Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Three days later, Li Yuan arrived in Mozhou via a Teleportation Array with the first batch of supplies.

Two hundred Spirit Stones, thirty bottles of Tier Two pills, and a number of array-repair materials. It wasn’t a large quantity, but for the remnants who had long been in a state of resource scarcity, it was an extremely generous supply.

Elder Shen personally received the supplies at the entrance of the fissure. After taking inventory, he said nothing more and simply turned to beckon toward the depths of the cavern.

A man of about thirty walked out from behind him. He was lean, with sharp, well-defined features and exceptionally bright eyes. His skin was pale from a long-term lack of sunlight. He was at the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment of cultivation, and while his Spiritual Power fluctuations weren’t abundant, they were extremely condensed, indicating a very solid foundation.

"This is Ah Cheng, the person from our generation most familiar with the underground tunnels," Elder Shen introduced.

Ah Cheng nodded at Li Yuan. Without any pleasantries, he directly took a rope entwined with faintly glowing Spirit Silk from his waist.

"Stay close. Some parts are too narrow for two people to walk side-by-side."

The two descended from the fissure’s entrance, passed through the cluster of caverns where the remnants lived, and entered a deeper, natural passageway.

The passageway gradually shifted from vertical to sloped, and the air grew increasingly humid. After about half an hour, the sound of flowing water came from ahead.

Not dripping water, but an underground river.

The end of the passageway connected to a subterranean river. The river was about four zhang wide with pitch-black water. It flowed slowly, but occasionally a bubble or two would rise to the surface, releasing a faint, sinister chill.

Li Yuan crouched down and extended a wisp of Spiritual Power to touch the water’s surface.

The water contained trace amounts of Demonic Qi. The concentration was extremely low, not enough to affect a cultivator, but it indicated that the river’s source was connected to an area rich in Demonic Qi.

"We call this river the Black Water River," Ah Cheng said, walking ahead along the narrow path by the bank.

The two followed the river. Scattered along the rock walls on both banks were the remains of abandoned facilities: rusted metal brackets, broken spirit-conducting pipes, and a few fragments of Array Discs embedded in the rock.

The style of these facilities was identical to what Li Yuan had seen before in the diversion system; they were all products of the Profound Nether Sect era. However, they were extremely damaged. Most had been completely destroyed by time and the river’s erosion, leaving only skeletal remains.

Ah Cheng was already used to the sight of these ruins and led the way without a second glance.

After walking for about another hour, the sound of water ahead suddenly grew much louder.

Here, the passageway opened up abruptly into a massive underground cavern. The ceiling was over twenty zhang high, and at the far end of the cavern, the Black Water River converged into a wide waterfall, pouring down from the top of a nearly vertical rock face.

Black Water Falls.

The volume of water wasn’t immense, but because of the river’s pitch-black color, the waterfall looked like a sheet of ink being poured from on high, kicking up a large, dark mist as it crashed into the pool below.

"We’re here." Ah Cheng stopped and pointed to the rock wall behind the waterfall. "There’s a cave entrance behind the falls that leads deeper in. Our people have only made it this far. Any further is a restricted area; we can’t get in."

Li Yuan sent his Divine Sense through the curtain of water, probing the area behind the falls.

There was indeed a semicircular cave entrance in the rock wall behind the waterfall, about two zhang high and three zhang wide. The inside of the entrance was covered by an extremely heavy Restriction. The Restriction’s aura was ancient and profound, and the complexity of its Array Patterns far surpassed anything he had seen before in the diversion stone chamber or the core stone cave of the Demon Qi Pill Platform.

Li Yuan fully infused his Golden Core Stage Divine Sense, attempting to penetrate the layer of the Restriction and investigate the structure within.

After his Divine Sense had pushed forward about an inch, it was completely blocked by an indestructible barrier.

’A Restriction Array of at least the Tier Three Mid Stage. With my current attainments as a novice Tier Three Array Master, I can’t even begin to analyze its underlying logic, let alone break it.’

’But the Restriction isn’t a solid, monolithic block.’

Li Yuan shifted his attention from the core Restriction and instead scanned the structure of the rock wall around the entrance.

The main Restriction covered the entrance itself. However, on the rock walls to either side of the entrance, there were several smaller, auxiliary array nodes. These nodes functioned to provide energy support and structural stability to the main Restriction. Their grade was one level lower than the main one, somewhere between Tier Two High Grade and Tier Three Low Grade.

One of these nodes was connected to a side chamber to the right of the entrance. The entrance to this side chamber was sealed by a separate Tier Two Restriction, which was connected to the main one in parallel, not in series.

’Breaking the side chamber’s Restriction won’t affect the operation of the main one.’

Li Yuan passed through the curtain of water and arrived at the right side of the cave entrance. Ah Cheng didn’t follow, remaining outside the waterfall to wait.

He probed the side chamber’s Restriction with his Divine Sense.

It was of Tier Two High Grade quality, which no longer posed a real obstacle for him as a novice Tier Three Array Master. His Divine Sense Lines moved like precision scalpels, peeling away the layers along the Array Patterns’ pathways. Compared to the difficulty of breaking the three nested layers back in the core stone cave of the Demon Qi Pill Platform, this process was much smoother.

In less than half an incense stick’s time, the Restriction dissolved.

The entrance to the side chamber was revealed: a narrow gap, only wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

Li Yuan squeezed through sideways.

The side chamber wasn’t large, about two zhang square. The air was dry, free of the damp smell from the underground river. The floor was covered in weathered fragments of Spiritual Cloud Brocade, and in the center stood a stone desk, upon which lay a bamboo scroll and a jade box.

Li Yuan picked up the bamboo scroll first.

The scroll was made of some kind of Spirit Wood and was well-preserved; the characters on its surface were still clear.

He unrolled the bamboo scroll and read it line by line.

It was a Skill. To be precise, it was an extremely unorthodox auxiliary Secret Technique for Artifact Refining.

The core of the Skill could be summed up in a single sentence: use a Golden Core as a catalyst to temper a Lifebound Spiritual Artifact, which can dramatically increase the artifact’s quality.

The specific method was to separate a complete Golden Core from the body, use a special technique to extract the three elements of Essence, Qi, and Spirit contained within it, and infuse them into the core structure of the Lifebound Spiritual Artifact. The Golden Core would be completely consumed in this process, turning to nothing.

The second half of the Skill elaborated on the principles and steps of the operation. The quality of the Golden Core was not the decisive factor; what truly mattered was the degree of condensation of the Essence, Qi, and Spirit within it. The more condensed the three elements were, the purer the energy infused into the artifact, and the greater the artifact’s enhancement would be.

At the end of the scroll was an appended note in a different handwriting, clearly added by a later person.

The note consisted of just two words: "Theoretically viable."

Li Yuan placed the bamboo scroll back on the stone desk and picked up the jade box beside it.

He opened the jade box. Inside was a palm-sized jade token. The token was completely transparent, and flowing Spirit Patterns were faintly visible within.

The moment his finger touched the jade token, the panel popped up.

[Detectable Equippable Item: Dan Yuan Jade Token (Complete)]

[Equipment Trait Preview: Dan Yuan Separation (Blue)]

[Effect: Increases Golden Core Stage cultivation speed by 50%; Golden Core can leave the body; maintains connection with the physical body and Divine Soul while separated.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Reach Mid-stage Golden Core in cultivation or use one Golden Core to craft a Magical Artifact.]

’A blue trait.’

’Three effects. A fifty percent increase in cultivation speed is already incredible, but what truly caught my eye were the last two.’

’The Golden Core can leave the body.’

’And while separated, it can maintain its connection to the physical body and Divine Soul.’

’This means I can remove the Golden Core from my body and manipulate it externally without causing my cultivation to collapse or my Dantian to be destroyed.’

’This is the exact prerequisite for that Skill.’

’A normal cultivator would never use their own Golden Core to craft a Magical Artifact. The Golden Core is the heart of one’s cultivation; the moment it’s removed, all cultivation is lost, and the Dantian suffers a violent backlash from its sudden disappearance.’

’But the "Dan Yuan Separation" trait solves this problem completely.’

’The Golden Core remains connected to the body and Divine Soul after leaving. In other words, the process of removing the Golden Core is controllable and safe.’

’On top of that, the Demon Qi Golden Core in my body isn’t its final form anyway. It was a transitional product, meant to be shattered and re-formed.’

’I could shatter the Demon Qi Golden Core, then try using that Skill to infuse the Golden Core into my Lifebound Spiritual Artifact’s embryo, drastically increasing its quality. After that, I can use my Spiritual Power to form a new core and aim for a Top-grade Golden Core.’

He backed out of the side chamber, resealed the Restriction, and passed back through the curtain of water to Ah Cheng’s side.

"Let’s go."

Ah Cheng didn’t ask any questions and led him back the way they came.

It was the evening of the next day by the time they returned to Liangzhou.

Li Yuan had just stepped through the market gate when Ji Wenchuan hurried over, a look of urgency on his face.

"Pavilion Master, news from the outpost. An Array Master from the Celestial Peak Sect and people from the Primordial Yang Sect discovered a stone gate underground in the Ghost Mist Forest. It’s said to be massive, and the Array Patterns on the gate are related to the Profound Nether Sect."

’The main gate of the Profound Nether Sub-Palace. The one I entered before was a side door.’

Li Yuan’s expression didn’t change. "When was it discovered?" he asked.

"Yesterday morning. A Late-stage Foundation Establishment Array Master from the Celestial Peak Sect, escorted by an exploration team, went seventy zhang deep underground and found a giant stone gate embedded in the rock wall. It’s covered in multiple layers of Restrictions, and they haven’t broken them yet."

"What does the outpost need from the market?"

"Supplies," Ji Wenchuan replied. "The demand for array-repair materials and high-quality Spirit Stones has doubled again. Also, Elder Chen Yi asked me to tell you that he hopes you will make the delivery personally, Pavilion Master. He has something to say to you face-to-face."

Li Yuan nodded.

"We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. Get the supplies ready tonight."

The next morning, Li Yuan arrived at the outpost with a storage bag full of supplies.

During the handover, he used his Golden Core Stage perception to covertly scan the area where the stone gate was located.

His perception passed through the surface and dozens of zhang of rock, precisely locking onto the stone gate’s location.

The stone gate was about five zhang high and three zhang wide, forged from an extremely hard, dark cyan stone. Its surface was densely carved with Array Patterns in the style of the Profound Nether Sect. The complexity of the patterns was on the same level as the Restriction at the entrance to the Sunken Abyss Secret Grotto he had seen in the Netherworld River Valley, but on a much larger scale.

’This is the main outer gate of the Profound Nether Sub-Palace.’

’The core area is even deeper. The area where that Jade Bead was located is surrounded by another array. Although I didn’t break that array last time, I remember its general layout.’

’The Celestial Peak Sect’s Array Master is currently still working on the first layer of the stone gate. With my expertise as a Tier Three Array Master, I can estimate that at their current pace, it will take them at least another twenty days to completely break all the Restrictions.’

Li Yuan retracted his perception and handed the last crate of Spirit Stones to the deacon waiting to receive them.