Fiend Essence Pill

Before dawn had broken, Li Yuan was already standing in his room, having assumed the opening stance of the fifth form of the Iron Ox Technique.

Iron Ox Crosses the River.

Vital Blood surged from his Dantian, splitting into two streams that advanced upward and downward at once. One rushed toward the crown of his head, while the other ran through the soles of his feet, carving out a vertical passage within his body.

He had practiced this form many times already; his body had long formed an instinctive memory of it.

Once, twice, three times.

When he completed the third cycle, Li Yuan sensed something different.

The path Vital Blood traveled through his body was smoother and more rounded than it had been days ago. Several joints that had previously required minute adjustments now slipped through on their own, without the slightest hitch.

Li Yuan finished the technique and stood still, releasing a long breath of stale air.

The Panel appeared.

[Iron Ox Technique: Mastery (0/800)]

He had reached Mastery.

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

Li Yuan clenched his fist.

The instant his knuckles tightened, the muscles and tendons from the roots of his fingers to his wrist bones drew taut as one.

He reached out and pinched his own forearm.

The resilience of his flesh had changed. At Entry Level, digging his fingernails into the back of his hand had only made it feel a little thicker than an ordinary person's. At Proficiency, it had become tighter still. But at Mastery, his nails felt as though they were pinching a layer of thick cowhide. He had to exert some force to leave a faint white mark, and the skin sprang back the instant he released it.

Li Yuan rolled his shoulders and stretched his waist and back a few times. His entire frame felt as though it had been twisted and reforged—solid and steady. With his feet planted on the ground, he felt the reassuring solidity of roots sunk deep into the earth.

Li Yuan put away the Panel and calculated silently.

After the Iron Ox Technique had broken through to Mastery, there would be little benefit in continuing to train it further in the short term.

In comparison, the Nurturing Origin Technique was still lagging behind.

[Nurturing Origin Technique: Proficiency (108/400)]

Moreover, the condition for permanently affixing the Iron Ox Technique was to cultivate both mundane techniques to Perfection. The Nurturing Origin Technique, however, only needed to reach Perfection, followed by twenty-four hours of cultivation while Qi-Blood Vigor was abundant.

Li Yuan made a decision—during his future training time for mundane techniques, he would focus on the Nurturing Origin Technique.

He would practice the Iron Ox Technique once daily to maintain it, and devote all remaining time to the Nurturing Origin Technique.

With that thought, Li Yuan stood still in his room and circulated the Nurturing Origin Technique twice according to its formula.

With the Permanent Affix of Five Grains Nourishing Qi active, his Vital Blood remained full at all times, and each circulation of the Nurturing Origin Technique was much smoother than before.

After two rounds, Li Yuan returned to the bedside and began tallying the Spirit Stones he had on hand.

He took all the Spirit Stones from his sleeve and laid them out on the table one by one.

Three from his monthly stipend, the Spirit Stones from patrol subsidies, and what he had saved before—there were fifteen Spirit Stones in total on the table.

The permanent affixing of the Vein-Clearing Pill was still far away. Excluding the two Vein-Clearing Pills, he still needed eight Low-grade First-Order medicinal pills.

For an outer member like Li Yuan who was still bound by contract, the monthly stipend had never been much. In a sense, a considerable portion of it had been withheld by the Wang Family as repayment for the cost of raising him when he was young.

Added to the fact that Li Yuan had not had time to accumulate wealth, even three Spirit Stones a month would amount to three hundred and sixty over ten years—enough to exchange for a fairly decent set of Dharma Artifacts, or to spend on learning a trade and earning even more Spirit Stones.

Setting distant matters aside, the current problem was that medicinal pills kept rising in price.

Hoping for prices to fall again was unrealistic. There were no signs of improvement in the Yuanheng Mountains, and the supply of herbs continued to tighten.

At three Spirit Stones apiece, eight more would cost twenty-four Spirit Stones. He had fifteen on hand, leaving a shortfall of nine.

If he could find another Low-grade First-Order medicinal pill that was cheaper to replace them with, he could push the cost down further.

The flow of people on East Street that afternoon was noticeably thinner than it had been at its peak some time ago.

Rogue Cultivators were leaving. Not quickly, but the trend had already taken shape.

If the Demonic Beasts were not cleared out in time and the situation continued to worsen, Rogue Cultivators would lose even more faith in the market. More and more people would leave.

Li Yuan continued down East Street, keeping an eye on the stalls lining both sides as he patrolled.

Vein-Clearing Pills, Turbidity Cleansing Pills, Qi Nourishing Pills, Yuan Condensing Powder—there were only a few common Low-grade First-Order medicinal pills. He had already asked around about their prices during patrols a few days ago; they were basically all above two Spirit Stones.

After making another circuit through more than half the street today, the situation was much the same. There were several fewer stalls selling medicinal pills than there had been last month, and prices either remained unchanged or had risen a little more.

When he reached a southern intersection on East Street, Li Yuan spotted a small stall he had not seen before.

The stall was tiny. Four or five Porcelain Bottles sat atop a clean white cloth, each with a handwritten label pasted onto it.

Li Yuan crouched down and swept his gaze over the labels.

Turbidity Cleansing Pills, three Spirit Stones. Yuan Condensing Powder, three and a half Spirit Stones. Fiend Essence Pills, two Spirit Stones.

Two Spirit Stones for a Fiend Essence Pill. Li Yuan tried to recall it, but had no memory of this medicinal pill. He only knew of a similarly named Sha Spirit Pill, which assisted cultivators in breaking through, but drew Fiend Qi into the body.

"What kind of medicinal pill is this Fiend Essence Pill? Is it a Low-grade First-Order medicinal pill? What does it do?"

He had fifteen Spirit Stones on him. If this Fiend Essence Pill worked, then counting the Vein-Clearing Pills distributed with his monthly stipend, he would need only eight Fiend Essence Pills to complete the permanent affixing of the Vein-Clearing Pill.

He would only need to find one more Spirit Stone.

The stall owner was a gaunt old woman in her fifties, and her aura was not weak.

She glanced up at Li Yuan, then at the waist token hanging from him, before explaining.

"This Fiend Essence Pill can even approach First-Order Mid-Grade. My old man made it by imitating the Sha Spirit Pill. It cannot help one break through a realm, but it can speed up cultivation. However, it produces Fiend Qi inside the body and damages the viscera."

"Two Spirit Stones do not even cover the cost, but this thing's side effects are too severe. No one buys it at all."

"Researching those pills all day... and not making an honest living."

The old woman complained both openly and between the lines. Li Yuan did not listen. He picked up the Porcelain Bottle of Fiend Essence Pills, pulled out its stopper, and took a look.

Inside were three dark-red pill pellets, their medicinal fragrance rich and intense.

Li Yuan's foremost goal now was to permanently affix the Affix. Moreover, he possessed Viscera Strengthening, so he felt that he could accept this small side effect.

He touched the Spirit Stones in his sleeve and took out two.

"I'll buy one to try first. If the effects are good, I'll come back next time."

To be safe, this was a medicinal pill he had never seen before. He would confirm it first. If the Fiend Essence Pill truly could advance the progress of permanently affixing the Affix, it would not be too late to buy more.

If it could advance the progress, he would buy enough to fill the remaining gap.

"How much stock do you have left of the Fiend Essence Pill?" Li Yuan picked up one Fiend Essence Pill. When the Equipment Panel did not react, he asked another question.

The old woman looked at Li Yuan in surprise, raised one hand, and spread her five fingers. "Counting the one in your hand, there are only these five. But my old man might keep researching it. He'll probably make a few more."

When Li Yuan returned to his residence that evening, he sat by the bed and examined the dark-red Fiend Essence Pill.

Its medicinal fragrance was intense, far sharper than that of a Vein-Clearing Pill, faintly carrying a spicy, scorching heat.

Li Yuan did not hesitate. He placed the Fiend Essence Pill into his mouth.

The medicinal pill melted the instant it entered his stomach.

A scorching medicinal force exploded violently from his stomach and viscera. It was entirely different from the gentle strength of a Vein-Clearing Pill, like swallowing a mouthful of strong liquor as a hot current slammed outward from his abdomen in every direction.

The spiritual power in his meridians was swept along by that medicinal force and accelerated. It moved countless times faster than during ordinary cultivation, and Spirit Qi poured into his Dantian with astonishing efficiency.

But immediately afterward, a cold, sinister aura mixed within the medicinal force seeped out from his stomach and viscera.

Fiend Qi.

That coldness invaded his meridians along the route through which the medicinal force spread, sweeping past his viscera with a faint stinging pain.

Li Yuan's brow shifted slightly, but he was not overly nervous.

With the Affix's enhancement, Li Yuan felt only a trace of chill when the Fiend Qi swept across his viscera. The Fiend Qi did not truly pierce their inner walls.

At the same time, Spirit Qi Filtration was also taking effect.

Part of the Fiend Qi circulating through his meridians was intercepted by an invisible barrier. It felt similar to filtering impurities from Spirit Qi, but the efficiency was clearly far lower.

The impurities in Spirit Qi were completely stripped away, leaving it clean and pure. Only thirty to forty percent of the Fiend Qi was filtered out; the remaining sixty to seventy percent still mingled with the medicinal force, circulating through his body.

The Affix stated that it filtered Spirit Qi. That it worked on Fiend Qi at all was already an unexpected delight; he could not demand too much.

Fortunately, Viscera Strengthening provided a safeguard. After those residual traces of Fiend Qi circulated through his body for several rounds, they gradually dispersed, leaving behind no lingering harm.

It took roughly half an hour for the medicinal force of the entire pill to be fully digested.

With a thought from Li Yuan, the Panel appeared.

The spiritual power in his Dantian had indeed increased. Though the amount was not great, it was still a little more than the gain from simply cultivating the Spirit Guiding Art for two or three nights.

[Vein-Clearing Pill Permanent Affixing Progress: 2/10]

It had risen. A trace of joy appeared on Li Yuan's face as he looked at the Panel.

If that old woman's husband could continue refining Fiend Essence Pills, then he would only be short one Spirit Stone.