Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

The protective Magical Artifact on the second Demon Cultivator’s chest had just lit up with a layer of dark, bluish-green Spiritual Light when the fissure pierced right through its center. The Magical Artifact shattered on the spot, its fragments exploding outward along with flesh and blood from his chest. The sharp, residual force sent him flying backward, and he slammed into the stone wall with a THUD. A bloody hole caved into his chest. His corpse slowly slid down the rock face, leaving a glaring trail of blood.

Riding its remaining momentum, the Void-Slitting Slash flew toward the short cultivator.

The third Demon Cultivator reacted a bit faster, almost instinctively raising the Magical Artifact in his hand to block.

But he was only a fraction of a second quicker.

The gray fissure swept across his waist, first slicing through the Magical Artifact, then through his flesh and bone. His upper body remained in a blocking posture, while his lower body was frozen in place. A moment later, his torso slid forward, spilling guts and blood all over the ground. The residual force of the slash even shaved off a layer of the stone platform’s edge, leaving a cut as smooth as a mirror.

After two slashes, only two men were left in the stone cave.

The short, restriction-breaking Demon Cultivator was the first of the four to come to his senses. The moment the leader’s head hit the floor, he had already slapped a Defense Talisman onto his chest. A dark gold shield erupted into existence, enveloping his entire body.

The Void-Slitting Slash struck the shield.

With a sharp CRACK, the entire shield was instantly covered in fissures. An instant later, it exploded violently, turning into a shower of light like shattered gold. The shockwave sent the short Demon Cultivator reeling, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. A gash deep enough to show bone was sliced open on his shoulder, but he had survived.

Using that momentary buffer, he turned and fled, stumbling toward the passage outside the cave entrance.

The fifth Demon Cultivator, however, did not retreat.

The three men before him had died violently in the blink of an eye. The stench of blood, the lingering chime of shattered Magical Artifacts, and the intangible Golden Core Level pressure that tightened one’s Divine Soul had instead pushed his last shred of sanity into raw ferocity.

"Die!"

He let out a low roar and flipped his right hand, a short, jet-black hammer appearing in his grasp. The hammer’s head was covered in dense blood-red patterns; it was clearly a Tier Two Magical Artifact specialized in breaking Protective Spirit Light. There was little room to maneuver in the narrow stone cave. He poured all his Demonic Qi into the hammer in one go. The hammer’s head flared with bloody light, and with a vicious, air-splitting whistle, it smashed down toward Li Yuan’s chest, practically scraping his face.

Li Yuan didn’t move.

He didn’t even release his Protective Spirit Light.

BANG—!

A dull boom exploded in the cave. Dust rustled down from the rock walls, and the gravel underfoot was blasted away by the force. The hammer struck Li Yuan just to the left of his heart. The corrosive and concussive power unique to Demonic Qi traveled through his robes, skin, and bones—a blow fierce enough to cave in the entire chest of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

But the result made the savage expression on the Demon Cultivator’s face slowly freeze.

Li Yuan’s robes were only slightly indented.

That was all.

What was even more terrifying was the rebound force that surged back up the hammer’s handle.

The web between the Demon Cultivator’s thumb and forefinger split open instantly. His entire right arm went numb from the shock, and the bones in his fingers made faint cracking sounds, unable to bear the strain.

Li Yuan glanced down at the black hammer pressed against his chest, his expression calm to the point of indifference.

The next moment, he reached out, grabbed the handle, and squeezed.

CRACK.

The handle was instantly crushed and twisted out of shape.

The ferocious glint in the Demon Cultivator’s eyes finally shattered, replaced by a terror so profound it stole his voice. He opened his mouth to scream, but only saw Li Yuan raise his left hand and place it on top of his head.

BOOM.

Golden Core Level Demonic Qi pressed down mercilessly from his palm.

The Demon Cultivator didn’t even have time to scream before his skull was crushed under the palm. His neck snapped, and his knees slammed hard into the ground, as if an invisible boulder was forcing him to his knees. A faint crack split the ground. His body then went limp, and a mixture of brain matter and blood slowly seeped into the crevices of the gravel.

Only then did a panel notification pop up in his vision.

[Body Protection (Green) Permanence Condition Met: Withstood a full-power attack from a Tier Two Magical Artifact with your physical body without taking damage]

[Body Protection (Green) has become a permanent entry]

In the equipment slot, the phantom image of the Snake Scale Bracer trembled slightly, then shattered into motes of green light and dissipated, freeing up a normal slot.

Meanwhile, the short, restriction-breaking Demon Cultivator had only just lunged for the cave entrance.

He had reached the edge of the passage, only one step away from survival.

Li Yuan didn’t even chase him.

He just raised his hand, joined two fingers, and slashed through the air.

A Void-Slitting Slash shot out, skimming across the ground. It caught up to the desperately fleeing figure from behind, slicing in diagonally from the back of his head, passing through his brow bone, and exiting his forehead in a spray of blood and mist. The fissure’s momentum was not yet spent; it carved a smooth gash, a foot deep, into the passage wall.

The short Demon Cultivator pitched forward, his face slamming into the ground. His body slid forward several feet due to inertia before coming to a stop just outside the cave, completely silent.

The stone cave fell silent.

Only the smell of blood, the fragments of shattered Magical Artifacts, and the dust rustling down from the ceiling remained.

From the first slash to the last, no more than three breaths had passed.

Five Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivators, all annihilated.

There was no struggle, no stalemate, no so-called trading of trump cards.

Below Golden Core, numbers simply cannot bridge this kind of gap in power level.

The panel popped up again.

[Void-Slitting Slash: Adept (295/400) → Master (0/800)]

The breakthrough in proficiency was a natural consequence. The Spiritual Power and Divine Sense of the Golden Core Stage provided an all-around boost to spatial magic. Six consecutive, high-precision uses of Void-Slitting Slash in actual combat had filled up the last bit of accumulated experience.

Li Yuan retracted his Spiritual Power and walked over to the five corpses.

One by one, he removed the storage pouches from the corpses. Five in total.

He took stock of his spoils.

Over four hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones, scattered among the five storage pouches. A few bottles of Demon Dao pills of varying quality. A batch of materials for repairing Arrays and breaking Restrictions, including the short Demon Cultivator’s professional set of restriction-breaking tools. Two intelligence jade slips, covered by a Demon Qi Seal.

And a bottle of pills wrapped in a chain of Restrictions.

Li Yuan took the jade bottle in his hand.

The material of the bottle, the style of the Restriction’s patterns, and even the color of the sealing wax were all identical to the batch of Qi Concealing Pills he had seized from Skeleton Valley.

’From the same batch.’

Last time, back in his Foundation Establishment Stage, it had taken him nearly two hours to break this kind of chain Restriction. The strength of his Golden Core Stage Divine Sense made the process much easier. His Divine Sense acted like a nimble drill, cutting precisely into the gaps of the Restriction’s patterns.

In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the chain Restriction silently disintegrated.

He pulled the stopper. The same dark gray Qi Concealing Pills, the same earthy smell.

Li Yuan put the pills into his storage pouch and then picked up the two intelligence jade slips.

The Demon Qi Seal was useless before a Golden Core Cultivation. It shattered with a light flick.

The first jade slip was a summary of the Dark Abyss Association’s internal contact codes. It was consistent with what was mentioned in the leader’s transmission, containing the code-change rules for the current and next cycles.

The second jade slip was a hand-drawn route map. It was a complete version of the northern supply route, marking the detailed paths from the northern core stronghold in the Ghost Mist Forest to three peripheral transit stations, including the defensive configurations and personnel rosters for each.

Li Yuan copied the contents of both jade slips onto his own blank one, then destroyed the originals.

He finished processing his spoils.

He turned to look at the five corpses on the ground.

He flipped his right palm, and a flame combining fire and Evil Qi erupted. The crimson flame, tinged with dark gray Evil Qi, engulfed the five corpses and the bloodstains on the ground. The intense heat incinerated all organic matter within a few breaths, grinding even the bones to a fine powder.

Finally, Li Yuan used the Earth Escape Technique to bury the remaining scorch marks and ashes deep within the rock. He then used his Spiritual Power to restore the Restriction at the cave entrance to its original 3rd Floor state.

Viewed from the outside, the cave looked no different than it had for hundreds of years. There were no signs of a fight, no smell of blood, and he had even wiped away every trace of Spiritual Power fluctuations in the air.

Just like that, five people had vanished from the world.

The Dark Abyss Association would know their mission to retrieve the treasure had failed, but they would not know how the team died, where they died, or at whose hands.

Li Yuan collected all his spoils, used the Earth Escape Technique to leave the stone cave, and headed back toward the Teleportation Array.

The northern supply route map in his storage pouch was far more valuable than four hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

The locations of the three transit stations, their defensive configurations, and their personnel rosters—this information was enough for him to sever the Dark Abyss Association’s logistical line on the outskirts of the Ghost Mist Forest with a single blow, should the need arise.