Equipment Panel

Yuanheng Mountains, Qinghe Market.

Qinghe Market was not large, yet quite a few cultivators came and went. There were only two main streets running east to west, and four side alleys running north to south.

Li Yuan walked along East Street, then turned into North Alley. His gray cloth Patrol Uniform billowed slightly in the wind, a large embroidered Wang character displayed on its chest.

Qinghe Market was managed by the Wang Family. Li Yuan was a Patrol Inspector of the market. Though the title sounded impressive, he was merely one of its lowest-ranking enforcers.

His main duties were maintaining order in the market, preventing cultivators from fighting, collecting stall fees, and handling all sorts of miscellaneous work.

The job could be called leisurely. Qinghe Market had always been fairly peaceful; though the tasks appeared numerous and complicated, there was actually very little to do.

After walking for a while, Li Yuan subconsciously reached toward his waist.

The moment he extended his hand, he realized that this was no longer Earth. What hung at his waist was his identity token, not his phone.

"I wonder if I can go back..."

Li Yuan somewhat missed his life on Earth—his phone, his computer, and his iced cola.

Though one could cultivate immortality here, daily life was still worse than on Earth.

Fortunately, he had no father or mother and was an orphan with no one to worry about him. Since he had transmigrated, then he had transmigrated. There was no pressure.

Li Yuan was a transmigrator. The night before he transmigrated, he had become engrossed in a webnovel and gone to sleep very late.

Then, after waking from a single night's sleep, he had arrived in this world.

Fortunately, the original owner's memories had remained relatively intact, allowing Li Yuan to quickly blend into this world.

When the original owner was five, a Wang Family cultivator had discovered that he possessed a Spiritual Root. In exchange for cultivation methods and a cultivation environment, he had signed a twenty-year contract with the Wang Family—after reaching adulthood, he was to work for the Wang Family for twenty years.

Li Yuan was now only twenty-five years old. He still had a long thirteen years before regaining his freedom.

Although the contract stipulated that reaching Qi Refining Late Stage could reduce his years of service, Li Yuan did not believe he could achieve that under his current circumstances.

Just yesterday, the original owner had sold off some belongings and spent all his savings to purchase a Breakthrough Pill.

Then he had taken the pill, attempted to break through the bottleneck of Mid Qi Refinement, and suffered qi deviation.

And then Li Yuan had transmigrated over.

Now, Li Yuan did not even have a single Spirit Stone on him.

"Damn, I'm poor as hell."

Li Yuan cursed inwardly as he continued his ordinary patrol of the market.

At the end of North Alley stood a crude cloth canopy. Beneath it sat an old man whose face was weathered by wind and frost. More than a dozen Cleaning Talismans lay on the stall before him, with several Fireball Talismans and Ice Spike Talismans arranged behind them, as well as three Warding Talismans.

The old man had been running a stall in the market for years. He was at the Qi Refining Third Level and had a teenage grandson. His Talisman-making skills could only be considered average within the market, but his prices were low, so he could occasionally sell a few.

Li Yuan stopped in front of the stall. "Old Zhang, it's time to pay this month's stall fee."

Old Man Zhang lifted his eyelids and looked over. Seeing that it was Li Yuan, he immediately took out three Low-Grade Spirit Stones from his sleeve and handed them over.

"The stall fee is one Spirit Stone a month. Why are you giving me three?"

Looking at the three Spirit Stones before him, Li Yuan did not accept them, instead asking in confusion.

Old Man Zhang cupped his hands and said:

"Fellow Daoist Li, these past days, you have introduced quite a few fellow Daoists to buy Talismans from me, allowing me to earn quite a bit."

"This old man's craft is crude. I only know how to make these few kinds of Talismans, and Fellow Daoist Li likely has little use for them. If you do not find it beneath you, please accept these two extra Spirit Stones."

For a low-ranking Patrol Inspector like Li Yuan, the monthly stipend was very little.

Aside from the Vein-Clearing Pill that assisted cultivation and three Contribution Points that could be exchanged for items within the Wang Family, there were only three Spirit Stones.

These two extra Spirit Stones were equivalent to more than half a month's stipend.

"Then I shall not stand on ceremony."

The instant Li Yuan accepted the Spirit Stones, several lines of translucent text suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Detected equippable item: Low-Grade Spirit Stone (intact)]

[Equipment Affix preview: Spirit Qi Filtration (white)—cultivation speed increased by thirty percent; impurities automatically removed when absorbing spirit qi]

[Permanence condition preview: cultivate for 100 full circulation cycles while remaining equipped]

[Equip?]

What was this? A cheat?

Li Yuan's heart began to pound violently, but his expression did not change. He tucked the Spirit Stones into his sleeve, exchanged a few more pleasantries with Old Zhang, nodded, and turned to leave. His pace was neither hurried nor slow, no different from his usual patrols.

After turning out of North Alley, Li Yuan quickened his pace toward the eastern part of town.

The eastern part of town was the residential area for outer members of the Wang Family like Li Yuan. Before long, rows of wooden houses, packed together like fish scales, appeared before him.

There were over a hundred houses in total, one house per person. Each was fairly spacious, and not all of them were occupied. In any case, the land cost nothing.

There were not many facilities inside. Many furnishings and amenities needed by mortals were of no use to cultivators at all.

Li Yuan went straight to the house at the very edge, pushed open the door, and casually slid the bolt into place.

Sitting down beside the bed, Li Yuan took out the Spirit Stone from his sleeve and focused his gaze on it.

Those lines of translucent text still hovered before his eyes:

[Detected equippable item: Low-Grade Spirit Stone]

[Equip?]

"Not an illusion."

A thought stirred in Li Yuan's mind as he chose yes.

The text changed abruptly, while the Spirit Stone before Li Yuan vanished into thin air.

[Equipment successful]

[Affix obtained: Spirit Qi Filtration (white)]

[Affix effect: cultivation speed increased by thirty percent; impurities automatically removed when absorbing spirit qi]

[Permanence condition: cultivate for 100 full circulation cycles while remaining equipped (current progress: 0/100)]

[Note 1: The affix becomes invalid when the equipment is removed, and the equipment will be returned]

[Note 2: After becoming permanent, the equipment disappears, the Equipment Slot is freed, and the affix will remain permanently]

Affixes... equipment... permanence conditions...

The concepts displayed in the text before him were not unfamiliar to a transmigrator.

His golden finger had arrived!

"I should have discovered it yesterday, but the original owner was too poor. He didn't even have a single Spirit Stone on him."

Even as delight surged through him, Li Yuan could not help complaining.

Before Li Yuan could test it out, the text before him changed once more.

[Name: Li Yuan]

[Realm: Qi Refining Third Level]

[Cultivation Method: Spirit Guiding Art—Minor Accomplishment (899/1600)]

[Techniques: Fireball Technique—Mastery (89/800), Godly Movement Step—Proficient (90/400), Spirit Shield Technique—Proficient (18/400), Ice Spike Technique—Beginner (56/200)]

[Equipment Slot: (1/1) (Unlock the second Equipment Slot after permanently acquiring one affix of any grade)]

[Equipped item: Low-Grade Spirit Stone]

[Affix obtained: Spirit Qi Filtration (white)]

At the same time, information regarding the system began surfacing automatically in Li Yuan's mind:

This Equipment Panel allowed him to equip all kinds of qualifying items and gain affix bonuses.

However, different items had different restrictions. For example, to equip a Spirit Stone, it had to be intact; a damaged one would not do.

The affix effects of identical items were the same, and affixes with the same name could not stack.

Affixes also had different grades: gray, white, green, blue, purple, red, and gold. The higher the grade, the stronger the affix effect.

"Currently, I only have one Equipment Slot."

Li Yuan looked at the newly appeared text. With a shift of thought, the panel vanished automatically from before his eyes.

Looking at the affix on the panel, Li Yuan did not hesitate. He sat cross-legged on the bed and began circulating the introductory cultivation method issued by the Wang Family.

The method was called the Spirit Guiding Art. It was a foundational method specifically used by the Wang Family's outer cultivators. Its effects were mediocre, but it excelled in its relatively fast cultivation speed and its ability to quickly absorb spirit qi, making it suitable for cultivators of ordinary aptitude to get started.

Li Yuan's original body had relied on this method to cultivate all the way to the Qi Refining Third Level. Its cultivation speed was fairly fast in the early stages, but the further one progressed, the more apparent the method's shortcomings became.

Though the Spirit Guiding Art absorbed spirit qi quickly, it could not filter out the impurities within it. Over time, one's spiritual power would become mixed and impure, cultivation would slow, and breaking through realms would become difficult.

One needed to regularly consume Medicinal Pills such as Turbidity Cleansing Pills to clear the meridians in order to maintain cultivation speed.

Turbidity Cleansing Pills were sold at the Wang Family Shop in the market for three Spirit Stones each.

Li Yuan cultivated as he pondered this.

After half an incense stick's worth of time, Li Yuan opened his eyes. This cultivation session felt utterly different from his usual practice. The speed at which spirit qi entered his body had increased considerably. More importantly, the faint sense of obstruction he used to feel had vanished. Every wisp of spirit qi had become purer, transforming as soon as it entered his meridians without the slightest hindrance.

Automatic removal of impurities.

Those words were no empty boast. The turbid qi and impurities that should have been mixed within the spirit qi seemed to have been filtered away by something before entering his body. Only pure spirit qi remained, flowing through his meridians and gathering in his Dantian.

Moreover, the meridians that had been faintly aching due to his failed breakthrough did not grow more painful from the flow of spirit qi. Instead, his injuries seemed to show faint signs of recovery.

That was because pure spirit qi possessed restorative effects, whereas the previous spirit qi contained too many impurities. Continuing to cultivate would only aggravate his injuries.

Joy could not help rising in Li Yuan's heart, and his homesickness faded somewhat.

With a cheat like this, why go back to Earth?

Fine, he still missed Earth's phones, computers, and iced cola a little...

However, Li Yuan did not continue cultivating. His patrol work was not yet finished, and he still had to keep patrolling.