Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 579 The Hundred Rivers Renewal Agreement

After continuing to refine his Golden Core, Li Yuan transformed into a beam of light and left the Misty Forest Market.

The light passed through the Spirit-Severing Zone and entered Baihe Prefecture, landing in the valley where the Lu family was stationed.

Lu Yang waited on the first floor of the stone building, with a new survey map spread out on the table.

"A new vein of ore is here."

Lu Yang pointed to a marked point on the survey map.

"A solitary peak in the southwest corner of the Monster Mountain Range, about thirty-five miles from the camp. The main vein of the mineral vein is relatively shallow, and the core rich area is about sixty feet underground. The mining difficulty is lower than the previous three places, but the location is within the range of the mountains."

Li Yuan glanced at the location.

The solitary peak is located at the outermost edge of the monster mountain range, surrounded by the foothills of the mountains on three sides, and has a relatively open valley passage on the east side facing the Lu family's residence.

"What kind of formation do you need?"

"One mineral production enhancement array, the same type as the previous three will suffice. Also, add one detection array."

Lu Yang's tone became more serious.

"The location is deep in the mountains, not as safe as the previous three places. We need reconnaissance methods to buy the mining monks time to retreat."

The production-boosting array and the spirit-detecting array are combined and deployed on top of each other.

Lu Yang took a wooden box out of his storage bag and pushed it over.

"The array core spirit stone, auxiliary materials, and spare blades for the spirit pattern carving knife are all inside. Also, this batch of magical artifacts should be handed over now."

Li Yuan carefully put away the wooden box and took out the third batch of standardized magical artifacts he had previously crafted from his personal space. The twelve mineral vein probes, of uniform quality, were neatly stacked in another wooden box.

Lu Yang inspected each item and looked satisfied.

"Leaving tomorrow?"

"I'm leaving today."

Lu Yang nodded and arranged for two late-stage Foundation Establishment level guards to accompany him.

The three of them transformed into streaks of light and flew towards the mountains of demonic beasts.

Upon entering the mountainous area, the environment changed noticeably. The mountains were steep, the forests dense, and the air thick with the lingering scent of demonic beasts. The permanent entry of the Demonic Tracking Mirror activated automatically, and its sensitivity in detecting demonic beast scents allowed Li Yuan to roughly determine the distribution of demonic beasts within several miles of him during his flight.

Most of them are first-order and second-order inferior products, scattered and not significant.

About half an hour later, the target, the solitary peak, came into view.

The solitary peak is about 100 feet high, with a cone-shaped body and a flat top. It is surrounded by higher mountains on three sides, and the valley passage to the east is the only open direction.

It landed on a flat rock platform halfway up a solitary peak.

With the Lu family guards on the perimeter, Li Yuan began the survey.

The best location for the formation's core is about 15 zhang directly below the rocky platform halfway up the mountain.

The array pattern carving knife fell on the rock surface, and the core array pattern radiated outwards from the array eye.

After the production-boosting array is deployed, the exploration array will be deployed next.

The two formations share the same array eye, and the spiritual energy paths converge and then diverge at the array eye.

Several hours later, the formation was fully set up.

The production enhancement array and the exploration array were activated simultaneously, and the spiritual energy circulation system operated normally.

Li Yuan stood up and stretched his wrists.

Looking down from the edge of the rocky platform, the trees deep in the mountains cast large shadows in the afternoon sun. In the distance, there was the sound of a flock of birds taking flight, about three miles northeast of the solitary peak.

The Demon Tracking Mirror detected a presence.

Tier 3, low grade.

The presence is drawing near.

They weren't moving fast, as if they were patrolling their territory.

A dark gray lizard, about two zhang long, crawled out from the ridge in the northeast direction. Its limbs were thick and strong, and its back was covered with layers of rock-gray scales, the edges of which gleamed with a dull, earthy yellow light.

Rock-scaled Lizard. Tier 3, low-grade, earth-type monster.

The lizard's vertical pupils turned towards the solitary peak, clearly sensing the spiritual energy fluctuations when the formation was activated.

The two Lu family guards tensed up, and the magical artifacts in their hands glowed with spiritual light.

"I don't need you," Li Yuan said.

He took out the dragon's inner core from his personal space.

Li Yuan held the inner core, and his escape light swept out from the rock platform.

The rock-scaled lizard sensed the presence of the newcomer, and its vertical pupils contracted sharply. The suppressive force of the dragon bloodline was transmitted through the fluctuations of spiritual energy, causing the lizard's movements to visibly slow down for a moment, and the muscles in its limbs to stiffen slightly under the suppression.

A moment is enough.

The Sky-Splitting Slash was unleashed, its dark golden blade light slicing into the side of the Rock Scale Lizard's neck.

His scales shattered completely, and the blade's edge pierced through his neck.

The rock-scaled lizard's body twitched a few times on the ground, and the light in its vertical pupils faded.

Kill complete.

[Permanentization progress of Dragon Blood Battle Spirit (Blue): 1/3]

Li Yuan collected the inner core and some of the scales of the Rock Scale Lizard, and put the inner core of the Flood Dragon back into his personal space.

Upon returning to the rock platform, the two Lu family guards had different expressions.

The older guard bowed and said, "Senior Li, things have been rather unsettled deep in the mountains lately. For the past month, demonic beasts have been migrating outwards from the depths of the mountains, mostly heading southeast."

"southeast?"

"Yes. We've encountered them three times during our patrols. They're all large, Tier 3 creatures running southeast." The guard scratched his head. "I don't know what happened deep inside, that's causing all these things to be driven out."

Southeast direction.

To the southeast of Baihe Prefecture lies Shuizhou, and further southeast of Shuizhou lies the sea.

Li Yuan did not pursue the matter further. After setting up the formation, he returned along the same route with two guards.

After returning to the Lu family's residence, Li Yuan spent two more days setting up the fifth and sixth formations for the Lu family.

The fifth upgrade is to the protective array of a warehouse north of the Lu family's residence, strengthening the original second-tier protective array to a high-grade second-tier array. The sixth upgrade is to a small spirit-gathering array at the entrance of a newly opened mine tunnel by the Lu family, guiding spiritual energy to concentrate inside the mine tunnel and improving the mining environment.

Neither formation was large in scale, and each took half a day to set up.

After everything was completed, Li Yuan asked Lu Yang to check the three mineral vein formations that had been set up earlier.

"Regular inspections are necessary; after the formation has been in operation for a long time, the spiritual energy circulation will experience minor wear and tear."

Lu Yang naturally agreed.

Li Yuan visited the three mines one by one.

The array at the first ore vein had been operating for the longest time, and there was indeed slight wear and tear on the spiritual energy circulation path. After Li Yuan used an array pattern carving knife to repair two nodes, he arrived at the array eye.

The spiritual patterns on the surface of the mineral-enhancing array pivot stone in the array eye flowed as usual.

A panel pops up.

The conditions for permanent greenfield production enhancement have been met.

【Condition: The formation with this core as its center must continuously operate for a cumulative period of 90 days, accumulating increased production of spirit ore √ (90/90)】

[Mineral Array Production Increase (Green) has become a permanent term]

The mineral-enhancing array pivot stone in the array core shattered and dissipated.

A scene flashed into my mind. A cultivator crouched deep within a mine, his palm pressed against the mine wall, spiritual energy seeping into the rock strata from his palm. Guided by the spiritual energy, the spiritual ore particles in the vein rapidly condensed, and new mineral deposits precipitated from the surface of the mine wall within a few breaths.

The image disappeared.

When within a self-deployed mineral vein enhancement array, the effect of a permanent 10% increase in spirit ore condensation speed is also permanently enhanced. The perception accuracy of mineral vein directions within the array's coverage area is also permanently improved.

Li Yuan took out a spare array pivot stone from his storage bag and embedded it into the empty slot of the array eye. He injected spiritual energy to activate it, and the array resumed operation.

"We've replaced the array core," Li Yuan said to the Lu family cultivators who accompanied him. "The old one was too worn out; continuing to use it would affect production efficiency."

The Lu family cultivator nodded and took notes.

After inspecting the three formations, Li Yuan bid farewell to Lu Yang.

"Remember to replenish the spirit stones in the fourth formation regularly, as the spirit energy consumption is faster than that of the production formation. Things aren't peaceful over there in the mountains, so tell your people to be careful."

"Understood. Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li."

He transformed into a beam of light and left Baihe Prefecture, flying towards Liang Prefecture.