Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

After both entries were made permanent, Li Yuan installed the Nourishing Vitality Technique.

As soon as the phrase "Qi and Blood Generate Naturally" was reappeared, a familiar warm and gentle feeling surged throughout my body, slowly spreading from my dantian to my limbs, and my Qi and blood flowed much more smoothly than before.

During the midday break, Li Yuan took out a piece of iron antelope hind leg meat from his storage bag, cut off a pound of it, and roasted it using the fire control technique.

The meat is firm and chewy. After swallowing, a warm feeling rises in the abdomen and slowly spreads along the meridians.

The effects of the Flame Marrow Body Nourishment took hold, and the remaining demonic power in the monster's flesh was gradually transformed into blood and qi, seeping into its muscles and bones.

After the rest and repairs were completed, the group continued its advance towards the Sanxiu Market.

The further we went, the fewer traces of monsters we saw on the path. Just two days ago, we could see claw marks, droppings, or gnawed bones every hundred feet or so, but now the gravel ground under our feet was clean and tidy.

Occasionally, you can see some older traces—broken shrub branches, old scratches on the stone surface from sharp claws—but they are all from a few days ago, nothing fresh.

Li Yuan glanced at the surrounding terrain.

There are independent cultivators active near the market town, and it's normal that there are fewer monsters in places with many independent cultivators.

Li Yuan continued forward, and the feedback on the spirit detection disc in his hand changed.

The previously detected spiritual energy fluctuations were mostly turbid and scattered, a characteristic of demonic beasts. Now, several more restrained fluctuations are faintly emerging on the surface, almost imperceptible.

monk.

And it's not just one stock.

Li Yuan increased the spiritual power poured into the Spirit Detection Disc, pushing its sensing range to its limit.

Thirty feet ahead, several clusters of solid spiritual energy fluctuations gathered together, but they were rather weak, and there were also several more turbid clusters mixed in with them—those were demonic beasts.

Li Yuan quickened his pace and gestured to Song Tiezhu.

The six men spread out and advanced along both sides of the low slope.

The moment we crested the hill, the scene ahead came into view.

A dry, shallow ditch cuts across the ground from south to north, its bottom littered with pebbles. Three demonic beasts—two iron-spine hyenas and one gray-spine lizard—have trapped a small group of four rogue cultivators between the ditch wall and a large rock.

Two Ironback Hyenas stood on either side of the ditch, blocking the cultivator's escape route. The Grayback Lizard squatted on the pile of rubble directly in front of it, its flat head protruding forward, mouth open, with sticky saliva hanging from the corners of its mouth.

All three are mid-grade first-tier cultivators, and the rogue cultivators are clearly unable to hold on.

Four people huddled under the stone wall, one kneeling on the ground with his right arm hanging down, the blood from his sleeve soaking through his entire forearm.

The other one was leaning against the stone wall, his hands still casting spells, but the spiritual light at his fingertips was intermittent, clearly indicating that his spiritual power was about to run out.

The remaining two stood in front, each wielding a sword; one of their swords had a crack in it.

A ball of earthy yellow light suddenly shone from the mouth of the gray-spined lizard.

Li Yuan didn't wait for it to vomit.

A burst of fire erupted beneath his feet as he activated Fire Release: Technique, propelling him straight down the slope, the fireball in his palm already compressed.

boom!

A crimson flame exploded on the back of the Gray-spined lizard. A thick layer of gray scales was torn off, and dark red blood immediately gushed from the charred wound. Before the lizard could even spit out the yellowish-brown aura from its mouth, it was blasted forward, its mouth slamming into the rubble with a thud.

The two hyenas turned their heads at the same time, baring their teeth and growling at Li Yuan.

The one on the right lunged forward first, digging at the ground with its four claws at an extremely fast speed.

Li Yuan flicked his wrist, and the Fire Arrow Technique was released from his hand.

laugh.

The fire shot straight through the hyena's foreleg, severing a section of tendon. The hyena's front half collapsed, its four hooves pawing wildly as it rolled more than ten feet away.

Song Tiezhu had already cut in from the left flank, his broadsword slashing towards the side of another hyena's neck. The blade cut between the mane and flesh, and dark blood gushed out.

Han Xiaoyi and Tian Qi flanked from behind, blocking the hyena's retreat.

The gray-backed lizard was momentarily unable to roll over after the blast, its belly facing upwards, its four legs kicking wildly. Li Yuan didn't give it a chance to recover; the second fireball slammed directly into the gap in its exposed plastron.

boom.

Rock fragments flew everywhere, the lizard's body arched sharply, then it fell heavily to the ground, its limbs twitched a few times, and then it stopped moving.

The hyena on the right, with its front leg broken, was dragging itself out. Zhao An circled around to the back and thrust a spear into its lower back.

Song Tiezhu also stopped, blood dripping from his knife, and the hyena at his feet lay motionless.

It took less than thirty breaths in total.

The four rogue cultivators below the ditch stared blankly at this side, unable to react for a long time.

The leader was a man in his early thirties, his face covered in dust, with a scraggly stubble on his chin, his coarse cloth robe torn in several places, and a strip of cloth soaked in blood hanging from his shoulder.

He swallowed hard and put down the broken sword in his hand.

"Thank you so much for your help."

His voice was hoarse, as if his throat had been dry for a long time.

The man with the injured right arm also looked up. He was young, around twenty-five or twenty-six, and his face was deathly pale. His eyes lit up when he saw the waist tag on Li Yuan's body.

"Are you from Qinghefang City?"

Li Yuan nodded without saying much, and first glanced at the injuries of the group.

The leader's shoulder injury wasn't deep, but the one with the serious right arm injury was more severe; his entire forearm was bent to one side, and the bone was probably broken.

The one leaning against the stone wall had almost no spiritual energy left but no external injuries, while the one holding the Cracked Sword had a scratch on his left rib from something, but the bleeding had stopped.

"Take care of the injuries first." Li Yuan gestured with his chin toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing took out some medicinal powder and strips of cloth from his pocket, squatted down next to the rogue cultivator whose right arm was injured, and began to bandage it.

The leader of the rogue cultivators took a breath and sat down on a rock, his legs still trembling.

"My name is Ma Yuan, I'm from the loose cultivator market area. These guys all came out together."

He pointed to the three people behind him.

"We came from the market."

Li Yuan squatted on a rock, watching him.

"What's the current situation at the market?"

Ma Yuan wiped the dust off his face, still a little out of breath as he spoke.

"The market town hasn't collapsed, and the people in charge are still here. But while it hasn't collapsed, it's in complete chaos."

He raised his hand and pointed southeast.

"The several managing cultivators each have their own plans. Some think that people from the Yuan Yang Sect will come and are still holding on. Some have already contacted other forces and plan to transfer their shops and territories. Others are watching and will go with whoever comes."

"Which forces did they contact?"

Ma Yuan shook his head. "I don't know the specifics, but the people in charge don't get along very well."

The rogue cultivator, leaning against the stone wall, caught his breath and interjected, "The most critical issue is the lack of supplies. With no one coming and going, our pills and talismans are almost gone, and we can't organize any guards at all."

"What about independent cultivators?" Li Yuan asked.

Ma Yuan paused for a moment.

"Quite a few left, but not many. Some ran away, some were taken away by the Li family. We don't know where they went after they survived. There must have been quite a few who died on the road."

He paused for a moment.

"When the monsters were at their worst, nobody dared to go out. Later, the number of monsters gradually decreased. Recently, the manager of a Wang family shop in the market has been advising people to go north, saying that Qinghe Market is safer than here."

"It seems there are fewer monsters around, so we came out with them."

Ma Yuan glanced at his companions behind him.

After listening, Li Yuan asked another question.

When did the Li family arrive?

"A while ago, about two weeks ago."

The rogue cultivator wielding the cleaving sword answered, his voice low.

"A group of people arrived, not many, seven or eight, all at the mid-to-late stage of Qi Refining. They didn't carry out a large-scale cleanup of the demonic beasts; they just picked a few rogue cultivators who knew alchemy, talisman making, and weapon crafting and took them with them."

"They escorted them out of the market and headed south."

Ma Yuan nodded and added, "He never came back after that."

Xu Qing had already fixed the bone in the injured person's right arm.

Li Yuan stood up and looked at the state of the others.

"Can you walk?"

Ma Yuan struggled to his feet and patted the dirt off his trousers.

"I can walk."

"Come with us, let's go see our leader first."

The six men, along with four independent cultivators, retraced their steps. After walking about two miles, the outline of their encampment emerged from behind a low hill ahead.

Qu Bo stood on a high rock at the edge of the camp, gazing south into the distance.

Seeing Li Yuan return with several rogue cultivators, he only glanced at them before turning around and jumping off the rock.

"I was surrounded by three mid-tier first-level rank three-headed monsters, so I took care of them in the process," Li Yuan replied briefly, then relayed the market information provided by Ma Yuan and the others.

After listening, Qu Bo's expression didn't change much; he simply nodded.

"Let's settle them down first, and they can rest here tonight."

After Qu Bo finished speaking, he turned and walked to the other side of the camp, where two Wang family cultivators were standing.

The three huddled together, their spiritual energy fluctuating slightly, their voices blocked out—it was a sound transmission technique.

Li Yuan didn't go over. He walked back to his seat and checked the contents of his storage bag.

A deep, resonant roar came from the direction of a distant mountain valley, echoing back and forth between the mountain walls before dissipating.

Li Yuan sat down and began practicing his exercises cross-legged.

Spiritual energy surged into the body from all directions, flowing through all the meridians under the guidance of the Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin Technique, and finally converging into the dantian.

His cultivation level is still gradually advancing.

Chapter 82, "An Unexpected Encounter with a Rogue Cultivator," is available here. Click to unlock it now.