Chapter 36

In the following months, Ding Qi spent all his time cultivating. Before he knew it, it was already close to summer, the season when the phoenix-tail grass began to grow.

His cultivation had not shown any improvement.

Not long ago, including Ding Qi, many people had already started to search the mountains for the phoenix-tail grass, but they found nothing. It wasn't until the day before yesterday, after a heavy rain, that the phoenix-tail grass seemed to wake up all at once and sprouted together.

After the phoenix-tail grass began to grow, more and more herbalists started to appear around the mountain paths.

By evening, the herbalists began to descend the mountain. It was common to see them walking towards Qixia Town at the end of the mountain path, or gathering in small groups to walk together.

Those with joyful expressions on their faces had mostly had a good harvest that day. However, such people were in the minority; most had disappointed looks, having failed to pick any phoenix-tail grass.

Among those who had no harvest, some would look at those who had picked herbs with envy, but most were too exhausted from a day of searching and climbing to even feel envious, and simply hurried along with disappointed expressions.

Since the rain, Ding Qi had started to climb the mountain to pick phoenix-tail grass. Today, he had been busy all day and was now on his way back to Qixia Town.

As he was about to reach the town, someone caught up to him and patted his shoulder.

"Ding brother, did you have any luck today?" the person asked.

Ding Qi turned around, his face rather gloomy, but he managed to force a smile and said, "It's Zhao brother. Haha, my luck wasn't good today, nothing to show for it."

The person Ding Qi called "Zhao brother" was actually named Zhao Yang, an apprentice at the pharmacy in Qixia Town. He had some dealings with the herb garden where Ding Qi worked, making him a half-acquaintance of Ding Qi's.

Since both of them came down the mountain in the evening, they often met on the road and would greet each other.

Hearing that Ding Qi had no harvest, Zhao Yang's face showed a rather self-satisfied expression.

It was no wonder he was so pleased; since he started climbing the mountain, he had found phoenix-tail grass for two consecutive days, which was quite lucky.

Having had a good harvest for two days in a row, Zhao Yang had originally wanted to boast to Ding Qi, but seeing Ding Qi's gloomy face, he knew that Ding Qi's mood was very bad.

He also understood that it wasn't a good time to boast.

Subsequently, Zhao Yang comforted Ding Qi, "Even if you didn't have any luck today, don't worry about it. Luck is always unpredictable. As long as you keep climbing the mountain, you will eventually have a good harvest."

Zhao Yang had met Ding Qi several times in the past few days and each time saw him with a disappointed look, guessing that Ding Qi had not had any harvest in the past few days, which was why he looked like that.

Soon, the two arrived at the town and parted ways.

Looking at Zhao Yang's retreating figure, Ding Qi frowned and walked towards the herb garden.

Four phoenix-tail grass plants lay quietly in the basket on his back, which was his harvest for the day.

He had not failed to pick phoenix-tail grass; instead, he had harvested four plants, a number that would make ordinary people gape in amazement.

If Zhao Yang knew about Ding Qi's harvest today, he would probably be so shocked that his jaw would drop. It was hard to say what he would think about Ding Qi's astonishing harvest.

Compared to Ding Qi, Zhao Yang's total harvest over the past few days was less than what Ding Qi picked in one day. Compared to Ding Qi, Zhao Yang was like a small fry, completely incomparable.

In the past few days, Ding Qi had picked several phoenix-tail grass plants every day, but even so, he did not show any signs of happiness on his face; instead, he became increasingly irritable.

In the following days, Ding Qi continued to climb the mountain to pick herbs, and his expression became increasingly worse.

On this day, Ding Qi returned from the mountain and sat solemnly at the table.

"Not enough," he muttered to himself after a long silence.

Since he started picking herbs, Ding Qi had a good harvest every day, but it was far from the six or even seven plants he had expected.

At first, he still held out hope, thinking that his luck was not good in the first few days.

It was only after more than ten days since he started picking herbs that Ding Qi could accurately determine the average number of phoenix-tail grass plants he picked each day.

Now, he could only pick four phoenix-tail grass plants a day.

He was still far from the number needed to offset his military service.

"My family has no savings left because of my brother's wedding. Uncle Er spent all his money to secure his position as an outer gatekeeper. Lao Bai and Mr. Tong are the few people I know who have some money, but they have already lent all their money to others for military service issues. Now..."

To make up for the shortage of phoenix-tail grass, he would have to spend money to buy it from elsewhere, but after much consideration, Ding Qi could not find a way to get the money.

For a moment, a wave of irritability washed over Ding Qi.

Taking two deep breaths to suppress his irritability, Ding Qi calmed down: "There must be a way; I just overlooked something. As long as I stay calm and think carefully, I will find a way."

He knew that such a state of mind would only affect his thinking. To truly find a solution, he needed to calm down first.

With this in mind, Ding Qi prepared to meditate to stabilize his thoughts and then carefully consider how to solve the problem.

The innate technique had the effect of calming the mind and settling the spirit. Once he entered the cultivation state, his thoughts would quickly calm down.

However, today was different.

After entering the cultivation state, Ding Qi's irritability did not dissipate but gradually intensified.

As time passed, the various worries and concerns that had been suppressed in his heart were magnified a hundredfold. The issue of military service kept surfacing in his mind.

By the time Ding Qi realized something was wrong and wanted to stop cultivating the innate technique, it was too late. The true qi of the innate technique in his body had already lost control and started to circulate automatically.

As the true qi circulated, the scenes in Ding Qi's mind kept changing. At some point, even the matter of Zhang Tao, which he had forgotten months ago, resurfaced in his mind.

Since their last meeting, the two had had no further contact. The occasional correspondence had completely stopped.

Originally, his childhood playmate had become a promising martial arts expert, which was quite enviable for Ding Qi, who dreamed of wandering the martial world.

However, after obtaining the innate technique, Ding Qi knew that even if his talent was not outstanding, he could still achieve something with effort.

Now, his cultivation of the innate technique had entered a difficult stage, and it was no longer possible for him to achieve success in the future. His dream of wandering the martial world was gradually fading away, and thinking about this, Ding Qi felt even more irritable.

At this point, the blood and qi in Ding Qi's body surged, and the true qi ran rampant, as if trying to tear his body apart. His mind was filled with illusions and negative emotions, which he could not shake off no matter how hard he tried.

Under normal circumstances, with Ding Qi's temperament, he could easily suppress these negative emotions and prevent them from disturbing his mind. However, this time, no matter what he did, his mind was still filled with illusions, and his thoughts ran automatically, completely out of his control.

Ding Qi was shocked to realize that he could no longer control his thoughts.

Ding Qi did not know that this was the manifestation of a heart demon, a common obstacle for cultivators.

He was now facing the heart demon, a challenge that all cultivators must go through.

At the same time, this was the beginning of a cultivator's transformation from a mortal body to an immortal one.

After passing the heart demon challenge, a cultivator's temperament would undergo a complete transformation.

Although this was the first and easiest heart demon challenge a cultivator would face in the initial stage of the innate technique, compared to the various terrifying heavenly tribulations that cultivators would face later, it was insignificant.

However, because it was the first time, cultivators had no experience in resisting the heart demon, making it particularly dangerous. Many cultivators who had just embarked on the path of cultivation died in this heart demon challenge.

For formal cultivators, there would usually be senior members of their sect watching over them, leaving various precautions to help cultivators successfully pass the heart demon challenge and prevent accidents.

Unfortunately, Ding Qi had obtained the innate technique by chance and was completely unaware of the dangers and precautions involved. There was no senior member of his sect to watch over him, and he had inadvertently triggered the heart demon challenge today.

Now, everything depended on him to handle it.

If he could not overcome the heart demon, he would eventually die from the continuous circulation of true qi, which would deplete his blood and qi.