Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

It was nearly dusk by the time he returned to the marketplace.

The moment Li Yuan stepped onto the main street, he felt a heavy, oppressive presence in the sky above.

Not one presence, but four.

Four Golden Core Level auras loomed over the Ghost Mist Forest, like four giant boulders suspended in midair. Though they had deliberately suppressed most of their power, the residual pressure still caused the Low Tier Cultivators in the marketplace to struggle for breath.

Li Yuan glanced up.

The thick fog obscured his vision, revealing nothing. But his Dark Evil Insight clearly perceived the location and strength of the four auras.

Xuan Pu Master. Late-stage Golden Core. About forty miles to the northeast.

Blood Evil. Late-stage Golden Core. About fifty miles to the northwest.

The third aura belonged to an Early-stage Golden Core elder from the Primordial Yang Sect, positioned to the south, between Xuan Pu and Blood Evil.

The fourth aura was a new arrival. Mid-stage Golden Core, with a Spiritual Power Attribute consistent with the Primordial Yang Sect. It was positioned right beside the Early-stage Golden Core elder.

’The Primordial Yang Sect sent reinforcements. A Mid-stage Golden Core, a minor realm higher than the previous Early-stage one. Liangzhou is the Primordial Yang Sect’s territory, after all. It wouldn’t have been hard for them to dispatch a Mid-stage Golden Core cultivator from the main sect.’

The four Golden Core Cultivators had formed a delicate stalemate above the Ghost Mist Forest. The Celestial Peak Sect had one Late-stage Golden Core, the Evil Slaying Sect had one, and the Primordial Yang Sect had a Mid-stage and an Early-stage. Their strength on paper was roughly balanced, and no one dared to make the first move.

Beside a Loose Cultivator’s stall on the side of the street, two Cultivators were crouched on the ground, chatting in low voices.

"They’re still not fighting. Why are they just floating up there? They’ve been at it for almost two days now."

"Who knows? What the affairs of those Golden Core masters have to do with us is beyond me. We’d be better off going back to cultivate. What’s the use of standing around gawking?"

Li Yuan withdrew his perception and entered the stone house.

The moment he closed the door, he detected a signal from far away.

It wasn’t from the direction of the Ghost Mist Forest.

It was from Mozhou.

The signal came from the monitoring nodes he had previously installed underground in Mozhou’s Stone Wilderness. These nodes were originally meant to monitor activity around the entrance to a diversion system, and combined with Spirit Vein perception, they were extremely sensitive.

Four signals of Demonic Qi.

One was extremely dense and intense, its strength far exceeding the upper limit of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. It was an Early-stage Golden Core, but its Cultivation was advanced, nearing the threshold of the Mid-stage. The other three auras were slightly weaker, all at Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

The four of them were moving slowly across the surface of Mozhou’s Stone Wilderness, heading straight for the outer entrance to the diversion system.

’The Evil Slaying Sect is here.’

The Golden Core Cultivator dispatched from the northern branch had arrived in Mozhou with three Late-stage Foundation Establishment attendants. They were searching for the entrance to the diversion system, trying to get underground to find clues to the Sunken Abyss Grotto.

Li Yuan stood in the stone house, closing his eyes and calculating for a few moments.

’It would take less than an hour to get from the marketplace to Mozhou via the Teleportation Array.’

’The fact that they’re searching for the entrance on the surface means they aren’t familiar with the diversion system’s internal layout. The search will take at least a day or two.’

’That’s enough time.’

After putting on a disguise, Li Yuan took the Teleportation Array to Mozhou’s Stone Wilderness.

Upon arriving, he didn’t head directly for their search area. Instead, he slipped into an abandoned branch of the diversion system.

It was a dead-end he had discovered during his earlier exploration of the system. About a thousand yards from its entrance, the tunnel was completely blocked by a rockslide, making it a worthless, abandoned mine shaft.

But for that very reason, it was the perfect place for an ambush.

’A dead end. An enclosed space. A single way in or out.’

Li Yuan spent half a day setting up Arrays in the branch tunnel.

At the tunnel entrance, he placed a Tier Two High Grade confinement Array, using a Dark Attribute Array Stone as its core. Once activated, it would create a Spiritual Power barrier at the entrance that would last for thirty seconds. The barrier wasn’t strong enough to hold a Golden Core Cultivator for long, but it was more than enough to block the three Late-stage Foundation Establishment attendants.

In the middle of the tunnel, he placed two Attack Arrays, one on the left and one on the right. When activated, they would unleash a dense barrage of Spiritual Power projectiles from the sides, intended to suppress the enemy and divide their attention.

In front of the rockslide at the end of the tunnel, there was an open space about fifty feet square. This was the kill zone he had chosen.

Once the Arrays were in place, Li Yuan returned to the main tunnel of the diversion system and began to plant a trail.

At several key forks in the main tunnel, he deliberately left behind extremely subtle traces of residual Spiritual Power. The direction of these traces was meticulously planned, with each one pointing toward the abandoned branch.

The deception had to be perfect. The trail couldn’t be too obvious, or the Golden Core Cultivator would become suspicious. Nor could it be too subtle, or they might not notice it at all. It had to create the perfect impression of someone trying, and failing, to completely cover their tracks.

After all this was done, Li Yuan retreated deep into the abandoned branch and sat down cross-legged in the clearing before the rockslide.

He fully activated his concealment technique, and his aura vanished completely.

He waited.

About twelve hours later, his Dark Evil Insight detected activity.

Four signals of Demonic Qi entered the outer tunnels of the diversion system. The Golden Core Cultivator led the way, with the three Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators following in a triangular formation. They moved much faster than the previous treasure-hunting team, clearly more experienced in subterranean environments.

The Golden Core Cultivator paused at the first fork in the path.

He released an extremely fine, probing pulse of Demonic Qi that spread out along the tunnel walls. The pulse was incredibly precise, scanning every last crack and crevice in the rock.

It detected the first trace of residual Spiritual Power that Li Yuan had left.