Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

There was another noteworthy item among the communication records. At the very bottom was a transcribed Cultivation Technique, a Tier Three one for Demon Cultivators.

The Cultivation Technique was called Profound Nether Killing Skill. It was a Tier Three Low Grade technique. The cultivation method involved using Evil Qi as a base to refine Demonic Qi, gradually purifying the Demonic Qi in one’s body to a higher level. It was suitable for Demon Cultivators at the Golden Core Stage or higher. The barrier to entry wasn’t too high, but progress was extremely difficult.

Li Yuan fully transcribed the Cultivation Technique’s contents onto one of his blank jade slips.

’Profound Nether Killing Skill. A Tier Three Cultivation Technique for Demon Cultivators. The condition to make the jet-black Demon Mirror permanent was to achieve Great Success in a Tier Three Demon Cultivator Cultivation Technique. Although the road from entry to Great Success is long, at least I have a direction now.’

The inventory of his spoils was complete.

He burned the body, erased all traces, and cleaned the scene.

He returned to Liangzhou via the Teleportation Array.

After returning to the marketplace, Li Yuan didn’t rest, immediately beginning a period of high-intensity Array training.

The spoils from killing the Golden Core Cultivator included a batch of extremely high-quality Array materials: Dark Attribute Array Stones, Spirit Pattern Solidification Liquid, and fragments of a Tier Three Array Disc. Combined with the materials he had previously accumulated and the old Profound Nether Sect components he’d traded for from the survivors, the total was more than enough to support a round of intensive, hands-on training.

Li Yuan’s chosen training method wasn’t to simply deploy the same Array over and over. Instead, he decided to perform a second complete overhaul of the marketplace’s entire Array system.

The previous overhaul had established a three-layered defense system. This time, his goal was to optimize and upgrade it, integrating the nested spatial-folding design he had learned from the Celestial Peak Sect’s Tier Three monitoring Array into his own work.

He dismantled and re-deployed the outermost early-warning and detection Array. The new Array Pattern structure used a three-tiered nested node system, with each node simultaneously handling three functions: data collection, filtering, and transmission. Its efficiency was nearly forty percent higher than the old version.

The middle-layer Defense Array wasn’t significantly altered, but he added new Spiritual Power buffer structures at key nodes, improving the shield’s resilience against impacts.

The innermost Concealment Array was completely scrapped and rebuilt. Li Yuan applied the principles of spatial folding directly to its core structure. This allowed the core area to generate an effect akin to a dimensional shift when the Array was activated, causing it to vanish completely from outside perception.

Reconstructing each layer of the Array involved immense amounts of calculation, trial-and-error, and calibration. If a node’s position was off by the slightest fraction, the entire layer’s effectiveness could plummet by thirty percent. If a single Spirit Pattern path was drawn incorrectly, a vortex would form in the Spiritual Power conducted between two adjacent nodes.

Li Yuan spent a full seven days on this.

For seven days, he deployed and dismantled Arrays by day, practiced his Cultivation Technique and performed Alchemy by night, and managed the marketplace’s affairs in between. His sleep was compressed to less than four hours a day. He powered through it all, relying solely on his Golden Core Cultivator’s physique and the automatic recovery granted by his Spirit Vein.

On the evening of the seventh day, the final node fell into place.

The marketplace’s entire Array system had completed its second full overhaul. The new three-layered defense system was at least fifty percent more effective than the first version. Its early-warning range was extended by a mile, its defensive resilience was boosted by thirty percent, and its concealment effect had reached an entirely new level.

A panel popped up.

[Array Mastery: Tier Three Initiate → Tier Three Proficient (0/400)]

’Tier Three Proficient.’

The leap from Initiate to Proficient wasn’t something that could be achieved by piling up theory. Seven days of high-intensity, hands-on practice, the inspiration from the Celestial Peak Sect’s Tier Three Array, and the intuitive feel gained from hundreds of disassembly and reconstruction cycles—all of it had combined to push him over this threshold.

Being Tier Three Proficient meant he could independently deploy most Tier Three Low Grade Arrays and now had a basic understanding of the structure of Tier Three Middle Grade Arrays.

After completing the Array overhaul, Li Yuan didn’t rest.

He remembered the Tier Two Illusion Technique he had bought at the trade fair in Yunyang Marketplace, so he took advantage of the night, left the marketplace, and headed to the outskirts of the Ghost Mist Forest to run a test.

An hour later, a Tier Two Low Grade Fog Pattern Wolf entered his sensory range.

Li Yuan remained hidden. From several dozen yards away, he used only his Divine Sense to lock onto the creature and slowly activate the Illusion Technique.

When the power of a Golden Core Stage Divine Sense was poured into a Tier Two Magic, the minor spell—originally only suitable for the Foundation Establishment Level—suddenly took on an indescribable sense of oppression.

The Fog Pattern Wolf’s charge came to a sudden halt, the fierce light in its eyes quickly dissipating. It stood its ground and let out a few low growls before lunging and tearing at an empty patch of ground before it, as if some powerful enemy stood there.

Li Yuan then stopped channeling his Divine Sense.

Three breaths later, the Fog Pattern Wolf snapped out of it, thrashing about in a confused rage.

Standing in the shadow of a tree, Li Yuan was lost in thought.

’A Tier Two Demon Beast’s Spiritual Sense isn’t weak, yet it was still affected for three breaths. If it were a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, they would fall even deeper under it if caught unprepared.’

He tried twice more, adjusting the intensity of his Divine Sense infusion and the angle of his approach. The second attempt lasted for four breaths. On the third, the Fog Pattern Wolf fell completely into the illusion and was unable to break free, even as a Fireball Technique struck and killed it.

[Illusion Technique: Initiate → Proficient (0/400)]

Li Yuan withdrew his Divine Sense, now with a solid understanding of the technique’s capabilities.

Just then, the passive sensory net of his Dark Evil Insight intercepted an encrypted transmission.

The Demonic Qi frequency matched that of the Evil Slaying Sect’s internal communications. The signal originated from the northern part of the Ghost Mist Forest. After being automatically decrypted, the contents were restored word by word.

Urgent bulletin.

Treasure-retrieval team in the Mozhou direction is confirmed wiped out. Golden Core member has been out of contact for over ten days; presumed killed in action. Contact lost with northern route’s second way station; whereabouts of stationed personnel are unknown. Abnormal alarm triggered at the perimeter monitoring Array of the Profound Stone mine; suspected intrusion.

Evil Slaying Sect Command directive: Effective immediately, all peripheral strongholds will cease all operations toward the Mozhou region. The northern supply route is to be fully suspended. The threat level for the Mozhou region is elevated to maximum. All strongholds will enter Level One alert status. Do not leave your defensive perimeter unless absolutely necessary.

A final note was appended to the bulletin: Command is investigating the cause of our Golden Core member’s death. Preliminary assessment indicates the presence of at least one hostile Golden Core Level Cultivator in the Mozhou region. All strongholds must maintain high alert. If any suspicious targets are discovered, report immediately. Do not engage without authorization.

Li Yuan saved the intercepted intelligence to a jade slip.

’The Evil Slaying Sect had been hit where it hurts.’

’A treasure-retrieval team wiped out, a Golden Core member missing, a way station taken down, an alarm at the mine... in just over a month, they had suffered one heavy blow after another. They’d realized there was a Golden Core Level threat in the Mozhou region, but they had no idea who it was, where they came from, or what their objective was.’

’The northern supply line was suspended. This meant the Dark Abyss Association strongholds in the northern Ghost Mist Forest would lose their logistical support in the short term. Without resupply, those strongholds could operate for one or two more months at most.’

’And the underground tunnel being excavated at the Profound Stone mine would also grind to a halt due to the supply disruption.’

’The Evil Slaying Sect’s entire plan for the Mozhou region was in complete disarray.’