Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Cleaning Skill
The work of collecting rent in the Spirit Field District was actually quite tedious.
After finishing up with Uncle Wang, Li Yuan visited over a dozen other Spirit Farmers, going from house to house to verify the amount of Spirit Grain and inspect its quality.
By the time he completed his rounds, his storage pouch was stuffed full of Spirit Grain, and Li Yuan had also received a fair number of ’gifts’.
The gifts from these Spirit Farmers were varied—some gave Spirit Stones, some ores, some grains—but currently, only one item could be equipped.
[Equippable item detected: Changqing Rice (Requires one pound)]
[Trait Preview: Valley Qi Condensing Spirit (Gray) — Reduces mental strain during cultivation by ten percent]
[Permanence Condition: Consume 5 pounds of the same type of Spirit Grain]
’A gray trait. The effect is decent, but it’s useless for now. It’s more of a long-term investment.’
’The other grains and ores probably couldn’t be equipped because they didn’t meet the conditions.’
By the time he finished with the last household, the sun was already dipping toward the west.
Li Yuan took stock of the Spirit Grain in his pouch. The total amount was about the same as last year.
After securing his storage pouch, Li Yuan walked along the ridges of the fields, heading toward Qinghe Marketplace.
About a mile out of the Spirit Field District, two familiar figures appeared on the main road ahead.
Both men wore the same gray cloth Inspector General uniforms as Li Yuan, with the character for ’Wang’ embroidered on the chest. They were standing by the roadside, talking.
Li Yuan recognized them.
The one in front, tall and sturdy with an honest face, was Zhou Dazhuang, a cultivator at the Qi Refining Third Level. He was usually on duty at the south gate of the marketplace. He was an honest man of few words.
The lanky one behind him was Sun Liang, also at the Qi Refining Third Level. He was in charge of patrolling West Street. He had a somewhat restless personality and a silver tongue.
There were many Qi Refining Third Level cultivators among the Inspector Generals. Thanks to the Spirit-Introducing Skill, cultivation progressed relatively quickly in the early stages.
However, reaching the Mid-stage Qi Refining was a major hurdle, and very few cultivators managed to break through to the Qi Refining Fourth Level.
The two men stopped walking when they saw Li Yuan approach.
"Li Yuan, you went to collect rent too?"
Sun Liang was the first to speak, a slight smile on his face.
Li Yuan nodded. "Just finished. You two?"
"Us too," Zhou Dazhuang replied in a rumbling voice. "We just got back from the southern fields."
The three of them walked toward Qinghe Marketplace together. Sun Liang led the way, walking at a brisk pace and humming an unfamiliar tune, clearly in high spirits.
Zhou Dazhuang, however, was the complete opposite. He walked with his head down, silent and sullen, his expression grim.
Li Yuan noticed but didn’t ask.
After they had walked for a while, Sun Liang suddenly turned around, his face alight with excitement. "Li Yuan, did you see the notice? The guard rotation list for this month."
"I saw it."
"I’m on the list too!"
Sun Liang grinned. "Ten Spirit Stones a month! That’s more than three times what an Inspector General makes, plus they hand out medicinal pills. It’s a great gig."
Li Yuan glanced at him but said nothing.
’The monthly stipend for the guards was indeed much higher than an Inspector General’s, but the work was also far more dangerous. In four previous rotations, the original owner of this body had personally witnessed two guards die on patrol. For one of them, a body was never even recovered.’
Sun Liang clearly didn’t see it that way.
"Besides," he continued, "it’s not like the guards run into Demon Beasts or bandit cultivators every day. Most of the time, they’re just patrolling near the marketplace. It’s not really that dangerous."
"Plus, you can get a lot of loot from killing Demon Beasts or evil cultivators."
Sun Liang grew more animated as he spoke. "I heard a guard squad last month hunted down a rare Demon Beast, and every single one of them got a share of thirty Spirit Stones!"
Zhou Dazhuang muttered, "People have also died out there."
The smile on Sun Liang’s face stiffened for a moment before he waved his hand dismissively. "That’s just bad luck. We won’t be that unfortunate."
"You may want to go, but I don’t," Zhou Dazhuang’s voice was low. "My wife just got pregnant. If something were to happen to me..."
Zhou Dazhuang trailed off, not finishing his sentence, and just sighed.
Sun Liang scratched his head, unsure of how to respond. An awkward silence fell over them.
Li Yuan broke the silence. "How have things been in the Yuanheng Mountain Range recently?"
"Not peaceful," Zhou Dazhuang said, looking up with a grave expression.
"There have been a lot more Demon Beasts in the mountains lately. A few more demon-hunting squads have shown up, too. There are also several groups of bandit cultivators on the move, and a few Loose Cultivators have gone missing in the last few days."
"The guard squads have stepped up their patrols, but they’re short-staffed, which is why they drafted our group on a temporary basis."
Sun Liang added, "But don’t you worry. They won’t send us newbies to the most dangerous areas. At most, we’ll just be patrolling the perimeter."
Li Yuan didn’t respond, but his mind was already calculating furiously.
’The Yuanheng Mountain Range isn’t safe, which means being a guard is even more dangerous than usual.’
’Twelve days. I have to find a way to break through within twelve days, or find some other solution.’
The three of them chatted as they walked, and in a short while, they reached the entrance to Qinghe Marketplace.
Once inside the marketplace, the three went their separate ways to attend to their own affairs.
Li Yuan walked down West Street, stopping in front of a secluded courtyard.
The courtyard wasn’t large. A wooden sign reading ’Inspector Team’ hung by the gate. This was their station, and the captain usually worked here.
Li Yuan pushed the gate open and stepped inside. The courtyard was empty. Only the door to the main house was ajar, and the sound of rustling paper could be heard from within.
Li Yuan walked to the doorway and knocked on the frame. "Captain."
"Come in."
A deep voice replied from within the room.
Li Yuan pushed the door open and went in. Seated behind a desk directly opposite was a middle-aged man with a square-jawed face, a short beard, and a green robe. His aura was calm and composed.
This was the Inspector Team’s captain, Wang De. His cultivation was at the Qi Refining Seventh Level, which made him a master in Qinghe Marketplace.
Wang De looked up and glanced at Li Yuan. "Are you done collecting the rent?"
"I’m done."
Li Yuan took out the ’gifts’ from the Spirit Farmers from his storage pouch.
This was an unwritten rule among the Inspector Generals.
Ninety percent of any gifts received during rent collection had to be turned over to the captain. You only got to keep ten percent.
Wang De glanced over the items, then swept them all up. After a rough mental calculation of their value, he took out a single Spirit Stone.
After Li Yuan accepted the Spirit Stone, Wang De waved a hand, dismissing him.
Li Yuan turned and left the courtyard. He headed straight for the administration office to return the storage pouch and the collected Spirit Grain, then made his way back to North Alley.
By evening, the marketplace had mostly emptied out. Most of the stall owners had packed up and gone home.
The simple cloth awning at the end of North Alley was still there, but the Talismans had been cleared from the stall. Only Old Man Zhang remained, sitting beneath the awning and packing items into a cloth sack.
Li Yuan walked up to the stall and stood there.
"Old Zhang."
Old Man Zhang looked up. Seeing it was Li Yuan, he seemed a bit surprised. "Li Dao You, what brings you here at this hour?"
Li Yuan got straight to the point. "I want to learn the Cleaning Skill from you."
Old Man Zhang froze for a second. He set down the sack and looked Li Yuan up and down.
"The Cleaning Skill?"
"That’s right."
Old Man Zhang didn’t answer right away. He fell silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.
’The Cleaning Skill is one of the most basic, entry-level spells. Almost every cultivator who can draw talismans knows it; there’s nothing remarkable about it.’
’But for that very reason, very few people were willing to spend Spirit Stones to learn it.’
’Most cultivators would rather spend their Spirit Stones on more useful magic. For trivial things like cleaning, they could just buy a few talismans.’
"Why the sudden interest in learning this?" Old Man Zhang asked.
"It has its uses."
Li Yuan didn’t elaborate, instead continuing.
"However, I only have two Spirit Stones on me right now. I’ll have to wait until I get my monthly stipend to pay you."
Old Man Zhang nodded, not pressing the issue.
"You can learn it, sure. The Cleaning Skill isn’t a difficult spell."
Old Man Zhang paused, then continued.
"The manuals for the Cleaning Skill have a few hidden pitfalls. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to go astray."
Old Man Zhang pointed to himself. "Back in my day, I stepped in every one of those traps myself. Wasted a lot of time for nothing."
"If you’re willing to learn, I can tell you about all the pitfalls so you can avoid making the same mistakes. And I won’t even charge you any Spirit Stones."
Li Yuan’s eyebrows twitched. "Then what do you want?"
"Help me spread the word," Old Man Zhang said with a smile, revealing a set of uneven teeth.
"You know how it is. Business at my stall is just so-so. If Li Dao You could help introduce a few more customers to me, it would make things a lot easier."
Li Yuan looked at the weathered old man in front of him, feeling a little surprised.
’No Spirit Stones, just a little promotion... The terms seemed almost too good to be true.’
"Deal," Li Yuan said without hesitation.
The smile on Old Man Zhang’s face widened. He took a thin booklet from his robes and handed it over.
"This is the Spell for the Cleaning Skill. The manual is very detailed, but there are a few places where it’s easy to go wrong. Let me explain..."
As Li Yuan took the booklet, the system panel appeared again.
[Equippable item detected]
[Item Trait Grade: Gray]
[Note: Item does not belong to you. Cannot be equipped. Cannot view details.]
’A Cultivation Technique can be equipped?’ Li Yuan was first surprised, then overjoyed.
Closing the system panel, Li Yuan listened intently to Old Man Zhang’s explanation.
The principle behind the Cleaning Skill wasn’t complex. The core of it was to guide Spiritual Power to form a thin film on the surface of the body, which would insulate it from dust and grime while also releasing a special scent to repel insects.
The steps written in the manual seemed simple, but there were many nuances to putting them into practice.
Old Man Zhang pointed out each of the potential pitfalls, and Li Yuan carefully committed them to memory. His good impression of the old man grew.
Just as he was about to leave, Li Yuan had a thought, and a new line of text appeared before his eyes:
[Cleaning Skill: Uninitiated (0/100)]
