Qi Refining Second Layer, Minor Accomplishment in Spells

Looking at the words before him, Qi Chuan was not surprised. He merely nodded slightly.

He had seen similar words before.

Half a month ago, when he had first come into contact with the Fireball Technique and used the Hundredfold Critical Hit to improve it, he had not completely neglected the improvement of his Cultivation Base.

After all, in the world of Xianxia, when all was said and done, one's Cultivation Realm was the most important thing.

However, during the previous half month, he had indeed focused most of his energy on the Basic Five Elements Spells. As for his Cultivation Base, he had merely cultivated a few cycles as a matter of routine.

But that had also allowed Qi Chuan to test the Hundredfold Critical Hit's effect on his Cultivation Base long ago.

At this moment, Qi Chuan slightly closed his eyes and sensed the Spell Power within his body.

He could clearly feel that the Total Mana within him had increased slightly.

This increase was not especially obvious in terms of advancing his Cultivation Base, but it was not insignificant either.

After all, Qi Chuan had only circulated the Evergreen Art through one Great Heavenly Cycle just now.

With the cultivation speed of a Lower Eighth-grade Spiritual Root, under normal circumstances, the increase in Spell Power from cultivating one Great Heavenly Cycle was nearly imperceptible.

The reason Qi Chuan could now sense the increase in Spell Power relatively clearly was also the result of triggering a Twentyfold Critical Hit and stacking twentyfold gains.

"Not bad. Next, I'll continue cultivating."

Qi Chuan closed his eyes and began cultivating once more.

You cultivated diligently and circulated the Evergreen Art through one Great Heavenly Cycle. You triggered a Tenfold Critical Hit and received tenfold gains. Your Spell Power increased slightly.

You cultivated diligently and circulated the Evergreen Art through one Great Heavenly Cycle. You triggered an Eightfold Critical Hit and received eightfold gains. Your Spell Power increased slightly.

However, even though Qi Chuan wanted to keep cultivating with the Hundredfold Critical Hit, it was impossible for him to do so.

After some time, Qi Chuan had no choice but to stop cultivating.

This was because when he circulated the Evergreen Art again, he could feel an extremely faint pricking pain coming from the Meridians in his body.

He was still at the Qi Refining First Layer. There were limits to both the time and number of times he could cultivate each day. This limit came from his own body; exceeding it would cause damage to his body's Meridians.

Unable to continue advancing his Cultivation Base, Qi Chuan could only turn to cultivating spells.

"Fireball Technique!"

Qi Chuan formed a Hand Seal with both hands and chanted an incantation. Then he raised his right hand, and a Crimson Fireball the size of a red date appeared above his palm, formed from Spell Power.

After condensing the fireball, Qi Chuan did not disperse it. Instead, he maintained it for a while before withdrawing his Spell Power.

Words appeared before him once more.

You successfully cast the Fireball Technique once and maintained it for a period of time. You triggered a Thirtyfold Critical Hit and received thirtyfold gains. Your Fireball Technique proficiency increased slightly.

Qi Chuan could clearly feel that his level of control over the Fireball Technique had advanced a short distance from the Entry Stage toward Minor Accomplishment.

"Thirtyfold Critical Hit gains truly lived up to their name!"

A hint of satisfaction appeared on Qi Chuan's face.

"Next, I'll seize both Cultivation Base and spells with both hands!"

"Not just the Fireball Technique—other Basic Five Elements Spells such as the Water Arrow Technique must be improved as well."

While Qi Chuan cultivated peacefully and diligently, the outside world grew increasingly turbulent.

With Wind Moon Sect's prohibition in place, the Vast Majority of Cultivation Families—whether Foundation Establishment Families or small, declining families without Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators—obediently stayed far away from the area where the Secret Realm was located.

Many families not far from the fifty-li Forbidden Zone, like the Qi Family, also restrained their cultivators and kept them from going out whenever possible.

However, not every family shared the same thoughts.

Some families even took advantage of the chaos to strike at other families.

In secret, some families also cast covetous gazes toward the direction of the Secret Realm, though very few dared make even the slightest move.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

This day.

You cultivated diligently and circulated the Evergreen Art through one Great Heavenly Cycle. You triggered a Fortyfold Critical Hit and received fortyfold gains. Your Spell Power increased somewhat. You successfully advanced to the Qi Refining Second Layer.

Qi Chuan sat cross-legged and slowly opened his eyes.

As the words appeared before him, he clearly felt the Total Mana within his body surge by a great deal.

The depth of his Spell Power now could not be mentioned in the same breath as when he had first entered the Qi Refining First Layer. He had unmistakably advanced to the Qi Refining Second Layer.

After all, the First Three Layers of Qi Refining involved only the accumulation of Spell Power. As long as one's Spell Power reached a certain level, one would advance to the next layer without any bottlenecks.

Only when nearing the Qi Refining Fourth Layer would one encounter a minor hurdle—the Mid-stage Bottleneck.

Though it was only a small bottleneck, many people were still stuck there.

Having advanced to the Qi Refining Second Layer, a trace of a smile appeared in Qi Chuan's eyes.

He felt that he could now crush his former Qi Refining First Layer self through Spell Power alone.

However, over this past year, his improvements had not been limited to his realm alone.

"Fireball Technique!"

Qi Chuan swiftly formed a Hand Seal. The next moment, a Crimson Fireball rose from his palm.

Unlike before, the fireball he condensed was no longer the size of a red date. It was now fully the size of nearly half a fist!

Moreover, his Casting Speed had become much faster in the process.

This was because after a year of hard work and the Hundredfold Critical Hit's enhancement, Qi Chuan's Fireball Technique had already reached Minor Accomplishment!

A Fireball Technique at Minor Accomplishment possessed considerable power during the Early to Mid Qi Refining Stage and could serve as a fine means of dealing with enemies.

If it encountered a Water Arrow Technique that was merely at the Entry Stage, this fireball, nearly half the size of a fist, would suffer only partial weakening. Its remaining power would be enough to seriously injure or even kill a cultivator in the Early to Mid Qi Refining Stage!

Yet during this past year, it was not only Qi Chuan's Fireball Technique that had reached Minor Accomplishment.

In fact, every one of his Basic Five Elements Spells had advanced to Minor Accomplishment!

Apart from devoting nearly all his energy to spell cultivation outside of his regular cultivation, another important reason for this breakthrough was that the critical hit multiplier of his Golden Finger had unexpectedly been somewhat high.

"Qi Refining Second Layer, all Basic Five Elements Spells at Minor Accomplishment..."

"With this level of strength, I'm probably no longer considered particularly weak in the Early to Mid Qi Refining Stage, am I?"

Thinking this, a smile appeared on Qi Chuan's face.

Walking out of the Simple House, Qi Chuan stood atop this Independent Peak and gazed at the distant scenery. After a moment, he began working in the Spirit Fields atop the peak.

Over the past year, whenever he was not cultivating, he would also spend some time tending these disorderly Spirit Fields.

The Spirit Fields that had originally been a complete mess had gained some sense of order under his care.

Some of the unknown spiritual plants and Spirit Herbs within them had also begun growing much better.

Though he was not a Spiritual Plant Master and had no experience in planting or managing spiritual plants.

Fortunately, while these spiritual plants had long growth cycles and low value, they were all extremely hardy and resilient.

As long as Qi Chuan did not do anything too outrageous and tended them normally, these Spirit Herbs would not easily die.

And even if a few died, it did not matter. Just as Second Master had said, these Spirit Herbs were not worth much in Spirit Stones.

Still, although Qi Chuan had only come out to tend these Spirit Herbs when he occasionally had free time or felt inclined to do so over the past year.

His methods and techniques for tending these Spirit Herbs, while not especially profound, had vaguely begun to look the part.

Half an hour later, Qi Chuan, having temporarily finished his work, straightened up from the Spirit Field and let out a long breath. His mood became much more refreshed.

You diligently tended spiritual plants for half an hour. You triggered a Threefold Critical Hit and received threefold gains. Your experience and techniques in tending spiritual plants increased slightly.

Clearly, the reason Qi Chuan could now make tending these Spirit Herbs look somewhat convincing was precisely this.