Chapter 464 - 436: 3 Veins Return to the Body

Chapter 464: Chapter 436: 3 Veins Return to the Body

After the light of the Teleportation Array faded, the familiar Spiritual Qi from beneath Mozhou washed over him.

Li Yuan strode down the passage toward the Spirit Vein’s core area. The Spiritual Qi, so dense it was almost liquid, flowed through the subterranean cavern. With every breath, he could feel the Spiritual Power in his meridians pulse slightly.

He didn’t linger at the core node, instead turning toward the outskirts of the settlement.

He had refined the first two Spirit Veins in the outer seas of Shuizhou. For the third, he had long ago chosen his target—a branch of a Spirit Vein located about half a li from the outskirts of the Mozhou settlement.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on a flat rock surface directly above the branch vein and established a connection.

The process was extremely easy. He had already made this Spirit Vein permanent, and its every subtle flow of Spiritual Power was under his control.

Activating the Profound Nether Killing Skill, Demonic Qi surged from his Dantian and enveloped the end of the branch vein.

Half a day later, a low hum reverberated through the rock strata.

The last connection snapped. Like a vine pulled up by the roots, the branch vein was drawn by his Spiritual Power and completely absorbed into Li Yuan’s body.

This third Spirit Vein was much larger than the other two. The moment it entered his body, the two miniature Spirit Veins he had previously refined from the outer seas responded in unison. The three veins pulled at each other, converged, and finally stabilized in three different positions, forming a miniature triangular Spirit Vein cycle.

The effect of the three veins coexisting was far more than a simple addition of their Spiritual Qi supply. A faint but stable resonance formed between them, further purifying the Spiritual Qi. Both its concentration and the efficiency with which he could draw upon it were now significantly higher than with a single Spirit Vein.

A panel popped up.

[Spirit Vein Refining (Blue) Permanence Condition Met (3/3)]

[Spirit Vein Refining (Blue) has become a Permanent Trait.]

The phantom image of the Portable Grotto-Heaven in his equipment slot shattered, turning into motes of blue light that merged into his body. The slot was now free.

The changes ran deep.

Li Yuan closed his eyes, sensing the new abilities within him. Before, he had to rely on the Portable Grotto-Heaven to suppress, manage, and command the refined Spirit Veins in his body. Now, this Spirit Vein cycle had completely solidified, becoming a part of him.

The three Spirit Veins were no longer foreign objects temporarily tethered to him by a piece of equipment. They were now truly coiled around his Dantian and among his body’s secondary meridians, forming an independent and stable minor cycle.

The three refined Spirit Veins now rested quietly within the meridian network surrounding his Dantian. Like three small streams flowing into a major river, they continuously supplied him with Spiritual Qi.

Even in a Spiritless District, these three Spirit Veins could provide a constant supply of Spiritual Qi, more than enough for daily cultivation and basic needs.

Combined with the purple trait "Spirit Vein Nurturing" and the green permanent trait "Earth Vein Resonance," his efficiency in utilizing Spirit Veins had been pushed to a terrifying new level.

Assessing the strain on his body, Li Yuan felt he could still refine another four or five small Spirit Veins.

Over the next few days, he didn’t rush to leave Mozhou.

Instead, he spread out some talisman paper next to the Spirit Vein Core and began making talismans.

He no longer limited himself to the few Talismans he had already mastered. Instead, he began to systematically recreate every type of Tier Two Talisman he knew. After finishing each one, he used his permanent trait, Array Base Retrospection, to scan its internal energy pathways. He compared them to the Profound Nether Sect’s Array structures and the folding logic from the fragmented Tier Three diagram stored in his mind, searching for every possible point of optimization.

This method of Talisman Making was incredibly draining on his energy and Divine Sense, but the results were equally remarkable.

Every Talisman forced him to push his understanding of Array Pattern layouts to a deeper level.

On the evening of the third day, as Li Yuan was finishing his one hundred and twentieth-something Talisman, his brush paused at the end of the final Spirit Pattern.

A drop of Spiritual Ink fell from the brush’s tip. It didn’t land on the talisman paper. Instead, it coalesced into a perfect sphere in mid-air, hovered for a breath, then gently descended, embedding itself precisely into the final, pre-drawn node on the paper.

A work of effortless perfection.

A panel popped up.

[Tier Two Talisman Making Skill: Great Success → Perfection]

Tier Two Talisman Making had reached the Perfection stage.

Li Yuan set down his brush and flexed his slightly stiff fingers.

The difference between Perfection and Great Success wasn’t the success rate—that was already extremely high at the Great Success stage. The difference lay in the upper limit of each Talisman’s quality. After reaching Perfection, using the same materials and the same formula would produce Talismans with a visibly significant leap in power and durability.

After packing up his Talisman Making tools, Li Yuan got up and headed for the settlement.

Old Man Shen was sitting in his usual spot by the entrance, still whittling a wooden staff. Ah Cheng was crouching beside him, distributing rations to a few children.

"You’re back again," Old Man Shen said, lifting his eyelids slightly.

"Brought some supplies." Li Yuan placed a storage pouch on the stone bench. Inside was a batch of daily necessities purchased from the Yunyang marketplace.

Old Man Shen nodded and handed the storage pouch to Ah Cheng.

Li Yuan sat down on the bench and chatted with Old Man Shen about the settlement’s recent situation. After the topic had drifted a bit, he asked a question he hadn’t asked before.

"Among the things passed down from your ancestors, is there any legacy of Demon Dao skills?"

Old Man Shen’s hand, the one whittling the staff, paused.

"There are some." He thought for a moment. "Just one, actually. Mozhou was originally the territory of the Profound Vein, so there wasn’t much Demonic Qi cultivation. Besides, we are merely descendants."

Old Man Shen unrolled the beast-skin scroll again.

"This is a Demon Sect skill. Tier Two. It’s called Demon Shadow Step."

’Demon Shadow Step.’

Li Yuan took the beast skin and quickly scanned its contents with his Divine Sense.

It was a Tier Two Demon Qi Skill that used Demonic Qi to teleport short distances within shadows. The range was very short, about thirty feet at most, but its advantage was its extreme speed and virtually non-existent casting time.

The value of this skill wasn’t in its power, but in the fact that it was a Demon Qi Skill.

The condition to make the "Dark Demon Cultivation" trait from the bronze mirror permanent was to master three Demon Qi Skills to Minor Achievement or higher.

’Just one more to go, and I’ll have met the threshold of three Demon Qi Skills.’

"This thing... what’s the price?"

Old Man Shen waved his hand dismissively.

"You bring supplies every time you visit, and you’ve helped us solve a lot of problems. This stuff is just collecting dust at the bottom of a chest anyway. Just take it. If you really want to pay, bring some more Spirit Grass seeds next time. We’ve cleared some new plots behind the settlement, and we’re short on seeds."

"Deal."

Li Yuan put away the beast skin, then found a quiet corner near the settlement and sat down cross-legged.

’Time to cultivate Demon Shadow Step.’

The Qi circulation route recorded on the beast skin was extremely simple. Unlike orthodox skills, the meridian pathways for Demon Qi Skills were usually shorter and more direct, prioritizing speed and explosive power over precision and endurance.

The core of Demon Shadow Step was a single step: instantly infuse the meridians in the legs with Demonic Qi, tear open a very short Demonic Qi channel in a shadow-covered area, and use that channel to shift the body’s position.

For Li Yuan, it took less than an hour to reach the Skilled stage with this Tier Two Demon Qi Skill.

After reaching Skilled, he continued to advance it.

[Demon Shadow Step: Skilled → Expert]

Li Yuan stood up, stretching his legs, which were slightly numb from sitting for so long.

On the stone walls of the settlement, a few Spirit Stone lamps cast a warm, yellow glow. In the distance, the laughter and clamor of the descendants’ children echoed through the vast, empty cavern.

Li Yuan put away the beast skin and jade slip, then walked toward the Teleportation Array.

The second round of his Three States trade route wasn’t finished yet. The goods for Jingzhou and Shuizhou were still waiting to be delivered.