Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

That morning, Li Yuan spread out the last stack of blue-patterned paper and drew three fireball talismans, two of which were finished products and one was a waste.

As he put the talisman pen back on the table, he glanced at the materials on the corner of the table.

The cyan-patterned paper is all used up. There's still a little less than half a bottle of spirit ink left, the cinnabar is almost gone, there are only two gray concealment talismans left, and none of the golden spirit refining talismans have been touched.

The materials won't last until the next batch of supplies arrives.

Li Yuan folded the finished products neatly, left the stone house, and walked towards the west side of the courtyard.

Captain Wang was standing under the wooden shed, flipping through a roster, with He Shou squatting beside him, the two of them checking something.

Li Yuan walked over and waited for He Shou to finish speaking before speaking.

"We're almost out of materials."

Captain Wang raised his head.

"how long?"

"We estimate we'll run out in the next day or two."

Captain Wang nodded and looked at Li Yuan.

"What else do we need?"

Li Yuan gave the numbers: 300 sheets of blue-patterned paper, 8 bottles of general-purpose spirit ink, 2 boxes of cinnabar, 50 sheets of gray paper for the Concealing Breath Talisman, and 2 bottles of dark silver spirit ink.

Captain Wang wrote them down one by one and then beckoned to a guard who was standing nearby.

He handed over the paper in his hand.

"Go to the talisman hall and send a message: talisman-making materials, urgent."

The cultivator responded and quickly walked out of the courtyard gate.

"Send them over together later. Also, see if there's anything else you're missing, and we can get it all together this time."

"Not at the moment."

Captain Wang grunted in agreement and continued flipping through the roster.

After finishing drawing the last batch of talismans and handing them over to He Shou, Li Yuan left the camp.

I had no materials to draw with this afternoon, so I decided to take a stroll around the market.

There were more people on East Street than last time I came. There were almost no empty stalls, and temporary sheds were set up at some alley entrances, with vendors selling herbs, minerals, and groceries all crammed together.

Li Yuan walked slowly along East Street, his fingers occasionally touching the items on the roadside stalls.

Most of them did not react.

Keep going.

In the middle section of East Street, slightly to the north, there is a stall run by independent practitioners that specializes in selling cultivation techniques and spells.

The stall owner was an old man in his fifties. On the coarse cloth in front of him were a dozen or so bamboo scrolls and several thin booklets. Next to each item was a small wooden sign with the name and price written on it.

Li Yuan squatted down, his gaze sweeping from head to tail.

Most of the items are common things: basic methods for circulating spiritual energy, introductory booklets on low-level spells, and a few rudimentary body-refining techniques. Prices range from two or three spirit stones to around ten.

Li Yuan's gaze lingered on a thin booklet for a moment.

The booklet was thin, with a cover wrapped in kraft paper, on which five characters were written in ink: "Qingling Jingti Technique".

The price was written on the wooden sign next to it: five spirit stones.

Li Yuan reached out, picked it up, and flipped through it.

The first few pages are the general outline of the exercise.

The Cleansing and Purification Technique is a healing spell, but it differs from ordinary healing spells. Its core function is to remove foreign spiritual energy from the body.

This spell can be used to alleviate injuries caused by the evil aura of evil cultivators, the poisonous spiritual power of poisonous beasts, or the disordered spiritual power caused by taking conflicting pills.

Its therapeutic effect on external injuries is very limited; it only incidentally enhances the cultivator's own recovery ability while clearing away foreign spiritual energy.

Li Yuan turned to the next few pages, which contained specific cultivation methods and spiritual energy circulation routes.

The spells are not complicated and the entry barrier is not high.

He closed the booklet, his fingertips resting on the cover.

The panel popped up.

[Equipable item detected]

[Item Attribute Level: White]

[Note: Items not belonging to the user cannot be equipped, and detailed information cannot be viewed.]

White entries.

Li Yuan put the booklet back on the stall.

"This one, five yuan?"

The stall owner opened his eyes and glanced at the booklet that Li Yuan was pointing to.

Five pieces.

Li Yuan took out five spirit stones from his sleeve and placed them on the cloth.

The stall owner tucked the spirit stones into his sleeve and lowered his head to continue dozing.

Li Yuan put the booklet into his storage bag, got up and continued walking along East Street.

As I turned the corner at the north alley, a person walked towards me.

The steps were slow, but the landings were very steady.

He wore a long blue robe, exuded a calm and reserved aura, and his short beard had grown longer than before he left.

Wang De.

Wang De also saw him and stopped.

The two stopped at the alley entrance.

Wang De looked thinner than when we last met, his cheekbones were more defined, and his eye sockets were deeper. But his gaze remained unchanged, still that calm and composed demeanor.

His aura remained at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Wang De spoke directly to the matter at hand without any pleasantries.

"The situation has changed."

Li Yuan looked at him.

"The Yuanyang Sect has stepped in to exert pressure again."

Wang De lowered his voice slightly. "It's not about favoring either side, it's about suppressing both. No large-scale fighting, no use of combat power above Foundation Establishment, and no fighting within the market. Anyone who violates the rules will be dealt with directly by the Yuan Yang Sect."

"Of course, the guards don't count as taking action in the market, so you have to be careful."

He paused.

"Neither the Wang family nor the Li family dares to openly confront us. So now it has become a war of attrition."

"How is it consumed?"

"Small groups will wear each other down." Wang De traced a line on the wall with his finger. "You send three or five men to harass us, I'll send three or five men to intercept them. We'll clash every now and then, a few will die or get injured, and neither side will gain a significant advantage."

He withdrew his hand.

"What's being consumed are manpower, resources, and spirit stones. Whoever can't hold on any longer will have to give in."

Li Yuan hummed in agreement.

No wonder the guards are consuming so many talismans. It's not a large-scale battle, but a continuous series of small-scale battles. Every patrol, every skirmish on the outskirts, requires the use of talismans and pills.

Wang De said another thing.

"The Wang family has a slightly stronger foundation than the Li family, but not by much. I wonder if the Li family has any other powerful backers."

He glanced at Li Yuan.

"You're a rune master in the guard team, which is roughly a rear-line position. But if a war of attrition drags on, even the rear isn't necessarily safe. Be careful."

After saying that, Wang De nodded to Li Yuan, then turned and walked deeper into the North Alley.

Li Yuan watched his figure disappear around the corner of the alley, stood there for a couple of breaths, then turned and walked towards the camp.

A war of attrition.

With Yuan Yang Sect exerting pressure, neither side dares to truly break ties, but they won't stop fighting either. This situation could last for a long time.

For Li Yuan, the most direct impact is that the number of talisman-making tasks will not decrease, but will only increase.

Back at his residence, Li Yuan closed the door.

He took the booklet on the Cleansing and Purifying Technique from his storage bag and placed it on the table.

Fingertips touch the cover.

[Equipable item detected: Cleansing and Purification Technique (Complete)]

[Entry Preview: Resistance to Extraterrestrial Forces (White) - Increases the body's resistance to extraterrestrial spiritual forces by 30%]

[Preview of Permanentization Requirements: Reach the entry level in one of the five elemental spells]

[Current equipment slots are full (5/5). Replace current equipment?]

White entry: Resistance to alien forces.

Resistance to heterogeneous spiritual energy is increased by 30%. When corroded by poisonous or conflicting spiritual energy, the body's tolerance is 30% higher than that of an ordinary person.

The condition for permanent attainment is to master one spell from each of the five elements. This means learning one spell from each of the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) and practicing it to the basics.

He has already mastered several fire-based spells.

There are currently no Wood-type, no Metal-type, and no Earth-type.

I'm not sure if the water-based Ice Spike spell counts. If it doesn't, then we're still missing four spells.

Not urgent.

Don't equip this skill for now; learn the spell itself first.

Li Yuan opened the booklet and began reading from the general outline.

The spiritual energy circulation path of the Cleansing and Purification Technique is not complicated. The core is to harmonize one's own spiritual energy into a "purified state" and then pour it into the tainted parts to strip away the foreign spiritual energy.

Li Yuan sat down cross-legged and tried to operate the device according to the route in the booklet.

With his current cultivation level of the seventh level of Qi Refining, Li Yuanxue learned this skill very quickly.

The spiritual energy was drawn from the dantian and traveled halfway around along a special meridian path.

On the first attempt, the flow of spiritual energy was not smooth in two places, getting stuck at the bends in the meridians.

Li Yuan adjusted his angle and started walking again.

The second time was smoother than the first.

The third and fourth time.

By the fifth time, the spiritual energy was flowing smoothly along the purification path.

The panel popped up.

[Spell: Cleansing and Purification - Beginner (0/200)]

I've gotten the hang of it.

Li Yuan closed the booklet and put it into his storage bag.

After mastering the basics of healing techniques, he did not continue practicing.

The core function of this spell is to eliminate foreign spiritual energy, and its healing effect on external injuries is limited. Reaching the beginner level is sufficient; further advancement offers little benefit and is not worth spending too much time on.

The condition for making the Heart-Locking Talisman permanent is to master a healing spell. Although the Cleansing and Purifying Technique can be considered a healing spell, it is still a long way from being mastered.

We'll talk about it another time.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on the bed and began to circulate the Spirit Guiding Technique.

Spiritual energy surged into the body, the pure spiritual power eliminating impurities, and the spiritual power condensed and sank into the dantian. The spiritual energy reflux continued to operate in the dark, and the spiritual power consumed in making talismans during the day was slowly being restored.

The sky outside the window darkened, and the cultivators on night duty at the camp began to change shifts.

A few barks came from the direction of the distant market, intermittent, disappearing into the night along with the faint light of the spirit lamp.