Guard Squad

At dusk, when Li Yuan returned to his residence, his peripheral vision swept over the notice board on the wall, and his steps suddenly halted.

A new notice had been posted on the board. The ink was still fresh; it had clearly been put up today.

The notice contained the rotation roster for the market's Guard Squad.

Li Yuan's gaze quickly swept across the names on the list before stopping at the third line.

Li Yuan, Qi Refining Third Level. Beginning on the first day of next month, he would rotate into guard duty for one month.

The moment he saw this, Li Yuan's heart sank heavily.

The Guard Squad was no good place.

The Wang Family maintained two teams in Qinghe Market. One was the Guard Squad, while the other was the Patrol Squad Li Yuan belonged to.

The two teams had clearly defined duties.

The Patrol Squad handled matters within the market. To put it bluntly, they ran errands and handled miscellaneous tasks. The work was tedious and trivial, but it was safe.

The Guard Squad was different.

Qinghe Market lay on the outskirts of the Yuanheng Mountains. A hundred li to the west stood the Yuanheng Mountains, where Demonic Beasts ran rampant.

Although there were not many Demonic Beasts in the outer regions, they still occasionally appeared around the market. When that happened, the Guard Squad had to step in.

Beyond the Demonic Beasts, there were even more dangerous Cultivator Bandits.

The Yuanheng Mountains stretched for thousands of li. The mineral veins, Spirit Herbs, medicinal herbs, and all kinds of Demonic Beasts in the mountains drew countless Rogue Cultivators seeking a living.

Cultivator Bandits who specialized in robbing other cultivators naturally emerged as well.

Moreover, quite a few Cultivator Bandits were Rogue Cultivators working part-time. Usually, they looked as harmless as people and beasts, but once an opportunity arose, they would still commit murder and seize treasures.

The Guard Squad was responsible for patrolling the area around the market, driving away Demonic Beasts, and intimidating Cultivator Bandits.

The Guard Squad's monthly salary was ten Spirit Stones, more than three times the Patrol Inspector's three. They also received more Medicinal Pills every month, but naturally, the danger increased greatly as well.

Quite a few guards had died while on patrol. Those with particularly bad luck did not even have their corpses recovered.

The guard rotation system was a rule established by the Wang Family to prevent the Guard Squad from becoming understaffed.

Every month, they transferred a group of Patrol Inspectors from the market into the Guard Squad for a one-month rotation.

During the rotation, their original duties were suspended, and their pay was issued according to Guard Squad standards.

The original owner had been rotated four times. Three times, he had escaped danger without incident; once, he had suffered a minor injury.

But during those four rotations, the original owner had seen two Guard Squad cultivators die.

Li Yuan stood before the notice board, his expression calm while his mind calculated at high speed.

There were still twelve days until the first day of next month.

What could he do in twelve days?

Naturally, Li Yuan did not want to join the Guard Squad. Now that he had the Equipment Panel, his future was vast; he had no desire to risk his life for ten Spirit Stones.

If he could break through to Qi Refining, Fourth Layer, the situation would be entirely different.

Qi Refining, Fourth Layer, already fell within the realm of Mid Qi Refinement. Unless the Guard Squad was especially short-handed or an emergency arose, he would not be forcibly conscripted.

But the problem was that the original owner had been stuck at the Peak Third Layer of Qi Refinement for nearly two years. He had only recently failed to break through the bottleneck with the help of Medicinal Pills. Breaking through in a short time was almost impossible.

Unless he had outside assistance.

Li Yuan's thoughts turned to the system.

[Affix: Spirit Qi Filtration]

The Affix's effect was to increase cultivation speed by thirty percent and automatically remove impurities.

It could increase cultivation speed and improve the quality of spiritual power, but that alone was not enough for a breakthrough. He needed other Affixes as well.

If he had a month to accumulate strength, Li Yuan was confident he could break through. But he only had twelve days now.

The best-case scenario was that after Spirit Qi Filtration became permanent, not only would he gain another Equipment Slot, but the current Equipment Slot would also be freed up, allowing him to equip other items and gain new Affixes.

If he could find one or two Affixes that helped with breakthroughs, then add them to the existing Spirit Qi Filtration...

But aside from Spirit Stones, he had not found another item that could be equipped. Moreover, only items belonging to him could be equipped, and he currently had only one Spirit Stone on him.

Although he could collect his monthly pay in a few days, it would only add up to four Spirit Stones, which was probably not enough.

And cultivating one hundred cycles took quite a while. After Permanentization, he would probably have only two or three days left to attempt his breakthrough.

Li Yuan took a deep breath, suppressing the restlessness in his heart, and looked around.

The Wooden Cabin had few furnishings. Apart from a wooden bed, a wardrobe, a table, and a Prayer Mat, all that remained were some odds and ends piled in the corner.

Most of those odds and ends had been left behind by the original owner. Since Li Yuan had inherited his memories, he naturally knew what they contained.

At the bottom of the wardrobe lay a chipped Dharma Sword. The original owner had spent several Spirit Stones to pick it up in the market years ago, intending to repair it and continue using it. But he later discovered that repairs would cost more than buying a new one, so it had been left there ever since.

Li Yuan crouched down and took out the Dharma Sword.

The blade was about three feet long. There was an obvious chip in its edge, and the patterns on its body had dimmed somewhat. Its spirit qi had clearly leaked away badly.

Li Yuan gripped the hilt and waited for the system's response.

Nothing happened.

There was no prompt, no text.

"Sure enough, damaged items can't be equipped."

Li Yuan had expected this. When he equipped the Spirit Stone, the word "complete" had already made the issue clear.

Li Yuan put the Dharma Sword back where it had been, then began searching through the cabin again.

Other than the Dharma Sword, the only thing that could be equipped was the few Cleaning Talismans on the table.

The original owner had bought them from Old Zhang a few days ago. A bundle of Cleaning Talismans contained twelve sheets; ten bundles cost only half a Spirit Stone. They were purely sold by volume.

Their effects were mediocre. They could clear away dust and mosquitoes, keep dust from sticking to one's body for a period of time, and prevent mosquitoes from approaching. They offered no help whatsoever to cultivation and were purely for convenience.

Li Yuan picked up a Cleaning Talisman, and familiar translucent text immediately appeared:

[Detected equipable item: Cleaning Talisman (Complete)]

[Affix Preview: Clean Physique (Gray)—The body does not easily gather dust and can drive away mosquitoes]

[Permanentization Condition Preview: Learn the spell—Cleaning Spell]

[Equipment Slot full (1/1). Replace current equipment?]

[Current equipment: Low-Grade Spirit Stone]

[After replacement, Affix lost: Spirit Qi Filtration (White)]

[Note: After the original equipment is removed, Permanentization progress will be retained, but equipment of the same type cannot be equipped again for twelve hours]

Li Yuan immediately chose to cancel.

Other than this Cleaning Talisman, there were no other items in the house that could be equipped—anything valuable had basically been sold by the original owner.

"There seems to be another way. I could equip the Cleaning Talisman first. Once it becomes permanent, I'll gain another Equipment Slot. Then I can find an Affix that helps with breakthroughs and combine it with the original Spirit Qi Filtration. That should give me a decent chance of breaking through."

But there was one problem: he did not know the Cleaning Spell.

Although the Cleaning Spell was one of the most common Entry Level spells among cultivators, it still required dedicated study.

Li Yuan set down the Cleaning Talisman in his hand and began to think.

The Cleaning Spell was not expensive, but he would still need several Spirit Stones to learn it from other cultivators. And reaching Entry Level would take several days as well.

At present, both methods required him to find new Affixes. Relying on Spirit Qi Filtration alone gave him little chance of breaking through, and each method had its own flaws.

There was no use thinking too much. He should first do what lay before him. With twelve days left, his foremost goal was to improve his cultivation, preferably completing the Permanentization of Spirit Qi Filtration.

With a thought from Li Yuan, the Panel appeared.

[Spirit Qi Filtration (White)]

[Permanentization Progress: 1/100]

Closing the Panel, Li Yuan returned to the Wooden Cabin. Without wasting any time, he directly sat down cross-legged and began circulating the Spirit Guiding Art.

Spirit qi gathered from all directions. After passing through that invisible layer of filtration, it became incomparably pure and flowed along his meridians into his Dantian.

After the original owner's failed breakthrough, his realm had regressed somewhat. Thus, Li Yuan's cultivation now was not only to fulfill the Affix Permanentization condition, but also to rebuild his cultivation.

As Li Yuan cultivated more deeply, the night gradually darkened. The Wooden Cabin was silent, with only the steady sound of his breathing.

After an unknown length of time, Li Yuan opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

[Permanentization Progress: 6/100]

Five cycles. Sensing the progress of his cultivation, joy appeared on Li Yuan's face.

The filtered spirit qi placed less pressure on his meridians than he had imagined.

It seemed the time needed for the Affix's Permanentization might be shorter than he had expected.