Settlement Under Attack

Before dawn had even broken, Li Yuan had already set his stance in the cleared space inside the room.

The fifth form of the Iron Ox Technique, Iron Ox Crosses the River.

This was the final form of the complete technique, and also the most difficult one.

His blood and qi had to rise from the Dantian, surging upward toward the crown of his head while coursing downward to the soles of his feet. Pulled taut from above and below, they formed a complete vertical passage through his body.

Unlike the first four forms, which involved only portions of the viscera, the fifth form linked the entire body together. The slightest deviation would cause the blood and qi to clog at a joint. At best, it would leave him sore; at worst, it would disrupt his breath.

Li Yuan adjusted his breathing, sank his shoulders and dropped his elbows, planted his feet shoulder-width apart, and slowly circulated his qi.

His blood and qi poured out from his Dantian, splitting into two streams that advanced upward and downward at the same time.

The upward stream passed through his chest and throat, charging straight toward the Baihui point atop his head.

The downward stream traveled along his abdomen, passed his hip bones, flowed into both legs, and reached the Yongquan points on the soles of his feet.

The two streams of blood and qi were like two ropes, one pulling upward and the other tugging downward, stretching his body taut between them.

The Viscera Strengthening trait held firm at the foundation. His five viscera and six bowels endured the two-way wash of blood and qi without the slightest discomfort.

Once, twice, three times.

On the third circulation, the two streams of blood and qi finally joined at the Dantian, forming a complete cycle.

Though it was still somewhat rough, the passage had already been opened.

Li Yuan withdrew his technique. His legs trembled faintly, and a thin sheen of sweat coated his back, only to be silently wiped away by his Clean Physique.

With a thought, the panel appeared.

[Iron Ox Technique: Proficient (0/400)]

Having crossed from Beginner to Proficient, the progress reset to zero, while the cap rose from two hundred to four hundred.

The changes in his body were more obvious than the numbers.

He clenched his fists. His knuckles were hard as stone, and when the muscles on his arms tensed, they looked a full circle thicker than before.

He rose onto his toes and hopped twice. When he landed, he was steady as a rock; his knees and ankles showed no trace of looseness.

It had taken just over ten days for the Iron Ox Technique to go from Beginner to Proficient. For an ordinary person, that speed would take at least one or two years.

But there was still a long road ahead before Perfection.

Li Yuan dismissed the panel, pulled back the door bolt, and stepped outside. He headed down East Street to begin the day's patrol.

There were noticeably more people in Qinghe Market than there had been last month.

The stalls on both sides of East Street were crammed full. Some vendors had simply set up sheds at the intersections of alleyways, squeezing the passage so tightly that people could only walk sideways through it.

After patrolling less than half the street, Li Yuan ran into Liu Ping of the Patrol Squad at a fork in the middle of East Street.

Liu Ping was a little over thirty and at the Qi Refining Third Level. He usually patrolled the areas around South Gate and West Street. He was not much of a talker, but he was diligent.

Last month, a large number of guards had been transferred away during the rotation, leaving the Patrol Squad even more short-handed. They had also had far fewer chances to run into each other.

"Deputy Captain Li." Liu Ping cupped his hands, and Li Yuan returned the salute.

"That Old Zhang you recommended a few days ago really does make decent Talismans."

Liu Ping patted the bulging cloth bag at his waist. "That old man's craftsmanship may be average, but his prices are truly cheap. I bought quite a few."

Li Yuan nodded, and the two walked side by side along East Street for a while.

"What's the situation outside been like lately?" Li Yuan asked casually.

Liu Ping shook his head, his expression somewhat grim.

"Not peaceful. Yesterday, when I was on duty at South Gate, I heard from the Guard Squad that just last month, there were five or six cases of Cultivator Bandits killing people on the outskirts that they knew of."

"And those are only the cases that got reported. The unreported ones can only be more numerous."

Five or six cases. Li Yuan frowned slightly.

The number he had heard last month had only been two or three. It had doubled in the span of a month.

"And it isn't just those Cultivator Bandits." Liu Ping lowered his voice.

"Word from the Guard Squad is that some ordinary Rogue Cultivators act perfectly normal while doing business in the market. But once they leave the market and come across someone alone, they still strike without hesitation."

Li Yuan did not slow down. His gaze swept over the many different Rogue Cultivator faces at the roadside stalls.

Liu Ping continued, "There's something else you may not know. The Rogue Cultivator settlement east of the market was attacked the day before yesterday."

Li Yuan stopped short.

He knew of the Rogue Cultivator settlement east of the market. It was less than three li from the market gate, with dozens of wooden huts and shacks crowded together. The people living there were all Rogue Cultivators making a living around the market.

Although it lay outside the market walls, that area had always fallen under the Guard Squad's patrol jurisdiction. The Rogue Cultivators living there also had to pay rent to the market every month.

"Who did it?"

"Not sure." Liu Ping shook his head.

"I heard they struck in the middle of the night. Four or five people came, killed two Rogue Cultivators, grabbed some Spirit Stones and materials, then ran. By the time the Guard Squad arrived, they had vanished without a trace."

"Two dead?"

"One died on the spot. The other was badly injured and couldn't be saved afterward."

Li Yuan did not respond, remaining silent for several breaths.

It was not unheard of for Rogue Cultivator settlements on the market's outskirts to be attacked in the past, but most incidents had been furtive thefts—taking things while people were unprepared. Directly killing people for treasure was rare.

Moreover, that settlement was within the Guard Squad's patrol range. If the attackers dared to act there, then either they did not take the Guard Squad seriously, or they had already figured out the Guard Squad's patrol patterns.

Either way, it meant the situation was worsening.

Among the several markets nearby, Qinghe Market was the closest to the Yuanheng Mountains.

That was why Rogue Cultivators heading into and out of the mountains were willing to stop here. The market's foot traffic and trade volume were both quite good.

But precisely because it was close, the security pressure around the market was far greater than at other markets.

Once word spread that the Rogue Cultivator settlement had been attacked, those Rogue Cultivators who had originally planned to settle here would inevitably hesitate, wondering whether they should move to a market farther away and safer.

"There is some good news." Liu Ping sounded a little more relaxed. "Yesterday, I heard Captain Wang say that the Wang Family sent several clansmen over from the main family."

"Wang Family clansmen?"

"That's right. Not contracted outer members, but people from the Wang Family proper."

Liu Ping held up three fingers.

"Three came. They're all at the Qi Refining Late Stage, and they entered the Guard Squad directly. I heard the main family thinks the situation around Qinghe Market is a little off, so they specifically sent people to hold the fort."

The Wang Family's direct clansmen were completely different from the contracted outer cultivators.

The outer cultivators had an employment relationship with the Wang Family. They could leave when their term ended, though they could also renew their contracts.

The direct clansmen were the Wang Family's own people. They cultivated better techniques, had more abundant resources, and their combat power at the same realm was not something outer cultivators could compare with.

The two parted at the end of East Street, each going about his own patrol route.

Li Yuan looked toward the stalls on either side and noticed that there were many more vendors selling Monster Materials on the street.

In the past, most vendors on East Street sold common goods such as ores, herbs, and Talismans.

Now, things were different.

In just half a street, there were seven or eight stalls selling Monster Materials: beast hides, beast bones, beast blood, beast fangs, and even whole dried small monsters laid out for sale.

Most of these materials came from Low-grade First-Order monsters, whose strength corresponded to cultivators at the Qi Refining Early Stage. There were also a small number of First-Order Mid-Grade materials.

Monster activity in the Yuanheng Mountains had grown frequent, and there were far more First-Order monsters in the outskirts than before. Naturally, the Monster Hunting Squads' gains had also increased.

Furthermore, Qinghe Market was the closest of the markets near the Yuanheng Mountains. Many cultivators emerging from the mountains came straight here to sell their goods and restock, so materials naturally flooded in.

With supply increasing, prices were driven down.

Li Yuan crouched before several stalls, casually picked up a monster's spine to weigh it in his hand, then felt a grayish-brown hide beside it.

The System Panel showed no reaction whatsoever.

He switched to several more stalls, examining beast fangs, bottles of beast blood, and dried monster meat. The panel remained completely quiet.

These Monster Materials could not be equipped.

Li Yuan set down the item in his hand, rose, and continued onward.

It was not surprising. Although the range of items that could be equipped was broad, very few actually met the requirements.

When he reached the middle of North Alley during his patrol, Li Yuan spotted Old Zhang's cloth canopy from afar.

As he drew closer, he noticed that there were far fewer Fireball Talismans and Ice Spike Talismans than before. An obvious patch of the stall was empty.

Old Zhang was drawing talismanic runes onto a blank sheet of yellow paper. His brush tip was dipped in Cinnabar, and he moved slowly, every stroke painstakingly careful.

Li Yuan stopped in front of the stall without making a sound to disturb him.

Old Zhang finished the final stroke, lifted the Talisman Paper to inspect it, shook his head, and casually tossed it onto the pile of discarded paper beside him.

"Ruined." Old Zhang sighed. Only then did he notice Li Yuan, quickly rising to cup his hands.

"Fellow Daoist Li."

"Old Zhang, have you sold quite a few Fireball Talismans and Ice Spike Talismans?" Li Yuan pointed at the empty spaces on the stall.

A bitter smile appeared on Old Zhang's face.

"More people have been buying combat Talismans lately. My small stockpile sold out in less than two days."

"The prices have gone up, then?"

"They have." Old Zhang gestured with his fingers. "Fireball Talismans used to be two for one Spirit Stone. Now, three can sell for two. Ice Spike Talismans are about the same."

"Unfortunately, my Talismans are too low in quality. The more expensive Talismans have risen even harder in price, and people are keeping them as trump cards."

"It isn't that I wanted to raise prices. The herbs used for drawing Talismans have all become more expensive."

Li Yuan glanced at the pile of discarded paper beside him and said, "There are quite a lot more Monster Materials on the market, though, and their prices have fallen."

Old Zhang nodded and sighed.

"There are. Beast hides can be used to make Beast-Skin Talisman Paper, and the Talismans drawn on it are even better than those drawn on ordinary yellow paper. If I could use monster hides to make Talisman Paper, I could cut the cost by quite a bit."

Old Zhang patted the yellow paper in front of him and shook his head. "But the method for making Beast-Skin Talisman Paper differs from the method of making Talisman Paper with herbs. I don't know how."

"Years ago, I saw a talisman master draw Talismans on shed snakeskin. Their quality was a cut above yellow-paper Talismans. I wanted to learn from him at the time, but he asked for twenty Spirit Stones in tuition."

"Now beast hides are cheap, but I can't use them. Herbs have become expensive, and I still have to buy them."

Old Zhang waved his hand as he spoke, the meaning plain without words.

Twenty Spirit Stones was no small sum for Old Zhang.

Li Yuan said no more. After chatting with Old Zhang for a few more moments, he continued his patrol.