Chapter 132 - 128: Evil Stone Permanentization
Chapter 132: Chapter 128: Evil Stone Permanentization
For the next few days, Li Yuan kept up a high-intensity pace of Talisman making.
Fireball Talismans and Heart-lock Talismans still made up the bulk of his production. He drew Qi Gathering Talismans in between, and didn’t neglect Rejuvenation Talismans and Vajra Talismans either. With the ’Adept Penmanship’ and ’Spiritual Power Recurrence’ traits active, his output efficiency was significantly higher than before.
After a few days of focused drawing, his proficiency with several types of Talismans was increasing.
The Rejuvenation Talisman’s proficiency rose the fastest; his technique for laying out the Wood Element Spirit Patterns was already very stable.
[Rejuvenation Talisman: Expert (0/800)]
The Vajra Talisman followed suit.
[Vajra Talisman: Expert (0/800)]
The Qi Gathering Talisman’s progress was a bit slower. Its three-layered, nested Spirit Patterns were more complex than typical Low Grade Talismans, but its proficiency was already in the middle of the ’Skilled’ stage.
The Detoxification Talisman and Heart-lock Talisman were also improving.
His overall proficiency in Tier One Talisman Making Skill was pushed forward quite a bit by these few days of intensive work.
As for his talisman making tasks, Li Yuan had boosted his output to one and a half times the usual amount for three straight days. The extra Fireball Talismans were stockpiled with He Shou and not immediately distributed, creating a buffer inventory for the next few days.
On the morning of the fourth day, after finishing his daily talisman making tasks ahead of schedule, Li Yuan stacked the finished products on the corner of his desk and considered his upcoming plans.
’I’ve finished several days’ worth of work in advance. Even if I don’t draw any talismans for the next two days, the inventory won’t bottom out.’
’That’s enough.’
Li Yuan put down his talisman brush, stood up, and left his residence.
He walked along East Street toward the outskirts of the Pill Hall.
He passed through the narrow alley between the Talisman Hall and the Pill Hall, and the outline of a shantytown appeared ahead. Under a few makeshift canopies, medicinal furnaces billowed smoke, and the bitter scent of herbs filled the air.
Old Sun’s stall was at the very back.
As Li Yuan approached, Old Sun was squatting by a medicinal furnace, stirring a cauldron of medicinal liquid. With a yellow-stained hand, he steadily held an iron rod, slowly mixing the contents at the mouth of the furnace.
Hearing footsteps, Old Sun looked up.
"You’re here."
He leaned the iron rod against the furnace wall, dusted off his hands, and stood up.
Li Yuan squatted down at the edge of the stall and took two herbs wrapped in Oil Paper from his storage pouch, placing them on a nearby stone platform.
"These are the two herbs I mentioned before. Help me refine a wisp of Evil Qi from them."
Old Sun unwrapped the Oil Paper and looked, then picked up the first herb and sniffed it. He put it down and examined the second one.
He placed the two herbs side by side and rubbed his chin.
"You only want the Evil Qi?"
"Yes."
Old Sun tilted his head.
"These two herbs counteract each other. The Evil Qi produced when they’re refined together is Tier One Top Grade, that’s no problem. But after extracting the Evil Qi, the remaining dregs and liquid will be worthless. Two Tier One Top Grade herbs, just to get one portion of Evil Qi, and the rest is all wasted."
He looked at Li Yuan.
"Doesn’t that sting?"
"It doesn’t."
Old Sun scoffed and waved his hand.
"Fine. If you want it, I’ll refine it. This kind of job is actually simpler. No need to control medicinal efficacy, no need to preserve active ingredients. I just have to push the counter-reaction to its most intense state. The success rate is very high; I basically never fail."
He bent down and pulled out a medicinal furnace from under the stall, a size smaller than the one he usually used.
"This smaller furnace is easier for temperature control. Just wait."
Old Sun processed the two herbs, chopping what needed to be chopped and peeling what needed to be peeled, then tossed them into the small furnace one after the other. He infused Spiritual Power to ignite the furnace fire.
Once the furnace fire roared to life, the temperature in the stall rose noticeably.
The two herbs began to react in the medicinal liquid inside the furnace. At first, the liquid just darkened in color, from light brown to dark brown. After about a quarter of an hour, fine, grayish-black bubbles started to form on the surface. When the bubbles popped, they released a heavy, oppressive aura.
Evil Qi.
Its concentration was countless times higher than the Evil Qi in the mine. The Tier One Top Grade Evil Qi spilled out from the furnace mouth, making the air in the stall murky.
A Loose Cultivator in a neighboring stall frowned and glanced over, but said nothing.
Old Sun’s hands were steady. He inserted the iron rod into the furnace and stirred a few times, controlling the speed of the herbs’ reaction. He made sure it wasn’t so fast as to go out of control, nor so slow that the Evil Qi would dissipate.
About another half an hour passed, and the furnace fire gradually died down.
Old Sun fished out a small, palm-sized black box from a corner of the stall. A few simple sealing Spirit Patterns were carved on its surface. He lifted the lid, aimed it at the furnace mouth, and guided with his Spiritual Power.
The swirling, grayish-black Evil Qi in the furnace was drawn by an invisible force, pouring from the furnace mouth into the box. The Evil Qi churned inside the box for a few breaths before being suppressed by the sealing Spirit Patterns on the lid, gradually settling down.
Old Sun closed the lid. The Spirit Patterns flashed once, then dimmed.
"Done."
He placed the box on the stone platform and pushed it in front of Li Yuan.
"One portion of Tier One Top Grade Evil Qi. The concentration is high, so be careful."
He patted the small black box again.
"The box is a gift. I have no use for it here anyway, it’s just collecting dust. The sealing Spirit Patterns will last for about a month. After that, they’ll fail and the Evil Qi will dissipate, so use it soon."
"How much?"
"Like we agreed, five Spirit Stones. The box is free."
Li Yuan pulled five Spirit Stones from his sleeve and placed them on the stone platform.
Old Sun swept the Spirit Stones into his sleeve and squatted back down by his furnace to continue tending to his cauldron of medicinal liquid.
"I’m leaving."
Old Sun waved a hand without looking up.
Li Yuan put the small black box into his storage pouch and walked back to his residence the way he came.
He returned to his stone house and closed the door.
He took the small black box from his storage pouch and placed it on the desk.
The sealing Spirit Patterns on the lid still glowed with a faint light. The Evil Qi was locked inside, and nothing could be felt from the outside.
Li Yuan lifted the lid.
A dense, grayish-black aura surged out of the box.
The concentration was on a completely different level from the Evil Qi in the depths of the mine.
The Evil Qi deep in the mine was like a thin mist that required long periods of exposure to slowly absorb. This portion of Evil Qi was like a glob of thick ink; you could almost see the grayish-black mist churning at the mouth of the box.
Tier One Top Grade.
Li Yuan sat down cross-legged and placed the box in front of him.
The ’Evil Qi Affinity’ trait automatically activated.
After pouring out of the box, the grayish-black Evil Qi didn’t disperse into the air. Instead, it rushed toward Li Yuan as if drawn by a magnet. The Evil Qi entered his body through the pores of his skin, spreading through his meridians to every limb and bone.
The sensation of Tier One Top Grade Evil Qi seeping into the body was completely different from Tier One Low Grade.
When Low Grade Evil Qi entered the body, it felt like a dull, oppressive pressure, as if being squeezed from the outside. When Top Grade Evil Qi entered, it was a piercing chill that seeped directly from the skin’s surface into the marrow of his bones, its depth more than three times that of the Low Grade.
But there was no pain.
Evil Qi Affinity greatly reduced the negative effects of the Evil Qi. Although this chill penetrated deep, it wasn’t corrosive. The ’Evil Qi Body Tempering’ trait activated in sync, guiding the infiltrating Evil Qi into his fascia and bones to begin the tempering process.
The difference in effect between Tier One Top Grade and Low Grade Evil Qi Body Tempering was immediately apparent.
When tempering with Low Grade Evil Qi, the muscles contracted only slightly, requiring many repeated flushes to see a significant change. But with just the first rush of Top Grade Evil Qi, his fascia tightened noticeably, and a tingling numbness spread through his bones, as if something were grinding between his joints.
The Evil Qi circulated in his body for about a quarter of an hour, and more than half of the Evil Qi in the box had been absorbed.
The panel appeared.
[Conditions to make Evil Qi Affinity (Green) permanent have been met.]
[Make permanent?]
With a thought, Li Yuan commanded.
’Yes.’
[Made permanent.]
[Evil Qi Affinity (Green) has become a permanent trait.]
[Equipment consumed.]
The dark gray, violet-tinged Evil Stone in his palm transformed into a deep purple light and sank into his body.
The next moment, the thin layer of Evil Qi mist covering his entire body began to change.
Before, that thin mist was maintained by the Evil Qi Affinity trait; it would slowly dissipate if the trait was unequipped. Now, the mist had fused deep into his muscles and bones, becoming a part of his body that no longer needed external support.
Li Yuan closed his eyes and sensed the changes for a moment.
The negative effects of Evil Qi on his body were further reduced. The efficiency of converting impurities in his body into Evil Qi had increased. His storage capacity for Evil Qi had also grown. Previously, he could store at most an amount of Evil Qi equivalent to one Evil Essence Pill; now, he could hold two or three.
All three effects had become permanent.
His fourth green permanent trait.
An equipment slot had opened up. It was now 4/5, occupied by the Soul Mirror, the Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill, a Replenishing Talisman, and the Cyan Spirit Talisman Brush.
Li Yuan took a Soul Refining Talisman from his storage pouch and equipped it.
The Soul Refining Talisman transformed into a faint golden light and sank into his body.
The change seeped down from the crown of his head.
It felt different from the Soul Mirror. The Soul Mirror’s soul-light tempering made his consciousness clearer, as if wiping away a layer of fog. The Soul Refining Talisman’s Divine Soul condensation made the Divine Soul itself denser, like compressing a ball of cotton into a piece of felt.
With the two effects stacked, the clarity and density of his Divine Soul increased simultaneously.
Li Yuan opened his eyes and flexed his fingers.
The precision of his Spiritual Power control had improved by a sliver. Not much, but he could feel it.
He glanced at the small black box on the desk, which was now mostly empty, with only a thin layer of residual Evil Qi left at the bottom.