Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

In the early morning, Li Yuan stepped out of his stone house for a breath of fresh air.

Two consecutive days of high-intensity cultivation had made the Spiritual Power in his meridians slightly sluggish, and he needed to move his body to regulate it. He took a slow walk along the patrol path on the outskirts of the market, breathing in the uniquely damp air from the edge of the Ghost Mist Forest.

’My focus from now on should be on preparing to shatter and reform my core.’

And the most crucial part of these preparations involved pills.

Li Yuan took out the deep cyan, high-quality Pill Furnace from his storage pouch and placed it on the stone table.

It was a Tier Two High Grade furnace. After long-term use, the Spirit-Guiding Patterns on the inner walls had become perfectly attuned to his Spiritual Power.

The boost that his Golden Core Stage cultivation brought to his Alchemy was comprehensive.

The strength and precision of his Divine Sense had multiplied several times, allowing him to monitor every minute change in the medicinal liquid inside the furnace in real-time. His mastery of pill refinement, which increased pill formation rate and quality by thirty percent, now applied to this new baseline, making the boost far greater than it was in the Foundation Establishment Stage. His body, refined by alchemy, could now digest pills much more efficiently, meaning he could take them more frequently and in larger doses to strengthen himself.

Most importantly, the permanent spiritual enrichment of his Spirit Vein had increased the quality of his Spiritual Power by fifty percent.

The purer the Spiritual Power injected into the Pill Furnace during Alchemy, the more flawlessly the medicinal properties could be stimulated and condensed. With the same medicinal ingredients and the same pill formula, using Spiritual Power of fifty percent higher quality would drastically raise the upper limit of the final product.

Li Yuan took out a batch of raw ingredients for the Soul Condensing Pill and began the refining process.

The Soul Condensing Pill was a Tier Two pill, primarily used to condense Divine Sense and restore its consumption. His previous proficiency in refining it was somewhere between novice and skilled; he had only just gotten the hang of it.

First batch. Ignition.

Spiritual Power flooded into the fire Array Pattern at the base of the furnace. The output of his Golden Core Stage Spiritual Power was exceptionally stable, and his precision in controlling the heat was more than a level higher than in the Foundation Establishment Stage. He had long since memorized the sequence and timing for adding the ingredients, and his movements were as smooth as flowing water.

Inside the furnace, the medicinal liquid churned. Impurities were stripped away, and the essence began to gather at the center.

Previously, at this stage, he would have had to concentrate with all his might just to barely control the direction of the liquid’s condensation. Now, his Divine Sense reached into the furnace, each strand precisely locking onto a critical point. The bonus from his mastery of pill refinement made his judgment of the heat and the amount of Spiritual Power to inject almost instinctual.

Pill formation complete.

He lifted the furnace lid. Three Soul Condensing Pills, emitting a faint golden luster, lay quietly at the bottom.

Tier Two High Grade.

All three were Top Grade.

Li Yuan placed the pills into a jade bottle. Without pausing, he immediately began the second batch.

The second batch went even more smoothly than the first. His Spiritual Power reserves at the Golden Core Stage were exceptionally abundant; there was no need to meticulously budget every wisp of Spiritual Power like he had in the Foundation Establishment Stage. Under his near-perfect control, the medicinal liquid in the furnace was like clay being molded by an invisible pair of hands, obediently solidifying according to his will.

Pill formation complete. Four pills. Tier Two High Grade, and one of them faintly revealed a deeper layer of luster, almost touching the edge of Peak Grade.

Third batch, five pills formed. Three Top Grade, two Peak Grade.

The quality of the Peak Grade pills was outstanding. The pills were perfectly round and full, their surface luster restrained and deep. The medicinal properties were locked in the very core of the pill, not leaking out in the slightest.

After three consecutive batches, Li Yuan had fully developed a feel for Alchemy at the Golden Core Stage. His pill formation rate, quality, and precision in heat control had completely crushed his abilities from the Foundation Establishment Stage.

But he wasn’t satisfied with just this.

For the fourth batch, he changed the pill formula.

The Condensing Evil Pill.

This was one of his signature pills, and also a core profit-maker for his market stall. But this time, he didn’t intend to follow the conventional formula. Instead, he added a trace amount of Evil Qi to the original recipe to harmonize with it.

His permanent trait, ’Evil Essence Unification,’ allowed the Evil Qi and Spiritual Power within his body to flow into each other without obstruction. He injected a thread of exceptionally pure Evil Qi into the furnace, where it resonated with the essence of the Soul-devouring Grass in the medicinal liquid.

The reaction inside the furnace was far more violent than the previous three batches. The color of the medicinal liquid shifted from dark green to inky black, and then a hint of deep purple emerged from the blackness. The addition of the Evil Qi had stimulated the core medicinal properties of the Condensing Evil Pill to an unprecedented degree.

Pill formation complete.

The moment he opened the lid, a potent medicinal aroma thick with Evil Qi rushed out to greet him.

Two Condensing Evil Pills. Their quality had broken straight through to Peak-Grade Tier Two.

Dark purple patterns flowed across the surface of the pills. The concentration of their medicinal properties far exceeded that of a conventional Condensing Evil Pill. After consumption, the boost to an Evil Qi Cultivator’s cultivation would be increased by at least thirty percent.

After finishing the four batches, Li Yuan set down the Pill Furnace and let out a long breath.

A panel popped up.

[Alchemy Attainment: Tier Two Great Success → Tier Two Perfection]

Perfection.

The highest realm of Tier Two Alchemy. From this moment on, refining any Tier Two pill no longer posed any technical challenge for him. Heat control, Spiritual Power injection, liquid condensation—every step had been internalized into an instinctive, muscle-memory reaction.

However, it also meant that Tier Two pills could no longer provide him with any further improvement in his Alchemy attainment.

To continue advancing, he had to step into Tier Three.

In the evening, Li Yuan paid a visit to the Mingyuan Commerce Association’s shop.

Xu Zhang was behind the counter, tallying this month’s accounts. Seeing Li Yuan enter, he put down his brush pen.

"Do you have any Tier Three pill formulas?" Li Yuan asked, getting straight to the point.

Xu Zhang was taken aback for a moment.

"What do you need that for?"

"For reference."

Xu Zhang stared at him for two breaths, then shook his head without asking further.

"Tier Three pill formulas aren’t something you can just get anywhere. Our association doesn’t have any in stock here in Yunyang Market. Headquarters has a few common Tier Three formulas, but the price is extremely high. Plus, you have to apply for a transfer in advance. The fastest it could arrive is a month."

Li Yuan frowned. A month was too long.

Xu Zhang thought for a moment, then added,

"If you’re in a hurry, you could try the White Mirror Market. The power of Jingzhou’s three major sects is on full display there, so the scale and variety of goods far exceed what’s in Yunyang Market. Tier Three pill formulas are rare, but in a market of that caliber, you might just find one."

White Mirror Market.

Li Yuan had been there once before and had a firsthand impression of the number and strength of the cultivators. The three sects of Jingzhou complemented each other, and with the Celestial Peak Sect keeping the peace, no major wars had broken out in a long time. The foundation they had accumulated was indeed far beyond what Liangzhou could compare to.

"I understand," Li Yuan said, then turned and left.

After returning to his stone house, he sorted the pills he had refined today and stored them in his storage pouch, then began planning his next trip in his mind.

White Mirror Market. Tier Three pill formulas. And auxiliary materials for shattering and reforming his core.

He could take care of it all in one trip.