Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Li Yuan transformed into a shadowy gleam, instantly covering more than ten li through the Ghost Mist Forest.

After confirming he had left the range of the Golden Core cultivators’ Divine Sense, he slowed his pace. The perceptual net of his Dark Evil Insight swept over him, discovering an extremely faint Demonic Qi imprint on the cuff of his left sleeve.

A segmented pulse. The Evil Slaying Sect’s handiwork.

This was different from the covert tracking mark he’d encountered beneath the sea. This one was placed brazenly in plain sight, with no attempt at concealment.

’Not for tracking. It’s an invitation.’

Li Yuan stopped in a dry river valley, sheltered from the wind.

He waited only for about the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea before the distant mist roiled. A black shadow shot towards him, hugging the ground, and stopped about thirty feet away.

The newcomer was a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivator. His face was deathly pale, and he wore an unmarked gray magical robe.

"Senior." The gray-robed cultivator bowed respectfully. "This junior has come to pay his respects on the order of a Sect elder."

Li Yuan maintained his disguise as a Late-stage Golden Core Demon Cultivator, his gaze cold. "What is it?"

"The elder wishes to exchange some information about the White Nether Sect with you, Senior." The gray-robed cultivator’s tone was cautious. "Our Sect has been searching for several secret locations left behind by the White Nether Sect. If Senior knows any details, our Sect is willing to offer a high price in exchange."

Li Yuan said nothing.

’I’m not some remnant of the White Nether Sect, so of course I have nothing to reveal.’

Seeing Li Yuan remain silent, the gray-robed cultivator didn’t dare to press the issue. Instead, he offered another piece of news. "It is fine if Senior does not wish to speak. The elder ordered me to bring a piece of intelligence as a gesture of goodwill. We have confirmed news from the Abyss Sect that the Nascent Soul Ancestor of the Celestial Peak Sect plans to attempt a breakthrough to the Divinity Transformation realm soon."

Li Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’Divinity Transformation.’

"After reaching Divinity Transformation and ascending, they can’t remain in this realm, can they?" Li Yuan’s voice was low. "If he ascends, won’t the Celestial Peak Sect be left empty? Won’t they become an ordinary Golden Core-level power?"

The gray-robed cultivator was taken aback, a look of confusion on his face.

He clearly hadn’t expected this mysterious Golden Core cultivator to ask such a question. He reached out and pinched a jade tablet at his waist. A brief fluctuation of Spiritual Power flickered as he seemed to be transmitting a message.

A moment later, he released the jade tablet and provided the answer relayed from the Golden Core cultivator behind him.

"Senior may not be aware, but ascension is indeed mandatory after reaching Divinity Transformation. The Spiritual Power concentration in this realm is simply not enough to support the daily consumption of a Divinity Transformation Cultivator. Forcibly remaining would only cause their realm to regress."

The gray-robed cultivator paused before continuing, "But ascension is not a bad thing. When a Cultivator breaks through the realm boundary to ascend, they forcibly open a spatial passage between the two realms. The moment the passage forms, a massive amount of High Tier Spiritual Qi from the Upper Realm will pour down. The core region of the Celestial Peak Sect will become a grotto-heaven, a blessed land, capable of mass-producing a steady stream of High Tier Cultivators for centuries."

"Furthermore, the connection is not completely severed after ascension. The spatial passage can be maintained for over a hundred years using an Array in the lower realm. During this time, the ancestor in the Upper Realm can pass down intelligence, bestow High Tier Magical Artifacts, and even—in extreme circumstances—pay a great price to have their true body descend for a short time."

Li Yuan understood.

Once someone from the Celestial Peak Sect reached Divinity Transformation, not only would the sect not decline, it would use the influx of Spiritual Qi and the connection to the Upper Realm to completely widen the gap between itself and other powers.

’But this doesn’t explain many of the current issues.’

"Senior," the gray-robed cultivator spoke again, "the situation in Liangzhou is about to change. My Sect’s elder hopes to maintain contact with you. If you have any needs, Senior, you have only to ask."

"I need a Tier Three Demon Qi Skill," Li Yuan said directly.

The gray-robed cultivator pinched his jade tablet again. A moment later, he took out a black jade slip from his storage pouch and presented it with both hands.

"This is the Demon Blood Substitute Skill, a Tier Three Low Grade skill. It consumes your own demonic blood to instantly create a substitute when you suffer a fatal attack, transferring most of the damage."

Li Yuan took the jade slip. A sweep of his Divine Sense confirmed there was nothing wrong with it.

"Tell your elder for me that I will find him when I have a need." Li Yuan put away the jade slip, and with a flicker of his body, he melted into the night.

The gray-robed cultivator watched Li Yuan disappear, let out a long sigh of relief, and turned to report back.

...

Returning to his stone house in the Mist Forest Marketplace, Li Yuan removed his illusory disguise.

After activating the Concealment Array, he sat down cross-legged and sorted through the night’s events in his Sea of Consciousness. Then, from his personal space, he took out all the materials he had obtained from the first stone chamber of the Profound Nether Sect’s ruins.

Hundreds of jade slips and dozens of beast-hide scrolls.

Li Yuan sorted them by content into four piles: Spatial Theory, Array Experiments, Spirit Demon Fusion, and Artifact Sealing.

He picked up the few core jade slips from the Spirit Demon Fusion pile and reread the Profound Nether Sect Master’s records of failure.

The notes recorded a large amount of data and deduction processes.

The Profound Nether Sect’s path was clear: use powerful spatial force to forcibly compress Spiritual Power and Demonic Qi within an extremely small spatial anchor point, attempting to crush and recombine the two through extreme high pressure.

The result was catastrophic. Under extreme compression, the Spiritual Power and Demonic Qi produced a violent repulsive reaction that directly caused the spatial anchor point to collapse. Not only did they fail to fuse, but they also created an even larger spatial rift.

Li Yuan put down the jade slip.

’The Profound Nether Sect failed because they tried to use external force to forcibly alter the physical properties of the two energies.’

’But I don’t need to take that path.’

’I have the panel. The traits of ’Demonic and Spiritual Homogeny’ and ’Spiritual and Demonic Spatial Accommodation’ directly grant me the ability to fuse them at a fundamental level. I don’t need complex spatial compression equipment. I just need to systematically make the traits permanent, and the Spiritual Power and Demonic Qi will naturally converge within my body.’

"I can, however, deepen my research into spatial theory." Li Yuan looked at the pile of materials on spatial theory. After making the Teleportation Stone permanent, his understanding of spatial power was in a period of rapid growth. These hundreds of years of research from the Profound Nether Sect would become the fuel for his future breakthroughs in spatial magic.

After putting away the materials, Li Yuan summoned his system panel.

[Next Function Unlock Condition: Touch an item with a red trait]

’No need to equip it or fulfill some harsh condition to make it permanent. Just ’touching’ it is enough.’

Li Yuan’s gaze flickered. ’Obtaining a red trait is completely a matter of luck. It can’t be forced.’

He brought his focus back to the present.

Then, Li Yuan took an old beast-hide scroll from his personal space.

It was the *Comprehensive Guide to Ancient Array Veins* he had bought in the old book alley of White Mirror Marketplace.

The previously unlocked function allowed gray traits to be made permanent directly. After he made the Teleportation Stone permanent, accumulating five purple traits unlocked a new function, allowing white traits to be made permanent directly as well.

"Equip."

[Equipped: Comprehensive Guide to Ancient Array Veins (Complete)]

[Equipped Trait Preview: Vein Comprehension (White)]

[Effect: Increased precision for Array Base Retrospection; gain additional understanding of the logical connections between nodes when reading information from remnant arrays.]

[Permanize Condition: White traits can be made permanent directly.]

The panel flashed.

[Vein Comprehension (White) has become a permanent trait.]

The phantom image of the old beast hide shattered in the equipment slot, turning into white motes of light that merged into his Sea of Consciousness.

The change was immediate. The fragmented Array Patterns he had scanned in the Profound Nether Sect ruins appeared in his mind. The once-blurry, tangled lines suddenly became layered and distinct. Main veins, auxiliary paths, dead ends—it was as if someone had retraced them with a red brush, making the logical connections between the nodes clearly discernible.

Li Yuan didn’t stop. He continued to make traits permanent.

[Guiding Talisman, Divination Boost (White) has become a permanent trait.]

[Effect: Divination accuracy increased by 20%.]

[Heart-lock Talisman, Spiritual Power Healing (White) has become a permanent trait.]

[Effect: Spiritual Power can assist in repairing one’s own injuries. The repair speed is directly proportional to the purity of the Spiritual Power.]

[Spirit Gathering Array Talisman, Spiritual Qi Attraction (White) has become a permanent trait.]

[Effect: Spiritual Qi absorption speed and range both increased by 10%.]

[Qi Transformation Pill, Elemental Harmony (White) has become a permanent trait.]

[Effect: Reduced resistance when converting Spiritual Power between different elements, making elemental switching smoother.]

[Demon Qi Life Extension Pill, Longevity Boost (White) has become a permanent trait.]

[Effect: When consuming life-extending pills, the medicinal effect is enhanced by 20%.]

[Strengthening Vein Pill, Meridians of Steel (White) has become a permanent trait.]

[Effect: Greatly enhances the toughness of meridian walls, allowing them to withstand higher-intensity Spiritual Power impacts without damage.]

[Breath-Sensing Stone, Array Core Perception (White) has become a permanent trait.]

[Effect: Passively sense abnormal Spiritual Power fluctuations within the range of your Divine Sense, without needing to actively probe.]

...

A large number of white motes of light lit up one after another inside Li Yuan’s body.

The white traits that had piled up on his list because their conditions were either too trivial or too difficult were all forcibly processed at this moment.

The changes came one after another in waves.

First were his meridians. The trait from the Strengthening Vein Pill took effect first. A warm yet extremely resilient power spread along the twelve main meridians. The inner walls of his meridians felt as if they were being coated with a thin layer of refined steel. Li Yuan even heard an extremely faint buzzing from deep within the meridian walls as the spiritual fibers realigned, tightened, and solidified. He subconsciously circulated his Spiritual Power once. The feeling of his meridians’ capacity had become much sturdier, like a winding sheep’s path being widened into a stone-paved official road.

Next was Spiritual Qi affinity. The moment the Spiritual Qi Attraction from the Spirit Gathering Array Talisman was made permanent, Li Yuan felt the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi draw a bit closer. Without any deliberate effort, the Spiritual Qi spontaneously gathered towards his pores. Although the absorption efficiency only increased by ten percent, for his cultivation style of constantly running his technique day and night, the accumulated difference over time would be extremely significant.

This was followed by elemental conversion. After the Elemental Harmony from the Qi Transformation Pill took effect, Li Yuan tried converting a wisp of Water Spiritual Power into Fire Element within his meridians. The original sluggish feeling, like pushing a boat against the current, was greatly reduced. The switching of Spiritual Power between the five elements became much smoother. He still lacked a Metal Element Cultivation Technique, but this fundamental improvement meant that his speed at learning any new elemental technique in the future would be far faster than that of an ordinary person.

Then came his Sea of Consciousness. The effect of the Divination Boost wasn’t a distinct physical impact like the other traits, but an extremely subtle change. Li Yuan closed his eyes and felt as if a string deep within his consciousness had been gently plucked. His ability to capture the world’s Spiritual Mechanisms grew sharper. The vague, barely-there trend lines he perceived during divination now seemed twenty percent clearer than before.

The change from Spiritual Power Healing was also subtle. Li Yuan channeled a wisp of Spiritual Power into the trace of an old injury on his left arm’s meridian. Normally, this amount of Spiritual Power would only have a nurturing effect. But now, the moment the Spiritual Power touched the scar, it spontaneously seeped into the damaged meridian wall, very slowly mending the tiny fissures. It wasn’t fast, but it was definitely repairing.

The final wave of change came from Array Core Perception.

This effect was the most direct. The instant the trait was made permanent, Li Yuan’s eyes snapped open.

Everything around him seemed to be covered by a thin filter of Spiritual Light. The nodes of the Concealment Array inside the stone house, the Spiritual Power-guiding patterns embedded in the walls, and even the deeply buried Array Base circuits under the marketplace ground within a hundred yards of his door—all of it was projected onto the edge of his consciousness as an extremely faint but continuous pulse.

Without needing to actively release his Divine Sense to probe, this information flowed in as naturally as breathing.

Any abnormal fluctuation of Spiritual Power, even if it was just a passing Foundation Establishment Cultivator suddenly activating a Magical Artifact, would create a faint ripple in his perception.

These individually insignificant minor enhancements, when stacked and unleashed in an instant, formed an undeniable, all-around improvement. A faint cracking sound came from Li Yuan’s bones as his meridians, already extremely tough, were widened and reinforced once more.

Li Yuan took a deep breath, feeling the foundation within him become that much deeper.

He closed his eyes and began to circulate the Demon Blood Substitute Skill he had just acquired.