Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 562 Fishing Demon in the Misty Forest

The spiritual mist surrounding the Tianyue Mountains has thinned out by another layer.

Last time I came, a thick white mist lingered at the summit of the main peak. This time, from a distance, the mist had become a faint, almost imperceptible trace, nearly blending into the sky. The rate at which spiritual energy was being extracted from the spiritual veins was accelerating.

It landed in Tianyuefang Market.

The market area hadn't expanded, but the number of people was much less than the last time I visited. The Nascent Soul Ceremony had dragged on for too long, and the patience of the visiting cultivators had worn thin; most had already left. Those who remained were either disciples of the Tianyue Sect or partners with reasons to stay long-term.

Li Yuan took out the communication token and contacted Xuan Pu.

On the second floor of the council chamber, Xuanpu sat behind a tea table.

His complexion was normal, showing no signs of anxiety, but there were many more jade slips spread out on the tea table than last time, indicating that he had been busy with many matters recently.

"sit."

Li Yuan sat down opposite him.

When will the results of the ceremony be announced?

"Less than a month at most."

Li Yuan nodded.

"I've had pretty good luck these past few years," Xuanpu suddenly said, seemingly unrelated. "A few years ago, I collected an item that could assist in the Nascent Soul stage, but I couldn't bear to use it and kept it until now. I sent it to the main peak a few days ago."

He didn't specify what the item was, and Li Yuan didn't press him for details.

The topic shifted to other matters.

"Has anything unusual happened near the Tianyue Mountains recently?" Li Yuan asked.

Which aspect are you referring to?

"Yuan Sect," Li Yuan said directly, "I noticed it when I came last time; the Nascent Soul cultivators of Yuan Sect have never left the vicinity of the Tianyue Mountains."

Xuanpu's gaze sharpened slightly, and he put down his teacup.

"Fortunately, the Nascent Soul cultivators from the Kunpeng Alliance are also here. These two haven't left since the start of the ceremony; they've stayed around the Tianyue Mountains."

"What about the other Nascent Soul cultivators?"

"The other two left a few days ago, saying they had something to take care of and would come back at the appointed time."

"I understand." Li Yuan did not delve further into the topic.

After leaving the council chamber, Li Yuan headed to the enlightenment area on the south side of the main peak.

The invitation jade plaque is activated through the outer array.

There were only four or five people left in the meditation area, half the number of people when I came last time.

Li Yuan found a spot in the field, sat down, and activated his senses.

The spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from the main peak were different from those of previous times.

The fragments of understanding were more shattered than before. The frequency was faster, the density higher, but the content of each piece was so blurry that it was almost indistinguishable. It was like a book being torn into pieces and thrown from a height, the pieces falling in great numbers, but not a single one could be read as a complete sentence.

The breakthrough process is accelerating, but stability is declining sharply.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and sensed for about an hour.

The number of valid insights I was able to capture was nearly half that of last time; most of the fragments were too disorganized to be summarized or organized. However, a few scattered pieces still held value.

He finished his practice, got up, and left.

On the way back to the temporary seclusion room in Tianyuefang City, the communication token lit up.

It wasn't Xuanpu, it was Ji Wenyuan.

"Master, something has happened at Misty Forest Market."

Ji Wenyuan's transmission speed was much faster than usual.

"For three consecutive nights, the detection arrays on the edge of the market have detected suspicious auras. The locations of the three appearances were different, but the characteristics of the auras were consistent: they were all demonic cultivators."

Li Yuan paused in his steps.

The detection array on the edge of the Misty Forest Market was something he had specially set up beforehand; its core function was to detect the direction of demonic energy.

Ordinary defensive formations have limited ability to detect trace amounts of demonic energy; this detection formation was specifically set up to target the Yuan Sect's covert operations.

"How many people?"

"The number of auras detected by the array is uncertain, but there are at least two. Their cultivation levels cannot be determined; the auras are too weak, and each one disappears in less than a quarter of an hour."

"I come back."

Transforming into a beam of light, they left the Tianyue Mountains and flew at full speed towards the Misty Forest Market.

It was already late at night when they arrived at the market.

Ji Wenyuan waited in the main hall, his face tense.

"Were the specific locations marked for the three occurrences?"

"Marked." Ji Wenyuan took out a jade slip and handed it over. "The first location was on the edge of the spirit field in the northeast corner of the market, the second was in the woods outside the south gate, and the third was on the barren slope to the west. The three locations are distributed in a fan shape, with approximately equal intervals between them."

Fan-shaped distribution with equal intervals.

It wasn't random wandering; it was planned reconnaissance.

Li Yuan nodded, returned to his secluded cultivation room, and began his practice.

Two days later.

Li Yuan opened his eyes in the seclusion room.

The target entered the spirit field.

The stealth and stealth operation was activated, compressing his aura to an extremely low level. Li Yuan silently left through the back gate of the market and advanced towards the western suburbs at an extremely fast speed.

At the edge of the abandoned sacred field, moonlight shone on the waist-high weeds.

Three figures squatted in the center of the spirit field.

All three were at the Foundation Establishment stage. One was at the late Foundation Establishment stage, and the other two were at the mid Foundation Establishment stage. The spiritual energy fluctuations on their bodies were deliberately suppressed, and they were covered by a thin layer of demonic energy. The techniques they used were the same as those left in the bodies of the demonic beasts they had killed in the sea, which were driven by demonic energy.

People of Yuanzong.

Spiritual energy gathered in his hands, and two extremely fine threads of spiritual energy shot out from his fingertips, silently advancing along the ground and circling behind the three people.

The first spiritual energy thread hooked onto the acupoint on the back of the neck of the late Foundation Establishment spy, while the second thread simultaneously hooked onto the ankle of the closer of the two mid Foundation Establishment spies.

The spiritual energy suddenly tightened.

Before the late-stage Foundation Establishment scout could react, the acupoints on the back of his neck were sealed by spiritual energy, and all the meridians in his body were instantly locked, preventing him from even shouting. The two mid-stage Foundation Establishment scouts reacted a little faster. One of them tried to activate the escape talisman on his body, but the spiritual energy thread on his ankle was suddenly pulled by the force of a Golden Core Perfection cultivator, and he was dragged to the ground.

The third scout turned and ran.

Li Yuan raised his right hand, and a spiritual energy rope flew out from his palm, precisely looping around the escapee's waist and pulling him back.

Within three breaths, all three were subdued.

The three were bound together by spiritual power and thrown into the center of the spiritual field.

Li Yuan crouched down and searched the waist of the late-stage Foundation Establishment spy, finding a bone fragment.

The surface of the bone fragment is engraved with a set of encrypted spiritual patterns, arranged in a nested encryption system commonly used by the Yuan Sect.

The permanent entries for message translation run automatically.

The encrypted content on the bone fragments is automatically deciphered into plaintext within the consciousness.

The content is divided into two parts.

The first paragraph is the mission instructions: Investigate the defensive formation layout, number of cultivators, and material reserves of various towns and cities in eastern Liangzhou, with a focus on the towns and cities under the jurisdiction of Tianyue Sect and those recently built.

The second section is a supplementary instruction: Focus on investigating information related to Li Yuan, the keeper of the Misty Forest Market, including his cultivation level, whereabouts, social connections, and areas of expertise. This is marked as priority.

Yuanzong paid targeted attention to himself.

It was no coincidence that the three spies had their eyes on Wulin Market; they were coming directly for him.

Li Yuan carefully put away the bone fragments and stood up.

He looked at the three people who were tied to the ground.

The late-stage Foundation Establishment scout's face was ashen, his eyes fixed on Li Yuan, but he couldn't utter a single word. The two mid-stage Foundation Establishment scouts looked terrified.

Li Yuan didn't waste any words.

The Life Flame Tracing Technique activated, and the minimal lifespan loss was automatically offset by the Heavenly Evolution Synessence. Causal clues surfaced in his consciousness; the causal remnants on the three spies pointed in multiple directions, but the clearest ones pointed to the eastern edge of Liangzhou.

Then the hallucination was activated.

The illusion was poured into the consciousness of the late-stage Foundation Establishment spy.

The illusion created a false scene, leading the scout to believe that he was communicating with his companions about the mission's progress.

The illusion lasted for about 15 minutes, during which Li Yuan obtained relevant information.

On the eastern edge of Liangzhou lies Luming Ridge. To the southeast of Liangzhou lies the Kuhe Valley.

Yuanzong's two new footholds on the eastern edge of Liangzhou.

Unfortunately, he lacked sufficient information, and many of the interactions he had with the demonic cultivators in the illusions did not match up.

Li Yuan withdrew the hallucination spell and casually took the three spies away.

Returning to the market town, it was just beginning to get light.