Docked Pay

Several days passed, and the Upper First-Order Demonic Beast to the east was jointly surrounded and killed by three Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators from the market.

Once the news returned to the market, the tense atmosphere that had held for several days finally eased somewhat.

But it only eased a little. The very fact that an Upper First-Order Demonic Beast had appeared merely five or six li east of the market was itself a problem.

Li Yuan maintained his usual daily rhythm. He practiced the five forms of the Iron Ox Technique once each day, squeezed in the Nurturing Origin Technique whenever he could, and cultivated the Spirit Guiding Art at night. Outer-perimeter patrols had been suspended, and the inspection range had shrunk back inside the market.

There was no less work to do, though.

Today was the day monthly pay was distributed. After becoming Deputy Captain, he was more or less a minor official, so he no longer needed to queue up to collect it himself. However, he received it at the same time as the other deputy captains and captains, later than ordinary patrolmen.

Three Spirit Stones, two Vein-Clearing Pills, and fifteen Contribution Points. That was his monthly pay.

Back at his residence, Li Yuan slid the bolt into place, sat by the bed, and poured out the contents of the cloth pouch.

Three Spirit Stones rolled across the tabletop. Beside them, two dark-red medicinal pills gave off a faint medicinal fragrance. Their bodies were translucent, with red patterns faintly flowing across their surfaces.

Two Vein-Clearing Pills. Li Yuan picked one up and placed it in his mouth.

The medicinal pill melted as soon as it entered his stomach. A warm medicinal force rose from his viscera and slowly spread along his meridians.

It felt different from spiritual energy entering his body during cultivation. The medicinal force was gentler, like a warm current soaking into the inner walls of his meridians and gradually clearing away tiny obstructions.

The spiritual energy in his dantian stirred once, then returned to calm.

Vein-Clearing Pills could increase spiritual energy and speed up cultivation for a certain period.

But the effect of increasing spiritual energy was not particularly useful to Li Yuan at his current Mid Qi Refinement stage.

What was useful was the effect of accelerating cultivation.

The panel popped up with a notification:

[Vein-Clearing Pill permanent conversion progress: 1/10]

It took ten pills to make it permanent. Relying solely on the Vein-Clearing Pills issued each month, it would take at least five months. Still, there was no better way. He would save them up slowly.

Li Yuan put away the remaining Vein-Clearing Pill, gathered the Spirit Stones into his sleeve, then sat cross-legged and began cultivating.

The increase in cultivation speed was not great, but it was still thirty percent faster than before. Combined with the stacked affixes, it became even faster.

When Li Yuan finished cultivating and pushed open the door, Fang He next door was sitting on the threshold, wiping his short saber.

Seeing Li Yuan, Fang He rose and cupped his hands.

"I have something to tell you. I joined the Guard Squad."

"When?"

"The day before yesterday."

Fang He sheathed his short saber and patted down his robe hem.

"I should thank you for helping me inquire about it before. Then I went straight to the Guard Squad and signed up."

"They happened to be desperately short on people. When they saw I had experience with the Monster Hunting Squad and sufficient cultivation, they approved me right away."

The Guard Squad truly was short-handed. The losses they had suffered before had yet to be replenished.

There was no reason for the Guard Squad to reject a Rogue Cultivator like Fang He with actual combat experience.

"I report for duty officially tomorrow." Fang He rolled his neck, his tone calm.

Li Yuan nodded.

Fang He bared his teeth in a grin. "I've already been in the Monster Hunting Squad. At least the Guard Squad has people to back you up. No need to worry about one of your own stabbing you in the back."

The conversation stopped there. Fang He turned and returned to his room.

Li Yuan did not press him for details. He went out on patrol.

--

There were fewer people on East Street than there had been several days ago.

Not by much, but it was noticeable—several temporary shacks that had previously crowded the alley entrances had been dismantled, leaving behind marks pressed into the ground by their construction. Two or three stalls in the middle of North Alley had also been vacated, making the passageway a little wider.

After news of the Upper First-Order Demonic Beast spread, a batch of Rogue Cultivators had indeed chosen to leave.

But not many left. The reason was simple: outside the market was even more dangerous.

From Qinghe Market to the nearest Li Family Market was nearly a hundred li, and most of the route ran through wilderness.

That stretch of road had once been fairly peaceful, but now Demonic Beasts from the Yuanheng Mountains were spreading outward. It was possible to encounter anything on the road.

Rather than risk the journey, they might as well stay in the market.

That was how most Rogue Cultivators saw it.

What truly caught Li Yuan's attention was something else.

When he patrolled to the end of East Street, a Talisman shop that usually had good business was closed.

Its wooden door was bolted from within, and several packed crates were piled at the entrance. Through the gap in the window, he could see that more than half the shelves inside had been emptied.

It was not temporarily closed. They were packing up to leave.

As Li Yuan walked along the street, he saw at least three shops packing their goods, while another had already posted a notice of transfer.

It did not matter much if a few Rogue Cultivators left. Empty stalls would soon be filled by someone else. Shops were different.

The annual rent paid by one thriving shop could equal that of dozens of Rogue Cultivator stalls.

Once shops left, the market's income would clearly decline.

The Wang Family certainly did not want to see such a situation.

When he went to the station that afternoon to report in, Wang De was seated behind his desk. Another stack of new documents had piled up on the tabletop, and his brows were tightly furrowed.

Li Yuan knocked and entered, first giving a brief report on the patrol.

Wang De did not respond immediately after listening. He set aside the document in his hand and tapped the desk twice with his index finger.

"They found out what happened with the Demonic Beasts in the Spirit Field District."

Li Yuan stood before the desk without speaking.

"During the period when patrols on the South Line went wrong, Zhou Dazhuang and two other guards were responsible for that area. The three of them neglected their patrol duties during a rotation. One day, they withdrew early and left a gap on the southern side. The Demonic Beasts slipped in through that gap."

Wang De's tone was even.

"The three of them will each have two months' pay docked. Their service in the Guard Squad will also be extended by three months apiece."

Two months of docked pay meant twenty Spirit Stones gone.

The additional three months were even more deadly—Guard Squad rotations were originally only one month, but now it had become four.

Zhou Dazhuang's wife was still pregnant. Last time, he had said her morning sickness was severe and that she had lost a great deal of weight. With his pay docked and another three months of running about outside, things were indeed difficult for him.

But there was nothing to say about the punishment. Negligence during patrol had allowed Demonic Beasts into the Spirit Field District. If they had injured Spirit Farmers or destroyed Spirit Fields, the consequences could not be offset by docked pay.

"There's one more matter."

Wang De pulled several records from the pile of papers and spread them over the desk.

"Recently, Demonic Beasts have been appearing around the market more and more frequently. From last month until now, the Guard Squad has reported seventeen sightings, six of them within five li of the market."

"Previously, there were only two or three in an entire month," Li Yuan said.

"It can be said that Demonic Beast activity has become frequent."

Wang De lifted his teacup, did not drink, then set it down again.

"But several instances don't seem right."

"When the Guard Squad patrolled north, they encountered different Demonic Beasts at the same location for three consecutive days. An Iron-Spine Hyena on the first day, two Horned Lizards on the second, and a Single-Horned Snake Badger on the third. The habits of those three kinds of Demonic Beasts are completely different. Under normal circumstances, they would not appear in the same place."

Li Yuan frowned. "Were they driven there from somewhere else by something?"

Wang De glanced at him.

"Hard to say. But for it to happen by chance for three days in a row, in nearly the exact same place, doesn't look like a natural migration."

They still had not discovered who was behind Zhao Wu's probing of the market's defenses. If someone was secretly driving Demonic Beasts to harass the area around the market, Zhao Wu's intelligence gathering had a new explanation.

Wang De said no more and waved his hand.

"The Guard Squad and the Wang Family are investigating this. Just do your patrol work properly, and prepare for the possibility of new assignments. Come find me if anything happens."

Li Yuan acknowledged the order and withdrew.

By the time he returned to his residence, it was already evening.

Li Yuan slid the bolt into place, then first took up a stance in the cleared space inside the room and practiced the Iron Ox Technique once.

With the boost from Viscera Strengthening, the five forms flowed together smoothly. When his Vital Blood washed through his viscera, its force was solid, and the opposing upward and downward pull of the fifth form, Iron Ox Crosses the River, was remarkably steady.

[Iron Ox Technique: Proficiency (382/400)]

Minor Accomplishment was not far away.

After finishing the technique, he practiced the Nurturing Origin Technique twice more. Once both cultivation arts were done, Li Yuan sat cross-legged and circulated the Spirit Guiding Art.

Spiritual energy surged into his meridians, pure and fierce.

The spiritual energy in his dantian was far more abundant than it had been last month.

The hollow feeling from when he had first broken through to the fourth level had long since vanished, replaced by a heavy solidity. With every circulation through the heavenly cycle, he could feel spiritual energy settling firmly within his dantian.

The Spirit Guiding Art also circulated more and more smoothly. The rhythm of breathing that had required deliberate control several months ago was now nearly instinctive, and the proficiency on the panel was closing in on Major Accomplishment.

With the support of his affixes, Li Yuan's cultivation speed far surpassed that of cultivators at the same stage.

Not only did he accumulate spiritual energy quickly, but because his spiritual energy was pure and flowed swiftly, Li Yuan had not encountered any bottlenecks along the way.

Bottlenecks did not only arise when breaking through realms. Ordinary cultivation could also produce small bottlenecks. Time could wear them away, but that took a great deal of time.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and circulated his cultivation art, his breathing long and even.