Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

By the time I returned to my residence with the two newlyweds, it was already getting dark.

Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman are diligent learners; they've memorized the basic patrol procedures by the end of the day. Tomorrow, we can let them try patrolling half a street on their own.

Li Yuan bolted the door, sat down at the table, and took out the talisman-making materials from his sleeve.

Yellow paper talismans, special ink for warding off evil, cinnabar, and fine brushes were neatly arranged on the table.

Amulets for warding off evil are far more complex than talismans for cleaning.

Li Yuan picked up his brush, dipped it in the warding-off-evil spirit ink, and placed it on the first talisman paper.

The starting point for making an exorcism talisman is similar to that for a cleansing talisman. Begin by writing from the upper left corner, and move the brush clockwise around the talisman paper. Spiritual energy flows from your fingertips into the brush, and cinnabar slowly spreads across the talisman paper.

At a turning point in the spiritual rune, Li Yuan slightly turned his wrist to adjust the frequency of spiritual energy output.

It failed. The speed at which the spiritual energy was adjusted was too fast, and the spiritual pattern on the talisman was noticeably lighter.

Li Yuan put down his pen and set the talisman aside.

The second one, the third one... the seventh one.

I failed seven times in a row, even though I had equipped myself with the talisman crafting manual and had a lot of experience in my mind.

The eighth one.

Li Yuan took a deep breath, picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write.

Spiritual energy flowed across the talisman, slowly forming spiritual patterns.

The brush tip naturally tapers at the end of the lines, with the last dot landing steadily in the very center of the talisman paper.

The talisman for warding off evil spirits is complete.

Li Yuan put down his pen and stretched his slightly sore wrist.

Eight talismans were combined into one.

A prompt appeared on the panel:

[Equipable item detected: Exorcism Talisman (Complete)]

[Entry Preview: Exorcism (Gray) - Spiritual power with a slight effect of damaging the soul and spirits]

[Preview of Permanent Status Conditions: Kill a low-grade Tier 1 or higher Yin Spirit (0/1)]

[Current equipment slot is full (3/3). Replace current equipment?]

Grayed-out entries have a weak effect.

However, the only requirement for permanent status is to kill a low-grade, first-tier ghost.

A wandering spirit is a special kind of existence. After the death of a cultivator or mortal, a very small number of souls remain and transform in places where yin energy is abundant.

Li Yuan had seen related records in the original owner's memories. Occasionally, rogue cultivators would encounter ghosts in some damp valleys of the Yuanheng Mountains, but this was rarely seen near Qinghe Market.

No rush, the conditions aren't demanding, we'll just deal with it when it comes up.

[First-Tier Rune Crafting: Beginner (30/100)]

[Exorcism Talisman: Beginner (13/100)]

[Progress of Crafting Enlightenment (White) Permanentization: 2/50]

My overall experience in talisman making has increased significantly; I can get the basics down in about two or three days.

However, the experience gained from talisman-making is indeed slower than that from cultivation techniques. Equipment infusion only saves time in understanding, while the skill in hand still needs to be practiced one by one.

Li Yuan carefully put away the talisman and glanced at the remaining materials on the table.

There's still a stack of talisman paper left. Half of the spirit ink has been used, and almost no cinnabar has been consumed—the talisman mainly consumes spirit ink.

That's all for today. My spiritual energy has been depleted quite a bit, and if I continue drawing, the rate of wasted talismans will only increase.

Li Yuan tidied up the materials for making talismans, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began to circulate the Spirit Induction Technique.

The spiritual energy surged into the meridians, pure and unadulterated.

Switching to the Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin Technique, spiritual energy flows through the branch meridians once before returning to the dantian, improving its quality.

……

For the next two days, Li Yuan led Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman to inspect the market during the day.

The two newcomers picked things up quickly. Zhao Hu was bold and dared to step in and stop vendors from arguing. However, he was too blunt and almost angered people twice before Li Yuan kicked him from the side to stop him.

Zheng Xiaoman was a man of few words, but his eyes were sharp. He would always look left and right on the patrol route, and occasionally he would lean close to Li Yuan and whisper a few words to report, mostly about the details.

Both of them had their own flaws, but they were easier to manage than Li Yuan had expected.

On the third day, Li Yuan let the two of them patrol East Street and North Alley on their own, while he freed up his hands and feet.

In the afternoon, Li Yuan walked south along East Street and turned into Lao Sun's stall.

Old Sun wasn't tending to the medicine furnace today; instead, he was squatting behind his stall sorting through the herbs. Several dried herbs were laid out in front of him, and he was picking them out handful by handful.

Li Yuan squatted down in front of the stall.

Old Sun looked up, then put down the herbs in his hand.

"You're back? I heard you haven't gone out since you came back from the mountain."

"Stay in the market for now." Li Yuan took out two herbs from his sleeve and placed them on the stall.

The jade grass and the red root vine were picked casually during the patrol, not many.

"Is that all?" Old Sun picked up the jade grass and examined it, then looked at the red root vine.

"It's not convenient to collect herbs in the mountains. This time, the main focus is on search and combat, so we don't have much time to pay attention to herbs."

Old Sun grunted in agreement, put the two herbs into the medicine box behind him, and didn't bother to check the quantity.

"It's fine, as long as it's available."

Old Sun rummaged through his medicine box, took out two small porcelain bottles, placed them on the cloth, and pushed them toward Li Yuan.

"The Killing Essence Pill, a new one."

Li Yuan picked up a porcelain bottle, uncorked it, and the aroma of medicine wafted out of the bottle.

The taste is quite different from the previous Sha Yuan Dan.

The previous Sha Yuan Dan had a strong fragrance, with a spicy and dry taste.

The aroma of these two herbs is still strong, but the spiciness has faded considerably, replaced by a slightly bitter and refreshing taste.

"The formula has been changed." Old Sun gestured with his chin toward the porcelain bottle.

"The problem of the malevolent energy has not been completely resolved, but I have managed to suppress the backlash. I added a calming flower, which does not affect the effect of accelerating cultivation, but reduces the impact on the internal organs by 20% to 30% after consumption."

"I originally wanted to refine pills to aid in breakthroughs, but there are quite a few problems."

Old Sun rubbed the remaining medicine powder on his fingertips and added another sentence.

"Try it and let me know how it feels after you're done."

Li Yuan plugged the porcelain bottle and tucked it into his sleeve.

"How are your pills selling lately?"

"The Killing Essence Pill?" Old Sun scoffed. "Still no one's buying it. I'm just refining it for fun now, it doesn't use many materials anyway. The Turbidity Removal Pill and the Essence Condensation Powder, on the other hand, have been selling quite well lately, traveling merchants come to me to restock."

"How much does the itinerant vendor's business affect you?"

"Me? Not very old." Old Sun picked up a handful of dried grass leaves and fiddled with them in his hand.

"The traveling merchants sell finished pills, which they buy from other markets and resell. I refine them myself, so I can keep the costs down and the quality isn't bad either."

Old Sun put down the blades of grass and gestured with his chin toward East Street.

"Those who are most affected are the independent cultivators who sell herbs and those who sell general merchandise. The herbs brought by itinerant merchants are in large quantities and at low prices, which the local independent cultivators cannot compete with. Those who sell ore scraps are even worse off."

Old Sun picked up a rough earthenware bowl next to the medicine box, poured half a bowl of water into it, and gulped down a mouthful.

"I'm not affected much. I still set up my stall in the market. If the price of herbs goes up, my pills will go up too. Anyway, my business is just a steady stream of income."

Old Sun put down his bowl and glanced at Li Yuan again.

"It's your patrol team that's working so hard, running around inside and out."

Li Yuan didn't respond to that, and stood up.

"I'll tell you about the elixir after I take it."

"No rush." ​​Old Sun waved his hand at him and bent down to continue sorting the herbs.

Li Yuan turned around and walked back along the north alley, weighing the two porcelain bottles containing the Killing Yuan Pills in his sleeve.

The formula has been optimized, reducing the side effects by 20-30%, but we'll have to wait and see how effective it is after taking it.

Back at his residence, Li Yuan bolted the door.

He took out a new Sha Yuan Pill and put it in his mouth.

The pill melts instantly upon entering the stomach, its fiery medicinal power exploding from the stomach and surging along the meridians.

Compared to before, the burning sensation has indeed lessened. The potency of the medicine is about the same, but the malevolent energy mixed in with the medicine is noticeably gentler. When it passes over the internal organs, it no longer feels like an ice pick scraping against them, but more like being doused with cool water, and the sensation passes quickly.

The digestion process of the entire pill was much faster than the old formula, and with the improvement of my cultivation, it was absorbed in less than half an hour.

Li Yuan continued to take the second Sha Yuan Dan, wrote down his insights, and planned to tell Lao Sun about them the next day.