Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Before dawn, Li Yuan had already set up his stance in the empty space inside the house.

The fifth move of Iron Ox Kung Fu: Iron Ox Across the River.

This is the final move of the entire set of exercises, and also the most difficult one.

Qi and blood need to originate from the dantian, simultaneously rushing upwards to the top of the head and downwards to the soles of the feet, pulling against each other to form a complete vertical pathway within the body.

Unlike the first four movements which only involve local organs, the fifth movement involves the whole body. If there is a slight deviation, the flow of qi and blood will be blocked at a certain joint, resulting in soreness or even a stitch.

Li Yuan adjusted his breathing, relaxed his shoulders and elbows, stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, and slowly channeled his energy.

Qi and blood surged from the dantian, splitting into two streams that simultaneously propelled upwards and downwards.

An upward surge passes through the chest cavity, throat, and rushes straight to the Baihui point on the top of the head.

A downward flow runs along the abdomen, past the hip bone, through both legs, and down to the Yongquan point on the sole of the foot.

The two streams of qi and blood were like two ropes, one pulling upwards and the other pulling downwards, taut over the body in the middle.

The entry on strengthening the internal organs provides a solid foundation, allowing the five internal organs to withstand the dual impact of qi and blood without any discomfort.

Once, twice, three times.

On the third cycle, the two streams of qi and blood finally converged at the dantian, forming a complete cycle.

Although it's still a bit rough around the edges, the pathway has been established.

Li Yuan finished his practice, his legs trembling slightly, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his back, which was then silently eliminated by his cleansing constitution.

With a thought, the panel appeared.

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

From beginner to proficient, progress resets to zero, and the upper limit increases from two hundred to four hundred.

Changes in the body are more intuitive than numbers.

He clenched his fist, the knuckles as hard as stone, and the muscles on his arm were taut and thicker than before.

I hopped on my tiptoes twice and landed firmly with no looseness in my knees or ankles.

It took about ten days for him to go from beginner to proficient in the Iron Ox Kung Fu. For an ordinary person, this speed would take at least one or two years.

However, there is still a long way to go before it is perfect.

Li Yuan put away the panel, unlatched the door, and went out to begin his patrol along East Street.

The number of people in the market has increased significantly compared to last month.

The stalls on both sides of East Street were packed to the brim, and some vendors even set up tents at the intersection of the alley, making the passageway so crowded that you could only walk sideways.

After patrolling half of the street, Li Yuan ran into Liu Ping from the patrol team at a fork in the road in the middle of East Street.

Liu Ping is in his early thirties and has reached the third level of Qi Refining. He is responsible for patrolling the area around the South Gate and West Street. He doesn't talk much, but he is very diligent.

Last month, a large number of guards were transferred out for rotation, leaving the patrol team even smaller and reducing the chances of them meeting.

"Vice Captain Li." Liu Ping cupped his hands in greeting, and Li Yuan returned the gesture.

"The talisman you recommended to Old Zhang the other day was really good."

Liu Ping patted the bulging cloth bag at his waist. "The old man's skills weren't great, but his products were really cheap, so I bought quite a lot."

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

"What's the situation outside lately?" Li Yuan asked casually.

Liu Ping shook his head, his expression somewhat unpleasant.

"Things aren't peaceful. When I was on duty at the south gate yesterday, I heard from the guards that, as far as they knew, there were five or six robbery and murder cases in the outer area last month."

"This is only what has been reported; there are likely many more that haven't been reported."

Five or six started. Li Yuan frowned slightly.

Last month he heard two or three cases, but in just one month the number has doubled.

"And it's not just those cultivators who have undergone tribulations." Liu Ping lowered his voice.

"The news from the guard team is that some of them are ordinary rogue cultivators. They usually do business normally in the market, and if they encounter someone alone outside the market, they will still rob them."

Li Yuan didn't stop walking, his gaze sweeping over the various faces of the independent cultivators at the roadside stalls.

Liu Ping continued, "There's something else you might not know: the area where the scattered cultivators lived east of the market was attacked the day before yesterday."

Li Yuan paused in his steps.

He knew the settlement of independent cultivators on the east side of the market. It was less than three miles from the market gate, with dozens of wooden shacks crammed together, where independent cultivators who made a living around the market lived.

Although it was outside the city walls, that area was always under the patrol and jurisdiction of the guard team, and the independent cultivators living there had to pay rent to the city every month.

"Who did this?"

"I don't know," Liu Ping shook his head.

"I heard it happened in the middle of the night. Four or five people came, killed two rogue cultivators, and ran away after stealing some spirit stones and materials. By the time the guards arrived, they were already gone."

"Two died?"

"One died on the spot, and the other was seriously injured and could not be saved."

Li Yuan didn't respond and remained silent for a few moments.

Attacks on the outskirts of the market town where scattered cultivators gathered were not uncommon, but most of them were sneaky, taking advantage of people's inattention to steal a few things. It was rare for them to kill and rob people outright.

Moreover, that settlement was within the patrol area of ​​the guard team. If the other party dared to make a move there, it meant either they didn't take the guard team seriously or they had figured out the guard team's patrol patterns.

Either way, it indicates that the situation is deteriorating.

Of the several nearby towns, Qinghe Town is the closest to the Yuanheng Mountains.

Therefore, independent cultivators are willing to transit through this place when entering or leaving the mountains, and the market is quite popular with a good volume of transactions.

However, precisely because of its proximity, the security pressure around the market is far greater than that of other markets.

Once news of the attack on the settlement of independent cultivators spreads, those who originally planned to settle there will inevitably hesitate, wondering whether to move to a more distant and safer market.

"There's good news." Liu Ping's tone relaxed a bit. "Yesterday, Captain Wang told me that the Wang family sent several clansmen from the main branch."

"A member of the Wang family?"

"Yes, not the outsiders who signed the contract, but people from the main Wang family."

Liu Ping held up a number.

"Three people have arrived, all at the late stage of Qi Refining. They've joined the guard team. I heard the main family felt the situation in Qinghe Market was a bit off, so they sent people here to oversee things."

The main members of the Wang family and the peripheral cultivators who signed the contract are completely different people.

The outer cultivators have an employment relationship with the Wang family. They leave when their term expires, but they can also renew their contracts.

The members of this family are the Wang family's own people. They have better cultivation techniques, more abundant resources, and their combat power at the same level is incomparable to that of cultivators from the outside.

The two parted ways at the end of East Street, each going about their own patrol routes.

Li Yuan looked at the stalls on both sides and saw that there were many more stalls selling monster materials on the street.

Previously, most of the vendors on East Street sold conventional items such as ores, herbs, and talismans.

It's different now.

There were seven or eight stalls selling monster materials on just half a street: animal hides, bones, blood, teeth, and even whole dried small monsters on display.

Most of these materials come from low-grade first-tier demonic beasts, whose strength corresponds to the early stage of Qi Refining in cultivators, with a small number being mid-grade first-tier beasts.

Monster activity is frequent in the Yuanheng Mountains, and there are many more Tier 1 monsters on the outskirts than before, so the hunting teams' harvests have naturally increased as well.

In addition, Qinghe Market is the closest of the several markets near the Yuanheng Mountains to the mountains, so many cultivators who come out of the mountains will come here directly to ship goods and replenish supplies, and materials naturally flood in.

When supply increases, prices come down.

Li Yuan squatted down in front of several stalls, picked up a piece of a monster's spine and weighed it in his hand, then touched a grayish-brown animal hide next to him.

The system panel is unresponsive.

I tried several different stalls, rummaged through animal teeth, blood vials, and dried animal meat, but the control panel remained completely silent.

These monster materials cannot be used for equipment.

Li Yuan put down what he was holding, got up and continued walking forward.

Not surprising, although the range of equipable items is wide, not many meet the requirements.

When Li Yuan was patrolling the middle section of North Alley, he saw Old Zhang's cloth shed in the distance.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the number of fireball and ice spike talismans was significantly less than before, with a noticeable empty space on the stall.

Old Zhang was sketching runes on a blank sheet of yellow paper. He dipped the tip of his pen in cinnabar and wrote slowly, carefully making each stroke.

Li Yuan stood still in front of the stall, without making a sound to disturb them.

After finishing the last stroke, Old Zhang picked up the talisman, looked at it, shook his head, and casually threw it into the pile of waste paper next to him.

"He's ruined." Old Zhang sighed, then noticed Li Yuan and quickly stood up and clasped his hands in greeting.

"Fellow Daoist Li."

"Old Zhang, you've sold quite a few of these fireball and ice spike talismans?" Li Yuan pointed to the empty space on the stall.

Old Zhang gave a wry smile.

"Recently, there have been more people buying battle talismans, and my few in stock sold out in just a couple of days."

"The price has gone up, hasn't it?"

"The price has gone up." Old Zhang gestured with his fingers. "Fireball talismans used to cost one spirit stone for two, but now three can sell for two. Ice Cone talismans are about the same price."

"It's a pity that my talismans are of too low quality. The price of expensive talismans has increased even more, so I'm keeping them as a trump card."

"It's not that I want the price to go up, it's just that the herbs used for drawing talismans have all gone up in price."

Li Yuan glanced at the pile of waste paper next to him and spoke.

"There are now many more monster materials on the market, and the prices have dropped."

Old Zhang nodded and sighed.

"That's a lot. Animal hides can be used to make talisman paper, which produces talismans of better quality than those drawn on ordinary yellow paper. If we could use demon beast hides to make talisman paper, the cost could be reduced considerably."

Old Zhang patted the yellow paper in front of him and shook his head, saying, "But the method for making talismans from demon beast hides is different from the method for making talismans from herbs. I don't know how."

"Years ago, I saw a talisman master draw talismans using snake skin. The quality was much better than that of yellow paper talismans. I wanted to learn from him, but he asked for twenty spirit stones as tuition."

"Now, animal hides are cheap and we don't need them, but herbs are expensive and we still have to buy them."

Old Zhang waved his hand at this point, the meaning of which was self-evident.

Twenty spirit stones is not a small amount for Lao Zhang.

Li Yuan didn't say anything more. He chatted with Lao Zhang for a couple more minutes before continuing his patrol.