Evening came.
A large tallow candle was lit.
The candlelight illuminated the room as Lü Zhong took out a Magic Technique Book he had just bought.
The book had a simple binding and was only about ten pages long, yet it had cost him five Spirit Stones.
Three large words were written on the cover.
Qi Observation Skill
The Qi Observation Skill was undoubtedly one of the essential Magic Skills for a cultivator. Its effect was to help cultivators clearly see the flow of Spiritual Qi. This could be used not only to find Spiritual Objects and Spiritual Lands rich in Spiritual Qi, but also to judge an opponent's cultivation.
Especially the latter—when used on cultivators who hadn't learned a Concealing Breath Skill, it was almost always perfectly accurate.
It was said that some improved Qi Observation Secret Techniques even had miraculous effects like Dragon-Seeking and Gold-Dividing.
However, he obviously couldn't afford those Qi Observation Secret Techniques. What he held now was just an ordinary Qi Observation Skill.
But even for a street-stall product, the first page after the cover contained a warning from the Magic Technique Pavilion.
The warning roughly stated that without permission from the Magic Technique Pavilion, the purchased Magic Skill could only be studied by the buyer. If it were spread for profit, the violator would face severe punishment from the Magic Technique Pavilion's cultivators—in serious cases, even death.
Since Lü Zhong was all alone now, he simply ignored these warnings.
Besides, he doubted that the Magic Technique Pavilion would actually punish every single person who violated the warning, as it claimed. It was probably the old trick of making an example of someone from time to time.
Turning to the first page of the main text, he saw the Magic Level of the Qi Observation Skill written at the top.
Like Talismans, the Magic Level classification also used a Tier System.
This Qi Observation Skill, for example, was a Tier One Lower Grade Magic Skill, which could be practiced at the Early-stage of Qi Refining.
Lü Zhong looked through the Magic Technique Book and found that Casting the Qi Observation Skill only required chanting three spell words, and the circulation of Spiritual Power was also relatively simple. For a beginner, it could be paired with seven Hand Seals to reduce the Casting difficulty.
After practicing for a short while, he was able to mimic the motions quite well.
But no matter how he tried, he couldn't successfully cast the Qi Observation Skill.
'Looks like I'm no genius when it comes to Magic Skills...' Lü Zhong sighed and took out a finger-sized conch shell.
The conch had been a free gift with the purchase of the Magic Technique Book; it was a cheap sound-recording object.
He channeled a sliver of Spiritual Power into it, and a voice immediately sounded from within the conch, reciting the three spell words required to cast the Qi Observation Skill with perfect, clear pronunciation.
Spells carried power and could resonate with heaven and earth, making them essential for Casting.
Lü Zhong didn't memorize it on the first try. After all, Casting Spells were awkward and complex, twisting and turning like a mountain path; they were impossible to remember in one go. He had no choice but to channel another sliver of Spiritual Power into the conch.
But to his surprise, the sound that came out of the conch this time was completely different, and noticeably off-key.
Clearly, the conch was a one-time-use consumable. No wonder the Magic Technique Pavilion gave it away for free.
Lü Zhong tried to imitate it, but his attempt was a clumsy failure.
'Could it be that learning Magic Skills also involves fundamentals?'
He frowned, unable to help but think, 'Life as a Loose Cultivator is just too hard, isn't it?'
Back when he was running his stall, he had often heard people say that Magic Skills were extremely difficult to learn, taking several months or even half a year just to get started.
He never imagined that even a Tier One Lower Grade Qi Observation Skill would be so difficult for him to learn.
For a Loose Cultivator who hadn't undergone systematic study and training like a sect cultivator, learning a Magic Skill was incredibly difficult. They could basically only rely on their own constant trial and error, drawing lessons from countless failures.
'Fortunately, I still have the Gray Mist Space!'
Lü Zhong closed his eyes and immediately entered the Gray Mist Space.
With a thought, he recalled the memory from just now, and the three perfectly enunciated spell words immediately echoed.
Before long, he was forced to end the memory recall due to excessive consumption of his Divine Sense.
Returning to the outside world, a flicker of anticipation flashed in Lü Zhong's eyes.
The Spiritual Power in his body was mobilized along his meridians. The effect of the Hand Seals became apparent, making the process of mobilizing his Spiritual Power much easier. At the same time, he chanted the three Magic Spell words.
The chant ended. The skill formed!
The scene before Lü Zhong's eyes changed abruptly, becoming a world of black and white.
Mundane objects without Spiritual Qi appeared in varying shades of gray, while items containing Spiritual Qi, like blank Talisman Paper and Spirit Rice, glowed with different colors according to their attributes.
Take the Cyan Rice Spirit Rice, for instance; it contained Grass and Wood Spiritual Qi.
Therefore, in the vision of the Qi Observation Skill, the Cyan Rice Spirit Rice constantly flickered with a faint, cyan glow.
Just then, Lü Zhong noticed a distinct white light spilling out from under the stove—exactly where he had hidden his Storage Bag.
He had thought he'd hidden the Storage Bag extremely well, but now, in the vision of the Qi Observation Skill, it was completely exposed.
"Whew, good thing I found this out beforehand, or it would have been big trouble!"
Lü Zhong quickly took the Storage Bag out and found a new place to hide it properly.
Now, even if someone cast the Qi Observation Skill inside or outside the house, they wouldn't be able to see where the Storage Bag was hidden.
After doing this, he dispelled the Magic Skill's effect, and the objects he saw immediately regained their color.
When he tried to cast the Qi Observation Skill again, Lü Zhong failed.
He recalled the process carefully and realized that when chanting the third spell word just now, he had accidentally raised his tone slightly.
He hadn't expected that such a tiny change would cause his Casting to fail.
No wonder Loose Cultivators rarely used Magic Skills.
As a type of ability, Magic Skills were certainly powerful once mastered.
Whether used in combat or exploration, they could produce excellent results. A good combination could even multiply the Caster's strength.
But the prerequisite was being able to master them.
Otherwise, all sorts of bizarre reasons for failure awaited you.
Chanted the spell wrong? Failure!
Formed the Hand Seal incorrectly? Failure!
Circulated Spiritual Power in the wrong direction? Still a failure!
Even a sneeze could probably cause the Casting to fail.
Casting a Magic Skill was an extremely precise process that allowed for no mistakes whatsoever.
Especially in a life-and-death battle, in a situation of high mental tension, who could guarantee they wouldn't make a mistake?
A single mistake at a critical moment could cost you your life.
That was why Loose Cultivators preferred using Magical Artifacts or Talismans in combat, rather than Magic Skills, which carried an element of uncertainty.
In contrast, cultivators from Sects or families, because of their solid grasp of the fundamentals, were able to maintain a high success rate in Casting and were therefore more willing to use Magic Skills in combat.
This was because during the Qi Refining Stage, Magic Skills were relatively the most powerful. Attacking by controlling various Magical Artifacts came in second; their average power was lower than Magic Skills, but they had the advantage of being stable and sustainable. As for Talismans, their power ranked last.
Originally, Lü Zhong had planned to be like other Loose Cultivators, relying mainly on Magical Artifacts and Talismans in future combat.
Fortunately, he had the Gray Mist Space, where he could replay memories indefinitely.
As long as he practiced and verified his technique enough, he could still perfect every step of the Casting process and achieve an extremely high success rate.