After leaving the Mission Hall, Zhang Zhian returned to his own Disciple courtyard with light steps.
As an Outer Sect Disciple of the Azure Spirit Sect, every Disciple can choose a small courtyard to live in on one of the peaks belonging to the outer Sect after joining.
Furthermore, if Disciples are unsatisfied with the existing vacant courtyards, they can choose to report to the Sect and find another location to build a new courtyard themselves.
Of course, the current Zhang Zhian naturally didn't have the ability to build a house himself.
Fortunately, he wasn't picky either.
Without any hesitation, he had directly chosen this quiet courtyard as his future residence back then.
"Creak~"
Pushing open the gate of the courtyard and stepping inside, a bright smile finally broke across Zhang Zhian's face.
Due to his experience living in a Loose Cultivator market with his grandfather during his childhood in this life, although he wasn't very old, he had long since grown accustomed to hiding his true emotions in front of outsiders.
Only when he was alone like this would he stop deliberately suppressing his emotions.
Without lingering in the courtyard, Zhang Zhian walked straight through and entered his cultivation room.
"My luck this time was truly good."
He sat down on the only prayer mat in the cultivation room. "The Mission Hall just happened to have several Sect alchemists release missions to find wild purple bamboo fungus, so I don't need to handle the remaining four purple bamboo fungus separately."
"Then again..." Zhang Zhian shook his head slightly, "It just rained lightly a few days ago. The Sect alchemists naturally know the growth habits of wild purple bamboo fungus, so it's normal for them to release missions at this time."
"Ah~" He stretched. "Not bad, not bad. I went out for a stroll and completed three Sect missions at once."
"Three missions, a total of fifteen contribution points, plus six bottles of spirit gathering pill that will be delivered later."
A look of satisfaction appeared on Zhang Zhian's face. "There are ten pills in a bottle of spirit gathering pill, so that's a total of sixty pills."
"Now, I won't be short of spirit gathering pill for a long time."
Regarding the reward for finding wild purple bamboo fungus (preset at two pieces), there seemed to be a certain tacit understanding among the alchemists of the Azure Spirit Sect.
As far as Zhang Zhian knew, whenever a Sect alchemist released a mission to find wild purple bamboo fungus, the reward was basically a fixed five contribution points plus two bottles of spirit gathering pill.
"Hehe~ I'm about to live a 'luxurious' life with a constant supply of Medicinal Pill."
...
After a brief fantasy, Zhang Zhian pulled his attention back.
After all, he hadn't forgotten.
These gains were just the appetizers; the real main course was...
Zhang Zhian's Divine Sense entered his Sea of Consciousness once again. Following a vague sensation, he quickly found the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart hidden within.
'This is my true reliance for the future!'
At this moment, the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart's ability to search for opportunities had entered a seven-day 'cooldown period'.
But it wasn't its only ability...
"Inhale... Exhale..."
After taking a deep breath, Zhang Zhian's gaze sharpened. 'Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, let me see—to what extent this so-called enhancement of Comprehension Ability can actually go.'
Without any hesitation, Zhang Zhian used his Divine Sense to communicate with the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart.
In an instant, the white light among the seven colors suddenly flared up, illuminating every corner of his Sea of Consciousness.
At the same time, Zhang Zhian instantly felt the changes occurring within him.
'Is this what it feels like to be a Genius?'
At this moment, his eyes seemed to grow even brighter.
His brain's activity, the rapid spinning of his thoughts... all of this even gave Zhang Zhian an illusion, as if time itself had slowed down at this moment.
It was as if a thin veil had been lifted from before his eyes; he felt the entire world had become clearer. This feeling was truly captivating.
Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten his true purpose at this moment.
Taking a deep breath and discarding all extraneous thoughts, the spiritual power within his body circulated, and then he slowly spread his palm.
In the next instant, a ball of white mist appeared in his palm.
First-tier Spell—Cloud Mist Technique.
In this world, Cultivators mostly use five levels to describe their mastery of a Spell.
Initial Mastery, Proficient, Perfect, Reaching the Peak, Reaching the State of Perfection.
'Initial Mastery', this level needs no explanation; it naturally refers to having just crossed the threshold of a Technique.
Only upon reaching the Realm of 'Proficient' does it mean a Cultivator can truly be described as having 'mastered' a Technique.
Being able to use a Technique flexibly is the best summary of this Realm.
The mastery of Techniques for the vast majority of Cultivators basically stays at this level.
And the next stage, 'Perfect', is already one in ten thousand.
It can be said that the Cultivator's use of a Technique has reached a level of being free and easy, as if it comes naturally to them.
Since 'Perfect' is already like this, one can imagine how rare it is to be able to Cultivate a Technique to the Realm of 'Reaching the Peak'.
To be called 'Reaching the Peak' undoubtedly means that the Cultivator's mastery of a Technique has reached an extreme.
To achieve this, the first step is to completely understand the mysteries of the Technique and be able to modify it into the state that best suits oneself.
From the moment every Spell is created, the person best suited to Cultivate it is absolutely the Cultivator who created it.
Since 'Reaching the Peak' is already the extreme, what kind of scenery is 'Reaching the State of Perfection'?
Unfortunately, in the books Zhang Zhian read in the Sect library introducing these five major Realms, there wasn't a very detailed description of the 'Reaching the State of Perfection' Realm.
All there was were eight words—Divine understanding, the law has a spirit!
That said, Zhang Zhian hadn't been learning the Cloud Mist Technique for very long; he was currently only at the 'Initial Mastery' stage.
All he could do was follow the steps to condense and summon the mist.
In the past, if he wanted to raise his mastery of this Technique to the Realm of 'Proficient', the only way was constant use and hard practice, absorbing and summarizing the experience to grow step by step.
But at this moment...
"How was I so stupid before!" Subconsciously, Zhang Zhian first gave himself a'sweet greeting'.
Now, in his eyes, his previous operation of performing the Cloud Mist Technique was simply a complete mess.
Control of spiritual power, optimized!
Perception of water vapor, optimized!
Shaping of the mist, optimized!
...
Right now, Zhang Zhian felt that there were simply too many areas where his mastery of the Cloud Mist Technique could be improved.
He could even continuously gain more insights and inspiration during each optimization process.
Zhang Zhian had never thought... that practicing a Technique could be this easy!
Before long, the entire cultivation room was shrouded in vast white mist.
Then, the mist began to undergo various changes—sometimes thick, sometimes thin; at one moment covering the whole room, at another only condensing around Zhang Zhian...
Finally, most of the mist dissipated without a trace, leaving only that small clump in his palm once again.
And this clump of mist was still constantly changing into various forms: an eagle spreading its wings, a fish leaping through the dragon gate, a tiger roaring in the mountain forest...
"I... should be considered to have trained the Cloud Mist Technique to the Perfect Realm, right?" Looking at the churning mist in his hand, Zhang Zhian thought somewhat uncertainly.
Without an actual object for comparison, he could only speculate based on the evaluation standards he had read in books.
Of course, in fact, his self-assessment was not wrong.
Terrifyingly so!
Even though the Cloud Mist Technique itself was just a relatively simple first-tier Spell, the fact that Zhang Zhian could raise it from the 'Initial Mastery' Realm to 'Perfect' in the blink of an eye was still an extremely exaggerated feat.
However, before he could feel happy about it.
In an instant, a strong sense of fatigue quickly surged into his heart, causing him to involuntarily exit the state of enhanced comprehension.
Hunger, emptiness... various feelings of weakness continuously flooded Zhang Zhian's mind.
'This feeling seems somewhat similar to overexertion.'
A thought suddenly occurred to Zhang Zhian, 'Maybe I can...'
The next moment, he suddenly took out a porcelain bottle and poured out a jade-green pill from it.
nourishing origin pill!
This was the reward he had been receiving for playing the role of Zhao Lei's 'rival'.
"Gulp~"
Zhang Zhian swallowed the nourishing origin pill directly.
Soon, the various feelings of weakness that had been surging in gradually dissipated.
Through this process, Zhang Zhian even felt that his Divine Sense seemed to have become a bit more refined.
'It really works!'
Zhang Zhian, who had been sensing the changes in his body throughout, had his eyes light up instantly. 'The nourishing origin pill, used for strengthening the foundation and cultivating the origin, naturally comes with the effect of replenishing a Cultivator's energy.'
'It can be used precisely to make up for the Origin Qi quickly consumed by using the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart to enhance Comprehension Ability...'