Half a Medicinal Pill

The five quickened their pace and headed back toward the garrison.

The journey there had taken nearly an hour, but the return took less than half that.

After reaching the main garrison, He Shou went straight to find the person in charge.

Not long after, He Shou came back out, his expression even grimmer than when they had set out.

Only after they returned to their post did He Shou speak.

"It wasn't just our group." He Shou leaned against the doorframe, one hand resting on his saber hilt, his voice kept low.

"The other patrol groups ran into similar situations today as well. One group even directly encountered three First-Order Mid-Grade beasts. They fought for a while before retreating—two were injured, and one died."

Liu Ping's voice sounded somewhat panicked. "Someone died?"

"Someone did. Mainly because the fighting attracted other demonic beasts, so they had no choice but to run."

He Shou rolled his neck. "The matter has already been reported to the Wang Family. Captain Wang of the Guard Squad has decided to send a team out tonight to investigate and find out exactly how many of these demonic beasts have gathered and where they are distributed."

"They're going tonight?" Chen Qi frowned.

"The Wang Family's people will lead the team." He Shou swept his gaze over everyone.

"It has nothing to do with us. Our task remains the same—we continue patrolling tomorrow."

With that, He Shou waved them off and told everyone to rest.

After night fell, the post grew quiet.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on his bed. He first circulated the Spirit Guiding Art through several cycles. The spiritual energy entering his body was pure as water, and it flowed through his cycles at great speed.

After finishing his cultivation, Li Yuan willed it, and the Panel appeared.

His gaze passed over the lines for realm, techniques, and Equipment Slot before finally settling on the spells section.

[Spells: Fireball Technique—Mastery (589/800), Godly Movement Step—Proficiency (123/400), Spirit Shield Technique—Proficiency (39/400), Ice Spike Technique—Entry Level (189/200)]

Li Yuan froze for a moment.

The proficiency of Fireball Technique had leaped directly from less than one hundred to nearly six hundred.

The upper limit for the Mastery Stage was eight hundred, and he had nearly completed more than half of it.

The other spells had not risen as dramatically, but they had all increased by a considerable amount compared to the last time he checked.

After thinking for a moment, Li Yuan understood why.

Before this, he had already practiced Fireball Technique for several years. His foundation was deeply laid; what he lacked was actual combat.

These past days of patrols had made up for that weakness.

The foundation accumulated through daily practice had been completely awakened in battle, like a pot of water nearly at the boil receiving its final armful of firewood.

Putting away the Panel, Li Yuan closed his eyes to rest.

At the first pale light of dawn the next day, the five left the post.

He Shou led the group along the South Line. It was the same general direction as yesterday, but instead of heading directly deep into the southwest, they first followed the usual South Line route for a while to observe the situation.

After leaving the post for more than two li, Li Yuan noticed something unusual.

Silence.

Along this same stretch yesterday, the Spirit Detection Disk had detected at least two or three clusters of spiritual energy fluctuations. Today, as spiritual power flowed into the bronze disk and his perception spread out, everything within three hundred feet was utterly clean. Even the faint auras of Mortal Beasts had grown much scarcer.

He Shou had clearly noticed it as well, and his pace slowed.

"There are fewer demonic beasts. It's possible the Wang Family's team cleared them out." He Shou let out a breath, but he did not lower his guard.

They continued onward for a while, and the situation remained the same. The Spirit Detection Disk occasionally caught one or two extremely faint spiritual fluctuations far away, but they vanished in an instant, as though something had flashed past in the distance.

"Yesterday, there were at least five or six active in this area. Today, they're all gone." He Shou stopped atop a rise, his gaze sweeping over the undulating brush around them.

The five continued southwest along their route.

Because there were so few demonic beasts nearby, He Shou decided to extend their route farther out than yesterday.

After walking for nearly an hour, the terrain became increasingly desolate. There was not even a wild path beneath their feet anymore—only broken stones and thorns. The shrubs grew sparse, replaced by vast stretches of wild grass and exposed rock.

Along the way, they encountered three groups of Rogue Cultivators.

The first group consisted of two lone Rogue Cultivators. They carried large packs and bundles and moved quickly. Upon seeing the five dressed in Patrol Uniforms and guard uniforms, they cupped their hands from afar and left without exchanging a single word.

The second group was a three-man team, their auras around Qi Refining Second to Third Level. They looked like Rogue Cultivators from a Monster Hunting Squad or herb-gathering team. He Shou stepped forward and asked a few questions, but they waved him off, saying they had not encountered anything unusual. It was simply that the herbs in this area were becoming fewer and fewer, and they no longer wished to remain here.

The third Rogue Cultivator team they encountered was the largest, with four people. Their leader was a burly man in his forties, with high cheekbones, a scar across the bridge of his nose, worn leather armor, and a long-handled axe slung across his back. His aura was around Qi Refining Third Level.

He Shou stopped them and asked a few questions.

The burly man was quite talkative, and his voice was loud.

"You're here asking too? The Wang Family sent people over to ask earlier as well. I told them that I've entered the mountains half as often this month as last month. The demonic beasts run this way one moment and that way the next—there's no telling where they'll be."

He Shou asked, "What do you think is going on?"

The burly man scratched the back of his head.

"How would I know? The Yuanheng Mountains have never known peace. If a Beast Tide breaks out one day, that won't be fun."

"A Beast Tide?" Liu Ping asked as well.

"Ah, I'm just talking." The burly man waved his hand, but the expression on his face did not look like he was joking. "If there really is a Beast Tide, which of these market towns could withstand it? Still, judging by the situation, it doesn't look like the precursor to a Beast Tide. It looks more like something is stirring up trouble inside the mountains."

The burly man paused here, glanced around, and lowered his voice.

"To be honest with you, I don't want to stay here anymore. I heard the Li Family's market town to the south is preparing to expand and will allow people like us to set up stalls. The roads there are easier to travel too. I plan to go take a look."

He Shou did not ask any more questions. He nodded and indicated that they could leave.

The burly man led his people away. He Shou stood where he was, watching the direction they had gone for a long time without moving.

After advancing farther southwest, the Spirit Detection Disk caught a cluster of spiritual energy fluctuations.

Ahead and slightly to the left, just over two hundred feet away, was a lone demonic beast.

The intensity of its spiritual energy was not high, roughly at the level of a Low-grade First-Order beast.

He Shou glanced at Li Yuan, and Li Yuan nodded.

The five spread out and closed in according to the coordination they had developed over these past days.

Although it was only a Low-grade First-Order beast, He Shou still required them to follow their coordinated formation.

Li Yuan circled around to the side. Once his view opened up, he saw the target clearly—a grayish-brown Iron-Spine Hyena. It was not large, standing less than two feet at the shoulder, and it was crouched beside an exposed boulder, gnawing on something.

The five completed their encirclement within the brush.

At He Shou's command, Li Yuan's Fireball Technique struck first.

A crimson ball of light flew from his hand and shot toward the Iron-Spine Hyena's flank. The hyena's reaction was not slow, but the Fireball Technique was faster. In the blink of an eye, it left a scorched patch on the hyena's body.

Liu Ping and Chen Qi cut in from both sides, one with a saber and the other with a sword, killing the wounded, howling hyena.

The entire fight lasted only a few breaths.

While dismantling the demonic beast, He Shou's movements suddenly stopped.

He Shou crouched beside the hyena's abdomen. After using the tip of his saber to pry open a layer of flesh, he did not continue cutting downward. Instead, he turned the saber sideways and carefully probed into the abdominal cavity.

"Look at this."

Li Yuan leaned closer, his gaze falling into the hyena's opened belly.

The stomach had been punctured by the saber tip. Besides half-digested chunks of flesh and bone fragments, there was a clump of dark-red matter mixed among the food remnants, though its color was clearly different.

He Shou used his saber tip to pick out the dark-red clump and placed it on a nearby rock.

Half a medicinal pill.

More precisely, it was half a pill already corroded into pits and hollows by stomach acid. Most of its outer medicinal coating had peeled away, exposing the dark-red pill core within, where a faint medicinal fragrance still lingered.

"Either it killed a Rogue Cultivator and ate it off their body, or someone fed it to the beast."

Just as He Shou was about to continue, Chen Qi took over.

"Demonic beasts don't really eat medicinal pills. At least, I've never seen one eat a pill. Many medicinal pills are made specifically for humans. Perhaps those with greater intelligence might pick and choose what they eat."

"And a Low-grade First-Order demonic beast is unlikely to kill a Rogue Cultivator. Any Rogue Cultivator who can survive outside has a few tricks up their sleeve."

"And I didn't see any flesh in its stomach."

He Shou wrapped the half pill in cloth and tucked it into his robes without saying anything else.

"We'll report this when we get back."

On the return journey, the five moved quickly.

Li Yuan followed behind He Shou, his fingers resting on the Spirit Detection Disk hidden in his sleeve.

Spiritual power slowly flowed into it, and his perception remained spread out, but his mind was occupied by something else.

Affixes.

Since crossing into this world, he had permanently acquired four Affixes, with two equipped in his Equipment Slots. Six Affixes sounded like a lot, but when it came to using them, he still felt stretched thin.

There were currently no empty Equipment Slots. Both were occupied—Viscera Strengthening from Iron Ox Technique and Qi-Blood Self-Generation from Nurturing Origin Technique.

Iron Ox Technique had reached Mastery, while Nurturing Origin Technique was still at the Proficiency Stage. Both mortal techniques had to reach Perfection before Viscera Strengthening could be made permanent, while Qi-Blood Self-Generation required Nurturing Origin Technique at Perfection along with twenty-four hours of accumulated cultivation. Neither could be completed in the short term.

So he needed to look for the next batch of Affixes worth making permanent.

So far, Li Yuan had encountered quite a few items capable of providing Affixes, but very few were truly worth investing in.

The Spirit Detection Disk had a Green Trait, Spirit Sense Expansion, which passively extended perception three hundred feet. Its effect was powerful, but the condition for making it permanent was possessing divine sense, something basically impossible before Foundation Establishment.

That complete shed skin of an Iron Scale Snake was a White Trait. He had seen it on East Street last time, priced at twelve Spirit Stones. He did not know the Affix's effect; without equipping it, he could not see the detailed information. But shed snake skin itself was good material for artifact refining and Talisman Making, so the Affix most likely had something to do with defense or bodily enhancement.

The Spirit Gathering Ring was a White Trait, priced at fifteen Spirit Stones. Even its name carried the scent of cultivation assistance.

Storage bags could provide Green Traits, but their lowest price started at fifty or sixty Spirit Stones.

Aside from these, Li Yuan had come into contact with various items during his inspections and patrols that could trigger a reaction from the Panel. Some Spirit Grain, several mortal techniques, and the occasional ore—most were Gray Traits, while a few were White Traits, none of them particularly outstanding.

And he still had quite a few Contribution Points saved up.

The Contribution Points from his previous monthly stipend and mission rewards had accumulated over some time. The spells and techniques in the Hidden Merit Pavilion could all be exchanged for Contribution Points, and the fact that spell-related items could be equipped had already been proven by the booklet for Cleaning Spell.

Iron Ox Technique could be equipped, Nurturing Origin Technique could be equipped, and spell manuals could be equipped as well.

Could manuals for immortal cultivation spells also have Affixes?

The spells he currently possessed—Fireball Technique, Godly Movement Step, Spirit Shield Technique, and Ice Spike Technique—were all basic spells issued by the Wang Family back then. The original owner had long since finished learning them, and Li Yuan had no idea where the manuals had gone.

But there should be other spells available for exchange in the Hidden Merit Pavilion.

Li Yuan mentally listed the possible options: first, eliminate spells he had already learned; second, the price could not be too outrageous; and lastly, they should preferably be practical spells—ones he could learn, use, and obtain Affixes from.

Whether he had enough Contribution Points was another matter. He would have to personally visit the Hidden Merit Pavilion after returning to the market town to find out.

With that thought, Li Yuan withdrew his attention.

The patrol post ahead had already appeared in view, the outline of its Wooden Cabins looking gray and hazy in the dusk.

He Shou quickened his final steps and headed straight toward the main garrison, the half medicinal pill wrapped in cloth tucked against his chest.