Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

The next day, at the patrol team's camp, in the main house.

Wang De sat behind the desk, looked at Li Yuan, and pushed the roster over.

"A new batch of peripheral members recently transferred from the Wang family have arrived. The guards took the lion's share, while the patrol teams received a few."

Wang De raised his head and glanced at Li Yuan.

"You'll be training two new recruits."

"Zhao Hu, Qi Refining Level 2. Zheng Xiaoman, Qi Refining Level 2."

Wang De's finger moved down further.

"There's one more, Sun Liang."

Li Yuan was stunned for a moment.

Sun Liang was the one who rushed to the front during the guard rotation and suffered internal organ damage.

"Has he recovered?"

"I'm mostly healed. The guards provided some healing pills." Wang De put down his pen and leaned back in his chair.

"All three of them are under your control."

There were three people. One was an experienced patrolman, and the other two were newly assigned.

"You take the two new recruits with you and teach them the rules and procedures for patrols."

Wang De paused, then added a sentence.

"Not only patrol, but also teach them the basics of perimeter patrol. We're short-handed right now, and we can't predict when we'll need to send someone out, so we want to give them some advance notice."

"After you finish teaching them, you can leave the daily patrols inside the market to them, so you can free up your hands."

Li Yuan responded and scanned the information on the roster, memorizing the names and basic information of the two newcomers.

"Where is he?"

"They're waiting in the yard."

Li Yuan left the main house and walked into the courtyard.

Three people were standing at the base of the wall.

The one at the very front, wearing a gray patrol uniform with creases, was clearly newly issued. He was in his early twenties, not very tall, but with broad shoulders.

His features were squeezed together on a square face, and his eyes, though small, were bright. He was nervously scanning the yard back and forth.

This is Zhao Hu.

The one next to him was younger, around eighteen or nineteen years old, slender, with a fair complexion and a pointed chin. He stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do with his hands, clenching and unclenching them repeatedly. He also carried a bulging cloth bag on his back, looking as if he had brought all his belongings.

Zheng Xiaoman.

When the two men saw Li Yuan come out, their eyes simultaneously fell on the vice-captain's badge on his waist, and they bowed in unison.

"Greetings, Deputy Captain Li."

The voices were out of sync, one loud and one soft, making the whole thing sound rather comical.

Li Yuan nodded and shifted his gaze to the third person.

Sun Liang leaned against the corner of the wall, saw Li Yuan, and grinned, which could be considered a smile.

"Deputy Captain Li, it's been a long time."

The voice was still the same tone, but the strength wasn't as great as before.

"Feeling better?"

"I won't die." Sun Liang put his legs down from the wall and stood up straight.

"I was lucky; I was able to recover from my injury and avoided more dangerous situations later on."

Li Yuan walked in front, while Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman lagged behind.

Sun Liang has his own patrol duties and doesn't need Li Yuan to lead him.

"The rules for patrolling are not complicated."

Li Yuan spoke as he walked, his voice low and his pace slow.

"There are two main streets running east and west, and four side alleys running north and south. I walk through them at least once a day. Stall rent is collected at the beginning of each month. New stalls need to be registered, and old stalls need to check for any outstanding fees."

"If you encounter a dispute, ask about the situation before taking any action. If you are unsure, do not make decisions on your own; go back to me or find Captain Wang."

"Fighting, stealing, and forced buying and selling are prohibited in the market. Violators will be punished according to the severity of the offense, including having their spirit stones confiscated, being expelled from the market, or being reported to the management office."

"Don't accept bribes. If you're caught, a pay cut is the least of your worries..."

Li Yuan was only talking about the most basic rules, which the original owner had known by heart for several years as an inspector.

Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman listened attentively.

When Li Yuan reached the middle of East Street, he stopped.

The stalls on both sides of East Street were packed full.

Unlike before, the composition of the stalls has changed.

The local independent cultivator's stall is still there, in the same spot, but the desolation in front of it contrasts sharply with the bustling activity in front of the itinerant vendors' stalls next door.

An old vendor selling scrap ore was dozing off behind his stall, probably having made no sale all day. But at a makeshift stall run by a traveling merchant next door, three or four odd-jobmen were picking through the goods, their voices mingling and haggling quite loudly.

Itinerant merchants sell a wider variety of goods, of better quality, and at more competitive prices—they source from other markets or even further afield, with large volumes and extensive distribution channels, keeping costs lower than those of local independent repairmen.

"Since the itinerant merchants arrived, the local independent cultivators have lost a lot of business," Li Yuan said briefly. "But when patrolling, don't worry about who's stealing whose business, just maintain order."

Zhao Hu nodded in agreement, and Zheng Xiaoman also nodded, both of them looking very serious.

When we reached the middle of the north alley, we heard a commotion ahead.

A rogue monk in his forties stood in front of his stall, his face flushed red, pointing at a traveling vendor's stall diagonally across the street, and speaking in a loud voice.

"You outsiders, you're here, but you have to drive the price down so low! I've been selling these ore scraps for three spirit stones a piece for two years, and you come here and sell them for two and a half! Are you trying to make a living off us?!"

The traveling merchant being pointed at and scolded was a tall, thin man in his early thirties. Faced with the rogue cultivator's shouts, he spread his hands innocently.

"Fellow Daoist, the price is fair, and the transaction is voluntary. I didn't force anyone to buy from me."

"You're talking nonsense!" The rogue cultivator slammed his hand on the stall, sending the scraps of material rattling everywhere. "If you don't lower your prices, who's going to buy from you? I've been here for two years, and you've only been here three days, stealing all my customers!"

Several vendors craned their necks to watch the spectacle, some local monks chimed in, and some passing merchants watched coldly.

Li Yuan quickened his pace and walked up to them, flashing his waist badge.

Upon seeing the vice-captain's badge, the rogue cultivator immediately lowered his voice, but his words remained sharp.

"Deputy Captain Li, you be the judge. These traveling vendors from out of town are driving prices down so low that it's impossible for us locals to do business."

Li Yuan glanced at the stalls on both sides.

The ore scraps from independent cultivators were of generally poor quality, varying in size and not very appealing. The scraps from traveling merchants were of similar quality, but they were bagged and sorted by size and grade, and were indeed priced half a spirit stone lower than those from independent cultivators.

"There are no fixed prices in the market; how much you sell it for is up to you," Li Yuan said calmly.

The rogue cultivator opened his mouth as if to say something, but Li Yuan raised his hand to stop him.

"But disrupting order is not acceptable. If you have any complaints, you can make suggestions to the management office. Making noise here will affect other people's business. If this continues, it will no longer be a mediation."

The rogue cultivator's expression changed, he gritted his teeth, and finally withdrew his hand from the stall. He muttered a few words and reluctantly sat back down behind the stall.

The traveling merchants didn't say anything more and continued to sort out the goods.

Li Yuan turned around and led the two of them to continue walking forward.

After walking a few steps, Zhao Hu approached from behind and asked in a low voice, "Vice Captain, does this kind of thing happen often?"

"There have been more lately."

Li Yuan did not turn around.

"The arrival of itinerant merchants brought new sources of goods and new prices, which impacted the business of local independent cultivators. However, most of the itinerant merchants followed the rules, paid stall fees, and did not engage in forced buying or selling. The market rules did not govern their pricing. It was the local independent cultivators who were causing trouble."

"Things will get better after the traveling merchants finish buying and selling their goods and leave, but not by much. Many rogue cultivators have had their spirit stones taken by the traveling merchants and don't have any money to spend for the time being."

Zhao Hu said "oh" and then shrank back.

The three continued walking along the North Alley, with Li Yuan pointing out which alley entrances were prone to disputes, which vendors were familiar faces and didn't need to be worried about, and which locations were where new independent cultivators gathered and needed to be paid more attention to.

When they reached the end of the north alley, Li Yuan saw that Old Zhang's spot was empty, with a few shallow pits still at the base of the wall.

During his patrol, Li Yuan bought some materials for making talismans to ward off evil spirits.

The materials used to make talismans for warding off evil are different from those used for cleansing; at least the ink used must be different.

After covering most of the patrol route, Li Yuan briefly explained some basic knowledge about perimeter patrols.

It doesn't need to be as detailed as He Shoujiao's explanations. Li Yuan only covered the most basic parts.

How do you determine if a mark belongs to a demonic beast or a mortal beast? How do you tell if a claw mark is new or old? How should you react if you encounter a demonic beast? When should you fight, and when should you run?

"The most important thing is to come back alive."

Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman nodded in unison, their expressions serious.