Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Settlement Attacked

Before the sun was up, Li Yuan had already assumed a stance in a cleared space within his room.

The fifth form of the Iron Bull Skill: Iron Bull Spans the River.

This was the final and most difficult form of the entire Cultivation Technique.

Qi Blood had to surge from the Dantian. It needed to rush upward to the crown of his head while simultaneously plunging downward to the soles of his feet. This upward and downward pull would create a complete, vertical channel through his body.

Unlike the first four forms, which only involved specific organs, the fifth form required full-body coordination. The slightest deviation would cause Qi Blood to get blocked at a joint, leading to soreness at best, or a debilitating Qi deviation at worst.

Li Yuan adjusted his breathing, relaxed his shoulders, dropped his elbows, positioned his feet shoulder-width apart, and slowly began to circulate his Qi.

Qi Blood surged from his Dantian, splitting into two streams that pushed upward and downward simultaneously.

The upward stream passed through his chest cavity and throat, rushing straight to the Baihui acupoint at the crown of his head.

The downward stream traveled along his abdominal cavity, passed his hip bones, permeated his legs, and reached the Yongquan acupoints at the soles of his feet.

The two streams of Qi Blood were like two ropes, one pulling up and the other pulling down, stretching his body taut between them.

The [Internal Organ Fortification] trait provided a steady foundation. His organs endured the two-way scouring of his Qi Blood without the slightest discomfort.

Once, twice, three times.

On the third repetition, the upper and lower streams of Qi Blood finally merged back at his Dantian, forming a complete cycle.

It was still a bit rough, but the channel was now open.

Li Yuan ceased the exercise. His legs trembled slightly and a thin layer of sweat broke out on his back, only to be silently and completely eliminated by his [Purified Body] trait.

With a thought, the panel appeared.

[Iron Bull Skill: Proficient (0/400)]

Advancing from beginner to proficient, the progress reset to zero, and the upper limit increased from two hundred to four hundred.

The changes to his body were more intuitive than the numbers.

He clenched his fists; the knuckles were as hard as stone. The muscles in his arms, when flexed, felt a whole size thicker than before.

He hopped on his toes a couple of times and landed steadily. There wasn’t the slightest feeling of looseness in his knees or ankles.

It had taken him about ten days to advance the Iron Bull Skill from beginner to proficient. For a mortal, this would have taken at least a year or two.

However, he still had a long way to go before reaching perfection.

Li Yuan dismissed the panel, unlatched his door, and went out. He began his daily patrol along East Street.

The flow of people in the marketplace was much heavier than last month.

The stalls on both sides of East Street were packed tight. Some vendors had even set up awnings at the alley intersections, squeezing the walkway so much that one had to turn sideways to get through.

After patrolling about half the street, Li Yuan ran into Liu Ping from the patrol team at an intersection in the middle of East Street.

Liu Ping was in his early thirties and at the Qi Refining Third Level. He was usually responsible for patrolling the South Gate and West Street areas. He didn’t talk much, but he was a diligent worker.

Last month’s guard rotation had transferred a large group of people away, leaving the patrol team even more short-staffed. As a result, they had fewer chances to run into each other.

"Deputy Li." Liu Ping clasped his hands in greeting, and Li Yuan returned the gesture.

"Those Talismans from Old Zhang you recommended the other day are pretty good."

Liu Ping patted the bulging cloth bag at his waist. "The old man’s craftsmanship is average, but his prices are great. I bought a bunch."

Li Yuan nodded, and the two walked side-by-side along East Street for a while.

"What’s the situation outside like recently?" Li Yuan asked casually.

Liu Ping shook his head, his expression turning grim.

"Not peaceful. Yesterday when I was on duty at the South Gate, I heard from the guards that last month alone, there were five or six cases of cultivators being robbed and murdered in the outskirts that they knew of."

"And that’s just the number of reported cases. The unreported ones are bound to be even higher."

’Five or six cases.’ Li Yuan frowned slightly.

Last month, the number he’d heard was two or three. It had doubled in just a month.

"And it’s not just those robbers," Liu Ping lowered his voice.

"Word from the guard post is that some are just ordinary Loose Cultivators. They do business normally inside the marketplace, but once they’re outside and find someone alone, they’ll strike just the same."

Li Yuan didn’t break his stride, his gaze sweeping over the diverse faces of the Loose Cultivators at the roadside stalls.

Liu Ping continued, "There’s something else you might not know. The day before yesterday, the Loose Cultivator settlement east of the marketplace was attacked."

Li Yuan’s steps faltered.

He knew about the Loose Cultivator settlement east of the marketplace. It was less than three li from the marketplace gate, a cluster of dozens of wooden huts and shacks. The residents were all Loose Cultivators who made their living around the marketplace.

Although it was outside the marketplace walls, that area was still under the jurisdiction of the guard patrols. The Loose Cultivators living there even had to pay monthly rent to the marketplace.

"Who did it?"

"Not sure." Liu Ping shook his head.

"I heard they struck in the middle of the night. Four or five people came, killed two Loose Cultivators, stole some Spirit Stones and materials, and fled. By the time the guards arrived, they were long gone."

"Two died?"

"One died on the spot. The other was severely injured and didn’t make it either."

Li Yuan didn’t respond, silent for a few breaths.

Attacks on the Loose Cultivator settlements outside the marketplace weren’t unheard of, but they were usually stealthy affairs—thieves swiping a few things when no one was looking. It was rare for them to kill and plunder so brazenly.

Moreover, that settlement was within the guard’s patrol range. For the attackers to dare strike there, they either had no regard for the guards or had figured out their patrol patterns.

Either way, it meant the situation was getting worse.

Among the nearby marketplaces, Qinghe Marketplace was the closest to the Yuanheng Mountain Range.

Therefore, Loose Cultivators entering or leaving the mountains preferred to use it as a hub, which meant its popularity and trade volume were quite good.

But this proximity also meant the security pressure around the marketplace was far greater than at other marketplaces.

Once word of the attack on the settlement spread, Loose Cultivators who had planned to settle here would inevitably hesitate, wondering if they should move to a more distant, safer marketplace.

"There is some good news, though." Liu Ping’s tone relaxed slightly. "Yesterday, I heard from Captain Wang that the Wang family sent a few clansmen over from the main branch."

"Wang family clansmen?"

"That’s right. Not the contracted outsiders, but people from the main Wang family line."

Liu Ping held up a number with his fingers.

"Three of them came, all with Late-stage Qi Refining Cultivation. They went straight into the guard team. I heard the main family felt the situation here at Qinghe Marketplace was getting a bit unstable, so they sent people to oversee things."

The Wang family’s own clansmen and the contracted external Cultivators were two completely different things.

External Cultivators had an employment relationship with the Wang family. They would leave once their term was up, though they could also renew their contracts.

The clansmen were the Wang family’s own people. They practiced better Cultivation Techniques, had more abundant resources, and their combat strength at the same realm was incomparable to that of external Cultivators.

The two parted ways at the end of East Street, each heading off to their respective patrol routes.

Li Yuan glanced at the stalls on both sides of the street. There were many more stalls selling Demon Beast materials than before.

Previously, most vendors on East Street sold conventional items like ores, medicinal herbs, and Talismans.

Now, things were different.

Along just half the street, there were seven or eight stalls selling Demon Beast materials: hides, bones, blood, fangs, and even whole, air-dried small Demon Beasts on display.

Most of these materials came from Tier One Low Grade Demon Beasts, whose strength corresponded to the early stages of a Cultivator’s Qi Refining. There were also a few from Tier One Middle Grade beasts.

Demon Beast activity in the Yuanheng Mountain Range had become more frequent. The number of Tier One Demon Beasts on the outskirts had increased significantly, and so had the harvests of the beast-hunting teams.

On top of that, since Qinghe Marketplace was the closest of the nearby marketplaces to the Yuanheng Mountain Range, many Cultivators coming out of the mountains would come here directly to sell their goods and resupply. Naturally, materials flooded in.

With the increase in supply, prices were driven down.

Li Yuan squatted down in front of a few stalls, casually picking up and weighing a Demon Beast’s spinal bone in his hand. He then felt a grayish-brown hide next to it.

The system panel showed no reaction.

He moved to a few other stalls, examining beast fangs, vials of beast blood, and dried beast meat, but the panel remained silent.

’These Demon Beast materials can’t be equipped.’

Li Yuan put down the item in his hand, stood up, and continued walking.

It wasn’t surprising. Although the range of equippable items was wide, not many met the criteria.

As he patrolled into the middle section of North Alley, Li Yuan saw Old Zhang’s cloth stall from a distance.

As he got closer, he noticed that the number of Fireball Talismans and Ice Cone Talismans was much lower than before, leaving a noticeable empty spot on the stall’s surface.

Old Zhang was currently drawing runes on a blank sheet of yellow paper. The tip of his brush was dipped in cinnabar, and his strokes were slow and deliberate, each one drawn with extreme care.

Li Yuan stopped in front of the stall, not wanting to disturb him.

Old Zhang finished the last stroke, lifted the paper talisman to inspect it, then shook his head and tossed it onto the pile of scrap paper beside him.

"A failure," Old Zhang sighed. Only then did he notice Li Yuan. He quickly stood up and clasped his hands in greeting.

"Li Dao You."

"Old Zhang, you’ve sold quite a few Fireball and Ice Cone Talismans?" Li Yuan gestured to the empty space on the stall.

A wry smile appeared on Old Zhang’s face.

"More people have been buying Combat Talismans lately. My stock sold out in just a couple of days."

"The price went up, I assume?"

"It did." Old Zhang made a gesture with his fingers. "Fireball Talismans used to be two for one Spirit Stone. Now I can sell three for two. The price for Ice Cone Talismans is about the same."

"Unfortunately, the quality of my Talismans is too low. The more expensive ones have seen an even sharper price hike. People are holding onto them as trump cards."

"It’s not that I want to raise prices, but the cost of the medicinal herbs used for talisman-crafting has gone up."

Li Yuan glanced at the pile of scrap paper and said,

"There are a lot more Demon Beast materials on the market, though. And the prices have dropped."

Old Zhang nodded and sighed.

"They have increased. Beast hides can be used to make talisman paper, and the quality of Talismans drawn on them is better than on ordinary yellow paper. If I could use Demon Beast hides to make talisman paper, my costs would drop quite a bit."

Old Zhang patted the yellow paper in front of him and shook his head. "But the method for making talisman paper from Demon Beast hide is different from the method using herbs. I don’t know how."

"Years ago, I saw a Talisman Master use shed snakeskin to draw Talismans. The quality was a whole level above those on yellow paper. I wanted to learn from him back then, but he asked for a tuition fee of twenty Spirit Stones."

"So now, the beast hides are cheap, but I can’t use them. The herbs are expensive, but I have to buy them."

At this, Old Zhang waved his hand dismissively, the meaning clear.

Twenty Spirit Stones was no small sum for Old Zhang.

Li Yuan didn’t press the matter. He chatted with Old Zhang for a few more moments before continuing his patrol.