Chapter 92 - 89: Primordial Yang Sect Shop
Chapter 92: Chapter 89: Primordial Yang Sect Shop
The atmosphere in the marketplace had been taut ever since news of the clash between the Wang and Li families broke.
Li Yuan continued making Talismans and cultivating as usual, his rhythm barely changing.
It was the people around him who changed.
Of course, he couldn’t just stay in his residence all day without going on patrol. He still went out to make his rounds from time to time.
That morning, Li Yuan finished patrolling half of East Street and was heading toward the patrol post when he saw Zhao Hu and Sun Liang squatting in the courtyard, talking.
Neither of them looked happy.
When Zhao Hu saw Li Yuan come in, he stood up and spoke at once.
"Deputy Captain, did you hear? They transferred a batch of people from the mining district."
Li Yuan sat down on a nearby wooden stump.
"Where were they transferred?"
"Not sure. All I know is they were given supplies and then they left." Zhao Hu rubbed his hands together.
Sun Liang was leaning against the base of the wall, hands tucked into his sleeves. His voice was much lower than Zhao Hu’s.
"They’re going to fight the Li family."
Zhao Hu glanced at him.
Sun Liang lowered his voice even further.
"I know a guy from the mining district. He told me before he left. They were given two months’ worth of supplies, their Magical Artifacts were restocked, and they were sent to the border region between the two families’ territories."
"They’re calling it ’mutual defense,’ but everyone knows what that really means."
Zhao Hu’s face fell.
"Then what about our patrol team...?"
"The patrol teams haven’t been touched... for now." Sun Liang pulled his sleeves a little tighter. "But they’ve pulled people from the guard units, too."
Li Yuan didn’t interject, letting them finish.
Sun Liang muttered again.
"And they’re not just transferring people; they’re hiring Loose Cultivators from outside too. A few days ago, a notice went up at the entrance to East Street, recruiting Loose Cultivators for short-term contracts. The pay isn’t bad either."
"Hiring Loose Cultivators to fight?" Zhao Hu clicked his tongue.
"They’re not sending the Loose Cultivators to the front lines. They’re just filling in the gaps for patrol and guard duty." Sun Liang shook his head. "The real fighting is still left to the Wang family’s own men and the veteran guards. The Loose Cultivators are just here to plug the holes in the rear."
Zhao Hu looked like he was about to say something else, but Sun Liang suddenly glanced around and steered the conversation in a different direction.
"Either way, there’s no escaping it. Once you’ve signed the contract, you have to go where the family sends you. We’ve all given our blood essence for the contract. How could we run?"
Zhao Hu grunted in assent and said no more.
Li Yuan stood up.
"Any word on how far this will go?"
Sun Liang thought for a moment.
"I heard the Primordial Yang Sect is keeping both families in check, not letting things get out of hand. So neither side has dared to launch an all-out attack. They’re just skirmishing back and forth at the border. When small groups run into each other, they fight, and then they both pull back."
"But people have died."
"A lot of them." Sun Liang’s voice was heavy. "But it’s mostly the peripheral members dying. The actual family members are too valuable; they’re not really being sent to the front."
Li Yuan nodded. He asked no more questions and turned to leave the post.
As he passed an alleyway in the southern part of East Street, Li Yuan slowed his pace.
A new shop had appeared next to the alley’s entrance.
It wasn’t one of the temporary stalls set up by Loose Cultivators, but a proper storefront. The door panels were freshly painted, and a brand-new wooden plaque hung above the entrance. Three words were carved on its surface—Primordial Yang Hall.
The calligraphy was neat and the lacquer gleamed; it had clearly been hung up very recently.
Two Cultivators in pale yellow robes stood at the entrance. Their auras were both at the Mid-stage of Qi Refining, and their calm, composed expressions set them apart from common Loose Cultivators.
Li Yuan gave them a second glance.
The door was ajar, revealing several rows of shelves inside. They were lined with porcelain vials and Talismans, their quality visibly superior to the goods at most of the market stalls.
Less than a hundred paces further down, another similar shop had opened on the opposite side of the road. It bore the same Primordial Yang Hall plaque, but this one sold ores and components for Magical Artifacts.
’Shops belonging to the Primordial Yang Sect.’
After buying his materials at Wu’s Talisman Shop and leaving, Li Yuan came across a Loose Cultivator by the roadside who was packing up his stall.
Li Yuan asked casually.
"When did those two Primordial Yang Hall shops on East Street open?"
The Loose Cultivator jutted his chin toward the alley.
"The day before yesterday. And it’s not just two. Another one opened up in North Alley, specializing in medicinal pills."
"Did people from the Primordial Yang Sect open them themselves?"
"You bet," the Loose Cultivator muttered, sweeping the last few pieces of ore from his stall into a cloth sack.
"I saw the shopkeeper take a storage bag from one of the Wang family’s Cultivators. Heard from others they only came because the Wang family paid them to. They don’t collect rent; in fact, they have to hand over Spirit Stones, practically begging them to set up shop here."
He slung the sack over his shoulder.
Li Yuan grunted in acknowledgment and asked nothing more.
’The Wang family is spending Spirit Stones to get the Primordial Yang Sect to open shops here, not for the business, but to use the sect’s name to stabilize the marketplace.’
’The Primordial Yang Sect is keeping the Wang and Li families from letting things get out of hand, so the Wang family dragged the sect into the marketplace to serve as a figurehead. Even if it’s just a few shops, the sight of the name ’Primordial Yang Sect’ will calm the Loose Cultivators’ nerves.’
Li Yuan returned to his residence with the materials in hand.
Talisman paper was spread out on the table, the Spiritual Ink already ground and the talisman brush set to one side.
Li Yuan didn’t immediately pick up the brush. Instead, he sat down cross-legged and began to circulate the Nourishing Essence Skill.
Making Talismans lately had consumed a great deal of his energy, but he hadn’t let his cultivation slack. He alternated between circulating the Spirit-Introducing Skill and the Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill, and he continued to take the Vein Relaxing Pill. The Spiritual Power in his Dantian was a layer thicker than it had been half a month ago.
As for his mundane cultivation techniques, he hadn’t touched the Iron Bull Skill much since reaching the Proficient stage, but he had been consistently practicing the Nourishing Essence Skill.
His Qi Blood circulated along the pathways of the Nourishing Essence Skill, round and round.
The refined perception brought about by his recent Divine Soul enhancement had been a great help. For several key junctures in the Nourishing Essence Skill, he used to rely entirely on muscle memory. Whether to adjust his Qi Blood, and by how much, was a matter of experience. Now, with this new layer of sharper perception, he could see the state of his Qi Blood at each juncture more clearly, allowing him to grasp the timing for when to contract and when to release with greater precision.
Once, twice, three times.
During the latter half of the fourth cycle, Li Yuan felt a change.
As his Qi Blood passed through the final circuit of the Guiyuan Form, the several streams of Qi Blood that he normally had to guide actively suddenly converged on their own.
It wasn’t a tightening, but a fusion.
The separate streams of Qi Blood in his limbs, chest, and abdomen seemed to have found a common rhythm. They no longer needed the cultivation technique to guide them individually. Instead, they gathered together on their own and slid along his meridians into the Sea of Qi and Blood near his Dantian.
After completing the Guiyuan Form, Li Yuan didn’t immediately cease the technique. Instead, he circulated the complete five forms one more time.
This cycle was different from all the previous ones.
The transition between each form was nearly seamless. The Qi Blood flowed from the Yuan Absorption Form to the Guiyuan Form, the five stages between them flowing like a single, unbroken river. Previously, he’d always had to pause for a split second at the transition between forms to redirect his Qi Blood. Now, there was no need; the Qi Blood knew where to go on its own.
Li Yuan slowly withdrew from his practice and opened his eyes.
[Cultivation Technique: Nourishing Essence Skill - Great Success (0/3200)]
’Great Success.’
Li Yuan clenched and unclenched his fist.
When he made a fist, the muscles from his fingers to his forearm contracted with extreme precision, without any superfluous tremors. When he relaxed his hand, each finger uncurled in sequence at a uniform speed, as if under precise control.
His control was a tier more refined than it had been at the Proficient stage.
It wasn’t an increase in strength, but in precision of control.
Before, when he picked something up, he just used enough force to get the job done; a little more or less didn’t matter. Now, he could clearly feel exactly how much force each finger exerted, which one was applying more pressure, and which one was lighter.
Li Yuan reached out and picked up the talisman brush from the table.
As he held the brush, the pads of his fingers resting against the shaft, the tactile sensation was much more distinct than before.
He dipped the brush in ink and laid down the first stroke on the talisman paper.
The difference was immediately apparent.
The rotation of his wrist as he set brush to paper was steadier. Previously, when drawing the overlapping sections of the Fire Gathering Pattern, his micro-adjustments always had a slight margin of unsteadiness. This margin was tiny—so small it usually didn’t affect the final product—but it would occasionally leave the edges of the Spirit Pattern slightly uneven.
Now, that margin of error had all but vanished.
His wrist stopped exactly where he intended, no more and no less.
When he finished the Fireball Talisman, the Spirit Patterns on its surface were a notch more uniform than before.
It wasn’t solely due to the Nourishing Essence Skill. The Divine Soul enhancement had come first, followed by the Nourishing Essence Skill reaching Great Success. The combined effect of the two was greater than either one alone.
The Divine Soul enhancement improved his perception, allowing him to see the state of the Spiritual Power at the tip of his brush more clearly.
The Great Success of the Nourishing Essence Skill improved his control. With enhanced perception, his hands could now execute his intentions with far greater precision.
Li Yuan folded the finished Fireball Talisman and set it on the corner of the table.
He spread out a new sheet of talisman paper and continued to draw.
By the time the night was over, a thick stack of finished Talismans lay piled on the corner of his table.
Li Yuan set down his brush, flexed his wrist, and glanced at his status panel.
[Fireball Talisman: Skilled (349/400)]
His skill level with the Fireball Talisman was rising the fastest; he was not far from the Proficient stage.