Fang Hao spent around two weeks so trying to manually evolve the Fire Serpent spell. He started with attempting to modifying the contemplation image. Unfortunately, even after a month; his attempts weren't successful. Wasting a month in grinding and not getting any gains had irritated Fang Hao quite a bit. On the other hand, he realized that his successful cultivation of Primal Vajra Aura Scripture was a huge lucky break. Attempting to evolve/create spells/cultivation techniques without inspiration and epiphanies was too hard apparently.

Instead of wasting time more on manually evolving the Fire Serpent spell, Fang Hao opted to invest 22 skill points and auto-evolve the Fire Serpent spell to the Scorching Horned Serpent Spell. He tried out the spell, and while the size and shape of the serpent didn't differ too much, it's color had taken a deeper crimson shade and two curved horns the length of his hand and a width of two fingers had erupted from the Scorching Horned Serpent's head and its hood had been compressed. But considering the fully uncoiled size of the serpent, the two horns didn't seem more than a minor decoration.

As for additional methods to earn experience, Fang Hao found that it was actually limited compared to the alternatives available to Qi Condensation Stage disciples. While hunting of Grade 3 Spirit Beasts (Equivalent to Foundation Establishment stage) was still available, there was a maximum cap to the number of Spirit Beasts a Junior Core Disciple could slaughter and submit for contribution points.

Even if he just wanted to slaughter spirit beasts for xp and forgo the contribution points, it wouldn't be tolerated as the identity token he carried with him would alert the higher ups to wanton slaughter of Grade 3 spirit beasts. Each Disciple could slaughter and submit only four Grade 3 spirit beasts per year. While he hadn't killed and earned xp from Foundation Establishment stage cultivators / spirit beasts; he doubted that a grand total of four spirit beasts per year would maintain his progress of level-ups.

Of Course if he was attacked first and was acting in self defense, it was completely justified to slaughter Grade 3 spirit beasts. But apparently, a Junior Core Disciple would be hard pressed to find enough Grade 3 Spirit beast to meet the max slaughter quota in an entire year. Spirit beasts comparable with Foundation Establishment disciples were rare in the area where Junior Core Disciples could hunt. Looks like “defending” himself from his greedy colleague's unprovoked attacks would have to be the main source of xp points if he opted to hunt for spirit beasts.

However, Fang Hao wasn't sure whether his laughably simple set-ups would be able to ensnare Junior Core Disciples. And the danger level definitely increased if he aimed to confront groups of possibly late Foundation Establishment disciples in a death match with his current cultivation. He would need to cultivate to at least the 6th Step (of the 3rd Seal) of the Divine Vajra Body Scripture to have a reasonable assurance of safety when faced with group attacks of late Foundation Establishment cultivators.

More than regular spell bombardment from groups, he was more concerned about desperate Foundation Establishment cultivators unleashing Forbidden Techniques and various life saving measures as a last ditch effort. He couldn't guarantee his survival in such a scenario of multiple forbidden techniques unleashed against him by late to peak foundation establishment disciples with his present cultivation.

Another option was the non-lethal matches in the Arena. Although he could participate in only one match per month, at least some steady experience was assured once he ran into a true bottle-neck in the Tantric Yang Codex. But if he used all his spells, it would be equivalent of exposing all his capabilities; so he couldn't be assured to win every match.

The chores in the sect's safe zone for Foundation Establishment Disciples were a lot fewer than those for Qi Condensation Disciples. Furthermore, these chores had stringent requirements on the knowledge and capability of the disciple in question. Sadly there were no convenient chores like slaughtering spirit beasts for xp available anymore. Spirit Beasts raised to the Foundation Establishment stage (Grade 3) would be highly valued and not just wantonly slaughtered for meat.

In addition, many of the chores required the disciple to be a primary member of the respective palace regardless of contribution points. This alone closed a lot of convenient alternatives to Fang Hao. As for the chores of his Primary Palace? He knew jack shit about Formations and Restrictions, so that obviously was a no-go.

His only viable options for earning xp other than grinding the Tantric Yang Codex, was to hunt for Grade 3 Spirit beasts and hope he got lucky, ambush dumb greedy disciples with a setup where he looked vulnerable or fights in the arena. The hunting of spirit beasts would be too inefficient if Grade 3 spirit Beasts were as rare as he assumed them to be. Setting up fellow disciples was downright dangerous at his present cultivation. And he didn't want to reveal his cards in the arena too soon.

He could invest time in learning about Formations and Restrictions for the Palace specific chores; but it would be very time consuming and he didn't want to start learning this additional field without consultation and guidance from his master. After all, his master was head of the said Palace, and could provide the best guidance in the field of formations and restrictions. Even if he did want to ask his master's guidance about formations and restrictions, he didn't have a way to contact his master.

After his unsuccessful attempt at evolving the Fire Serpent spell manually, Fang Hao resumed his grinding. He spent another six weeks to grind the Scorching Horned Serpent Spell to the Expert Tier. His grinding of this evolved spell was much slower than the other Foundation Establishment spells. The skill pots he earned for this made up for the cost of evolving the Fire Serpent spell in the First place. Furthermore, the experience he earned, allowed him to reach the third level as a master Mortal Body Refiner. He switched his primary cultivation to Qi cultivation and observed his Status Screen.

STATUS SCREEN Name: Fang Hao Race: Human Gender: Male Age: 29 years Titles: Lord Lard, Privileged Glutton Class: Cultivator Unused Skill Points: 758 Realm: Foundation Establishment Level: 3 (3) Current Experience: 768570 (767332) Level Up at Experience: 915285 Active Effects: Stats Physique: 40.8 Finesse: 35.5 Spirit: 40.5 Qi 114.1/114.1 Traits Calm Lucky Primal Instinct ?? Immortal Monk's Prospective Disciple ?? 1st Seal - Primordial Marrow 2nd Seal – Behemoth's Hide Manuals and Scriptures Sublime Qi Manual (1st Realm, 10th Layer) Divine Vajra Body Scripture (2 seals, 3 moves) Aura Fist Manual (+) (5th Layer) Primal Vajra Aura Scripture (*) (2nd Layer) Spells and Techniques Primal Thunder Reinforcement (Master) Scorching Horned Serpent (Expert) Wind Sickle (Expert) Qi Barrier (Expert) Frost Shackles (Expert) Vajra Strike (Expert) Phantom Aura Steps (Perfection) Veiling Mist (Expert) Illusion (Expert) Telekinetic Arm (Expert) Call Storm Clouds (Expert) Thunder Web (Expert) Corrosive Splash (Expert) Imperial Roar (Expert) Hovering Leaves Step (Expert) Aura Blast (Perfection) Thunder Pigeon (Expert) Blood Thorn Vine (Expert) Aura Sacrifice (Perfection) Directed Discharge (*) (Expert) Codexes and Tactics Tantric Yang Codex

'Not bad at all. I just hope that the sweet sweet xp pinyata of the Tantric Yang Codex doesn't end anytime soon. When it does end, rapid progress like this will be a bit troublesome to achieve. The theoretical peak is 108 layers of seals, which is a long way to go. But then again, my cultivation base has a long way to go too.' lamented Fang Hao as he resolved to thoroughly destroy and recreate all the previous layers of the defensive seals for the Tantric Yang Codex whenever he attempted to layer another set of seals so as to keep the xp pinyata in place as long as possible.