Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Permanentization of Spiritual Qi Filtration
After finishing his patrol, Li Yuan returned to his residence.
He sat cross-legged on his bed and circulated the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
Spiritual Qi surged into his meridians, pure and swift, completing one cycle after another without pause.
The Spiritual Power in his Dantian was still saturated, and the amount of new Spiritual Power he absorbed was minuscule. However, each cycle repeatedly tempered his existing Spiritual Power, making it increasingly pure and condensed.
Spiritual Qi Filtration removed impurities, and Cycle Acceleration increased the circulation speed. The combination of these two traits made his refining process remarkably efficient.
...
For the past two days, Li Yuan would return to his wooden cabin at night after patrolling the market square, sit cross-legged, and circulate the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
With both Spiritual Qi Filtration and Cycle Acceleration active, the permanence progress rose steadily.
[Spiritual Qi Filtration (White)]
[Permanence Progress: 91/100]
’It’s a bit faster than I expected.’
However, his progress in cultivation wasn’t as impressive. The Spiritual Power in his Dantian had long since reached saturation. After two days of cultivating, the total amount had barely changed.
The only discernible difference was the quality of his Spiritual Power—after repeated tempering, the Spiritual Power in his Dantian was more solid and had fewer impurities than two days ago.
But this refining process had its limits. Once his Spiritual Power reached a certain level of purity, the returns from further tempering became negligible.
Li Yuan opened his eyes. Outside the window, the sky was brightening. It was another morning.
He got up, straightened his clothes, and pushed the door open.
His patrol route for the day was still North Alley and East Street.
However, starting the day before yesterday, Li Yuan had slightly adjusted his route through North Alley. He now passed through the stall area in the middle section more frequently than before, and his pace was slower.
Over the past two days, Li Yuan had gotten a general idea of the situation with the Loose Cultivator who sold ore scraps.
The Loose Cultivator’s surname was Zhao, and everyone called him Zhao Wu. He was in his forties with a cultivation at the Qi Refining Second Level. It was said he had come from the Yuanheng Mountain Range to lie low for a while. The goods on his stall were all low-priced ore scraps of average quality, not worth much money.
Li Yuan hadn’t deliberately sought out this information.
It was perfectly normal for an Inspector General to walk around the market and chat with the surrounding vendors. This was especially true for newly arrived Loose Cultivators, who had to be registered according to the rules.
When he passed Zhao Wu’s stall today, Li Yuan didn’t stop. He simply swept his gaze over it and walked on.
The stall looked the same as always: a dirty piece of coarse cloth spread on the ground with a small pile of scraps. The Jade Pendant was still nestled among the ore, dusty and mixed in with the other stone chunks, impossible to distinguish without getting close.
Zhao Wu sat behind the stall with his hands tucked into his sleeves, which bulged slightly in one spot.
After walking a few more steps, Li Yuan suddenly noticed something.
The pile of scraps in front of Zhao Wu was nearly the same size as it had been a few days ago.
It was normal to not sell anything, but Zhao Wu seemed different.
He didn’t hawk his wares or try to attract customers. He just sat behind his stall for most of the day.
’A Loose Cultivator trying to do business, yet his goods aren’t selling, and he isn’t even anxious.’
The other Loose Cultivator stalls in this alley all had at least some traffic. People would walk up to browse, and some would haggle over prices. Even if not many deals were made, at least people were coming over to take a look.
Zhao Wu’s stall, however, was deserted.
In two days, Li Yuan had passed by four or five times and hadn’t seen a single person squat down to look at his goods. Even the shape of the scrap pile had barely changed.
Combined with the Jade Pendant that had a blue trait, a seed of doubt began to sprout in Li Yuan’s mind.
Li Yuan kept this thought in mind and continued his patrol.
That night, after returning to his wooden cabin, Li Yuan sat cross-legged and resumed his cultivation.
Spiritual Qi surged into his meridians, pure and swift.
The Spiritual Power in his Dantian was saturated to its absolute limit, like a pool filled to the brim. Any more Spiritual Qi he drew in would just circulate through his meridians once before dissipating.
However, the permanence progress was still increasing.
[Spiritual Qi Filtration (White)]
[Permanence Progress: 97/100]
’Just two or three more cycles and it’ll be complete.’
Li Yuan didn’t rush to finish it in one go. Instead, he stopped cultivating and closed his eyes to rest for a while.
The more critical the moment, the less one could afford to be hasty.
He had been cultivating at high intensity for several days straight, and his meridians were somewhat fatigued. A proper rest would actually be more beneficial for the final push.
He rolled over onto his back, staring at the wooden ceiling, but his mind kept racing.
The matter of Zhao Wu’s stall kept turning over in his thoughts.
On the morning of the third day, after Li Yuan finished cultivating, the permanence progress for Spiritual Qi Filtration reached one hundred.
The moment the one-hundredth cycle was complete, a notification popped up on his panel.
[Permanence conditions for Spiritual Qi Filtration (White) have been met]
[Make permanent?]
With a thought, Li Yuan chose yes.
[Permanence successful]
[Spiritual Qi Filtration (White) has become a permanent trait]
[Equipped item consumed]
The panel updated accordingly.
[Current Equipment Slots: 1/2]
[Equipped Items: Meridian Opening Pill]
[Acquired Traits: Spiritual Qi Filtration (White) (Permanent), Cycle Acceleration (White), Clean Physique (Gray) (Permanent)]
Li Yuan took out the Iron Bull Skill manual.
[Equippable item detected: Iron Bull Skill (Complete)]
[Trait Preview: Organ Enhancement (White)—Strengthens the resilience of the internal organs, increasing their tolerance for the impact of Spiritual Power.]
[Permanence Condition: Cultivate two mortal-level Cultivation Techniques to completion]
[Current Equipment Slots (1/2). Equip?]
’Equip.’
The manual dissolved into light and merged into his body. The spells and principles of the Iron Bull Skill became as clear in his mind as if it were yesterday.
A warmth that enveloped his organs resurfaced from deep within his abdomen, and his internal organs were slowly reinforced by a gentle power.
As soon as the effects of Organ Enhancement returned, Li Yuan immediately noticed the difference.
With each breath, the pressure on his internal organs from the circulating Spiritual Qi lessened considerably. The faint, stuffy tightness he had felt before almost completely vanished.
The stifling sensation from his saturated Dantian also eased somewhat. Although the bottleneck remained, his body’s endurance limit had clearly increased.
[Current Equipment Slots: 2/2]
[Equipped Items: Meridian Opening Pill, Iron Bull Skill]
[Acquired Traits: Spiritual Qi Filtration (White) (Permanent), Cycle Acceleration (White), Organ Enhancement (White), Clean Physique (Gray) (Permanent)]
Three white traits were now active simultaneously, in addition to one permanent gray trait.
Li Yuan sat cross-legged and circulated the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
Spiritual Qi entered his body, as pure as water, without the slightest impurity. His cycles circulated rapidly, his organs were resilient, and his meridians were completely unobstructed. The three traits each performed their function, and his cultivation efficiency rose another notch.
The feeling of three white traits operating at the same time was completely different from any previous cultivation session.
As soon as the Spiritual Qi entered his body, it was filtered completely clean. The cycles circulated extremely fast, and the Spiritual Power met almost no resistance in his meridians.
The resilient warmth deep within his organs steadily absorbed the impact of each cycle, and the faint, stuffy tightness vanished completely.
With the three effects combined, the cultivation experience was on a completely different level than it had been a few days ago.
Li Yuan continuously circulated for more than ten cycles in this state, only slowly stopping his cultivation when his meridians began to feel slightly warm.
