Chapter 481: Remnant Nether Demon Detection
「Late at night.」
Beside an array node on the outskirts of Mist Forest Marketplace.
Li Yuan stood before a stout stone array pillar, his gaze fixed on the mottled Spirit Patterns on its surface.
He raised his right hand, the tip of his index finger glowing with an incredibly subtle gray light.
‘Void-Splitting Slash, perfected.’
His fingertip didn’t touch the pillar’s surface, moving slowly half an inch away. A hairline gray fissure extended from his fingertip, silently cutting into the hard Array Foundation Stone.
Stone dust drifted down like fine powder.
Li Yuan’s Divine Sense split into twelve strands, locking tightly onto every twist and intersection of the Array Patterns.
The micro-cutting technique of his Void-Splitting Slash now displayed a terrifying degree of precision. He used the spatial fissure to meticulously carve away impurities from the nodes of the original Tier Two High Grade Defensive Array, which had been somewhat crude and caused minor sluggishness in the Spiritual Power flow. In their place, he etched deeper, smoother guidance circuits.
The edges of the newly carved Spirit Patterns were as smooth as a mirror.
With the final cut complete, Spiritual Power poured in. The entire stone pillar trembled violently, and its surface erupted with a dense Spiritual Light far exceeding what it had before.
The precision of the Array Patterns had been forcibly raised to a level approaching Tier Three. The operational efficiency of the entire outer Defense Array increased by at least twenty percent.
Li Yuan withdrew his hand, and the gray fissure at his fingertip instantly dissipated.
He turned and walked back to the marketplace.
For the next few days, aside from going out at night to repair the outer Array nodes, Li Yuan spent most of his time in his stone house.
Sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion, Li Yuan closed his eyes and formed a strange Spell seal with his fingers.
‘Celestial Deduction Divination Skill.’
A sliver of his lifespan was drawn from his body. Immediately after, a green light flashed in his equipment slot.
[Celestial Deduction Remnant (Green) has activated.]
A faint life force poured back from the void, instantly replenishing the sliver of lifespan he had just lost.
With a total lifespan of over nine hundred years, the one-percent automatic offset was more than enough to cover such small, daily divinations. It was completely lossless.
The world’s Spiritual Mechanism transformed into a vague stream of feedback that flowed into his sea of consciousness.
Li Yuan had established a routine for himself over the past few days. He would perform several low-cost divinations daily, a sort of “three daily questions.” He never asked about grand cosmic trends, which could incite a massive backlash, focusing instead on trivial, everyday matters that wouldn’t cause any major repercussions.
His only goal was to grind proficiency.
[Divination Skill: Beginner → Proficient]
[Divination Skill: Proficient → Expert]
After several consecutive days of lossless casting, combined with his powerful Divine Sense foundation, the progress of his Divination Skill was extremely fast.
Not only did his Magic proficiency skyrocket, but the permanence progress was also increasing steadily.
[Celestial Deduction Remnant (Green) Permanence Progress: 7/30]
Li Yuan formed another hand seal.
This time, he directed his divination toward the marketplace before him.
‘Are there any hidden dangers in the marketplace?’
His Divine Sense radiated outward. A moment later, the spiritual feedback flowed back.
No specific image appeared in his sea of consciousness, only a faint, grayish-black trend line pointing to a location in the eastern district of the marketplace.
Li Yuan opened his eyes.
‘That’s the location of the mole’s shop I investigated before.’
The mole hadn’t made any shady moves in the past few months and had completely cut off contact with the outside Demon Cultivators.
The faintness of the trend line and its lack of spread indicated that while the hidden danger existed, it was currently dormant.
Li Yuan decided to leave it alone. ‘It’s better to keep an eye on a known threat than to eliminate it and have an unknown one take its place.’
After resting for a moment, Li Yuan regulated his breathing.
He formed another seal.
This time, he focused his thoughts on the Spirit Contract Zhou Mingyuan had left him.
‘The Primordial Yang Sect’s Spirit Contract… the rewards versus the costs. Which weighs more?’
A sliver of lifespan was drawn out again, and the Celestial Deduction Remnant instantly replenished it.
The pulse of perception sank into the void.
A few breaths later, the feedback returned.
Li Yuan’s brow furrowed slightly.
The feedback in his sea of consciousness was extremely vague and had a chaotic, tangled feeling. There was neither the clear aura symbolizing great fortune, nor the oppressive gloom symbolizing great danger. It was like a messy ball of hemp thread from which no conclusion could be drawn.
Li Yuan released the Spell seal and pondered. ‘The divination result is vague and chaotic. The most likely reason is that this matter will have a negligible impact on me. If I sign the Spirit Contract, the Primordial Yang Sect’s offerings are just auxiliary materials and a venue for Core Formation—things that mean little to a cultivator like me who has already reached that stage. And if the Primordial Yang Sect intended to harm me, my own strength would negate any risk. No great benefit, no great harm. Fate’s trajectory for this event simply hasn’t produced a peak or a trough significant enough for my divination to capture.’
「Several more days passed.」
The situation in the direction of Skeleton Ridge had undergone a subtle change.
The immense pressures of the Golden Core Stage experts were no longer clashing as recklessly as they had in previous days. The few Golden Core Ancestors seemed to have reached some sort of tacit understanding, all retreating behind the scenes and retracting their auras.
In their place, friction between Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators grew increasingly frequent.
The Foundation Establishment disciples from various factions were dispatched in large numbers to the outskirts to stand guard, patrol, and probe. Every so often, news would arrive of a few Loose Cultivators or Sect disciples clashing and falling in the Ghost Mist Forest.
Even the valley where Li Yuan had previously discovered the spatial fissure was now being guarded in shifts by several unidentified Foundation Establishment Cultivators.
This afternoon, the array around his stone house was gently triggered.
Li Yuan opened the door to find Zhou Mingyuan standing outside.
He hadn’t brought Chen Yi; he was alone. Dressed in a simple azure robe, his aura was so restrained that he resembled an ordinary, wealthy mortal.
“Sect Master Zhou.” Li Yuan stepped aside.
Zhou Mingyuan walked into the stone house and sat down at the table.
“Have you considered the Spirit Contract I mentioned last time?” Zhou Mingyuan got straight to the point, his tone casual.
Li Yuan thought for a moment before shaking his head. “I am used to the freedom of a Loose Cultivator. Sects have many rules, and I’m afraid I cannot bear the responsibilities of that Spirit Contract.”
Zhou Mingyuan seemed to have expected this answer, showing no surprise at Li Yuan’s obvious evasion.
“I knew you’d say that.” He picked up the tea Li Yuan had poured and took a sip. “If you don’t want to sign, then don’t. However, the Sect still needs your cooperation here in Mist Forest Marketplace.”
Zhou Mingyuan set down his teacup, his gaze turning serious.
“Forget the Spirit Contract. The Sect will give you the status of an Honored Guest Protector of the Primordial Yang Sect. It’s just a title. You won’t be forced to join the battle at Skeleton Ridge, nor will you be required to complete any specific missions.”
“We only require you to continue providing assistance with intelligence and array reconnaissance.”
The terms were extremely lenient.
Li Yuan nodded slightly. “That’s acceptable.”
After reaching an agreement, Zhou Mingyuan took a storage pouch from his sleeve and pushed it across the table to Li Yuan.
“Now that you’re a Protector, there are some things I’ll entrust to your attention. In this bag are a few items carrying the aura of Demon Cultivators. They are relics left from the destruction of the White Nether Sect years ago.”
Zhou Mingyuan’s fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop.
“Some remnants of the White Nether Sect might still be secretly active in Liangzhou. I’m not talking about the Dark Abyss Association; the core Demon Cultivators of the White Nether Sect have always remained wary of the Evil Slaying Sect, which crushed them.”
“They may have even made contact with the Abyss Sect or other Demon Cultivators. This place is a gathering spot for Loose Cultivators, where all sorts of people congregate. I need you to gather as much information as you can about the White Nether Sect.”
“Also, you have considerable skill in arrays. If you discover any unknown Demonic Qi array nodes around the marketplace, report them immediately.”
“Understood.”
After giving his instructions, Zhou Mingyuan didn’t linger and rose to leave.
After seeing Zhou Mingyuan off, Li Yuan returned to the table and emptied the contents of the storage pouch.
Three items.
A broken black Token, a section of grayish-white withered bone, and a bronze mirror covered in cracks.
They were all old, defective items, with barely any Demonic Qi attached to them.
Li Yuan’s gaze swept over the three items. When it landed on the broken black Token, his perception within a three-foot radius was instantly triggered.
‘Green.’
Li Yuan reached out and picked up the Token.
[Equippable Item Detected: Remnant Nether Token (Complete)]
[Equipment Affix Preview: Remnant Nether Demon Detection (Green)]
[Effect: When equipped, doubles the perception range for residual Demonic Qi and automatically marks hidden nodes within Demonic Qi Arrays.]
[Permanence Condition: Demonic Qi Cultivation reaches Foundation Establishment.]
‘A green affix, and I already meet the condition for permanence.’
Li Yuan didn’t hesitate for a second.
‘Equip. Make it permanent.’
[Remnant Nether Demon Detection (Green) has become a permanent affix.]
A phantom image of the black Token flashed in his equipment slot before dissolving into motes of green light that merged with his body.
Li Yuan closed his eyes, and the perception web of his Dark Evil Insight instantly expanded outward. His previous limit for perceiving residual Demonic Qi was forcibly pushed out by more than double. A few extremely faint traces of Demonic Qi, buried deep underground at the edge of the marketplace, were now reflected in his sea of consciousness as clearly as flames in the dark.
The ability to automatically mark hidden nodes in Demonic Qi Arrays would be like giving a tiger wings when it came to deciphering ancient ruins or confronting Demon Sect arrays in the future.
Storing the remaining two items in his personal space, Li Yuan began to calculate his next steps.
‘The stalemate at Skeleton Ridge won’t be broken anytime soon.
I need to seize this window of opportunity to keep improving my strength.
The second auction I’m hosting is about to begin. After collecting this wave of supplies and Spirit Stones, I plan to head to Shuizhou again to attend the major faction trade fair jointly held by the Kunpeng Island alliance and the Celestial Peak Sect.
The High Tier resources and affix items available at such a grand event are on a level that a small, remote marketplace like this could never compare to.
But before setting off, I have to shore up my own weaknesses.’
Li Yuan walked to the meditation cushion in the center of the stone room and sat down.
He took out the ink-colored jade slip that recorded the Demon Blood Substitute Skill from his personal space.
A Tier Three Low Grade Demon Qi Skill.
He sent his Divine Sense into it. The technique’s circulation paths were complex and carried a bloody, violent feeling. The core of this skill was to instantly extract one’s vital blood and Demonic Qi to condense a substitute outside the body with an aura identical to the original. The substitute’s existence was extremely brief, but it was enough to withstand a single fatal blow.
Li Yuan closed his eyes, the Demonic Qi in his body surging as he began to guide his vital blood according to the method on the jade slip.
Aided by the shared origin of his demonic and spiritual energies, the flow of Demonic Qi was incredibly smooth.
「Several hours later.」
[Demon Blood Substitute Skill: Uninitiated → Beginner]
After reaching the beginner level, the Demon Blood Substitute Skill could already barely condense a blurry blood shadow. This was just the beginning.
In the following days, Li Yuan handled preparations for the auction during the day and devoted all his energy to cultivation at night.
In addition to advancing the Demon Blood Substitute Skill, he also prioritized improving his Demon Shadow Step, which was currently at the Minor Achievement realm.
「A few days later.」
[Demon Shadow Step: Minor Achievement → Great Success]
At the Great Success Realm, his Demon Shadow Step released almost no Demonic Qi fluctuations when used. The moment his figure merged with the shadows, he could cross several dozen zhang, like a true phantom.
While his immortal cultivation magic improved steadily, Li Yuan didn’t neglect his Body Refining Techniques either.
[Mystic Iron Bone Forging Skill: Expert → Minor Achievement]
[Golden Body Skill: Minor Achievement → Great Success]
A series of pops, like beans being roasted, echoed from his bones. Li Yuan stood up and clenched his fists.
A faint golden, metallic luster appeared on the surface of his skin. The density and resilience of his bones had once again leaped to a new level.