Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Chapter 290: Chapter 280: Core Formation Platform Array

Early the next morning, Li Yuan received a notice from the outpost.

The summons from the outpost this time was more formal than usual.

The Primordial Yang Sect was preparing to enter the deep ruins once more.

After receiving the order, Li Yuan went to the outpost first.

Over a dozen people were already standing in the main hall. Most were Array Masters, auxiliary Cultivators, and a few deacons in charge of coordination who had participated in the previous exploration of the deep ruins. Chen Yi was there as well. He saw Li Yuan enter and waved him over.

"We’ll need you to go in again."

Li Yuan walked over and asked, "What’s the main objective?"

Chen Yi pushed a simple diagram across the table.

"It’s still the outer periphery of the deep ruins and the corridors leading to the Core Formation District. Daily access hasn’t been an issue because the main path is clear, but the sides are still littered with remnants of Arrays and Restrictions that haven’t been fully dismantled. It’s been stable enough since no one messes with them. But if we want to set up new Arrays and station people here long-term, we can’t leave that stuff around."

His fingertip tapped several spots on the diagram.

"Here, here, and this side corridor. On the surface, they look like just fragmented patterns and old nodes, but they’re actually all interconnected. We have to dismantle them layer by layer. Otherwise, when we set up the new Array and inject Spiritual Power, it could trigger the old Restrictions next to it."

Li Yuan looked down at the diagram and got a good sense of the situation.

He had already proven himself in the ruins before. Although he wasn’t an Array Master formally trained by the Primordial Yang Sect, he was faster at dismantling these old Arrays than many who were. ’It would be strange if the Sect *didn’t* call on me for a major overhaul of the deep ruins.’

After leaving the outpost, Li Yuan didn’t enter the ruins immediately. Instead, he returned to his stone house first.

Having equipped the Array Mechanism Pivot, Li Yuan decided to head to the ruins again.

The moment the entry settled in his system, Li Yuan felt the Array Pattern relationships in his sea of consciousness, which had once been flat, suddenly gain distinct layers. The connections between main Arrays, auxiliary Arrays, concealing patterns, and return flows were no longer just side-by-side. They were stacked, one on top of the other. Many aspects that would have required repeated deductions could now be prioritized at a glance.

This was his second time entering the deep ruins, and the path was much more familiar.

The passage from the middle layer down was still guarded by Primordial Yang Sect members. Two more temporary Arrays had been laid near the entrance, obviously to prevent the frequent traffic from destabilizing the Spiritual Power structure they had just managed to suppress. Li Yuan followed the team inside and soon arrived at the outer periphery of the deep ruins.

The area was much clearer than before.

The outer ring had been rezoned. Several spots originally cluttered with scattered stone shelves and old debris were now cleared-out spaces. A few temporary Spirit Lamps had been added along the corridor walls, more clearly illuminating the old patterns and broken circuits on the stone.

But the moment Li Yuan stepped inside, he saw the problem.

’Just because we can get in doesn’t mean it’s clean.’

Many old patterns that appeared to be mere residual marks in the stone walls were actually still connected by faint traces of Spiritual Power. Some circuits were even interlocked within the corridor’s floor tiles and walls. If a new Array suppressed one spot, another might react in response.

Once he activated his Array Mechanism Sympathy, this sense of multi-layered nesting became even more apparent than before.

Li Yuan walked to the first side corridor that needed clearing. He bent down to inspect it for a moment before speaking. "Don’t touch the fragmented patterns on the outer layer yet. Isolate the underground return flow first."

An Array Master from the Primordial Yang Sect standing beside him was taken aback.

"There’s one underground?"

Li Yuan raised his hand and pointed to an inconspicuous stone tile at the bottom left of the side corridor’s entrance.

"The Spiritual Power doesn’t stop at the wall. It flows down from here and loops into the opposite stone wall. If you cut through the patterns on the surface now, you’ll just startle the return flow below."

The man immediately focused his Divine Sense downward. A moment later, his expression changed slightly.

"There really is one hidden here."

This was the direct benefit of Array Mechanism Sympathy.

Previously, when examining such multi-layered remnant Arrays, one would typically have to trace each layer, determine its priority, and then slowly piece it all together. Now, the moment many structures came into view, Li Yuan could instantly discern which part was a false shell on the surface and which was the lynchpin holding the different Array layers together.

Li Yuan first located the termination point of the underground return flow, suppressed the residual patterns on both sides, and then had someone sever the section from within the side wall that was truly connected to the main circuit. Once this was done, the fragmented patterns on the surface that would have previously lit up at the slightest touch indeed went dark on their own.

The subsequent locations were handled in the same manner.

Li Yuan was scanning along the side wall when he suddenly stopped in front of one section.

The spot looked no different from the rest—a gray-white stone wall with half-buried old bricks. But when he focused both his Array Mechanism Sympathy and Meridian-Guarding Perception Pattern on it, Li Yuan saw a very strange structure.

It wasn’t a conventional remnant Array.

It was more like a sealed doorway that had been buried and had since fused with the surrounding stone layers.

Li Yuan raised his hand and knocked. The sound was off.

A nearby Cultivator saw him stop and asked, "What’s wrong?"

"It’s hollow behind here," Li Yuan said.

The few people around him immediately looked over.

"Hollow?"

After speaking, Li Yuan traced a gray line on the wall with his hand.

"This isn’t a solid wall. It’s a sealed stone chamber."

At this news, everyone nearby grew alert.

They had already discovered quite a few things in similar hidden places. No one would treat the discovery of a previously buried, sealed stone chamber in the deep ruins as a trivial matter.

Chen Yi rushed over when he heard the news.

After confirming the situation, the group didn’t just blast it open. Instead, they carefully dismantled the outer sealed wall, bit by bit, at the locations Li Yuan pointed out.

The Restriction on it wasn’t strong. The real trouble was that it had been buried in the surrounding stone for so long that smashing it open might damage whatever was inside. Fortunately, the seal was merely for concealment and insulation, not a killing Restriction. After more than an hour, the stone door buried in the side wall was finally cleared.

When the door opened, it revealed, as expected, a stone chamber.

It wasn’t large, even smaller than the meditation chambers in the outer deep ruins. There were no Pill Furnaces or Magical Artifacts, nor were there rows of medicine racks or Array Materials. The only things inside were a stone table, two old manuals held down on its surface, and an old Token beside them that had lost its Spiritual Light.

Li Yuan first scanned the chamber’s layout to confirm there were no additional Restrictions before following the others inside.

The manuals were relatively well-preserved.

Chen Yi picked up the first volume and flipped through a few pages. He quickly realized it wasn’t an ordinary disciple’s notebook, but a record of some kind. Another Cultivator next to him took the other volume, and after a moment, his expression changed as well.

"They’re Core Formation manuals."

At those words, everyone in the room moved a little more carefully.

Li Yuan also took one of the volumes to look through.

The manual didn’t contain vague insights, but very concrete registers and records.

On such-and-such a date, a certain disciple entered the Core Formation Platform—their Cultivation level, Cultivation Technique, age, auxiliary items used, and the result of their Core Formation attempt were all written down.

And these records spanned a period of two hundred years.

This showed that the ancient sect had placed extreme importance on the matter of Core Formation and possessed a stable, functioning system for it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have specifically left a sealed stone chamber in the deep ruins that contained only Core Formation records.

Li Yuan continued flipping through the pages.

Some entries were very brief, noting only success or failure.

Others were more detailed, mentioning things like the status of the Core Formation Platform’s activation, whether auxiliary Arrays were enabled, and if the main spiritual conduit was functioning normally.

When Li Yuan read this, his gaze sharpened. He had found the key.

’The Core Formation Platform requires an Array to be activated.’

This manual seemed to only record information on that aspect and nothing else.

There weren’t many items in the stone chamber, so the inventory was quick.

Two Core Formation manuals and an old Token. The Token itself was useless now and could only be taken back for further study. The real treasures were the two manuals.

According to procedure, the items were first handed over to the Sect for unified registration.

By the time they exited the stone chamber, a few more Spirit Lamps had been lit in the passageway, clearly illuminating the newly uncovered doorway and the surrounding stone.

The people waiting outside saw them emerge and immediately crowded around to ask what was inside. Chen Yi didn’t go into detail, only ordering them to continue clearing the surrounding corridors and to include the stone chamber in the scope of the future overhaul.

For the next two days, the team continued to clear remnant Arrays and dismantle old Restrictions.

On the evening of the third day, just as Li Yuan finished dismantling a Tier Two stabilizing pattern buried under the floor tiles, a panel popped up.

[Array Mechanism Sympathy (Green) Permanence Progress: 4/5]

When he walked out of the now-widened passageway, the outer ring area was much tidier than it had been a few days ago. The temporary Stabilizing Arrays were operating normally, and many of the old Spirit Patterns on the corridor walls, which had previously flickered on and off, had now gone dark.

Li Yuan followed the crowd out of the deep ruins. Outside, the sky was already growing dark.

Chen Yi put away a recording jade slip and glanced at Li Yuan.

"We’ll probably have to keep digging deeper in the Core Formation District."

Li Yuan nodded. He didn’t say anything else, merely tucking his identity token into his sleeve and turning to walk toward the market district.

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