Patrol Inspection

The Deputy Captain's badge hung at his waist, heavy and weighty. It was a full size larger than the original one and felt thicker to the touch.

But that was all it was.

The document had not been wrong. This Deputy Captain position was merely a title, with no one under his command.

Most of the original Patrol Inspectors had been transferred to the Guard Squad to fill vacancies. The rest each had their own patrol areas, beyond Li Yuan's authority and of no use to him.

More troublesome still, there were fewer people, but no less work.

He had only just settled a dispute that morning between two East Street stall owners over their positions when the Management Office called him over in the afternoon to verify the registration information of a batch of newly arrived Rogue Cultivators.

After running himself ragged, the sky was already darkening by the time he returned to his Wooden Cabin.

Li Yuan sat on the edge of the bed and caught his breath, thinking that being Deputy Captain was less leisurely than his previous job.

After resting for a moment, Li Yuan rose, took his position in the cleared space inside the room, assumed his stance, and began practicing the Iron Ox Technique.

The third stance of the Iron Ox Technique was called Iron Ox Weight-Bearing. With both arms extended forward and palms facing down, he coordinated his movements with a slow, heavy breathing rhythm and guided his Vital Blood toward his limbs.

This stance drained more stamina than the first two. With every breath, he had to push his Vital Blood from his abdomen to his shoulders, arms, legs, and feet, then draw it back from the extremities, cycling it over and over.

With the Viscera Strengthening Affix, his perception of Vital Blood was far clearer than an ordinary person's. Coupled with the complete Iron Ox Technique formulas clearly imprinted in his mind, Li Yuan found the practice exhausting but smooth.

After roughly an hour, Li Yuan finished his practice. His arms were slightly sore, and a thin sheen of sweat covered his back. The Clean Physique immediately took effect, causing the sweat stains on his clothes to fade away on their own.

With a thought, the Panel appeared:

[Iron Ox Technique: Entry Level (43/200)]

The progress was not increasing quickly, much slower than it had before he reached Entry Level. Cultivating mortal techniques ultimately required training the body again and again. The understanding granted by equipment merely saved him the time of fumbling in the dark; the work still had to be done by himself.

After putting away the Panel, Li Yuan did not continue practicing the Iron Ox Technique. Instead, he sat cross-legged and circulated the Spirit Guiding Art.

Spirit qi surged in from all directions. After Spirit Qi Filtration, it became pure and free of impurities, while Circulation Acceleration drove spiritual power swiftly through his meridians.

After breaking through to Qi Refining, Fourth Layer, his Dantian capacity had nearly doubled compared with the third layer. It was still far from full.

With every circulation, a considerable amount of spiritual power flowed into his Dantian. It was filling several times faster than when he had been at the peak of the third layer.

The technique proficiency of the Spirit Guiding Art was also slowly rising, the number on the Panel inching upward bit by bit.

Li Yuan had cultivated this technique for quite some time. Its progress had long passed the middle stage of Minor Accomplishment, yet it remained a fair distance from Major Accomplishment.

After cultivating for two hours, Li Yuan ended his session.

The spiritual power within him was somewhat fuller than before, but it was still far from saturation.

With the sheer capacity of a Qi Refining, Fourth Layer Dantian before him, filling it would take quite a bit of time.

Li Yuan was not impatient. He rose, poured himself a bowl of cool water, and took a sip.

For now, steady improvement in his cultivation was enough. The Iron Ox Technique's progress might be slow, but it was still rising. Neither matter required extra worry; no amount of haste could make them come faster.

What truly required thought were two other matters.

The first was medicinal pills.

The condition for permanently retaining the Vein-Clearing Pill was consuming ten medicinal pills of the same grade or a higher grade.

The Vein-Clearing Pill was a Low-grade First-Order medicinal pill, so pills of the same grade naturally meant Low-grade First-Order pills as well.

Vein-Clearing Pills themselves cost two to three Spirit Stones each in the marketplace. Ten of them would cost twenty or thirty Spirit Stones, meaning he would need to save nearly half a year's worth of his meager monthly salary.

But if he could find other Low-grade First-Order medicinal pills that cost less, he could reduce the expense considerably.

After all, the condition for permanent retention stated medicinal pills of the same grade or higher; it did not specify that they had to be Vein-Clearing Pills.

During his patrols over the past few days, Li Yuan had been keeping an eye on medicinal pill prices in the marketplace, especially those displayed by Rogue Cultivators.

The results were not ideal.

There were quite a few kinds of Low-grade First-Order medicinal pills. Common ones included Turbidity Cleansing Pills, Qi Nourishing Pills, and Yuan Condensing Powder.

Qi Nourishing Pills had previously been the cheapest, at one and a half Spirit Stones each. They were the medicinal pills most commonly used by low-level Rogue Cultivators.

But that was no longer the case.

Demonic Beasts had been unusually active in the Yuanheng Mountains recently. Far fewer Rogue Cultivators were entering the mountains to gather herbs, while the herbs easily found along the outer foothills had been picked nearly clean. With supplies at the source dwindling, herb prices in the marketplace naturally rose along with them.

When herbs rose in price, medicinal pills rose as well.

Qi Nourishing Pills had gone from one and a half Spirit Stones to more than two.

Yuan Condensing Powder had not risen much, but it had been expensive to begin with—three Spirit Stones per dose, nearly the same price as a Vein-Clearing Pill. There was no point in using it as a substitute.

Li Yuan had even made a special trip to the Wang Family Shop in the marketplace two days ago. The shop was well-stocked with medicinal pills, but its prices were even higher than the Rogue Cultivator stalls outside.

The Wang Family had always priced its goods high. What people paid for was stable quality and the assurance that there would be no counterfeits.

After making the rounds, Li Yuan could only face one reality—he would not find cheap Low-grade First-Order medicinal pills anytime soon.

He could forget about permanently retaining the Vein-Clearing Pill for now and honestly save up Spirit Stones instead.

The second matter was mortal techniques.

The condition for permanently retaining the Iron Ox Technique was bringing two mortal techniques to Perfection. He only had the Iron Ox Technique in hand, so he still needed to find another one.

But Li Yuan did not want to buy one carelessly.

That day, he had flipped through several mortal technique manuals at an East Street stall—Gold Jade Art, Bone Strengthening Technique, and the like—yet the System Panel had not reacted at all. Only the Iron Ox Technique could be equipped, and even it was merely a White Trait.

That showed that not every mortal technique could be equipped, nor did every technique that could be equipped possess an Affix.

If he spent several Spirit Stones on a manual only to find that it could not be equipped, the value for money would be poor. He would be better off spending more time looking for one with an Affix.

In any case, the Iron Ox Technique still had a long road ahead before reaching Perfection. There was no need to rush at this moment.

With that thought, Li Yuan set down the water bowl, sat cross-legged once more, and began circulating the Spirit Guiding Art again.

The moonlight outside the window gradually shifted, while only the steady sound of breathing remained within the Wooden Cabin.

Over the next few days, Li Yuan maintained a fixed routine.

During the day, he patrolled the marketplace and handled all manner of trivial matters.

At night, after returning to the Wooden Cabin, he practiced the Iron Ox Technique for an hour before cultivating the Spirit Guiding Art.

The Deputy Captain's work truly was more demanding than before.

Previously, a Patrol Inspector only needed to manage his own area. If he encountered trouble, he reported it to the captain and did not need to worry about the rest. Now, with too few hands available, Li Yuan had to handle many matters himself.

When newly arrived Rogue Cultivators clashed with local stall owners, Li Yuan went to mediate.

When a Rogue Cultivator set up a shack in a corner of the marketplace to spend the night and someone reported it, Li Yuan went to persuade him to leave.

The Management Office also stuffed several temporary registration tasks into his hands, requiring Li Yuan to verify the identities of newly arrived Rogue Cultivators.

Every day after finishing his patrol and returning to the Wooden Cabin, he felt more tired than when he had been an ordinary Patrol Inspector.

Fortunately, his cultivation had not been delayed.

The Spirit Guiding Art's proficiency was steadily climbing. Spirit Qi Filtration and Circulation Acceleration worked together like two blades cutting at once, making his efficiency far greater than that of an ordinary Qi Refining, Fourth Layer cultivator. The spiritual power in his Dantian grew fuller by the day, still nowhere near a bottleneck.

The Iron Ox Technique's progress was rising as well, only much more slowly.

[Iron Ox Technique: Entry Level (132/200)]

He had nearly mastered the third stance, while the fourth stance, Iron Ox Hoof Strike, had only just begun to reveal itself to him.

This stance placed extremely high demands on lower-body strength. Every practice session left his legs so sore that they trembled. Even with the support of the Viscera Strengthening Affix, he could not endure practicing it for too long.

Mortal techniques ultimately depended on polishing the flesh over and over. There was no clever shortcut to rely on.

As for medicinal pills and mortal techniques, Li Yuan continued watching for them during breaks in his patrols.

Low-grade First-Order medicinal pills were either out of stock or had risen in price, just as Li Yuan had observed earlier.

One stall owner had displayed several Qi Nourishing Pills, but asked for two and a half Spirit Stones each, an increase from last month.

"Herb prices are still rising?" Li Yuan casually asked.

The stall owner sighed and gestured as he explained, "There are fewer and fewer places in the mountains where herbs can be gathered. A few days ago, two Rogue Cultivators collecting herbs encountered Demonic Beasts in the outer region. One died and one was injured. Who would dare venture deeper now?"

Li Yuan did not ask further. He nodded and left.

The reduced herb harvest had caused medicinal pill prices to rise, and things would not improve in the short term.

There was no harvest on the mortal technique side either.

Over the past few days, Li Yuan had come into contact with quite a few technique manuals at stalls while patrolling. He had flipped through seven or eight different mortal techniques, yet the System Panel had not lit up even once.

Either they did not meet the requirements for equipping, or they could not be equipped at all.

The only time it reacted was when he saw a Jade Statue Art manual in the hands of a Rogue Cultivator.

But it only had a Gray Trait, and the seller wanted five Spirit Stones. Li Yuan could not afford it for the time being.

No rush. The Iron Ox Technique was still a long way from Perfection. He could simply keep looking slowly.