Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

On the way back, He Shou mentioned some of the habits of horned lizard-like monsters—they mostly lie still during the day, and are most active in the evening and early morning. If you encounter one, it is best not to let it burrow into the depths of the bushes. Its short body and dark gray scales make it extremely difficult to track once it enters the dense thicket.

The four returned to their post in the evening. He Shou went to the main post to settle accounts for the materials and returned shortly afterward, distributing the spirit stones to the three of them.

Li Yuan received two and a half pieces and put them into his sleeve.

After entering the wooden house, Xu Mao lay down immediately, muttering that his arm was sore, and soon his even breathing could be heard.

Li Yuan sat down on the edge of the bed and took out the Meridian Opening Pill from his sleeve.

The dark red pill glowed faintly in my palm, emitting a delicate medicinal fragrance. This was the last of the two pills I received as my monthly salary.

When placed in the mouth, the pill melts instantly in the stomach, and its gentle medicinal power slowly spreads along the meridians, clearing away the minor blockages one by one.

[Progress of making the Meridian Opening Pill permanent: 4/10]

While digesting the medicinal effects, he also cultivated the Spirit Guiding Technique.

After the effects of the medicine had worn off, Li Yuan got up and stood on the only small open space in the room to begin cultivating the Nourishing Vitality Technique.

……

For the next five or six days, every evening after returning to his post, Li Yuan would first practice the Spirit Guiding Technique and the Yuan Nourishing Technique, and only practice the Iron Ox Technique a few times to maintain his feel for it. Then he would take a Killing Yuan Pill to cultivate the Spirit Guiding Technique.

The four men were patrolling along the southern route when they encountered several monsters.

Most of them are low-grade Tier 1 lizards, solitary horned lizards or gray iguanas, not large in size and of average strength.

As usual, He Shou let Li Yuan lead Xu Mao and Lin Xiaowu to fight, while he watched from the side and occasionally intervened to correct their movements.

At the same time, He Shou remarked that Li Yuan and his companions were lucky; the monsters they encountered were all without magic. It would have been troublesome to encounter monsters that could use magic.

The monsters were dealt with efficiently, and all materials were processed through the guard team's channels.

However, they encountered a mid-grade first-level demonic beast. This time, He Shou also took action, but the demonic beast went berserk before it died, injuring Lin Xiaowu, breaking his arm and several ribs, and also causing minor injuries to Xu Mao's tiger's mouth.

Lin Xiaowu had no choice but to withdraw temporarily. Xu Mao, on the other hand, was fine; after taking the healing pills, the wound on his hand had scabbed over.

The materials obtained from these several monster hunts were worth a total of eighteen spirit stones, with the majority coming from the mid-grade first-tier monsters. However, compared to the last time, He Shou also contributed, so he received fewer spirit stones. Li Yuan handed them all over to He Shou, and now the spirit stones are safely lying in Li Yuan's bag.

The three Sha Yuan Pills were consumed one after another during the patrol, and the cultivation level increased significantly.

[Progress of making the Meridian Opening Pill permanent: 7/10]

Only three more pills are needed to permanently make the entry permanent.

-

The next day, the sky was overcast, with low-hanging gray clouds.

Lin Xiaowu returned to the market to recuperate, and Xu Mao's wrist wound was almost healed and did not affect his movement. The three of them continued their patrol as usual.

He Shou pushed the route outwards a bit, turning westwards along the outermost dirt road.

In the afternoon, the three of them passed by a low hillside.

The hillside is not high, and its surface is covered with weeds that are half a person tall. A few crooked, short trees on the top of the hill are being blown about by the wind.

When He Shou circled around to the other side of the hillside, he suddenly stopped.

Li Yuan stopped and followed He Shou's gaze.

The weeds on the gentle slope were largely flattened.

It wasn't just one or two places. The entire slope was covered with trampling marks, and the weeds were bent over and outcropped, creating a passage about two or three zhang wide that stretched from the dry ditch at the bottom of the slope all the way to the top, running from southwest to northeast.

He Shou squatted down, and Li Yuan followed suit.

The ground was covered with claw marks.

Three-toed webbed feet, five-toed sharp-feet, broad and flat hoof prints—at least three or four different kinds of footprints overlapped together, deep and shallow in the mud.

Interspersed among the paw prints were various shapes of feces: dry, hard fragments, strips, and semi-liquid, all mixed together along the same path.

He Shou used the scabbard to pry open a clump of broken feces, then brought a long, thin piece closer to his nose and sniffed it. His expression slowly darkened.

"At least three or more."

He Shou stood up, his gaze sweeping along the worn path in both directions. "Traces of lizards, mammals, and snakes are all mixed together."

Li Yuan looked at the claw marks that all pointed in the same direction. Different kinds of demonic beasts were walking the same path, heading in the same direction.

He Shou walked northeast along the path for several dozen steps, with Li Yuan following behind. The trampled path stretched on without branching, leaving a clear strip of weeds crushed into it.

"The market is in the northeast," Li Yuan said.

He Shou didn't reply, but squatted down to examine several more claw marks. Some had dry, cracked, and whitish edges, while others still had damp soil on them.

"They're different in age; they weren't left on the same day."

He Shou lowered his voice.

"It lasted for several days."

Different kinds of monsters, at different times, moved along the same route towards the market.

He Shou remained silent for a few moments before standing up.

"Let's go back to our base."

The two did not venture any further and quickly turned back. Upon reaching the main base, He Shou went straight to report to the person in charge of the southern route.

Li Yuan stood aside and briefly added a few details he had observed—the difference between the old and new paw prints, the degree of mixing of fecal types, and the direction of the passage's extension.

The person in charge looked displeased after hearing this. He called over another captain to check the recent patrol records for each route and then had someone report the situation to the guard headquarters and the Wang family.

After the report was completed, He Shou and Li Yuan came out of the main camp.

He Shou took a few steps and then looked back at Li Yuan.

"Similar things have happened before, are you aware of that?"

"Understood, Captain Wang said so."

Li Yuan said.

"When the guard team was patrolling the north, they encountered different kinds of monsters in the same location for three consecutive days, which made them feel that something was wrong."

He Shou hummed in agreement and didn't say anything more.

After returning to the outpost, Li Yuan did not rush to cultivate. Instead, he went to a small trading point inside the outpost.

The guards' camp is always occupied by guards, and over time, some simple transactions naturally arise.

Unlike the market, which has a wide variety of products, it still sells most commonly used pills and medicines, though at a slightly higher price.

However, the trading situation is different from that in the market, because most guards have their own tasks and cannot stay at their posts for long periods of time, so they generally use consignment and purchase systems.

Li Yuan circled the trading point, found a guard, and asked him a question.

"Has the Meridian Opening Pill I ordered arrived yet?"

"Here it is. Three coins each, three coins in total, that'll be eight coins for you."

The guard glanced at Li Yuan and quickly replied.

It was half a dollar more expensive than the market price, but it saved me the time of traveling.

Li Yuan took out eight spirit stones and bought three.

Three dark red pills lay in his palm, their medicinal fragrance faint. They were of slightly inferior quality compared to those in the market, but were indeed of the lowest grade, first rank.

Back inside, Li Yuan carefully put away the pills.

Three more pills are needed to achieve permanent meridian opening. Once you consume these three pills, you will achieve permanent meridian opening.

However, this cannot be rushed; the body cannot withstand consuming too many pills in a short period of time.

Li Yuan sat down cross-legged, put a Meridian Opening Pill into his mouth, and began to circulate the Spirit Guiding Technique.

Spiritual energy surged in from all directions, pure as water, circulating rapidly throughout the body.