Yuanheng Mountain Range, Qinghe Marketplace.

Qinghe Marketplace wasn’t large, but it bustled with many cultivators. In total, it had two main streets running east to west and four side alleys running north to south.

Li Yuan walked the length of the eastern street before turning into the northern alley. The wind billowed his gray inspector’s uniform, on the chest of which was embroidered a large character for "Wang."

Qinghe Marketplace was managed by the Wang family. Li Yuan was an Inspector General for the marketplace, a title that sounded grander than it was—he was merely one of the lowest-ranking Law Enforcers.

His main duties included maintaining order in the marketplace, preventing cultivators from fighting, and collecting stall rents, among other miscellaneous tasks.

The job was a leisurely one, you could say. The marketplace had always been relatively peaceful. While his tasks seemed numerous, there was actually very little to do.

After walking a bit further, Li Yuan subconsciously reached for his waist.

The moment his hand moved, he remembered this was no longer Earth. Hanging from his waist was his identification token, not his phone.

"I wonder if I can ever go back..."

Li Yuan missed his life on Earth. He missed his phone, his computer, and his ice-cold Coke.

Even though he could cultivate here, daily life wasn’t as good as it was back on Earth.

Fortunately, he was an orphan with no parents, so no one was waiting for him. Since he’d transmigrated, he’d transmigrated. There was no pressure.

Li Yuan was a transmigrator. The night before he crossed over, he had been so engrossed in a novel from a certain online platform that he’d stayed up very late.

Then, he woke up in this world.

Thankfully, the original owner’s memories were mostly intact, which allowed Li Yuan to quickly integrate into this world.

When the original owner was five, a cultivator from the Wang family detected his Spirit Root. In exchange for a Cultivation Technique and a place to practice, he signed a twenty-year contract with the Wang family—he would have to work for them for twenty years after coming of age.

Li Yuan was now only twenty-five, meaning he still had a long thirteen years before he was free.

Although there was a clause about reducing his years of service if he reached Late-stage Qi Refining, given his current situation, Li Yuan didn’t think he could achieve it.

Just yesterday, the original owner had sold some of his belongings, spent all his savings, and purchased a Realm-Breaking Pill.

He then consumed the pill, failed in his attempt to break through to Mid-stage Qi Refining, and suffered from cultivation deviation.

And after that, Li Yuan transmigrated here.

Now, the current Li Yuan didn’t have a single Spirit Stone to his name.

’I’m seriously broke.’

Li Yuan cursed inwardly while continuing his normal patrol of the marketplace.

At the end of the northern alley stood a simple cloth awning. Beneath it sat an old man with a weathered face. On the stall before him were a dozen or so Cleaning Talismans. Behind them were a few Fireball Talismans and Ice Cone Talismans, as well as three Exorcism Talismans.

This old man had been running his stall in the marketplace for some years. He had a Cultivation at the Qi Refining Third Level and a grandson in his teens. His Talisman-crafting skill was only average for the marketplace, but his prices were cheap, so he managed to sell a few from time to time.

Li Yuan walked up to the stall and stopped. "Old Zhang, this month’s stall fee is due."

Old Man Zhang raised his eyelids and, seeing it was Li Yuan, immediately pulled three Low Grade Spirit Stones from his sleeve and handed them over.

"The stall fee is one Spirit Stone a month. Why are you giving me three?"

Looking at the three Spirit Stones, Li Yuan didn’t take them, asking in confusion.

Old Man Zhang cupped his hands and said:

"Li Dao You, you’ve introduced many fellow cultivators to my stall recently to buy Talismans, which has helped me earn a fair bit."

"My skills are crude, and I only know how to make these few types of Talismans, which you probably don’t have much use for, Li Dao You. If you wouldn’t mind, please accept these two extra Spirit Stones."

For a low-ranking Inspector General like Li Yuan, the monthly stipend was very small.

Aside from a Meridian Opening Pill to aid his cultivation and three Contribution Points for exchanging items within the Wang family, he only received three Spirit Stones.

These two extra Spirit Stones were equivalent to more than half of his monthly stipend.

"In that case, it would be rude of me to refuse."

The moment he accepted the Spirit Stones, several lines of translucent text suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Item Detected: Low Grade Spirit Stone (Intact)]

[Equipment Trait Preview: Spiritual Qi Filtration (White) — Increases cultivation speed by 30%, automatically removes impurities when absorbing Spiritual Qi] 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

[Permanence Condition Preview: Maintain equipped status and cultivate for 100 complete cycles]

[Equip?]

’What is this? A cheat?’

Li Yuan’s heart began to pound, but his expression remained unchanged. He pocketed the Spirit Stones, exchanged a few more pleasantries with Old Zhang, nodded, and turned to leave. His pace was unhurried, no different from his usual patrol.

After turning out of the northern alley, Li Yuan quickened his pace toward the eastern part of the city.

The eastern district was the residential area for peripheral members of the Wang family like Li Yuan. It didn’t take him long to see rows upon rows of wooden houses.

There were about a hundred of them in total. Each person got their own house, and the houses weren’t small. They weren’t even all occupied—land was free here, after all.

There wasn’t much furniture inside; cultivators had no need for many of the furnishings required by mortals.

Li Yuan walked straight to the house on the very edge, pushed the door open, and slid the bolt shut behind him.

Sitting down on the edge of his bed, Li Yuan took the Spirit Stone from his sleeve and focused his gaze on it.

The lines of translucent text were still floating before his eyes:

[Item Detected: Low Grade Spirit Stone]

[Equip?]

"It wasn’t a hallucination."

Li Yuan thought, ’Yes.’

The text changed instantly, and the Spirit Stone in front of Li Yuan vanished into thin air.

[Equip Successful]

[Trait Acquired: Spiritual Qi Filtration (White)]

[Trait Effect: Increases cultivation speed by 30%, automatically removes impurities when absorbing Spiritual Qi]

[Permanence Condition: Maintain equipped status and cultivate for 100 complete cycles (Current Progress: 0/100)]

[Note 1: The Trait becomes inactive upon un-equipping. The item will be returned.]

[Note 2: After becoming permanent, the item will disappear, freeing up the equipment slot, and the Trait will become permanent.]

Traits... Equipment... Permanence Conditions...

These concepts displayed in the text were not unfamiliar to a transmigrator.

’My golden finger has finally arrived!’

’I would have discovered this yesterday, but the original owner was too poor. He didn’t have a single Spirit Stone on him.’

Li Yuan couldn’t help but grumble, despite his joy.

Before Li Yuan could experiment, the text before him changed again.

[Name: Li Yuan]

[Realm: Qi Refining Third Level]

[Cultivation Technique: Spirit-Introducing Skill - Minor Achievement (899/1600)]

[Magic: Fireball Technique - Mastered (89/800), Divine Movement Step - Skilled (90/400), Spirit Shield Skill - Skilled (18/400), Ice Cone Skill - Novice (56/200)]

[Equipment Slot: (1/1) (Permanently acquiring a Trait of any grade will unlock the second equipment slot)]

[Equipped Item: Low Grade Spirit Stone]

[Acquired Trait: Spiritual Qi Filtration (White)]

At that moment, information about the system began to automatically surface in Li Yuan’s mind:

This equipment panel allowed him to equip various qualifying items to gain Trait bonuses.

However, different items had different restrictions. For example, to equip a Spirit Stone, it had to be intact; a fragmented one would not work.

Items of the same type would have the same Trait effect, and Traits with the same name could not be stacked.

Traits also had different grades, divided into seven tiers: Gray, White, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, and Gold. The higher the grade, the stronger the Trait’s effect.

’I only have one equipment slot for now.’

Li Yuan looked at the new text, and with a thought, the panel before him vanished.

Looking at the Trait on the panel, Li Yuan didn’t hesitate. He sat cross-legged on his bed and began to circulate the entry-level Cultivation Technique provided by the Wang family.

The Cultivation Technique was called the Spirit-Introducing Skill. It was a basic Skill that the Wang family gave to its peripheral cultivators. Its effects were mediocre, but its strength lay in its relatively fast cultivation speed, allowing for rapid absorption of Spiritual Qi. It was suitable for cultivators with ordinary aptitude to get started.

Li Yuan’s predecessor had relied on this technique to cultivate all the way to the Qi Refining Third Level. The cultivation speed was fast in the early stages, but the farther one progressed, the more obvious its shortcomings became.

Although the Spirit-Introducing Skill absorbed Spiritual Qi quickly, it couldn’t filter out the impurities within. After cultivating for a long time, the Spiritual Power in one’s body would become mixed and impure, slowing down cultivation and making it difficult to break through realms.

One needed to regularly take pills like the Purification Pill to cleanse their meridians just to maintain their cultivation speed.

The Purification Pill was sold at the Wang family’s shop in the marketplace for three Spirit Stones each.

Li Yuan cultivated as these thoughts ran through his mind.

After the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, Li Yuan opened his eyes. The feeling of cultivating this time was completely different from usual. The speed at which Spiritual Qi entered his body was much faster, and more importantly, the faint sense of stagnation he used to feel was gone. Every wisp of Spiritual Qi became purer, transforming the moment it entered his meridians without the slightest obstruction.

Automatically removes impurities.

That phrase was no exaggeration. The turbid impurities that should have been mixed in with the Spiritual Qi seemed to have been filtered out by something before entering his body, leaving only pure Spiritual Qi to circulate through his meridians and gather in his Dantian.

Moreover, his meridians, which had been faintly aching from his failed breakthrough attempt, didn’t feel any pain from the flow of Spiritual Qi. Instead, his injuries actually showed faint signs of healing.

This was because pure Spiritual Qi had a natural healing property. Before, the Spiritual Qi had too many impurities, and continuing to cultivate would have only worsened his injuries.

Li Yuan couldn’t help but rejoice, and his feelings of homesickness faded a little.

’Who needs to go back to Earth when you have a cheat?’

’Alright, I still kind of miss Earth’s phones, computers, and ice-cold Coke...’

However, Li Yuan didn’t continue cultivating. His patrol duty wasn’t finished yet, and he still had to carry on.