Before dawn, Li Yuan was already standing in his room, having assumed the opening stance of the Iron Bull Skill’s fifth form.

Iron Bull Dams the River.

Qi Blood surged from his Dantian, splitting into two streams that simultaneously pushed upward and downward. One stream rushed to the crown of his head while the other shot to the soles of his feet, creating a vertical channel through his body.

He had practiced this form countless times, and his body had long since developed a muscle memory for it.

Once, twice, three times.

As he completed the third repetition, Li Yuan felt something different.

The circulation of his Qi Blood was smoother and more fluid than in previous days. Several joint points that had previously required minor adjustments were now passed over effortlessly, without any hindrance.

Li Yuan concluded the technique and stood still, letting out a long, turbid breath.

A panel materialized before him.

[Iron Bull Skill: Proficient (0/800)]

’I’ve reached Proficient.’

The changes in his body were more immediate than any number.

Li Yuan clenched his fist.

The moment he tightened his fist, the muscles and tendons from the base of his fingers to his wrist tensed into a single, solid unit.

He reached out and squeezed his own forearm.

The resilience of his flesh had changed. At the introductory level, pinching the back of his hand with his fingernail had only felt a bit tougher than a mortal’s. At the skilled level, it had become firmer. Now, at the proficient level, digging his nail in was like pressing into thick cowhide. He had to use significant force just to leave a faint white mark, and it sprang back the moment he let go.

Li Yuan rolled his shoulders and stretched his back. His entire frame felt as if it had been re-tightened, making him solid and stable. His feet felt rooted to the ground.

Li Yuan dismissed the panel and began to calculate in his mind.

’Now that the Iron Bull Skill has reached the proficient level, there are diminishing returns on training it further in the short term.’

’In contrast, my progress with the Nourishing Essence Skill is lagging behind.’

[Nourishing Essence Skill: Skilled (108/400)]

The condition for making the Iron Bull Skill a permanent trait was to cultivate two mortal Cultivation Techniques to the perfection stage. The Nourishing Essence Skill’s condition, however, was simply to reach perfection with the technique itself, and then cultivate for forty-eight hours straight while his Qi Blood was vigorous.

Li Yuan made a decision: he would focus his mortal Cultivation Technique training time on the Nourishing Essence Skill.

’I’ll practice the Iron Bull Skill once a day to maintain my state, and devote all remaining effort to the Nourishing Essence Skill.’

With this in mind, Li Yuan stood up in his room and performed the Nourishing Essence Skill twice, following its Spell.

With the permanent "Five Grains Qi Nourishing" trait active, his Qi Blood remained consistently full, making every circulation of the Nourishing Essence Skill much smoother than before.

After finishing the two repetitions, Li Yuan sat back down on the edge of his bed and began to take stock of his Spirit Stones.

He took all the Spirit Stones out of his sleeve and laid them on the table one by one.

Three from his monthly stipend, the Spirit Stones from his patrol allowance, plus what he had saved before—in total, fifteen Spirit Stones sat on the table.

He was still far from making the Meridian Opening Pill’s effect permanent. Besides the two Meridian Opening Pills he had, he still needed eight more Tier One Low Grade pills.

For an outer member like Li Yuan, still bound by contract, the monthly stipend wasn’t much to begin with. In a way, the Wang family withheld a significant portion of it as repayment for raising him.

Moreover, Li Yuan hadn’t had time to accumulate wealth. Even at just three Spirit Stones a month, that would be three hundred and sixty over ten years—enough to buy a decent set of Magical Artifacts, or to invest in learning a trade to earn even more Spirit Stones.

But that was in the distant future. The immediate problem was that the price of pills kept rising.

Hoping for the prices to drop was unrealistic. The situation in the Yuanheng Mountain Range showed no signs of improving, and the supply of medicinal herbs continued to shrink.

At three Spirit Stones per pill, eight pills would cost twenty-four. He had fifteen, leaving him short by nine.

If he could find a cheaper alternative—another Tier One Low Grade pill—he could reduce the cost further.

In the afternoon, the foot traffic on East Market Street was noticeably lighter than during the recent peak period.

Loose Cultivators were leaving. The exodus wasn’t fast, but a trend had already formed.

If the Demon Beasts weren’t dealt with promptly and the situation continued to deteriorate, the Loose Cultivators’ trust in the market would keep falling, and more and more of them would leave.

Li Yuan continued down East Street, keeping an eye on the stalls on both sides as he patrolled.

Meridian Opening Pill, Purification Pill, Qi Nourishing Pill, Origin Condensing Powder—these were the common Tier One Low Grade pills. He had already checked their prices a few days ago during his patrol; they were all basically two Spirit Stones or more.

Today, after covering most of the street, the situation was much the same. There were fewer stalls selling pills than last month, and prices had either stayed the same or risen slightly.

As he reached a fork in the road on the south side of East Street, Li Yuan spotted a small stall he hadn’t seen before.

The stall was tiny, with just four or five porcelain vials arranged on a clean white cloth, each with a handwritten label.

Li Yuan squatted down, his gaze sweeping over the labels.

Purification Pill, three Spirit Stones. Origin Condensing Powder, three and a half. Evil Essence Pill, two Spirit Stones.

Two Spirit Stones for an Evil Essence Pill. Li Yuan searched his memory but found nothing about this pill. He only knew of a similarly named Evil Spirit Pill, which helped Cultivators break through realms but would draw Evil Qi into the body.

"What kind of pill is this Evil Essence Pill? Is it a Tier One Low Grade pill? What does it do?"

’I have fifteen Spirit Stones. If this Evil Essence Pill is effective, then along with the Meridian Opening Pill from my monthly stipend, I’d only need eight Evil Essence Pills to make the Meridian Opening Pill’s effect permanent.’

’I’d just need to get one more Spirit Stone.’

The stall owner was a woman in her fifties, with a gaunt face but a surprisingly strong presence.

She looked up at Li Yuan, glanced at the token on his waist, and explained.

"This Evil Essence Pill is potent enough to be considered close to Tier One Middle Grade. My old man refined it by imitating the Evil Spirit Pill. It can’t help you break through realms, but it can speed up cultivation. However, it will produce Evil Qi in your body and damage your internal organs."

"Two Spirit Stones doesn’t even cover the cost of making it, but nobody buys the damn thing because the side effects are too severe."

"He’s always researching that pill... never focusing on making real money."

The old woman’s words were filled with complaints, but Li Yuan wasn’t listening. He picked up the porcelain vial of Evil Essence Pills and uncorked it for a look.

Inside the vial were three dark-red pills, their medicinal fragrance potent.

’My primary goal right now is to make the trait permanent. Since I already have enhanced internal organs, I think this side effect is acceptable.’

Feeling the Spirit Stones in his sleeve, Li Yuan took out two.

"I’ll buy one to try first. If the effect is good, I’ll be back for more."

’To be safe, this is a pill I’ve never seen before. I need to confirm if this Evil Essence Pill can actually advance the progress of making the trait permanent. It won’t be too late to buy more then.’

’If it does advance my progress, I’ll buy enough to cover the rest of what I need.’

Li Yuan picked up the Evil Essence Pill. Seeing no reaction from his panel, he asked, "How many more of these do you have in stock?"

The old woman looked at Li Yuan with surprise. She held up one hand, spreading her five fingers. "Including the one you’re holding, I only have these five. But my old man might keep tinkering and make a few more."

「Back in his quarters that evening」

Back in his quarters that evening, Li Yuan sat on the edge of his bed and examined the dark-red Evil Essence Pill.

The medicinal fragrance was intense, much more pungent than a Meridian Opening Pill’s, carrying a faint, spicy heat.

Without hesitation, Li Yuan popped the Evil Essence Pill into his mouth.

The pill dissolved the moment it reached his stomach.

A searing medicinal energy erupted from his gut. It was completely different from the gentle potency of a Meridian Opening Pill. Like a shot of strong liquor, a hot current slammed outward from his abdomen in all directions.

The Spiritual Power in his meridians was swept up by this energy and began to circulate at an incredible speed, many times faster than during his normal cultivation. The efficiency of Spiritual Qi flowing into his Dantian was extremely high.

But immediately after, a cold, sinister energy mixed within the medicinal power also seeped out from his stomach.

Evil Qi.

That coldness followed the path of the spreading medicinal energy, invading his meridians and brushing past his internal organs with a slight stinging sensation.

Li Yuan’s brow twitched, but he wasn’t overly concerned.

Thanks to the trait’s enhancement, when the Evil Qi swept past his organs, Li Yuan only felt a faint coolness; it didn’t actually pierce the inner walls of his organs.

At the same time, the Spiritual Qi filtering effect was also at work.

A portion of the Evil Qi circulating in his meridians was intercepted by an invisible barrier. The sensation was similar to when impurities were filtered from Spiritual Qi, but the efficiency was clearly much lower.

Impurities in Spiritual Qi were completely eliminated, leaving it perfectly clean. But only thirty to forty percent of the Evil Qi was filtered out. The remaining sixty to seventy percent stayed mixed in the medicinal energy, circulating through his body.

’The trait says it filters Spiritual Qi. The fact that it works on Evil Qi at all is a pleasant surprise, so I can’t ask for more.’

Fortunately, his enhanced organs provided a safety net. After a few circuits through his body, the residual Evil Qi gradually dissipated, leaving no lasting side effects.

The entire pill’s medicinal energy was digested in about an hour.

With a thought, Li Yuan brought up the panel.

The Spiritual Power in his Dantian had indeed increased. Although the gain wasn’t huge, it was slightly more than he would get from cultivating the Spirit-Introducing Skill for two or three nights straight.

[Meridian Opening Pill Permanence Progress: 2/10]

’It went up.’ A hint of joy appeared on Li Yuan’s face as he looked at the panel.

’If that woman’s husband can keep refining these Evil Essence Pills, then I’ll only be short by one Spirit Stone.’