During the conversation between Liou Yuan and Mr. Ge in the hall.
Mr. Xin, the Chief Constable, quickly returned, bringing over a dozen men from the Yanhe Government Office to surround the Xuanhu Clinic.
Then he ordered his men to take Kong Dasheng and the others, who had been corroded by Evil Qi, to the government office for protection.
This efficiency was truly remarkable.
Well, it makes sense—anything connected to Star Evil, even the slightest mistake can be fatal, so there's no room for slow action.
As for the backup Mr. Ge mentioned, this time, they didn't show up.
According to Mr. Ge, with the day of Star Rotation drawing nearer, the Qinghe Division was at their busiest.
Having Mr. Ge already here, no one else could spare the time, so naturally, they wouldn't come.
"You'll see people on the day action begins."
That was Mr. Ge's reply.
Since the Xuanhu Clinic had been taken over by the government office, Liou Yuan no longer needed to stay, so he got up and bade farewell to Mr. Ge.
He first stopped by the government office, confirmed that his mother and Kong Yi were safe for now, and then went straight to Virgo Peak to cultivate.
Though it was a sudden turn of events, at least the government had taken over.
Judging by Bai Xin's status in the office, Liou Yuan trusted they would handle things seriously, so he didn't need to worry too much.
Therefore, daily cultivation must not be interrupted.
The next day, in the western part of Yanhe City, at a location only a street away from Liou Yuan's old home.
This area was closer to the city center, undoubtedly livelier than Liou Yuan's previous house.
Returning from Virgo Peak, Liou Yuan carried a pouch with fifty taels of silver and bought a small courtyard here.
This courtyard was one-third bigger than his old home.
There was a small pond in the yard with lotuses planted around, and koi fish swimming in the water.
It had been built less than fifty years ago, so it wasn't too old.
Of course, the real reason Liou Yuan bought this courtyard was that it was cheap.
Altogether, it cost less than twenty-five taels.
For this area, at this price, "cheap" doesn't even begin to cover it—this was a total clearance sale.
The reason for the low price was that the original owner here had encountered Star Evil, and apparently someone even died.
A classic "haunted house."
The city's residents were very wary of it.
Liou Yuan specifically asked Mr. Xin about it; after confirming it was safe, he simply paid for it, and got the house deed on the same day.
"The Star Evil's gone, what's left to be scared of?"
Liou Yuan was currently sitting beside the little pond.
With one hand he was stuffing a freshly bought meat bun from a street stall into his mouth, while the other fiddled with the yellow jade Buddhist Beads he'd just acquired last night.
The beads felt warm to the touch, giving Liou Yuan an inexplicable sense of calm when held.
"Heh, let's see what kind of defensive power these beads actually have."
This was the first time Liou Yuan had gotten anything like a Magical Artifact.
So naturally, he couldn't resist testing its might.
He chuckled, then channeled spiritual power from within toward the Buddhist Beads.
Originally, Liou Yuan just wanted to try it out, but to his shock, as soon as his spiritual power touched the beads, it was consumed at lightning speed.
"With my current spiritual power, I'm afraid I can't keep it up for long." Liou Yuan's eyes widened.
His first reaction was to cut off the connection between his spiritual power and the beads.
But he quickly held back from acting on impulse.
"Gotta figure out how much spiritual power these beads consume, or else I'll panic during a fight."
That's what Liou Yuan thought.
Buzz! As his spiritual power poured in, a yellow circular shield radiated out from the Buddhist Beads, enveloping Liou Yuan's body.
One breath, two breaths... five breaths.
In just five breaths, all five strands of Liou Yuan's spiritual power were exhausted.
Completely devoured by the beads.
And once the shield lost its support, it dissolved into yellow motes of light and vanished.
Thud! With his spiritual power depleted, Liou Yuan fell flat on his back right on the ground.
"Huff huff!" Liou Yuan's face was pale as a sheet, his mouth still full of bun skin he hadn't swallowed, chest heaving rapidly.
This was what spiritual depletion felt like—better than the aftereffects from activating Yunwu Prefecture, which left him paralyzed, but his whole body was limp and weak.
He rested for a while before struggling to prop himself up, shakily standing again.
"Damn, so that's all my spiritual power gone—only five breaths of defense?"
Still shaken, Liou Yuan looked at the yellow jade Buddhist Beads in his hand and smiled bitterly.
At the end of the day, he just wasn't strong enough.
The beads' quality was so high that, with his current cultivation, he just couldn't sustain them for long.
"But they're not useless—even five breaths, used wisely, could block a fatal strike."
Liou Yuan shoved the half-eaten bun into his mouth, chewing as he thought.
Now that he understood the consumption, he wouldn't use the yellow jade beads again for a while.
"Cultivation is the real hard truth."
"Hope I can squeeze out another strand of spiritual power before Mr. Ge and the others make their move."
Liou Yuan muttered to himself.
There were five days left until Star Rotation.
If nothing unexpected happened, the next rotating star was very likely to be an Evil Star.
Because the chances of three auspicious stars in a row were next to nothing.
So Liou Yuan only had five days to prepare.
For several days in a row, Liou Yuan didn't miss a single day of cultivation.
But without Bai Xin's medicinal soup, his training really wasn't as smooth as it used to be.
Back on Virgo Peak, he used to meditate all night, four to five hours of practice without any discomfort.
Now, after two, less than three hours, his Five Mansions were already struggling.
His internal organs twitched slightly, as if signaling Liou Yuan to stop running Yunwu Prefecture's cultivation method.
Fortunately, Liou Yuan had already generated spiritual power, making him a real cultivator.
He directly mobilized his spiritual power, sending it through the Five Mansions and soothing the discomfort in his organs.
By doing this, Liou Yuan managed to practice another full hour, barely hitting four hours total.
Eventually, he couldn't hold out any longer, feeling he'd risk injury if he went on, so he finally stopped cultivating.
Four days passed like this.
On the fourth night.
At Virgo Peak.
Halfway through a long night of tough training atop the mountain, Liou Yuan's body suddenly trembled.
The heavens reward the diligent—he finally produced another strand of spiritual power, bringing his total to six.
But when Liou Yuan checked his cultivation, his Five Mansions Star Gazing Breathing Skill was still at the early stage of the First Mansion.
Liou Yuan could only shake his head, sighing, "Who knows how many strands of spiritual power it takes to reach mid-stage?"
"At least I'm making progress—it's better than standing still."
Feeling the strength of spiritual power flowing through his Five Mansions, Liou Yuan consoled himself.
Meanwhile, he brought out the Fixed Star Compass.
After several days of replenishing it with star power, the starlight at its center was noticeably brighter.
It still wasn't enough to use the compass for another survey, but it should be enough to probe the Buddhist True Words inside the yellow jade Buddhist Beads.
"Can't wait any longer." Liou Yuan looked up at the stars; after tonight, tomorrow marks the day of auspicious and evil alternation.
It was also when the Yanhe Government Office would make a move against Xuanhu Clinic.
Liou Yuan had to extract the magic from the yellow jade Buddhist Beads before then, so he'd have another tool for self-defense.