There was a designated place in the Special Capture Division for exchanging items. Under Wu Si'an's guidance, Li Yuan arrived at a small three-story stone building.
The stone walls of the building were covered in rune after rune, the runes linking together to form strange arrays.
"This is where the Special Capture Division exchanges contribution points for items."
A long table stood at the entrance of the stone building. Two administrators sat behind it. Whenever someone took a fancy to an item, they had to find these two administrators to exchange for it.
When Li Yuan and Wu Si'an entered the stone building, the two administrators sitting at the entrance saw Wu Si'an and chuckled. "Wu Si'an, back to exchange for something again?"
Wu Si'an also gave a cackling laugh. "I went on a mission yesterday and made a little pocket change."
Upon entering, they saw rows upon rows of wooden shelves, all piled with various items.
As they walked past the rows of wooden shelves, the dazzling array of goods left Li Yuan dazzled. The stone building had three floors in total. The first floor displayed all kinds of weapons, talismans, pills, and so on. The second floor held various martial arts, including mid-grade and low-grade martial arts.
The third floor, however, held the truly good stuff, such as the high-grade martial arts Li Yuan had always yearned for, Rune Soldiers with power so great it was difficult to fathom, and even spirit arts used by Spirit Masters!
With a look of shock on his face, Li Yuan picked up a book titled Spirit Light Curse. It was a spirit art that could transform the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into flames, and was also one of the simplest spirit arts.
"They even exchange spirit arts here?"
"Don't the Spirit Masters object?"
Li Yuan knew very little about Spirit Masters. He had occasionally heard that Spirit Masters inherited their traditions through lineages, with their spirit arts passed down only within their own lineages and kept secret from outsiders.
Yet now, spirit arts were actually being displayed openly on these shelves.
Wu Si'an walked over. "What could they object to? These spirit arts were placed here by them."
After some explanation, Li Yuan understood the reason behind it.
The talent for spirit arts was often passed down through bloodlines. The children born to two Spirit Masters had a high chance of also becoming Spirit Masters, which was why spirit arts were usually inherited within lineages.
But there were always exceptions. People with spiritual aptitude occasionally appeared outside Spirit Master lineages. If they discovered that they possessed spiritual aptitude, they could come here to exchange for spirit arts and practice them.
If they managed to achieve something, they might even be taken in by a Spirit Master lineage—perhaps marrying into it or something.
The world had now undergone great upheaval, with evil beings appearing everywhere. Spirit Masters were rushing around putting out fires, and their lineages had suffered heavy casualties. Thus, they had made some changes and needed to absorb fresh blood from outside.
"It's just that cases of absorbing new Spirit Masters from outside are rare. At least, none have appeared in our Jiujiang yet."
"I heard there really are two newly emerged Spirit Masters in Liuxiang Commandery to the north. They were taken in by Spirit Master lineages."
Wu Si'an knew many secrets concerning Spirit Masters. After explaining them in detail, Li Yuan's understanding of Spirit Masters deepened considerably.
The means of investigating whether someone possessed spiritual aptitude was also available in this stone building. The two of them arrived at the entrance to the first floor, where the two administrators took a crystal-like stone from the cabinet behind them. A clearly visible strand of milky-white spiritual energy coiled within it.
A Spirit Stone!
"Young man, is this your first time here?"
The administrator of the stone building was unfamiliar with Li Yuan and asked with a beaming smile.
Li Yuan nodded. "Yes."
The administrator shook his head helplessly. Almost everyone who came to the stone building rushed over to test their spiritual aptitude after seeing the spirit art inheritances.
The lower limit of spirit arts was extremely high. As long as one could master a spirit art, even the weakest Spirit Master possessed combat power comparable to that of a True Qi Realm martial artist. How could that not tempt people?
They had seen plenty of people rushing over in a panic to test their aptitude, so they thought nothing of it. The administrator handed the Spirit Stone to Li Yuan. "Then give it a try."
After taking the Spirit Stone, Li Yuan saw a vortex-shaped rune on its surface. The rune lit up with a faint glow, and under its influence, he felt himself form some kind of special connection with the Spirit Stone.
Through this special connection, as long as he could touch the wisp of spiritual energy within the Spirit Stone and make it change, it would prove that the tester possessed the aptitude to become a Spirit Master.
Li Yuan tried several times, but helplessly discovered that he could not cause the wisp of spiritual energy within the Spirit Stone to stir in the slightest.
"Looks like I really don't have spiritual aptitude."
Li Yuan reluctantly returned the Spirit Stone. He might as well honestly practice martial arts.
His Divine Wisdom talent could raise his martial wisdom to its limit. It had never said it could also raise his spirit-art wisdom to its limit. Even if he possessed a trace of spiritual aptitude, there was a high chance he still could not receive the assistance of Divine Wisdom.
His foundation had always lain in martial arts. Being unable to practice spirit arts did not bring him much regret. If he could travel far enough along the path of martial arts, his achievements would be no lower than those of the most top-tier Spirit Masters.
Li Yuan returned to the second floor and began selecting items suitable for him to exchange for.
After this trip to Changgan, where he had fought a horde of zombies and evil ghosts, Li Yuan had noticed several important problems and prepared to exchange for some martial arts techniques tailored to address them.
After some selection, Li Yuan chose a martial art: Water Dripping Condensing Ice Meditation Method.
This was a martial secret art involving the spiritual realm. The technique contained two visualization diagrams. Visualizing them could not only temper one's mental strength, but also cultivate a special form of internal power: Ice Force!
This was also the technique Li Yuan had chosen after careful consideration. When he fought that Half-step Blood Robe evil ghost in Changgan, the other martial artists had been mentally frail and had fallen victim one after another to the Half-step Blood Robe's illusion attacks.
Li Yuan alone had been immune to the evil ghost's illusions. He had mastered the Martial Dao True Intent Dragon's Bloodshed, giving him extremely high resistance to attacks from the spiritual realm. Martial Dao True Intent was an exceedingly rare and precious power.
It was extremely difficult for martial artists to cultivate Martial Dao True Intent. Spiritual cultivation was indispensable. If one's spirit was weak, it was absolutely impossible to cultivate Martial Dao True Intent, and the Water Dripping Condensing Ice Meditation Method was a secret art specifically meant to temper the spirit.
Mental strength, however, was something mysterious and abstruse, difficult to put into words. For ordinary martial artists, cultivating such a method was incredibly difficult. Only someone like Li Yuan was qualified to practice it.
Li Yuan's mental strength was already far from weak. His decision to additionally cultivate a visualization method came from his own considerations. After probing Dragon's Bloodshed for many days, he had discovered that the stronger his mental strength, the more powerful Dragon's Bloodshed became. As Dragon's Bloodshed grew stronger, it would in turn increase the strength of his mental power. The two complemented and reinforced each other.
Moreover, Li Yuan had a premonition. If he could continuously strengthen his mental power and raise it to a level beyond ordinary martial artists' imagination, there would certainly be unexpected benefits!
Li Yuan had gained one hundred and sixty contribution points from this mission. This visualization method was worth one hundred and twenty points, leaving him with few contribution points after the exchange.
While in Changgan, Li Yuan had chosen a Rune Soldier Longsword for himself. He intended to learn swordsmanship, but he did not have enough contribution points left. High-grade martial arts cost at least a thousand contribution points, so he could forget about those. Even exchanging for a mid-grade martial art required more than a hundred points, which he also could not afford.
But that did not matter. Swordsmanship was taught at the martial arts academy. He could return and learn from Qi Zhengyang, saving the contribution points he would have spent on swordsmanship.
With forty contribution points remaining, Li Yuan wandered around the second floor and exchanged for another low-grade martial art: Ground Rolling Fist!
Li Yuan had also considered carefully why he should choose this technique.
Ground Rolling Fist was named for its many rolling and tumbling movements. It used falling, pouncing, rolling, and flipping motions to lure the enemy into a trap, allowing one to seize victory from defeat.
Simply put, the defining characteristic of Ground Rolling Fist was its extremely low center of gravity. Even lying on the ground, one could still fight, specializing in attacking the enemy's lower three paths. Even Chen Haihuang would have praised it as an expert move!
This world was so dangerous. Who could guarantee they would never run into trouble or take a tumble?
As long as he learned Ground Rolling Fist, so what if I, Li Yuan, got beaten to my knees or beaten flat on my back?
As long as I'm not beaten to death, I can still fight from the ground!
After obtaining Ground Rolling Fist, Li Yuan felt a wave of satisfaction. He had gained another trump card for staying alive.
With his final twenty contribution points, Li Yuan went to the first floor and exchanged them for Evil-Warding Talismans and Detoxification Talismans, things frequently used when venturing outside.
He spent every last contribution point. Li Yuan was thoroughly satisfied, and Wu Si'an had also finished exchanging for the things he needed.
The two traveled together toward the martial arts academy.
Next came the happy time of practicing martial arts.
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