Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Read Chapter 83, "The Monster Tide," now to begin your exciting day.

During his rest period, Li Yuan mainly focused on practicing the Subtle Yuan Meridian Guiding Technique.

The ribs, the lower back, the deep scapulae—one line after another was rubbed away.

Some of the veins are extremely short; they open as soon as the spiritual thread touches them, as if they were only missing the last layer of paper.

Some are hidden deep in the junction of bone sutures and fascia, requiring repeated grinding to open up even a small gap.

After several hours, Li Yuan had opened up more than a dozen fine meridians.

Each individual energy stream seems insignificant, and when combined into the overall spiritual energy circulation, the difference is almost imperceptible. However, when a dozen or so are combined, the spiritual energy feedback during the operation of the Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin Technique increases slightly—not faster, but denser, like water seeping into more capillary channels.

【Micro-Element Meridian Guiding Technique: Proficient (156/400)】

Li Yuan slowly finished his practice and exhaled a breath of stale air.

There are still quite a few micro-pulses that haven't been opened, but the difficulty is continuously decreasing.

After cultivating for a while, Li Yuan opened his eyes, stood up, and stretched his limbs.

Several small teams were scattered around the low hills. The few rogue cultivators who had been rescued earlier were resting against the stone wall in a corner of the camp.

Li Yuan walked a few steps toward the center of the camp and glanced around.

Qu Bo is not here.

The high rock where Qu Bo usually stood was empty, and he was nowhere to be seen either. Of the three Wang family cultivators, only two remained, standing by the earthen wall on the north side of the camp, talking in hushed tones.

Li Yuan walked over to Song Tiezhu, who was squatting on the ground wiping his ritual implements.

"Where is Qu Bo?"

Song Tiezhu didn't even look up.

"It seems he left with a member of the Wang family, heading south."

"Did they say anything?"

"They didn't say." Song Tiezhu put away the magical artifact. "I asked the people in the second team next to us, and they didn't know either, they only knew that something had happened."

Han Xiaoyi came up from behind, chewing on half a piece of jerky, and mumbled a reply.

"The captain of the first team also asked the two Wang family cultivators, and the answer he received was just two words—'Something's up.'"

Li Yuan didn't ask any further questions and turned back to his seat.

Night was falling.

Li Yuan circulated the Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin Technique for two more cycles. Just as he was about to switch back to the Spirit Guiding Technique, he suddenly sensed something.

A surge of spiritual energy came from the southwest.

It's not a clump, it's a whole area.

A large number of spiritual energy fluctuations appeared at the edge of perception almost simultaneously, turbid and scattered, like muddy water that had been stirred up.

And it's getting closer very quickly.

Li Yuan stood up abruptly and shouted at the cultivators on night duty, "There's more than one in the southwest direction."

The cultivators on night duty also noticed the anomaly almost simultaneously, and one of their spirit-detecting discs lit up.

"Several—no, more than a dozen!"

A rustling sound suddenly filled the camp.

The resting cultivators were startled awake, and the sounds of them fumbling for their magical artifacts and weapons filled the air. Several quick-thinking individuals had already taken cover behind the earthen wall.

Two Wang family cultivators also appeared on the north side of the camp at the same time.

One of them frowned, placed his fingers on the spirit detection plate, closed his eyes to sense for a few moments, and then suddenly opened his eyes.

"They are all first-tier low-grade items—and the quantity is still increasing."

Another Wang family cultivator glanced at the surrounding terrain and spoke in a deep voice.

"With Qu Bo absent, everyone will follow my orders."

He raised his hand and pointed north.

"The terrain here is too low to defend. All squads, gather together and retreat to the higher ground to the north."

Li Yuan had no objection.

The encampment behind the low hill is surrounded by low hills on three sides, with only a higher stone slope on the north side, which provides a commanding view from the top.

Each team quickly regrouped and retreated towards the rocky slope to the north.

Ma Yuan and a few other independent cultivators were pushed to the front, running north with the main force. The one with the injured right arm couldn't run fast and was dragged along by the people next to him.

Li Yuan led the fourth team behind them.

The first monster appeared at the gap on the southwest side of the hill.

It was a gray iguana, not very big, and a low-grade first-tier creature.

But it doesn't look right.

Normal gray iguanas are timid and agile. This one was different—it pawed at the ground with all four legs, its mouth wide open, and its vertical pupils filled with red veins, as if it had been driven mad by something. The path it charged in was erratic and unsteady, and it didn't even know how to avoid obstacles. It crashed into a rock, bounced, and continued charging forward.

Li Yuan raised his hand and fired a fire arrow, the line of fire piercing straight through the gray iguana's head.

The lizard slid its entire body forward and lay motionless on the rubble.

But the others have already surged forward.

Two, three, five—gray iguanas, horned lizards, gray iguanas, and other monsters of varying sizes emerged one after another from the gap in the low hill. They were all low-grade first-tier beasts; a single one was no match for them.

The problem lies in the quantity.

Moreover, none of them were in normal condition.

A gray hyena was shot through the hind leg by a fire arrow. Logically, it should have screamed and run back, but it didn't even hiss. It continued to crawl forward with its three legs dragging the broken leg, making low gurgling noises.

The other horned lizard was cleaved in half by Song Tiezhu's knife, its internal organs spilling out, but its limbs were still kicking wildly, its mouth opening and closing as it tried to bite the human's leg.

Li Yuan walked at the very back, alternating between Fire Arrow and Fireball spells. Every shot was accurate, the precision key was firmly in place, and it almost never missed within fifteen zhang.

Fire arrows shot out in rows, targeting the head and neck. Low-grade first-level demonic beasts couldn't withstand such attacks and were mostly killed instantly.

You can defeat one, but another monster will take its place.

In the darkness further away, the roars of monsters rose and fell, seemingly without end.

A scream came from the left.

Li Yuan glanced to the side and saw a cultivator from the third team pinned to the ground by three gray iguanas. The iguanas, completely oblivious to their own safety, were engrossed in the beast tide, unable to tear themselves away. One was biting his calf, while another was clawing wildly at his chest.

The teammates rushed forward and chopped the lizard off with knives and swords, but the cultivator's calf had already been bitten and was now a bloody mess.

"Get on the rack!" the team leader shouted hoarsely.

Further back, another squad also ran into trouble.

A horned lizard darted in from the side, bypassing the front line of defense and charging straight into the rear. Zhao An had no time to react and was gored in the thigh by the lizard's horn.

Zhao An groaned, his body leaning back as he crashed onto the gravel. The horned lizard's horn had pierced his outer thigh, and blood immediately gushed out.

Tian Qi swung his spear backhand and plunged it into the horned lizard's neck, pinning it to the ground.

"Zhao An!" Xu Qing ran over.

Zhao An's face was deathly pale, and he clutched his thigh tightly with both hands, blood seeping out from between his fingers.

"Can you walk?" Li Yuan asked, glancing back as he fought.

"I can walk." Zhao An gritted his teeth, stood up with Xu Qing's help, and limped forward.

Li Yuan turned around, formed a fireball in his palm, and hurled it at the densest group of demonic beasts in front of him.

boom.

Crimson flames exploded on the gravel ground, overturning three or four gray iguanas huddled together, their flesh and blood flying everywhere.

Another explosion came from afar, blasting several demonic beasts away. It was a spell cast by one of the Wang family cultivators.

Taking advantage of this opening, Li Yuan activated his Fire Escape Technique, and with a flash of fire beneath his feet, he leaped back four or five zhang.

"Almost there, we're almost at the top of the hill!" Han Xiaoyi's voice came from ahead.

The first few teams had already climbed to the top of the slope, casting spells down on the monsters below. Scattered ice arrows, wind blades, and earth spikes shot down from the slope.

Li Yuan led the fourth team back to the foot of the slope.

"Uphill!"

Tian Qi went first, carrying Zhao An uphill. Xu Qing pushed from behind, while Li Yuan and the others followed.

Then another seven or eight demonic beasts surged in from behind.

Before Li Yuan could make a move, the spells on the slope came down, dozens of ice arrows mixed with other spells shot into the monster horde, killing the first few.

Li Yuan climbed to the top of the slope and stood still.

He glanced back down the slope.

The monster horde from the direction of the low hill did not catch up.

The low-grade first-tier demonic beasts were small and had short legs. Although the stone slope wasn't high, the angle was steep enough for them. Several gray iguanas tried to climb up, but after taking a couple of steps, they slid back down, hissed a few times, and then began circling at the foot of the slope.

More monsters swarmed to the low-lying areas around the camp, scaling the earthen walls and gnawing on the debris left on the ground and the monster carcasses that hadn't been taken away.

A small number of monsters were tearing each other apart in a chaotic manner.

Two Wang family cultivators stood at the highest point of the slope, their faces grim as they surveyed the situation below.

"They're not chasing us anymore," one of them said.

The other one grunted in agreement, turning his gaze away from the chaotic monsters below the slope.

"Take a headcount on the spot, and all team leaders should report the casualties."

Each team began taking inventory.

The sound came from various places on the hilltop, intermittently.

"The first team is missing one member. He was separated from the group during the retreat, and it's uncertain whether he can return. He also sustained a minor injury."

"In the second team, two people were injured: one had his hand bitten through, and the other had a broken rib."

"The third team has one seriously injured person whose calf was bitten raw and who cannot walk. Two others have minor injuries."

Li Yuan turned around and glanced at his men.

Song Tiezhu was unharmed, while Han Xiaoyi had a shallow cut on his left arm, the blood of which had already dried. Tian Qi and Xu Qing were both unharmed.

Zhao An sat on the ground, while Xu Qing squatted beside him, applying medicine powder to the wound on his thigh. The wound wasn't too deep; the horned lizard's horn had pierced the muscle but not the bone. It should be fine once the bleeding stopped, but he wouldn't be able to run fast for a while.

"The fourth team has one injured member who can walk," Li Yuan reported to the Wang family cultivator.

After all the teams reported their results, the total casualties were less than expected.

The base was lost, and some supplies were also lost, but most of the people had been evacuated. Only the first team was missing one person; it was unclear whether he had fallen behind or something else had happened.

Several rogue cultivators were also brought up. Ma Yuan and the others huddled behind a large rock at the top of the slope, their faces ashen, not uttering a single word.

The Wang family cultivator glanced at everyone.

"Continue retreating north, dispersing the distance between ourselves and Xiufang City. Find a high place to rest and wait for Qu Bo to return."

The roars of the monsters below the slope continued, but they had already faded into the distance.

The group moved slowly northward along the top of the slope, the gravel crunching under their feet.

After walking about two miles, the terrain became higher again.

Ahead was a protruding rock platform, with three sides being nearly vertical stone walls, and only a narrow, gentle slope on the south side for ascending and descending. The platform was not large, just enough for a group of people, but its location was excellent; apart from the path on the south side, no other direction could allow monsters to climb up.

"Right here," the Wang family cultivator pointed to the rock platform.

The group went up to the rock platform one after another.

The wounded were placed in a more secluded spot, and several cultivators skilled in healing techniques gathered around to tend to their wounds. The third team member had the most severely mangled calf; two people held his leg down and used their spiritual energy to stop the bleeding. The cultivator, biting a piece of wood, had veins bulging on his forehead, but remained silent.

Li Yuan found a spot to sit down on the edge of the rock platform.

Scattered roars of demonic beasts came from afar, much weaker than before.

Han Xiaoyi squatted down beside him, raised his hand to touch the wound on his left arm, and hissed.

"Those monsters are acting strangely," he muttered.

Song Tiezhu replied in a muffled voice.

"Something's not right. In all my years as a guard, I've never seen a monster that's been cut in half and is still biting people. A normal monster would have run away long ago."

Li Yuan didn't reply, but looked around.

The conversation on the rock platform gradually subsided. The people on night duty were sent out, and the rest found places to rest.

The distant roars continued intermittently, as if slowly fading away.