Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

After finishing his Iron Ox Kung Fu practice in the early morning, Li Yuan stood up to conclude his practice.

As one becomes more proficient, the five movements flow more and more smoothly. When the Qi and blood rush through the internal organs and limbs, the body cooperates almost instinctively, without the need for deliberate guidance.

Li Yuan straightened his clothes and hung the waist tag on his waist. Today he was going to patrol the outskirts of the market.

After leaving the east gate of the market, the bluestone pavement under my feet broke after only a few steps.

Instead, there was a dirt road worn into the ground, overgrown with weeds on both sides, with a few crooked, short trees growing here and there.

The Yuanheng Mountains stretch across the western horizon in the distance, their gray-blue ridges layered upon each other. They look close, but in reality, they are nearly a hundred miles away.

Inside the walls of the market town is another world.

Li Yuan walked north along the route marked on the document, then turned east, passing several intersections on the outskirts of Lingtian District.

The journey was slightly different from what Li Yuan had expected. Nothing unusual happened; the wasteland was quiet, with only a few gray sparrows occasionally fluttering up from the grass and landing back down.

As we circled around to the outskirts of the Spirit Fields, the jade-green rice ears swayed gently in the wind between the distant field ridges, and several Spirit Farmers were busy working in the fields.

Everything looked the same as before.

Just as I was about to quicken my pace and turn back, a farmer came running towards me from the edge of the field, a hoe in his hand.

"Deputy Captain Li!"

This is a spirit farmer surnamed He, from the southern part of the Spirit Field District. He is at the first level of Qi Refining and has rented over twenty acres of land to grow Jade Rice. He is in his forties, with a dark complexion, and at this moment his face shows obvious signs of scorching.

"The day before yesterday, I went to the fields and found that the southern few acres of land had been trampled by something. Several rows of rice were flattened, and there were claw marks on the ground."

"What kind of claw marks?"

"Three-toed." He Lingnong gestured, opening his palm and closing his five fingers to circle an area about the size of a bowl.

A three-toed claw print the size of a bowl is not something that can be left by field mice or rabbits commonly found in the Spirit Field District; it is most likely left by a demon beast.

"Take me there to have a look."

He Lingnong led Li Yuan across several field ridges to the few acres of land on the south side.

I saw it at a glance.

Three or four rows of green jade rice were trampled to the ground, the rice ears were broken, and several clear claw marks were deeply embedded in the soft, wet soil.

With three toes and webbed connections between them, the claws have sharp scratches that have dug shallow trenches in the soil.

Li Yuan squatted down and stretched his finger next to the claw mark to measure its depth.

The object that left this mark must have been quite heavy, as it was deeply embedded.

The distance between them was at least two feet, and the strides were roughly the same, so it didn't seem like they were being chased by something.

He Lingnong squatted down beside him, rubbing his hands. "Deputy Captain Li, how did this monster end up here? Monsters have never appeared in Lingtian District before."

Lingtian Ward is located on the east side of the city, separated from the entire city by the Yuanheng Mountain Range.

If a monster wants to come here from the western mountains, it has to go around a long way from the south or north without going through the main gate of the market, and there are guards protecting it.

Therefore, no monsters have ever been seen in Lingtian District.

Li Yuan followed the direction of the paw prints and walked south for a while.

After leaving the edge of the Lingtian area, the ground changed from soft, damp soil to hard, dry yellow earth and gravel. The outline of the claw marks became fainter and fainter, covered by weeds and gravel. After walking about a hundred steps, they were completely invisible.

Without venturing further, Li Yuan returned to the market town.

As I walked through the market town along the North Alley, the streets were still quite crowded. Recently, things had been unsettled in the Yuanheng Mountains, and independent cultivators were still flocking to the market town, making the stalls on East Street and North Alley almost overflowing.

Li Yuan went straight to the patrol team's station.

The door to the main room was half-open, and Wang De sat behind the table with a teacup in the corner.

Li Yuan recounted the situation in Lingtian District.

After listening, Wang De did not speak immediately, but tapped his index finger twice on the table.

"Farmers from Lingtian District have also reported directly to the management office."

Wang De pulled a document from the pile of papers, glanced at it, and set it aside.

"The management office's idea is to have the patrol team send people to investigate for a few days, to find out whether it was just passing by or had set up camp, and it would be best to kill the thing."

"I'll leave this to you; I'll arrange the manpower. I'll give you a detailed plan tomorrow."

Most of the spirit farmers have low cultivation levels and little combat experience. With the protection of the spirit fields, if the demonic beasts are even slightly stronger, they can easily cause considerable casualties and damage the spirit fields. Therefore, they must be dealt with as soon as possible.

However, the Spirit Field area is extremely vast and overgrown with weeds, making it difficult to find monsters.

Li Yuan thought for a moment and then said, "Lingtian District is to the east of the market. If monsters want to come from the mountains, they can only go around from the south or the north. The road to the south is the patrol area of ​​the guard team, so nothing should be able to sneak over there."

"There were some problems with the southern patrol route for a period of time last month."

Wang De's tone was very flat.

"I'll look into the specifics. You should take care of things in Lingtian District first."

Li Yuan nodded in agreement and withdrew.

……

The next morning, Li Yuan went to the patrol team's station.

Wang De was already sitting behind the desk, with a completed document spread out in front of him.

"I've got the manpower ready for the Lingtian District matter we discussed yesterday."

"The mission begins this afternoon. Meet at the east gate this afternoon."

Wang De pushed the document over. The task assignment was very brief—investigate the traces of monsters in Lingtian District, assign Li Yuan, the deputy captain of the patrol team, to lead the team, and temporarily allocate three people to assist.

"You're at the fourth level of Qi Refining. Even if there are demonic beasts in the Spirit Field District, they're most likely only low-grade first-order beasts. You can handle them."

Wang De flipped through the roster and read out three names—Zhou Dazhuang, Xu Mao, and Lin Xiaowu.

Zhou Dazhuang's guard rotation had just ended, and he hadn't even officially reported back to the patrol team before being intercepted and stuffed into the mission. Xu Mao and Lin Xiaowu were veterans and newcomers to the patrol team, with cultivation levels of Qi Refining Level 3 and 2 respectively.

"There's one more thing."

Wang De pulled a palm-sized wooden box from under the table, placed it on the table, and pushed it over.

"You should have been given the magic weapon that was assigned to you as the vice-captain long ago, but it's because you became the vice-captain as soon as you broke through, and there wasn't enough time to prepare it."

Li Yuan opened the wooden box.

A bronze-yellow disc lay on the lining, about two fingers wide and one finger thick, its surface engraved with fine lines, its edges polished smooth, and a small, rice-grain-sized blue crystal embedded in its center.

"Spirit Detection Plate".

Wang De said.

"All officers above the vice-captain level possess these; they are standard family magical artifacts. After being infused with spiritual power, they can detect spiritual energy fluctuations within a radius of several dozen feet. They can sense demonic beasts, cultivators, and spiritual mines—anything with spiritual energy. The range isn't large, and the accuracy is average, but it's sufficient for tracing tracks."

Li Yuan took the spirit-detecting plate out of the wooden box. The copper plate felt slightly heavy and cool to the touch.

The moment my finger touched it, translucent text appeared before my eyes.

[Equipable item detected: Spirit Detector (Complete)]

[Entry Preview: Spiritual Sense Expansion (Green) - Passively senses aura fluctuations within a 30-foot radius. Can sense the intensity and location of most spiritual energy fluctuations within the range. Can be stacked with other effects. Has a certain penetration effect on concealment spells and covert methods.]

[Preview of conditions for permanentization: Possessing divine consciousness]

[Current equipment slot is full (2/2). Replace current equipment?]

green.

Gray, white, green, blue, purple, red, gold—all the entries I have are white and gray, this is the first green entry.

The spirit-detecting disc has a detection range of several tens of feet, and it also requires the active infusion of spiritual power.

The green attribute instantly extends to thirty feet, taking effect passively without requiring the infusion of spiritual energy, essentially keeping it active at all times. It can also penetrate a certain degree of concealment.

But my equipment inventory is full. The Qi Circulation Acceleration effect of the Meridian Opening Pill is indispensable in daily cultivation, and the Internal Organ Strengthening effect of the Iron Ox Technique also accelerates the cultivation of ordinary martial arts. Neither of them can be uninstalled casually.

Moreover, the conditions for achieving permanence are not simple at all.

Generally speaking, only cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage can possess divine sense. If one is at the Foundation Establishment stage, then obtaining this equipment will make the attributes permanent.

However, for someone who is only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, the conditions for permanent attainment are far too far away.

Li Yuan put the spirit-detecting disc into his sleeve and closed the wooden box.

Wang De handed over another notice—monthly salary adjustment.

The deputy captain's monthly salary was reduced from six spirit stones to three, while his contribution points were increased from ten to fifteen.

The spirit stones are halved, but the contribution points increase by five. The ratio of spirit stones to contribution points is roughly one to one, so it seems like you've gained two points, but in reality, you haven't gained much.

Contribution points can only be exchanged within the Wang family, which is not as convenient as spirit stones.

Moreover, physical items are more expensive, and contributions are only cheaper when exchanged for cultivation techniques.

Although enough contribution points can be exchanged for items that cannot be bought outside, this has nothing to do with me, as an outer member.

Li Yuan put the notice away, asked no further questions, and turned to leave the post.