Chapter 11

Amidst the parents' repeated instructions at home to "study well" and "don't cause trouble," Ding Qi followed his second uncle and left the small mountain village once again.

On the carriage, Uncle Ding Shan talked to him about the apprenticeship.

Unexpectedly, the job Uncle Ding Shan arranged for him was different from what Ding Qi had imagined.

Ding Qi learned that his apprenticeship was actually related to the Qingyun Sect. Specifically, it involved helping to manage one of the sect's properties.

During the half-day journey, Ding Qi also learned more details.

It turned out that recently, Uncle Ding Shan had been noticed by the bigwigs in the sect, leading to a series of promotions and increased power. Seizing this opportunity, Uncle Ding Shan secured him a good position.

This position was to be the assistant to an outer sect member. If he performed well, in a few years, he could handle things independently. With even better luck, the sect might entrust him with managing one of its outer sect properties, making him a shopkeeper. Many outer sect members who had connections within the sect started from this assistant position.

Becoming a respectable businessman was far better than being an apprentice outside, learning a trade. Even more so, once he had his own business network and connections, Ding Qi could completely sever ties with the Qingyun Sect and start his own business.

Although the outer sect members were positions within the Qingyun Sect, they had a relatively shallow connection to the sect. In essence, they were more like professional managers hired by the Qingyun Sect to oversee its properties.

Many people, after establishing their own business networks, would resign from their outer sect positions and start their own businesses.

The path Uncle Ding Shan arranged for him was exactly this. For a common mountain villager, this was an extremely rare and significant opportunity.

From his second uncle, Ding Qi also learned that the place where he would be an assistant was not in Liangcheng. Although it wasn't in Liangcheng, they still had to go there once to handle some procedures for his new job.

This wasn't the first time Ding Qi was going to Liangcheng, so the novelty of the journey had worn off. After half a day's travel, he was already feeling drowsy. Fortunately, just as he was about to fall asleep, they finally arrived in Liangcheng.

Handling the procedures required someone from the Qingyun Sect to come, and from his second uncle, Ding Qi learned that it would take a few days for the sect's representative to arrive. This situation suited him well. He also needed a few days to visit the weapon shops in Liangcheng and select a suitable martial arts technique.

Over the next few days, Ding Qi would run to the weapon shop every day and spend most of the afternoon there.

This time, Ding Qi didn't rush to buy the martial arts manuals but first selected the ones that met his requirements and memorized the cultivation methods recorded in them.

There were nearly ten manuals that met Ding Qi's requirements. Although these manuals weren't thick, memorizing all of them was impossible.

In fact, Ding Qi only memorized the initial parts of these techniques.

His idea was simple: as long as he memorized the initial parts and practiced according to the methods, he could judge whether he was suitable for the technique based on the descriptions of the cultivation requirements in each book. Once he found a technique that truly suited him, he could come back to Liangcheng to buy it.

Otherwise, buying nearly ten cultivation techniques would be a significant expense, and Ding Qi was unwilling to waste so much money.

The fat owner of the weapon shop quickly understood Ding Qi's intentions when he saw that he only looked but didn't buy. For the past few days, every time he saw Ding Qi, his face was dark. If it weren't for the connection with Uncle Ding Shan, he would have kicked Ding Qi out long ago.

Ding Qi ignored the fat owner's unpleasant expression. As long as the fat owner didn't really kick him out, he would continue memorizing.

Today, like the previous days, Ding Qi stayed in the weapon shop until late in the afternoon before returning.

As soon as he returned to the courtyard behind the blacksmith's shop, Ding Qi immediately went into his room, picked up a pen and ink, and started writing something.

"Done." Ding Qi looked at the content he had recorded on the paper and nodded in satisfaction.

This paper recorded the martial arts techniques he had memorized in the weapon shop today.

Even just the initial parts of nearly ten techniques were not a small amount for Ding Qi. To prevent forgetting them later, he recorded everything he had memorized each day when he returned.

After that, Ding Qi rechecked the content on the paper against his memory, ensuring there were no errors, and then carefully stored the copied content before turning off the light and going to sleep.

After several days of memorization, Ding Qi had almost memorized all the techniques he needed. The next day, he spent another half-day to finish memorizing and copying all the content. The Qingyun Sect's representative arrived in the afternoon and completed the handover procedures.

The person who came to Liangcheng to handle the procedures was a Qingyun Sect steward. Unlike the respectful attitude shown to Li Steward during the previous two visits, this time Uncle Ding Shan's attitude towards the steward was quite indifferent. On the contrary, the steward was extremely respectful to Uncle Ding Shan. This made Ding Qi truly feel that his second uncle's status in the sect had indeed been significantly elevated. At least, his position was now above that of a sect steward.

Although Uncle Ding Shan had secured him the position of assistant to an outer sect member, the specific location was not yet determined. This time, the Qingyun Sect's representative not only handled the relevant procedures but also brought the news of where Ding Qi would be going.

According to the Qingyun Sect steward, he was to go to a property in Qixia Town to help manage a medicinal garden.

From the name, it was clear that Qixia Town was related to the nearby Qixia Mountain, the largest mountain in the region. Indeed, Qixia Town was located near Qixia Mountain and served as a hub connecting the surrounding mountain villages to Liangcheng. It was roughly halfway between Zhangjia Ao and Liangcheng.

As an important transportation hub, the Qingyun Sect had several properties in Qixia Town, and the medicinal garden was undoubtedly one of them.

When Uncle Ding Shan heard that Ding Qi was going to the medicinal garden in Qixia Town, he was initially surprised, then showed a slight bitter smile.

"Turns out it's there. I was quite familiar with the old Li who used to manage the medicinal garden; we were old friends. If it were a few months ago, I could have asked him to take good care of you. But recently, the sect has been frequently reassigning personnel, and the person in charge of the medicinal garden is no longer old Li. It's a bit of a pity."

After the Qingyun Sect steward left, Uncle Ding Shan said with a sigh.

If the person in charge of the medicinal garden were Uncle Ding Shan's acquaintance, Ding Qi would have received some special treatment. Now that the person had changed, that advantage was lost.

However, Uncle Ding Shan soon smiled again and said, "I know the general situation of managing the medicinal garden. Although it's not the easiest job among the sect's properties, it's not too hard either. I was worried that the sect's assigned tasks would be too heavy, but since it's managing the medicinal garden, I'm relieved. When you get there, just listen carefully to the master of the medicinal garden and learn the skills to manage it well. In a few years, you might be able to handle things independently."

"Since this job won't be too busy, it shouldn't interfere with my martial arts practice."

Ding Qi felt reassured.

He had been quite concerned about whether his future job would affect his martial arts practice. Now that he had a general idea from his second uncle, he could finally feel at ease.

Next, Uncle Ding Shan introduced him to some of the details of managing the medicinal garden. Although Uncle Ding Shan had never handled such a job before, the information he provided gave Ding Qi a general understanding of what to expect.

By evening, Uncle Ding Shan had finished introducing everything he knew and told Ding Qi that he would take him to Qixia Town the next day.

During the few days waiting for the procedures, Ding Qi had already prepared for the trip, so there was no need to pack.

The next day, Uncle Ding Shan took him to Qixia Town.