Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Chapter 293: Chapter 283: The Core Formation Platform Opens

One day, as Li Yuan was leaving the administration office and walking down the main street, he passed two pill shops and noticed a crowd gathered in front of a temporarily rented storefront.

Standing before the shop was an old man with a sallow complexion. He was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and his temples were already streaked with white.

Li Yuan vaguely recognized the man. He had seen him at a Foundation Establishment trade fair once, but the man didn’t usually make public appearances.

The old man now stood before the shop, his eyes fixed on the pill bottle on the table. His hands were tucked into his sleeves, and he hadn’t moved for a long time.

Sitting behind the counter was a cultivator from the Dark Abyss Association.

The man didn’t rush him, simply leaving the pill bottle on display for all to see. Beside it stood a small wooden sign with a simple inscription indicating the pill’s purpose and the terms of exchange.

Lifespan Extension.

Negotiable.

Li Yuan’s gaze swept over the scene, not lingering for long.

The Dark Abyss Association was currently selling Lifespan Extension Pills on a massive scale. They would display the pills and then specifically target Foundation Establishment Cultivators whose lifespans were nearing their end, who had no hope of achieving Core Formation, and who were unwilling to simply wait for death. Their targets might not agree at first, but as long as the seed of temptation was planted, the hook was set.

As he walked a little further, another piece of news reached his ears.

The Dark Abyss Association had begun publicly recruiting Array Masters.

Once this news broke, many in the marketplace were discussing it.

"What do they need so many Array Masters for?"

"I don’t know, but the pay they’re offering is seriously high."

"High or not, no one would dare go, right?"

"You never know. There are always people desperate for resources, and there are always people who don’t care where those resources come from."

Li Yuan listened as he walked, his expression unchanging and his pace steady.

That evening, another summons arrived from the outpost.

It wasn’t for a routine rotation or a typical ruin cleanup, but for a formal assault on the core restriction of the Core Formation platform.

When Li Yuan arrived, the periphery of the deep level was more crowded than ever before. The two Golden Core Cultivators were present, and Chen Yi and several other Array Cultivators stood at the edge of the outer ring. The corridor leading to the core gate had been completely cleared, and multiple layers of temporary Stabilizing Arrays had been added along the way. It was clear they were about to get serious.

An Array Cultivator from the Primordial Yang Sect was in front of the gate, head bowed as he compared the Array Patterns, sweat already beading on his forehead.

Li Yuan didn’t go over to disturb him, simply standing to the side and watching.

The assault had already been underway for some time.

The outermost ring of conventional restrictions had been almost completely dismantled, but the innermost section remained stubbornly stuck. The two Golden Core Cultivators didn’t act recklessly, merely suppressing the periphery with their power to prevent the entire core structure from spinning out of control during the dismantling process. The ones actually doing the work were these Array Cultivators.

But the part they were stuck on was clearly not a problem of the conventional Array Dao.

After another fifteen minutes, one of the Array Cultivators at the front suddenly straightened up, frowning as he stepped back.

"It’s still not working."

The person next to him immediately asked, "What’s wrong?"

The man pointed to a spot on the gate, slightly below the center.

"This isn’t just a simple Array Pattern circuit. The main restriction has been dismantled, but this section still won’t connect. It doesn’t accept Pure Spiritual Power, nor does it completely follow the primary-secondary logic of an array. It’s like... it’s like there’s another set of rules embedded within it."

At these words, the expressions of the few people around him shifted.

The other Golden Core Cultivator stepped forward. After observing for a moment, he raised a hand and tried to send an even purer stream of Spiritual Power into that area. The instant the Spiritual Power touched the old patterns on the gate, the already stripped-away outer layer of the restriction trembled slightly, but the interior showed no signs of loosening.

Li Yuan stood at the back of the crowd, his gaze fixed on the circuit, but he had already figured it out.

He could see what it was.

That section was indeed not a pure Array Dao structure.

It was more like the pathways of medicinal properties and the fluctuations of heat control from the Alchemy Dao, embedded into the restriction by some special means. It actually had very little to do with arrays.

The Array Patterns before it were responsible for sealing, locking, blocking, and identification, but this final segment seemed to require a different kind of logic to solve it, rather than simple dismantling or brute force.

The group at the front tried for several more rounds but still couldn’t get the section open. The two Golden Core Cultivators’ faces darkened, but they didn’t lose their tempers. Everyone could see that the problem wasn’t a matter of carelessness, but that this mechanism was simply beyond the conventional means of an Array Cultivator.

After standing for a while longer, Li Yuan finally took a step forward.

"I’d like to try."

As soon as he spoke, all eyes immediately fell on him.

Chen Yi was the first to look over.

"What did you figure out?"

Li Yuan didn’t overstate his abilities, only explaining what was safe to reveal.

The two Golden Core Cultivators exchanged a glance and made way for him.

Li Yuan took two steps forward. Now that he was closer, he could see the circuit even more clearly.

On the surface, it still looked like old patterns, but when Li Yuan pressed his Divine Sense into it, he could see that it was actually composed of several layers of subtle variations.

The outermost layer was like a sealed medicinal shell. The layer inside it was like the main ingredient flowing through its channels, and even deeper was an extremely fine guidance structure. The feeling was very similar to when he performed Alchemy, using his Pill Fire to gradually gather the medicinal properties and press them toward the center.

The difference was, this wasn’t a Pill Furnace.

It was a gate.

’The first step isn’t to open it, but to recognize what it requires.’

Li Yuan condensed a wisp of extremely fine Spiritual Power at his fingertip and gently sent it into the outermost layer.

The Spiritual Power didn’t collide with it head-on. Instead, it slid along the edge of the old patterns, much like probing the heat control remaining on the outer shell of a medicinal liquid during Alchemy. After a moment, Li Yuan perceived the source of the problem.

Li Yuan retracted his finger and switched to an even slower method of delivery.

The result was immediate.

The section of old patterns on the gate, which had been completely dormant, finally lit up its first segment.

The breathing of the several Array Cultivators beside him hitched noticeably.

But Li Yuan didn’t look back, his eyes still fixed on that circuit.

’Just because the first section is lit doesn’t mean the rest will connect automatically.’

Li Yuan continued, sending in a third wisp of Spiritual Power.

The old patterns on the gate trembled lightly.

Then, the second segment lit up as well.

’It’s working.’

Li Yuan’s focus sharpened, and he immediately sent in the fourth wisp of Spiritual Power.

At that exact moment, an extremely faint response suddenly came from the main Spirit Vein below.

A jolt went through Li Yuan’s mind.

He could clearly sense that there had always been a structure connecting the Core Formation platform’s core gate and the Spirit Vein below. Now that this Alchemy Dao circuit within the gate was connected, that line of connection seemed to have been re-established.

The Spiritual Power in the main vein vibrated faintly from deeper within.

At the same time, the deepest of the old patterns on the core gate finally lit up completely.

The two Golden Core Cultivators acted at once. Following the opening that appeared in that instant, they steadily channeled the power they had been suppressing at the periphery. It wasn’t a forceful charge, but a smooth push that rode the momentum of the opening.

A very low, muffled sound came from within the gate.

It sounded like a mechanism, untouched for many years, finally being set in motion again.

The next moment, the core gate slowly opened a crack.

The instant the stone gate receded inward, a surge of Spiritual Qi, far denser than that in the outer ring and corridor, rushed out to meet them. It didn’t billow out chaotically. Instead, it was as if an entire region of highly concentrated Spiritual Power, sealed for far too long, had finally been allowed to vent a fraction of its pent-up essence as the gate opened.

Behind the gate was a complete Core Formation platform.

The platform was built entirely of ancient white stone. It was only a few feet high, but its surface area was considerable, and its edges were inscribed with rings of extremely fine, ancient patterns.

These patterns were not completely inert. Even now, they were still operating faintly, like the last trickle of water in a neglected canal that hadn’t been tended to in years.

More importantly, directly beneath the platform was not ordinary earth and rock.

It was a direct connection to a core node of the main Spirit Vein.

Just by standing at the entrance, Li Yuan’s consciousness sank, following that extremely familiar connection. The restriction he had seen beneath the Spirit Vein, the structure he had pieced together from the stone chamber and the journal, and the line of connection he had felt in the core gate’s circuit—it all finally clicked into place.

This Core Formation platform had been built directly upon a core node of a large-scale main Spirit Vein.

Once a Cultivator sat upon it and activated the arrays of the Core Formation District, the Spiritual Power from the main vein below would be drawn directly upward to aid in solidifying their core.

This wasn’t simply a matter of having denser Spiritual Qi in the usual sense.

Rather, the entire Core Formation platform and the large-scale Spirit Vein had been built as a single, integrated system. If one were to undergo Core Formation here, they wouldn’t just get the Spirit Gathering effect of an ordinary cultivator’s abode. Instead, they would be connecting the most crucial section of the entire main vein directly to their own body.

Li Yuan’s breath hitched.

And in the instant the core area was fully revealed, an even more peculiar thrum arose within his three-foot perception range.

There was an Entry on the platform.

And it was purple.

Not on some small object at the platform’s edge, but on the entire Core Formation platform itself.

Several cultivators nearby could no longer suppress their excited breathing and began to peer inside.

The two Golden Core Cultivators also walked in together, their gazes sweeping over everything, from the platform to the old patterns on its edge, and down to the structure connecting it to the main vein below.

Li Yuan stood at the edge of the platform, his gaze following the old patterns downward. As his perception of the Spirit Vein overlapped with the structure of the ruins before him, he finally confirmed it: the layer of restriction he had previously seen above the underground main vein was located precisely beneath this Core Formation platform.

’In other words, the restriction beneath the Core Formation platform and the underground main vein aren’t just separated by a layer of rock. They’re the upper and lower ends of a single, unified structure.’

Li Yuan did not voice this discovery.

Everyone’s attention was currently focused on the platform, the old patterns, and the structure of the core area itself. No one would suspect the deeper details he was perceiving through his connection to the Spirit Vein.

Now that the core gate was open, the next steps would naturally be registration, inspection, and sealing off the area. Li Yuan didn’t stay for long. Once his part of the work was finished, he left the ruins and returned to the marketplace.

That night, he went to the edge of the main Spirit Vein to cultivate as usual.

After reaching his usual spot, Li Yuan didn’t immediately close his eyes. Instead, he first sent his consciousness probing upward, following the structure he had confirmed during the day.

This time, it was clearer than ever before.

With the core gate open, the relationship between the Core Formation platform and the main vein below had been firmly established. Li Yuan traced the layer of restriction above the main vein and soon discovered a section that wasn’t for simple blockage, but rather seemed to be a transfer node for teleportation.

He didn’t act rashly, merely using his Divine Sense and Spirit Vein perception to repeatedly compare and contrast what he found.

After a long time, he finally came to a firm conclusion in his mind.

’If I can undo the restriction above the main vein, I won’t need to go through the ruin’s main entrance or enter through the outer ring of the Core Formation District controlled by the Primordial Yang Sect. I’ll be able to use that teleportation structure to go directly from the underground main vein’s side and appear right on top of the Core Formation platform.’

Li Yuan stood in place, not immediately beginning to cultivate.

The stone layer above was silent, and the Spiritual Radiance of the main vein flowed beneath his feet. He had already committed to memory the teleportation path hidden within the restriction directly beneath the Core Formation platform.

After a moment, Li Yuan slowly sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Silence returned to the depths of the underground cavern, with only the extremely faint Spiritual Radiance at the edge of the main vein still flowing slowly along the stone floor.

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