Chapter 355 - 344: Permanent Demon Pattern Body Protection

Chapter 355: Chapter 344: Permanent Demon Pattern Body Protection

After returning to his stone house, Li Yuan resumed his cultivation.

Although he was feigning a serious injury, it had a negligible effect on his powerful physical body.

「Two hours later.」

A knock came from outside the stone house.

Li Yuan suppressed his aura, making his face appear somewhat pale before speaking.

"Come in."

Chen Yi pushed the door open and entered. Upon seeing the churning, blood-colored medicinal liquid in the wooden tub and Li Yuan’s weakened expression, his brows furrowed tightly.

"How are your injuries?" Chen Yi walked to the side of the tub and glanced down.

"I’ll live. Those three Demon Cultivators were like rabid dogs." Li Yuan’s voice was hoarse. "Their leader was at the Late-stage Foundation Establishment. I had to take one of his killing blows head-on to kill him with the Array."

Chen Yi pulled over a chair, sat down, and sighed.

"You’ve performed a great service this time, taking down three Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators at once."

Li Yuan leaned against the wall of the tub.

"Why have the Demon Cultivators been acting so crazy lately?"

"They’re looking for something." Chen Yi lowered his voice. "It’s not just the Mist Forest Marketplace; several other border strongholds have also been attacked recently. Members of the Dark Abyss Association and the Evil Slaying Sect are scouring everywhere for specific materials. According to the Sect’s intelligence, they are searching for a method for Demon Cultivators to achieve Core Formation."

A thought stirred in Li Yuan’s mind.

"What’s the difference between Core Formation for a Demon Cultivator and a proper cultivator?"

Chen Yi didn’t hide this common knowledge and explained, "Demon Cultivators cultivate Demonic Qi, so they naturally form a Demon Pill. But whether it’s a Demon Pill or a Golden Core, their core structures are fundamentally similar. Both involve compressing and condensing one’s entire cultivation into a solid energy core."

He shook his head, picked up the teapot on the table, and poured a cup of water.

"However, Demonic Qi itself is violent and difficult to control, making it extremely dangerous for Core Formation. In contrast, Spiritual Qi Core Formation has been passed down since ancient times; there’s a clear path to follow, and it’s much more stable. That’s why most Demon Cultivators with any sense also supplement their training with a Spiritual Qi Cultivation Technique. When it’s actually time for Core Formation, they are more inclined to use Spiritual Qi and follow the path of Spiritual Power Core Formation."

Hearing this, Li Yuan couldn’t help but ask another question.

"Then is it possible to form two cores? To form a Spirit Pill and a Demon Pill at the same time?"

Chen Yi looked as if he had just heard a joke and shook his head immediately.

"Absolutely impossible."

He set down his teacup, his expression turning serious.

"Core Formation isn’t a simple compression of Spiritual Power. A Golden Core is the product of the ’three treasures’—Essence, Qi, and Spirit—fused into one. A cultivator’s physical foundation, total Spiritual Power, and the will of their Divine Soul must all be perfectly integrated at the moment of breakthrough. Everything must be thrown into the process to form a single core."

"A cultivator only has one set of Essence, Qi, and Spirit. There isn’t a second set to form a second core. Forcibly splitting them would mean failing at both, resulting in immediate and violent death."

Li Yuan silently committed this to memory.

’Essence, Qi, and Spirit, all fused into one.’

’This aligns perfectly with my current path of accumulating foundations. The Body Refining is Essence, the Spiritual Power in my Dantian is Qi, and my five Divine Sense Lines are Spirit. Every step I’ve taken has been the ultimate preparation for this trifecta.’

Chen Yi spoke with Li Yuan for a little longer, telling him to focus on his recovery, then stood up and left the stone house.

The door closed tightly once more.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and sank his full attention into his body.

「One hour later.」

The panel appeared.

[Demon Essence Skill: Minor Achievement (0/800)]

Li Yuan stood up from the wooden tub, water droplets sliding down his firm muscles.

With his Demon Essence Skill reaching Minor Achievement, the amount and purity of the Demonic Qi inside him increased. He took the black, restricted box he had seized last night from his storage pouch and placed it on the table.

The complex Demon Patterns on the box still flickered with a dangerous light.

’My Demonic Qi cultivation has also reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.’

Li Yuan changed into a clean Daoist robe, took the box, and left, heading first to the southern district to find Ji Huaiyuan.

Ji Huaiyuan studied the box for the time it takes half an incense stick to burn before finally shaking his head in resignation.

"The self-destruct Restriction on this is extremely vicious and encrypted with High Tier Demonic Qi. If I try to force it open, a single mistake on any node will cause the contents and the box to turn to ash."

Li Yuan didn’t linger. He turned and went to find Zhou Yuan.

When Zhou Yuan saw the Restriction on the box, he too shook his head.

"Pavilion Master Li, this is no small feat. It’s a chain lock set up by a master of Demon Dao Arrays." Zhou Yuan wiped sweat from his brow. "I can’t solve its core circuit. But if you insist on trying, Pavilion Master Li, I do have a brute-force method."

Zhou Yuan took out a blank jade slip, inscribed a Spell into it, and handed it to Li Yuan.

"This is an exhaustive stripping method. It can’t unlock the Restriction directly, but it can help you test the reaction of each Demonic Qi circuit. As long as you control your Spiritual Power carefully and cut it off the instant you detect a detonation tendency, you can avoid triggering the self-destruct mechanism."

Li Yuan accepted the jade slip.

With this trial-and-error safety net, combined with the Demonic Qi encoding frequencies he had intercepted earlier, opening the box was only a matter of time.

After leaving Zhou Yuan’s residence, Li Yuan went straight out of the marketplace.

He patrolled the area around the marketplace, clearing out a few scattered Tier One Demon Beasts. After confirming there were no signs of other lurking Demon Cultivators, he plunged deep into the Ghost Mist Forest.

He needed to speed up the process of making his traits permanent.

After traveling more than thirty li through the Ghost Mist Forest, the edge of his Dark Evil Insight’s sensory web suddenly detected an extremely aggressive Water Attribute Spiritual Wave.

Li Yuan used Concealment and approached silently.

By a deep pool in the forest lay a giant toad the size of a calf. Its back was covered in blue, poisonous tumors, and each breath it took condensed a cold, white mist in the surrounding air.

A Tier Two Low Grade Demon Beast, the Cold Frost Green Toad.

This was a Demon Beast that relied heavily on Water Magic attacks. Its close-combat ability was relatively weak, but the Frost Water Arrows it spat had extremely high piercing power.

This was exactly what Li Yuan wanted.

He dropped his Concealment and strode out from the woods.

The Cold Frost Green Toad’s bulging, yellow vertical pupils instantly locked onto Li Yuan. It threw open its massive maw, and an ice-blue water arrow, as thick as an adult’s arm, shot out like a bolt from a crossbow, tearing through the air straight for Li Yuan’s chest.

Li Yuan stood his ground, neither dodging nor evading.

The moment the water arrow reached him, a dark purple Demon Pattern shield erupted into existence around his body.

BAM.

The water arrow slammed heavily into the Demon Pattern shield, exploding into a shower of ice shards.

The shield merely rippled once. It didn’t even waver.

The strength of the Demon Pattern shield was directly correlated with the host’s physical strength. Li Yuan currently possessed multiple Body Refining traits, such as Iron Bones Golden Body and Medicine-Refined True Physique, making his body unbelievably tough. The shield activated by the round shield on his body was far harder than its original design limit.

Seeing its attack had failed, the Cold Frost Green Toad’s abdomen bulged violently as it let out a deep croak.

More than ten water arrows condensed in mid-air simultaneously, blanketing the sky as they shot toward Li Yuan.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The dense barrage of water arrows continuously struck the shield, creating a series of dull thuds.

The light of the Demon Pattern shield began to dim rapidly. After all, these were just attacks from a Tier Two Low Grade Demon Beast, but there were too many of them, continuously draining the shield’s energy.

The twentieth.

The twenty-fifth.

When the twenty-ninth water arrow shattered the Demon Pattern shield and the final one shot toward his throat, Li Yuan raised his right hand and crushed the icy projectile.

The panel immediately appeared.

[Demon Pattern Aegis (Green) Permanence Condition Met]

[Withstand 30 or more Magic attacks within one month (Met)]

[Demon Pattern Aegis (Green) has become a permanent trait.]

In his equipment slot, the phantom image of the Demon Pattern Round Shield instantly vanished, freeing up the space.

Li Yuan felt the new layer of invisible Demon Patterns on his body that would automatically activate upon receiving a Magic attack, and the corner of his mouth twitched into a slight smile.

He gave the Cold Frost Green Toad no more chances to spit.

With a push of his feet, he shot forward like a cannonball. A dazzling, crimson light gathered in his right hand, doubly empowered by the Flame Evil Spiritual Essence and Spirit-Breaking Sharp Blade.

He threw a punch.

The water curtain shield the Cold Frost Green Toad hastily erected was torn apart like thin paper. His fist, carrying a violent, fiery Evil Qi, landed squarely on its head.

With the sound of a skull shattering, the giant toad’s massive body was smashed deep into the mud pool, falling silent.

Then, Li Yuan took out the Blood Essence Array Hub.

[Equippable Item Detected: Blood Essence Array Hub (Complete)]

[Equipment Trait Preview: Blood Essence Condensation (Blue)]

[Effect: Can refine blood into blood essence.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Cumulatively kill five different types of Tier Two Demon Beasts (Met)]

Li Yuan’s gaze fell on the panel. After confirming the conditions were correct, he willed it.

[Equipped: Blood Essence Array Hub (Complete)]

[Blood Essence Condensation (Blue) has become a permanent trait.]

The phantom of the Blood Essence Array Hub slowly materialized in the equipment slot, then transformed into a stream of dark red light mixed with pale blue that flowed into his body. The slot it had occupied became vacant again.

The moment the trait became permanent, Li Yuan could clearly feel his Spiritual Power’s ability to discern the source of blood had increased dramatically. From now on, whether it was the blood of a Demon Beast or a cultivator, as long as the quality was high enough, he could use his Spiritual Power to further purify and condense it into true blood essence.

Li Yuan retracted his fist and casually harvested the materials from the corpse.

For the next half-hour, Li Yuan didn’t go any deeper, instead sweeping wildly through the surrounding area.

He alternated between the Fireball Technique and Evil Qi Needle.

A Tier One Middle Grade Wind Wolf, a Tier One Top Grade Poisonous Python, a Tier One Middle Grade Iron Armor Pig.

As a Wind Wolf was reduced to charcoal in a blaze of fire, the panel popped up again.

[Flame Evil Spiritual Essence (Green) Permanence Condition Met]

[Kill 30 Tier One Middle Grade or higher Demon Beasts using Fire Element or Evil Element Magic (Met)]

[Flame Evil Spiritual Essence (Green) has become a permanent trait.]

In the equipment slot, the phantom of the Flame Evil Spirit Stone vanished.

Two slots were now completely free.

After the Flame Evil Spiritual Essence became permanent, the thin film covering the inner walls of his meridians completely merged into his flesh and blood. Li Yuan could clearly feel the Fire Element and Evil Element Spiritual Qi from the environment gathering in his body at an extremely fast rate.

His cultivation efficiency had increased once again.

Satisfied with the progress on two of his traits, Li Yuan left the Ghost Mist Forest and returned to the marketplace.

However, as he entered the Mist Forest Marketplace through the southern gate, the sight before him made him pause.

After being gone for only a day, the population density of the marketplace had risen considerably.

Along both sides of the once-spacious main street, there were now many more cultivators sitting on the ground, as well as some wearing uniforms.

Under the harassment of the Demon Cultivators, various small factions and broken families had been forced to abandon their original strongholds and were all flocking to this border marketplace, which could still offer them a sliver of protection.

Li Yuan moved through the crowd and returned to his stone house.