Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 525 Once Again in the Late Stage of Golden Core

After Li Yuan emerged from the pass, he found Ji Wenyuan already waiting in the main hall, holding a newly received message in his hand.

"Master, there's been a big commotion at the Yuan Yang Sect."

Li Yuan took the message and scanned it.

Two of the four Golden Core elders from the Yuan Yang Sect who advocated surrender officially led their disciples to merge with the Tian Yue Sect. This was not a nominal submission, but a complete merger in which they handed over their sect tokens, core cultivation manuals, and mineral deposit deeds.

The other two elders who remained steadfast did not intervene. The message made no mention of conflict, indicating that some kind of compromise had been reached between the two factions. There was still no news of Zhou Mingyuan; the sect had lost its core pillar for too long, and the steadfast faction no longer had the leverage to continue the stalemate.

At the same time as the merger, Tianyue Sect lifted some of the restrictions on the movements of Yuanyang Sect's disciples. Disciples who had previously been confined within the sect's gates could now freely enter and exit, rejoining cultivation and trading activities.

With the addition of two Golden Core elders, no force within Liangzhou could rival the Tianyue Sect. The Shamo Sect was crippled, the Yuanyang Sect merged, and the Baijing Three Sects had long been allies with the Tianyue Sect. In effect, the entire Liangzhou was now under the Tianyue Sect's sphere of influence.

"How much of the original mining veins and spirit fields surrounding the Yuanyang Sect did the Tianyue Sect take over?" Li Yuan asked.

"Most of them." Ji Wenyuan flipped through the records in his hand. "The three mid-grade spirit mines and more than a dozen spirit fields that Yuanyang Sect originally controlled have all been transferred to Tianyue Sect. The strongholds that Shamo Sect previously occupied are also being cleared out, and after the clearing is completed, they will also be incorporated into Tianyue Sect."

Li Yuan nodded.

The basic structure of Liangzhou has been established.

At the same time, the demonic cultivators' methods of operation have also undergone significant changes.

After Tianyue Sect took control of Liangzhou, it did not specifically target demonic cultivators. The sect focused its main efforts on consolidating its power and expanding its markets, and its efforts to eliminate scattered demonic cultivators were not as strong as during the heyday of Shamo Sect. The demonic cultivators quickly picked up on this signal.

In the past, attacks by demonic cultivators within Liangzhou have decreased dramatically. The remnants of the Demonic Sect no longer launch attacks, and the scattered demonic cultivators have also become much more subdued.

Li Yuan turned his energy back to his original job of offering sacrifices.

The Tianyue Sect's plan to build a new market town in Liangzhou has entered the implementation stage.

Preliminary surveys for the three selected sites have been completed, and construction has begun on the first new market town. In accordance with his duties as a steward, Li Yuan allocated the first batch of supplies from the Misty Forest Market Town and the Green River Market Town, including spirit wood and stone for construction, array flags and array plates for basic formations, as well as a batch of low-grade pills and talismans.

The supplies were delivered through the Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to supplies, Li Yuan also personally went to the first site to set up the basic defensive formations around the new city.

The three-layered protective array of the second-tier superior grade was not a large project and could be completed in two days.

Tianyue Sect was very satisfied with this. Master Xuanpu sent a special message to confirm the subsequent allocation of supplies and the deployment of formations in the two markets, and everything proceeded according to plan.

After finishing the offerings, Li Yuan returned to Qinghefang City.

That afternoon, I took a stroll around the edge of the black market in the side alley on the south side of the market.

The black market has grown considerably larger than it did six months ago, with stalls expanding from the basement to several shops deep in the side alleys. The types of goods traded have also become more diverse. In addition to the common spiritual materials of unknown origin and low-level magical artifacts, some obscure items have begun to appear, such as the essence blood of demonic beasts used for body tempering, fragments of incomplete restrictive magical artifacts, and even some people selling homemade counterfeit identity tokens.

Li Yuan slowly walked along the stall, his senses within a three-foot radius continuously operating.

Most of the items at the stalls did not have product descriptions.

When you reach the deepest part of the alley, an inconspicuous stall catches your attention.

The stall owner was a gaunt male cultivator in his forties, at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, with a sallow complexion and traces of spirit ink on his fingers. He was a talisman master by trade, but he didn't seem to be doing very well. On his stall were a few mediocre second-tier talismans, a few pieces of leftover talisman paper, a bottle of inferior spirit ink, and a few miscellaneous items scattered in the corner of the cloth.

Among the miscellaneous items was a jade pendant.

The jade pendant is about the size of a thumb, grayish-white in color, with a very faint spiritual pattern hidden in the jade's texture. It looks like an ordinary, low-grade jade pendant, completely unremarkable.

Green light.

Li Yuan squatted down and picked up the jade pendant.

At the same time, his divine sense detected another layer attached to the surface of the jade pendant.

Track scent markers.

Extremely faint, the method was concealed, and the characteristics of the aura were exactly the same as those found on the Xuan You Dark Pattern Spiritual Artifact and the Lingzhou Evil Pattern Jade Ring in Baijingfang City.

The third way.

Li Yuan paid two mid-grade spirit stones and put the jade pendant away.

A panel pops up.

[Equipable item detected: Jade Pendant for Concealing Aura (Complete)]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Concealed Form (Green)]

[Effect: Briefly reduces the frequency of one's own spiritual energy fluctuations by 40%, suitable for short-distance concealment]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: Accumulate 15 instances of concealing one's presence and avoiding detection within the range of divine sense of the same level (0/15)]

[Current equipment slot is full (5/5). Replace current equipment?]

The green attribute indicates an effect focused on concealment. It temporarily reduces the frequency of spiritual energy fluctuations by 40%, and when combined with the Hidden Breath Technique, its stealth capabilities become extremely impressive.

The tracking aura on their bodies overlapped again upon contact. The three marks were stacked together, and the concentration of their auras was quite obvious. With the divine sense of a Golden Core cultivator, it wouldn't be difficult to detect the anomaly if they deliberately scanned it.

Three different locations, three different items, all bearing the same tracking tag. A general store in Shirakami-bo Market...

The black market edges of the wards and markets within the Lingzhou Yuanzong territory and the Qinghe ward. Its distribution spans thousands of miles.

Someone is dropping items with tracking tags over a wide area. The purpose of the tracking tags is not to target any one person, but to cast a wide net and see who comes into contact with them.

Li Yuan returned to his secluded meditation room in Qinghefang City and sat down cross-legged.

Operating the divination technique.

The permanent blue affix of "Heavenly Evolution Synesthesia" is automatically added. The lifespan consumed when performing divination is automatically offset by 2% of the total lifespan, and the clarity and accuracy of the calculations are increased by 20%. The permanent affix of "Divination Spiritual Connection" further enhances the recognizability of causal clues.

As spiritual energy was depleted, causal clues surfaced in his consciousness.

The goal of divination is oneself.

The hexagram takes shape.

The causal chain clearly pointed to the three tracking auras on the body. Someone was using tracking marks to pinpoint the location of the infected person; the method wasn't sophisticated, but it covered a wide area. The end of the causal chain was blurry, and the specific identity of the trackers was unclear, but it could be determined that the group was quite large, with at least Golden Core cultivators involved.

The tracking markers will not be removed temporarily, as they can be used for entrapment operations.

Continue your practice as usual.

The spiritual energy reserves inside the dark golden core continued to rise. The spiral patterns became increasingly deep and solemn, and the spiritual energy fluctuations on the surface of the core gradually transitioned from the steady rhythm of the mid-stage of the core to a more substantial rhythm.

The total amount of spiritual energy is close to the upper limit of the mid-stage Golden Core realm.

That morning, Li Yuan was circulating his cultivation technique within the alchemy array. When his spiritual energy completed its 108th cycle, the spiral patterns inside the golden core suddenly accelerated.

The fusion of the two forces released a powerful spiritual energy shock as it accelerated its rotation. The shock spread throughout the body along the meridians, which were further widened as they withstood the impact. The spiritual energy capacity in the dantian suddenly increased after the shock, and the size of the golden core also increased slightly, with the spiral patterns becoming denser.

Breakthrough achieved.

Cultivation level: Late Golden Core stage.

Li Yuan opened his eyes and felt the changes within his body.

The total spiritual power in the late Golden Core stage is significantly greater than in the mid-stage, and the output power of the dual spiritual and demonic characteristics also increases accordingly. The power of spells, the strength of divine sense, and the physical body's endurance all show obvious improvements.

One of the conditions for permanent assimilation of the origin on the natal magic weapon in the special equipment slot has been met: cultivation level has reached the late stage of Golden Core.

Another condition is that the essence and blood need to be nourished for 100 days, which still takes time.

Li Yuan finished his practice, stood up, and pushed open the stone door of the secluded meditation room.

Outside the market, it was getting light, and the patrol team was changing shifts.

>