Looking at the writing in front of him, Qi Chuan was not surprised, just nodded slightly.
Because he had already seen similar handwriting before.
As early as half a month ago, when he first started learning the Fireball Technique and was using the Hundredfold Critical Strike to improve, he had not neglected the enhancement of his cultivation realm.
After all, in the Immortal World, ultimately, the cultivation realm is the most important.
However, in the previous half-month period, his main focus was indeed on the Basic Five Elements Magic; as for cultivation, it was just routine practice for a few circulations.
But this had allowed Qi Chuan to experience the enhancement of his cultivation realm through Hundredfold Critical Strike.
At this moment, Qi Chuan slightly closed his eyes, sensing the mana within him.
He could clearly feel that the total amount of mana within his body had been slightly enhanced.
This enhancement was not particularly obvious for the cultivation realm, but it was not insignificant either.
After all, Qi Chuan had just operated the Evergreen Technique for a Grand Circulation.
According to the cultivation speed of a Lower Eighth Grade Spirit Root, under normal circumstances, the enhancement of mana from cultivating one Grand Circulation is almost imperceptible.
Being able to clearly feel the improvement in mana was due to a Twentyfold Critical Strike, compounded by the effect of a Twentyfold Gain.
"Not bad, next, continue practicing."
Qi Chuan closed his eyes and started cultivating again.
[You worked hard at cultivating, operated the Evergreen Technique for a Grand Circulation, triggered a Tenfold Critical Strike, gained a Tenfold Gain, and your mana was slightly enhanced.]
[You worked hard at cultivating, operated the Evergreen Technique for a Grand Circulation, triggered an Eightfold Critical Strike, gained an Eightfold Gain, and your mana was slightly enhanced.]
...
However, even though Qi Chuan wanted to keep cultivating with Hundredfold Critical Strikes, it was not feasible.
After a period of time, Qi Chuan had to stop cultivating.
As he could now feel a very slight sting in his meridians when operating the Evergreen Technique again.
He was still at Qi Refining First Layer; the time and frequency of daily practice had certain limits. This limit stemmed from his physical condition, and exceeding it would damage his bodily meridians.
Unable to continue advancing his cultivation realm, Qi Chuan could only switch to practicing magic.
"Fireball Technique!"
Qi Chuan formed seals with both hands and recited an incantation; then, raising his right hand, a date-sized crimson fireball appeared in his palm, constructed from mana.
After condensing the fireball, Qi Chuan did not disperse it but maintained it for a while before withdrawing his mana.
In front of him, the writing appeared again.
[You successfully cast the Fireball Technique once and maintained it for some time, triggering a Thirtyfold Critical Strike, gaining a Thirtyfold Gain, and your proficiency in the Fireball Technique was slightly enhanced.]
Qi Chuan could clearly feel his mastery level of the Fireball Technique had advanced a bit from the entry level towards the Minor Success realm.
"No wonder it's a Thirtyfold Critical Strike Gain!"
Qi Chuan showed a hint of satisfaction on his face.
"Next, focus on both cultivation and magic!"
"Not only the Fireball Technique, but also the Water Arrow Technique and other Basic Five Elements Magic need to be enhanced simultaneously."
...
While Qi Chuan was practicing diligently and peacefully, the outside world was becoming more tumultuous.
Due to the edict of the Wind Moon Sect, most cultivation clans, whether Foundation Establishment clans or small, unestablished, or declining clans, obediently stayed away from the area where the Secret Realm was located.
Many families not far from the fifty-mile forbidden zone, like the Qi Family, also restrained their cultivators from going out as much as possible.
However, not all families thought the same way.
Some even took the opportunity to attack other families amidst the chaos.
In secret, some families cast a subtle glance in the direction of the Secret Realm, though very few dared to make a move.
...
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a year had passed.
On this day.
[You worked hard at cultivating, operated the Evergreen Technique for a Grand Circulation, triggered a Fortyfold Critical Strike, gained a Fortyfold Gain, and your mana was slightly enhanced. You successfully advanced to Qi Refining Second Layer.]
Qi Chuan sat cross-legged and slowly opened his eyes.
As the writing appeared before his eyes, he clearly felt the dramatic increase in the total amount of mana within him.
At this point, his mana's depth, compared to when he first entered Qi Refining First Layer, was incomparably greater; he had now advanced to Qi Refining Second Layer.
After all, the first three layers of Qi Refining only involve mana accumulation; once mana reaches a certain level, the realm advances without any bottleneck.
Only approaching Qi Refining Fourth Layer will there be a small checkpoint, which is the middle stage bottleneck.
Though it's just a minor bottleneck, many find themselves stuck here,
Upon advancing to Qi Refining Second Layer, a trace of a smile appeared in Qi Chuan's eyes.
He felt that now, simply with mana, he could utterly overwhelm his previous Qi Refining First Layer self.
But in this year, the improvements he gained were not just in realms.
"Fireball Technique!"
Qi Chuan quickly formed seals, and in the next moment, a crimson fireball rose in the palm of his hand.
Unlike before, the fireball he now condensed was no longer date-sized but as large as half a fist!
Moreover, his spellcasting speed had increased significantly.
This was because his Fireball Technique, after a year of effort and the support of Hundredfold Critical Strike, had already reached the Minor Success realm!
The Fireball Technique at the Minor Success realm already had considerable power in the early and middle stages of Qi Refining and could serve as a decent means of confronting enemies.
If he faced nothing more than an entry-level Water Arrow Technique, the fist-sized fireball would only be slightly weakened; its remaining power, when falling on an early to middle-stage Qi Refining cultivator, was enough to severely injure or even kill them!
However, during this year, it wasn't just the Fireball Technique that reached the Minor Success realm.
In fact, all his Basic Five Elements Magic had advanced to Minor Success!
This breakthrough was not only due to his almost complete dedication to magic practice outside cultivation but also because the Golden Finger's critical strike multiplier was surprisingly high, which was a key factor.
"Qi Refining Second Layer, all Basic Five Elements Magic at Minor Success..."
"Such strength in the early and middle stages of Qi Refining isn't considered weak, is it?"
Qi Chuan thought so, with a smile emerging on his face.
Walking out of the house, Qi Chuan stood on the independent mountain peak, gazing at the distant scenery, and after a moment, began to busy himself in the spirit fields on the peak.
In this past year, besides his practice, he occasionally tended to these disorderly spirit fields.
Under his management, the once exceptionally chaotic spirit fields had now gained some sense of order.
Some unknown spirit plants and spirit grass in them had also grown much better.
Although he was not a Spirit Plant Cultivator and lacked experience in planting and managing spirit plants,
thankfully, these spirit plants, despite their long growth cycle and low value, were robust and resilient.
As long as Qi Chuan wasn't too reckless, with normal care, these spirit grasses wouldn't easily die.
Moreover, even if a few died, it wouldn't matter much, as Second Uncle said, these spirit grasses weren't worth many Spirit Stones.
Though over the past year, Qi Chuan only tended to these whenever he had spare time and interest,
his methods and techniques for tending to these spirit grasses, though not profound, were gradually showing some semblance of skill.
Half an hour later, Qi Chuan straightened up from the spirit fields, exhaled a deep breath, and felt much more relaxed.
[You diligently tended the spirit plants for half an hour, triggering a Threefold Critical Strike, gaining a Threefold Gain, and your experience and skills in tending spirit plants were slightly enhanced.]
Clearly, Qi Chuan's current ability to make the tending of these spirit grasses seem effective was due to this.