Chapter 27

(Thanks to 'Roaring Octopus' for the generous tip)

On this day, after seeing Ding Shan off, Ding Qi shook his head: "It seems I can only use the phoenix-tail grass to resolve the conscription issue."

Today, he learned from Ding Shan that his second uncle was indeed embroiled in the struggle for the position of sect leader. Since he was originally promoted by Deputy Sect Leader Sha, he was affected by this conflict, losing his position as the head of the branch and becoming an outer sect member again, returning to Liangcheng to oversee a few shops.

The conscription issue from the government was once again imposed on the Ding family.

After hearing about the conscription issue from Ding Shan and learning that Ding Shan would inform the Ding family, Ding Qi spent a day gathering five phoenix-tail grass plants from the mountains.

Recalling the surprised look on Ding Shan's face, Ding Qi smiled.

Ding Qi did not intend to let the Ding family know about the complications regarding the conscription. Recently, he learned that the Ding family was busy with Ding Yong's wedding. This was clearly not the right time to bring up the issue and add to their worries.

However, thinking about the future search for phoenix-tail grass, Ding Qi frowned slightly.

Today, he was able to find five phoenix-tail grass plants in less than a day, largely due to good luck.

He was not able to find five phoenix-tail grass plants every day. On average, he could only find about three to four plants per day.

"At this rate, it will be quite difficult to use phoenix-tail grass to offset the conscription," Ding Qi thought, feeling somewhat helpless.

Based on his estimation, to use the method of paying with phoenix-tail grass to offset the conscription, he would need to find at least five plants per day on average. A safer number would be six or even seven plants per day.

Phoenix-tail grass is a highly seasonal herb with a survival period of only about half a year. Even though Jingzhou has a unique geographical feature with no distinct four seasons and the coldest time of the year is still warm, this does not change the fact that once the season arrives, the phoenix-tail grass will wither and disappear from Qixia Mountain within two to three days. It will only regrow in late spring of the following year. The total time available for harvesting phoenix-tail grass is only about half a year.

Recalling the information about phoenix-tail grass from the notice he had read before, Ding Qi thought: "The notice says that to use phoenix-tail grass to offset the conscription, one needs to prepay 100 plants within half a year. This is not a difficult task for me."

Although there is only a little over a month left before the season when the phoenix-tail grass will wither, Ding Qi was confident that he could gather the 100 plants required by the government before the deadline.

The phoenix-tail grass he had gathered on the mountain this month had not yet been sold, and he already had dozens of plants. With the remaining month, he could easily gather the rest by going up the mountain to pick them.

As long as he prepaid the 100 plants, the remaining number could be paid to the government before the two-year deadline.

"To gather the required number in the remaining year, I need to increase my efficiency to about five or six plants per day. Everything depends on the先天功 (Xiantian Gong)," Ding Qi thought.

Based on his understanding of Xiantian Gong, to achieve the goal of finding five or six plants per day, he needed to master the first three levels of Xiantian Gong.

At his current cultivation speed, he was not sure if he could achieve the third level before the next harvest season. However, a method recorded on the brocade that increased cultivation speed gave him confidence that he could achieve it before the next year.

This method was one of the few recorded on the brocade that could increase cultivation speed without taking pills.

Most of these methods that did not require pills were actually much stricter for Ding Qi than taking pills. However, the method he was thinking of did not require such strict conditions and was something he could do now.

"According to the brocade, the 'Water Depth and Fire Heat' cultivation method can increase cultivation speed by two to three times. Even though it might be painful, I have to try it," Ding Qi thought, recalling the content recorded on the brocade.

The cultivation method he was thinking of, called the 'Water Depth and Fire Heat' method, required reaching the second level of Xiantian Gong to be effective.

Not long ago, Ding Qi reached the second level, making him eligible to use this method.

This cultivation method was not uncommon in the martial arts world. It involved continuously applying external pressure to the practitioner to increase cultivation speed.

The specific method involved placing the practitioner in a continuous hot bath or under a waterfall. Although this method was quite arduous, it was indeed very effective.

Many high-ranking martial arts sects used this method to train their disciples.

The method recorded on the brocade was similar, with the only difference being that it required the practitioner to assume several special postures during cultivation.

Apart from that, there was nothing particularly special about it in Ding Qi's view.

"The continuous hot bath 'Fire Heat' method would be very troublesome for me to set up. But the 'Water Depth' method..."

Recalling the considerable waterfall he had seen in Qixia Mountain not long ago, Ding Qi couldn't help but smile.

Although 'Water Depth' and 'Fire Heat' are two different cultivation methods, they use the same principle. No matter which method is chosen, the effect is the same, and the benefits cannot be叠加 (stacked).

The 'Fire Heat' method requires specialized equipment, which is not easy to set up. However, he had discovered a waterfall in the mountains by chance while gathering herbs, which allowed him to easily use the 'Water Depth' method for cultivation.

"With the help of that waterfall, the conscription issue will not be a problem. The only downside is that I won't be able to sell the phoenix-tail grass to make pills for the next one or two years," Ding Qi thought to himself.

Although he had to stop making pills for the next one or two years, he did not really take it to heart, only feeling a bit regretful.

Without the conscription issue, he could indeed sell the phoenix-tail grass to make pills, and the effects of the pills were quite significant.

However, gathering enough herbs for one pill took several months, which was too time-consuming and inefficient. This way, it would not have much of an effect.

To make the pills have a significant impact on his cultivation, he needed to go deep into the mountains to gather those precious herbs. This was not something that could be achieved in a short time and required him to cultivate Xiantian Gong to a high level.

This trip to the waterfall to cultivate would also accelerate his cultivation, which was quite fitting.

Thinking about this, the serious expression on Ding Qi's face relaxed.