Chapter 157 - 153: Wang De Arrives
The next morning, Li Yuan got up, left his courtyard, and walked along the dirt road toward the city gate.
After entering the city, he headed straight for the side alley where he had bought the Magic last time.
The shop was still there, and the clerk was the same person.
"Do you have any perception-type Magic?"
The clerk rummaged through a drawer.
"Inspiration Skill and Qi Exploration Skill. Both are Tier One Low Grade perception Magic. Inspiration Skill is passive and costs five Spirit Stones. Qi Exploration Skill is active and costs eight."
"The Inspiration Skill."
He put down five Spirit Stones and took the bamboo slip.
He left the shop without browsing any further, heading directly out of the city and back to the outer perimeter.
Returning to his residence, he shut the courtyard gate, sat down at the table, and unrolled the bamboo slip for the Inspiration Skill.
The contents were extremely brief. It involved drawing a trace of Spiritual Power from the Dantian and dispersing it along a specific path to perception nodes throughout the body, enhancing one’s sensitivity to external Spiritual Qi fluctuations.
The pathway wasn’t complicated. With his current Cultivation level and control over Spiritual Power, he understood it at a glance.
The permanent entry for "Comprehension Speed Boost" was working in the background, increasing his speed of mastering new Magic by fifty percent.
Li Yuan circulated his power along the pathway twice.
Spiritual Power spread to several key acupoints on the surface of his eyes, ears, nose, and skin. After the first circulation, his perception of the outside world became a notch clearer. He could sense three faint Spiritual Qi fluctuations moving on the dirt road outside the courtyard wall. A trace of Wood Spiritual Power lingered in the soil in a corner of the courtyard.
After the second circulation, it became even clearer.
[Magic: Inspiration Skill - Initiate (0/200)]
He had reached the Initiate level.
A perception-type Magic, acquired.
Li Yuan closed the bamboo slip and took out an Investigation Talisman he had made earlier from his storage bag.
With a thought, he unequipped the Cyan Spirit Talisman Brush.
He equipped the Investigation Talisman.
[Conditions to make "Spiritual Sense Boost (White)" permanent have been met.]
[Make permanent?]
Yes.
[Permanence successful.]
["Spiritual Sense Boost (White)" has become a permanent entry.]
[Equipment consumed.]
The Investigation Talisman between his fingers dissolved into a silver light and entered his body.
His overall perceptual sensitivity increased by thirty percent.
He could now feel the Spiritual Qi fluctuations outside the courtyard wall without casting any Magic, something that had previously required the Inspiration Skill. The Spiritual Sense Boost was a permanent, passive effect. Stacked with the Inspiration Skill, his perception was now a level higher than before.
Li Yuan re-equipped the Soul Nourishing Pill.
That afternoon, Li Yuan was in the courtyard drawing a Fireball Talisman.
Suddenly, the sound of synchronized footsteps came from the dirt road outside.
It wasn’t the sound of Loose Cultivators walking in twos and threes, but the rhythm of several people marching in unison.
Li Yuan put down his talisman brush and walked to the courtyard gate.
At the north end of the dirt road, five people were walking toward him.
Li Yuan recognized the two men in the lead at a glance.
Wang De.
He wore a long cyan robe. His face was lean, and the short beard on his chin was much neater, having been trimmed since their last meeting. The aura of his Qi Refining Seventh Level was calm and restrained.
Uncle Qu.
Walking beside Wang De, he wore a gray robe, his Late-stage Qi Refining aura suppressed to a very low level. He hadn’t changed much since their last meeting in the city; his steps were as steady as ever.
Following them were three Cultivators in the Wang family’s uniform robes, their Cultivation ranging from the Qi Refining Fifth Level to the sixth.
As the five of them walked down the dirt road, the few Loose Cultivators along the way quickly moved aside. Late-stage Qi Refining Cultivators were a rare sight in the outer perimeter. Although Uncle Qu had suppressed his aura, he still stood out like a crane among chickens in the crowd of Loose Cultivators.
When Wang De reached Li Yuan’s courtyard gate and saw him, he paused for a moment.
"You’re living here?"
"Wang Lu arranged it. I’m investigating in the outer perimeter."
Wang De’s gaze swept over the simple wooden house behind Li Yuan, then fell to the talisman paper and Spiritual Ink spread out on the table in the courtyard. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
Uncle Qu, standing behind, glanced at Li Yuan without a word, merely nodding at him.
Wang De didn’t enter the courtyard, but stood at the gate and spoke briefly.
"We’ve gathered our people. We’re preparing to move directly against the Wuya Gang."
"We’ve basically figured out the Wuya Gang’s area of operations. We’ll make our move in the next two days, after they head out."
He jutted his chin toward the southern part of the outer perimeter.
"You won’t be part of the main assault, but you might be called upon if we need people for the blockade in the outer perimeter. Just follow orders when the time comes."
Li Yuan grunted in acknowledgment.
"Any new leads?"
"Yes," Wang De said, but didn’t elaborate.
He nodded at Li Yuan and led his men south along the dirt road.
The five figures rounded a row of shacks and disappeared from view.
Fang Laosan, who had squatted down by the neighboring doorway at some point, watched the group walk away. He then sidled over and asked in a low voice.
"Talisman Master Li, those guys didn’t look like ordinary people."
"Old acquaintances."
Fang Laosan chuckled, tactfully refrained from asking more questions, and retreated into his own shack.
Li Yuan closed the courtyard gate and returned to his table.
He spread out a sheet of talisman paper and resumed drawing.
The progress toward making the Spiritual Essence Bottle permanent increased by a little with each finished talisman. Using herbal talisman paper with his self-mixed Spiritual Ink, every completed product counted as one valid attempt.
Fireball Talisman, Heart-lock Talisman, Qi Gathering Talisman, Rejuvenation Talisman, Golden Blade Talisman, Blood Replenishing Talisman, and Investigation Talisman.
He rotated through the seven types of Talismans. Switching between different types increased his overall proficiency in the Talisman Making Skill much more than specializing in just one.
After finishing a batch of Talismans, Li Yuan put away his brush, took two Evil Essence Pills from his storage bag, and sat cross-legged to circulate his energy.
Spiritual Qi surged into his body from all directions, the effect of the Spiritual Essence condensation constantly at work.
The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the outer perimeter was lower than in the city, but after the "Pure Spiritual Power" entry filtered out the impurities, clean Spiritual Power condensed and sank into his Dantian.
The Spirit-Introducing Skill operated faster than before.
He wasn’t deliberately speeding it up; the Cultivation Technique itself was simply running more and more smoothly. The Spiritual Power encountered almost no obstruction as it passed through every meridian and every circulatory node.
One cycle, two cycles, three cycles.
As the fourth cycle neared its end, Li Yuan felt a change as the Spiritual Power flowed back from the meridians throughout his body into his Dantian.
The Spiritual Power didn’t return along the Cultivation Technique’s path.
It found its own way.
The meridians themselves had memorized the route. The Spiritual Power no longer needed the guidance of the Cultivation Technique; from any peripheral node, it could flow back to the Dantian on its own along the shortest path.
He had traced the seven-level pathway of the Spirit-Introducing Skill countless times. Every turn, every node, and the rhythm of every acceleration and deceleration had been carved into the memory of his meridians.
The Cultivation Technique had become a part of his body.
[Cultivation Technique: Spirit-Introducing Skill - Perfected (3200/3200)]
Perfected.
Li Yuan opened his eyes and circulated his energy for one cycle to feel the effects.
The Spiritual Power circulated without needing to be driven by the Cultivation Technique; the meridians completed the entire process of absorption, circulation, and deposition on their own. The efficiency was a notch higher, and the amount of Spiritual Power sinking into his Dantian with each cycle was nearly twenty percent more than before.
But something wasn’t right.
Li Yuan closed his eyes and ran through it again, feeling it out carefully.
Spiritual Power flowed from his Dantian, traveled through the meridians all over his body, and returned to his Dantian. The process was extremely smooth, without any blockage.
The problem wasn’t with the smoothness.
When the Spiritual Power completed the seven-level pathway and flowed back, it passed a group of meridian nodes below the Dantian. He had never touched these nodes before, as the Spirit-Introducing Skill’s pathway didn’t go through there.
However, after the Microelement Meridian Introduction Skill had opened all his meridians, that area was also clear. When his Spiritual Power passed nearby, he could sense the existence of those nodes.
Those nodes weren’t activated.
The Spirit-Introducing Skill covered the range from the Qi Refining First Level to the Seventh Level. With each breakthrough to a new level, the Cultivation Technique would unlock a new set of meridian nodes. After unlocking all seven levels, all nodes within those levels were activated, and the circulation pathway reached the limit of this Cultivation Technique.
But the nodes for the 8th Floor and 9th Floor were still closed.
The Spirit-Introducing Skill distributed by the Wang family only went up to the Seventh Level. The pathways of this Cultivation Technique didn’t involve those deeper meridian nodes at all.
The Cultivation Technique was perfected.
But the Cultivation Technique itself was incomplete.
It was like a ruler that was only seven inches long. The markings on it were flawless, and it was polished smooth and bright. But the thing you needed to measure was nine inches.
The Spiritual Power flowed extremely smoothly along the seven-level pathway, but those closed nodes just sat there, their presence palpable with every cycle.
Li Yuan opened his eyes.
The Spirit-Introducing Skill was just a basic Cultivation Technique the Wang family provided to its outer members. Covering Qi Refining First to Seventh Level was sufficient for them.
The Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill covered up to the Qi Refining Ninth Level, but it was meant for harmonizing and organizing energy. Cultivating it alone was much slower.
The best solution was to obtain the complete pathways for the 8th Floor and 9th Floor of the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
’I’ll deal with that after I return to the Wang family.’
Li Yuan set the problem aside, got up, and stretched his limbs.
He took some Demon Beast Flesh from his storage bag and roasted it. A warm current spread through him, its Qi Blood nourishing his muscles and bones. The residual Demonic Power was converted into Evil Qi.
After eating, he returned to the table, spread out talisman paper, and continued to draw.
The progress for making the Spiritual Essence Bottle permanent was still ticking up.
[Spirit Liquid Condensation (Green) Permanence Progress: 37/100]
One sheet after another. The talisman brush rose and fell on the paper as one Spirit Pattern after another was laid down.
Outside the window, the sky darkened. A few lamps flickered to life here and there in the shantytown of the outer perimeter. The sound of Fang Laosan humming a tune, intermittent and fragmented, drifted from the shack next door.
In the distance to the south, a few Spiritual Waves flashed faintly before quickly vanishing.
Li Yuan didn’t spare them a second glance, lowering his head to continue drawing his talismans.
The progress bar inched forward, bit by bit.