Chapter 164 - 160: Jade Elephant Skill
His progress with the Micro-Control Spiritual Skill had been rapid over the past few days.
The foundation was already in place. The precision of Spiritual Power control he had gained from reaching Minor Achievement in his Talisman Making Skill, combined with the long-term refinement of distributing Spiritual Power to his fingertips while crafting Divine Talismans, served as a ready-made base.
Li Yuan had already been practicing the kind of fine control required by the Micro-Control Spiritual Skill during his talisman-making process; it just hadn’t been systematically organized into a formal Magic framework.
Now, with a clear framework for the Magic, his previously fragmented experiences were rapidly integrating.
The panel flickered.
[Magic: Micro-Control Spiritual Skill - Proficient (0/400)]
Independently manipulating Spiritual Power among his ten fingers had become second nature. The margin of error in line thickness when drawing Spirit Patterns was now extremely low, and the leakage of Spiritual Power when sealing a pattern had all but vanished.
Life in the Talisman Hall was much freer than it had been with the patrol or guard teams.
There were no fixed patrol routes or rotating shifts. As long as he completed his talisman-making quota on time, he could arrange his remaining time as he saw fit. The manager only came by occasionally to check on his progress, leaving right after without asking too many questions.
This morning, Li Yuan finished his talisman-making tasks for the day ahead of schedule, put away his brush, and left the Talisman Hall.
Qinghe Marketplace was located northwest of the Talisman Hall, a walk of over an hour. His supply of Evil Essence Pills was nearly depleted, so he decided to see if the marketplace had anything else of use.
Li Yuan followed a mountain path northwest. The path was flanked by a mixed forest, its canopy filtering the sunlight into scattered patches of light.
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, Li Yuan stopped in his tracks.
In a thicket about a hundred yards ahead, he felt the heavy pressure of a Spiritual Qi fluctuation.
’Tier One Middle Grade.’
The thicket stirred.
A grayish-brown Demon Beast emerged from the low bushes.
It wasn’t large; its shoulder came up to about Li Yuan’s waist. Its limbs were thick and powerful, and a row of stiff, dark gray bristles ran along its spine from its neck to the base of its tail.
It had a protruding snout, with two canine teeth jutting up from its lower jaw, their tips slightly yellowed.
A Gray Badger. ’Tier One Middle Grade,’ Li Yuan noted. ’Thick-skinned and tough, its defense is high for a Demon Beast of its rank.’
The Gray Badger stared at Li Yuan, a low growl rumbling in its throat. The bristles on its neck began to stand on end, and it crouched, ready to pounce.
Li Yuan didn’t move.
The Gray Badger lunged.
It wasn’t fast.
Li Yuan sidestepped and slammed his right fist into the Gray Badger’s ribs. Spiritual Power enveloped his fist as it struck home.
The Gray Badger was sent flying, rolling twice on the ground before crashing to a stop against a tree trunk.
’Not dead. The Gray Badger’s hide is indeed tough.’ His punch had pierced the outer layer of bristles but had only broken two ribs, leaving its internal organs without fatal injury.
The Gray Badger struggled to its feet, its hind legs weak. It whimpered, trying to retreat into the thicket.
Li Yuan walked over and planted his foot on its back, pressing down with his Spiritual Power. The Gray Badger’s limbs immediately went limp, and it collapsed, unable to move.
It was still alive, its breathing shallow and its chest heaving rapidly.
Li Yuan crouched, drew a short blade from his waist, and placed its tip on the Gray Badger’s chest, just to the left of center.
He drove the blade in.
The Gray Badger’s body convulsed.
The heart was still beating. Dark red blood welled from the wound—deeper in color and thicker than normal blood, carrying a faint fluctuation of Spiritual Qi.
’Heart’s blood.’
Li Yuan took a small porcelain vial from his storage pouch and held it under the wound to catch the flowing blood. By the time the vial was more than half full, the heart had stopped beating completely, and the blood ceased to flow.
Li Yuan pulled out the short blade, wiped it clean on the Gray Badger’s bristles, and sheathed it at his waist.
Then he harvested the beast’s various materials and stored them in his pouch.
He stood up and drank the heart’s blood. Then, he reached into his storage pouch and took out the Blood Replenishing Talisman.
The panel popped up. He unequipped the Jade Cloud Talisman Brush and equipped the Blood Replenishing Talisman.
[Qi Blood Surge (White) requirements for becoming a permanent entry met. Make permanent?]
’Yes.’
[Permanence successful.]
[Qi Blood Surge (White) is now a permanent entry.]
[Item consumed.]
A warm sensation began to flow through his body. The circulation of his Qi Blood through his meridians quickened slightly, as if an undercurrent were pushing it along.
Li Yuan flexed his wrist and continued on his way.
After walking for another half-hour or so, the gray walls of Qinghe Marketplace appeared ahead.
The walls were a bit higher than they had been a few months ago, and the newly built row of stone houses to the south was already occupied.
The Cultivator on duty at the east gate saw the Talisman Hall Token at Li Yuan’s waist, nodded, and let him pass.
He entered the marketplace.
The main street was much more crowded than before; the desolate feeling from a few months ago, when foot traffic was low, was gone.
Stalls lined most of both sides of the main street. Among the Cultivators coming and going were many unfamiliar faces in varied attire, clearly not all of them from the Wang family.
Li Yuan walked past a tea stall without stopping.
He continued down the main street. As he reached the corner of East Street, a familiar figure emerged from a side alley ahead.
Sun Liang.
He still had the same slender frame, but his complexion looked better than the last time they’d met. It was no longer that sallow, pale color, though it wasn’t exactly rosy either.
Sun Liang saw Li Yuan as well, paused for a moment, then walked over.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came from the Talisman Hall to look around."
Li Yuan glanced at the Token at his waist. "Back on patrol?"
"Yeah, it’s a rotation. Things have been quiet at the mine lately, so the manager sent me back to run an errand."
The two of them moved to an empty stone platform by the side of the road to talk.
"How are things at the mine?"
"Fewer Demon Beasts," Sun Liang said, rubbing his chin.
"A whole lot fewer. Before, we’d get Demon Beasts heading for the mine every few days. On bad days, we might run into two or three groups. But in the last half-month, we’ve only seen four or five in total, and they were all just Tier One Low Grade."
He paused.
"Ever since we absorbed those other families, it’s like the Demon Beasts all made a pact and just quieted down. No idea why."
Li Yuan grunted in acknowledgment.
They chatted a bit more about daily life at the mine before Sun Liang said he had to report to the management office and took his leave.
Li Yuan continued his walk through the marketplace.
He walked from East Street to West Street, then back from West Street to the southern part of the main street. The stalls offered much the same as before: Spirit Grass, ores, pills, and Magical Artifact components. Prices were twenty to thirty percent higher than in Yunyang Marketplace.
As he reached the end of the main street’s southern section, an old bookstall in a corner caught his eye.
About a dozen Cultivation Technique booklets and bamboo slips detailing various Magic were laid out on the stall. Most were basic, entry-level techniques, priced anywhere from two or three Spirit Stones to over ten.
Li Yuan’s gaze swept over the items and stopped on a thin booklet on the far right.
It had a cowhide cover, its edges slightly curled. Three words were written on it.
Jade Elephant Skill.
The listed price was five Spirit Stones.
Li Yuan stared at it for a couple of breaths.
He had seen this booklet in the marketplace before, but he couldn’t afford it back then.
Li Yuan crouched down and picked up the booklet. As his fingers touched the cover, the panel flickered.
’Gray.’
"This one, five?"
The stall owner was an old Loose Cultivator with white-streaked hair, dozing against the base of a wall. He cracked open an eye at the sound of Li Yuan’s voice.
"Five."
Li Yuan counted out five Spirit Stones from his storage pouch, placed them on the stall’s cloth, and tucked the Jade Elephant Skill into his pouch.
The old Loose Cultivator swept the Spirit Stones into his sleeve and closed his eyes again.
Li Yuan stood up and walked along the main street toward the east gate. He left the marketplace and headed back to the Talisman Hall the way he came.