Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Early in the morning, Li Yuan sat at his desk.

Three talisman papers were laid out on the table. On the left were two newly drawn cleaning talismans, and on the right was a talisman for warding off evil spirits, which was still missing the last stroke of its spiritual pattern.

Li Yuan dipped his brush in cinnabar, finished the stroke, and channeled spiritual energy from his fingertips to the tip of the brush in one smooth motion. The lines naturally tapered at the end, and the last dot landed steadily in the center of the talisman paper.

A faint spiritual light flashed across the surface of the talisman, and the talisman was formed.

Li Yuan put down his pen, stacked the three talismans neatly, and placed them aside, making the pile of discarded talismans next to him even taller.

The success rate of cleansing talismans has stabilized at one in three, while the success rate of exorcism talismans is slightly lower, but still much better than at the beginning.

Warning signs are still the most material-intensive, requiring about five or six to make one.

However, the progress of making the rune crafting insights permanent is quite impressive.

[Progress of Crafting Enlightenment (White) Permanentization: 31/50]

Halfway through.

Li Yuan tidied the table, folded the remaining talismans, sealed the spirit ink bottle tightly, and covered the cinnabar dish.

After tidying up my clothes and leaving the house, I walked to the middle of the North Alley and turned towards Old Sun's stall. I could see from afar that Old Sun's stall was bigger than usual today.

Several porcelain bottles were neatly arranged, and next to them was a small bag of herbal samples tied with a red string.

Old Sun squatted behind the stall, holding a bowl of hot soup in his hand, slurping it down. When he saw Li Yuan coming over, he drank even faster.

Li Yuan smelled the aroma and realized that the soup seemed to be made from the flesh of some kind of demonic beast.

"Perfect timing, I have some news for you."

Li Yuan squatted down in front of the stall.

Old Sun finished the last mouthful of soup in his bowl, wiped his mouth, and lowered his voice.

"We've got news about your previous talisman-making skills."

"A rogue cultivator who came from the rogue cultivator market outside two weeks ago. I happened to have some prior acquaintance with him."

Old Sun pulled a cloth from his pocket, wiped his hands, and gestured with his chin toward East Street.

"This person is indeed a legitimate talisman master. He has skills at his disposal, and I heard he's willing to teach three or four methods for drawing first-tier low-grade talismans."

Li Yuan nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"But there's a problem," Old Sun said, holding up one finger.

"This person doesn't accept spirit stones; he wants skills in exchange for skills."

"What do you mean?"

"That means if you want to learn a talisman-making technique from him, you have to exchange it for another skill that he doesn't know."

Old Sun continued.

"For example, one of the conditions he offered was that he wanted to learn how to make talismans from the fur of demonic beasts. If you knew this skill, you could trade it with him, and he would teach you how to make a first-grade low-level talisman."

Old Zhang had mentioned before that the method for making talismans from monster hides is different from that for talismans made from herbs.

"Doesn't he know how to do this?"

Old Sun stuffed the cloth back into his pocket and sighed. "Not everyone knows how to do it. In the past, this stuff wasn't valuable, and few people knew how. Most talisman masters used herbal talisman paper, but actually, most herbs are more suitable for making talisman paper, so they felt they didn't need it."

"As a result, monster materials are now cheap here while herbs have become expensive. Making talismans from monster hides can save a lot of money, and it has become a rare craft."

Old Sun picked up the bowl at his feet, turned it around, and then put it down.

"It's not just about making talismans from fur. He also listed several other exchange conditions, all of which are unorthodox skills that proper talisman masters disdain to learn and that unorthodox talisman masters can't even dream of mastering. If you have other skills that catch his eye, that's fine too."

Old Sun recounted all these skills one by one, and Li Yuan remained silent for a few moments.

All the talisman-making skills he possessed came from Old Zhang's booklets and equipment. He had only just begun to learn the basics of talisman-making, and none of his three basic talismans—cleansing talismans, exorcism talismans, and warning talismans—would be of any quality to a respectable talisman master.

But Fang He seems to know this skill. Li Yuan remembers that Fang He mentioned knowing how to make talisman skins using monster hides.

At the time, Li Yuan didn't pay much attention. He wasn't involved in talisman making yet, so he just took Fang He's talk about his skills as casual conversation.

Li Yuan nodded, exchanged a few more words, and then left Old Sun's stall.

Fang He has been patrolling outside most of the time recently, so there are not many opportunities to meet. We will have to wait until he returns to the market to rest.

After strolling around the market, Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman were busy at the other end of East Street. Occasionally, Zhao Hu could be seen walking past the stalls, his steps much steadyer than the previous two days.

Zhao Hu saw Li Yuan and ran over to him.

"Vice Captain, Captain Wang wants you to go to the base."

Zhao Hu's face showed a hint of curiosity, clearly unaware of what was going on.

"understood."

Li Yuan straightened his clothes, hung the waist tag on his waist, and went out towards the patrol team's station.

Turning into West Street, an oil lamp was lit in the courtyard of the patrol team's residence.

Wang De sat behind his desk, on which, besides documents, lay a folded piece of paper.

When unfolded, it reveals a simple portrait, with just a few strokes outlining the general shape of a human face, and a few lines of small text below.

Wang De pushed the portrait over.

Do you know him?

Li Yuan glanced at it.

The portrait depicts a man in his thirties with an ordinary face, high cheekbones, an uneven nose, and thin lips. His most striking feature is that half of his left ear is missing.

Li Yuan shook his head.

"I don't know him."

Wang De put the portrait away and leaned back in his chair.

"This man is called Qian Si. He came to the market half a month ago and registered as a rogue herb gatherer. He is at the fifth level of Qi Refining."

"His true strength is at the fifth level of Qi Refining, but his outward appearance is around the third level, which makes it easier to gather intelligence."

Wang De's tone was flat, as if he were reading a report.

"The smell of medicine you smelled a few days ago in the side alley west of North Alley came from the house he rented."

Li Yuan didn't respond, waiting for Wang De to continue.

Wang De tapped the table twice with his knuckles.

"After keeping an eye on him for a few days, we discovered that he had been in contact with people outside the market."

"It might be a rendezvous with someone else," Li Yuan said.

"Highly likely."

Wang De shifted his gaze from the documents to Li Yuan.

"I have a task for you: to track down this Qian Si. If you do it well, you'll make a significant contribution."

Li Yuan frowned.

Following a rogue cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refining outside the market is not only dangerous, but also risky, as you won't be able to follow them yourself.

Wang De saw Li Yuan frown and explained.

"It's mainly because you have that concealing jade pendant, and more than one person is with it."

"Two members of the Wang family are acting with you; to be precise, you are acting with them."

Members of the Wang family. Not those who signed the contract on the periphery, but members of the Wang family itself.

"Both of them are at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, one at level four and the other at level six, and they're not very old." Wang De glanced at Li Yuan.

"Actually... these kinds of low-risk tasks are usually done by family members. They are tasks given to them by the family to train them."

Wang De said.

"The family trains its members by giving them experience in real-world tasks. These tasks, which aren't dangerous but require careful attention, are meant to give the younger members of the family practice."

"Generally, we would first find someone from the guard team to go with them, but the guard team is short-handed, and since you happen to have the Concealing Jade Pendant, we've arranged for you to help out. You can discuss the specifics with the two of them."

Wang De pushed the document over; it contained two names and a brief description of the situation.

Wang Qi, Qi Refining Level 4. Wang Yuan, Qi Refining Level 6.

"When will you make your move?"

"Uncertain. Qian Si's departures from the market are irregular; sometimes it's every two days, sometimes every four or five days. But his last departure was three days ago, and based on his previous frequency, there might be some activity in the next couple of days."

Wang De folded the portrait, then took out a talisman and handed it to Li Yuan.

"Wang Qi and Wang Yuan will come to the patrol team's camp to meet you tomorrow morning."

"This is a concealment talisman, a high-grade first-tier talisman. It can reduce and conceal one's aura for several hours, and is used to assist in tracking."

Li Yuan tucked the portrait into his sleeve and looked at the talisman. The patterns on the talisman were extremely intricate, and the entire talisman exuded an inconspicuous aura.

"Which house in the side alley on the west side of North Alley does Qian Si live in?"

"Counting from the alley entrance, there is a crack in the wooden door of the fourth house."

Wang De picked up his teacup, took a sip of the cool tea, and waved to indicate that Li Yuan could leave.

Li Yuan left the main room and closed the door behind him.

Dusk had completely fallen, and lanterns in the market were lit one after another, casting a dim yellow light on the bluestone pavement.

Li Yuan did not go straight back to his residence, but instead went to Lao Sun's stall first.

Old Sun had already packed up his stall, but he was still squatting by the wall, with a small medicine box in front of him, sorting herbs into it.

Seeing Li Yuan walk over, Old Sun raised his eyes.

"Hidden awn grass, calming flower, green moss, the one you paired for me before."

Old Sun responded and took out three kinds of herbs from his medicine box, grinding them skillfully in a small stone mortar.

Li Yuan took out a spirit stone, but Old Sun waved his hand to indicate that he didn't want it.

"This little bit of stuff isn't worth much. You've already paid for it by picking those few Jade Grasses for me."

Li Yuan sealed the concentrated liquid in a small porcelain bottle, thanked them, and turned to walk back to his residence.

Li Yuan plans to prepare the medicine again tomorrow morning, as this stuff becomes ineffective very quickly.

After returning to his residence, Li Yuan bolted the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began to circulate the Spirit Guiding Technique.

With the help of the gathering spiritual energy, Li Yuan absorbed the spiritual energy within a radius of five or six zhang, and then filtered it into pure spiritual power.

After completing one round of the Spirit Guiding Technique, Li Yuan slightly changed his mind and began cultivating the Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin Technique.

The phrase "all rivers flow into the sea" came into play at the moment the two cultivation methods intersected, and the spiritual energy slid naturally into the other path without any interruption.

Even the spiritual energy in the smallest meridians is mobilized, with all meridians circulating together, ultimately returning to the dantian.

The terms "accelerated circulation of Qi," "refined spiritual energy," and "concentrated spirit" have been consistently in effect.

After reaching the fifth level of Qi Refining, with the support of various attributes, Li Yuan's cultivation improved at a much faster rate than when he reached the fourth level of Qi Refining. Moreover, his spiritual energy flowed extremely smoothly without any bottlenecks.