【Medicinal Material: Moonlight Bear Gall】
【Properties: Clears heat and resolves toxins, calms the liver and brightens the eyes, secures the root and nurtures the origin; can be refined with other medicines into a pill to amplify their effect.】
【Use Effect: If the Essence attribute is below 5, Essence +1.】
The moment Zhou Yuan touched the white and green orbs, the two dropped items vanished. Opening his attribute panel, he found an item option added; Moonlight Bear Gall and Great Bear Stance had been stored automatically.
"This Moonlight Bear Gall can raise an attribute directly — even with a cap, that makes it a precious wonder.
I never thought picking up a drop would activate an inventory. Can an ordinary hatchet or a bear-corpse go in?"
After some testing, Zhou Yuan found the hatchet and corpse couldn't be stored, but a picked-up drop could be freely taken out and put back. Curiously, 【Moonlight Bear Gall】 and 【Great Bear Stance】 could only be "used" by clicking them in the inventory — otherwise one was merely medicine, the other merely a book. He saw in this a difference in energy efficiency: the attribute panel prized high, stable efficiency, which a human body could hardly match.
Moreover, 【Great Bear Stance】 worked more slowly than 【Moonlight Bear Gall】, but more comprehensively.
【Technique: Great Bear Stance】
【Effect: Lead qi with intent, move the body with qi; strengthen the frame within, unite spirit and mind.】
【Use Effect: At Lv3, Essence +1; at Lv6, Qi +1; at Lv10, Spirit +1.】
Though Great Bear Stance was a body-art still without and moving within, its core was strengthening the frame and nurturing qi, using qi to nourish spirit — seeking the most hidden, hard-to-fathom state of full qi and abundant spirit. Only after using this seemingly lofty technique did Zhou Yuan find its training method quite ordinary. Without the attribute panel's boost, Great Bear Stance was little different from a common fist-art back on Blue Star, far less miraculous than its description suggested.
"Shitou, why've you stopped moving — sprained your foot?"
"It's nothing. My leg cramped just now; catching my breath."
His use of the skill had drawn the men's attention; amid their solicitous calls, Zhou Yuan rose and went to the other rooms.
"Come out, brothers — we've killed the blind-bears, there's no danger."
Knocking room to room, Zhou Yuan drew cry after cry of "fine fellow." The few bailiffs first peered out the windows a while, then followed the men out to tally the casualties. When bailiffs and conscripts saw the two bears fallen in the yard and the two great bears sprawled beneath the broken sill, they drew a collective cold breath.
"Young master, you could battle four bears by main strength — what true skill."
With those bloody, mangled bear-heads as backdrop, the bailiffs dropped even the title "Qiaoxi squad leader," turning humble in an instant. The conscripts didn't see the danger in it, but the bailiffs knew: one who could battle four bears could battle them too. Now there were bear-corpses, and a few more wounded was no surprise — so they had to keep their respect for the fierce Qiaoxi men.
"Officer, you've got that wrong. When the first great bear pounced, we were all frozen stiff; it was Shitou who found the chance to pierce its throat. The second we did put real effort into, but in the end it was Shitou who ran the iron spear through its skull too."
"Ah — I never thought the young master so valiant. We slighted you before; please bear with us."
A crowd killing a bear and one man killing a bear are different things. A crowd killing one can be called the Qiaoxi men's unity and daring; one man killing one is a truly valiant hero.
"Don't take it to heart, officer. This time the brothers gave their all in killing the bears — not one retreated, all of them first-rate fellows. Without the brothers risking their lives, I'd never have found the chance to spear the bears. This merit belongs to all of them."
"Good! Shitou's loyal — from today, we Qiaoxi men all submit to you."
"Brother Shitou's honorable — we'll all follow you from now on."
The bailiffs exchanged a glance, muttering inwardly that this young master was no mere brute. His means of winning over fellow villagers weren't sophisticated, but the men who'd just fought beside him ate it up.
"Right, we understand. Let the merit be counted as one great bear to the young master, one great bear to the Qiaoxi men. We'll be shameless — could you spare us one of the two bears in the yard?"
"What talk is that, officer? We all left the village together, all brothers and neighbors. The bears in the yard weren't even killed by us — what harm in sparing the brothers some? Since you want one, take one; and let the brothers of the other three villages take one too."
"Good — a young hero indeed, bold of spirit and large of measure. Say no more; we'll sell the great bear for coin, and on the road ahead we brothers will run into town and trade for some good eats for everyone."
Amid the bailiffs' laughter, they drew blades and spears to alter the wounds on the bears and make their merit good — only for an old man to come stumbling over, shouting.
"Stay your blades — spare the bears! Don't spoil the gall, don't harm the paws!"
"So the old station-hand's finally crawled out of his cellar. The goods we brothers fought for — what's it to you?"
"Don't be rash, officers. Load the bears on a cart and come with me to the city. We'll go straight to the county magistrate — merit and reward both, and the key is, only the magistrate can take down four bear-corpses in one gulp. Even if he can't give a fair price, he won't squeeze you too hard. Hurry — the fresher these goods, the more they're worth."
Led by the old station-hand, the hundred-odd men dashed off to Leji County, to which the station belonged. They reached the county town just as the sky was paling, the gate not yet open. The old hand went up and knocked, rousing the guards on duty; after a word, he returned to the column.
"Wait now. With so many of us watching, the gate guards won't dare cheat us. I told them: Jing'an City soldiers have hunted four bears to present to the magistrate; if the gall goes stale, the consequences are theirs."
Zhou Yuan's party did count as Jing'an City soldiers — only they hadn't yet entered camp and had never thought to raise that banner. With it raised, the Leji magistrate would mind his manners, lest the dull villagers, cheated of fair value, go to the army and lodge a crooked complaint that they'd meant to present the bears to the army only for the Leji magistrate to waylay them. That bad name the magistrate wouldn't bear — still less make an enemy of the commandery's military officer over it.
While waiting, Zhou Yuan used 【Moonlight Bear Gall】 and added the 60 experience from the two 【Level 3 Mountain Crescent-Moon Bears】 to the technique 【Great Bear Stance】. 【Great Bear Stance】 needed 10 experience for Level 1, 20 for Level 2, and so on — 30 for Level 3. The 60 experience brought 【Great Bear Stance】 exactly to full Level 3, granting Zhou Yuan 1 Essence. Together with 【Moonlight Bear Gall】's Essence +1, his attributes leapt twice in a row, from a balanced 1 across the board to:
Essence: 3, Qi: 1, Spirit: 1
The sudden surge was unexpectedly gentle; Zhou Yuan felt neither pain nor pleasure, only his strength swelling and his body growing far firmer. He quietly lifted his shirt — the once-soft flesh had turned remarkably taut, streamlined muscle natural and harmonious, as if he'd been born with a body forged by hard external training.
"Great Bear Probing Palm, frame self-forged — this stance comes with a Bear Probing Palm too."