Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

The sixth batch. I adjusted the parameters of the buffer layer and recalibrated the Spiritual Power distribution ratio for the three sectors. A single pill formed, its quality a slight improvement over the fourth batch, with a higher density of condensed medicinal properties.

After continuously refining six batches of Celestial Essence Pills on top of a bulk refinement of Condensing Evil Pills, a panel notification popped up.

[Alchemy Proficiency: Tier Three Novice (50/200→75/200)]

My Tier Three Alchemy proficiency was steadily climbing. Every successful or failed attempt accumulated practical experience. The precision of my Golden Core Stage Spiritual Power, combined with the bonuses for successful refinement, made my progress astonishingly fast.

Li Yuan sorted and stored the refined Celestial Essence Pills. He would need a large amount of supplementary pills when it came time to shatter and re-form his Primordial Pill. Celestial Essence Pills were the most crucial among them, so refining a few extra was never a bad idea.

In this time, the Pill Shop in the marketplace had become fully established. Condensing Evil Pills were the main product, supplemented by small quantities of Soul Condensing Pills and Strengthening Pills. The quality far exceeded the marketplace’s previous standards, and its reputation spread rapidly through the Loose Cultivator community. Many Loose Cultivators from the periphery made special trips to the marketplace to purchase pills, driving up the entire market’s foot traffic and sales volume.

On the evening of the seventh day, Ji Wenchuan delivered an urgent dispatch.

"It’s from the outpost."

Li Yuan opened the messenger jade slip and probed it with his Divine Sense.

The message’s content was extremely brief: Xuan Pu Master of the Celestial Peak Sect required the supervisor of the Mist Forest Marketplace to proceed to the outpost before noon the next day to assist in planning exploration routes and a resource allocation plan for the deeper regions of the Ghost Mist Forest.

After the door closed, Li Yuan returned to his stone room.

From his storage bag, he took out every item related to the Golden Core Stage, one by one: the jade slip documenting the refinement of Celestial Essence Pills, Tier Three pill formulas, the metal plate for crafting the Golden Body Armor, reference materials on high-tier items that could be looted from Evil Slaying Sect Golden Core cultivators, and all pills and magical artifacts whose quality was clearly beyond the reach of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

He stuffed everything into the deepest recesses of his storage bag and covered it all with an assortment of miscellaneous low-tier supplies.

The top layer of the storage bag held items befitting his identity as the marketplace supervisor: marketplace ledgers, patrol reports, low-tier pills, and general inventory lists.

He fully activated his Traceless Concealment technique, locking his aura at the level of the late-stage Foundation Establishment. His Golden Core pressure was suppressed layer by layer. To any outside observer, he was just a late-stage Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivator with a reasonably solid cultivation.

Before noon the next day, Li Yuan arrived at the outpost.

The atmosphere at the outpost was completely different from half a month ago.

The Celestial Peak Sect’s tents occupied the camp’s core area. Disciples in gray and white robes bustled about, their numbers at least three times that of the Primordial Yang Sect’s garrison. The Primordial Yang Sect’s barracks had been squeezed into the most remote western corner. When a few of their deacons walked by, they hurried with their heads down, intentionally skirting the Celestial Peak Sect disciples’ activity areas.

Li Yuan was led before the main tent by a late-stage Foundation Establishment disciple of the Celestial Peak Sect.

The main tent was massive, constructed from Spirit Beast Hides, its surface inscribed with Spiritual Power Amplification Array Patterns. The tent flap was down, but the aura from within was already seeping through the fabric.

’Late-stage Golden Core.’

The pressure was like an invisible monolith, weighing heavily upon everything within a thirty-meter radius. This pressure wasn’t being released intentionally; it was the natural overflow of a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator’s aura. The very air seemed to have grown thicker, more viscous.

Li Yuan’s breathing didn’t change, and his pace didn’t falter.

His Traceless Concealment technique was like an impenetrable suit of armor, firmly sealing the Golden Core pressure within his body. All that could be detected from the outside was the stable aura of a late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

The tent flap was lifted.

The tent’s interior was spartan. A stone table, two wooden chairs, and a massive topographical map spread across the table. The map charted the complete route through the Ghost Mist Forest, from its outskirts to the Abyssal Rift Valley, and its markings were far more detailed than any map Li Yuan had ever seen.

A man sat behind the stone table.

He had the appearance of a middle-aged man, with three long strands of beard flowing from his chin. His face was lean, but his bone structure was broad. He wore a gray and white Daoist robe, the gold-thread mountain crest on his cuffs far more intricate than that of an ordinary disciple. His eyes were half-closed, like an old monk deep in meditation, but Li Yuan could feel the Divine Sense behind them—two sharp blades that had already scanned him from head to toe the instant he crossed the threshold.

’Xuan Pu Master.’

Apparently, the Divine Sense scan had revealed no anomalies. Xuan Pu’s brow relaxed slightly, and he gestured with his right hand toward the wooden chair opposite him.

"Sit."

Li Yuan bowed and sat.

"You’re the supervisor of the Mist Forest Marketplace?" Xuan Pu’s voice was flat, betraying no emotion.

"I am. Li Yuan, supervisor of the marketplace. Greetings, Master."

"Mm." Xuan Pu’s gaze fell to the topographical map, his finger tapping an area in the heart of the Ghost Mist Forest. "Are you familiar with the terrain here?"

"The marketplace’s routine patrols extend about sixty li into the outer regions," Li Yuan replied, speaking from the perspective of the marketplace supervisor. "Our knowledge of the interior comes primarily from feedback from beast-hunting teams. The marketplace itself doesn’t have the manpower to conduct deep explorations."

"Any recent activity from the Evil Slaying Sect?"

"Direct confrontations with the Primordial Yang Sect have decreased significantly. The activities of Demon Cultivators around the marketplace have also become much more subdued than before. The patrol teams haven’t encountered a single instance of harassment in the last half-month."

Xuan Pu nodded, not pressing for more details.

All his questions centered on the terrain and the Evil Slaying Sect’s dynamics. They were specific yet restrained, never touching upon the marketplace’s internal management or logistical details.

Li Yuan answered each question, carefully keeping all his replies within the scope of information a marketplace supervisor would be expected to know. He knew ten times more than he let on, but not a single extra word could be revealed to Xuan Pu.

The questioning lasted for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn.

Finally, Xuan Pu said, "Someone will contact you later regarding resource allocation. Go back and prepare."

Li Yuan rose, took his leave, and exited the main tent.

After walking out of the outpost’s perimeter, he unleashed the passive sensory net of his Dark Evil Insight and conducted a complete scan of the entire station.

The three independent communication arrays he had discovered on his last visit were still active. But this scan revealed something new.

An additional array node had been placed in each of the outpost’s four corners. The structure of the Array Patterns was exceedingly precise, its complexity far surpassing the scope of Tier Two.

’A Tier Three surveillance array.’

The four array nodes were centered on the main tent, forming a surveillance network that blanketed the entire camp. The network’s function was to record in real-time the spiritual power fluctuations, movement trajectories, and aura changes of every cultivator within the camp. Any anomalous fluctuations would be automatically captured and transmitted to a core receiving array inside the main tent.

The Celestial Peak Sect had turned the entire outpost into a transparent fishbowl.

With his novice-level Tier Three array proficiency, Li Yuan carefully analyzed the structure of these four surveillance arrays.

The flow of the Array Patterns, the method of Spiritual Power conduction between nodes, the frequency and precision of signal gathering—he used his Divine Sense to deconstruct and record every single detail. The craftsmanship of the Tier Three surveillance array was exceedingly high, at least two full grades above the three-layered defensive array he had deployed at the marketplace.

But for that very reason, its value as a reference was far greater.

Certain design concepts for channeling Spiritual Power within the Array Patterns were a revelation to him. The Celestial Peak Sect’s Array Master had employed a nested, spatial-folding design for the layout of the signal-gathering nodes. Each node actually contained three layers of functionally distinct sub-arrays responsible for gathering, filtering, and transmitting, respectively. Its efficiency far exceeded that of any Tier Three array theory he had ever studied.

Li Yuan seared every one of these details into his mind.

The night he returned to the marketplace, he remained in his stone room, repeatedly simulating the structure of the four surveillance arrays with his Divine Sense, attempting to grasp their fundamental logic.

Although he couldn’t replicate it yet, this close-quarters analysis had deepened his overall understanding of Tier Three arrays. The nested, spatial-folding design concept was especially illuminating and was something he could try to apply to his own array formations.