Chapter 120 - 116: Evil Stone
Chapter 120: Chapter 116: Evil Stone
Over the next few days, the ferocity of the Demon Beasts slowly subsided.
There were still roars from the direction of the mountain pass at night, but they were much less frequent than before.
The Investigation Array would light up occasionally, but it was mostly small Tier One Low Grade creatures wandering the perimeter, leaving without even approaching the earthen wall.
The Array He Ming had reinforced was working. Its warning range had nearly doubled, providing advance notice of any disturbance on the outskirts.
Li Yuan took advantage of this relatively quiet period to start practicing the Detoxification Talisman. He had already equipped the Soul Mirror the moment its cooldown ended.
The Spirit Pattern of the Detoxification Talisman was a combination of the Purification Pattern and the Guiding Pattern, belonging to the Water Element with a Wood Element inclination. This was completely different from the explosive nature of the Fireball Talisman, and also distinct from the reserved nature of the Concealing Breath Talisman.
However, his talisman crafting skill had improved significantly compared to before.
As he was drawing the fourth talisman, an extremely faint, watery-blue luster surfaced on it. It flowed slowly outward in a circle before receding back into the talisman.
’Success.’
[Talisman: Detoxification Talisman - Novice (0/200)]
Li Yuan placed the Detoxification Talisman on the table and touched it with his fingertip.
[Equippable Item Detected: Detoxification Talisman (Complete)]
[Entry Preview: Slow-Release Detoxification (White) — Slowly purges toxins from the body, including pill toxins, medicinal dregs, residual negative energy, and other invasive impurities.]
[Permanence Condition Preview: Maintain for twenty-four hours while the body is in an invaded state (0/24).]
[Current equipment slots are full (3/3). Replace a current item?]
’A white entry. Slow-Release Detoxification.’
’The permanence condition is to maintain it for twenty-four hours while my body is in an invaded state.’
Li Yuan put away the Detoxification Talisman and left the hut.
Under the wooden shed, Steward Liu was leaning against a pillar, flipping through an old ledger.
Li Yuan sat down on a stone stool opposite him, and Steward Liu glanced up.
"Have you heard?" Steward Liu closed the ledger. "The Talisman Hall and the Pill Hall have both started recruiting Loose Cultivators."
"Recruiting Loose Cultivators?"
"That’s right. The ones that pass a background check."
Steward Liu placed the ledger on his lap. "In the past, to get into the Talisman Hall or the Pill Hall, you had to be one of the Wang family’s own or an outer member who signed a long-term contract. Now the bar is lower. As long as they pass the check, even Loose Cultivators can go work there."
Li Yuan looked at him.
"Are things that tense?"
Steward Liu shook his head.
"I’m not sure. All I know is the higher-ups want to expand manpower, and they’re recruiting everywhere. As for the specific plans, I just watch over a mine. How would I know so much?"
He patted the ledger and said no more.
Li Yuan grunted in acknowledgment, didn’t press for more, and got up to return to his residence.
Over the next few days, Li Yuan shuttled back and forth between the mine and his hut.
He tried crafting the Divine Talisman twice more, but still failed.
The spiraling circuit of the Concentration Pattern demanded too much of a gradual increase in Spiritual Power density. Each loop required precise control, and at his current level, he couldn’t manage the continuous increase beyond the fourth loop. With two sheets of golden talisman paper ruined, Li Yuan didn’t waste any more materials.
Talisman crafting itself was the best control training. ’It can’t be rushed.’
The focus of his cultivation shifted to the mine.
With the Pure Spiritual Power entry equipped, he alternated between circulating the Spirit-Introducing Skill and the Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill, steadily accumulating Spiritual Power in his Dantian. His cultivation was drawing ever closer to the bottleneck of the Qi Refining Seventh Level, and each cycle of circulation was faster than before—the higher the cultivation, the stronger the meridians’ capacity to carry Spiritual Power, and thus the efficiency of each cycle increased.
The permanence progress for the Mid-grade Spirit Stone had reached two hundred cycles.
[Pure Spiritual Power (Green) Permanence Progress: 200/500]
’Three hundred to go.’
’If I continue at this pace, it won’t be too long.’
That evening, Li Yuan returned to his hut, unequipped the Origin Condensation Skill from his equipment slot, and replaced it with the Detoxification Talisman.
[Equip Successful]
[Entry Acquired: Slow-Release Detoxification (White)]
[Permanence Condition: Maintain for a cumulative twenty-four hours while the body is in an invaded state (0/24).]
After equipping the Detoxification Talisman, Li Yuan closed his eyes to feel for any changes.
There was no noticeable change in his body; after all, he currently had no toxins that needed to be purged.
But he immediately got up and went to the mine.
In the depths of the mine, wisps of Evil Qi seeped out from crevices in the rock, worming their way into his skin. The Evil Qi Body Tempering entry automatically responded, drawing the Evil Qi into his fascia.
An hour later, the progress for the Detoxification Talisman moved.
[Slow-Release Detoxification (White) Permanence Progress: 1/24]
’Evil Qi counts as an invasion.’
Li Yuan opened his eyes. The concentration of Evil Qi in the mine wasn’t high, but as long as he stayed inside, it continuously seeped into his body. Although the Evil Qi Body Tempering entry would convert and utilize the Evil Qi, the process itself constituted an invaded state.
As long as he cultivated in the mine, the permanence progress for the Detoxification Talisman would increase.
Twenty-four hours.
’Spending six to seven hours in the mine each day, I could max it out in three or four days.’
Li Yuan sat down cross-legged and resumed circulating his energy.
The next morning, Li Yuan entered the mine again.
There were already people in the main tunnel. Old Zhou emerged from a side tunnel, carrying mining tools on his shoulder. He was covered in grayish-black mineral dust, and his handcart was piled with several freshly mined pieces of Cyan Wood Stone.
Li Yuan nodded to him and continued deeper into the mine.
As he passed the newly excavated cavern, Li Yuan’s steps suddenly slowed.
’The concentration of Evil Qi has changed.’
’It’s not that it got thicker, it’s become... uneven.’
Previously, the Evil Qi deep in the mine was like a thin fog, seeping out evenly from the rock crevices, its concentration roughly the same everywhere.
But now, near the left wall of the cavern, the concentration of Evil Qi was clearly a notch higher than the surrounding area, as if something there was continuously releasing it.
Li Yuan turned and walked toward that rock wall.
The spot near the wall was a freshly chiseled section. A piece of the grayish-black rock layer had been chipped away, revealing a deeper rock face within.
Embedded in the rock face were several stones of different colors. Most were ordinary grayish-black rocks, but one was a darker shade, a dusky gray with a purplish tint, and its surface held an extremely faint luster.
The Evil Qi was seeping from this very stone.
Li Yuan reached out and pried the stone from the rock wall.
The stone wasn’t large, about the size of a fist. It was cool to the touch and much heavier than an ordinary rock of the same volume. After his fingers touched it, the luster on its surface rippled slightly, like the surface of disturbed water.
The panel popped up.
[Equippable Item Detected: Evil Stone (Complete)]
[Entry Preview: Evil Qi Affinity (Green) — Greatly reduces the negative effects of Evil Qi on oneself; can actively convert some impurities in the body into Evil Qi; can store a certain amount of Evil Qi within the body.]
[Permanence Condition Preview: Obtain and absorb one strand of Tier One Top Grade Evil Qi (0/1).]
[Current equipment slots are full (3/3). Replace a current item?]
’A green entry.’
Li Yuan held the Evil Stone and read the information on the panel from top to bottom.
’Three effects: reducing the negative impact of Evil Qi, converting impurities into Evil Qi, and storing Evil Qi in my body.’
’The permanence condition is to absorb a strand of Tier One Top Grade Evil Qi.’
Just then, footsteps sounded from behind him.
Old Zhou walked back from the side tunnel, pushing an empty handcart. Seeing Li Yuan squatting at the base of the wall holding a rock, he came over curiously.
"What’s up?"
"This stone, do you know what it is?" Li Yuan held up the Evil Stone.
Old Zhou tilted his head to look, then took it and weighed it in his hand.
"An Evil Stone," he said, turning it over. "You can occasionally dig these up deep in the mine. This vein has produced a few in the past, but not many."
He handed the Evil Stone back.
"This thing isn’t worth much. It has few uses. Most Artifact Refiners mix it into Magical Artifacts to add some negative effects, but they use very small amounts. An Evil Stone the size of a fist is only worth two or three Spirit Stones."
Li Yuan glanced at the Evil Stone again. ’Worthless, yet it gives a green entry. It seems this system panel’s evaluation of an entry’s grade is quite different from its price in the cultivation world.’
After he finished speaking, Old Zhou glanced at the rock wall.
"But since you found this one in a fresh cut, there might be more inside."
He put down his handcart, picked up his mining tools, and chiseled a few times next to the fresh cut on the rock wall.
Rubble tumbled down, and dust flew up.
After chiseling away a layer, two more dusky-gray, purplish-tinted stones were revealed on the rock face, one large and one small.
Old Zhou paused for a moment, stunned, then continued to chisel.
After a few more strikes, a third and then a fourth Evil Stone were successively revealed.
"There really are a lot," Old Zhou mumbled, dusting off his hands.
"In the past, the only places in this vein that produced Evil Stones were in the deepest, most remote corners, and you wouldn’t find more than a few in a whole year. And now look, we’ve found a whole cluster with just a bit of digging."
Li Yuan pried the Evil Stones from the rock wall one by one. There were six in total, all of varying sizes.
The largest was a size bigger than a fist, while the smallest was only the size of an egg. Each one had that same faint, dark-purple luster on its surface and was cool to the touch.
Li Yuan gathered all the Evil Stones except for the first one he found.
"Let’s put these away for now."
Old Zhou nodded without asking any more questions.
Li Yuan left the mine and went to find Steward Liu under the wooden shed.
"We’ve dug up some Evil Stones from the new cut deep in the mine. A lot of them."
Steward Liu’s hands paused.
"How many?"
"Six. There might be more; we haven’t finished chiseling that section of wall."
Steward Liu put down what he was holding and stood up.
"I’ll report this to the family. Evil Stones aren’t worth much individually, but it’s a different story when there’s a large quantity. The Artifact Refining Hall should be interested."
He glanced in the direction of the mine.
Li Yuan grunted in acknowledgment and turned back toward the mine.
Deep in the mine, a few pieces of rubble were still scattered next to the fresh cut. Li Yuan didn’t ask Old Zhou to continue chiseling; instead, he found a spot in a corner of the cavern and sat down cross-legged.
He placed the fist-sized Evil Stone he had first discovered in front of him.
He didn’t equip it.
Li Yuan held the Evil Stone in his palm and guided his Spiritual Power to slowly draw the Evil Qi out of it.
The dark purple luster on the Evil Stone’s surface rippled slightly, and a wisp of grayish-black Evil Qi seeped out from the stone, burrowing into his skin along his palm.
The Evil Qi Body Tempering entry automatically responded, drawing this stream of Evil Qi into his fascia and bones.
Its concentration was more than three times higher than the Evil Qi that naturally seeped out in the mine.
In the same amount of time, he absorbed several times more Evil Qi than when he had previously cultivated in the mine. The circulation of his Iron Bull Skill also accelerated, and the efficiency with which his Spiritual Power cleansed his organs was boosted by the compressive effect of the Evil Qi.
[Cultivation Technique: Iron Bull Skill - Adept (461/800)]
One hour of cultivation was now equivalent to half a day’s worth in the mine before.
Li Yuan opened his eyes and looked at the Evil Stone in his palm.
The dark purple luster on the stone’s surface had dimmed somewhat. A portion of the Evil Qi had been drawn out, but it was far from depleted. At this rate of consumption, a single fist-sized Evil Stone would last him several more days at least.
’With the other five, I’ll have enough to last for a while.’
Li Yuan put the Evil Stone away, closed his eyes, and resumed circulating his energy.
The depths of the mine grew quiet, leaving only the distant CLANG CLANG of mining and the sound of his own breathing.