Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 559 Transformation and Demon Interception

At dawn, Li Yuan practiced the Heavenly Evolution Divination Technique in his secluded cultivation room.

The hexagrams are condensed.

The hexagram at the minor completion stage is no longer a jigsaw puzzle, but a rough panoramic view. The moment spiritual energy is injected, causal clues unfold spontaneously in consciousness, and the passive perception of celestial synesthesia amplifies the key information in the hexagram.

The goal of divination is to predict one's own causal direction in the near future.

The divination provides clear guidance: in the southeast, deep in the sea, a line of cause and effect is approaching.

Li Yuan accepted the divination results, got up, and left the pass.

They transformed into streaks of light and left the stronghold, flying southeast.

The beam of light lowered its altitude, advancing close to the sea surface. The Shadowless Technique activated, its aura suppressed to the late Foundation Establishment stage. A sea breeze swept past on either side, carrying a salty, fishy vapor.

After flying for about half an hour, their divine sense detected something unusual in the sea ahead.

An extremely faint aura of demonic energy.

The Dark Insight's fusion entry automatically responded, separating the frequency and characteristics of this wisp of demonic energy from the massive spiritual energy fluctuations mixed in the seawater. The concentration of the aura was extremely faint; if it weren't for Dark Insight's superior accuracy in identifying demonic energy compared to ordinary people, it would have been impossible to detect it at this distance.

Li Yuan adjusted his direction and headed towards the source of the demonic energy.

Slow down and control your breathing.

The breathing became clearer and clearer.

The target is underwater.

Li Yuan silently entered the water; the permanent green attribute of Water Escape made underwater propulsion produce almost no unnecessary water flow disturbance.

About three miles away, a moving source of demonic energy was locked onto by divine sense.

Golden Core Stage.

The target's aura fluctuations were deliberately compressed, and an outer layer of concealment spell was wrapped around it, but the underlying demonic energy characteristics could not be completely concealed.

Mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, a demonic cultivator.

The target is moving in a southeast-southeast direction, heading towards the underwater mountain range where the Monster Alliance is located.

Li Yuan followed.

Underwater tracking is much more difficult than on land. However, the target's perception range is also correspondingly reduced. Li Yuan kept the distance at about two miles, which is on the edge of the detection range of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator's divine sense, and would not be detected under normal circumstances.

The combination of the concealed aura compression, the Spirit Wave Concealment, and the Dark Demon Concealment, with the triple concealment, resulted in almost zero fluctuations in spiritual energy.

The tracking lasted for about fifteen minutes.

The demonic cultivators ahead suddenly stopped.

Li Yuan paused, then disappeared behind a group of underwater coral reefs.

About ten breaths later, the demonic cultivator made his move.

Instead of continuing forward, it released a spell from within its body.

Sound waves.

A low-frequency hum emanated from the demonic cultivator's body, spreading in all directions through the seawater as physical vibrations. The sound waves were not composed of spiritual energy, but were pure physical vibrations with extremely strong penetrating power, and their propagation speed in water far exceeded that of spiritual energy fluctuations.

The sound waves swept across the coral reef where Li Yuan was hiding.

While concealment can mask spiritual energy fluctuations and aura, it cannot conceal physical existence. The reflected wave pattern produced when the sound wave struck Li Yuan's body was completely different from the reflection in the open sea, like casting a clear image on a mirror.

The demonic cultivator abruptly turned his head towards Li Yuan.

It's been exposed.

Li Yuan emerged from behind the coral reef, no longer hiding.

It is indeed a weakness. All of his concealment methods are based on the level of aura: aura concealment, spiritual energy fluctuation compression, and demonic energy concealment are all aimed at divine sense and spiritual energy detection. Once the opponent uses physical detection methods, all concealment techniques become useless.

It requires an illusion or spatial concealment spell to fundamentally change the way one perceives their own existence, rather than simply obscuring spiritual signals.

But that happened later.

The demonic cultivator in front of them had already turned and fled.

The direction was no longer towards the depths of the Demon Beast Alliance, but rapidly rising to the upper left, clearly intending to surface and escape at full speed using its escape light.

Li Yuan flashed away and gave chase.

The distance of two li was shortened to half a li in a few breaths.

Realizing he couldn't escape, the demonic cultivator turned and attacked.

A black beam of light shot out from the demonic cultivator's palm, its surface covered with fine, corrosive patterns.

Li Yuan dodged to the side and unleashed his Golden Blade Technique.

A dark golden blade of light condensed in the water, its density far exceeding the limits that a second-tier demonic beast could withstand. The blade of light sliced ​​through the seawater, aiming straight for the demonic cultivator's chest.

The demonic cultivator formed hand seals, and a dark red demonic energy shield materialized in front of him. The shield was not thin, and its quality was not low by the standards of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator.

The blade struck the shield.

The shield shattered.

The dark golden blade light, amplified by the spiritual energy density of a fully-fledged Golden Core cultivator, easily tore through the full defense of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator. The blade light, still powerful after piercing the shield, continued its trajectory, cutting into the demonic cultivator's left shoulder.

The eroding, bone-chilling demonic energy seeped into the wound.

The demonic cultivator grunted, his left arm hanging down. He pinched a talisman with his right hand and slapped it onto his body. A beam of light shot out from the talisman, carrying the demonic cultivator westward.

Li Yuan raised his right hand and unleashed a Sky-Splitting Slash.

Just as the escape beam was about to leave the attack range, it caught up with its target. The light sliced ​​through the outer layer of the escape beam's protection and pierced into the demonic cultivator's back.

The escaping light dissipated.

The demonic cultivator's body tumbled twice in the water before stopping, the light in his eyes quickly dimming. The dual corrosive effects of the Bone-Eating Cold Blade ravaged his body, causing his meridians to rupture inch by inch.

Li Yuan did not intentionally leave any survivors, as cultivators at the Golden Core stage have the means to commit suicide at any time.

Li Yuan swam to the corpse of the demonic cultivator and took out a storage bag from his waist.

The spiritual energy was injected, breaking the restriction on the storage bag.

The contents are limited. A number of spirit stones, of medium quality. Several jade slips containing basic records of demonic cultivation techniques. A replacement black robe. Two bottles of pills, of ordinary quality.

There is a separately sealed jade box in the corner.

The jade box's restrictions were stronger than those on the storage bag itself, with an additional layer of second-tier high-grade sealing restrictions. Li Yuan intuitively located the weak point using the permanent inscription of the Xuan You restriction's remnants, and easily broke it with a single channel of spiritual power.

The jade box was opened.

A medicinal herb lay quietly on a soft cushion inside the jade box.

The herb was about the length of a palm, dark blue in color, with a thick rootstock and three flat leaves branching out from the top. The surface of the leaves had extremely fine silver patterns, arranged in a way that didn't seem to grow naturally, but rather like array patterns that had evolved on their own after being immersed in spiritual energy for a long time.

A purple-grade fluctuation emanated from the spiritual herb.

The moment Li Yuan's finger touched the elixir, a panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected: Demon Spirit Metamorphosis Grass]

[Equipment Attribute Preview: Demon Spirit Metamorphosis (Purple)]

[Effect: Permanently enhances a cultivator's foundation, greatly increasing the probability of breaking through bottlenecks; the boost is even greater for cultivators with demon beast bloodlines.]

[Preview of conditions for permanentization: Cultivate a third-tier demon beast technique and reach perfection]

Purple entry.

Enhance the cultivation foundation of fourth-tier demonic beasts.

Li Yuan put the elixir back into the jade box and resealed it.

The purple-labeled elixir has effects related to demonic beasts, and the magic cultivator carrying it is moving towards the Demonic Beast Alliance.

The direction is clear, but more precise information is needed.

Li Yuan disposed of the demonic cultivator's corpse and the worthless items in his storage bag on the spot, and put the spirit medicine jade box and several valuable jade slips into his personal space.

After returning to the alliance base, Li Yuan exchanged his contribution points for two illustrated guides to spiritual herbs.

The first book was an illustrated guide to common medicinal herbs in the sea. I flipped through it but couldn't find any record of the Demon Spirit Metamorphosis Grass.

The second book is an illustrated guide to rare medicinal herbs, which covers a wider range and includes some rare or even nearly extinct medicinal herb varieties.

When I turned to page 47, a picture of a miraculous elixir came into view.

It has a dark blue rhizome and three flat leaves with silver veins on the leaf surface. The description in the encyclopedia matches the actual product in my hand very closely.

The encyclopedia's description is extremely brief: This medicine is extremely rare. Its core effect is to enhance the cultivation foundation of high-level demonic beasts, with the most significant effect on them. Its growth conditions are demanding.

A demonic cultivator from the Yuan Sect, at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, carrying a rare spiritual herb capable of enhancing the cultivation of fourth-tier demonic beasts, stealthily made his way towards the Demonic Beast Alliance.

Li Yuan carefully put away the illustrated guide to medicinal herbs.

Do not equip the Demon Spirit Metamorphosis Grass for now; store it separately in your personal space.

In the days that followed, the training rhythm returned to normal.