Studying Magic (Seeking Follow-up Reads, Seeking Free Votes)

The moment the bag's opening was unfastened, the outer sect disciple impatiently cast a spell into it.

Driven by his mana, the mouth of the bag suddenly widened, and a powerful suction force erupted from within.

The row of piebald horse carcasses on the ground was immediately swept up by this force and pulled into the bag.

Seeing this, the outer sect disciple tied the opening shut again.

The bag shrank back to the size of a palm and was hung back at his waist.

"A Hundred Treasure Pouch!"

Ma Xingyuan watched, nearly drooling with envy.

This thing was far more advanced than a storage bag.

The space within a storage bag could never hold so many piebald horse carcasses.

A standard storage bag was lucky to have one cubic meter of space.

A middle-grade storage bag held only three cubic meters.

A high-grade storage bag held ten.

Only the top-grade storage bags reached thirty cubic meters.

There were many varieties of storage artifacts, and the storage bag was the lowest grade of them all.

These bags generally circulated only among menial disciples and outer sect disciples.

The "Hundred Treasure Pouch," however, was different; it was standard equipment for cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage and above.

"So this is a 'Hundred Treasure Pouch'?"

Li Yunjing could not help but reveal his envy upon hearing this.

This was the first time he had seen one in person.

He was truly covetous.

Li Yunjing knew that this item certainly could not belong to this outer sect disciple.

An outer sect disciple could never afford such a treasure; it must have been issued by the sect to facilitate the transport of supplies.

"Alright! We are leaving. You two take good care of the horses. Also, take note: several of the mares are close to foaling. Those foals will require special care; make sure none of them die."

Before leaving, Hou Boyan gave Li Yunjing and Ma Xingyuan one last round of instructions.

"Yes! Rest assured, Steward Hou! We two will certainly attend to our duties with care."

Li Yunjing and Ma Xingyuan dared not show any slack, nodding hurriedly in response.

"Hm! Oh, right—three days from now, an inner sect disciple will come to Qiongze Peak to lecture. You can take your rest day then. You two should come over to listen to the inner sect senior sister's lesson."

Seemingly satisfied with their attitude, Hou Boyan went out of his way to say a few extra words.

"Many thanks for the guidance, Steward Hou!"

Li Yunjing and Ma Xingyuan were somewhat flattered; they had not expected this rough, fierce man to have such a side.

After Hou Boyan and the other outer sect disciples departed, Li Yunjing finished his logging, and with nothing else to do, he shared a few drinks with Ma Xingyuan.

In this place, as long as they took care of the piebald horses, there was practically no one around to supervise them.

Once the horses were attended to, their time was quite free.

Ma Xingyuan seemed to have some spirit stones; he had gone elsewhere on Qiongze Peak and traded with someone for a gourd of fine wine.

Li Yunjing only got to enjoy the benefit because of him, drinking a few cups along with him.

As for food, their territory was naturally not entirely barren.

In the courtyard where they lived, there was a half-acre garden established by a previous senior brother, so they were not lacking in sustenance.

"Sigh! I wonder what we should do when the end of the month comes? Should we hand over contribution points?"

After a few cups of wine, Ma Xingyuan's face turned red, and he grew somewhat troubled.

"What are you rushing for? We've only been here for three days. There's plenty of time; we can decide when the date actually arrives."

Li Yunjing gave a cold laugh.

Over these three days, his cultivation had been much slower than before.

The environment here was worlds apart from the living quarters at the Menial Hall.

The concentration of spiritual energy was at least five times lower.

It could be said that Qiongze Peak was one of the most barren peaks in the Divine Firmament Mountain Range.

During these three days, aside from his regular qi refining, Li Yunjing had also begun to study various spells.

Cultivators at the Qi Refining stage only mastered minor spells.

Li Yunjing possessed five-element spiritual roots, and his aptitude was quite good.

The Flying Flame Technique, Azure Wood Art, Clear Spirit Art, Falling Rock Technique, and Cold Star Sword Art—these five basic five-element spells had all been mastered by him.

These five minor spells were all gifts from the sect.

To learn more advanced spells, one needed to spend contribution points to exchange for them.

Within the sect, everything required contribution points; with enough of them, let alone the Foundation Establishment stage, even the Golden Core stage was not just a pipe dream.

In a mere three days, Li Yunjing had learned five spells, reaching the level of a beginner.

For Li Yunjing to master these spells so quickly was absolutely shocking.

An ordinary Divine Firmament Dao Sect disciple would need ten days to half a month to learn a single minor spell from scratch.

Take Ma Xingyuan, for example; before joining the sect, he was a rogue cultivator, but only of the most bottom-tier variety.

He was not much better off than Li Yunjing.

Throughout these days, Ma Xingyuan had also been studying diligently, working through the contents of the Divine Firmament Jade Records.

By now, he had only just managed to learn the Flying Flame Technique, allowing him to conjure a fireball the size of a human head to attack enemies.

In terms of comprehension, he was far inferior to Li Yunjing.

With the progress Li Yunjing had made in just three days, he was naturally not worried about being harassed by Yang Chun at the end of the month.

In his view, it was not impossible to turn the fake into reality, join the Ten Thousand Laws Society, and seize the power held by the Ten Thousand Laws Society among the chore disciples.

That Yang Chun, as a chore disciple, only possessed the cultivation of the third level of the Qi Refining stage.

If not for his seniority and the many helpers he commanded, Li Yunjing would not have looked at him twice.

For such a small fry, if the opportunity arose, it was not impossible to finish him off.

From the very beginning, Li Yunjing had never intended to be anyone's lackey or pay protection money!

"Sigh! I'm out of ideas anyway, I'll listen to you!"

Ma Xingyuan gulped down a mouthful of wine and sighed.

Ever since they had been assigned to work together these past few days, Li Yunjing had handled everything perfectly, which filled Ma Xingyuan with great admiration for him.

Their daily work was also primarily led by Li Yunjing.

When it came to their future, Ma Xingyuan felt helpless and had grown accustomed to following Li Yunjing's advice.

"Rest assured! Would I ever let you suffer a loss?"

Li Yunjing chuckled, then lowered his voice and said, "What does that Yang Chun amount to? Isn't he just at the third level of the Qi Refining stage? He has the same cultivation as you!"

"That may be true! But I come from a rogue background and lack powerful spells. That Yang Chun joined the sect early and must have mastered formidable means. Plus, they have strength in numbers; I really can't afford to provoke that bastard."

Ma Xingyuan shook his head slightly, speaking with a sense of lingering resentment.

That day, both men had drunk a bit too much.

Li Yunjing lay on his bed, his gaze cold and sharp, as he began to ponder a countermeasure...

Over the next three days, Li Yunjing reorganized his schedule.

Aside from his regular duties of feeding the Piebald Horses and cleaning the stables, he made it a point every single day to fuse and practice the martial arts he had learned with his Qi Refining cultivation.