Chapter 137 - 133: Harassment
The next day, Li Yuan was in his stone house making Talismans as usual.
He produced thirteen successful Fireball Talismans out of fifteen attempts. Four out of six Heart-lock Talismans were successful. And all three Qi Gathering Talismans he drew turned out perfectly.
He had now fully adapted to the feel of the Jade Cloud Talisman Brush. The loss of Spiritual Power during transmission was extremely low, and the quality of the Spirit Patterns he drew was a notch higher than when he used his old brush.
After finishing the Combat Talismans, Li Yuan stacked the finished products on the corner of his desk and took out the special materials for the Soul Refining Talisman from his storage bag.
He spread the golden talisman paper on the desk and poured out the dark gold Spiritual Ink from a jade bottle.
The last time he’d successfully drawn one was back at the guard post, and it had taken him seven attempts. His Talisman Making Skill had improved considerably since then. His Fireball Talisman technique had reached Minor Achievement, and his overall control of Spiritual Power was far more precise. This time, he only wasted four sheets before succeeding.
The moment the final stream of Spiritual Power flowed from the brush tip into the Talisman Core, five spirals lit up simultaneously. The dark gold light converged from the outer edges inward, layer by layer, condensing into an exceptionally bright point at the Talisman Core before sinking into the paper.
A steady, dark gold luster appeared on the surface of the talisman paper.
Success. His second Soul Refining Talisman.
The process was smoother than the last one. The entire drawing, from the first stroke to the last, was significantly more fluid.
Li Yuan placed the talisman on the desk and glanced at the remaining golden talisman paper.
There were eight sheets left.
He didn’t continue drawing. He put the materials back into his storage bag. One finished talisman was enough for now.
That evening, Li Yuan sat cross-legged in his stone house.
He took the newly drawn Soul Refining Talisman from his storage bag, pressed it to the center of his forehead, and infused it with Spiritual Power to activate it.
The Concentration Pattern on the talisman paper flashed. Dark gold Spiritual Power seeped from its surface, passed through his skin, and traveled along his skull to act directly on his Divine Soul.
It felt like a layer of hot wax being poured over his Divine Soul, compacting any loose parts.
The sensation lasted for about a dozen breaths. Afterward, the already clear perception in his mind became even sharper.
Once the Spiritual Power in the talisman was depleted, its dark gold luster faded. The Spirit Patterns on its surface shattered, and it turned into a few thin fragments that fluttered down onto his lap.
It was a one-time-use consumable, worthless after a single activation.
But the effects were undeniable.
Li Yuan closed his eyes, savoring the feeling for a moment. The density of his Divine Soul was a sliver greater than before. It wasn’t much, but the cumulative effect over time would be quite significant.
The sky outside was now completely dark. In the distance, the cyan light barrier of the herb garden’s Array flowed slowly, illuminating the varied heights of the Spirit Grass stalks and leaves in the medicinal plots.
Li Yuan resumed circulating the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
Spiritual Qi surged into his body. The Pure Spiritual Power filtered out impurities as it condensed and sank into his Dantian. The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the herb garden was extremely high; with each cycle, the amount of Spiritual Power that settled into his Dantian was nearly fifty percent more than when he cultivated back in the market.
Halfway through his third cycle...
HUMMM.
A low thrumming sound vibrated from the outer edge of the herb garden.
It was the Array’s warning.
Li Yuan’s eyes snapped open. He shot to his feet and pushed the door open.
Outside the stone house, Steward Wang had already emerged from the adjacent building. He was clutching a Magical Artifact, his eyes fixed on the forest to the north of the herb garden.
The cultivator named Zhou rushed out of another stone house, short blade in hand. The cultivator named Feng followed close behind, his steps a little slower, but he had already drawn his Magical Artifact.
The Array’s light barrier to the north of the herb garden was fluctuating rapidly, ripples spreading across the surface of the cyan shield.
’One at the Qi Refining Fifth Level, two at the Qi Refining Fourth Level.’
’Their Cultivation isn’t very high.’
Three figures burst out from the Forest Edge. They split up, lunging toward different points on the Array’s light barrier.
The Qi Refining Fifth Level cultivator in the lead had a gray-white Spiritual Light flare in his palm. A Wind Blade shot from his hand and struck the Array’s light barrier.
BONG!
The light barrier shuddered violently but didn’t break. Ripples spread out from the point of impact, but it quickly stabilized.
The other two Cultivators also reached the edge of the Array and each cast a spell. An earth spike thrust up against the bottom edge of the barrier from the side, while an ice cone smashed into its front.
The three spells struck simultaneously. The Array’s light barrier trembled violently twice, its brightness dimming for a flash. However, the supply of Spirit Stones on the stone platform was still plentiful, and the barrier quickly recovered.
Once their attack was over, the three of them moved in near-perfect sync.
They didn’t prepare for a fight, nor did they scatter. They simply turned and ran.
The three figures reversed direction in almost the same instant, retreating deep into the forest.
Their movements were perfectly coordinated, without a moment’s hesitation. They had split up to attack and now retreated as one. The entire engagement lasted less than ten breaths.
They struck a few times and then fled.
From the distant forest came the sound of hurried footsteps crushing dry branches, which quickly faded away.
The fluctuations in the Array’s light barrier gradually subsided, and the cyan shield once again grew still.
Down the slope, Steward Wang put away his Magical Artifact and shouted up.
"Come on down! They’re gone."
Li Yuan leaped down from the top of the slope, landing in the clearing in front of the stone houses.
The other guards gradually stood down from their posts. The Pill Refiner also peeked his head out from his stone house up the slope, then pulled back inside when he saw the coast was clear.
In the clearing, the cultivator named Zhou sheathed his short blade, squatted on a rock by the stove, and patted the dust from his trouser legs.
"Here they come again."
The cultivator named Feng squatted down, leaning against the base of a wall, and muttered.
"That’s the fourth time this month."
Steward Wang didn’t sit. He stood in the middle of the clearing, scanned the surroundings, and only turned around after confirming the Array had returned to normal.
"You get used to it."
He took a couple of steps toward Li Yuan.
"This kind of harassment happens every few days. Sometimes it’s two or three people, other times four or five. They show up, hit the Array a few times, and run the moment they see someone come out."
He rubbed his hands together.
"It’s not necessarily people from the Li family. Could be marauders, or maybe Loose Cultivators hired to test our defenses."
The cultivator named Zhou stood up from the rock and rolled his shoulders a couple of times.
"Their Cultivation might not be high, but it gets really annoying when it happens this often. Every time the Array alarm goes off, you have to come running out, whether it’s a real attack or not. By the time you get here, they’re already gone. It’s so disruptive you can’t even rest properly."
He glanced at Li Yuan.
"This is my second tour of duty here, and it was the same last time. Back then, I couldn’t wait for my replacements to take over. Turns out, after my last shift ended, they just sent me right back."
The cultivator named Feng added,
"It was better last time. The Li family had just started causing trouble back then, so the harassment wasn’t as frequent. It’s gotten noticeably worse in the past month. Sometimes they come twice in one night."
Steward Wang waved his hand dismissively.
"Alright, that’s enough. Dismissed. Go to sleep if you’re off duty, and get back to your posts if you’re on watch."
The men returned to their respective quarters.
Li Yuan returned to his stone house and closed the door.
He didn’t go to sleep right away. Instead, he walked over to his desk, sat down, and spread out a sheet of talisman paper.
He dipped the Jade Cloud Talisman Brush in Spiritual Ink and continued drawing Fireball Talismans.
His technique, now at the Minor Achievement stage, was exceptionally stable. Drawing the six Spirit Patterns required almost no thought; his Spiritual Power followed wherever his wrist moved. One, two, three talismans. His success rate was now over ninety percent. The occasional failure was due to a flaw in the talisman paper itself, not his technique.
Over the next few days, Li Yuan’s talisman production reached a new peak.
The Spiritual Qi in the herb garden was rich, allowing him to recover his Spiritual Power through cultivation nearly fifty percent faster than back at the market. The ’Spiritual Power Recovery’ trait was constantly active, so the Spiritual Power he spent making talismans during the day could be fully replenished with just a few hours of cultivation at night.
Batches of finished Talismans were stacked neatly on the corner of his desk. Every two days, Steward Wang arranged for someone to transport the Talismans back toward the market and hand them over to a rear contact point. The people at the contact point would then deliver the Talismans to the Talisman Hall to be tallied for Contribution Points.
With each settled batch of Talismans, his Contribution Points slowly began to climb.
His balance had been negative due to his previously overdrawn Contribution Points and the cost of daily materials. On the seventh day, the number on the settlement slip finally went from negative to zero.
On the eighth day, the number started to climb into the positive.
His Contribution Points were back in the black.
After drawing the last talisman, Li Yuan set down his brush. He sat cross-legged on his bed and began to circulate the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
Spiritual Qi surged into his body and sank into his Dantian. His Cultivation advanced, one cycle at a time.