Jade Pendant

During the battle, the three Rogue Cultivators ahead had already stopped and turned back to look this way.

Seeing that the fight was over, the leading Rogue Cultivator walked over.

He was around thirty, fairly tall, with rough features and a slightly crooked nose, as though it had once been broken and poorly set.

He stopped before He Shou and cupped his hands, his tone carrying obvious gratitude, though his words were blunt.

"Thank you for saving us. Otherwise, the three of us might have met our end here today."

"It was only right." He Shou wiped the blood from his saber. "How did you run into people from the Crow Claw Gang?"

The Rogue Cultivator gave a bitter smile.

"The three of us came from the south and were heading to Qinghe Market for supplies. We ran into those four on the road."

"We couldn't beat them, so we could only run. Lao Zhou was injured and couldn't move quickly. If you hadn't arrived..."

The Rogue Cultivator paused there, then cupped his hands again.

He Shou nodded and did not press further.

Cleaning up the battlefield took some time. The possessions on the three Cultivator Bandits were thoroughly searched.

Together, the three had several dozen Spirit Stones and a few bottles of Medicinal Pills. He Shou identified some as common pills, while others were unfamiliar.

There were several Dharma Artifacts. The narrow-bladed short saber carried by the leader counted as one.

There were no storage bags. These men were clearly not wealthy Cultivator Bandits.

There were quite a few miscellaneous items: several Talismans, two bottles of healing medicine, a small bag of ore fragments, a coil of rope, and various odds and ends.

Li Yuan crouched on the ground, his fingers turning over the items one by one.

He reached for a cloth bundle. It was not large, wrapped in oiled paper and bulging slightly.

Li Yuan opened the oiled paper. Inside were several pieces of broken ore and a jade pendant.

The jade pendant was roughly half a palm in size. Its design was ordinary, grayish white, and its surface was somewhat worn.

Its appearance reminded Li Yuan of Zhao Wu's jade pendant from before. The style was identical, and even the details looked remarkably similar.

The instant his fingers touched it, the Panel appeared.

[Detected equippable item: Breath-Concealing Jade Pendant (Complete)]

[Affix preview: Breath Concealment (Green)—Passively restrains the fluctuations of one's own aura, reducing the chance of being detected by probing. Has a significant concealing effect against perception methods of the same level or below, and provides a certain degree of interference against higher-level perception methods]

[Permanent condition preview: While in a state of Breath Concealment, successfully conceal yourself once from the probing of a cultivator one major realm higher]

Green.

Li Yuan's fingers paused on the jade pendant for an instant, but his expression did not change.

Breath Concealment. It passively restrained aura fluctuations and reduced the odds of being discovered.

Without drawing attention, Li Yuan closed the jade pendant in his palm and returned it to the cloth bundle together with the broken ore.

He Shou walked over and gathered all the searched items into one place.

The leader among the three Rogue Cultivators also came over, his gaze sweeping across the pile of spoils on the ground.

"Big brother."

The Rogue Cultivator rubbed his hands together and carefully chose his words. "The things on these Cultivator Bandits... we did drain some of their Spirit Qi earlier..."

He Shou looked up at him, then glanced at Li Yuan. Seeing Li Yuan nod, he spoke.

"You were the victims. It's only right that you receive a share."

"Thank you, big brother. We only need some Spirit Stones and Healing Pills."

He Shou crouched down and roughly divided the spoils.

Li Yuan took the jade pendant from the cloth bundle and placed it before himself.

"I want this."

He Shou glanced at it. A grayish-white jade pendant, ordinary in style and worn on the surface.

"Fine."

He Shou took it and examined it for a moment before nodding. The others had no objections either.

Li Yuan tucked the jade pendant into his sleeve, his fingers lightly rubbing along its edge beneath the cuff.

Li Yuan tested the remaining materials and items, but none had Affixes. Thus, he only took Spirit Stones. Since he had contributed the most, he received forty-eight Spirit Stones in total, nearly half of everything.

The Rogue Cultivators helped their injured companion away first, heading toward the market.

He Shou led the four onward along their patrol route, though their pace was noticeably faster. Running into Cultivator Bandits today had delayed them.

The remaining half of the patrol route passed quietly.

There were no abnormalities within the Spirit Detection Disk's range. Occasionally, one or two faint fluctuations from Mortal Beasts flashed by.

By evening, the five returned to their station.

After returning to the station that evening, everyone went their separate ways.

Li Yuan returned to his room, shut the door, and sat on the edge of the bed.

He took the Breath-Concealing Jade Pendant from his sleeve and studied it on his knee for a while.

The grayish-white jade was worn round at the edges, its patterns shallow and faint. Its style was almost exactly identical to Zhao Wu's pendant.

Zhao Wu's jade pendant had a Blue Trait.

This one had a Green Trait.

The two jade pendants had appeared in the hands of different people. One had been on Zhao Wu, who had been scouting the market's defenses; the other had been in the possession of a Crow Claw Gang Cultivator Bandit.

The possibility of coincidence was slim.

Li Yuan put the jade pendant away without equipping it. The Breath Concealment Affix was of little use to him for now, and its permanent condition was rather demanding. As a Qi Refinement cultivator, he needed to hide from the probing of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

At that moment, the door was knocked twice.

Li Yuan rose and pulled back the bolt. He Shou stood outside, carrying a palm-sized cloth bundle.

"Deputy Captain Li, may I have a word?"

"Come in."

He Shou slipped into the room and casually shut the door behind him. He did not sit, merely leaning against the wall as he set the cloth bundle on the table.

"That leading Cultivator Bandit today was on the Crow Claw Gang's wanted list."

Li Yuan nodded, waiting for him to continue.

He Shou did not beat around the bush.

"Killing Cultivator Bandits counts as merit. The higher-ups will record it. But you aren't part of the Guard Squad, so you can only receive Contribution Points and Spirit Stone rewards. You can't be promoted."

He Shou tapped the table twice with his knuckles.

"I'm a Deputy Captain, only one step away from becoming Captain. If the credit for that leader is put under my name, I might be able to take that final step."

Li Yuan looked at He Shou without replying.

He Shou pushed the cloth bundle on the table toward him.

"Open it and take a look."

Li Yuan opened the bundle. Inside was a Dharma Artifact.

It was a half-foot-long bronze tube, narrow at both ends. Dense Spirit Patterns were carved into its body, while a Fire Crystal the size of a mung bean was embedded in its middle. The entire tube was dark red, and it felt faintly hot in his hand.

The instant his fingers touched it, the Panel appeared.

[Detected equippable item: Flame Snake Tube (Complete)]

[Affix preview: Precision (White)—Improves the accuracy of long-range spells and long-range Dharma Artifact attacks, accelerating the increase of long-range spell Proficiency]

[Permanent condition preview: Use a long-range method to hit targets and deal damage a total of 100 times (0/100)]

[Current Equipment Slots are full (2/2). Replace currently equipped item?]

A White Trait. Precision—it improved accuracy and could also accelerate the increase of Proficiency.

"I took this from a Rogue Cultivator back when I was hunting Demonic Beasts in the mountains. I never found a use for it."

"You can inject it with spiritual power and fire swift, fierce bullets of Fire-Attribute Spirit Qi."

He Shou's voice was unhurried, his tone frank.

"You give me the merit, and I give you the Dharma Artifact. What do you think?"

Li Yuan turned the bronze tube over in his hand without answering immediately.

The merit for killing a wanted Cultivator Bandit was indeed considerable, but He Shou was speaking the truth—Li Yuan was not part of the Guard Squad's official ranks. No matter how great the merit, it could only be converted into Contribution Points and Spirit Stones.

As for Contribution Points and Spirit Stones, he had other ways to earn them. Dharma Artifacts with Affixes, however, were rarely seen.

"Fine."

Li Yuan tucked the Flame Snake Tube into his sleeve.

The tension in He Shou's expression eased, and he cupped his hands.

"Straightforward. Once we return, I'll write the report. You won't need to worry about your side of it."

He Shou turned and walked out. After the door closed, his footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Li Yuan sat back down on the edge of the bed, took the Flame Snake Tube from his sleeve, and turned it over in his palm.

The bronze tube felt slightly heavy in his hand. The Spirit Patterns beneath his fingertips radiated faint heat. Its workmanship was not particularly refined, but its structure was solid, and the Fire Crystal was firmly embedded. It did not look like something that would fall apart.

A White Trait, Precision. Its permanent condition was to hit targets and inflict damage one hundred times.

They encountered Demonic Beasts fairly often during patrols, so accumulating hits would not be difficult.

But the Equipment Slots were full. He would equip it when the need arose.

Li Yuan put away the Flame Snake Tube, sat cross-legged, and began circulating the Spirit Guiding Art.

Spirit Qi surged in from all directions. After passing through Spirit Qi Filtration, it was pure and free of impurities, while his circulation raced at high speed. The effect of Spirit Qi Condensation continued operating, making every wisp of Spirit Qi more solid as it entered his dantian.

The Spirit Qi in his dantian was already quite abundant.

After this period of accumulation, the threshold of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer was within arm's reach. His total Spirit Qi was already nearing the limit of the Qi Refining, Fourth Layer. Deep within his dantian, it was like a pool filled to the brim; any more Spirit Qi that entered could only circle through his meridians with nowhere to go.

But unlike when he had reached the Peak Third Layer of Qi Refinement, he did not feel that suffocating pressure this time.

Spirit Qi Filtration had removed every trace of impurities, leaving his Spirit Qi exceedingly pure.

Combined with the effect of Spirit Qi Condensation—his Spirit Qi density was already a notch higher than that of cultivators at the same level, and his dantian's effective capacity had increased by thirty percent. This meant that even at the peak of the Qi Refining, Fourth Layer, Li Yuan's dantian held far more Spirit Qi than an ordinary cultivator's.

At the same time, the effect of Circulation Acceleration was also speeding up his cultivation.

Only that final tiny bit was missing.