Chapter 15: Advancement and Practicing Magic

Only then did the two finally breathe a sigh of relief. After preparing the healing medicine, when Qiu Han returned, Zhou Yi, unable to suppress his anger, gave him a scolding. In the end, he said, “Master has given orders: from now on, without permission, you are not to leave the inner sect.” With a single sentence, Qiu Han’s range of activity was firmly restricted.

Applying the healing ointment to his wounds and wrapping them with clean cloth, Qiu Han looked at Zhou Yi, who had never before lost his temper with him, now so furious over this matter. He understood in his heart that Zhou Yi was acting out of concern and worry for his safety. After earnestly admitting his mistake and promising never to repeat it, Zhou Yi’s anger finally subsided a little.

In a tall building atop the rear mountain of the Hengyuan Sect, the elders were holding their meeting. On the fifth floor, a man and a woman—both middle-aged cultivators—sat together. One was Qiu Han’s master, Gu Sui Feng, and the other, a middle-aged woman, was the sect’s Grand Elder and Yun Rou’s master.

“Junior Brother Gu, it seems you hold that new disciple of yours in high regard. But with such danger just now, I’m surprised you didn’t intervene to save him. I must say, I didn’t expect that from you.”

“Senior Sister, you’re jesting. Since Qiu Han is my disciple, how could I possibly abandon him? It’s just that, in such situations, I wanted him to gain some experience. After all, without truly facing life and death, one cannot truly grow. If he encounters danger outside the sect with no real combat experience, his strength would be greatly diminished. Isn’t that the purpose of our disciple trials each time?”

“Hmm, it seems you’ve given this much thought. As for the sect trial three years from now…”

After a day of rest, Qiu Han’s injuries had fully healed by the next morning—clearly, the healing elixir was highly effective. Stretching his arms and loosening up, he prepared to resume his meditation and cultivation.

This time, before even half an incense stick’s time had passed, Qiu Han abruptly stopped his breathing exercises, enveloped by a sensation of comfort spreading through his entire body. He had advanced—he had finally reached the third level of the Qi Refining stage. It seemed that yesterday’s battle with the tiger had inadvertently helped him find a breakthrough in his cultivation bottleneck, making today’s advancement seem effortless.

With a long exhale, Qiu Han’s mood was naturally elated. It had only been about two months since he began cultivating, and already he had reached the third level of Qi Refining—dozens of times faster than the average person. Though this owed much to his innate talent, his diligence was also a crucial factor.

Pacing casually around his room, he decided to begin practicing the spells available at the third level of Qi Refining. Retrieving his cultivation manual from his storage pouch, he carefully perused it with his spiritual sense and made up his mind. The spells available at this stage included “Spiritual Power Shield,” “Might Enhancement,” “Flight,” and “Ice Arrow,” among other low to mid-tier techniques.

Generally, such spells are wielded for attack or defense by cultivators in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. The reason is simple: cultivators at the Core Formation stage and above rely mainly on magical artifacts for offense and defense, whose power far surpasses that of spells. It is said that those at the Nascent Soul stage and beyond possess even more powerful magical abilities.

After reaching the fourth level of Qi Refining, one can theoretically begin to use lower-grade spirit tools for attack and defense. However, in practice, the spiritual sense and spiritual energy required to control such tools far exceed what a typical fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator can manage. Thus, most who can use spirit tools are at least at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Spirit tools come in many forms but are generally divided into four categories: lower-grade, middle-grade, upper-grade, and supreme-grade. Lower-grade spirit tools are the weakest, supreme-grade the most powerful—yet, to wield a supreme-grade spirit tool requires immense spiritual sense and energy, at minimum that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

For someone like Qiu Han, at the third level of Qi Refining, spirit tools are out of reach. Cultivators at this stage usually rely on low-level talismans for attack and defense, or on basic spells. Qiu Han memorized the incantations for these techniques one by one and began practicing from the first.

After a day, Qiu Han had fully mastered the Spiritual Power Shield spell. This defensive technique creates a shield of spiritual energy around the caster, blocking incoming attacks and serving as protection. The energy cost was not great; as he was now, he could maintain it for an entire day.

With his cultivation at the third level of Qi Refining, the Spiritual Power Shield could render ordinary blades and swords completely ineffective—if he were to encounter a tiger again, the shield alone would suffice for defense. It could also withstand several low-level spells. The exact defensive capacity of the shield, however, depended greatly on the cultivator’s own strength—the higher the cultivation, the stronger the shield.

Ice Arrow, a water-element spell of the five elements, was an offensive technique. Compared to the Fireball spell, Ice Arrow was faster and more penetrating, capable of causing an enemy to bleed out swiftly if it struck a vital spot. With his aptitude, Qiu Han took two days to master this technique.

As for Might Enhancement, it used one’s spiritual energy to multiply physical strength, allowing the user to lift objects that would otherwise be impossibly heavy. The principle was simple, and Qiu Han grasped it in no time.

Upon reaching the third level of Qi Refining, both his spiritual sense and energy had improved greatly. He could now skillfully manipulate these spells. Since his fight with the tiger, Qiu Han had learned to coordinate his spiritual energy with his spiritual sense to accurately target his spells—he now had a measure of real combat experience.

Finally, there was the Flight spell—a support technique reminiscent of the lightness skills of martial artists, but vastly superior. After all, Flight was a spell unique to cultivators, powered by spiritual energy, far beyond anything mundane martial artists could hope to achieve.

Flight was a technique Qiu Han yearned to learn, for to soar through the sky was to possess true freedom. With Flight, a cultivator could go wherever they wished, covering vast distances with ease. The speed depended on one’s cultivation; for instance, Zhou Yi and He Yitong could travel thousands of miles in a single day.

Days passed, and half a month went by. On this day, Qiu Han spent an hour flying back and forth across the rear mountain before finally landing at his dwelling. Breathing out in satisfaction, he sat down cross-legged to rest. After half a month of practice, he had fully mastered the Flight spell.

He remembered how, when he first learned it, he hadn’t known how to descend or steer properly, and ended up plunging headfirst into the river behind the mountain. He had then consulted Zhou Yi, and with detailed guidance, gradually became proficient in the art of flight.

During this period, Qiu Han practiced these spells daily and continued his diligent meditation—it was clear he devoted great effort to his cultivation.

One day, Zhou Yi summoned Qiu Han to his room. From his storage pouch, he took out dozens of talismans and three spirit tools, saying, “Qiu Han, these are some low-level attack and defense talismans I obtained from Master for you. With your current cultivation, you can use them. Here are also three lower-grade spirit tools—two for attack, one for defense. Once you reach the fourth level of Qi Refining, you can try using them. Master noticed your diligent cultivation and recent advancement to the third level, and asked me to pass these on to you.”

After a pause, he continued, “By the way, Master says your recent progress has been too rapid. Advancing so quickly isn’t necessarily a good thing. He asked me to remind you to slow down, focus on consolidating your foundation, and pay more attention to refining your spiritual energy and sense.”