Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

The Concealment Array of the stone house was fully activated.

Li Yuan sat on the rush cushion, took the Jade Bead out of his storage bag, and held it in his palm.

The milky-white bead shimmered in the faint light, the hairline cracks on its surface clearly visible.

The cracks were not deep, but their distribution was extremely regular, spiraling from the top of the bead to the bottom, as if the final step in crafting some sort of vessel had been deliberately interrupted.

Li Yuan activated the perception of his Earth Vein Spiritual Pivot, channeling a fine thread of Spirit Vein energy into his palm and letting it seep through his skin into the surface of the Jade Bead.

As his perception delved deeper, Li Yuan quickly identified the problem. The Spiritual Power circuits inside the Jade Bead were broken in multiple places. Whenever Spiritual Power reached one of these gaps, it would dissipate, making a complete cycle impossible.

The cracks were merely a symptom; the real problem was the gaps in the circuits.

Li Yuan immediately dismissed the idea of flooding it with Spiritual Power.

That would only destroy the remaining circuits completely. To repair it, he had to use a Spiritual Mechanism of the same origin.

Li Yuan’s gaze fell upon the batch of Stabilizing Materials in his storage bag.

He reached in and took out a few fragments of old artifacts, laying them out before him.

These fragments came from old relics of the Profound Nether Sect preserved by the survivors. Although the artifacts themselves were long since destroyed, the Spiritual Mechanism sealed within the fragments was of the same origin as the Jade Bead.

They were perfect to use as a medium.

Li Yuan ground a fingernail-sized fragment into powder and spread it evenly over the areas of the Jade Bead with the shallowest cracks.

When the residual Spiritual Mechanism in the powder came into contact with the bead’s surface, it produced an extremely faint resonance.

Using his Earth Vein Spiritual Pivot, he guided a thread of Spirit Vein energy into his palm, which then slowly seeped into the Jade Bead through the medium of the fragment powder.

Two hours passed.

Li Yuan opened his eyes and looked down to examine the Jade Bead in his palm.

The shallowest crack on the surface had undergone a very slight change. Its edges were no longer as sharp and distinct as before but had blurred slightly, like a wound beginning to scab over.

The degree to which it had closed was minuscule; it would almost take a Golden Core Divine Sense to notice the change. But it was the right direction.

During the repair process, Li Yuan’s perception picked up something unexpected.

When the Spirit Vein energy seeped into the deepest gap in the Jade Bead, he found a tiny, extremely faint cluster of information fragments remaining at the bottom.

These fragments were not Spiritual Power, but rather information about an Array, sealed deep within the bead like words etched into bone marrow.

Li Yuan carefully touched the cluster of fragments with his Divine Sense.

Stimulated by his Divine Sense, the fragments slowly unfolded like a map that had been folded for hundreds of years.

The pattern was blurry and incomplete, but its general outline was still discernible. It was a top-down structural diagram of a large building, marking the relative positions of several halls, passageways, and restricted areas.

A partial structural map of the Outer Hall of the Sunken Abyss Grotto.

The map marked the outer hall’s three main entrances, five connecting corridors, and two specially marked areas.

The symbols used for the markings were consistent with the Profound Nether Sect’s system of Array inscriptions, but their specific meanings would require more reference information to fully decipher.

The information fragments also contained another set of data.

This data recorded the manufacturing process of the Jade Bead itself. Every step was described in extreme detail, from the selection of materials and the sequence of Spiritual Power infusion to the weaving method for the internal circuits and the final sealing and setting.

This was a core archive that the Profound Nether Sect had sealed within the Jade Bead. The structural information of the grotto and the manufacturing process of the bead had been etched into its depths together, serving as some kind of backup or means of succession.

Li Yuan copied and saved both sets of information.

With the manufacturing process in hand, the path to repairing it became much clearer.

Li Yuan re-examined the Jade Bead in his hand.

According to the information from the manufacturing process, the Spiritual Power circulation circuits inside the bead consisted of twelve main trunks and thirty-six branches. Currently, four main trunks and eleven branches were broken. There were fifteen gaps in total, the largest of which was located just below the center of the bead, with a diameter of about half a fen.

At his current repair speed and with his current material reserves, it would take a considerable amount of time to fill all the gaps. Moreover, some of the gaps were located extremely deep, and the penetration depth of the fragment powder as a surface medium was limited. He would need higher-quality Homogeneous Materials to reach them later.

But at least the first step was a success.

Li Yuan put the Jade Bead away. In its current state, it was still unsuitable for long-term exposure and needed a continuous environment of energy of the same origin to be nourished.

The best place was the core region of the Mozhou Spirit Vein. The energy concentration there was the highest, and the Spirit Vein environment had long been steeped in the legacy of the Profound Nether Sect. Plus, it was sufficiently hidden, making it a more suitable nourishing base than the branch vein in Liangzhou.

By placing the Jade Bead near the Spirit Vein Core node, the Spirit Vein’s energy would automatically seep into it, providing a continuous repairing effect.

Li Yuan immediately traveled to Mozhou via a Teleportation Array.

Near the Spirit Vein Core node, he constructed a miniature nourishing nest using an Array and Spiritual Power Threads.

The nest’s structure was simple. Three homogeneous relic fragments served as anchor points, propping up a fist-sized Spiritual Power Field. The Jade Bead was suspended in the center of the field, with Spirit Vein energy seeping in evenly from the three anchor points, like immersing a wounded person in a medicinal bath.

The energy concentration at the Spirit Vein Core was far greater than that of the branch vein beneath his stone house, and the seepage rate was at least three times faster.

After confirming that the nest was operating stably, Li Yuan returned to the Liangzhou Marketplace the way he came.

It was already afternoon when he arrived back at the marketplace.

Li Yuan returned to his stone house, sat down cross-legged, and extended the remote perception of his Earth Vein Spiritual Pivot deep into the Ghost Mist Forest.

His perception passed through the outskirts of the marketplace and the heart of the Ghost Mist Forest, reaching all the way to the Sub-Palace area near the Abyssal Rift Valley.

The perceptive range of the Golden Core Stage, amplified by his Earth Vein Spiritual Pivot and a slight boost from his Array Sensing, was enough to capture changes in the Spiritual Power Waves from the direction of the Sub-Palace at this distance.

The mist Array inside the Sub-Palace was still running. The Spirit Vein energy he had injected last night was still maintaining the Array’s basic functions, and its coverage was shrinking even more slowly than he had estimated.

However, the condition of the two Array Masters from the Celestial Peak Sect had changed.

The elder Array Master’s Spiritual Power fluctuations had gone from stable to intermittently trembling. The younger Array Master’s fluctuations were even more obvious, displaying a pattern of repeatedly probing, retracting, and probing again.

They were starting to realize something was wrong.

The Array’s power supply structure had changed. Although the energy provided by the Jade Bead and the energy from the Spirit Vein were of the same origin in nature, there was a subtle difference in their frequencies.

For Array Masters who were in the process of breaking the Array layer by layer, this change in "feel" was impossible to hide.

Li Yuan withdrew his perception, not paying it any more attention.

’The situation is already irreversible. All I can do is delay the discovery for as long as possible. As for how the Celestial Peak Sect will react once they find out, that’s beyond my control.’

About four more hours passed.

The Golden Core auras in the sky suddenly changed.

The passive perception net of his Dark Evil Insight captured a violent fluctuation. Above the Ghost Mist Forest, Xuan Pu Master’s Late-stage Golden Core aura suddenly expanded. The pressure, which had been restrained and contained, was unleashed in an instant, like a dormant volcano suddenly erupting.

The Late-stage Golden Core’s Spiritual Power fluctuation transformed into an invisible shockwave that swept across a radius of dozens of li in the heart of the Ghost Mist Forest. In the marketplace, a few Loose Cultivators with weaker Cultivation turned pale from the pressure, all looking up at the sky.

Xuan Pu had made his move.

His aura shot up from its original position like an arrow loosed from a bow, plummeting toward the Sub-Palace deep within the Ghost Mist Forest. He was so fast that even the perception of Dark Evil Insight could only capture a blurry trail.

At almost the same moment, the auras of the two Primordial Yang Sect Golden Cores also changed drastically.

The Mid-stage Golden Core elder’s Spiritual Power fluctuations abruptly tightened, switching from a monitoring state to a combat-ready one. The Early-stage Golden Core elder’s aura followed closely behind, and the two of them pursued Xuan Pu’s direction of movement almost simultaneously.

Three Golden Core Level auras streaked into the depths of the Ghost Mist Forest one after another, their speed far surpassing ordinary flight.

A moment later, the muffled sound of clashing Spiritual Power came from the depths.

The distance was too great for Li Yuan to capture the scene of the fight with his naked eye or direct perception, but his passive perception net recorded the spectral changes in the Spiritual Power Waves.

The collision pattern of the three Golden Core auras was very strange. It was far less intense than the head-on confrontation in the Sub-Palace corridor last time. The Spiritual Power fluctuations displayed an intermittent rhythm, bursting for a while before falling silent for a moment, then bursting again.

It wasn’t like an all-out battle; it was more like they were stopping and starting.

Their exchange was interspersed with voice transmissions.

They were talking while they fought.

This pattern continued for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick. Then, the three auras dispersed.

Xuan Pu’s aura returned to the direction of the Sub-Palace, but he was now positioned closer to the Abyssal Rift Valley, almost directly above the Sub-Palace. The two Primordial Yang Sect Golden Core auras retreated to the vicinity of the outpost, maintaining a cautious distance.

The three parties returned to a stalemate.

After nightfall, the atmosphere in the marketplace grew tense.

Ji Wenchuan brought news.

"The outpost has been placed under complete lockdown." He didn’t look very happy. "No one is allowed in or out. Even the supply teams have been stopped outside."

Li Yuan nodded without asking why.

About an hour later, a Late-stage Foundation Establishment deacon from the Primordial Yang Sect arrived at the marketplace under the cover of night. His face was ashen as he handed a command jade slip to Li Yuan.

"An order from the Inner Sect Elders of the Primordial Yang Sect: All personnel who previously entered the Sub-Palace area with the team are forbidden from leaving the Liangzhou region, effective immediately. You are to await individual investigation. Li Yuan, supervisor of the Mist Forest Marketplace, is on the investigation list and must undergo inspection within three days."

The deacon didn’t say another word. He set down the jade slip and turned to leave.

Hearing this, Ji Wenchuan’s expression changed drastically.

"Investigate what?"

Li Yuan glanced at the contents of the jade slip. The scope of the investigation covered everyone who had entered the main hall of the Sub-Palace, including disciples from the Celestial Peak Sect, the Primordial Yang Sect, and the marketplace supervisor.

The inspection would be a personal interrogation by a Golden Core Cultivator.

"A routine matter," Li Yuan said, putting the jade slip away.

「Three days later, at the outpost.」

Li Yuan was led into a temporarily constructed stone room. The room was not large. In the center was a stone table, and behind it sat the Mid-stage Golden Core elder from the Primordial Yang Sect.

In addition, a grayish-white Array Stone was embedded in each of the four corners of the room. Their Array Patterns were interlinked, forming a faint blue Array about a zhang in circumference on the floor.

Beside the stone table stood a bronze mirror, half a person tall.

Its surface was dark and gloomy, like a pool of stagnant water. It didn’t reflect any figures, only showing fine talismans floating around its edges.

Li Yuan’s gaze swept over it, and he had already made a judgment.

’The Heart Discrimination Mirror.’

’It’s not a Soul-Searching Technique, nor does it directly pry into memories. Instead, it reflects the fluctuations of a subject’s Divine Soul and the stirrings of their emotions. If there’s a clear discrepancy between their words and thoughts, ripples will appear on the mirror’s surface, and the Heart Discrimination Array on the floor will respond in kind.’

’For the theft to have escalated to this point, the Primordial Yang Sect clearly doesn’t dare to just go through the motions with their usual procedures anymore.’

"Sit."

The Mid-stage Golden Core elder’s tone was flat.

Li Yuan did as he was told and sat down.

The Divine Sense came first.

The Divine Sense of a Mid-stage Golden Core pressed down from above his head, scanning down his meridians inch by inch, even more meticulously than last time. At the same time, the Heart Discrimination Array began to operate silently. A faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation rose from the floor and gently brushed against the edge of his sea of consciousness, as if touching the surface layer of his thoughts.

The Traceless Obscurity technique began to circulate silently within his body.

On a deeper level, it would suppress all outward characteristics.

This was true for Spiritual Power, Demonic Qi, and even the fluctuations on the surface of his Divine Soul. What the outside Divine Sense and the Heart Discrimination Array could touch was merely a modified, normal result.

When the Golden Core Divine Sense swept over him, what it read was the meridians, aura, and Spiritual Power distribution appropriate for a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

When the Heart Discrimination Array brushed past, what it sensed was a calm and unwavering state of mind.

No abnormalities.

After doing all this, he looked up at Li Yuan and finally spoke.

"On the night the Sub-Palace was burglarized, did you leave the marketplace station without authorization?"

"No," Li Yuan replied calmly.

The Heart Discrimination Mirror remained as still as stagnant water.

The elder asked again, "Have you seen the core object of the Sub-Palace?"

"I saw some scenes of the outer workings of the Array’s central hub. I did not come into contact with the core."

It was still half-truth, half-lie.

The mirror’s surface did not ripple.

After several more questions, the Mid-stage Golden Core elder finally nodded.

"That will be all. You may leave."

Li Yuan stood up, bowed, and walked steadily out of the stone room.

As he walked out of the outpost gate, he brushed past several other Primordial Yang Sect disciples who were waiting to be investigated. They looked nervous and were muttering something in low voices.

Li Yuan didn’t look back, walking with a steady pace toward the marketplace.