probed the surface of the restrictive array with his divine sense.

The three layers of restrictions are nested from the outside in. The outermost layer is a detection restriction used to detect the identity and cultivation level of anyone approaching. The middle layer is a defensive restriction that can retaliate against unauthorized intruders. The innermost layer is a sealing restriction that locks the stone door itself.

The three layers of restrictions are all of high quality: the outermost layer is about the lower grade of the third rank, the middle layer is the middle grade of the third rank, and the innermost layer is slightly above the middle grade of the third rank.

More noteworthy is that a trick is hidden within the array structure of the three layers of restrictions.

The outermost layer of the detection barrier contains a special magical imprint. If an intruder possesses a spell from a specific system and resonates with the barrier using that spell, the three layers of barriers will automatically reduce their defensive strength, drastically lowering the technical difficulty of breaking through the barrier by several levels.

This design is not uncommon in the legacy relics of ancient sects. The builders of these relics would leave back doors in the restrictions to ensure that future disciples of the sect could enter smoothly, while keeping outsiders out. The keys to the back doors were usually unique spells or techniques of the sect.

Li Yuan did not possess that magic.

But he doesn't need it.

With a cultivation level of minor completion of the third-order array path, coupled with the assistance of the two permanent attributes of array rhythm and array principle glimmer, it is not impossible to forcibly break through the upper-middle grade of the third-order array restriction, although it is laborious.

Li Yuan chose to forcefully break through.

He placed his right hand on the outermost layer of the restrictive array, and his divine sense penetrated along the spiritual energy pathways one by one.

Finally, a burst of spiritual energy precisely struck the core of the sealing barrier.

The array patterns on the stone gate all faded.

The seal has been broken.

The stone door slowly slid open inwards, revealing the space behind it.

First floor.

Behind the stone gate was a small stone chamber, less than two zhang in diameter. The four walls of the chamber were bare, and in the center of the floor was a stone platform with a jade slip on it.

Li Yuan stepped forward and picked up the jade slip.

Divine sense probed in.

The jade slip contains a spell called the Concealment Technique. Its function is to suppress one's own spiritual energy fluctuations, reducing the probability of being detected and tracked. It is a second-tier, high-grade spell, with a low cultivation threshold but high practicality.

This spell belongs to the same spell system as the backdoor key left in the relic's restrictions. If one masters the Breath of the Dead spell, it can be used to resonate with the restrictions, greatly reducing the difficulty of breaking the subsequent two layers of restrictions.

There is another stone door at the back of the stone chamber, leading to the second floor.

After the second layer of restrictions was broken, there was also a small stone room, with another jade slip placed on the table.

Divine sense probed in.

This jade slip contains another spell called Shadow Escape Technique. Its function is to create an afterimage with spiritual power over a short distance to confuse the pursuer, while the real body escapes in another direction. Its grade is also second-tier, high-grade.

Li Yuan carefully put away both jade slips and continued breaking the formation.

Then proceed to the third floor.

Beyond the stone gate on the third level, the space suddenly opened up.

A large hall, several tens of feet in diameter, appeared before us. The dome was about five feet high, and the four walls were covered with colorful murals.

The murals are extremely rich in content, including topographical maps of the sea area, markings of the distribution of islands, scenes of cultivators practicing, records of the forms of monsters, and even some symbols and characters that cannot be understood.

Around the hall were more than a dozen stone shelves, neatly displaying various magical artifacts, jade slips, and spiritual materials. Most of them were in relatively good condition, with only a few damaged due to their age.

Zhao Heng followed him in, scanned the hall, and his gaze moved back and forth between the murals and the stone shelves.

"It truly is a legacy of tradition." Zhao Heng's tone was tinged with emotion.

Li Yuan glanced at him.

Zhao Heng explained, "The cultivators in the sea, especially the early island sects, have a tradition of building such relics to preserve their heritage."

"The environment of the seas was much more dangerous in the early years. There were not only few island powers, but most of them were also far apart and difficult to travel between. A small sect standing on a deserted island could be wiped out by a wave of demons at any time. Many sects began to build heritage sites to seal the sect's core techniques, spells, weapon-making methods and even historical records in the sites."

Zhao Heng walked up to a mural and examined it carefully.

"When a sect exists, its relics serve as a reserve. When a sect is gone, its relics become a spark. As long as the relics remain, successors have the opportunity to inherit the mantle of their predecessors."

"Later, the marine environment gradually improved, large sects rose to prominence, and exchanges between islands increased. The risk of annihilation decreased, but the tradition of building heritage sites continued. However, the focus of later sites changed; they were no longer for preserving the flame, but for preserving the integrity of the heritage. This included the sect's history, its unique magic system, and its special weapon-refining techniques."

After listening, Li Yuan's gaze swept over the magical artifacts and jade slips on the stone shelf.

The relics are remarkably well-preserved, and although the ritual implements on the stone shelves vary in quality, they are generally in good condition.

Li Yuan walked past the stone shelf one by one, sensing each magical artifact within a three-foot radius.

Most of them have no entries.

Upon reaching the last row of stone shelves, a magical artifact triggered my perception, displaying a blue label.

Logically speaking, he was just making a commission, but after discussing it with Zhao Heng, Li Yuan spent spirit stones to buy the blue entry.

A third-tier sea-pattern spirit plate.

The disc, about the size of a palm, is a deep blue color, its surface covered with extremely intricate water-based spiritual patterns. The patterns mimic the surging of ocean tides, layering upon each other and radiating outwards from the center of the disc. A sea-blue spiritual stone is embedded at the bottom of the disc, its spiritual energy pulsating steadily.

[Equipable item detected: Tier 3 Sea Pattern Spirit Disc (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Oceanic Spirit (Blue)]

[Effect: Increases the power of water-based spells by 20%; increases the refinement of water-based spiritual energy by 30%; and increases the natural recovery speed of spiritual energy in aquatic environments by 50%]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Defeat a Tier 3 monster in a deep-sea environment]

Blue entry. Overall increase in water-related aspects, especially a 50% increase in recovery speed in aquatic environments, which is extremely useful when operating in marine areas.

Li Yuan stored the Sea Pattern Spirit Disc in his personal space, not in a hurry to equip it. The equipment slots needed to be planned out in advance; he would finish what he was doing first before making adjustments.

After the assignments were completed, the two left the ruins and returned to the island in the sea for transit.

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