Chapter 24

In Liangcheng, after Ding Qi sold the phoenix-tail grass and the purple ginseng, he indeed managed to gather enough silver to buy the remaining herbs needed for refining the medicinal pills. In half a day, Ding Qi bought all the various herbs he needed and then returned to Qixia Town with a full load.

Over the next two days, Ding Qi devoted all his attention to refining the medicinal pill called the "Spirit Enhancing Pill."

Although the refining process involved many steps, in general, each step was not difficult. Even a layman could easily refine it step by step, making it quite simple. However, since this was his first time refining a medicinal pill, to be on the safe side, what should have taken half a day, Ding Qi took nearly two days to complete, being extremely cautious.

Looking at the black pill with a strong medicinal smell in front of him, Ding Qi felt quite excited.

"Using so many precious herbs to refine this Spirit Enhancing Pill, I wonder how effective it will be." Holding the black pill in his hand, Ding Qi thought.

Originally, he knew about some medicinal pills that could aid cultivation, and he had also learned some formulas from Old Bai. However, none of the medicinal pills he knew required as many precious herbs as the Spirit Enhancing Pill in his hand to refine.

For this reason, he was quite looking forward to the effects of the pill in his hand.

Thinking about this, Ding Qi no longer hesitated and put the pill in his mouth, swallowing it.

After a quarter of an hour, Ding Qi frowned, his face full of confusion: "There's actually no effect at all! Could the pill have failed to refine properly?"

Now that he had taken the pill for some time, apart from the extremely bitter taste left in his mouth, there was no other effect, which made Ding Qi frown.

He was very doubtful whether he had failed in the refinement.

Thinking of the failure, Ding Qi's face turned sour. He had spent a great deal of effort refining the medicinal pill, and now it had failed, which was hard for him to accept.

"No, it can't be a failure." Recalling the process of refining the medicinal pill over the past two days, Ding Qi shook his head.

He was certain that he had followed the method recorded on the brocade exactly, without any mistakes.

Just as Ding Qi was puzzled, he suddenly seemed to think of something and his face showed a look of enlightenment.

"Maybe it's like this." Ding Qi pondered the idea that had just come to him and stood up from the table.

Then, Ding Qi climbed onto the bed beside him, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes slightly. This posture was the same as when he practiced the先天功 (Xiantian Gong).

In fact, just as Ding Qi was showing, he was now planning to circulate the Xiantian Gong.

As Ding Qi entered the state of Xiantian Gong, for some reason, a faint smile appeared on his face, as if the worry about the pill not working had never existed.

After an hour, Ding Qi came out of the state of Xiantian Gong and opened his eyes.

Now, he had figured out why the Spirit Enhancing Pill he had taken earlier had not taken effect.

"Before, the medicinal pills I knew would take effect as soon as they were taken. But the Spirit Enhancing Pill I refined is different. The medicinal effects are only extracted and refined when the Xiantian Gong is circulated." Ding Qi concluded in his heart.

At first, this was just a guess for Ding Qi. However, the hour of practice that followed truly verified this.

Recalling the pleasant feeling he had experienced an hour ago while practicing, Ding Qi's face was full of smiles.

He had never experienced such a wonderful feeling in his previous practice.

Due to the effect of the pill, the speed of his practice in the past hour was almost unimaginably fast.

Although he could not accurately estimate how much his practice speed had increased with the help of the pill compared to before, Ding Qi estimated that it was at least ten times faster.

The pleasant feeling of practice made Ding Qi so engrossed that he didn't want to stop.

Ding Qi's plan for today was to practice the Xiantian Gong. After refining the Spirit Enhancing Pill, he had nothing else to do.

Now, after experiencing the miraculous effects of the pill, Ding Qi naturally intended to spend the rest of the day practicing.

Then, he closed his eyes slightly again and quickly entered the state of Xiantian Gong.

Ding Qi took three days to completely refine the medicinal power of the Spirit Enhancing Pill. Although the time spent refining was not long, the effects of the pill were astonishing.

After refining the medicinal power in his body, the amount of true qi in Ding Qi's body increased by nearly half. In terms of continuous practice, it was equivalent to the amount of true qi he would gain from practicing for two to three months. The practice speed was more than ten times faster than what Ding Qi had initially estimated, reaching over twenty times the normal practice speed.

This result made Ding Qi extremely happy, to the point where he even considered giving up his usual practice and going to the mountain to dig for phoenix-tail grass to sell for money, then buy herbs and take the pill to practice.

However, after calming down, Ding Qi quickly abandoned this idea.

The reason he could gather the herbs to refine the Spirit Enhancing Pill in such a short time was because he had accidentally obtained the purple ginseng. Without the purple ginseng, it would have taken him several more months to refine the Spirit Enhancing Pill.

If he calculated carefully, going to the mountain to dig for phoenix-tail grass to buy herbs and refine the pill might not be as cost-effective as dedicating all his time to regular practice.

He couldn't always have such good luck to accidentally dig up a piece of purple ginseng.

Relying solely on digging phoenix-tail grass to gather money to buy herbs and refine the Spirit Enhancing Pill would take several months each time. The increase in true qi from the pills refined at this speed would be almost the same as the increase from his regular full-effort practice.

Thinking about this, Ding Qi couldn't help but feel a bit discouraged.

However, he quickly regained his spirits. Ding Qi was clear that knowing the powerful effects of the medicinal pills recorded on the brocade was not without meaning for him.

Deep in Qixia Mountain, there were many herbs more precious than purple ginseng, unlike the outer areas of the mountain where most herbs had already been picked and were hard to find. As long as he could venture deeper, he could gain a lot. If he had the opportunity to pick those precious herbs, he could gather the money to refine the pills in a short time.

This way, using the pills to increase his practice speed would become feasible.

However, venturing deep into Qixia Mountain was extremely dangerous, far more so than the area where he currently picked phoenix-tail grass.

The area where he currently picked phoenix-tail grass, though rarely visited by people, was still considered the outer area of the mountain.

"If I can break through to the third or fourth level of the Xiantian Gong, entering the mountain should be no problem." Ding Qi thought hopefully.

Before he obtained the Xiantian Gong, Ding Qi had the idea of going deep into the mountain to pick herbs, which was very risky.

Now that he had practiced the Xiantian Gong, the situation was very different.

Ding Qi knew that the Xiantian Gong was a very profound cultivation method. Just reaching the first level had very unique effects. He believed that once he reached the third or fourth level, he would have the ability to protect himself, and even entering the deep areas of Qixia Mountain would not be dangerous, allowing him to pick herbs with peace of mind.

His most urgent task now was to practice the Xiantian Gong to the level where he could protect himself in the deep areas of Qixia Mountain. Before that, he could only continue practicing step by step.