Chapter 9

Ding Qi, panting heavily, sat on a large rock by the mountainside. He had a bundle of firewood on his back and was taking a rest.

It had been over ten days since he returned from Liangcheng. During this time, Ding Qi had resumed the life of an ordinary village boy. He went up the mountain to cut firewood and gather phoenix-tail grass every day.

When he returned to the village, Ding Qi was somewhat worried that he had not passed the examination and would disappoint his parents.

What made Ding Qi both laugh and cry was that his parents, upon learning that he had not become a disciple of the sect, not only showed no disappointment but even breathed a sigh of relief. In their view, while becoming a sect disciple could lead to success, it also meant being involved in the violent affairs of the martial world, which made them uneasy.

Ding Qi's parents were honest mountain folk. To them, what mattered most was the safety and well-being of the entire family, rather than achieving great success and wealth.

This was why they felt relieved when they learned that Ding Qi had not been selected.

After learning his parents' thoughts, Ding Qi could only shake his head helplessly. Although he understood their concerns, he still hoped to leave the small village and explore the outside world. He wanted to make a name for himself in the exciting martial world.

Thinking about this, Ding Qi took a book out of his pocket.

This book was the Iron Sand Palm martial arts manual that Ding Qi had obtained in Liangcheng. Although only ten days had passed, the book showed more signs of wear than before.

Since he got the book, Ding Qi had read it countless times, but the strange feeling he had experienced before never reappeared.

In recent days, Ding Qi increasingly suspected that the initial feeling was just an illusion. The book was simply a manual for the Iron Sand Palm technique, nothing special.

Thinking about the Iron Sand Palm technique described in the book, Ding Qi frowned.

Even without the strange feeling, the Iron Sand Palm was one of the martial arts techniques Ding Qi had considered. Unlike ordinary martial arts, the Iron Sand Palm was one of the few techniques that came with cultivation methods.

After memorizing the cultivation methods in the book, Ding Qi practiced them whenever he had free time over the past ten days.

"The first step of this technique is going to take who knows how long," Ding Qi sighed helplessly.

The Iron Sand Palm is a common palm technique. The first step in cultivation is to use true qi to penetrate specific meridians in both hands.

Cultivating the Iron Sand Palm is quite difficult. According to the book, one must continuously insert their hands into iron sand to make them as hard as iron, so they are not injured by external objects.

Before engaging in this nearly self-destructive cultivation method, one must first penetrate the specific meridians in both hands according to the cultivation method in the book. Only with the nourishment of true qi can the damage to the hands be mitigated, making the practice more effective. Otherwise, following the book's content, one would not only fail to master the technique but also suffer significant physical damage, ultimately becoming crippled.

The reason for Ding Qi's frown was the cultivation of true qi.

The cultivation method in the book was more advanced than the basic true qi circulation technique Ding Qi had practiced for two years. It was much more effective in increasing the amount of true qi.

After recognizing the advantages of the Iron Sand Palm cultivation method, Ding Qi immediately and decisively abandoned his original method and switched to this one.

Even so, Ding Qi's true qi cultivation speed remained slow, making him feel frustrated about his poor cultivation aptitude.

According to the book, with his current true qi cultivation speed, it would take at least three years to complete the first step. The book also mentioned that if one had excellent aptitude, it would take only three months to complete the first step, and even with average aptitude, it would take a year. This made Ding Qi extremely frustrated, as he realized how poor his cultivation aptitude was.

To achieve a basic level of proficiency in this technique, one would need to reach the third level. Based on his cultivation aptitude, Ding Qi estimated it would take over forty years, which he could not bear.

In fact, as one ages and passes the peak of physical strength, the cultivation speed would slow down even more. Most people would not be able to reach the third level. Even if he were willing to spend decades cultivating this third-rate technique, he would not achieve the third level after passing his physical peak. This reality made Ding Qi feel very frustrated.

This originally highly anticipated manual was, in fact, useless to him.

At this moment, Ding Qi truly understood why the Iron Sand Palm, despite being widely known, was rarely practiced. For people with average aptitude and no medicinal assistance, even knowing the cultivation method made it useless.

Ding Qi sighed deeply as he put the book back in his pocket.

"After some time, I'll go back to Liangcheng again. Maybe I can find a martial arts technique more suitable for me," Ding Qi thought, not giving up.

Since he knew the manual was useless to him, Ding Qi did not plan to continue cultivating it and decided to make other plans.

This time, he would not stay at home for too long.

When Ding Shan brought him back, he naturally discussed with Ding Qi's parents about taking Ding Qi out to be an apprentice. As Ding Qi had expected, his father agreed after a brief consideration.

Before leaving, Ding Shan said that the matter would be arranged soon, and they should wait for the news. This meant that Ding Qi would soon have another chance to go to Liangcheng.

Thinking about this, a smile appeared on Ding Qi's face.

If he could go to Liangcheng, he could visit the weapon shop again and find a martial arts technique suitable for him.

Although he did not become a disciple of the Qingyun Sect, he did not give up on the idea of cultivating martial arts and exploring the martial world. Ding Qi did not want to spend his entire life in the mountains, like other children, farming and hunting. He wanted to find a martial arts technique suitable for him, gain the ability to protect himself, and then venture out into the world.

Although he would not stay at home for too long, he wanted to contribute more while he was there. He never missed a day of gathering firewood and herbs.

Next, Ding Qi brought the basket in front of him, rummaged through it, and smiled again.

There were two phoenix-tail grass plants in the basket, today's harvest.

"I wonder if increasing the amount of true qi in my body will help me find more phoenix-tail grass on the mountain," Ding Qi thought hopefully.

Since he had thoroughly refined the true qi given to him by Old Zhang, although the amount of true qi in his body had been slowly increasing over the past year, his efficiency in finding phoenix-tail grass had not improved, remaining at the rate of one plant every three to four days.

Finding two herbs in one day, as he did today, was a rare occurrence.

After much thought, Ding Qi concluded that after refining the true qi, he had encountered a bottleneck. Additionally, the amount of true qi he could cultivate in the past year was too little to break through the bottleneck, which prevented him from improving his efficiency in finding phoenix-tail grass.

Only when the amount of true qi in his body increased to a certain level would his efficiency improve again.

With this thought, Ding Qi got up from the rock, picked up the basket, and walked down the mountain.

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