The Third Equipment Slot

Before dawn broke the next day, the camp stirred to life.

The Guard Squad captain led two Wang Family members and a small team deeper into the valley under cover of the morning mist.

The remaining people split into three groups according to last night's arrangements, each receiving a search area.

Li Yuan, He Shou, Xu Mao, Chen Qi, and Liu Ping advanced north along the eastern cliff face of the valley.

"What kind of traces are we looking for?" Chen Qi asked.

"Patterns on the rocks." He Shou briefly relayed the features described by the Wang Family members the night before. "They aren't natural cracks. They were carved by people, with neat, curved lines."

"Sometimes we'll have to dig underground. Some stones are buried beneath the soil."

The five searched along the cliff face, stopping and moving as they went.

The rock strata on the cliff were exposed, their gray-black shale surfaces covered in natural cracks and moss. It was not easy to distinguish traces of human-made Spirit Patterns among them.

After searching for nearly two hours, Chen Qi noticed something unusual on a protruding section of cliff.

"Here."

The others gathered around.

There was an arc-shaped indentation on the rock surface, about a finger-width across and very shallow, almost entirely covered by moss.

He Shou scraped away the moss with the tip of his blade, revealing the bottom of the indentation.

Smooth—far smoother than the surrounding natural rock surface—with a neat curve around its edges.

"It's a Spirit Pattern." He Shou sheathed his blade.

Li Yuan crouched down and traced the direction of the indentation with his fingers.

The mark extended out from this section of cliff, curved left, and disappeared beneath a pile of broken stones.

He Shou marked the location and led everyone farther north to continue searching.

Over the next half day, the five found three more traces of similar Spirit Patterns.

Some were carved into cliff faces, while others were on the surfaces of huge rocks half-buried underground. Their locations were scattered, but the style of the patterns was identical—orderly curves, smooth bottoms, weathered and eroded, yet still discernible.

In the afternoon, the search teams gradually returned to the valley camp to regroup.

The other two groups had also found something. Altogether, more than a dozen traces of Spirit Patterns had been discovered around the valley.

By the time the Guard Squad captain returned from the depths of the valley with the Wang Family members, the sun was already leaning west.

The two Wang Family members looked even graver than they had yesterday. One of them held a crude scroll of beast hide covered in dense markings.

The Guard Squad captain collected the reported locations from every team. He and the Wang Family members gathered around, comparing them one by one against the markings on the beast hide.

This time, they did not hide it from anyone.

Standing nearby, Li Yuan could see a rough topographical map drawn on the beast hide. The outline of the valley, the direction of the cliff faces, and the location of the streambed were all clearly marked. More than a dozen red dots were scattered across the map, each with several small characters written beside it.

A Wang Family member used a charcoal pencil to draw several lines across the map, connecting some of the red dots.

The lines formed an irregular arc, like part of some much larger pattern.

"So there really is more than one." The voice of one Wang Family member drifted over from the crowd, carrying a note of certainty.

"Who knows what they're trying to pull. In any case, a formation this large is impossible."

The Guard Squad captain remained silent for several breaths, then rolled up the beast hide and tucked it into his sleeve.

Then he turned around to face everyone.

"Tomorrow, we continue investigating in groups."

That night, Li Yuan sat cross-legged and began cultivating.

Spirit qi poured in from every direction. Spirit Convergence extended his absorption range five or six zhang outward, gathering great amounts of the already dense spirit qi within the Yuanheng Mountains.

The efficiency was far higher than it had been in the market district.

Li Yuan concentrated completely, his mind free of distractions, one circulation after another.

After an unknown amount of time, the feeling of operating the Spirit Guiding Art suddenly changed.

It was not a change in his spirit qi, but in the technique itself.

Previously, whenever spirit qi circulated, there would be an extremely brief pause between the nodes of his meridians. When the spirit qi shifted from one meridian to another, it needed to adjust its direction slightly, like river water slowing as it passed around a bend.

Now, those pauses had vanished.

The circulation of spirit qi through his meridians had become one complete, uninterrupted stream. It flowed out from his dantian, traveled through the meridians of his entire body, then returned to his dantian without the slightest obstruction.

Li Yuan opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a long breath of foul air.

The panel appeared.

[Technique: Spirit Guiding Art—Major Accomplishment (0/3200)]

In two months, it had gained nearly eight hundred points of Proficiency.

The most immediate change after reaching Major Accomplishment was cultivation efficiency.

For the same circulation, the Spirit Guiding Art at Major Accomplishment absorbed nearly forty percent more spirit qi than it had at Minor Accomplishment, and the loss of spirit qi in his meridians was almost zero.

Previously, after every circulation, a small portion of spirit qi would always dissipate at the bends in his meridians. Little by little, that was no small waste. Now, that loss was gone. Every wisp of absorbed spirit qi was delivered intact into his dantian.

Moreover, he could absorb the spirit qi within Spirit Stones faster as well.

Li Yuan put away the panel, closed his eyes, and continued cultivating.

He cultivated until the latter half of the night before finally ending his practice.

[Spirit Convergence (White) Permanent Conversion Progress: 7/10]

In one night, he had drained the spirit qi from two Spirit Stones.

Qi Refining Stage cultivators did not need much sleep. The higher one's cultivation, the less sleep one needed. With his Qi Refining Fifth Layer cultivation, one or two hours were enough.

Li Yuan leaned against the cliff face and closed his eyes, his body swiftly recovering its strength under the effects of Five Grains Nourishing Qi.

Before the morning mist had fully dispersed, the five were once again advancing north along the eastern cliff face of the valley.

He Shou walked in front, Li Yuan followed behind him, while Chen Qi, Liu Ping, and Xu Mao brought up the rear.

Today's search area was farther away than yesterday's. They had to circle around a ridge north of the valley and enter the gentle slope on the other side.

Li Yuan held a Spirit Stone in his hand and began absorbing its spirit qi.

Li Yuan was surprised to discover that after the Spirit Guiding Art reached Major Accomplishment, absorbing spirit qi while walking had become much smoother.

Yesterday, he still had to absorb the spirit qi slowly to avoid making mistakes while operating the technique. But now, spirit qi circulated rapidly through his body. Though he could not cultivate while moving, walking no longer affected his absorption of the spirit qi within a Spirit Stone.

Before they had gone far, Chen Qi began grumbling.

"More searching for patterns on rocks. What's the point of finding them? They don't even give us Spirit Stones, only some useless Contribution Points. There are so many Demonic Beasts here too, and it's dangerous besides."

His voice was not loud, but He Shou in front definitely could hear him.

He Shou did not turn around.

Chen Qi grumbled a few more times. Seeing that no one paid him any attention, his voice gradually lowered, but his steps became noticeably sluggish, and he fell several paces behind the others.

The search did not go smoothly.

The rock strata on the northern gentle slope had weathered severely. Their surfaces had fractured into thin layers of shale. Forget Spirit Pattern traces—even intact rock surfaces were scarce.

The five turned over stones on the scree slope for most of the morning, only finding a short indentation on the side of a huge rock half-buried in the earth that might have been a Spirit Pattern. They could not be completely certain.

On the way back that afternoon, they encountered another two Demonic Beasts.

A Low-grade First-Order Grey Hyena Rat darted out from the grass and was nailed to death by one of Liu Ping's Ice Spikes.

The other was a Low-grade First-Order Horned Lizard lying behind a rock. Li Yuan ended its life with a Fireball.

The two Demonic Beasts were dealt with cleanly and efficiently, but Chen Qi's expression grew increasingly ugly.

"Three yesterday, and another two today." Chen Qi slid his Short Saber back into its sheath, his fingers repeatedly rubbing the hilt. "There are more and more Demonic Beasts in this place. The five of us are wandering around outside—what if we run into an Upper First-Order one?"

This time, He Shou turned around.

"Then we run."

"Run? Where to?" Chen Qi's voice rose half a notch. "This place is neither near a village nor near a town."

He Shou looked at Chen Qi for two breaths, his tone unchanged.

"You signed the contract, so you work. Don't forget—you dripped your essence blood onto that contract."

Li Yuan looked at Chen Qi. Chen Qi's lips moved, but in the end he said nothing more. He lowered his head and followed the group.

Breaking the contract would not make one die on the spot, but that drop of essence blood allowed the Wang Family to determine one's approximate location, preventing escape.

That night, Li Yuan looked at the System Panel.

[Spirit Convergence (White) Permanent Conversion Progress: 10/10]

[Conditions for permanently converting Spirit Convergence (White) have been met]

[Convert permanently?]

Li Yuan willed it.

Yes.

[Permanent conversion successful]

[Spirit Convergence (White) has become a Permanent Affix]

[Equipment consumed]

[Five White-grade or higher Affixes have been permanently converted. Third Equipment Slot unlocked]

[Current Equipment Slots: 1/3 (Break through to Qi Refining Late Stage / permanently convert three Green-grade or higher Affixes. Complete either requirement to unlock the fourth Equipment Slot)]

[Equipped Item: Origin Condensation Art]

[Equipment Affix: Spirit Qi Condensation (Green)]

[Permanent Affixes: Clean Physique (Gray), Spirit Qi Filtration (White), Five Grains Nourishing Qi (White), Circulation Acceleration (White), Scale Armor Protection (White), Spirit Convergence (White)]

Six Permanent Affixes, five of them White-grade.

The third Equipment Slot had opened, meaning he could equip three items at the same time.

Looking at the requirements for unlocking the fourth Equipment Slot, the condition of breaking through to Qi Refining Late Stage was still there.

"Perhaps the cultivation requirement and the accumulated Affix requirement run in parallel. As long as either one is met, the next Equipment Slot can be unlocked."

Li Yuan made his guess, tucked the depleted Spirit Stones into his sleeve, and took out the booklet for the Iron Ox Technique. Its cooldown had long since passed.

Equip.

The booklet transformed into light and merged into his body. The warmth wrapping around his internal organs rose once more from deep within his abdomen.

[Current Equipment Slots: 2/3]

[Equipped Items: Origin Condensation Art, Iron Ox Technique]

[Equipment Affixes: Spirit Qi Condensation (Green), Viscera Strengthening (White)]

There was still one empty slot. After thinking for a moment, Li Yuan equipped the Flame Snake Tube.

His current situation in the mountains was perfect for accumulating the Flame Snake Tube's Affix progress.

[Current Equipment Slots: 3/3]

[Equipped Items: Origin Condensation Art, Iron Ox Technique, Flame Snake Tube]

[Equipment Affixes: Spirit Qi Condensation (Green), Viscera Strengthening (White), Precision (White)]

Nine Affixes were active at the same time.

Spirit Qi Filtration purified spirit qi, Circulation Acceleration hastened its circulation, Spirit Convergence expanded his absorption range, Spirit Qi Condensation compressed the density of his spirit qi, Viscera Strengthening protected his internal organs, Precision improved accuracy, Scale Armor Protection defended against external wounds, Five Grains Nourishing Qi increased his stamina and Vital Blood, and Clean Physique kept him clean.