Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

The Golden Core Cultivator’s aura tightened for a moment, then he moved in the direction indicated by the traces.

The second fork. The third. Every trace was discovered with precision, and with each discovery, the enemy’s advance quickened.

He took the bait.

When the Golden Core Cultivator reached the entrance of the abandoned branch tunnel, he paused for a moment.

He released a deeper probing pulse, scanning the first fifty yards of the branch tunnel. The pulse’s coverage naturally faded at the fifty-yard mark, not reaching the Array or Li Yuan’s hiding spot deeper inside.

The Golden Core Cultivator stepped into the branch tunnel.

Three Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators followed close behind.

Just as the last Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator crossed the entrance, Li Yuan’s Divine Sense stirred.

The trapping array activated.

At the tunnel entrance, the Dark Attribute Array Stones erupted with a fierce Spiritual Light. A pitch-black barrier of Spiritual Power rose from the ground, sealing the entrance completely. The three Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were blocked by the barrier on one side of the entrance, an impassable wall now separating them from the Golden Core Cultivator in front.

"An ambush!"

The Golden Core Cultivator’s reaction was incredibly fast. The very instant the trapping array activated, Demonic Qi surged from his body, and a dense, dark red protective demonic glow enveloped him. A vicious glint flashed in his eyes as he shot backward, attempting to retreat to the entrance and rejoin his followers.

He retreated two steps.

The Attack Arrays on both sides activated simultaneously.

A dense barrage of Spiritual Power erupted from the left and right sides of the tunnel. Dozens of beams of Spiritual Power crisscrossed, covering the entire width of the passage. The Golden Core Cultivator’s protective demonic glow withstood the first wave of the barrage, but the second and third waves followed immediately, forcing him to retreat deeper into the tunnel.

The barrage stopped when he reached the open space in front of the collapsed rockfall.

Ahead of him, there was only dead silence.

The Golden Core Cultivator stood in the center of the clearing, his Demonic Qi boiling around him. With crimson eyes, he scanned every corner of the surrounding area.

"Come out."

His voice was low and cold, carrying the unique, oppressive resonance of a Golden Core Cultivator.

As the words left his lips, his Divine Sense had already swept through every inch of darkness in the clearing ahead. It wasn’t a simple probe but a compelling pressure, as if trying to forcibly squeeze the ambusher out from the shadows.

The next moment, another Divine Sense rose silently from the depths of the darkness to meet it.

There was no roar, no strange phenomenon.

But the instant the two Golden Core Level Divine Senses made contact, the air in the tunnel seemed to grow heavy. Fine cracks appeared on the surfaces of several already loose rocks, which then crumbled and fell.

Across the clearing, a figure emerged silently from the darkness.

Li Yuan.

The stealthy camouflage that had rendered him invisible faded away the moment he chose to reveal himself. The oppressive aura of an Early-stage Golden Core’s Demonic Qi slowly radiated from his body, colliding head-on with his opponent’s. Both were Early-stage Golden Core, yet in the first instant their auras clashed, the Evil Slaying Sect cultivator’s heart sank.

’This person doesn’t feel like an ordinary Golden Core Cultivator.’

He didn’t hesitate in the slightest.

With a flip of his right palm, a pitch-black short blade appeared in his hand. The dark red, blood-like patterns on the blade instantly lit up as he infused it with Demonic Qi, yet it released no outward gleam. Instead, all of its killing intent was condensed within three feet of the edge.

He took a step forward, the short blade slashing out horizontally.

The slash was so fast it was little more than a dark afterimage. Where the blade passed, the surrounding Demonic Qi was forcibly compressed into a thin line, as if the very space itself was being torn open by the blade’s intent.

Li Yuan didn’t meet it head-on.

His Rift Slash cut out diagonally an instant before, aiming not for the blade itself, but for the weakest point in the connection between the opponent’s protective demonic glow and his right, blade-wielding arm.

A gray rift sliced silently through the air.

The Evil Slaying Sect Golden Core’s eyelid twitched. He abruptly changed the trajectory of his blade, forcing the slash meant to kill into a defensive block. The moment his short blade collided with the rift, he felt his wrist go numb, and his protective demonic glow was shaken, sending out a visible ripple.

The first strike missed.

But Li Yuan had already seen through his opponent’s defensive habits.

The second Rift Slash followed immediately, faster and more cunning than the first. It aimed not for the head or torso, but scraped along the outermost edge of the protective demonic glow on his opponent’s left side.

That was the exact area his opponent had deliberately thinned to maintain the explosive power of his short blade.

HISS.

A minuscule tear was ripped in the protective demonic glow.

Though it was only a tiny fissure, it was enough to send a chill through the Evil Slaying Sect Golden Core’s heart.

He let out a low shout as the Demonic Qi inside him erupted outward, trying to reclaim the initiative through sheer volume. His dense protective demonic glow instantly reconsolidated, and the power behind his blade surged, attempting to overpower and push back the last two Rift Slashes.

But this was the exact moment Li Yuan had been waiting for.

The third Rift Slash came from his opponent’s blind spot.

This time, the Evil Slaying Sect Golden Core managed to avoid a fatal blow, but the rift still carved a bloody gash on the outside of his left arm. The wound wasn’t serious, but the cut was viciously placed, striking right at the critical point where his Demonic Qi was flowing back to reinforce his defense.

His protective demonic glow was half a beat too slow.

Just half a beat.

Li Yuan closed the distance in a single step.

He raised the index finger of his right hand, the dark gray glow at its tip so converged it was nearly invisible. The Evil Slaying Sect Golden Core’s pupils shrank. He instinctively tried to gather his protective demonic glow to his chest, but the dark gray finger-glow passed through it effortlessly as if it wasn’t there at all.

Shadow Corrosion Finger.

There was no sound of impact, no explosion of Spiritual Power.

Only a thread of utterly cold Demonic Qi, piercing directly into the meridians of his chest.

The Evil Slaying Sect Golden Core convulsed.

It wasn’t just pain he felt, but the sensation of a sharp needle being driven into his body’s Demonic Qi circulation. His protective demonic glow, which had been flowing smoothly, lost its cohesion in that instant. Gaps in his defense appeared simultaneously at his chest, shoulder, and throat.

The fifth Rift Slash, which Li Yuan had been holding back, finally arrived.

The gray line flashed past.

This slash cut more than just flesh and blood.

It severed the final thread of qi connecting his opponent’s head, his Sea of Consciousness, and the Golden Core within his body.

A line of blood appeared on his neck.

The head flew into the air as a geyser of blood erupted. The headless body, still clutching the Tier Three short blade, staggered forward two steps. The blade fell with a CLANG, and then the body collapsed heavily, sliding across the ground and leaving a long bloody streak before coming to a stop.

At the entrance, the trapping array’s barrier shattered at that exact moment.

The three Late-stage Foundation Establishment followers rushed out, only to be met with the sight of a floor slick with blood and the headless corpse of their master.

Their faces went deathly pale in an instant.

Before they could even react, the Attack Arrays on either side of the tunnel activated for a second time. A dense barrage of Spiritual Power poured out from both flanks, enveloping the three in a web of crossfire.

The protective Magical Artifacts of the Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators lasted less than three breaths against an Array powered by Golden Core Level Spiritual Power.

Three muffled thuds sounded in succession.

The tunnel fell silent.

Li Yuan stood in the center of the clearing and retracted his Spiritual Power.

A panel popped up.

[Rift Slash: Proficient → Minor Achievement (0/1600)]

[Shadow Corrosion Finger: Initiate → Skilled (0/400)]

The proficiency of two magic techniques had broken through simultaneously. Rift Slash advanced from Proficient to Minor Achievement, and Shadow Corrosion Finger rose from Initiate to Skilled. Combat against a Golden Core Level opponent was the most efficient form of training; the Spiritual Power consumption and precision required for every strike far surpassed that of a one-sided battle against Low Tier Cultivators.

Li Yuan looked down at the headless corpse on the ground.

The Tier Three short blade was still clutched in the corpse’s right hand, the blood-colored patterns on the blade slowly fading.

He crouched down and began to take stock of his loot.