Ring Mountain

The Dewdrop Technique was merely a simple first-tier low-grade spell.

Mastering it within seven days was not difficult.

Su Bai nodded in agreement. "Then I'll take on a Spiritual Field Task. Sorry to trouble you, Steward."

"What's the task deadline?"

For Spiritual Field Tasks, the disciple accepting the task chose the deadline himself.

"I'll take one for a month first," Su Bai said.

One month was the minimum duration for accepting a Spiritual Field Task.

The reward was three Essence Replenishing Pills.

"Alright." Steward Lin handled the procedures for Su Bai, handed him a sheet of paper recording the cultivation method for the Dewdrop Technique, then returned the Jade Talisman to him.

"Your task information has already been recorded in the Jade Talisman. Learn the Dewdrop Technique within seven days, then report to the corresponding Spiritual Field section."

Su Bai thanked him and left the Outer Sect Affairs Hall with the Jade Talisman and the sheet of paper.

When he returned to Courtyard 32, it was time for the Evening Meal. Zhou Chang had also finished this Outer Court Mission and had rarely returned.

Several Fellow Disciples in the courtyard were gathered together.

Naturally, Jiang Han was absent as usual.

"Junior Brother Su, you've advanced to Qi Refining Layer Two?" Zhou Chang saw the change in Su Bai's aura at a glance.

Su Bai nodded slightly. "I advanced by chance today."

"One step ahead, every step ahead. You should all take Su Bai as your example. Only then can you walk far on the Immortal Path," Zhou Chang said with a sigh.

Su Bai's attitude toward cultivation was simply like those sect elders in the Foundation Establishment Realm who had cultivated for countless years and completely shed their mortal desires.

It was hard to imagine that he was only sixteen and had previously been a prince of the secular world.

Zhou Chang had a feeling that Su Bai might soon catch up to his realm.

The several Fellow Disciples in the courtyard had once been influenced by Su Bai to cultivate with all their might. Their pride in advancing to Qi Refining Layer One within a little over a month vanished once more.

"Junior Brother Su, we're clearly both Three Spirit Roots, yet you're really a freak!" Zhang Yanshen exclaimed.

He had already cultivated diligently, yet he would still need at least another two months to reach Qi Refining Layer Two.

Li Daniu scratched his head. "I even gave up braised pork elbows. How am I still so far behind Junior Brother Su?"

"Senior Brother Su, looks like I'll have to enter closed-door cultivation until death again." Qian Er shook his head and sighed.

Born into a merchant family, he was more sensitive than the others to the gap created by falling one step behind and then falling behind at every turn.

In business, let alone being one step slow, even half a step could get you taken out by your competitors.

Su Bai also told the Fellow Disciples in the courtyard that he would soon be carrying out an Outer Court Mission and would not return to the courtyard for a short period.

That way, they would not worry when he suddenly disappeared.

After the Evening Meal, spurred on by Su Bai, the several Fellow Disciples in the courtyard quickly returned to their rooms to cultivate.

They planned to follow Su Bai's example: advance to Qi Refining Layer Two, then accept Outer Court Missions and earn spirit pills for their own cultivation.

Otherwise, the gap between them and Su Bai would truly be pulled wider and wider...

Su Bai returned to his room, took out the Dewdrop Technique, and began cultivating it.

A spell consisted of hand seals, incantations, and a Spiritual Power casting route.

Of the three, the Spiritual Power casting route was the most important.

Hand seals and incantations served more as support.

If one mastered a spell deeply enough, there was no need for hand seals or incantations. With a single thought, one could easily complete the Spiritual Power casting route.

For instance, the Object Manipulation Technique that Su Bai had become fairly proficient in over the past few months could now be easily cast with just a hand seal.

However, Su Bai had only just begun cultivating the Dewdrop Technique.

Naturally, he had to begin with the hand seals and incantations.

The Dewdrop Technique was only a first-tier low-grade spell. It had just one hand seal, and its incantation was only four short ancient syllables.

Su Bai formed the hand seal.

Then, following the pronunciation noted on the paper, he slightly condensed Spiritual Power in his throat or chest to produce sound and uttered the four ancient syllables.

It was said that ancient tones were pitches discovered by people in Ancient Times that could cause Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy to resonate.

By the present day, people only knew the pronunciation of the ancient tones corresponding to spells. No one understood their exact meanings anymore.

The four ancient syllables contained twelve phonetic beats and had to be uttered within a short period to form resonance.

Fortunately, Su Bai's cram-school education in his previous life had maxed out his talent for languages.

He soon managed to recite the Dewdrop Technique's incantation smoothly.

Then came the final step: following the Spiritual Power casting route and combining the incantation with the hand seal to cast the Dewdrop Technique!

Su Bai memorized every part of the Dewdrop Technique's casting route on the paper backward and forward.

Su Bai drew a light breath, formed the hand seal with his fingers, recited the incantation, and circulated the Spiritual Power within his Dantian along the prescribed route until it surged from the tips of the fingers forming the seal.

Pfft.

A blast of water mist shot out like a cannonball and dispersed in the air. The casting had failed.

The Dewdrop Technique required sustained, slow output to count as a success.

Su Bai did not lose heart. After calming the Spiritual Power within his body, he began his second attempt...

When the moon had climbed to the treetops.

During yet another spell practice.

Rustle, rustle. This time, amid the sound of water mist spraying, Su Bai finally succeeded in casting the spell.

Faint blue dewdrops sprayed from Su Bai's fingertips.

The dewdrops were transformed from Spiritual Power and carried rich Spiritual Energy.

By controlling the output of his Spiritual Power, Su Bai could control the area covered by the dewdrops.

At maximum, they could cover an area of ten meters, but that range consumed far too much Spiritual Power.

After trying it, Su Bai found that the Spiritual Power in his Dantian was rapidly dwindling.

"No wonder one needs Qi Refining Layer Two before accepting a Spiritual Field Task."

"The Spiritual Power of Qi Refining Layer One simply can't sustain the Dewdrop Technique long enough to irrigate Spiritual Fields."

Su Bai stopped casting. A large patch of the ground had already been soaked by the water mist.

With one hand forming a seal, Su Bai used the Object Manipulation Technique to sweep the water on the ground out of the room.

"With this, I can head to the Spiritual Fields tomorrow and begin the task."

Learning a first-tier low-grade spell in a single night could at most be considered decent.

There was still a vast difference between him and true spell Prodigies.

Su Bai had once heard Zhou Chang say that some geniuses with extraordinary Spell Talent only needed one look at a spell's Spiritual Power casting route to cast it without incantations or hand seals.

"No rush. There will always be a chance to copy it in the future..."

The next Early Morning.

Su Bai left the Outer Disciple Courtyard early.

He headed for the Spiritual Fields of the Jade Mist Sect.

The Jade Mist Sect's Spiritual Fields were not on the Mountain Top. Instead, they had been excavated and developed in ring after ring around the cone-shaped Qingyun Mountain, with terraces carved out along its edges.

Such means of developing Spiritual Fields were beyond what Mortals could accomplish.

These were the Jade Mist Sect's renowned Ring Mountain Spiritual Fields.

The entrance to the Ring Mountain Spiritual Fields was built at the edge of a cliff. Beyond it lay a long, spiraling passage of Stairs Going Down.

A Jade Mist Sect Disciple stood guard at the entrance.

Su Bai presented his Jade Talisman. Only after it confirmed that he had accepted a Spiritual Field Task was he permitted to enter the Spiritual Field stairway.

Following the Spiritual Field stairway downward.

Before long, Su Bai could see plot after plot of developed Spiritual Fields.

The closer a Spiritual Field was to the peak of Qingyun Mountain, the better its quality naturally was.

These high-quality Spiritual Fields were protected by Magic Arrays. They appeared hazy to the naked eye, and it was not yet Su Bai's turn to tend them.