Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

The next morning, Li Yuan set out for Jingzhou.

He took the same route as before, heading east from the marketplace through the Sunset Corridor. Upon entering Jingzhou’s borders, he turned north and followed the main road straight toward the White Mirror Marketplace. His travel speed at the Golden Core Stage was far beyond what it had been during Foundation Establishment. Traveling at full speed, he saw the outline of the White Mirror Marketplace appear on the horizon in less than half a day.

From a distance, the marketplace appeared to be at least five times the size of the Yunyang Marketplace. Towering stone walls formed a massive city-like structure, their tops covered in a dense network of Defensive Arrays, shimmering with a constant flow of Spiritual Light. The gate was a bustling hub, with an endless stream of Cultivators coming and going.

Li Yuan used an Illusory Mask to slightly alter his face and aura, changed into an inconspicuous gray robe, and blended into the crowd as he walked through the gate.

Upon entering the marketplace, his view opened up dramatically.

The main street was wide enough for three beast-drawn carts to travel abreast. Shops lined both sides in dense rows, from Pill Shops and Dharma Artifact Workshops to spiritual material emporiums. The sheer variety of goods was incomparable to the marketplaces in Liangzhou.

The overall power level of the Cultivators was indeed a cut above those in Liangzhou.

The three sects of Jingzhou had long maintained a complementary relationship. Coupled with the overarching presence of the Celestial Peak Sect, a Nascent Soul Grand Sect, no large-scale wars had ever broken out, despite some friction among them. The most direct result of this peace was the steady accumulation of resources. Hundreds of years of continuous accumulation had led to an extremely prosperous cultivation market in Jingzhou. Even the average cultivation of low-level Loose Cultivators was nearly half a minor realm higher than in Liangzhou.

Li Yuan strolled along the main street, noticing numerous Cultivators swaggering about in gray and white Daoist robes. Their cuffs were embroidered with a mountain peak emblem in gold thread.

Disciples of the Celestial Peak Sect.

Li Yuan averted his gaze and headed toward the center of the marketplace.

As he walked down the street, he passed a roadside stall.

He stopped and glanced down.

Half-buried in a pile of rubble in the corner of the stall was a fist-sized, grayish-brown stone. It was rough and unremarkable, but his panel had already appeared.

Li Yuan asked the owner for the price and bought it with three Spirit Stones.

[Detected Equippable Item: Bloodmorph Stone (Intact)]

[Entry Preview: Toughness (Gray)]

[Effect: Slightly increases muscle toughness.]

[Permanence Condition: Cultivate one mortal-tier Cultivation Technique.]

’A gray entry.’ ’The effect was so weak it was almost negligible.’

"Equip."

[Equipped: Bloodmorph Stone (Intact)]

[Toughness (Gray) has become a permanent entry.]

’The effect was minuscule, but it was better than nothing.’

Li Yuan continued on his way, and his entry-sensing ability triggered again.

[Detected Equippable Item: Origin-Nourishing Resin (Intact)]

[Entry Preview: Origin-Nourishing (Gray)]

[Effect: Increases the cultivation speed of Cultivation Techniques by 10%.]

[Permanence Condition: Cultivate a Cultivation Technique to the Minor Achievement stage.]

Li Yuan spent another few Spirit Stones to purchase it.

[Origin-Nourishing (Gray) has become a permanent entry.]

He continued on.

At a stall next to a stone pillar of a roadside pavilion, his entry-sensing ability picked up a third signal.

This one cost him a dozen or so Spirit Stones.

[Detected Equippable Item: Spirit Pattern Fragment (Intact)]

[Entry Preview: Minor Spiritual Perception (White)]

[Effect: Increases Spiritual Qi perception sensitivity by 30%.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Possess a perception-type permanent entry (Condition Met)]

’A white entry, and the condition is already met.’

Li Yuan took out the fragment and equipped it.

[Minor Spiritual Perception (White) has become a permanent entry.]

’Three entries—two gray and one white. None of the effects were particularly great. Still, his total count of permanent entries had increased by three. The boost to his foundation from this accumulation, however small, was tangible.’

The Mingyuan Commerce Association’s main shop was located on the most central commercial street in the White Mirror Marketplace. The storefront was a full ten times larger than the branch in the Yunyang Marketplace. It was an impressive three-story Spirit Wood Pavilion, with the association’s emblem carved into two stone pillars at its entrance.

Li Yuan entered the shop and went directly to the second floor.

The second floor was a reception area for distinguished guests. A middle-aged Cultivator who looked like a steward greeted him, and Li Yuan presented the recommendation Token he had received from Xu Zhang.

After inspecting the Token, the middle-aged steward’s attitude immediately warmed.

"You’re a friend of Steward Xu! Please, have a seat. Feel free to ask for anything you need."

"Tier Three pill formulas," Li Yuan said as he sat down. "How many kinds do you have?"

The steward paused for a moment. He then retrieved a jade box from a hidden compartment behind the counter. Opening it, he revealed several jade slips arranged neatly inside.

"Tier Three pill formulas are one of our rarer commodities. We currently have four for sale." The steward introduced the jade slips one by one. "The Celestial Essence Pill, a general-purpose, basic cultivation pill for the Golden Core Stage. It’s our highest-demand formula, priced at eight hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones. The Soul Condensing Pill, used for strengthening one’s Divine Sense, is twelve hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones. The Tier Three version of the Strengthening Pill formula costs one thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones. And lastly, the Barrier-Breaking Pill, which helps Golden Core Cultivators break through minor realms. Its formula is priced at two thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones."

Li Yuan picked up the jade slip for the Celestial Essence Pill and extended his Divine Sense into it.

The formula’s contents were incredibly detailed. Ingredient ratios, refinement steps, heat control requirements, and the Spiritual Power Condensation Core process—a technique unique to Tier Three pills—were all noted with perfect clarity.

The refinement of the Celestial Essence Pill involved seven distinct processes. The first three were largely the same as those for Tier Two pills, consisting mainly of pre-processing the ingredients, activating their Spiritual Power, and preliminary condensation. The fourth process marked the entry into the core of Tier Three alchemy. It required the creation of a miniature Condensation Field within the Pill Furnace to forcibly compress the scattered medicinal essences into a tiny space for the final pill formation.

This condensation step was the most fundamental difference between Tier Three and Tier Two alchemy. For Tier Two pills, formation was a process of natural coagulation. As long as the heat and Spiritual Power were controlled properly, the medicinal liquid would coalesce into a pill according to its own properties. Tier Three pills, however, required the Pill Refiner to actively construct a Condensation Field, using external force to intervene in the formation process. This demanded an extremely high level of precision in Spiritual Power control and the ability to divide and manipulate one’s Divine Sense.

"I’ll take this one," Li Yuan said, setting down the jade slip.

Eight hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones. He counted them out from his storage pouch, and the transaction was completed.

The steward respectfully handed over the pill formula’s jade slip, along with a shopping list for the common ingredients of the Celestial Essence Pill.

"We have the ingredients in stock as well. Would you like to purchase a set?"

"I’ll take one set."

He spent another three hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones on a complete set of raw materials for the Celestial Essence Pill. After storing everything in his storage pouch, Li Yuan got up and left the association’s main shop.

「That night, back in his stone house in the Mist Forest Marketplace.」

Li Yuan placed a deep-cyan, high-quality Pill Furnace on the table. He took out the jade slip with the Celestial Essence Pill formula and carefully reread the entire refinement process.

Then, he began.

The first process: ingredient pre-processing.

The main ingredient for the Celestial Essence Pill was the root of a Tier Three Spirit Grass, the Celestial Essence Vine, which was balanced by several Tier Two Spiritual Materials. The key to the pre-processing step was to strip all impurities from the Celestial Essence Vine’s root without damaging its core spiritual fibers.

The second process, the third, the fourth...

When he reached the fourth process, Li Yuan slowed.

This step involved the Spiritual Power condensation unique to Tier Three alchemy.

The formula’s description was clear: when the medicinal liquid had concentrated to a critical point, the Pill Refiner had to construct a stable, miniature Condensation Field within the furnace. The field’s structure resembled a minuscule Array, woven from dozens of Spiritual Power Lines, which would lock the medicinal essence in a core area and forcibly compress it into a pill.

Li Yuan took a deep breath. Spiritual Power Lines shot from his fingertips, and following the angles and spacing specified in the formula, he began weaving the framework for the Condensation Field above the medicinal liquid.

The first Spiritual Power Line settled into place. The second and third followed close behind, snapping precisely into their designated nodes.

But when he reached the seventh line, a problem arose.

The Condensation Field’s structure began to destabilize. The previously laid Spiritual Power Lines had shifted microscopically from the force of the medicinal vapor. The deviation was less than a hair’s breadth, but given the precision required for Tier Three pills, it was enough to prevent the subsequent lines from embedding correctly.

Li Yuan immediately tried to adjust, using Divine Sense Lines to forcibly correct the deviation.

But the medicinal liquid had already reached its critical point of concentration, and every second that passed narrowed the window of opportunity to form the Condensation Field. His correction speed couldn’t keep up with the rate of accumulating deviation.

The instant the twelfth Spiritual Power Line fell into place, the entire structure of the Condensation Field suffered a chain-reaction collapse.

The Spiritual Power Lines snapped one after another like broken strings. Unrestrained, the medicinal liquid expanded violently, and a dull THUD echoed from within the Pill Furnace.

Li Yuan swiftly withdrew his Divine Sense Lines while simultaneously sealing the furnace’s opening with Spiritual Power, containing the explosive force within.

The Pill Furnace shuddered violently a few times before falling still.

He lifted the lid to find nothing but a pool of scorched, black dregs. The spirituality of the Celestial Essence Vine’s root had been utterly destroyed, and the entire batch of ingredients was wasted.

A failure.

Li Yuan set the lid back down, but he felt no frustration.

Constructing the Condensation Field was the core technical barrier in Tier Three Alchemy. The fact that he had smoothly completed the first three steps proved that his foundation at Tier Two Perfection was more than solid. His failure at the fourth step was simply due to a lack of hands-on experience in weaving the Spiritual Power Lines for the Condensation Field.

No matter how detailed the formula’s description, it could never replace the actual feel of the process. That kind of intuition could only be accumulated by refining one batch after another.

The three hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones’ worth of ingredients had only been enough for one attempt; he would need to procure more. But this failure was not without its rewards. He had already identified the problem: his Spiritual Power Lines lacked sufficient resistance to interference. He needed to improve both his weaving speed and their stability.

The door to Tier Three Alchemy had been pushed open a crack.