Chapter 307: New Outfit

Brother Brother Sikong blinked with difficulty, almost doubting whether he had heard wrong; had this old fellow forgotten who had just robbed him?

"Cooperate"? Wasn't he still thinking of robbing him?

He inwardly cursed, yet his reply was swift and ready:

"Good!"

Li Yuan glanced at him:

"Won't you ask what the cooperation is about?"

"……If the senior does not speak, the junior will not ask."

A chill ran down Brother Brother Sikong's back; he reacted quickly, hunching his head and forcing a smile: "But whatever it is, you, elder, speak, and the junior will certainly obey."

Tsk, what a true hero.

Li Yuan saw through his mouthful of empty words but did not care too much; he merely wiped those two top-grade, famous-artifact-class 'Furious Wind Curved Blades' and planted them before him.

"We shall speak again when we meet next time."

"Take care, elder."

Brother Brother Sikong felt as though granted a great reprieve; he let out a long breath, not expecting that greedy old ghost to have not taken his pair of curved blades?

Had his nature changed?

Could it be he truly wanted to cooperate with me next time?

Brother Brother Sikong picked up the curved blades to see him off, sneering inwardly; he had already made up his mind: once out the door, he would change his appearance, from inside to outside, from facial features to height, changing everything.

"Next time? Once out this door, if you can still find me, Laozi will call you father!"

"This pair of curved blades is of fine quality, nearly possessing the potential of a supreme-grade famous artifact; never mind, keeping them as a mark is fine too."

Li Yuan committed the information on this pair of curved blades to memory, turned his foot, and vanished into the wind and rain.

The so-called cooperation was merely an excuse for letting him off; as long as he did not discard this pair of curved blades, even if he changed his head, Li Yuan could still catch Brother Brother Sikong.

"This is truly a fat sheep."

Feeling the Yun Xiang Ding on the gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai, Li Yuan found it hard not to be satisfied; he felt this journey was not in vain, his thoughts drifting, inevitably recalling the Divine Thief List issued by Yun Shu Lou.

Fat sheep of Brother Brother Sikong's caliber numbered over a hundred across the world; just thinking of it made one happy.

"In the future, I must pay special attention to these Divine Thieves."

Hush, moving with the wind and rain, through the night rain, Li Yuan spotted many patrolling government office Runners and Long Xiang Heliu soldiers.

With his lightness skill plus the enhanced Commanding Army Talisman, even a great master of Marrow Refining and Blood Exchange could be detected by him from eighty meters away in advance; naturally, he would not be discovered.

The bundle contained a wooden box; inside the wooden box were nearly two hundred thousand taels of gold notes—this was an unexpected surprise. "Ouyang Ying."

Li Yuan found an appointment document inside the wooden box; on it was the name Ouyang Ying, the Hengshan Pacification Commissioner. Whose money it was needed no asking to know.

"Materials for advancing the Commanding Army Talisman have been gathered for more than half; still, there are no Spirit Pills."

Li Yuan closed the wooden box.

Advancing the Commanding Army Talisman to the eighth rank still required cold iron, silver, red gold, Jin Jing, and the like, but the quantities needed were enormous; he estimated around eight hundred thousand taels of gold.

He had hardly collected anything, yet already gathered more than half. "Advancing the Commanding Sound Talisman to the fifth rank should be no problem; however, the fifth-rank incense totals over four hundred strands, so it must be used sparingly."

Regarding the Commanding Sound Talisman, Li Yuan also attached great importance; the value of intelligence was unquestionably demonstrated tonight—even if only one piece of intelligence out of three hundred lines was useful, it was worth a thousand and ten thousand.

But Daoist Li was by nature frugal and thrifty; even though he had obtained a large amount of incense, it must be used gradually with planning.

"First, advance the Commanding Sound Talisman to the fourth rank; afterward, combine the boots, inner armor, heavy armor, bow, and bone ornaments as well."

Li Yuan's thoughts scattered as he calculated the uses of the incense. "Furthermore, the Dingxin Dingxin Shitai must be used; my entire outfit also needs updating."

"First, combine the boots!"

Li Yuan rubbed his fists and hands; he first stored the boots accumulated by Wang Wang Peiyao over the past half-year, along with the bone ornaments, into the Commanding Army Space, then without hesitation began combining weapons.

Vmm~

The Divine Fire Weapon-Combining Furnace flashed repeatedly.

The wealthy and bold Daoist Li still combined items with the most similar traits; soon, a huge pile of boots and bone ornaments was reduced to just two pieces.

"Divine Fire Spirit Leather Boots (Fifth Rank)"—a pair; the commanding effect was much the same as before: two sixth-rank enhancements 'Great Stride Like a Meteor' and 'Running Beyond Dust', plus fifth-rank enhancements 'Swift as Thunder', 'Body Like a Slithering Snake', and 'Steps as Fast as Flying'.

"These four pairs of fifth-rank boots are theoretically quasi-sixth-rank; the enhancement effect of one pair should equal a supreme martial art-level lightness skill at full mastery."

After placing the combined boots properly, Li Yuan looked at the two bone ornaments.

This was his first time producing a fifth-rank bone ornament.

"Divine Fire Bone-Forging Ring (Fifth Rank)"

"……Composed mainly of eighty-one different spirit beast bone ornaments, forged by Divine Fire, crafted into a superior spiritual ornament by the Weapon-Combining Furnace; the Commanding Master pours his heart and blood into it, possessing slight spiritual wonder…"

"Commanding Condition: Mastery of any Visualization Method"

"Commanding Effect: Sixth Rank (Yellow): Enhanced Five Senses"

"Fifth Rank (Pale Yellow): Sharp Ears and Clear Eyes, Remember Everything at a Glance"

A quasi-sixth-rank bone ring!

Li Yuan's heart stirred; he immediately chose to command it.

Inside the room, he opened his eyes; the room was brightly lit. Earlier, he had already been able to see the night as day; now, after commanding the Divine Fire Bone-Forging Ring, his perception became even clearer.

Opening and closing his eyes, every furnishing in the room could be seen clearly; even the drifting dust inside the room was distinctly visible.

"Enhanced Five Senses."

Opening his eyes, closing them, reaching out to touch, tilting his ear, Li Yuan even took a deep breath.

With his greatly enhanced sense of smell, he could even analyze various items and furnishings in the room, and even the layout, from their scents.

"A fine thing indeed."

Li Yuan tried for quite a while, then took out the booklet recording Long Xiang Heliu, flipped through it quickly, closed his eyes, and everything he had just seen floated before his eyes.

Remember everything at a glance.

"If I had this ability in my past life, I could memorize any amount of Dao scriptures in a single day!"

Li Yuan felt somewhat shaken; although Photographic Memory was only a fifth-tier enhancement, he felt it was more important than 'Enhanced Five Senses'.

After all, his five senses had been very strong before. "Continue."

Li Yuan closed his eyes and resumed merging the troops. Over this past year, he had accumulated a vast quantity of items; now that the incense power was abundant, he had no desire to sleep, wanting only to merge the troops as quickly as possible.

He would replace his entire set of Command and Control combinations, including the attire worn on the outside, all at once.

Buy, buy, buy!

Early the next morning, Li Yuan, who had not slept all night, left the house with gold bills in his pocket; Liu Zheng and Wang Wang Peiyao were also sent out by him to purchase various items.

Including, but not limited to, boots, thumb rings, knuckle dusters, bone ornaments, and the like.

Hengshan City, with a population starting at ten million, is a central hub of a circuit; its various products are extremely abundant, and after the New Year, it is the time when merchant caravans from other prefectures come to trade and purchase, so fine goods are naturally plentiful.

Wang Wang Peiyao was a thrifty person; previously, items like those boots and bone ornaments with excessively high prices were simply not bought. This time, although Li Yuan gave the order without explanation, she followed it anyway.

Li Yuan sought out the largest silk shop in the city, collected the Daoist robes he had previously ordered, and placed a large new order.

Daoist Li, carrying five hundred and thirty thousand taels of gold, spent lavishly; from morning until night, even shop owners in districts he had never visited heard that a big customer had arrived in the city, one who favored items made from the bones and skins of spiritual beasts.

Li Yuan did not mind; carrying his purchases into the rear courtyard, he actually returned to the Troop Command space and began merging and forging troops. For convenience, he had directly built the warehouse into the rear courtyard, connecting it to his residence.

"Merge troops!"

Li Yuan stayed in the city for three days, purchased for three days, and merged various items for three days, forging the entire set of attire he would wear.

Morning light broke the dawn; the sky grew bright.

Li Yuan, who had hardly slept for several days, slept until the sun was high in the sky. He stretched his muscles and bones, rose, and dressed before the mirror.

Through the mirror, in his eyes, it was a sea of shimmering treasure light.

Daoist robe, inner armor, rings, knuckle dusters, belt, Daoist crown... every item to be worn was completely renewed.

After the re-merging and forging of troops, the properties on this set of attire had risen from third-tier to nearly half of fifth-tier.

From head to toe, every item was at least of the level of a Famous Artifact.

"Properties:

Fifth-tier (pale yellow): Immune to water and fire (inner armor), Spotless (Daoist robe), Light as a goose feather (boots)

Fourth-tier (light green): Sharp hearing and sight (bone ring), Cuts gold and jade (knuckle dusters), Keen (leather belt), Clear and bright (Daoist crown)

"Looking at himself in the mirror, Li Yuan nodded inwardly."

Over this year, he had also tinkered with the Troop Forging Platform no less; he had become quite clear about the properties that various heavenly treasures and earthly herbs could enhance, as well as the effects each tier of property could exert.

"The fourth-tier properties from head to toe are equivalent to the enhancement of a master of shape-shifting; this outfit of mine is at least worth a self-taught expert in unblocking meridians."

Li Yuan muttered to himself; he felt there was some margin of error, after all, he had not dared to ask anyone to try it out.

"This attire is about right; any higher, and it would be too conspicuous."

After tidying up slightly, Li Yuan left some gold bills for Liu Zheng and the other two, then boarded the carriage and returned to Huishan.