Chapter 34

"Indeed, the martial arts techniques passed down by the great sects in the Jianghu are not to be compared with ordinary skills." Ding Qi returned from the direction of the Tongfu Inn, secretly practicing the new martial arts techniques he had learned, and thought happily to himself.

Since Ding Qi bought the Beast-Avoiding Powder last time, he followed his usual schedule, practicing the Water Depth Technique every day, and also used the facilities to practice various martial arts techniques.

However, sometimes, like today, he would go to the Tongfu Inn to learn some unique Qingyun Sect martial arts techniques from Old Bai.

Over this period, Ding Qi and Old Bai's relationship had become increasingly close. As long as he was willing to put in some effort, he had a chance to learn some techniques from Old Bai.

These martial arts techniques were unique to the Qingyun Sect and were much more profound than ordinary techniques.

Moreover, with his heightened senses and physical abilities far surpassing those of ordinary people, Ding Qi quickly mastered the techniques he learned from Old Bai, which greatly helped his cultivation.

The only thing that made him feel a bit regretful was that he could only learn some basic Qingyun Sect techniques from Old Bai. The various palm techniques, sword techniques, and other secret techniques of the sect, Old Bai would never teach him.

After returning to the medicinal garden, while practicing his newly learned techniques, Ding Qi couldn't help but think about the先天功 (Xiantian Gong).

The Xiantian Gong that Ding Qi was cultivating had already shown its miraculous effects in many aspects. The most obvious was the significant enhancement of his five senses, continuous improvement of his physical functions, and increasingly clear thinking.

However, as he continued to cultivate, Ding Qi also discovered some issues with the technique.

For some reason, the true qi, which should significantly increase the strength and stamina of the cultivator, did not manifest in Ding Qi.

Even with ordinary martial arts techniques, cultivators should have far exceeded the strength of ordinary people by the second level. With a wave of their hand, they could easily break a small tree.

But Ding Qi's situation was different. His strength was not even enough to break a tree with a wave of his hand, let alone surpass a strong man. He was still at the level of an ordinary person.

The true qi of the Xiantian Gong did not enhance his strength at all.

It was as if this true qi had no such function.

Initially, Wu Zhaizhu and other bandits and robbers were so wary of him because of his superior body techniques, palm techniques, and sword skills that left people in awe.

"Could it be that the true qi of the Xiantian Gong cannot enhance strength!" Ding Qi worriedly thought to himself.

However, he quickly dismissed this idea. He was very clear that the Xiantian Gong he was cultivating was a highly advanced technique.

Even ordinary martial arts techniques could greatly increase the strength of cultivators, let alone the Xiantian Gong. He speculated that it was just because the Xiantian Gong was special, and the effect of true qi enhancing strength would come later. As long as he continued to cultivate, the effects would become apparent in the higher levels.

"Regardless of the cultivation of the higher levels, the most important thing now is to break through the current bottleneck and cultivate to the second level." Thinking about his recent cultivation of the Xiantian Gong, Ding Qi said to himself.

On the third day after returning from Liangcheng, Ding Qi's cultivation of the Xiantian Gong unexpectedly hit a bottleneck, and he could not break through to the third level.

Martial artists often encounter various bottlenecks when cultivating martial arts techniques, especially when they are about to break through a certain level, as Ding Qi was now.

During the bottleneck period, the growth of true qi becomes extremely slow.

At this time, cultivators can only wait patiently and practice systematically until the bottleneck is broken.

Cultivation bottlenecks are common among martial artists, and Ding Qi was well-prepared for this. When he first encountered it, he was not too surprised.

The bottleneck encountered during the early stages of cultivation usually does not last long, generally not more than ten days, and at most, it would take half a month to break through.

He was almost done with the second level of the Xiantian Gong, and even in the bottleneck state, it would take no more than ten days to complete the second level.

At that time, the bottleneck state would naturally be resolved.

Time passed day by day as he cultivated. Ding Qi finally completed the second level of the Xiantian Gong and began to cultivate the third level.

On this day, Ding Qi saw off Zhang Tao, who had unexpectedly appeared in Qixia Town due to a Qingyun Sect mission, and stood outside the house for a long time, silent and speechless, ultimately sighing deeply in his heart.

Today, Zhang Tao, who was already a core disciple of the Qingyun Sect, had received a mission from the sect to carry out a task around Qixia Town.

The two childhood friends, who had not seen each other for nearly a year, met again.

At first, both were quite happy to see each other. However, the situation soon changed.

After the initial pleasantries, they were surprised to find that they no longer had anything in common to talk about.

They could no longer chat and laugh as they used to.

After all, Zhang Tao was a high-ranking core disciple of the Qingyun Sect.

Most of what Zhang Tao talked about were the internal conflicts and power struggles among the inner and core disciples of the Qingyun Sect, which Ding Qi knew nothing about.

When Ding Qi and Zhang Tao finally realized that they had nothing to talk about, the meeting ended in an awkward atmosphere.

In fact, this had been a long time coming.

When Zhang Tao first entered the Qingyun Sect, the two still exchanged letters frequently.

Zhang Tao often wrote excitedly about the various aspects of the Qingyun Sect, and Ding Qi frequently wrote back, engaging in exchanges.

However, as time passed, their correspondence became less and less frequent.

If it weren't for Zhang Tao's mission to Qixia Town, he wouldn't have come to the medicinal garden.

Ding Qi felt helpless about the increasingly distant relationship with his childhood friend.

Both Ding Qi and Zhang Tao knew that after today, their contact would only become more distant until they no longer had any contact at all.

"Ah!" Recalling the happy times they spent together as children, Ding Qi sighed deeply in his heart.

He knew that their innocent childhood days were gone forever and would never return.

After a long silence, he finally shook his head and dispelled the thoughts that had arisen in his mind.

Ding Qi now had no time to indulge in sentimentality. He had other important matters to attend to.

In recent days, Ding Qi had to focus all his attention on the Xiantian Gong.

Because he had discovered a problem with his cultivation of the Xiantian Gong.

After completing the second level of the Xiantian Gong, the bottleneck did not disappear as he had expected. The cultivation of the third level was still as slow as before.

Originally, according to what Ding Qi knew, the bottleneck should naturally disappear when a martial artist breaks through a certain level, but the situation with the Xiantian Gong was not like that.

He had been puzzled by this problem for a long time. However, after several days of repeated thinking, Ding Qi had a very bad suspicion.