Liu Yunqing didn't sense anything amiss, so he temporarily ignored the Golden Crow Ring and devoted himself entirely to cultivation.

At first, following the instructions of the newly acquired technique, it felt obscure and difficult to follow. Only after completing one cycle did it become smooth and easy.

After completing the second cycle, Liu Yunqing found no difference from ordinary general exercises.

Not only that, after several days, Liu Yunqing discovered that his cultivation level seemed to have shrunk!

It's easy to increase your cultivation level in the early stages of Qi Refining. For a single-spiritual-root cultivator like Liu Yunqing, reaching the Great Perfection of Qi Refining in a year is not difficult.

Especially in the early stages, one could almost see the accumulation of spiritual energy leading to an increase in cultivation level every day.

However, Liu Yunqing's cultivation level not only did not increase, but it regressed back to the level of Qi Refining Level 5, and remained at the early stage of Qi Refining Level 5.

After Liu Yunqing stopped to check the situation, he realized that it was neither that his cultivation speed had slowed down nor that his cultivation level had regressed.

Instead, the cultivation level that was previously cultivated is too low. The reason why the cultivation level is not increasing now is because the previous low level is being replenished and solidified.

Despite her current lack of cultivation level, the spiritual power stored within her body is several times greater than before.

Sure enough, after another half month of cultivation, Liu Yunqing's cultivation level began to rise again.

Meanwhile, the dry rations that the beautiful master had prepared for Liu Yunqing were almost used up, and she needed to start finding food on her own.

After finishing the last bite of the spirit rice cake, Liu Yunqing stopped cultivating and decided to observe the changes in the Golden Crow Ring before learning the spells he could currently use.

Yes, there were changes in the Golden Crow Ring, which Liu Yunqing had sensed long ago.

However, she had been so engrossed in practicing the new technique that she hadn't noticed any changes in the Golden Crow Ring that she hadn't immediately gone inside to check.

At that moment, with a thought, Liu Yunqing appeared inside the Golden Crow Ring.

Looking around, the size of the space hadn't changed, but the omnipresent mist had lessened considerably, only remaining around the edges.

As the fog thinned, Liu Yunqing felt that the light in the entire space was much brighter, and she could clearly see the small mound of earth she had mentioned last time.

The biggest change is in this small mound.

Last time, when I checked with my divine sense, I could only see a small, hazy mound of earth, gray and charred, like the ruins after a wildfire, covered with cracks and blackened, with only a faint red glow at the top of the mound.

Looking at it now, the scorched cracks are gone, and the small mound is much taller and more impressive than before. In this small space, it can even be called a "mountain".

The red light on the mountaintop was nowhere to be seen, but above the mountaintop, a red sun exactly the same as the one in Liu Yunqing's sea of ​​consciousness hung high, casting a golden-red light over the entire mountain.

Liu Yunqing was amazed. As she walked down the mountain, she felt an extremely gentle and warm current, like silk, creeping up her feet.

Like someone walking in the cold night, Liu Yunqing felt his feet soaking in a hot spring, and he couldn't help but close his eyes and sigh with comfort.

The next moment, Liu Yunqing opened her eyes in surprise and looked at the mountain covered in red light.

"This is...fire elemental energy?"

Who doesn't know that among the five elements, fire is the most volatile, yet it's so gentle?

"Hehe, Master is so silly."

"Chirp—"

A clear bird song was heard, and golden light shone from the red sun on the mountaintop, drifting towards Liu Yunqing. When it got close, it had already condensed into a small golden three-legged bird.

The little bird folded its wings, gently shook its golden feathers, tilted its head to look at Liu Yunqing, and spoke in human language:

"Master, it's me~ Little Gold!"

As Xiao Jin spoke, she twirled around proudly in front of Liu Yunqing, beaming with delight:

"The blood that the master vomited before he fell into a coma, as well as the medicine that your new master fed you, can help the space regain its vitality."

"Of course, the master's injuries were also healed using the fire elemental energy of the space."

"From now on, Little Gold and the Golden Crow Ring will be bound to their master through life and death!"

"..."

After hearing the whole story, Liu Yunqing suddenly realized:

"So the spiritual energy here is so gentle and soft because I am the master of this space. If it were anything else..."

Before Liu Yunqing could finish speaking, Xiao Jin nodded her little head and said:

"That's right. If it were any other person or object, it would turn to ashes as soon as it entered the space!"

After Xiao Jin finished speaking, he seemed very satisfied with the power of the space, but Liu Yunqing's face fell in disappointment.

"Huh? You can't put anything in this space?"

Liu Yunqing was thinking that he shouldn't put all his eggs in one basket, and he planned to transfer all the good things his master had given him to the Golden Crow Ring.

After all, ordinary storage devices can be easily sensed by anyone whose cultivation level is one or two major realms higher than hers, but the mustard seed space is much safer.

"No, no, no, Master, you've misunderstood."

Seeing Liu Yunqing's disappointment, Xiao Jin hurriedly flapped its wings to explain:

"Um, once the Golden Crow Ring recovers a bit more, as its owner, I can designate a specific area for storage!"

Liu Yunqing nodded, that's more like it, and then asked:

"Can we put live animals in it?"

Little Gold scratched its head with the tip of its wing, looked Liu Yunqing up and down with some difficulty, and said:

"Theoretically, it's possible, but the Golden Crow Ring is still really weak right now..."

Liu Yunqing instantly understood the true meaning behind Xiao Jin's words and raised her hand to interrupt:

"I understand what you mean. I know I'm too weak, so I'll work harder."

After Liu Yunqing finished speaking, he flashed out of the Golden Crow Ring, took out the magic jade slip, and began to study.

Cultivation level is the foundation, while combat ability is the key to victory or defeat in critical moments.

There aren't many fire-attribute spells that can be learned at the fifth level of Qi Refining; they are mostly ordinary fireball spells and rocket spells.

There are also general-purpose spells that do not distinguish between attributes, such as the Object Capture Technique, the Dust Purification Technique, and the Object Control Technique.

Learning it isn't difficult; the challenge lies in how to increase the power of the spells while minimizing the consumption of spiritual energy.

Low-level cultivators have weak spiritual power and can only use spells a limited number of times. To win in battle, they either need to use powerful spells to finish the fight quickly, or they can gamble on who can unleash one more attack.

A naive thirteen or fourteen-year-old cultivator might not be aware of these issues, only pursuing cultivation speed and the speed and power of condensing spells.

Liu Yunqing, however, deeply understood just how important these seemingly insignificant details were.

Fortunately, the mountain that Liu Yunqing chose, although lacking in natural resources, was also sparsely populated, giving her a quiet place to practice.

Just as she exhausted her last bit of spiritual power and finally managed to unleash the five-ring fireball, before she could even cheer, a scream descended from the sky.

Before Liu Yunqing could even see who it was, he was so frightened that his face changed drastically. He quickly drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and assumed a aiming posture, ready to fire at any moment.

"Aaaaaah, you wicked woman—"

Upon seeing Liu Yunqing's actions, the man who screamed ran away from her, clutching his buttocks and screaming in pain.

A moment later, it came running back, yelling "Ahhhhh!"

"What the hell is this fire! Put it out! Aaaaaah!"

After saying that, he ran away again, and then ran back.

"Aaaaaah! I'm about to be burned to death, I don't need to aim anymore!"

After saying that, he screamed and ran away.

Liu Yunqing's expression changed from being wary at the beginning to being absurd and surprised.

Finally, when the man ran back, he realized what was happening and used one hand to hold the bow and the other to extinguish the fireball.