Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

That morning, Li Yuan went out to the gathering area of ​​independent cultivators to replenish a batch of spirit ink.

As I walked south along the main street, there were more patrols than usual.

At this time of day, you might only encounter a patrol team every three to five hundred paces along the main street. They would walk in pairs, stopping and starting at a leisurely pace.

Today, on the way from the courtyard gate to the gathering area of ​​independent cultivators, Li Yuan encountered four groups of two people each. They walked faster than usual, their eyes scanning the passing cultivators.

They were all outer disciples of the Yuanyang Sect, wearing gray-white Taoist robes and standard tokens at their waists.

Li Yuan didn't look at it much and continued walking forward.

The entrance to the gathering area for independent cultivators was a bit more lively than usual. Seven or eight independent cultivators were gathered outside the stone railing, some squatting and some standing, talking in loud voices.

As Li Yuan approached, he overheard a short, stout rogue cultivator in the middle speaking.

"...The old ancestor of the Li family went to the Yuanyang Sect."

A rogue cultivator with a short beard standing nearby paused, momentarily stunned. "The Li family patriarch? Which patriarch?"

"Who else could it be?" The short, stout rogue cultivator lowered his voice, but didn't try to hide it. "The oldest one. The one who never shows his face. He flew over there himself a couple of days ago."

"Flew there? How do you know?" The short-bearded hermit frowned.

The short, stout rogue cultivator pointed eastward. "A fellow villager of mine farms at the foot of Yuanyang Mountain. That evening, while he was working in the field, a sudden gust of wind swept overhead. Looking up, he saw a person riding on spiritual light flying from the south, heading straight for the mountaintop."

Another older rogue cultivator, around fifty years old, with a sallow complexion, approached from the side.

"Who cares what he does? What does Foundation Establishment have to do with us?"

"That's true." The short-bearded rogue rubbed his chin and glanced towards the main street. "But there must be a reason why there are so many more patrol officers."

"Who knows?" The sallow-faced rogue cultivator shook his head and turned to leave.

The short, stout rogue cultivator muttered a few more words, and the crowd gradually dispersed.

Li Yuan walked past without stopping.

The patriarch of the Li family personally went to the Yuanyang Sect. Whatever his purpose, it was no small matter.

However, it has little to do with me directly.

Li Yuan entered the area where rogue cultivators gathered, bought spirit ink and a batch of cinnabar, and also bought two gray-maned badger pelts from an animal skin stall. He then returned to his courtyard to continue making talismans.

The table is laid out, and the brush is dipped in ink to begin writing.

Fireball talisman.

The six spiritual runes were drawn in one smooth stroke from beginning to end. A crimson luster rose from the surface of the rune, calm and restrained.

By the time I got to the fifth drawing, a subtle change occurred in the feel of my hand.

It didn't suddenly get better; it just became something I no longer needed to care about.

Before, there was still a string in my mind when I made each stroke. Whether the direction of spiritual energy was correct, whether the density was sufficient, and where the starting point of the next pattern was—these judgments had become instinctive reactions at the minor and major mastery stages, but the instinctive reactions themselves still occupied a trace of attention.

Now not a trace remains.

While drawing, the mind can be completely blank. Spiritual energy, runes, and the core of the rune converge, the entire process seems to be engraved in the bones, completed directly by muscles and meridians without going through the brain.

After the fifth drawing was completed, the crimson glow on the surface of the talisman was a layer deeper than that of the previous four.

The panel popped up.

【Talisman: Fireball Talisman - Mastery (0/3200)】

Great success.

Li Yuan picked up the fireball talisman and looked at it twice.

The precision of the runes is even higher than before. The distribution of spiritual energy in each rune is extremely even, and the leakage during convergence is reduced to almost zero. Using the same materials, the finished product has nearly 10% higher spiritual energy density than before.

Li Yuan folded the finished product and continued drawing.

By the end of the morning, the finished products on the corner of the table had piled up into a thick stack.

As Li Yuan put down the talisman brush, he glanced at the remaining materials for refining spirit talismans in his storage bag.

There are only two golden talismans left. The dark gold spirit ink is less than half full. The spirit-guiding sand and soul-stabilizing powder are also almost gone.

These are all leftover materials saved from Master He Dan. After they're used up, if you want to continue drawing Refining Divine Talismans, you'll have to spend your own spirit stones to buy the materials.

The price of a first-tier superior talisman crafting material is completely different from that of a first-tier inferior one.

A single sheet of golden talisman paper costs eight spirit stones. A bottle of dark gold spirit ink costs thirty spirit stones. The spirit-guiding sand and soul-stabilizing powder add up to another expense. In total, the material cost for drawing one spirit-refining talisman is approximately fifteen spirit stones.

Moreover, these materials cannot be made at home.

My current talisman-making skills can only process first-tier low-grade animal hides. First-tier low-grade animal hides have coarse fibers and poor spiritual energy permeability, so the talisman-making materials made from them are only suitable for drawing first-tier low-grade talismans.

To make a top-tier first-grade talisman paper, the talisman skin making skill itself needs to be improved to a corresponding level. Currently, I'm still far from that.

Don't rush to purchase large quantities of materials for refining divine talismans.

As evening fell, Li Yuan divided the talismans he had drawn during the day into two sets.

A copy was taken to the main street to be sold.

The other copy was taken to Ziyuan Trading Company.

Ziyuan Trading Company was located in the north-central part of the main street. It was a two-story stone building with a storefront larger than that of ordinary shops, and its signboard was decorated with gold lettering. Li Yuan had sold talismans here a few times before, and the Refining Spirit Talisman sold very well at this shop.

Push the door open and go inside.

Behind the counter sat the shop owner, Manager Han, a lean man in his fifties, who was looking through an account book.

Next to the counter was a low table, where a boy of about sixteen or seventeen sat, holding a talisman pen in his hand, drawing something on a piece of blue patterned paper.

The boy's technique was clumsy. The spiritual energy seeped from the tip of his pen and became uncontrollable on the paper. The spiritual energy dissipated in the middle of the fire-gathering pattern, overflowing from the edges of the pattern and spreading into a blob.

The boy picked up the discarded talismans and threw them into the bamboo basket at his feet. There were already seven or eight discarded talismans lying in the basket.

Manager Han heard the door open, looked up, saw Li Yuan, and closed the ledger.

"Fellow Daoist Li."

Li Yuan placed the talisman on the counter.

As usual, Manager Han picked out two talismans and looked them over. He pressed his fingers on the talisman and then nodded.

"The quality remains consistent."

He folded the talismans, moved the abacus a couple of times, and gave a number.

After stacking the spirit stones and pushing them over, Li Yuan put them into his storage bag.

Just as they were about to leave, Manager Han came out from behind the counter.

"Fellow Daoist Li, please have a seat? There's something I'd like to discuss."

He waved towards the tea table inside.

Li Yuan glanced at him, then walked over and sat down at the tea table.

Manager Han poured two cups of tea, pushed one cup in front of Li Yuan, and took a sip from the other cup himself.

"You've been selling talismans to me for a while now," Shopkeeper Han said, putting down his teacup. "I know your talismans are among the best in the entire Yunyang Market."

He got straight to the point.

"I want to establish a long-term partnership with you."

"What are the conditions?"

"Two different things." Manager Han held up two fingers.

"First, ensure a stable supply. Supply at least one batch every two weeks, with no restrictions on type; supply whatever is available, and the more the better. There's no fixed quantity, but the supply cannot be interrupted."

The second finger.

"Secondly, the purchase price will increase. Based on the current price, the price of each low-grade first-tier talisman will increase by 10%. The price of a Spirit Refining Talisman will increase by 15%."

The price will increase by 10%.

The price of Fireball Talismans rose from just over three yuan to around three and a half yuan, while Rejuvenation Talismans rose from three and a half yuan to nearly four yuan. Spirit Refining Talismans rose from forty to forty-six yuan.

Based on Li Yuan's current output, he can earn more than a hundred spirit stones a month.

Li Yuan thought about it.

The conditions are not bad. A purchase price 10% higher than the asking price, coupled with stable sales channels, makes it much easier than running around selling things in different places.

"Can."

Manager Han's smile deepened, and he then asked the second question.

"Would you like to disclose the details of the collaboration, or not?"

"What do you mean?"

Manager Han pointed to the wall above the counter. Several wooden plaques hung on the wall, listing the names of the talisman makers sold by Ziyuan Trading Company and the types of talismans they specialized in.

"If it's public, I'll put up a sign for you in that spot with your name on it. Customers who come to buy talismans will see your name, and since the quality is good, they'll naturally remember you."

He held up one finger.

"The benefit is reputation. Over time, people will start to approach you to order custom talismans."

The other finger.

"If it's not public, everything will continue as usual. You supply, I sell. Outsiders only know that Ziyuan Trading Company's talismans are good, but they don't know who makes them. The advantage is secrecy."

Public and private.

Fame and secrecy.

Reputation can bring higher income. Custom-made talismans are priced significantly higher than wholesale ones, resulting in a substantial increase in total income.

Being discreet reduces the risk of being targeted. Talisman makers are a sought-after profession, but once their reputation grows, not only will they attract clients, but also those who covet their skills and wealth.

However, Yunyang Market is Yuanyang Sect territory, and fighting is prohibited within the market. His cultivation level is at the eighth level of Qi Refining, easily defeating most opponents at the ninth level. With his Aura Concealment and Aura Sensitivity activated, if anyone harbors ill intentions, he'll most likely be the first to notice.

Moreover, accumulating spirit stones is the biggest need right now. The three main ingredients for the Breakthrough Pill cost at least three thousand spirit stones, and relying on daily wholesale talismans is too slow. Customized income is the most direct way to accelerate this process.

"It will be made public," Li Yuan said.

Manager Han nodded.

"Okay. I'll have a sign made and put up tomorrow."

He pulled a thin document from under the counter and pushed it in front of Li Yuan.

"A simple cooperation agreement. Take a look, and if there are no problems, sign it. It doesn't involve blood essence; it's just a regular business contract, and both parties can terminate it at any time."

Li Yuan picked it up and scanned it. The content was simple: the supplier, Li Yuan, would supply at least one batch every half month, with the purchase price being 10% to 15% higher than the market price. Both parties could terminate the cooperation at any time without penalty.

There are no traps.

Li Yuan signed the document and put the copy away.

Shopkeeper Han put the original copy into the drawer, stood up, and bowed to Li Yuan.

"It's a pleasure working with you."

Li Yuan nodded, got up and walked out.

As they passed the low table, Manager Han's son had used up another talisman. The bamboo basket was almost full of used talismans.

The boy looked up at Li Yuan, then lowered his head and continued drawing.

Li Yuan did not stop and pushed open the door to leave Ziyuan Trading Company.

Back in the courtyard, I closed the door.

Li Yuan sat on the bed and began to practice his internal energy cross-legged.

Spiritual energy surged into the body, the pure spiritual power eliminating impurities, and the spiritual power condensed and sank into the dantian. The courtyard was close to a branch of the spiritual vein, with abundant spiritual energy, and the accumulation in each cycle was very solid.

The Blood Coagulation Pill's dual cultivation of spirit and blood allows blood and qi to circulate in sync with spiritual power. Combined with the enhancements of the Spirit Gathering Pill and the Breakthrough Pill, the speed of cultivation advancement is more than twice as fast as that of a typical late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

One cycle, two cycles, three cycles.

His cultivation level is steadily advancing.

The Yunyang market outside the window gradually quieted down. The lamplight from outside the courtyard wall shone through the gaps, casting several pale yellow bands of light on the stone pavement.