Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 554 Mining Array Completed

The following morning, Li Yuan began to formally set up the formation.

The entrance to the ore vein was located about sixty feet deep in the mine tunnel on the north side of the camp. Lu Yang sent two Foundation Establishment cultivators to follow behind and carry materials, while Li Yuan walked in front. His innate perception of the Pulse Pivot Profound Realm revealed the structure of the ore vein layer by layer in his consciousness.

The main vein extends from west to east, with a natural concentration of spirit ore in the middle section, where the density of spirit ore is several times that of the surrounding rock strata.

The best location for the formation's core is right in the center of the rich area.

Li Yuan squatted down, holding the array pattern carving knife in his hand.

The Array Dao Heavenly Pivot is in operation.

The core array pattern radiates outwards from the array eye, and the spiritual energy loops are laid along the vein of the ore.

The laying of the outer spiritual energy loop was entrusted to two Foundation Establishment cultivators who carried out the work according to the direction marked by Li Yuan. The simple straight lines did not require profound array skills.

The deployment lasted for most of the day.

The final step is to embed the ore-guiding device into the reserved slot in the center of the array eye.

The grayish-white disc is embedded in the rock layer and activated by the infusion of spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy circulation channels of the formation are fully connected. The formation is operating normally.

Li Yuan looked down at the core of the formation.

The green-grade fluctuations emanated from the ore guiding artifact embedded in the slot.

[Equipable item detected: Mining Enhancement Array Hub]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Mining Cluster Increase (Green)]

[Effect: When within a self-deployed ore vein enhancement array, the speed of spirit ore condensation is increased by an additional 10%; the perception accuracy of ore vein direction within the array's coverage area is slightly enhanced.]

[Preview of Permanentization Conditions: The formation with this core as its center will continuously operate for a cumulative period of ninety days, increasing the production of spirit ore.]

0/90)

The entry is attached to the array eye, just like the mineral enhancement array previously deployed in the sea area. It is generated at the array eye after the array is deployed.

The condition for permanent activation is continuous operation for ninety days. The formation can accumulate progress by operating on its own, and no equipment is required.

He got up and walked out along the mine tunnel.

Lu Yang was waiting at the entrance of the mine tunnel. When he saw Li Yuan come out, he went to greet him.

"Finished?"

"The formation has been activated, and the increased mineral production effect will take effect immediately. Do not move the formation core. No one should perform large-scale spiritual energy operations near the formation core for ninety days to avoid interfering with the stable operation of the spiritual energy circulation."

"Understood." Lu Yang cupped his hands in thanks. "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li. The reward has been prepared."

The reward was a sum of spirit stones plus a batch of specialty minerals from Baihe Prefecture, 20% more than stipulated in the contract. Lu Yang's generosity clearly indicated that he saw the potential for long-term cooperation.

Li Yuan put the reward into his personal space, bid farewell to the Lu family, and then transformed into a beam of light and left Baihe Prefecture.

The beam of light flew towards the sea.

After leaving Baihe Prefecture, Li Yuan activated his perception of the demonic energy tracking mark.

The signal from the mark remained stable, and its location did not change significantly. However, in the background of demonic energy near the mark, Li Yuan noticed a subtle anomaly.

The traces of demonic energy have gained a new layer.

Previously, the demonic energy background sensed on the outer edge of the sea was singular and uniform, originating from the early infiltration of the Yuan Sect or demonic cultivation forces. Now, a newer layer of demonic energy traces has been superimposed on this layer of remnants. The characteristics of the two layers are slightly different; the new layer has a higher concentration of demonic energy and a smaller degree of attenuation, indicating that it was formed more recently.

Someone recently had another exchange.

The communication between Yuanzong and the Monster Alliance continues, and the frequency may be increasing.

Li Yuan kept this discovery in mind, did not change his direction, and continued flying towards the stronghold of the Loose Cultivator Alliance.

It was already evening when we arrived at the base.

The atmosphere inside the stronghold was much more tense than when I last visited.

Four Golden Core cultivators sat in the council chamber. The guild leader sat in the center, a late-stage Golden Core cultivator surnamed Zhao was on his left, and the other two were active members of the alliance. A sea chart lay open on the table, marked with more than a dozen new red markers.

When Li Yuan entered, all four of them looked at him at the same time.

"Fellow Daoist Li, you've come at the right time." The guild leader gestured for him to sit down. "The matter we're discussing concerns you."

Li Yuan sat down in the empty seat, his gaze sweeping over the red markings on the nautical chart.

The markers are distributed in the outer sea area of ​​the main island of the Loose Cultivator Alliance, with the highest density in the southeast direction and scattered distribution in the north and west.

"The Monster Alliance's activity frequency is increasing." The guild leader pointed to the markings on the sea chart. "In the past month, there have been more than a dozen monster sightings reported in the outer seas, three of which were third-tier monsters. In the past, seeing one or two a month was considered good."

The cultivator surnamed Zhao added, "It's not just us. Dragon Abyss Pavilion and Coral Palace are experiencing similar situations. They've already contacted us to discuss joint defense."

"What about the Kunpeng Alliance?" Li Yuan asked.

"The Nascent Soul senior is still protecting the Nascent Soul Ceremony at Tianyue Sect and won't be back for a while." The guild leader shook his head. "There aren't many Golden Core cultivators that can be mobilized on Kunpeng Island. Most of them are maintaining the island's daily defenses."

The situation is clear.

The activities of the Demon Beast Alliance are becoming increasingly frequent, and the security situation in the seas is deteriorating. Dragon Abyss Pavilion and Coral Palace each possess their own large-scale defensive array systems, making them unlikely to be breached in the short term. However, the main island of the Loose Cultivator Alliance lacks high-quality defensive arrays, making it the most vulnerable point should the Demon Beast Alliance launch a large-scale attack. The other scattered smaller islands are equally defenseless.

"So what we need to do now is to issue early warnings." The chairman looked at Li Yuan. "We've come up with a plan to set up monster-detecting arrays on various islands. The arrays don't need to be too complicated; their core function is to detect the movements of monsters and send back information as soon as any anomalies are detected, giving us time to react."

"Dragon Abyss Pavilion and Coral Palace have also agreed to contribute some resources to set up the array," said the cultivator surnamed Zhao. "The materials and compensation will be shared by all three parties, but it will be difficult to find someone to set up the array. There aren't many Golden Core cultivators in the sea with sufficient expertise in array formations, and Fellow Daoist Li happens to be an expert in this area."

Li Yuan glanced at the pre-set locations of the demon-detecting array marked on the nautical chart.

There are over a hundred locations in total. The coverage area is sufficient to cover most of the areas where cultivators are active, forming a complete ring-shaped early warning network. The design of the formation itself is not difficult, but it needs to be deployed across multiple islands, which is a considerable amount of work.

"How is the compensation calculated?"

"It's calculated per location. The settlement is made on the spot after each location is set up, including spirit stones and materials," the guild leader announced a figure. "There are also additional contribution points as a reward, which can be exchanged for items in the alliance database."

The compensation is reasonable.

"Okay, I'll take these twelve locations."

Li Yuan pointed to an area on the nautical chart.

"Alright." The guild leader made the decision, then took out a bone slip from under the table and handed it over. "This is the communication bone slip of the Sea Alliance, the old type. The communication channels of Dragon Abyss Pavilion and Coral Palace are connected to it. If any situation arises during the formation, you can use this to communicate directly."

Li Yuan put the bone slip into his palm, his expression remaining unchanged.

After returning to the temporary seclusion room assigned to him at the base, he closed the stone door.

Place the contact stencil on the table.

The green text effect of the message translation is now in effect. Spiritual energy is injected into the communication runes on the surface of the bone tablet, and the encrypted structure is being dismantled layer by layer.

The encryption system of this bone tablet is completely different from the four previously deciphered methods. The underlying encoding method has obvious characteristics of its age, the arrangement logic of the spirit patterns is more ancient, and the number of nested layers is less, but the complexity of each layer is higher.

The core structure of the fifth encryption system is fully presented in consciousness.

A panel pops up.

The conditions for permanent implementation of the message translation (green) feature have been met.

【Condition: Successfully decoded five different encryption systems' message signals √ (5/5)】

[Message translation (green) has become a permanent entry]

The sound transmission stone in the equipment slot shattered and disappeared.

A scene flashed into my mind.

The scene depicts an old, secret room.

The walls of the secret chamber were covered with various communication artifacts: bone slips, jade slips, metal tokens, and talismans, all made of different materials and spanning a wide range of eras. A cultivator dressed in a gray robe sat in the center of the chamber, his hands resting on a large stone disc.

The surface of the stone disc is engraved with dozens of different encrypted spirit patterns, each system occupying a sector of the stone disc.

The cultivator raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the communication devices on the four walls.

When the encrypted signal from any magical artifact enters his perception range, the encrypted content is automatically deciphered into plaintext. No active spellcasting or layer-by-layer decryption is required; decryption has become instinctive.

The image disappeared.

The underlying logic of the various encryption systems used by different forces to exchange secret messages in the old era has sunk into my consciousness.

The effects of permanent message decoding take effect immediately. The decoding of encrypted messages has changed from active analysis to passive, instinctive perception. Once any encrypted message enters the perception range, the underlying encoding logic is automatically revealed. Transmission stones are no longer needed as a carrier; the decoding capability has been solidified into its own permanent terminology.

Put the bone slips away safely.

The permanent decoding of messages is a crucial milestone. From now on, encrypted communications from the Yuan Sect, the Demon Beast Alliance, and other forces will be automatically deciphered once the signal enters the detection range. This capability is of immense value in intelligence gathering.

Li Yuan sat down cross-legged to process the increased information brought about by permanence.

The underlying logic of the old-era encryption system encompassed dozens of different encoding rules, far more complex than the currently used communication encryption systems. Some of these underlying logics overlapped with the encoding methods of spatial runes, complementing the underlying logic of spatial runes obtained after the permanent deconstruction of spatial runes.

The intersection of the two underlying logics automatically merged in the sea of ​​consciousness, deepening the overall understanding of the spirit pattern encoding.

Collect power.

Tomorrow we will begin setting up the demon-detecting array.