Chapter 506 - 477: Profound Insight into Artifact Principles

Chapter 506: Chapter 477: Profound Insight into Artifact Principles

The seclusion was over.

Li Yuan dismantled the three-layer Array in the stone chamber, storing the remaining Array Materials in his personal space. After several days of natural recovery, the Spiritual Light of the main Spirit Vein had returned, but it shouldn’t be drawn from heavily again anytime soon.

He spoke with the remnants of Mozhou for a while longer and gave them some materials and Spirit Pills.

Then, he walked out of the Spirit Vein, raised his right hand, and gently swiped his index finger through the empty space before him.

A gray rift tore open silently, its edges smooth and without the slightest ripple of excess fluctuation.

Li Yuan stepped sideways into it.

The familiar sensation of nothingness washed over him as gray mist churned all around.

While crossing the interlayer, Li Yuan noticed a detail.

The Spiritual Power from the top-grade spiritual pill wasn’t leaking out at all.

The void interlayer was a true Land of Absolute Spirit. There was no Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, so any fluctuation in Spiritual Power would be exceptionally conspicuous without the buffer of external Spiritual Qi.

Previously, when he crossed the interlayer, even with his extremely fine control over his Spiritual Power and Demonic Qi, there would be a slight tendency for them to seep outward. While it was never enough to cause a problem, Li Yuan could clearly perceive that faint dissipation.

Now, there was nothing.

The Spiritual Power released by the top-grade spiritual pill was as if perfectly encased in a transparent shell, not leaking the slightest bit as it circulated through his meridians. Even in a Land of Absolute Spirit, the reserves of Spiritual Power in his Dantian produced no detectable fluctuations.

Even the Demonic Qi was contained, not leaking in the slightest.

This was the fundamental difference in quality between a top-grade and a Middle Grade pill.

’I should see if I can use a spatial rift to return to Liangzhou,’ Li Yuan thought.

「More than half a day later.」

An exit materialized out of thin air on a mountain cliff behind Mist Forest Marketplace, and Li Yuan landed in the dense woods on the outskirts of the market.

’My Spiritual Power consumption was considerable. If I hadn’t left the void to replenish my Spiritual Power midway, I probably wouldn’t have been able to complete the crossing.’

’But that also has to do with how fast I was flying.’

It was afternoon when he walked through the marketplace gates. A scattering of Cultivators moved in and out of shops, and patrol teams made their usual rounds. Everything was as it should be.

When he arrived at the marketplace’s administrative office, Chen Yi was in a side hall, looking through a stack of documents. Seeing Li Yuan enter, he spoke up.

"Li Dao You. Regarding the Spirit Ruins Secret Realm, the Sect has completed the initial cleanup. The Sect has sent a reward for your troubles."

Chen Yi then took a jade box from his storage pouch and placed it on the table.

Li Yuan opened it and took a look. Inside were several dozen Mid-grade Spirit Stones and some Array Materials.

The amount wasn’t huge, but considering he had only managed to set up a single Array before being interrupted, the reward was quite generous.

Li Yuan put away the jade box and paused for a moment. "Does the Sect have any spare Artifact Refining materials? Red Copper Essence, Spirit Silver ingots, Fire Jade Marrow... grade doesn’t matter. I’ll take as much as you have."

Chen Yi nodded. "If the Sect’s inventory is sufficient, it shouldn’t be a problem."

Then, Chen Yi lowered his voice. "News of the Spirit Ruins Secret Realm’s destruction has spread, and the impact is greater than we anticipated."

"There’s a new development over at Skeleton Ridge."

Chen Yi said.

"With the Secret Realm destroyed, the negotiations that were nearing completion naturally fell through. The Sect and the Evil Slaying Sect clashed right on the spot."

Li Yuan nodded but didn’t press for details.

"Even Foundation Establishment Cultivators are talking about it now."

Chen Yi added, "Nearly all the Golden Core Cultivators near Skeleton Ridge have withdrawn. It seems all sides want to avoid accidentally igniting a conflict at this critical juncture. Most of those who remain are Foundation Establishment Cultivators, acting as messengers and intermediaries for their respective powers."

It was a game of chess at the Golden Core Level, yet they were having Foundation Establishment Cultivators run their errands. All sides were trying to control the intensity of the situation.

After reporting on the Skeleton Ridge situation, Chen Yi took a letter from his robes.

"This arrived this morning. The Sect Master had someone deliver it personally."

Li Yuan took it and broke the seal.

The letter was from Zhou Mingyuan, the Sect Master of the Primordial Yang Sect, written in his own hand. The content was brief: The Celestial Peak Sect’s Divinity Transformation Ceremony was scheduled to take place in a few months, and the Primordial Yang Sect, as an affiliated sect in Liangzhou, had received a formal invitation. On behalf of the Sect, Zhou Mingyuan was relaying the news to Li Yuan, enclosing a token for attending the ceremony and a list of suggested congratulatory gifts, leaving the decision to attend up to him.

The token was a palm-sized jade tablet, engraved with the crest of the Celestial Peak Sect on the front and inscribed with the mark of the Primordial Yang Sect on the back.

Li Yuan put away the token and the letter.

’The Divinity Transformation Ceremony. The Celestial Peak Sect’s old ancestor is making his third attempt at Divinity Transformation. I’d already heard people discussing it at the Kunpeng Island auction. It’s a few months away, so there’s still plenty of time.’

After dealing with official business, Li Yuan looked over the marketplace’s recent accounts.

The shop occupancy rate in the expanded Mist Forest Marketplace continued to rise, and the newly built stall area on the outskirts had attracted many itinerant Loose Cultivators to trade. Coupled with the steady supply of Low Tier Spiritual Materials and Spirit Pills from Xu Zhang’s Mingyuan Commerce Association, the marketplace’s revenue had more than doubled in the past few months.

The accounts showed a significant surplus of Spirit Stones.

Li Yuan took most of them, leaving just enough for the marketplace’s daily operations. The auction had cost him a great deal of Spirit Stones, so this would help cover some of the deficit.

「At dusk.」

Li Yuan took a solitary stroll through the marketplace.

Some items he had never seen before had appeared on the market’s shelves.

There was a blue Spirit Grass with a dense, watery aura, a completely transparent, fish-scale-like Spiritual Material, and a few vials of Low Tier Spirit Pills labeled as originating from Shuizhou. The quantities were small, appearing sporadically at a few stalls and shops.

The ultra-long-distance Teleportation Array at Celestial Peak Marketplace connected to the outer islands of Kunpeng. Once the array was in stable operation, materials from Shuizhou could flow into the Liangzhou market through this channel.

His own trading model of buying low and selling high between the marketplaces of Liangzhou, Jingzhou, and Shuizhou would see its profit margins squeezed.

However, the short-term impact would be limited. The Spirit Stone consumption for ultra-long-distance teleportation was extremely high. For now, only small quantities of high-value materials could be circulated through this channel; the transport cost for Low Tier Spiritual Materials far exceeded the profit. The trade of High Tier materials was what would truly be affected.

Li Yuan returned to the main hall and closed the door.

Next, there was a problem to solve.

His Cultivation Technique.

He now needed to practice a Tier Three Spiritual Power Cultivation Technique, and he currently didn’t have a suitable one.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

The top-grade spiritual pill in his body circulated slowly, and his Spiritual Power flowed through his Dantian along the same path it had during Core Formation. The perfect control granted by the permanent "Dan Platform Creation" allowed every wisp of Spiritual Power to be precisely managed.

Li Yuan began to simulate the scene of his Core Formation.

Spiritual Power surged from his Dantian, simulating the characteristic frequency of the moment of Pill Solidification within his meridians. He recreated, bit by bit, that unique fluctuation of Spiritual Power as it went from scattered to condensed, from flowing to solid.

A few breaths later, an extremely dense halo of Spiritual Power emanated from his body. Its frequency and intensity were almost identical to a genuine Core Formation process.

Li Yuan simulated it once more.

This time, he deliberately mixed a small amount of unstable fluctuation into the halo, simulating the process of Spiritual Power going out of control and then being brought back during a breakthrough. It felt even more realistic.

’Enough to pass for the real thing.’

Li Yuan retracted his Spiritual Power and transformed into an Escape Light, heading straight for Celestial Peak Marketplace.

Celestial Peak Marketplace was even larger than it had been a few months ago. A dozen new shops had opened near the Teleportation Array plaza, and the density of people on the streets had clearly increased.

Li Yuan first went to the district that sold manuals and scriptures.

Forging a Lifebound Spiritual Artifact required a Tier Three Artifact Refining Technique, but his current skill was still at Tier Two. The gap was considerable, but with the buffs from traits like "True Myriad Dharma Comprehension" and "Artisan’s Heart," his rate of improvement shouldn’t be slow. The prerequisite was sufficient theoretical knowledge of artifact refining.

Li Yuan spent half a day scouring various shops, collecting over a dozen artifact refining manuals.

In a large shop called the Hundred Weapons Studio, Li Yuan made an important discovery on a bookshelf: a jade slip.

Within a three-foot radius, a green light flared.

The Shopkeeper, an old man at Mid-stage Foundation Establishment, glanced over. "Twenty Mid-grade Spirit Stones will do, Fellow Daoist."

Li Yuan tossed out the Spirit Stones and put away the jade slip.

Back on the street, he found a secluded corner and reached out to touch the jade slip.

[Equippable Item Detected: Comprehensive Analysis of Artifact Principles (Complete)]

[Equippable Trait Preview: Microscopic Insight into Artifact Principles (Green)]

[Effect: Become more sensitive to the attribute compatibility between materials for Magical Artifacts. Greatly increases accuracy when discerning the quality of Spiritual Materials. Allows for better fusion of materials with different attributes during Artifact Refining.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Complete the refining of one hundred Magical Artifacts, or reach Tier Three Middle Grade in Artifact Refining Technique.]

After buying the manuals, Li Yuan headed to the area in Celestial Peak Marketplace with private chambers rented out to Cultivators for seclusion and breakthroughs.

Li Yuan rented one of the highest-grade breakthrough chambers, one that could assist in breaking through to the Golden Core realm.

After paying the fee for thirty days, Li Yuan entered the chamber and closed the door. The internal Array activated automatically, and a pale blue curtain of light isolated the entire chamber from the outside world.

The chamber was small, but the surrounding Spiritual Power was extremely abundant, almost comparable to his own Tier Three Spirit Vein. Various Arrays operated ceaselessly.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged in the chamber, took out all the artifact refining manuals, and spread them on the stone table before him.

His Divine Sense swept across the contents of all dozen or so manuals simultaneously, and a massive amount of artifact refining knowledge flooded his sea of consciousness.

Forging a Lifebound Spiritual Artifact was an extremely vast undertaking.

From selecting, proportioning, and pre-treating the materials, to smelting, forging, inscribing, and quenching—every step had extremely high requirements. A Tier Three Artifact Refining Technique was the minimum threshold, and a large quantity of High Tier Spiritual Materials was also needed.

Li Yuan compared the current state of his known Lifebound Spiritual Artifact embryo with the records in the manuals and drew up a preliminary list of required materials.

The list was very long. It would be unrealistic to gather everything in a short amount of time, but he could work on raising his Artifact Refining Technique level first.

In addition to studying the manuals, Li Yuan also practiced talisman crafting and Alchemy.

He alternated between the three tasks with extreme efficiency.

Every few days, he would deliberately release a simulated spiritual power fluctuation of Core Formation, gradually increasing its intensity from weak to strong.

The days passed peacefully, filled with study and cultivation.