Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Chapter 315: Chapter 304: Core Formation Platform

The next day, Li Yuan returned to the ruins. The array construction was nearing completion.

As the Array Hub of the final auxiliary array was set into the stone wall, the main circuit of the entire Spirit Gathering Flow Diversion Array lit up simultaneously.

Spiritual Light began at the first array in the outer ring of the Core Formation District, traveling inward along the flow diversion lines. It passed through the interconnected Defense Arrays of the middle transition zone and then through several auxiliary arrays in the inner ring before finally converging into the main circuit surrounding the Core Formation platform.

All the arrays were linked end to end, and the Spiritual Power flowed unimpeded.

Li Yuan stood beside the final auxiliary array in the inner ring, watching the Spiritual Light flow slowly along the main circuit. Only after confirming there were no leaks or deviations at the connection points did he retract his Divine Sense.

The panel popped up as he finished his work.

[Skill: Tier Two Array Dao — Minor Achievement (0/1600)]

From Proficient to Minor Achievement.

At the Proficient level, he had to analyze an array by peeling it back layer by layer: first the main patterns, then the nodes, then the circuit pathways, and finally piecing the parts together into a whole. After reaching Minor Achievement, however, the complete picture of an array became clear the instant his Divine Sense made contact. There was no need for step-by-step deconstruction; the hierarchy of its components and its operational logic presented themselves as a complete image within his perception.

The same was true for setting up arrays. At the Proficient stage, he still had to follow the blueprints step by step. But after reaching Minor Achievement, the array’s final form was fully conceived in his mind before he even began. The process of setting it up was merely a matter of bringing that mental image into reality.

Li Yuan now knew the complete structure of the Core Formation platform’s auxiliary arrays like the back of his hand.

On the day of its completion, the Primordial Yang Sect immediately began assigning personnel to formally guard the Core Formation District.

Another layer was added to the identification arrays at both ends of the outer ring’s corridors, and access permissions were tightened. Previously, all Array Masters involved in the construction could come and go freely. Now that the work was finished, the permissions for all externally hired Array Masters were downgraded. They could now only enter after officially registering their visit.

Li Yuan’s access, however, remained unchanged.

His status as the market administrator, combined with his long-term cooperative relationship with the sect, allowed him to retain free access to the outer ring and the right to enter the core district after registering.

The guard detail was twice as large as it had been when the area was first sealed. There were two shifts during the day and one at night, with each shift consisting of three to four Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Furthermore, a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator was appointed as the head of security, permanently stationed within the inner ring of the Core Formation District.

When Li Yuan left the Core Formation District and returned to the market, he found that its atmosphere had changed once again.

In recent days, the number of Demon Cultivators in the market had been rapidly decreasing.

Previously, when the fighting in Yunzhou escalated, numerous Demon Cultivators had mixed in with the refugee cultivators and flooded into the market. Although the upgraded Demon-Exploring Array had greatly improved its precision in detecting Demonic Qi, there were plenty of masters among the Demon Cultivators skilled at concealment. Some always managed to slip through the net.

But starting three days ago, even those who had slipped through began to vanish.

While reviewing the entry and exit logs at the administrative office, Li Yuan noticed a significant increase in the number of cultivators leaving the market over the past three days. Many of them were new faces who had registered within the last two months.

The reason was soon confirmed by Chen Yi.

"The Sect has decided to support the Qi Shui Sect," Chen Yi said while dropping off documents at the administrative office. "They’re also hiring Loose Cultivators within Liangzhou to hunt down members of the Dark Abyss Association alongside our disciples. The rewards are already set—kill a Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivator, and your contribution points are doubled."

"When does it start?"

"It’s already started. The outpost posted the first batch of missions yesterday. A few Loose Cultivators accepted them and headed out the very same day."

The news spread faster than Li Yuan had expected.

That afternoon, the number of Demon Cultivators in the market plummeted visibly. By the next day, it was nearly impossible to find any cultivators with a trace of Demonic Qi moving about the market.

Anyone who needed to run had already fled.

But Li Yuan’s Spirit Vein Monitoring Line revealed another layer of information.

The number of Demon Cultivators inside the market had indeed decreased, but the situation on its outskirts was the exact opposite.

The range of his Spirit Vein perception far exceeded the market itself, covering the outskirts of the Ghost Mist Forest and a large area surrounding the market. In the last few days, the auras of Demon Cultivators lurking on the market’s periphery had actually grown more numerous.

Not just one or two, but more than a dozen of them.

After the market’s interior was cleaned out, they had pulled their people back to the outskirts and were now operating in a different manner.

Li Yuan committed this information to memory, mentioning it to no one.

The Spirit Vein monitoring was his unique advantage. There was nothing to be gained by revealing it.

That night, Li Yuan was cultivating in his stone house as usual.

Then, he noticed a change.

The flow of Spiritual Qi from the massive Spirit Vein had shifted.

The Spiritual Qi in the main vein was no longer spreading out evenly in all directions. Instead, a considerable portion was surging toward a single direction.

Toward the Core Formation platform.

’This must be the flow diversion effect of the activated auxiliary arrays.’

The function of the Spirit Gathering Flow Diversion Array was to extract Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Vein and channel it to the Core Formation platform. Now that the entire set of auxiliary arrays was complete and operational, this diversion effect was becoming apparent. Spiritual Qi was being pulled along the flow diversion lines, converging into the main circuit surrounding the platform.

The amount being siphoned off was substantial.

Li Yuan made a rough estimate: about forty to fifty percent of the main vein’s total Spiritual Qi flow was being diverted away.

Li Yuan followed the flow of Spiritual Qi. As he traced it toward the Core Formation platform, an idea suddenly struck him.

He tried to use his Spirit Vein perception to interfere with the diverted flow of Spiritual Qi.

He sent his Spiritual Power out from his mind, letting it seep into the surface of the main Spirit Vein. Then, he applied gentle pressure at the entrance to the flow diversion lines.

The flow of Spiritual Qi immediately lessened by a tiny amount. It was almost imperceptible, but it proved he could manipulate the energy’s circulation.

When he released the pressure, the Spiritual Qi flow instantly returned to its original level.

’I can control it.’

’Thanks to the authority granted by having the Spirit Vein equipped in my special slot, I can cut off or regulate the supply of Spiritual Qi to the Core Formation platform at any time. The Primordial Yang Sect might have built the Flow Diversion Array, but the source of the Spiritual Qi is the Spirit Vein, and I’m the one who controls the Spirit Vein.’

’This means that if someone attempts Core Formation on that platform, I can control their supply of Spiritual Qi during the process.’

Li Yuan told no one of this discovery.

The next morning, Li Yuan went to the administrative office and sought out Chen Yi.

"The Core Formation platform is finished. When will it be put to use?"

Chen Yi glanced at him.

"Someone has already decided to use it."

"Who?"

"I can’t give you a name," Chen Yi said with some hesitation. "But it’s someone from within the Sect. They’re at the peak of Late-stage Foundation Establishment and preparing to push for Golden Core."

Li Yuan nodded, not pressing the issue.

Then, Chen Yi added, "The atmosphere within the Sect has been a little strange lately. After the decision to support the Qi Shui Sect was finalized, some people started whispering that our Sect might have had some sort of agreement with the Demon Sects."

"What kind of agreement?"

"I’m not sure." Chen Yi shook his head. "It’s just a rumor; no one knows any details. But previously, the Sect’s policy toward Demon Cultivators was always to turn a blind eye. Their stance only hardened after the Qi Shui Sect’s stronghold fell. The shift was too abrupt to be an impromptu decision."

Li Yuan asked no more questions. He left the administrative office and returned to his stone house.

’So, there was some kind of pact or agreement between the Primordial Yang Sect and the Demon Sects.’

’If that’s true, it would explain a lot of things that didn’t make sense before.’

’But the specifics are unknown, and I have no way to verify it for now.’

That afternoon, Li Yuan went to the ore vein.

Seven days had passed since the Wang family’s Fire Attribute ore vein was connected to the Evil Ore vein. It was time to see the results.

Li Yuan entered a natural cavern through a tunnel in the Evil Ore vein. He followed the main circuit of the Cultivating Evil Array deeper inside, walking until he reached the junction where the two veins converged.

The changes at the junction were already obvious.

The rock walls on either side of the fissure had changed color. The Evil Ore vein side remained deep black, but the Fire Vein side, originally dark red, was now streaked with black and gray lines, as if two pigments were slowly blending in water.

In the center of the fissure, several new ore stones had formed.

Li Yuan squatted down and picked one up.

The first sensation in his hand was heat.

It wasn’t the gentle warmth of an ordinary Fire Element Spirit Ore, but a heat laced with a deep, cold, prickling sensation. Heat and cold seeped into his palm from the ore’s surface simultaneously. The two starkly different feelings overlapped without canceling each other out or interfering with one another.

The ore’s color was somewhere between dark red and dark purple. On its surface, he could faintly see the interwoven patterns formed by the Fire Spiritual Power and the Evil Qi.

Probing it with his Divine Sense revealed a fifty-fifty split between the Fire Attribute and Evil Qi.

At that moment, the panel popped up.

[Equippable Item Detected: Fire Evil Stone (Complete)]

[Affix Preview: Fire-Evil Fusion (Green)]

[Effect: Fire Element Magic can be imbued with an Evil Qi corrosive effect; Evil Qi Magic can be imbued with a burning effect.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: One Evil Qi Cultivation Technique and one Fire Element Cultivation Technique must both reach the Grand Completion stage.]

’A green-tier affix.’

’The effect is interesting. Fire Element Magic with Evil Qi corrosion, and Evil Qi Magic with a burning effect. It works both ways, which is like adding a layer of bonus damage to both of my offensive systems.’

’The permanence condition is for one Evil Qi Cultivation Technique and one Fire Element Cultivation Technique to both reach Grand Completion.’

’My Red Fire Skill is already at Grand Completion, so one condition is met. As for the Evil Qi Cultivation Technique, my Evil Spirit Transformation Skill is only at the ’Proficient’ stage, still a long way from Grand Completion.’

Li Yuan put the Fire Evil Stone in his storage pouch, then collected the other few pieces that had formed at the junction. There were five in total, all of varying quality. The best one had a nearly one-to-one ratio of fire and evil attributes, while the worst was skewed toward Fire Spiritual Power, with very little Evil Qi.

The yield was lower than he had expected, but considering the two veins had only been connected for seven days and the percolation channel hadn’t fully stabilized, the output should gradually increase over time.

After leaving the mine tunnels, Li Yuan waited a day.

Ji Huaiyuan didn’t show up. He waited two more days.

Still no word from him.

According to their agreement, Ji Huaiyuan was supposed to return to pick up the goods after seven days. The ore had been produced, yet there was no sign of Ji Huaiyuan—not even a single message.

Li Yuan considered it, but decided against contacting him first.

’The Ji family is located in the part of Liangzhou closest to Yunzhou; they would be the first to be impacted by the escalating conflict there. Ji Huaiyuan is probably caught up in family matters, or maybe something happened to him on the road.’

’I’ll wait and see. There’s no rush to sell the Fire Evil Stones. I’ll just store them for now.’

Li Yuan returned to his stone house, stored the Fire Evil Stones and Purple Evil Stones separately, and then sat cross-legged on his meditation cushion.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!