Spells

Whoosh...

Fierce winds whipped swirling snow against He Pingsheng without pause.

He Pingsheng wore only a thin set of clothes, yet he felt nothing of the bitter cold.

People said cultivators in the early Qi Refining Stage were no different from mortals, but that was not true.

Once someone entered the Qi Refining Stage, they became vastly different from ordinary people.

For instance, they no longer feared severe cold, seldom suffered hunger or exposure, and were less prone to illness.

"Up!"

On the hillside, He Pingsheng could often leap several dozen feet into the air with a single bound.

Even climbing a mountain through wind and snow was like walking on level ground.

Put it this way: if he were sent back to Bamboo Peak to carry water now, he could finish twenty trips a day in two hours at most.

The difference was that great.

A flask of liquor, several stacks of paper money!

Three sticks of incense!

After paying his respects to his parents and Senior Brother Hao Yun separately, He Pingsheng slowly walked down the mountain.

Rather than returning straight to his little courtyard, he headed toward the towering hall across the river.

The Outer Sect Hall.

Despite the wind and snow, people streamed in and out without end, and no one paid any real attention to He Pingsheng's cultivation.

He Pingsheng walked slowly into the hall and glanced around.

An eye-catching notice on the screen to his left flashed into view.

"Bamboo Peak's pill chamber is still seeking one Alchemy Attendant. No cultivation requirement. Pay: 200 contribution points per month. Please rest assured that there will absolutely be no mistreatment of the Alchemy Attendant!"

He Pingsheng frowned slightly.

Well, well. Bamboo Peak still hadn't found an Alchemy Attendant?

A moment's thought made the reason clear.

The Great Void Sect was large, yet not so large. Whatever happened on any peak soon reached the outer sect.

Hao Yun's gruesome death was bound to serve as a warning to countless Outer Disciples.

What were a mere two hundred contribution points compared to one's life?

Of course, judging by the note at the end of the notice, Bamboo Peak was probably getting genuinely desperate after failing to find an Alchemy Attendant for over half a year.

Heh...

He Pingsheng gave a cold chuckle, left the formation's light screen on the left, and approached the counter in the center of the hall.

Over a dozen people handled miscellaneous affairs for the Outer Disciples. He Pingsheng avoided the person he had dealt with last time and went to another spot.

"Senior Brother... I'd like to buy some spirit rice!"

He Pingsheng no longer wanted to eat ordinary rice.

Spirit rice was highly beneficial to a cultivator's cultivation.

"All right!" The cultivator took He Pingsheng's card and glanced at it. "What grade of spirit rice would you like, Junior Brother? We have high, Middle Grade, and low grades!"

Without even thinking, He Pingsheng said, "Low grade will do!"

He had no need to buy anything of high quality.

With the Treasure-Gathering Basin, anything he placed inside could become supreme grade, regardless of its original quality.

"Oh..." The cultivator said, "Low-grade spirit rice costs one contribution point per jin. How much do you need?"

He Pingsheng said, "Two hundred jin to start!"

Two hundred jin meant two hundred points!

This stuff was far more expensive than ordinary rice.

Two hundred jin of ordinary rice cost only two or three contribution points.

"All right!" The cultivator handed He Pingsheng a paper token. "Take this token to the warehouse to collect your spirit rice!"

"Thank you!" He Pingsheng accepted the token politely.

The disciple said, "You're at the Third Layer of Qi Refining Stage, aren't you, Junior Brother? You could consider taking some missions over at Watershed Mountain. If you catch spirit beasts or gather spirit herbs, you can bring them back to the sect and exchange them for contribution points!"

"The heavy snow has sealed off the mountain, leaving plenty of spirit beasts with nowhere to hide. This is an excellent time to catch them!"

"Here... the relevant missions are on that formation over there!"

He pointed at the formation board.

He Pingsheng said, "All right, Senior Brother!"

After leaving the counter and collecting his spirit rice, He Pingsheng bought a few everyday odds and ends, then returned straight to his little courtyard.

Do missions?

I still have so many contribution points. Why would I do missions?

Wouldn't cultivating be better?

I'll raise my cultivation first.

He Pingsheng made up his mind. This time, he would remain in seclusion until he broke through to the fourth level of the Qi Refining Stage.

He would not emerge before reaching the fourth level.

Back in the hall, the cultivator had seen through He Pingsheng's cultivation at the Third Layer of Qi Refining Stage at a glance because he could project his spiritual sense. A single sweep left nothing hidden.

He Pingsheng could not do that yet.

To project his Divine Sense, he had to break through from the early Qi Refining Stage to the middle Qi Refining Stage.

In other words, the fourth level.

The first, second, and third levels of the Qi Refining Stage were known as the early stage.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth levels were known as the middle stage.

The seventh, eighth, and ninth levels were known as the late stage.

The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth levels were known as the perfection stage.

Thus, the fourth level was the minimum requirement for projecting Divine Sense.

Besides allowing him to scan his surroundings and other people's cultivation, projecting his Divine Sense offered another tremendous benefit: learning spells.

Only after gaining the ability to project Divine Sense could one practice various spells.

Bang...

Once home, he shut the door!

He Pingsheng tightly sealed the gaps around his door again to prevent any trace of his aura from leaking out.

Then he resumed cultivating.

He took out two jade bottles.

One held twelve pills, while the other held only three.

Fifteen in total.

That meant he had consumed nine pills to advance from the First Layer of Qi Refining Stage to the Third Layer of Qi Refining Stage.

"I hope these fifteen pills will let me break through to the fourth level!"

He Pingsheng took a deep breath, then took out a pill and swallowed it.

Indeed!

As his cultivation rose, he could refine Spiritual Power much faster. He no longer needed to crush the pills and swallow them with water as he had when he first began cultivating.

Boom...

Once the whole pill entered his stomach, a torrent of pure energy surged out of it and into his meridians.

Cultivating by consuming pills differed from Qi Drawing into the Body in another way.

With Qi Drawing into the Body, the five kinds of spiritual energy-metal, wood, water, fire, and earth-had to be filtered and selected before they could enter the body.

The Spiritual Power within these pills, however, had no five-element attribute. It was energy in its purest form. After being refined through the meridians, it automatically took on the attribute of whichever energy vortex it gathered in.

Winter passed and spring came, bringing all things back to life.

After another several months and thirteen spirit pills, He Pingsheng finally achieved his desired breakthrough to the fourth level.

Boom...

At the instant of his breakthrough, a sudden glimmer of awareness extended beyond his body.

Everything within a hundred feet, even outside the house, lay clearly before him.

His Divine Sense had extended outward.

"Wonderful!" He Pingsheng opened his eyes, a gleam flashing through them. "Hahaha... I can finally start learning spells!"

Spells were, in essence, various means of putting one's power to use.

Attack, defense, support-the list went on.

He Pingsheng flipped to the end of the Lihuo True Method, where the methods for practicing two spells were recorded.

The first: the Fire Crow Technique.

The second: the Fire Shield Technique.