Seeing that the Minor Rain Technique had reached the Proficient stage, Ji An suddenly felt the moonlight turn gentle as water, and the night seemed shyly tender.
He slapped his forehead and muttered under his breath:
"Tch, just now I was too excited. I forgot to light a stick of incense before refining the Spiritual Qi!"
He wanted to calculate how much time refining Spiritual Qi would actually consume, and whether the duration varied depending on how much Spiritual Qi was being refined.
In the future, he would certainly need to learn offensive spells. At that time, he wouldn't funnel all of his Spiritual Qi into refining spells. He would need to hold some back as reserves.
If refining Spiritual Qi took very little time, he could simply refine it on demand, right before he needed to upgrade a spell.
He sighed again, frustrated, and gave his cheeks a quick slap.
With the meager mana of a first-stage Qi Refining cultivator, he should've gone to his spirit field and practiced the Thick Earth Formula instead.
Grabbing a torch, he jogged off.
He only had enough mana left to cast the spell once, but a mosquito's leg, small as it was, was still meat. Waste was not an option.
The torchlight wavered, throwing long shadows along the winding path.
When he reached his field, Ji An cast the Thick Earth Formula again, then crouched down to examine the effect.
The loosened soil only reached a depth of four fingers, not nearly enough.
He didn't know the Flamefire Incantation, so before planting, he'd need to scatter insect-repelling powder throughout the field.
According to Old Huang, loosened soil needed to be at least one blade's depth of a spade; otherwise, pests buried deeper in the earth would survive and gnaw away at the roots of the spirit grain.
From this, it was clear: until a farming spell reached at least the Proficient stage, it held little practical value.
Fortunately, that wasn't a problem for him. A few more days, and he'd be there.
He once again tugged at the stone tortoise with his divine sense.
[Spell: Thick Earth Formula (Initiate 83% → 85%)]
...
Five days later.
The noonday sun blazed down, and Ji An crawled laboriously up the mountain path, hands and feet working together, panting heavily.
When the corner of the Affairs Hall finally came into view, sweat rolled down his face, yet he still managed a dry smile.
Tomorrow, one of the sect's high cultivators will be giving a lecture to the new disciples. Ji An had received the notice three days ago and set off immediately.
Bihai Lake was a long way from the Affairs Hall, and without a talismanic paper crane to ride, he could only rely on his own "Route Eleven carriage" on his legs.
He had walked mountain trails for two days and two nights without pause, but at last he arrived.
In the square before the Affairs Hall, a scattering of ten-odd disciples were already seated, clearly from other halls.
Ji An found a spot with no one to his left or right, dropped down onto the ground, pulled a worn blanket from his bundle, spread it out, and lay flat on his back.
He was utterly exhausted.
[Master: Ji An]
[Dao Resonance: 0]
[Spiritual Qi: Kan 0.2, Kun 0.1, Xun 1.6]
[Spells: Minor Rain Technique (Proficient 72%)
Thick Earth Formula (Proficient 48%)]
Even while traveling, he had not neglected his cultivation. The stone tortoise's absorption of Spiritual Qi was hardly affected. True, away from Bihai Lake, the amount of Kan-element Qi he gained was a little lower than usual, but overall, his gains were steady.
When Ji An returned to his spirit fields by Bihai Lake, the Minor Rain Technique would surely advance to Minor Completion, and that, he thought, would be the foundation for his survival.
Take the Minor Rain Technique, for instance. At the second layer, it had no additional effects; the spiritual qi contained in the rain was only enough to sustain the growth of spirit grain. Casting it multiple times a day would not increase the yield.
But according to Old Huang, if one irrigated during the heading stage of the grain using the technique at Minor Completion, the harvest could increase by about ten percent.
At Major Completion, yields could rise by thirty to forty percent.
The Thick Earth Formula worked similarly. Casting it every other day at the Minor Completion stage to nourish the soil would likewise boost yields by around ten percent.
Just the thought that, as a brand-new spirit farmer, he could already gain extra harvests made Ji An feel as if he had just downed an icy drink on a hot summer's day, refreshing beyond words!
His eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Before he realized it, he had drifted off to sleep, soft snores escaping unconsciously.
Hunger soon woke him. Ji An rubbed his eyes, sat up groggily, and saw the sky awash in crimson clouds, the mountains vast as the sea, the setting sun bleeding across the horizon.
He took out some dry rations and a water flask, wolfed down a few bites, and then walked into the Affairs Hall.
He would take this opportunity to inquire: what was the price of learning a third-layer spell?
When the Minor Rain Technique advanced to Proficiency, he had run an experiment.
Using the same amount of Spiritual Qi, he found that once he had learned the second-layer incantation, his comprehension of the spell improved far faster than before.
It made sense that low-level spells had been refined over countless generations. The clarity of their instructions on cultivation methods far surpassed what a single cultivator could grope toward on his own.
Ji An cupped his hands politely and said in a mild tone:
"Excuse me, senior brother. I am a new disciple this year, assigned to the spirit fields by Bihai Lake. May I ask, how many contribution points does it take to learn the third-layer incantation of the Minor Rain Technique?"
The dazed cultivator glanced him up and down, then replied suspiciously:
"A first-stage Qi Refining disciple wants to learn a third-layer spell?"
Normally, only spirit farmers who had reached at least the second stage of Qi Refining would qualify to study third-layer spells.
A first-stage cultivator had too little mana, barely enough to practice a few spells a day.
Then the man's expression shifted, and he said with sudden understanding:
"Ah, I see. To smooth the disciples' path on the road of cultivation, the sect charges very little for all production-type spells.
Any third-layer incantation of a planting spell costs only ten contribution points."
See what? Ji An was left a bit dumbfounded.
That the other man could see through his cultivation level at a glance didn't surprise him. Different realms emitted different levels of spiritual pressure. High-level cultivators could easily discern the strength of those below them.
But the sect lowering the contribution cost for production spells struck Ji An as farsighted. It gave him a faint sense of recognition for the sect.
Material abundance is the basis of development… even in the cultivation world, it must be the same.
He began recalling the ways to earn contribution points. Completing sect missions earned them. Handing in spiritual materials or cultivation methods not recorded by the sect could also bring points.
For example, beyond paying his field rent in spirit grain, if he offered up additional harvest, he would gain contribution points.
It was also possible to exchange spirit stones for contribution points: one spirit stone equaled twenty points.
Conversely, disciples could exchange contribution points for spirit stones: twenty-five points for one stone.
There was also a strict rule: contribution points could only be used personally and were not transferable.
Ji An had no spiritual treasures, nor any rare cultivation manuals. He possessed only five spirit crystals, his entire fortune, which could be exchanged for just one contribution point.
His father's Beast-Taming Technique might have qualified, but his father had promised to pass it on only after Ji An opened his immortal meridians. Then, when his father went out to gather herbs, he never returned. The technique had died with him.
Ji An still felt a stab of resentment whenever he thought of it: why hadn't Father copied down a version for him before leaving?
"I am a new disciple and have no contribution points for now. In two months, once my spirit grain harvest comes in, I will return.
…By the way, if I wanted to learn the Withering-Bloom Formula, how much would that cost?"
The cultivator held up a single finger.
"The Withering-Bloom Formula, the Flamefire Incantation, and the Sharp Gold Formula: any of these spells at the first and second layers cost only one contribution point each."
Ji An pulled out his five spirit crystals.
"Then give me a jade slip of the Withering-Bloom Formula."