Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Chapter 118: Chapter 114: Evil Qi Cultivation (Part 2)

The dark-gold Spiritual Ink poured out from the jade bottle. The ink itself was warm, and as he dipped the brush tip, he could feel the Spiritual Power circulating within.

This was the first time Li Yuan had handled Tier One Top Grade talisman-making materials.

The difference from Tier One Low Grade wasn’t just quality; the required control over Spiritual Power was on a completely different level.

Li Yuan dipped the brush and brought it to the paper.

The core Spirit Pattern of the Mind-Refining Talisman was called the Concentration Pattern, which traced a precise, spiral circuit. As the Spiritual Power flowed from the brush tip, it had to form an inwardly contracting spiral on the talisman paper. With each revolution, the spacing decreased while the density of the Spiritual Power increased.

The first circle was fine. The Spiritual Power spread out, and the beginning of the spiral was not much different from drawing an ordinary Spirit Pattern, the only difference being the path was an arc instead of a straight line.

A problem arose on the second circle.

The spacing of the spiral had to start decreasing. The arc of the second circle was nearly thirty percent shorter than the first, meaning the brush tip had to achieve the same Spiritual Power distribution over a shorter distance, so the Spiritual Power density had to be increased.

Halfway through the turn of his wrist, the density of his Spiritual Power couldn’t keep up.

The Spirit Pattern of the second circle was spread too thinly, creating a noticeable gap between it and the first. The flow of Spiritual Power broke at the gap, and the entire Concentration Pattern immediately fell apart.

The Spirit Pattern on the golden talisman paper dimmed. The paper’s surface emitted a faint SIZZLE, and its edge curled up with a trace of a scorch mark.

Ruined.

Li Yuan peeled the ruined talisman off, set it aside, and laid out a second sheet.

This time, he intentionally increased the Spiritual Power for the second circle a bit more. But he overdid it—the Spiritual Power was too heavy. The Spirit Pattern of the second circle pressed against the first, the lines overlapping. The Spiritual Power interfered with itself at the point of overlap, and a small wisp of gray smoke rose from the talisman paper.

Ruined again.

The third sheet, the fourth sheet.

Each one failed at a different point. Some had problems on the second circle. Others barely made it to the third, but by the fourth—where the spacing had shrunk to a minimum and the Spiritual Power density needed to be nearly double that of the first three circles—the coordination between his wrist and his Spiritual Power completely failed.

Four golden talisman papers, all ruined.

Li Yuan put down his talisman brush, looking at the four scorched, ruined talismans on the table.

The gap between Tier One Top Grade and Tier One Low Grade was even greater than he had estimated.

It wasn’t a lack of skill, but a lack of precision in his Spiritual Power control. The spiral circuit of the Concentration Pattern demanded extremely precise changes in Spiritual Power density. Each circle required precise adjustments, and his current level of control couldn’t achieve such continuous, incremental precision.

’It couldn’t be rushed.’

Li Yuan put the remaining materials for the Mind-Refining Talisman back into his storage bag, unwilling to waste any more.

But as he drew those failed talismans, Li Yuan had noticed something.

When drawing the Concentration Pattern, every link in the chain of conduction—from fingertip to brush tip to the paper’s surface—demanded extremely fine control. Although all four attempts were failures, in the process of drawing them, his perception of every detail of this Spiritual Power conduction had become clearer.

Talisman-making itself was a form of training for Spiritual Power control.

With every stroke, Spiritual Power was drawn from his Dantian, flowed along the meridians to his arm, passed through his fingertips into the brush, and was infused from the tip into the talisman paper. The more he traveled this path, the more refined his control became.

This was especially true for Tier One Top Grade Spirit Patterns, which had far higher control requirements than Tier One Low Grade ones. Even if he failed, the process itself honed the precision of his Spiritual Power control.

Compared to deliberately practicing Spiritual Power control, talisman-making was a more efficient method because it provided clear feedback: success was success, and failure showed you exactly where your precision was lacking.

Li Yuan cleaned his desk, left the small house, and walked toward the mine.

The depths of the mine had changed again since he was last there.

The main tunnel had been extended by about a hundred feet, and a new cavern had been chiseled out at its end. Someone had replaced a few of the glowstones on the walls, making it a bit brighter than before.

The concentration of Evil Qi in the air was noticeably higher than before.

The secluded side tunnel from before was still there, but Li Yuan continued deeper, finding a spot to sit down at the edge of the newly chiseled cavern.

Wisps of Evil Qi seeped up from the crevices in the rock beneath his feet. The concentration here was nearly double that in the side tunnel.

Li Yuan sat down cross-legged and took the Iron Bull Skill manual out of his storage bag.

He didn’t immediately begin practicing, but simply opened the manual and read through it once.

His Iron Bull Skill had been stuck at the Mastery stage for a long time.

He had been focusing on advancing his Nourishing Essence Skill and Microelement Meridian Introduction Skill, so the Iron Bull Skill had been set aside.

Cultivation at the Mastery stage required a continuous scouring of the internal organs with Qi Blood to increase their resilience, and progress had been very slow.

But things were different now.

Now that his Nourishing Essence Skill had reached completion, his Qi Blood circulated ceaselessly on its own, continuously nourishing his muscles, fascia, and internal organs. Combined with the stacking effects from multiple permanent traits—like Evil Qi Body Tempering, Iron Membrane Protection, and Meridian Expansion—his physical constitution was more than a level stronger than it had been in the early Mastery stage.

His organs’ endurance had increased, his total Qi Blood had increased, so the efficiency of the scouring would naturally increase as well.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and activated the Iron Bull Skill.

He drew Qi Blood from his Dantian, not through the conventional routes of the meridians, but along the unique path of the Iron Bull Skill, channeling it directly into his internal organs.

Liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—scoured in sequence.

Simultaneously, he drew the Evil Qi into his body.

The Evil Qi from the mine’s depths seeped up from below, drilled through his pores into his skin, and was then guided by the Evil Qi Body Tempering trait to permeate his fascia and the areas around his internal organs.

The Qi Blood and the Evil Qi acted on his internal organs simultaneously.

The Qi Blood scoured from within, while the Evil Qi squeezed from without. With these two forces—one pushing in, one pulling back—his internal organs were repeatedly kneaded, their resilience increasing at a visible rate.

The progress of his Iron Bull Skill began to climb.

[Cultivation Technique: Iron Bull Skill - Mastery (387/800)]

’A significant jump.’ He had been stuck at the Mastery stage for so long, the value hovering around 300. Now, it had shot up by dozens of points in one go.

Li Yuan continued to circulate the technique.

A third time, a fourth, a fifth.

The amount of improvement decreased with each cycle, but the total was still considerable. The dual scouring of Evil Qi and Qi Blood continued to increase the resilience of his organs, pushing the progress of his Iron Bull Skill to just over four hundred.

But by the sixth cycle, the changes began to slow.

It wasn’t an issue with his Qi Blood, but with the Evil Qi.

Using the same concentration of Evil Qi, the first scour was the most effective. The effect was reduced by twenty percent on the second, and then decreased again on the third. By the sixth cycle, he could barely feel any pressure when the Evil Qi permeated his organs.

His body was adapting; his constitution was growing stronger.

The stimulation from the same intensity of Evil Qi was diminishing, so the tempering effect naturally weakened as well.

It was like toughening your skin by taking a beating. At first, one slap would leave a red, swollen mark. But after being slapped every day, the same amount of force no longer hurt. To keep training, you had to hit harder.

Li Yuan opened his eyes and looked around.

The Evil Qi concentration in these depths was the highest he could find. Any deeper, and the rock hadn’t been excavated yet; he couldn’t pass.

’Unless I can find a source of even denser Evil Qi.’

Li Yuan didn’t dwell on it. He temporarily set aside the Iron Bull Skill and switched back to the Spirit-Introducing Skill to continue cultivating his Spiritual Power.

After cultivating in the mine for another four hours, Li Yuan finally got up and walked out.

By the time he left the mine, the sky was completely dark.

A dim, yellow oil lamp was lit near the small house, where Sun Liang was squatting by the door, gnawing on dry rations. When he saw Li Yuan walking back from the direction of the mine, he raised the piece of jerky in his hand.

"Deputy Li, you were in there all day?"

"Yeah."

Li Yuan walked over and sat down on a nearby rock.

From a distant mountain hollow, the intermittent, low roars of one or two Demon Beasts could be heard.