Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 712 The Mysterious Sight in the Mine

The northeast corner of Yunzhou.

The beam of light descended at the edge of the mountain range.

Ahead lay a narrow, elongated mining valley. The entrance was not wide, and the rock walls on both sides were gray-black, covered with withered grass and low shrubs. There was no fluctuation of spiritual energy, nor any aura of demonic beasts; it had been abandoned for a long time.

Space exploration technology is being deployed.

The passive perception at the Great Completion stage was originally only 800 zhang, but after repeated refinement in the depths of Shattered Star Valley and the Sea Eye Cave, it can now steadily cover 1,200 zhang.

In my perception, the surface of the mining valley was deathly still.

But things are different deep in the valley.

Three hundred feet below, two streams of demonic energy were clearly discernible in the rock strata. They were from the early Nascent Soul stage, and their frequency in the Netherworld was very similar to the demonic aura encountered in the Nether Abyss Valley and the Yao Guang Secret Realm.

Although the blue attribute of the Demon Horn was not yet permanent, the demonic aura was one of the types that Li Yuan was most familiar with. The permanent attribute of Dark Fiend Insight extracted the two streams of demonic energy from the mixed aura of the rock strata, and their location, strength, and direction of movement were all reflected in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The two demons were moving about in the deepest part of the valley, not moving, as if they were doing something in place.

Li Yuan concealed his escape light. He activated the permanent "Hidden and Unseen" skill to its fullest extent, suppressing his aura, spiritual energy fluctuations, and the slight tremors of the spiritual energy membrane around his body to a minimum. At the same time, he used "Dark Fiend Insight" to conceal his own demonic aura as well.

Its form faded into a faint shadow, silently sinking down the valley wall.

One hundred zhang, two hundred zhang, three hundred zhang.

The rock strata changed from grayish-black to dark brown, and the demonic aura in the air gradually intensified.

At a distance of 350 zhang, a man-made passage appeared on the side of the rock wall. The passage was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time, and the wall surface was rough, with occasional chisel marks visible.

Li Yuan slipped in sideways and continued down the gentle slope.

At a depth of four hundred feet, the passage suddenly widened, revealing a natural rock chamber about twenty feet in diameter.

Two demons squatted in the center of the rock chamber.

The one on the left is short and stocky, covered in dark gray scales, with slightly curved short horns on either side of its forehead. The one on the right is slightly taller, with bluish scales, longer short horns, and dark red tips.

On the floor of the cave, an array was taking shape. Twelve dark red spirit stones were arranged in order, connected by demonic energy patterns that closely resembled the ancient demonic energy patterns on the walls of the deep abyss valley.

Sacrificial formations.

The understanding of the array formation, at the level of the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Pivot, operated on its own, reflecting the underlying structure of the array into the sea of ​​consciousness.

The twelve spirit stones form the outer ring nodes, with one empty in the center, which should be the array eye. The outer ring spirit pattern loop is 70% complete, following the path of demonic energy conduction, consistent with the sacrificial node structure marked on the Seven Star Demon Gathering Array distribution map.

However, an extra loop is hidden within the underlying spirit runes.

It wasn't for sacrificial purposes, but rather a communication rune. The runes were extremely fine, embedded in the gaps of the main circulation path, and were almost invisible to anyone who wasn't a fourth-order master of array formations.

Once this set of communication runes is activated, the entry and exit of demonic energy at the node, its operational status, and the fluctuations of spiritual energy in the surrounding area will all be remotely transmitted back to a certain location.

The one who set up the formation isn't here. These two demons are merely executors; someone is watching them from behind the scenes.

The Myriad Manifestations Retrospection recorded the frequency and direction of the communication runes, and the tracking signal pointed southeast, disappearing from perception after passing through hundreds of feet of rock layers.

Li Yuan then looked at the west wall of the rock chamber.

Dark Insight detected a faint demonic energy channel beneath the wall. Less than half a foot wide, it was hidden deep within the rock strata, with ancient demonic runes remaining on its inner walls, consistent with the style of the dark vein channels discovered in the deep abyss valley.

The passage leads southwest, towards the deep abyss and valley.

Another branch has been added to the underground network of dark veins.

We have enough intelligence.

Li Yuan did not wait any longer.

Forbidden spatial techniques.

A fifteen-zhang-long confinement field instantly enveloped the entire rock chamber. The bodies of the two demons froze simultaneously, and the demonic energy that was laying out spirit patterns was firmly suppressed.

The short, stocky demon reacted extremely quickly, his vertical pupils contracted, and he pushed off the ground with both legs, retreating rapidly.

The escape route is blocked.

Space cutting technique.

An invisible blade shot out from the inner side of the confinement field, cutting into the gaps in the scales on the short, stocky demon's neck. Empowered by the power of primordial chaos, the blade carried both the purity of spiritual energy and the corrosive force of demonic energy, penetrating the scales nearly twice as fast as pure spiritual energy.

The short, stocky demon's main spiritual energy vein in his neck was severed with a single strike.

Dark red blood gushed from beneath the dark gray scales, the circulation of demonic energy instantly broke, and the body went limp.

The Azure Scale Demons self-destructed the moment their companions were killed.

The demonic energy within his body exploded from his dantian, surging along his meridians throughout his entire body. Beneath the dark blue scales, his muscles began to swell, and the concentration of demonic energy skyrocketed.

The two demon corpses rapidly disintegrated after the demonic energy went out of control; their flesh turned to black ash, and their bones shattered. Like the demons encountered before, their bodies were deeply intertwined with demonic energy; once the core collapsed, their bodies dissolved along with it.

Only two piles of black ash and two bent short horns remained on the floor of the rock chamber.

Li Yuan walked over, his gaze sweeping over the short corner.

There was no fluctuation in the word's status within the three-foot perception range. Ordinary material.

Inside the storage bag, the remnant horn of the demon emitted a blue light.

Li Yuan personally killed the demon nearing the Nascent Soul stage in the Yao Guang Secret Realm. Although the Demon's Horn fragment wasn't equipped at that time, the system rule of permanent attachment without the need for equipment had already taken effect. That one counts as one kill. Adding the two early-stage Nascent Soul demons today, that makes a total of three.

The progress bar is full.

A stream of blue light burst forth from the storage bag and flowed into the body.

The scene unfolded in his mind's eye. A spy lay in wait at the edge of a demon camp, surrounded by surging demonic energy. The spy closed his eyes and concentrated, clearly discerning the source, strength, and type of each wisp of demonic energy. He knew exactly which came from the bloodline of the Netherworld Demon Realm, which from mutated demonic beasts, and which was a man-made demonic energy array. When he opened his eyes, his spiritual power circulated normally even in the dense demonic energy, without the slightest stagnation.

The image fades away.

[Permanentization complete]

【Demon Horn Essence - Blue】

[Effect: Permanently increases the ability to sense and identify demonic aura by 50%; permanently increases spiritual energy circulation efficiency by 30% when fighting demons.]

The remnant horn of the demon vanished in the storage bag, and the blue light flowed into the depths of the meridians.

After the process was completed, the remaining demonic energy in the rock chamber became clearer. The essence of the demonic energy that had dissipated after the two demons collapsed still floated in the air, and even the slightest differences could be discerned.

The True Demon Core in the storage bag also reacted.

Even if the core is not equipped, but is stored in a storage bag, the residual demonic essence after killing a demon will be passively absorbed by the core.

The demonic essence of the two Nascent Soul stage demons seeped along the inner wall of the storage bag toward their cores and was swallowed up by the dark gold patterns on the surface.

True Demon Core Permanentization Progress: Kill ten demons of the same rank, two of which will be counted, progress two.

Li Yuan glanced at the two piles of black ash; there wasn't much to search.

Unfortunately, the demons committed suicide too quickly, leaving not a single survivor. They couldn't directly ask where the array deployment instructions came from or where the remote monitoring communication runes were connected.

However, some things can already be deduced.

The Yuan Sect has been destroyed, but it maintained contact with the Demon Race. The tracking markers used were third-tier spirit runes from the Yuan Sect's old methods, and the setup of the sacrificial array also bore traces of human cultivators. It's highly likely that some human cultivators still control the resources left behind by the Yuan Sect.

Li Yuan stored the frequency of the communication spirit pattern and the direction of the dark vein channel into his sea of ​​consciousness, put away the two short horns and the remaining dark red spirit stones, and erased all the spirit pattern loops of the sacrificial array before turning into a beam of light and leaving the mining valley.

The light turned southwest.

The Liangzhou Dark Swamp area.

The fifth node of the Seven Stars Demon Gathering Array.

A vast, dark swamp covered the ground, withered trees half-submerged in the mud, and the air reeked of decay. Beneath the swamp, a network of underground caverns crisscrossed. Spatial exploration techniques probed the underground, pinpointing a node at the deepest part of the caverns.

The nodes have been set up, all twelve dark red spirit stones are in place, and the array eye stone is embedded in the center. Demonic energy flows slowly through the array's loops; the concentration is not high, but it is already in a state of waiting to be activated.

No demons were present. The one who laid the trap had already left.

Li Yuan ventured deep into the cave and retrieved the Boundary Stabilizing and Demon-Sealing Talisman from his storage bag.

The talisman was affixed to the surface of the array's eye stone.

Silver light and dark red spirit patterns converged at the array's core. The spatial stability of the Demon-Sealing Talisman locked the area around the array's core, while light-attribute spiritual power seeped into the array's circuits to suppress the transmission of demonic energy. The ancient demonic spiral compressed the spirit patterns, forcing the demonic energy within the array back into the spirit stones layer by layer.

The array loop is still there, and the spirit stones are still there, but the transmission of demonic energy is blocked by the talisman, and the activation signal cannot be transmitted.

Li Yuan did not destroy the formation. It was better to cripple most of it secretly than to alert the enemy.

After dealing with Liangzhou, he turned back to his original position.

Abandoned mine tunnels in Lingzhou. Fourth node.

The mine entrance was halfway up a barren mountain; most of the opening had collapsed, leaving only a narrow crevice. Li Yuan squeezed in sideways and continued along the mine tunnel for hundreds of feet.

The nodes deep within the mine tunnels are more active than those in Liangzhou.

The array circuit is complete, and the demonic energy flows more rapidly between the spirit stones. The dark red luster on the surface of the spirit stone at the array's core flickers, indicating it is in a semi-activated state. Soon, the node will automatically activate fully.

This node is more sensitive; direct suppression may trigger a communication alarm.

Li Yuan didn't use the Boundary-Stabilizing Demon-Sealing Talisman; he used a different method.

The profound understanding of the Heavenly Pivot of the Array Dao allowed Li Yuan to visualize the underlying structure of the sacrificial array within his sea of ​​consciousness, making the spiritual runes between the twelve spirit stones crystal clear. Li Yuan used micro-controlling spiritual techniques to probe the connection between the seventh and eighth nodes, implanting a set of extremely small interfering spiritual runes into the gaps between the runes.

The interfering spirit runes do not disrupt the main circuit or block the transmission of demonic energy; they only create a slight frequency shift during transmission. The shift is less than one percent of the main frequency, so the communication spirit runes cannot detect the anomaly.

Once the nodes are fully activated, the frequency offset will be amplified. After the demonic energy circulates once among the twelve spirit stones, the offset accumulates to about seven percent, and the conduction efficiency will decrease by seventy percent.

The node appears to be still running, but in reality, only 30% of the output remains.

The Seven Stars Demon Gathering Array requires seven nodes to be simultaneously infused with Nascent Soul level demonic energy; if the output from any one node is insufficient, the entire array will become unbalanced.

Li Yuan withdrew his spiritual power and memorized the location of the interfering spiritual pattern into his sea of ​​consciousness.

After finishing with the node, he did not leave immediately, but continued deeper into the mine along the tunnel.

At its deepest point, near the bottom of the rock strata, the passage narrows considerably, allowing only a sideways turn. The rock walls change from grayish-brown to dark black, with occasional flashes of dark red veins, resembling remnants of ancient demonic runes.

The spatial detection technique detected a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy thirty feet ahead.

It wasn't demonic energy, but rather the unique spiritual energy sealed within the jade slip.

Li Yuan squeezed through the last narrow crevice and saw a black jade slip in the crack of the rock wall.

The jade slip was embedded deep in the rock strata, its surface covered with a very thin layer of demonic energy crystals, much like the jade slip of the Demon Shadow Erosion Technique found at the bottom of the Nether Abyss Valley.

Li Yuan peeled off the crystal, took out the jade slip, and probed it with his divine sense.

The permanent entry for Netherworld Knowledge operates automatically, translating the ancient demonic script into a readable form.

The secret method of body refining in the ancient demonic way.

A method of tempering bone marrow with demonic energy.

Li Yuan put away the jade slip and looked at the crack in the rock wall.

The presence of this jade slip here seems odd; it's more like someone deliberately hid it here.

We have no clue who hid it or why they hid it.

Li Yuan memorized his questions and turned to head deeper into the mine tunnel.