Chapter 122 - 118: Return to the Guard Squad
Chapter 122: Chapter 118: Return to the Guard Squad
On the third night at the Talisman Hall, Li Yuan sat cross-legged in the low-roofed house, the Evil Qi within his body slowly circulating along his meridians.
He had taken four Evil Essence Pills. The "Evil Qi Body Tempering" entry was guiding the Evil Qi into his fascia, and meanwhile, the progress toward permanently integrating the Detoxification Talisman was constantly ticking up. Evil Qi itself was an invasive presence, so as long as it was circulating in his body, the progress wouldn’t stop.
These past few days in the Talisman Hall, he crafted talismans by day and consumed Evil Pills to cultivate by night, keeping the Detoxification Talisman active almost constantly.
A panel materialized before him.
[Slow-Release Purification (White) Permanent Integration Conditions Met]
[Integrate Permanently?]
A thought crossed Li Yuan’s mind.
’Yes.’
[Permanent Integration Successful]
[Slow-Release Purification (White) is now a permanent entry.]
[Equipment consumed.]
The Detoxification Talisman between his fingers dissolved into a faint, aqua-blue light and merged into his body.
The change was subtle.
The residual impurities from the Evil Essence Pills were being expelled toward the surface of his skin at an extremely slow rate.
It wasn’t an accelerated absorption at the moment of consumption, like with medicinal power refinement, but rather a continuous, unending cleansing.
Any toxins, medicinal residue, or negative energy remaining in his body would now be slowly expelled.
An equipment slot had opened up.
Without hesitation, Li Yuan retrieved the Origin Condensation Skill manual from the depths of his storage pouch and equipped it.
[Equip successful.]
[Acquired Entry: Spiritual Power Condensation (Green)]
The moment "Spiritual Power Condensation" was re-equipped, the density of the Spiritual Power in his Dantian spiked.
Li Yuan closed his eyes and circulated the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
Pure Spiritual Power and Spiritual Power Condensation took effect simultaneously. After entering his body, the Spiritual Qi was first filtered for purity, then compressed by the Origin Condensation Skill and sunk into his Dantian. Under this dual enhancement, the quality of Spiritual Power accumulated with each cycle was a notch higher than before.
His Cultivation was now very close to the Qi Refining Seventh Level.
He cultivated for two consecutive days. On the morning of the third day, a knock came from outside his stone house.
Li Yuan got up and opened the door.
The Talisman Hall manager’s assistant stood at the door, holding a document and a roll of beast skin.
"Li Yuan, you have a mission."
The assistant handed him the document.
"You’re being dispatched to Qinghe Marketplace and assigned to the Guard Team. Your main duty will be to provide Talismans for the guards, and you’ll also have a large number of talisman-crafting tasks to complete at the station. You must also participate in combat when necessary."
Li Yuan took the document and glanced over it.
The mission details were written very clearly.
The Guard Team was currently in severe shortage of Combat Talismans and healing talismans. They needed a Talisman Master who could craft talismans on-site to be stationed with the team and guarantee their supply.
The assistant then handed over the roll of beast skin.
"This is an extra from the Talisman Hall. The method for crafting the Heart-lock Talisman."
Li Yuan took the beast skin and unrolled it.
Heart-lock Talisman. A Tier One Low Grade Talisman. When used, it temporarily suppresses the user’s injuries, locking the existing wounds in their current state to prevent them from worsening. The effect lasts for about two hours.
It wasn’t for healing, but for damage control. When applied to an injury, the wound wouldn’t worsen, and internal injuries wouldn’t spread, but they wouldn’t get better either. It was equivalent to buying the wounded some buffer time.
The assistant added, "The Guard Team specifically requested this one. People often get injured during patrols and combat. There’s no time for treatment during an engagement, but with a Heart-lock Talisman, they can at least hold out until they get back to the rear for proper care."
Li Yuan rolled up the beast skin and put it away.
"When do I leave?"
"Today."
Li Yuan went back to his room to pack. Talisman-crafting materials, medicinal pills, Evil Stones, and copied Cultivation Technique manuals—he stuffed them all into his storage pouch.
He left the Talisman Hall and followed the stone-paved road toward Qinghe Marketplace.
After walking for the better part of a day, the outline of Qinghe Marketplace’s walls appeared in his vision.
The marketplace had changed a bit since he left. A new circle of simple sheds had been erected outside the walls, with various supplies piled underneath. There were many more people entering and exiting than before: Cultivators in the uniform robes of the Wang family, others dressed as Loose Cultivators, and even a few mortals pushing wheelbarrows loaded with medicinal herbs.
Li Yuan entered the marketplace through the West Gate.
The stalls on both sides of East Street were still bustling. The few shops belonging to the Primordial Yang Sect were still there, with attendants in pale yellow robes standing at their entrances.
As he was walking along East Street toward North Alley, two people approached him from the front.
They wore inspection uniforms, and Inspector General tokens hung from their waists.
Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman.
Zhao Hu spotted Li Yuan first. His steps faltered for a moment, then a wide grin spread across his face.
"Deputy Li?"
Zheng Xiaoman looked up as well, blinking a couple of times.
"What are you doing back here?"
Li Yuan nodded to them.
"Back on business."
Zhao Hu sized him up, his gaze falling on the new waist token hanging at Li Yuan’s hip, the one carved with the character for "Talisman."
"You joined the Talisman Hall?"
"Mhm."
Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman exchanged a look, and Zhao Hu chuckled.
"Impressive. The two of us are still running errands for the Inspection Team, and you’ve already switched departments."
Li Yuan didn’t dwell on the topic.
"How is the Inspection Team now?"
"Same as always." Zhao Hu waved his hand. "A few people have been replaced, and we have a few more tasks than before, but nothing major has happened. Sun Liang got transferred to the mines, you know about that?"
"I know. I was with him there for a while."
Zhao Hu nodded. After a few more words of small talk, they went their separate ways.
Li Yuan continued on his way to the Guard Team’s station.
The Guard Team’s station was in the northwest corner of the marketplace, a courtyard enclosed by a stone wall. The yard was more than twice the size of the Inspection Team’s. In the central clearing stood several wooden target stands, and a row of wooden sheds had been built against the wall, under which were piled weapons, medicine, and various other supplies.
The Cultivator on duty at the gate checked Li Yuan’s document and waist token before letting him in.
About a dozen people were moving about in the courtyard. Most wore the Guard Team’s standard equipment, their auras ranging from the Qi Refining Third Level to the sixth.
Li Yuan scanned the area and spotted two familiar figures under a wooden shed on the eastern side.
He Shou was squatting next to a wooden crate, inspecting something, while Fang He leaned against a shed pillar, gnawing on a piece of dried meat.
He Shou looked up first. Seeing Li Yuan approach, he stood up.
"You’re here?"
"The Talisman Hall sent me." Li Yuan handed over the document.
He Shou took it and glanced over it, his eyebrows twitching slightly.
Handing the document back, He Shou pointed to a stone house on the opposite side of the courtyard.
"Your spot is over there. The desk and tools are all ready. Just give the Talismans you make directly to me. I’m temporarily in charge of their distribution."
"It’s thanks to you, then. I doubt they’d have sent me if I were just some random Talisman Master."
Fang He finished chewing the dried meat in his mouth and nodded at Li Yuan.
"We’re desperately short on Talismans. Especially Fireball Talismans and healing types. A patrol team uses up more than half its stock on a single trip, and the resupply can’t keep up when they get back."
He Shou added, "Right now, the Guard Team sends out two to three squads on patrol in rotation every day. The patrol area is much larger than before. Although there are fewer Demon Beasts around the marketplace, members of the Li family have been more active lately, and patrols occasionally run into them."
He glanced toward the courtyard gate.
"Last month, two squads ran into the Li family’s people out there and a fight broke out. We had three injured, and they ran off. One of our three had two broken ribs. If he’d had a Heart-lock Talisman to suppress the injury, it at least wouldn’t have gotten worse during the retreat."
Li Yuan nodded.
"They gave me the crafting method for the Heart-lock Talisman. I’ll make a batch of those first."
He Shou’s expression relaxed slightly.
Fang He straightened up from the shed pillar and took two steps closer to Li Yuan.
"One more thing."
He lowered his voice.
"You’re from the Talisman Hall now, so you’re not under the Guard Team’s direct command, but you’ll be working, eating, and living here at the station. The Talismans you produce are to be supplied to the Guard Team first. You can do what you want with the rest."
He paused for a moment.
"But I’ll be honest with you, the Guard Team’s Talisman consumption is huge right now. Your output alone probably won’t be enough. Make as many as you can. If it’s really not enough, prioritize the Fireball Talismans and Heart-lock Talismans."
Li Yuan grunted in acknowledgment.
"Are there enough materials?"
"The materials are transferred from the Talisman Hall. They resupply once every half-month," He Shou interjected. "The first batch of materials has already arrived. It’s in your room."
Li Yuan walked toward the stone house He Shou had pointed to.
He pushed the door open and went inside. The room was much more spacious than the low-roofed house at the mines. Against the wall was a large stone desk, its surface big enough to lay out five or six sheets of talisman paper. Piled on a corner of the desk were several bundles of Cyan Pattern Paper and a few bottles of Spiritual Ink, with supplementary materials like cinnabar and mineral powder beside them.
The bed was on the other side, simple but clean.
Li Yuan organized the contents of his storage pouch and sat down at the desk.
He spread the beast skin with the Heart-lock Talisman’s crafting method on the desk. The Spirit Pattern diagram and key instructions were clear at a glance.
The Heart-lock Talisman used a combination of Sealing Patterns and coagulation patterns. The flow of Spiritual Power tightened layer by layer from the outside in, temporarily freezing the flow of Qi Blood and Spiritual Power in a specific area.
It was somewhat similar to the Vajra Talisman, as both followed a principle of contraction, but the Vajra Talisman contracted for defense, while the Heart-lock Talisman contracted to contain injuries.
Li Yuan read the crafting method from beginning to end, memorizing it.
Then, he laid out a sheet of talisman paper, dipped his brush in ink, and began drawing a Fireball Talisman.
’First, supply what’s most needed.’
One, two, three. His Expert Level technique ensured a stable output, with a success rate of over seventy percent.
After drawing a dozen or so Fireball Talismans, Li Yuan switched to drawing a few Rejuvenation Talismans, then moved on to Vajra Talismans.
Before nightfall, a thick stack of finished talismans was already piled on the corner of his desk.
Li Yuan sorted the finished products by type and set them on the edge of the desk. He would give them to He Shou in the morning.
Then, he took out two Evil Essence Pills from his storage pouch, consumed them, and sat cross-legged to circulate his energy.
From outside the window came the sound of footsteps as the Guard Team’s night-shift Cultivators changed posts, interspersed with a few snippets of low conversation.
In the distance, the faint glow of Spirit Lamps from the direction of the marketplace was visible, looking much the same as he remembered.