Trading at the Garrison

On the way back, He Shou scattered a few more details about the habits of horned lizard-type Demonic Beasts—most of them lay still during the day and were most active at dawn and dusk. The greatest taboo when encountering one was letting it burrow deep into the bushes. With their small bodies and dark gray scales, they became extremely difficult to track once they entered dense thickets.

By evening, the four returned to their post. He Shou went to the main garrison to settle the materials, then returned not long afterward and distributed the Spirit Stones among the three.

Li Yuan received two and a half, which he tucked into his sleeve.

After entering the wooden cabin, Xu Mao flopped straight onto his bed. He muttered that his arms were sore, and before long, even breathing rose from him.

Li Yuan sat on the edge of his bed and took out the Vein-Clearing Pill from his sleeve.

The dark-red pill gave off a faint glow in his palm, its medicinal fragrance light. Of the two issued with his monthly pay, this was the last one.

He placed it in his mouth. The Medicinal Pill melted as soon as it entered his stomach, and its gentle potency slowly spread through his meridians, clearing each tiny obstruction one by one.

[Vein-Clearing Pill permanent conversion progress: 4/10]

As he refined the medicinal potency, he cultivated the Spirit Guiding Art.

Once the potency had been fully absorbed, Li Yuan rose and stepped into the only small patch of open space in the room, beginning to cultivate the Nurturing Origin Technique.

Over the next five or six days, whenever they returned to the post at dusk, Li Yuan followed his usual routine: first practicing the Spirit Guiding Art and the Nurturing Origin Technique once each, then running through the Iron Ox Technique a few times to maintain his feel for it, before swallowing a Fiend Essence Pill and cultivating the Spirit Guiding Art.

The four patrolled the South Line and encountered several Demonic Beasts.

Most were Low-grade First-Order creatures, lone horned lizards or grey iguanas and the like. They were not large, and their strength was ordinary.

As usual, He Shou had Li Yuan lead Xu Mao and Lin Xiaowu into battle while he watched from the side, occasionally stepping in to correct their positioning.

At the same time, He Shou remarked that Li Yuan and the others were lucky. The Demonic Beasts they had encountered could not use spells; those that could were the real trouble.

They dealt with several Demonic Beasts cleanly, and the materials were all sold through the Guard Squad's channels.

However, they encountered a First-Order Mid-Grade Demonic Beast among them. He Shou stepped in this time as well, but the creature went mad before dying and injured Lin Xiaowu. His arm was fractured, several of his ribs were broken, and Xu Mao's tiger's mouth suffered a minor injury too.

Lin Xiaowu had no choice but to withdraw temporarily. Xu Mao was fine; after taking a Healing Pill, the wound on his tiger's mouth had already scabbed over.

From these several hunts, their share of Monster Materials was worth a full eighteen Spirit Stones. The greater part came from that First-Order Mid-Grade Demonic Beast, but compared with last time, He Shou had contributed as well, so their share of Spirit Stones was somewhat smaller. Li Yuan handed all of his to He Shou to sell, and the Spirit Stones now lay safely in Li Yuan's pouch.

The three Fiend Essence Pills were gradually consumed during their patrols, and his cultivation rose considerably.

[Vein-Clearing Pill permanent conversion progress: 7/10]

Only three more pills were needed to permanently convert the trait.

The next day, the sky was overcast, with gray clouds hanging low.

Lin Xiaowu had returned to the market town to recover. The wound on Xu Mao's wrist was nearly healed and did not affect his movements, so the three set out on patrol as usual.

He Shou extended their route outward for a stretch, curving west along a dirt road at the very edge.

In the afternoon, the three passed a low hill.

The hill was not high. Half-man-tall weeds covered its slope, while several crooked, stunted trees at its summit were blown this way and that by the wind.

When He Shou rounded to the back of the hill, his steps suddenly halted.

Li Yuan stopped with him and followed He Shou's gaze.

A large stretch of weeds on the gentle slope had been flattened.

It was not just one or two spots. The entire hillside bore traces of trampling. The weeds lay in disarray, pressed into a passage two or three zhang wide that stretched from the dry creek bed at the foot of the hill all the way to the summit, running from southwest to northeast.

He Shou crouched, and Li Yuan crouched with him.

The ground was densely covered with claw marks.

Three-toed webbed prints, five-toed sharp-clawed prints, broad and flat hoofprints—at least three or four different kinds of tracks overlapped, stamping the soil in layers of varying depth.

There was also plenty of feces mixed among the prints, all in different shapes: dry, hard, broken clumps; long strips; half-runny piles. They were all mixed along the same path.

He Shou used his scabbard to move aside a clump of broken feces, then leaned close to smell a strip-shaped pile. His expression gradually darkened.

"At least three kinds."

He Shou rose, his gaze following the trampled passage in both directions. "Lizard-type, beast-type, and snake-type traces are all mixed together."

Li Yuan looked at the claw marks pointing in the same direction. Different kinds of Demonic Beasts had traveled the same road, heading toward the same destination.

He Shou walked several dozen steps northeast along the passage, with Li Yuan following behind. The trampled path extended onward without branching, the crushed weeds forming a clear ribbon-like trail.

"The market town is northeast," Li Yuan said.

He Shou did not respond. He crouched and inspected several more claw marks. Some had dry, cracked, whitened edges, while others still carried damp soil.

"They're of different ages. They weren't left on the same day."

He Shou's voice lowered.

"This has been going on for several days."

Different kinds of Demonic Beasts, at different times, had moved along the same route toward the market town.

He Shou fell silent for several breaths before standing.

"Let's go back to the garrison."

The two did not continue deeper and quickly retraced their steps. Upon reaching the main garrison, He Shou went straight to report to the person in charge of the South Line.

Li Yuan stood nearby and briefly added several details he had observed—the differences in the ages of the claw marks, the degree to which the different kinds of feces were mixed, and the direction in which the passage extended.

After listening, the person in charge wore an unpleasant expression. He summoned another captain to compare recent patrol records from the various routes, then immediately had the matter reported to Guard Squad headquarters and the Wang Family.

After the report was finished, He Shou and Li Yuan left the main garrison.

After taking a few steps, He Shou turned back and glanced at Li Yuan.

"There were similar incidents before. Do you know about them?"

"I do. Captain Wang mentioned it."

Li Yuan said.

"During the Guard Squad's patrols north of the area, they encountered different species of Demonic Beasts at the same location for three consecutive days. They thought it was abnormal even then."

He Shou gave a quiet acknowledgment and said nothing more.

After returning to the post, Li Yuan did not rush to cultivate. He first went to the small trading point inside the garrison.

Guards were stationed at the Guard Squad garrison year-round. As time passed, some simple trade naturally sprang up.

It was not as well-stocked as the market town, but people sold the commonly used Medicinal Pills and Healing Medicine, though prices were somewhat higher than in the market town.

However, trading here differed from the market town. Since most guards had their own assignments and could not remain at the garrison for long, consignment sales and purchase requests were generally used.

Li Yuan made a round of the trading point, found a guard, and asked,

"Have the Vein-Clearing Pills I wanted arrived?"

"They have. Three Spirit Stones each, three in total. Eight for all of them."

The guard glanced at Li Yuan and answered quickly.

They were half a Spirit Stone more expensive than in the market town, but they saved him the time of making the trip.

Li Yuan took out eight Spirit Stones and bought all three.

Three dark-red pills lay in his palm. Their medicinal fragrance was faint, and their quality was slightly worse than those from the market town, but they were indeed Low-grade First-Order.

Back in the room, Li Yuan put the pills away.

He still needed three Vein-Clearing Pills to permanently convert the trait. As long as he consumed these three, it could be permanently converted.

But he could not rush it. Taking too many pills in a short period would be too much for his body.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged, placed a Vein-Clearing Pill into his mouth, and began circulating the Spirit Guiding Art.

Spiritual energy surged in from all directions, pure as water, as his circulation revolved at high speed.