Chapter 44

(Listening to everyone for a few recommendation votes.)

Today, as usual, Ding Qi entered Qixia Mountain early and soon ventured deep into the forest. As he picked medicinal herbs and moved deeper into the forest, half a day quickly passed.

Ding Qi was now in the deepest part of the forest.

A strong smell of blood permeated the air around him. A wild boar lay dead not far from Ding Qi, and he looked at it, sighing helplessly.

This wild boar was much larger than an ordinary one, a rare boar king in the forest. The boar king's fur was like needles, and its long tusks made it look extremely fierce. Even though it was now dead, one could still imagine its ferocious appearance when alive.

In fact, the boar king was indeed known for its ferocity and danger in the forest. Even tigers in the mountains would retreat and stay far away when they encountered such a boar king, not daring to provoke it.

If hunters on the mountain encountered such a boar king, they would not only fail to hunt it but might even lose their lives. Even if three or five hunters traveled together, they would run as far away as possible when they encountered it.

Everyone's survival could only be determined by fate.

However, the boar king met its match today with Ding Qi.

When the boar king encountered Ding Qi and charged at him, it was pierced through the head by a single finger from Ding Qi, who had activated the Great Strength Technique, and died instantly.

Since venturing deep into the forest, this was not the first time Ding Qi had encountered a fierce beast like the boar king. He had already encountered tigers in the deep mountains several times. Once, Ding Qi was even surrounded by dozens of wolves in the deep mountains.

However, it seemed that the beasts' instincts told them that Ding Qi was a very dangerous presence. After circling around him for a while, they would quickly leave in fear.

Ding Qi did not make things difficult for them.

He only killed beasts like the boar king that attacked him first.

It was already past noon, and Ding Qi decided to take a short rest before continuing to pick medicinal herbs. Looking at a segment of blood-red vine in his hand, Ding Qi was quite pleased.

This vine was a precious herb called Blood Vine, one of the herbs he had picked in the morning.

The Blood Vine was extremely rare and more valuable than herbs like ginseng and purple ginseng. Moreover, this Blood Vine was already forty years old, making it even rarer. The value of this Blood Vine in Ding Qi's hand was among the top three of all the herbs he had collected in the past two months.

Being able to pick this Blood Vine made today's harvest quite good.

Looking at the precious Blood Vine in his hand, Ding Qi couldn't help but recall his situation over the past two months of alchemy practice.

"After entering the mountain, I can pick a lot of precious herbs every day. However, the herbs needed for alchemy now are not comparable to before."

He seemed to be thinking of something and sighed involuntarily, then put the herb back into the basket. His originally happy mood suddenly became serious.

Ding Qi went up the mountain to collect herbs to refine elixirs for cultivating his innate power. However, as his innate power reached the eighth level, he found that the Spirit-Enhancing Pills, which had previously significantly increased his power, were no longer very effective.

The medicinal power provided by the elixirs could no longer meet Ding Qi's needs.

After trying all the elixir formulas recorded on the silk, Ding Qi discovered that only two elixirs, which were much more precious than the Spirit-Enhancing Pills, could meet his cultivation needs. The other formulas were no longer effective due to his cultivation reaching the eighth level and his realm suddenly improving.

These two effective elixir formulas required extremely precious herbs, all of which had to be over fifty years old to be refined.

Due to their limited effectiveness, Ding Qi had already given up refining elixirs like the Spirit-Enhancing Pills and instead sold the various herbs he collected in the forest that were less than fifty years old to buy the materials needed for the two effective elixirs.

The Blood Vine he had just picked, although extremely precious, would also be sold because it was not needed for alchemy.

The two elixir formulas required a wide variety of very precious herbs. In the past two months, Ding Qi had only managed to gather enough herbs to refine two batches of each elixir.

The first attempt at refining failed, leaving him speechless for half a day.

It was no wonder that Ding Qi failed. After all, these two elixirs were extremely powerful but also very difficult to refine, far more complex than the Spirit-Enhancing Pills he had refined for the first time.

In the past two months, he had only managed to successfully refine three effective elixirs after much hard work.

These three elixirs were all very powerful.

However, it only took four days for Ding Qi to fully absorb the effects of these three elixirs. For the remaining time, he could only rely on the slow method of meditation to cultivate.

Thinking about this, Ding Qi sighed helplessly again.

Relying on the magical power of the three techniques, Ding Qi could ignore any dangers in the forest and quickly gather various precious herbs.

With the speed at which Ding Qi obtained various precious herbs, even core disciples of major sects like the Qingyun Sect could not match his current situation in terms of the supply of various herbs.

The amount of herbs he collected could easily supply the elixirs needed for the cultivation of more than ten martial artists. Even for those high-level martial arts that were notoriously difficult to cultivate, his current efficiency in collecting herbs was more than sufficient.

By logical reasoning, Ding Qi should be able to cultivate rapidly every day with the help of elixirs. However, in reality, this was not the case.

The refined elixirs could only support a few days of cultivation. After the elixirs were consumed, he had to rely on the slow method of meditation to cultivate.

This left Ding Qi feeling quite helpless.

After experiencing the rapid cultivation from taking elixirs, the slow method of meditation had become a kind of torture.

Every time he meditated, the extremely slow growth of his true qi made him speechless.

Ding Qi knew that his current supply of herbs was already luxurious, something that ordinary cultivators could hardly imagine.

Despite feeling helpless, Ding Qi could only go up the mountain every day and try to collect as many herbs as possible.

Thinking of the two elixir formulas that he both loved and hated, Ding Qi shook his head with a bitter smile.

Actually, among the elixir formulas that could effectively increase cultivation, there was another formula besides these two.

This formula required even more precious herbs and a more complex refining method than the two he was currently using. It was the last elixir recorded on the silk.

The elixir refined from this formula was extremely powerful.

Ding Qi could not use it now. He would only be qualified to take it after reaching the tenth level. Otherwise, it would not only fail to increase his power but also severely damage his body due to its overwhelming medicinal power.

"Besides, whether this elixir can even be refined is uncertain," Ding Qi muttered to himself, thinking of the formula.

The herbs needed for this elixir were extremely rare, mostly unavailable in the market. It would take much more effort than the current two elixirs to obtain them.

If it were just that, Ding Qi could still refine it with time and effort. However, there was one problem that made him believe it was impossible to refine this elixir.

To refine this elixir, herbs over a hundred years old were needed.

Herbs over a hundred years old were extremely rare even in Qixia Mountain. In the past two months, Ding Qi had not seen a single one despite venturing deep into the forest.

Not only in the mountains, but also in places like herb shops, there were no herbs over a hundred years old. Even if Ding Qi had money, he had nowhere to buy them, which troubled him greatly.

He could not obtain herbs over a hundred years old.

Moreover, this elixir required not just one but four different herbs over a hundred years old, making it even more difficult to gather them.

Ding Qi did not dare to have any hopes of refining this elixir.

Besides, this matter was still too far away from him. He would only need to consider it after reaching the tenth level of his cultivation. Thinking about this, Ding Qi stopped thinking further.

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