After the patrol ended, Li Yuan returned to his residence.
He sat cross-legged on the bed and circulated the Spirit Guiding Art.
Spirit Qi surged into his meridians, pure and swift, one circulation after another without pause.
The spiritual power in his dantian remained saturated. The newly added spiritual power was negligible, but each circulation repeatedly tempered the power already there, making it ever purer and more condensed.
Spirit Qi Filtration removed impurities, while Circulation Acceleration increased the frequency of circulation. The overlap of the two Affixes made the polishing efficiency quite impressive.
Over the past two days, after patrolling the market during the day, Li Yuan returned to the Wooden Cabin at night, sat cross-legged in meditation, and circulated the Spirit Guiding Art.
Spirit Qi Filtration and Circulation Acceleration worked hand in hand, and the permanence progress climbed steadily.
[Spirit Qi Filtration (White)] [Permanence Progress: 91/100]
The speed was even a little faster than he had expected.
However, his cultivation progress was far less impressive. The spiritual power in his dantian had long since neared saturation. After cultivating for two days, its total amount had barely changed.
The only difference he could feel was in the texture of his spiritual power—after repeated tempering, the spiritual power in his dantian was more solid than it had been two days ago, with fewer impurities as well.
But such polishing had its limits. Once spiritual power reached a certain degree of purity, further tempering brought negligible gains.
Li Yuan opened his eyes. The sky outside the window was faintly bright; it was another morning.
He got up, straightened his clothes, and pushed the door open.
Today's patrol route was still North Alley and East Street.
However, starting the day before yesterday, Li Yuan had made a slight adjustment to his route through North Alley—the frequency with which he passed through the stall area in the middle had increased, and he had slowed his pace as well.
After two days, Li Yuan had roughly figured out the basic circumstances of that Rogue Cultivator selling mineral fragments.
The Rogue Cultivator's surname was Zhao, and everyone called him Zhao Wu. He was in his forties and at the Qi Refining Second Layer. Supposedly, he had come from the Yuanheng Mountains to lie low. The goods on his stall were all cheap mineral fragments of average quality, not worth much.
Li Yuan had not deliberately asked around for this information.
It was perfectly normal for a Patrol Inspector to walk through the market and exchange a few words with the nearby vendors. New Rogue Cultivators, especially, were meant to be registered according to the rules.
When he passed Zhao Wu's stall today, Li Yuan did not stop. He merely swept it with the corner of his eye and walked on.
The stall was still the same: a dirty piece of coarse cloth spread on the ground, with less than half a pile of fragments heaped upon it. That jade pendant was still tucked among the ores, dull and gray, mixed in with the stones. Unless one got close, it was impossible to distinguish it.
Zhao Wu sat behind the stall with his hands tucked into his sleeves, one sleeve faintly bulging.
After walking a few steps, Li Yuan suddenly noticed something.
Compared to before, the pile of fragments in front of Zhao Wu had barely changed in quantity.
It was normal for goods not to sell, but Zhao Wu seemed somewhat different.
He did not call out or solicit customers. He simply sat behind the stall, sitting there for most of the day.
A Rogue Cultivator doing business whose wares would not sell, yet he himself was not anxious at all.
The other Rogue Cultivator stalls in this alley had more or less some bustle around them. Some people came forward to browse, some bargained over prices. Even if few sales were made, at least people came over for a look.
Zhao Wu's stall was utterly deserted.
Over the past two days, Li Yuan had passed by four or five times. He had not seen a single person squat before the stall to inspect the goods. Even the shape of the pile of fragments had barely changed.
Added to that was the jade pendant with its Blue Trait, which stirred suspicion in Li Yuan's heart.
Li Yuan stored this thought away and continued his patrol.
That night, after returning to the Wooden Cabin, Li Yuan sat cross-legged and continued cultivating.
Spirit Qi surged into his meridians, pure and swift.
The spiritual power in his dantian had reached the absolute limit of saturation, like a pool filled to the brim. Any additional Spirit Qi merely circulated through his meridians once before dispersing.
Yet the permanence progress was still rising.
[Spirit Qi Filtration (White)] [Permanence Progress: 97/100]
Another two or three circulations would complete it.
Li Yuan did not rush to push through it in one breath. Instead, he stopped cultivating and closed his eyes to rest for a while.
The more critical the moment, the less one could afford to rush.
After several days of continuous, high-intensity cultivation, his meridians had grown somewhat fatigued. Proper rest would instead help him exert himself later.
He turned over and lay on the bed, staring at the Wooden Cabin's ceiling, but his mind did not stop.
The matter of Zhao Wu's stall continued circling in his thoughts.
On the morning of the third day, after Li Yuan finished cultivating, the permanence progress of Spirit Qi Filtration reached one hundred.
The instant the hundredth circulation was completed, the Panel displayed a notification.
[The conditions for permanently affixing Spirit Qi Filtration (White) have been met] [Make permanent?]
With a thought, Li Yuan chose yes.
[Permanent affixing successful] [Spirit Qi Filtration (White) has become a Permanent Affix] [Equipped item consumed]
The Panel updated accordingly.
[Current Equipment Slots: 1/2] [Equipped Items: Vein-Clearing Pill] [Acquired Affixes: Spirit Qi Filtration (White) (Permanent), Circulation Acceleration (White), Clean Physique (Gray) (Permanent)]
After the Spirit Stone was permanently affixed, an Equipment Slot opened up.
Li Yuan took out the Iron Ox Technique manual.
[Equipable item detected: Iron Ox Technique (Complete)] [Affix Preview: Viscera Strengthening (White)—strengthens the resilience of the five viscera and six bowels, increasing their limit for withstanding the impact of spiritual power] [Permanence condition: Two mortal martial arts cultivated to Perfection] [Current Equipment Slots (1/2). Equip?]
Equip.
The manual turned into light and merged into his body. The formulas and key points of the Iron Ox Technique became clear in his mind once more, as though they had never faded.
The warmth wrapping around his internal organs rose again from deep within his abdomen, and a gentle force slowly reinforced his five viscera and six bowels.
The moment the effects of Viscera Strengthening returned, Li Yuan immediately sensed the difference.
With every breath, the pressure on his internal organs from Spirit Qi circulating through his body lessened considerably. The faint stuffiness and bloating he had felt before nearly vanished.
The oppressive feeling caused by his saturated dantian also eased somewhat. Although the bottleneck remained, the limit of what his body could endure had clearly increased.
[Current Equipment Slots: 2/2] [Equipped Items: Vein-Clearing Pill, Iron Ox Technique] [Acquired Affixes: Spirit Qi Filtration (White) (Permanent), Circulation Acceleration (White), Viscera Strengthening (White), Clean Physique (Gray) (Permanent)]
Three White Traits were now active at once, along with one permanent Gray Trait.
Li Yuan sat cross-legged and circulated the Spirit Guiding Art.
Spirit Qi entered his body, pure as water and without the slightest impurity. His circulations ran swiftly, his viscera were tough, and his meridians were clear and unobstructed. The three Affixes each performed their own duties, raising his cultivation efficiency another notch.
The feeling of having three White Traits operating at once was completely different from any previous cultivation session.
The moment Spirit Qi entered his body, it was filtered spotless. His circulations ran incredibly fast, and spiritual power encountered almost no obstruction within his meridians.
The supple warmth deep within his viscera steadily supported the impact brought by every circulation, and the faint sense of stuffiness vanished without a trace.
With the three effects added together, the cultivation experience was on an entirely different level from the past few days.
Li Yuan continued circulating for more than a dozen cycles in this state, only slowly stopping once his meridians grew faintly warm.
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