Chapter 2

The next day, Ding Qi walked home with his head hanging low, carrying a half-full basket, looking dejected.

Ding Qi's home was at the western end of the village, and he had just emerged from an old, dilapidated mud house at the eastern end.

The house from which Ding Qi emerged was where the old man Zhang used to live. Now that Old Zhang was dead, the house stood empty. With no one living there for over ten days and its remote location, it looked eerie and unwelcoming.

Ding Qi had a reason for appearing here. He had come to Old Zhang's place to look for something.

However, judging from Ding Qi's dejected appearance, it was clear he had not achieved his goal.

"I've searched several times, it seems Uncle Zhang really didn't leave anything behind," Ding Qi thought, his face grim and extremely frustrated.

What Ding Qi was looking for was a martial arts manual called the "Star Absorption Technique."

When Old Zhang told stories to Ding Qi, he often mentioned that in his previous life, he was a top martial arts expert. He practiced a supreme martial arts technique called the "Star Absorption Technique," which was far superior to the basic qi circulation method that Ding Qi practiced.

Ding Qi had once tried to learn this highly praised martial arts technique from Old Zhang, but Old Zhang refused to agree, no matter what.

Now that Old Zhang was dead, Ding Qi had even less of a chance.

However, in the stories Old Zhang used to tell, many martial arts experts liked to record their techniques before they died, leaving them for someone with the right destiny.

Ding Qi planned to search here, hoping to find the manual for the "Star Absorption Technique."

This was not the first time Ding Qi had searched for such a martial arts technique. He had searched both this house and the places where Old Zhang often stayed, but found nothing.

Last night, Ding Qi thought of a few places he had overlooked, so he came back today to check again. He had hoped to find something, but in the end, he returned empty-handed.

"Probably, Uncle Zhang didn't expect to encounter such an incident and die unexpectedly," Ding Qi thought helplessly.

Looking back at the dilapidated mud house not far away, Ding Qi doubted he would come here again.

Although the old hunters said that Old Zhang likely died while fighting a tiger over ginseng, few people truly believed it. Most villagers thought Old Zhang was just unlucky and met his end at the hands of a tiger. The appearance of the five precious ginseng plants nearby was just a coincidence.

However, Ding Qi felt that the old hunters' judgment was closer to the truth.

Old Zhang had once mentioned to Ding Qi that there was a way to restore his vitality.

By using some precious herbs and following the secret methods in his memory, he could create a special medicine to reinvigorate his body.

One of the herbs Old Zhang mentioned was a hundred-year-old ginseng.

This explained why he was in the deep mountains and why he fought with a tiger.

The truth was indeed close to what Ding Qi imagined.

Old Zhang had indeed gone deep into the mountains to find precious herbs and fought with a tiger over the ginseng.

What he didn't expect was that he would not only fail to obtain the herbs but also die in the forest.

Naturally, he had no chance to leave behind his supreme martial arts technique.

Techniques like the "Star Absorption Technique" were usually passed down orally from master to disciple, without being written down. The requirements for talent were also extremely strict.

Ding Qi was just a village boy with ordinary talent, so how could he catch the eye of Old Zhang, who had the memory of a supreme expert?

Naturally, Old Zhang had no intention of passing on this technique to Ding Qi.

Old Zhang's plan was to restore his strength using the medicine he had prepared, then find someone with exceptional talent, have them perform the traditional three kneels and nine bows, and pass on the "Star Absorption Technique."

However, things did not go as planned.

While searching for the herbs to make the medicine, he died unexpectedly.

In the end, the "Star Absorption Technique," which Old Zhang often mentioned, disappeared with his death and would never appear in the world again.

If Old Zhang had known that this trip into the mountains would be dangerous, he would have passed on the "Star Absorption Technique" to Ding Qi, even if Ding Qi's talent was poor, to prevent the technique from being lost.

After a short while, Ding Qi returned home.

After unloading the dry wood from his basket, Ding Qi sighed in relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Ding Qi was nearly thirteen years old and was considered a half-laborer in the family. Besides helping with farm work, collecting firewood in the mountains was one of his main tasks. Today was no exception.

After putting down the basket, Ding Qi took out a large bundle of dry wood. Then, he felt around the bottom of the basket and pulled out a small, unremarkable grass, his face lighting up with joy. The grass looked like any ordinary weed in the mountains, but given how carefully Ding Qi handled it, it was clearly special.

This grass was not an ordinary weed. The locals called it "rooster tail grass," while scholars outside the mountains called it "phoenix tail grass." It was a medicinal herb found on Qixia Mountain.

The herb had a unique, colorful appearance like a rooster's tail, but the colors were very faint and could only be seen up close. From a distance, it looked like any other weed.

Qixia Mountain was the name of the mountain range near Zhangjia'ao, stretching for hundreds of miles and being one of the largest mountains in Jingzhou.

At first glance, the name might suggest a beautiful place, but in reality, it was a harsh and dangerous area, filled with venomous insects and miasma.

During the rainy season each year, the seven-colored poisonous miasma would spread through the mountains, looking like a rainbow from a distance. This is why it was given such an elegant name, though no one knew when it started.

The herbs from the mountains were one of the few valuable resources.

Due to its harsh environment and location at the border of multiple countries, this area was long a no-man's land. Even now, if you asked the locals which country they belonged to, most wouldn't know.

Phoenix tail grass, as a medicinal herb from Qixia Mountain, had significant medicinal value. The government even purchased it. One plant could provide enough food for the Ding family for three to five days, which is why Ding Qi was so happy.

Harvesting this herb was not easy.

Unlike other herbs, phoenix tail grass did not have a fixed growing environment and was mixed among the dense weeds and forests in the mountains. It looked very similar to ordinary weeds, making it hard to find.

The only way to find it was to search the forest inch by inch. Often, it took more than ten days to find one plant.

The main force in searching for phoenix tail grass in the mountains was not adults but children.

Strangely, compared to adults who were more thorough, children were more likely to find this herb. On average, for every one plant an adult found, a child found two or three.

Ding Qi had heard that this was because children had more "spirit" than adults, and phoenix tail grass, being a spiritual plant, was easier for them to find.

Ding Qi was nearly thirteen, and by the standards of the mountain people, he was approaching the age where he would lose his "spirit." In the coming years, finding phoenix tail grass would become increasingly difficult.

However, Ding Qi was surprised to find that in the past six months, he had been finding phoenix tail grass more frequently. What used to take him over ten days now took five or six, and sometimes even three or four. Occasionally, he would find two or three plants at once.

Soon, Ding Qi discovered the reason for this strange phenomenon.

It all came from the true qi in his body.

Over the past six months, as Ding Qi continuously refined the true qi that Old Zhang had passed to him and integrated it into his body, he found it easier to locate phoenix tail grass. It felt as if the phoenix tail grass and the true qi in his body had a mysterious connection.

This discovery delighted him. He eventually concluded that as he refined more true qi, he found it easier to locate phoenix tail grass. As long as he continued to cultivate true qi, he would find it even easier. This was one of the main reasons he did not give up on cultivating true qi.

With the joy of finding the phoenix tail grass today, the disappointment of not finding the martial arts manual gradually dissipated. By the time he went to bed, he had completely let go of the matter.

At this moment, what Ding Qi thought about more was finding a few more phoenix tail grass plants the next day to improve his family's life and let his hungry sister eat more meat.