Fang Hao refrained from trying to evolve spells manually and was cooped up in the yard for around 6 months where all he did was grind spells. While the minor increase in skill points and xp with each spell proficiency upgrade gave him satisfaction, he would be lying if he said he wasn't bored. For a change of pace, he tried cultivating the Divine Vajra Body Scripture for a couple of months.

His increased cultivation base had vastly increased the quality, quantity and regeneration of Qi available to him. This caused his practice speed to increase significantly for the Divine Vajra Body Scripture. He noticed that his increased familiarity and ease of practice with the body refining scripture,

clearly indicating that he was becoming closer and closer to mastering the first move of the 3rd seal. Despite that he noticed that in his current experience field in the status screen, the numbers didn't increase.

'It is just a matter of time till I master the 1st move of the Divine Vajra Body Scripture, but my xp isn't increasing. As long as I have not made a breakthrough, mere cultivation doesn't seem to increase my xp. And compared to the xp provided by a breakthrough, the xp required for a level-up is much higher. So if I focus on practicing cultivation without xp farming, even if I do make a breakthrough, what will happen to level-ups and xp?'

'When I enabled swapping cultivation techniques to take advantage of level-ups for my slow progress in body-refining, I think I also limited my options. Although I can test out stuff to see what exactly happens to xp and level-up if I make a breakthrough the old way at low xp, it will just take too much time. It won't really provide an advantage if it succeeds, but will be tons of wasted effort if it fails; so why bother? Although I should keep practicing the cultivation techniques till I get decent familiarity with it.'

'So the most efficient way forward seems to grind spells to earn small bumps in skill points and xp, which do add up to be significant over dozens of spells though. Other than the skill point and xp gains, this will also help me improve my battle power with high proficiency spells which do more damage, cast faster and use a bit less Qi. Doing tasks and murdering for xp will help me keep up my speed of cultivating and level-ups. Yes that seems more efficient, so I will continue to practice cultivation techniques only until I am decently comfortable in them and attempt breakthroughs only when I am near a natural level-up.'

'Another question is what to focus for level-ups now, Qi cultivation or Body-refining? If I focus too much on Qi Cultivation, my defense will start to lag behind and that's bad for staying alive; especially since my Qi Cultivating Scripture isn't impressive defensively. On the other hand, if I devotee too much of my xp to Body-Refining, my supposed “talent” will come into question. Now that glowing purple thunderclouds was broadcast to the upper management of the sect, my apparent cultivation speed can safely pick up and has to maintain a competitive speed of progression.'

'Also, even with the Fire Serpent spell, my strongest attack still is enabling Primal Thunder Reinforcement, and beat shit up in close combat. While another evolution of the Fire Serpent spell may do more damage per cast; but the projected Qi cost and cast time will still likely make reinforced smashes best for dps. Also, I am curious to what the second spell of the Primal Vajra Aura Scripture will be. It will probably be a powerful damage spell, if Aura Fist Scripture is anything to go by.'

'So for now, I should focus on leveling up to Foundation Establishment lvl 3 ASAP; then I can make my Body-refining catch up. Then swap Qi and Body Cultivation and keep both more or less at a similar level. All my free time should go to learn, improve and evolve spells as much as possible. Oh feels like my Qi is almost recovered, should get back to grinding Primal Thunder Reinforcement.' thought Fang Hao as his spiritual sense was lazily scanning his body and surroundings.

Fang Hao returned to grinding his Primal Thunder Reinforcement spell; but he felt that just mindlessly grinding was giving diminishing returns after Expert Proficiency. He could now activate the spell almost instantly and the whole process was more of a subconscious reflex to him now. Since he had rationalized away the other options, he subconsciously started to get creative about grinding the Primal Thunder Reinforcement spell.

The most annoying thing about the Reinforcement spell was the constant flashes of lightning around him along with the constant electric buzz. He started practicing the spell at reduced power, instead of going full power like before, trying his best to contain the flashy display and irritating hum. Slowly, but surely he was succeeding in his goal. After a month or so of grinding at reduced power, he could contain the lighting flashes and electric buzz at one fourth max power for 5 seconds or so. While he still radiated a violet glow while using the spell; the glow was dimmer than usual.

After another month of practice, he could restrain the lightning flashes and electric buzz sounds for around 10 seconds while using the Primal Thunder Reinforcement Spell at a third of its max power. While the violet glow refused to be subdued completely; for the first 10 seconds or so after activation, the glow was comparable to his Aura Infusion used at full power. Not perfect, but definitely relatively more utility for a sneak attack.

Encouraged with his progress, Fang Hao became obsessed with manipulating the flashiness of the Primal Thunder Reinforcement spell and spent another month to restrain the flashy lightning / electric buzz at half the maximum power for 15 seconds. Fang Hao was excited. Even though he hadn't managed to upgrade his spell to master proficiency after spending three months on grinding it at less than max power, his effectiveness at using it had vastly improved. The Great Elder had shown no signs of returning, so he continued practicing the Primal Thunder Reinforcement spell.