Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

This meant that if he needed to influence the sealed area, he could do so indirectly by manipulating the branch of the Spirit Vein, without having to touch the seal itself.

Li Yuan kept this discovery in mind and followed Ah Cheng back the way they came.

After returning to Liangzhou, Li Yuan settled on the outskirts of the market district and used Dark Evil Insight to scan for Golden Core auras in the direction of the Ghost Mist Forest.

The situation had changed.

Four Golden Core auras had become three.

Blood Evil’s Demonic Qi signature had vanished from the skies above the Ghost Mist Forest. After receiving news that one of their Golden Core members had fallen, the Evil Slaying Sect had clearly chosen to temporarily pull back. Blood Evil had retreated toward the Black Water Valley, no longer participating in the standoff near the Sub-Palace.

Three auras remained: Xuan Pu Master, a Late-stage Golden Core; a Mid-stage Golden Core from the Primordial Yang Sect; and an Early-stage Golden Core from the Primordial Yang Sect.

The Celestial Peak Sect was outnumbered one-to-two, but with Xuan Pu’s Late-stage Golden Core strength, the two Golden Core cultivators from the Primordial Yang Sect combined might not be his match.

Li Yuan withdrew his perception and returned to the stone house.

He sat down at the table and took out the Golden Core Jade Tablet from his storage bag.

’Equip.’

[Equipped: Golden Core Jade Tablet (Complete)]

[Golden Core Separation (Blue) is now in effect.]

Golden Core Stage cultivation speed increased by fifty percent. The Golden Core can leave the body. While separated, a connection is maintained with the physical body and Divine Soul. All three effects activated simultaneously.

The Demon Qi Golden Core in his Dantian trembled slightly. Li Yuan felt an extremely stable connection form between the Golden Core and his physical body. This link was not a meridian, but a deeper resonance of Essence, Qi, and Spirit. Even if the Golden Core left his Dantian, this resonance would not break.

Preparations were complete.

「That night, at Midnight.」

Li Yuan left the market district, rushing towards the Abyssal Rift Valley at full speed.

Activating Untraceable Phantom to its fullest, his figure vanished completely into the thick fog of the Ghost Mist Forest. With the Concealment effect of the Golden Core Stage, plus the increased camouflage precision from his thirty-percent Demon Qi Refinement Level, even a Late-stage Golden Core like Xuan Pu Master might not be able to detect him at close range.

He didn’t head for the main entrance, instead circling around to the cliff’s edge on the eastern side of the rift valley.

On the cliff face was a passageway concealed by vines and loose rocks. It was a side entrance he had discovered during his previous solo explorations, extremely well hidden and not in the exploration records of the Celestial Peak Sect or any other party.

Li Yuan stopped at the entrance to the corridor and used Dark Evil Insight to scan the interior of the Sub-Palace with all his might.

The permanent trait of Slightly Increased Array Sensing had boosted his sensitivity to arrays by another thirty percent compared to before. The layout of the arrays inside the Sub-Palace became perfectly clear in his perception.

The Celestial Peak Sect had set up four types of arrays inside the Sub-Palace.

The first type was a monitoring array. It was distributed evenly along the four walls of the main hall, covering every inch of space within. The moment any cultivator entered its range, their Spiritual Waves and movements would be recorded in real time.

The second type was an alarm array. It was placed at all entrances and along the passages leading to the Jade Bead’s stone platform. As soon as any unauthorized Spiritual Waves drew near, the alarm would trigger instantly, sending a signal directly to the outpost.

The third type was a protective array. It formed a barrier of Spiritual Power around the perimeter of the Jade Bead’s stone platform, preventing any external forces from directly touching the mist array on the platform.

The fourth type was a Communication Array. It was set up on the ceiling of the main hall and was used for real-time communication between the two Array Masters and the outpost.

The four types of arrays, layered together, turned the interior of the Sub-Palace into an impenetrable fortress.

A person barging in directly would inevitably trigger the alarms.

But Li Yuan didn’t need a person to go inside.

He only needed one thing: the Jade Bead.

Deep inside the main hall, two Array Masters from the Celestial Peak Sect were crouched beside the stone platform of the Jade Bead, slowly deciphering the outer layer of the mist array. They moved with extreme caution, taking turns; while one worked on deciphering, the other used Spiritual Power to replenish the Jade Bead’s energy loss.

At this rate, the array would be deciphered in seven or eight days at most.

Li Yuan focused his attention on the mist array.

His Tier Three proficiency in arrays, combined with the bonus from Slightly Increased Array Sensing, made his understanding of the mist array’s structure several times clearer than during his last visit.

The array’s core function was to nourish the Jade Bead while simultaneously drawing energy from it to sustain itself. The entire system existed in a fragile, dynamic equilibrium, and the cracks on the Jade Bead’s surface indicated that this balance couldn’t be maintained for much longer.

The array’s outer wall produced an extremely strong repulsive reaction to objects the size of a human body. The reason the Celestial Peak Sect’s Array Masters chose to decipher it slowly rather than force their way through was that any direct contact by a human body would trigger the array’s self-destruct mechanism.

But a Golden Core was much smaller than a human body.

The repulsive reaction generated by a fist-sized Golden Core passing through the array’s outer wall would be less than one percent of that caused by a human body.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and focused his mind.

’Golden Core Separation.’

Deep within his Dantian, the Demon Qi Golden Core slowly spun once, then floated upward along an extremely fine channel of Spiritual Power. The moment the Golden Core left his Dantian, the supply of Demonic Qi in his body was abruptly cut off, but the effect of the Golden Core Separation trait immediately took over the connection.

The resonant bond of the Essence, Qi, and Spirit Three Elements steadily maintained the connection between the Golden Core and his physical body, preventing any backlash.

The jet-black Demon Qi Golden Core slowly flew out of Li Yuan’s mouth and hovered three inches in front of him.

A dull sheen flowed across the Golden Core’s surface, and each pulsation stirred faint ripples of Demonic Qi in the air. But under the suppression of Untraceable Phantom, these ripples were completely contained, making it seem from the outside as if nothing was there.

The various aura-suppressing traits stacked on top of each other, making the Golden Core appear like a simple round stone, devoid of any fluctuation.

Li Yuan controlled the Golden Core with his Divine Sense, guiding it along the side corridor toward the main hall.