Chapter 457 - 430: Permanentizing Dark Demon Concealment

Chapter 457: Chapter 430: Permanentizing Dark Demon Concealment

Before leaving Nanyuan District, Li Yuan took another look around the Pill Shop.

As Zhou He was a Golden Core Pill Refiner, the resources of his Pill Shop far surpassed the general scale of Nanyuan District. The shelves were lined with a vast array of finished pills, most of which were Water Element auxiliary pills—novel, but of little use to land-based cultivators.

What truly caught Li Yuan’s attention were two pill formulas.

One was the complete formula for the Tide Heart Pill. The other was for a Tier Two Low Grade pill called Tide Condensing Powder, which repaired meridian damage caused by Water Spiritual Power. The formula was simple but extremely practical.

"How much for these two formulas?"

The clerk tending the shop glanced over and quoted a price.

"The Tide Heart Pill formula is thirty Mid-grade Spirit Stones, and the Tide Condensing Powder formula is twenty Mid-grade Spirit Stones."

The price wasn’t cheap, but it was perfectly acceptable to Li Yuan. These two formulas might not be rare in Shuizhou, but they would become an exclusive business once he brought them back to the mainland.

After paying the Spirit Stones, Li Yuan placed the two jade slips containing the formulas into his storage bag.

He then traveled north along the coast, crossed the Spiritless District, and returned to Liangzhou via the Teleportation Array in Mozhou.

It was late at night when he returned to Mist Forest Marketplace.

Inside the stone house, a Concealment Array operated silently.

Li Yuan sat down cross-legged and took out the encrypted jade slip he had confiscated from the Abyss Sect’s advance team in the gray hills.

He had previously tried various methods on this jade slip. The frequency level of the Dark Demon Token was insufficient, and the continuous wave frequency band modulated by his Demon Essence Skill couldn’t match the encryption layer. However, after his seclusion in Mozhou and several real battles, both his Demonic Qi cultivation and his mastery of continuous wave frequency bands had improved significantly.

Li Yuan used his Demon Essence Skill to modulate a new set of frequencies. This time, he didn’t inject it directly into the jade slip. Instead, he first used his Divine Sense to slowly scan the outer edge of the encryption layer, searching for the frequency’s resonant nodes.

Under his extremely fine Divine Sense, the surface of the encryption layer revealed a faint, periodic fluctuation.

The fluctuation’s frequency was extremely low and the intervals were extremely long. An ordinary cultivator’s Divine Sense would be unable to maintain continuous, precise observation on such a time scale. But the permanent "Divine Split Multitasking" entry allowed him to dedicate a Divine Sense Line to track this fluctuation with constant precision for several hours.

Six hours later, he captured the complete cycle of the encryption layer’s fluctuation.

The length of the cycle happened to match a rarely used High Tier sub-band within the continuous wave communication frequency.

Li Yuan precisely replicated this sub-band with his Demon Essence Skill and slowly infused it into the surface of the jade slip.

An extremely subtle loosening appeared in a corner of the encryption layer.

It was like chiseling a crack in an iron wall, allowing only a glimpse of a small portion of the contents inside.

Li Yuan squeezed his Divine Sense into the crack and quickly copied the information he could access.

The amount of information wasn’t large, accounting for about thirty percent of the jade slip’s total content. But it was enough to see the core theme.

It was all about arrays.

To be precise, it was all array analysis related to the Profound Nether Sect ruins.

The content was divided into three parts. The first part was a detailed analytical diagram of the underground Restriction structure at Skeleton Ridge. It highly matched the results of his own previous investigation, but included information on a few deeper nodes he had been unable to cover. The second part was the first half of a deduced plan for breaking the Restrictions, involving the use of Homogeneous Materials to create frequency interference to weaken specific areas of the Restrictions. The third part, of which he only read the first few lines, mentioned a term he had never seen before: "Reverse-Meridian Resonance."

The remaining seventy percent of the content was still locked by the encryption layer and could not be read for the time being. But that thirty percent was enough for him to confirm one thing.

The preparations of the Abyss Sect’s elders for breaking the Restrictions at the Skeleton Ridge ruins were far more advanced than he had anticipated. They had not only found the weak points but had also deduced a systematic plan to break through.

Li Yuan put away the jade slip and connected to his Spirit Detective Talisman network.

A vast amount of passive sensory data from all over Liangzhou flooded into his sea of consciousness. Most of it was routine Spiritual Power fluctuations and scattered traces of cultivator activity. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

But in the data stream from the northwest, a set of signals caught his attention.

Three Spirit Detective Talismans on the old road on the outskirts of Skeleton Ridge had, over the past two days, successively recorded a dense cluster of Demonic Qi signals.

The signals were numerous and extremely strong.

Li Yuan pieced together the data from the three Spirit Detective Talismans chronologically, and a clear picture of the situation formed in his mind.

A sizable team had entered the outskirts of Skeleton Ridge two days ago from the direction of Liangzhou’s western border. The team’s advance was not fast but was extremely orderly, in a standard military marching formation.

At the core of the team were three extremely condensed Demonic Qi signals.

Early-stage Golden Core. Three of them.

Surrounding them were six Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demonic Qi signals, guarding the core in a defensive formation.

There was another signal in the team with a particularly unusual aura. Its Demonic Qi concentration wasn’t high, around the Late-stage Foundation Establishment level, but the frequency of its Spiritual Wave was completely different from that of a regular Demon Cultivator. The fluctuations were exceptionally regular, like a precisely operating array instrument, with each pulse carrying a large amount of information.

An Array Master.

Three Early-stage Golden Core Demon Cultivators, one Array Master, and six at Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

’The Abyss Sect’s array-breaking force has arrived.’

Li Yuan continued to read the data.

After entering the outskirts of Skeleton Ridge, the team didn’t head straight for the ruin entrance. Instead, they stopped in an old mining area on the periphery and began to release large-scale detection waves into the surroundings.

The detection waves had an extremely wide coverage, radiating for several hundred yards outward from the team’s position.

The first Spirit Detective Talisman recorded the complete spectral characteristics as the detection wave swept past, and then its signal abruptly cut off.

The data from the second Spirit Detective Talisman cut off six hours later.

The third Spirit Detective Talisman only had time to send back half of its data before falling completely silent.

’They’ve discovered the Spirit Detective Talisman network.’

The three Spirit Detective Talismans were located and destroyed one by one. The Array Master’s detection methods were extremely precise; from discovering the first to clearing the last, it took no more than twelve hours.

Li Yuan withdrew his Divine Sense.

With the Spirit Detective Talisman network in the direction of Skeleton Ridge cleared, his passive perception of that area had become a complete blind spot. He had no way of knowing what the Abyss Sect’s array-breaking team was doing or how far they had progressed.

It wasn’t impossible to redeploy the Spirit Detective Talismans, but since the other party had already discovered this surveillance method, using the same approach again would only expose more information.

Li Yuan retrieved and archived the data from the remaining nodes of the Spirit Detective Talisman network, then turned his attention back to the matters at hand.

The two pill formulas he brought back from Nanyuan District were spread out on the stone table.

Li Yuan set up his Pill Furnace.

’First, I’ll refine the Tide Condensing Powder.’

He added the five medicinal ingredients according to the formula’s ratios and adjusted the Pill Fire to a medium temperature. The medicinal liquid slowly fused inside the furnace, and the unique ice-blue luster of the Water Element Spiritual Materials gradually spread out.

His foundation of Perfected Tier Two Alchemy, combined with a series of entries like "Alchemy Insight," "Pill Theory Mastery," and "Pill Fire Condensation," made the entire refinement process as smooth as flowing water. Condensing the medicinal liquid, stripping away impurities, forming the Pill Embryo—every step was executed with the utmost precision.

He lifted the lid of the Pill Furnace. Three round, light-blue pills lay quietly at the bottom.

The finished products were of extremely high quality, with clear pill patterns and abundant medicinal power.

Li Yuan picked one up. The moment his fingertip touched it, his entry perception triggered.

[Detectable Equippable Item: Tide Condensing Powder (Complete)]

[Equippable Entry Preview: Tidal Breath Restoration (White)]

[Effect: Increases the nourishing effect of Water Magic on meridians by fifty percent.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Cultivate a Water Element Cultivation Technique to Mastery.]

A white entry. The condition for permanence was to cultivate a Water Element Cultivation Technique to Mastery. His Cold Stream Skill was already at Great Success, far beyond Mastery, so the condition had long been met.

Li Yuan made it permanent on the spot.

He cleaned the Pill Furnace and began refining the Tide Heart Pill.

A moment later, the Pill Embryo slowly formed in the medicinal liquid. With extremely fine control of his Spiritual Power, Li Yuan stripped the last trace of impurity from the Pill Embryo, and clear pill patterns emerged on its surface.

He lifted the lid of the Pill Furnace. Two azure Tide Heart Pills lay quietly at the bottom, emitting a cool Water Element Spiritual Qi.

Li Yuan picked one up.

[Detectable Equippable Item: Tide Heart Pill (Complete)]

[Equippable Entry Preview: Tide Heart Condensation (Green)]

[Effect: Increases Water Spiritual Power condensation efficiency by twenty percent; reduces the Spiritual Power consumption of Water Magic by ten percent.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Accumulate six hundred hours of cultivation in an aquatic environment (0/600)]

A green entry. Both effects were extremely practical.

A twenty-percent increase in Water Spiritual Power condensation efficiency would directly affect the casting speed and power of Water Magic like the Ice Seal Skill. A ten-percent reduction in Spiritual Power consumption meant greater combat endurance.

The permanence condition required accumulating six hundred hours of cultivation in water. It was a significant amount of time, but given his frequent trips to and from Shuizhou, he could accumulate it in increments.

After finishing his alchemy, Li Yuan cleaned the Pill Furnace and the workstation, then sat cross-legged back on his cushion.

He activated the Profound Nether Killing Skill.

The blue entry from the Dark Element Demon Mirror continuously augmented him, making the flow of Demonic Qi in his meridians incredibly smooth. The cultivation results accumulated during his seclusion continued to develop during his daily technique circulation. Each Grand Circulation cycle pushed the purity of the Demon Qi Golden Core in his Dantian a fraction higher.

After several days of continuous cultivation, a deep hum emanated from the depths of his Dantian.

The dim glow on the surface of his Demon Qi Golden Core suddenly deepened. The Demonic Qi flowing through his meridians became thicker and more solid, and the efficiency of its circulation once again climbed.

[Profound Nether Killing Skill: Minor Achievement → Great Success]

His seclusion in Mozhou and the continuous cultivation over these past few days had finally pushed the Profound Nether Killing Skill over the threshold of Great Success.

The permanence condition for the Dark Element Demon Mirror was to reach Great Success in a Tier Three Demon Cultivator technique.

The condition was met.

"Make the Dark Element Demon Mirror permanent."

[Dark Demon Concealment (Blue) has become a permanent entry.]

The phantom of the Dark Element Demon Mirror shattered in his equipment slot, dissolving into blue motes of light that merged with his body.

The thirty-percent increase to his Demonic Qi limit and the thirty-percent increase to his Demonic Qi’s power now became a part of him.

A slot was freed up.

Li Yuan closed his eyes, sensing the state of his body.

With the Profound Nether Killing Skill at Great Success, the circulation of his Demonic Qi was approaching a certain limit. Under the long-term refinement of multiple entries, the quality of the Mid-grade Demon Qi Golden Core in his Dantian was slowly but steadily climbing to a higher level.

He wasn’t far from the Mid-stage Golden Core.

The leap from Early-stage to Mid-stage Golden Core was not a simple matter of accumulating Spiritual Power. The internal structure of the Golden Core would reorganize, and the purity and density of one’s Spiritual or Demonic Qi would rise to a new level.

And he still had the Profound Nether Jade Bead.

A purple, realm-breaking entry. It could consume Golden Core Grade in exchange for breaking through a minor realm. If used at Mid-stage Golden Core, he could jump directly to Late-stage Golden Core.

After Late-stage Golden Core, by leveraging the Profound Nether Jade Bead’s own sensitivity to the Profound Nether Sect’s sealing system, he might even be able to touch the threshold of the Nascent Soul Realm.

A clear path unfolded in Li Yuan’s mind.

Li Yuan sat firmly cross-legged, unfurled his eight-threaded Divine Sense, and continued to circulate his technique.