Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Chapter 323: Chapter 312: Crisis at the Front Line

Three days after Zhou Yuan settled in the marketplace, Li Yuan went to see him, bringing several Fire Evil Stones.

Zhou Yuan lived in a small stone house on the east side of the expansion district. The house contained a simple artifact refining furnace and several rows of material racks, which were already piled high with ores and metal billets he had purchased from the marketplace’s shops.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, take a look at these for me." Li Yuan placed two Fire Evil Stones and two Purple Evil Stones on the table.

Zhou Yuan set aside his work, walked over, and picked up a Purple Evil Stone. He turned it over in his hand before probing its interior with his Divine Sense.

"The ratio of Evil Qi to Spiritual Power is decent, and the structure is stable enough." He set the Purple Evil Stone down. "It’s usable for Artifact Refining, but I don’t need a large quantity. Besides, I don’t have much experience with refining techniques that use this."

"Besides, I have very high standards for quality. Purple Evil Stones of this grade are just barely acceptable."

He then picked up a Fire Evil Stone and examined it.

He frowned slightly.

"This one is a bit lacking."

"Lacking in what way?"

"The integration between the Fire Spiritual Power and the Evil Qi is a little off. I’m not capable of harmonizing and fusing them myself." Zhou Yuan held the Fire Evil Stone up to his eye.

"To what degree do they need to be fused to be usable?"

"At the very least, there can’t be any internal boundaries. The Fire Spiritual Power and Evil Qi need to be evenly integrated, with no visible layers." Zhou Yuan placed the Fire Evil Stone back on the table. "It just needs to be one grade higher in quality."

Li Yuan put the Fire Evil Stones back into his storage pouch and returned to his stone house.

’The quality of the naturally formed Fire Evil Stones is limited by the fusion speed within the vein’s channels, making it difficult to improve them quickly. However, I can apply my experience from hand-crafting Purple Evil Stones to these.’

Li Yuan took a medium-quality Fire Element Spirit Ore from his storage pouch and placed it on the table.

He drew a wisp of Evil Qi with his left hand and a wisp of Fire Spiritual Power with his right.

The two energies converged in his palm. An Evil-Spirit Resonance prevented the Evil Qi and Spiritual Power from immediately repelling each other upon leaving his body. Then, an Evil-Spirit Transformation further integrated them, forming a ball of semi-fused energy.

Using the Micro-Control Spiritual Skill, Li Yuan slowly pressed this ball of energy into the surface of the ore.

The technique was the same as when he had hand-crafted the Purple Evil Stones. The only difference was that this time, he was infusing a mixture of Evil Qi and Fire Spiritual Power, not a mixture of pure Evil Qi and regular Spiritual Power.

The surface of the ore trembled slightly as the internal structure of its Fire Spiritual Power began to be compressed and restructured by the external, mixed energy.

Li Yuan continued to channel the energy for about half an hour.

Throughout the process, he constantly adjusted the ratio of Evil Qi to Fire Spiritual Power, trying to make them permeate the ore’s interior more evenly. Each adjustment required extremely fine control over his Spiritual Power, pushing his proficiency with the Micro-Control Spiritual Skill to its absolute limit.

When he was finished, Li Yuan picked up the ore to examine it.

Its color had changed from the original dark red to a purplish crimson, more uniform than that of a naturally formed Fire Evil Stone. When he probed its interior with his Divine Sense, he found the distribution of Fire Spiritual Power and Evil Qi was indeed more integrated than in a natural stone. The boundary Zhou Yuan had spoken of was much blurrier, but it was still faintly visible.

’Better than a natural one, but not yet up to Zhou Yuan’s required quality.’

Li Yuan set this hand-crafted Fire Evil Stone aside and began to work on a second one.

[Evil Spirit Transformation Skill: Mastery (0/800)]

’From Proficient to Mastery.’

Li Yuan picked up an ordinary Fire Element Spirit Ore from the table, drew in a nearby wisp of Evil Qi, and pressed it inside.

The Fire Spiritual Power structure within the ore offered almost no resistance. The Evil Qi flowed smoothly into every spiritual-power channel, merging completely with the Fire Spiritual Power.

The depth of fusion was more than twice what it was before he had reached Mastery.

After he finished, Li Yuan probed the ore with his Divine Sense. The internal boundary had completely disappeared. The Fire Spiritual Power and Evil Qi were evenly distributed in every corner of the ore, with no trace of layering.

’The quality is good enough now.’

’One more time, now with Mastery.’ Li Yuan took out a new Fire Element Spirit Ore and began the hand-crafting process again.

This time, it only took him fifteen minutes, and the resulting Fire Evil Stone was of a higher quality than any he had made before.

After storing away this batch of hand-crafted Fire Evil Stones, Li Yuan was about to resume his cultivation when a notice arrived from the administration office.

The Sixth Foundation Establishment Trade Fair would be held in three days at the Yunyang Marketplace.

Three days later, Li Yuan arrived at the Yunyang Marketplace.

The trade fair was larger than the last one. The venue had expanded from one stone building to two, and more Foundation Establishment Cultivators were in attendance, many of them recognizable faces who had fled from Yunzhou.

The atmosphere inside the venue was different from usual.

In the past, discussions at the trade fair revolved around the buying and selling of Cultivation Techniques, pills, and materials. This time, however, the conversation quickly veered toward the war on the front lines.

"The Evil Slaying Sect has taken all of the Qi Shui Sect’s strongholds in eastern Yunzhou."

A Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator in a brown robe leaned back in his chair and said, "In the final battle last month, the Qi Shui Sect threw six Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators into the fight, and they still couldn’t hold it."

"Not just the east," someone next to him added. "They’re retreating in the west, too. The Evil Slaying Sect’s forces have already pushed to the border between Yunzhou and Liangzhou. Their vanguard is less than three hundred li from the nearest marketplace in Liangzhou."

"Then what will the Qi Shui Sect do?"

"What else can they do? Retreat further into Liangzhou."

The men fell silent for a moment.

Another cultivator spoke up, his voice low.

"Have any of you noticed something? From start to finish, not a single Golden Core Cultivator has joined the fight."

"From either side."

"Right. Both sides have only sent their Foundation Establishment cultivators to fight; the Golden Core Cultivators haven’t moved at all. They’ve been fighting for so long, and batch after batch of Foundation Establishment cultivators have died, yet the Golden Cores still won’t intervene. Doesn’t that seem strange?"

"What’s so strange about it?"

The cultivator in the brown robe scoffed. "If a Golden Core Cultivator joins the battle and dies, the price is too high. If they stay out of it, even if their Sect is wiped out, they can survive as Golden Core Loose Cultivators. The enemy won’t waste resources hunting down a single Golden Core Loose Cultivator; there’s no point. The only downside is that without a Sect, their cultivation resources will be greatly diminished."

"So how many Golden Cores does the Qi Shui Sect have?" someone suddenly asked.

"Four."

"And the Evil Slaying Sect?"

"Five."

"That can’t be right. The Evil Slaying Sect is much stronger than that. How can the number of Golden Cores be so close?"

The brown-robed cultivator coughed and continued.

"Do you really think those Demon Cultivator Golden Cores in the Evil Slaying Sect want new Golden Cores emerging in their Sect to take a cut of their profits?"

"It’s only in situations like this, when they need new combat power, that they’re willing to cultivate new Golden Cores."

"One more Golden Core gives them more leverage in negotiations with the Qi Shui Sect."

No one continued the conversation.

Li Yuan, sitting in a corner, absorbed the gist of this information before turning his attention back to the trade fair itself.

When the trading had reached its midpoint, a familiar figure approached.

The short-bearded cultivator.

"Li Dao You." The short-bearded cultivator sat down across from him and, forgoing any pleasantries, got straight to the point. "I have something I want to trade with you."

"What is it?"

"My one thousand nine hundred mu of already-developed Spirit Fields. I’ll even throw in the manpower and the arrays for free."

The short-bearded cultivator said, "And I’ll add in a Magic technique, the Soil Cultivation Skill. It’s specifically for nurturing Spirit Fields and works very well when used with them."

"What do you want?"

"Help me capture a Tier Two Demon Beast alive near the marketplace." The short-bearded cultivator held up one finger. "It must be alive. Any attribute is fine, but it can’t be an Evil Attribute."

Li Yuan looked at him.

"Capturing a Tier Two Demon Beast alive is no small matter."

The short-bearded cultivator said, "I’m not asking for a high grade. A Tier Two Low Grade will do. I’ll even add one thousand Spirit Stones."

’One thousand nine hundred mu of Spirit Fields.’

’My current Spirit Field is nowhere near large enough to support my future need for alchemy materials. The larger the Spirit Field, the higher the proportion of Spirit Medicine I can grow myself, and the less I have to rely on external supply chains. With the number of traveling merchants dwindling and supply lines breaking down, Spirit Fields are more valuable than ever.’

’The Soil Cultivation Skill would also be useful. I have Spirit Fields but no specialized cultivation spell, so the yield of my Spirit Medicines has never been very high.’

"Alright," Li Yuan nodded. "But it will take time to catch the Demon Beast. Capturing one alive is much harder than killing it, so I can’t guarantee a timeframe."

"No rush." The short-bearded cultivator stood up. "I’ll leave the items with you first. We can complete the exchange whenever you catch the Demon Beast."

The two made a verbal agreement on the spot, without a written contract.

After the trade fair ended, Li Yuan returned from Yunyang Marketplace to Mist Forest Marketplace.

He mulled things over as he walked.

’There are quite a few Tier Two Demon Beasts near the marketplace. I just need to wait for my Spirit Vein sense to find one.’

Li Yuan added this task to his plans and resumed his cultivation after returning to his stone house.

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