Chapter 35

"Hope it’s not really as I think it is..." Ding Qi took out a box from the side, his heart filled with worry as he thought.

Opening the box, he found a herb inside, the Red Ling Grass he had picked on the mountain yesterday.

The Red Ling Grass was not a particularly valuable herb, and it was not very old. It was incomparable to the Purple Lingzhi he had found before.

Back then, Ding Qi’s finding of the Purple Lingzhi was purely a stroke of luck. Otherwise, it would be impossible to find such precious herbs in the outskirts of the forest.

Every time he went up the mountain, he paid attention to his surroundings, and only yesterday did he encounter a not-so-precious Red Ling Grass.

Now, Ding Qi looked intently at the Red Ling Grass, his face showing a thoughtful expression.

To verify his guess, this herb would be just right.

Although the Red Ling Grass was not particularly valuable, it was a primary material for refining auxiliary cultivation drugs.

Such auxiliary cultivation drugs were very common in the martial world and were not particularly powerful, with very limited effects on increasing one’s cultivation.

Ding Qi intended to refine this drug using the Red Ling Grass in his hand.

He was not refining this drug to increase his cultivation. Based on his understanding of the drug, unless taken over a long period, its effect on cultivation would be minimal, and taking it would be meaningless. It could not be compared to the powerful effects of the Spirit Enhancement Pills he had refined before.

Refining this drug was to help Ding Qi determine the reason for the problem in his cultivation technique.

Ding Qi knew that if a martial artist encountered a bottleneck, they could only wait patiently, relying on time to gradually overcome it. Even if they took pills, the growth of their true qi would not increase.

He was refining the drug to verify this point.

"After taking the drug, if the growth of true qi remains unchanged, it means I am still in the bottleneck phase; but if the growth rate increases, then it could only be the terrible situation I’m guessing," Ding Qi thought, his brows furrowing.

If it was just a bottleneck, it would be manageable. At most, it would mean that the Innate Technique was somewhat special, and breaking through the bottleneck would take longer than ordinary martial arts. Waiting a few more days would allow him to break through and return to normal cultivation speed.

But if it was the other situation, it would be very bad.

Ding Qi understood what that meant.

He glanced at the Red Ling Grass in the box and muttered to himself, "After refining the drug tomorrow, I can make a judgment. I hope it’s not that situation."

Suppressing his worries, Ding Qi planned for the next day.

He needed to go to Liangcheng the next day to buy the other herbs needed besides the Red Ling Grass. These herbs were very cheap and would not cost much. Compared to the herbs he used to refine the Spirit Enhancement Pills, the price difference was huge. Even with the limited money he had, he could easily afford them.

Refining this drug was also very easy. After buying the herbs, he could refine it on the same day.

As planned, Ding Qi went to Liangcheng the next day, bought all the necessary herbs, successfully refined the drug, and swallowed it.

The verification results came out in the afternoon, and it was the situation Ding Qi least wanted to see. After swallowing the drug, his true qi experienced a short period of rapid growth, then quickly returned to its slow pace.

"This is not a bottleneck... but a cultivation deadlock."

After making this judgment, Ding Qi’s heart sank.

In the martial world, when cultivating a certain technique, due to one’s own limitations, it was very likely that one could not cultivate it to the highest level. After reaching a certain level, the cultivation would become extremely slow and difficult.

This situation was different from a bottleneck. There would be no sudden surge in true qi after breaking through, and it would continue indefinitely, known as a cultivation deadlock.

What Ding Qi was now facing was this situation. It indicated that his future cultivation of the Innate Technique would become extremely difficult. Without the aid of pills or other external substances, it was entirely possible that he would not break through the third level for over a decade, let alone the subsequent levels of the Innate Technique, which would only become more difficult to break through.

"But this is only the third level, the initial stage of the Innate Technique. How could it be like this..." Ding Qi thought, his face full of confusion and seriousness.

Martial artists usually only encountered cultivation deadlocks in the later stages of their techniques. Ding Qi had just cultivated to the second level, which, compared to the thirteen levels of the Innate Technique, was just the beginning. Entering a deadlock at this stage left him quite astonished.

At first, Ding Qi had always thought that his slow cultivation was due to a bottleneck.

What Ding Qi did not know was that the cultivation technique he was practicing was vastly different from ordinary martial techniques.

If it were just a martial technique, even the most advanced ones, they would not enter a cultivation deadlock so quickly. At most, they would find it difficult to cultivate further when reaching higher levels. In the early stages, they would only encounter a few bottlenecks, which could be overcome with some time.

The Innate Technique, however, was a cultivation technique for immortals.

Almost every two to three levels, the difficulty of cultivating the technique would increase dramatically. For those with good aptitude, the increase might not be too noticeable, and they could overcome it with their excellent aptitude. But for someone with ordinary aptitude like Ding Qi, the increase in difficulty was immediately felt.

His cultivation speed plummeted.

After making this judgment, Ding Qi also tried other cultivation methods to stimulate his slow cultivation speed.

First, he abandoned the Water Depth Method and set up a facility for short-term Fire Heat Method cultivation, hoping this new method would have some effect.

But to Ding Qi’s regret, the cultivation status did not improve.

With no choice, Ding Qi returned to the ordinary sitting meditation method, hoping for a miracle. However, the final result was that his cultivation speed not only did not increase but became even slower, dropping several times compared to the Water Depth and Fire Heat Methods.

In the end, after various attempts, Ding Qi did not find any method to increase his cultivation speed.

At this point, Ding Qi could not help but worry about the next year’s collection of Phoenix Tail Grass and the military service, his mood becoming anxious.

Based on his original estimate, to collect enough Phoenix Tail Grass to pay for his military service next year, he needed to cultivate to the third level of the Innate Technique. But with his current cultivation speed, it was clearly impossible.

Ding Qi took out the brocade scroll recording the Innate Technique from his pocket again, holding it with a look of deep thought: "Cultivating to the third level of the Innate Technique to increase the efficiency of searching for Phoenix Tail Grass to more than five plants per day was just my initial guess. But given the miraculous nature of the Innate Technique, everything is uncertain. It’s possible that I don’t need to cultivate to the third level to collect enough Phoenix Tail Grass."

Thinking this, Ding Qi put the brocade scroll away, and his originally anxious mood gradually calmed down.

Ding Qi knew that the slow cultivation speed of the Innate Technique could not be changed. What he could do now was to continue the Water Depth Method cultivation as usual, gradually increasing his true qi and trying to improve the efficiency of searching for herbs, waiting for the growing season of the Phoenix Tail Grass.