Chapter 27: Practicing the Nine-Fold Palm

As the dark young master spoke, Ding Hao was shocked.

He had been extremely cautious, but he never expected that someone could deduce so much from his subtle actions.

"Really can't underestimate the intelligence of people in this world," Ding Hao sighed inwardly and asked, "What level are you, brother?"

The dark young master replied, "Third level of Qi Cultivation."

"Immortal Master!" Ding Hao smiled bitterly, "Senior, I am only at the third stage of Innate, how dare I live with an Immortal Master."

The dark young master laughed, "Are you afraid I will attack you? Don't worry, I am a disciple of the Nine Provinces Academy, I won't attack an Innate junior." As he spoke, he took out a jade token, which emitted a faint five-colored glow under the Heavenly Will system, with the words "Ascend to Heaven" faintly visible in the glow.

The Nine Provinces Academy has the Ascend to Heaven Pavilion, symbolizing breaking through the heavens and ascending to immortality.

This is the mark of the Nine Provinces Academy, impossible to fake.

The jade token had three characters, "Liu Yunkun," which was this person's name.

The people of the Nine Provinces Academy are trustworthy, being the highest academy of the righteous world. Moreover, Ding Hao has the blessing of an immortal, protected by Heavenly Will, so he doesn't need to fear anything.

Ding Hao then took out his waist token and showed it to the other, "Ding Hao from Wuzhou."

In this world, the first thing to do when making friends is to show your token, just like exchanging business cards.

Ding Hao is not a disciple of the Nine Provinces Academy, so his token doesn't emit a five-colored glow, but his name is clearly visible.

Liu Yunkun said, "The small courtyard I rented was originally for several fellow disciples, but they didn't come. You can come with me to take a look, the environment is really excellent, but the cost is a bit high."

Following Liu Yunkun, Ding Hao was immediately surprised. It was a large courtyard with three small courtyards inside, and the environment was truly top-notch!

"Senior Liu, how much is the daily rent?" Ding Hao asked in shock.

Liu Yunkun sighed, "This large courtyard rents for one and a half yuan stones per day, which is equivalent to 5,000 taels for each small courtyard."

Ding Hao shook his head, "Senior Liu, 5,000 taels for one night? I am only at the third stage of Innate, what kind of joke is this?"

Actually, he could afford it, and he was very satisfied with the place. But if others knew he had money, they might start to covet it, and he couldn't fully trust even the people of the Nine Provinces Academy.

Liu Yunkun sighed, "I also want to recoup some of my costs, not asking for the full amount. How about 3,000 taels per night?"

Ding Hao shook his head, "Can't afford it."

Liu Yunkun gritted his teeth and said, "2,500! This is a private courtyard! Staying in a restaurant outside for one night costs 1,000 taels!"

Ding Hao said, "We cultivators usually meditate overnight, even if you give me a thousand feet of housing, I will only meditate for one night."

Liu Yunkun had no choice and said, "2,000, no less!"

Ding Hao nodded, "2,000 it is, but don't arrange anyone else in my small courtyard."

Liu Yunkun also set a condition, "When my fellow disciples come, you must give it up!"

"Deal."

Subsequently, Liu Yunkun gave Ding Hao a token, and Ding Hao gave him 2,000 taels.

Liu Yunkun left to find the next guest, while Ding Hao entered the small courtyard, feeling secretly pleased.

"Only 2,000 taels to live in a private courtyard, and it even has a Heavenly Will canopy! Great, what a bargain! If possible, I wish I could stay a few more days!"

After entering the courtyard, Ding Hao immediately transferred the items from the lower-grade storage bag to the medium-grade storage bag. As for the lower-grade storage bag, he just threw it away; it was a hundred taels of silver trash, not worth keeping.

Actually, there wasn't much in the storage bag except for a dog, a Xiu Chun knife, some yuan stones, silver bills, and a bowl of spirit rice.

Then, Ding Hao sat cross-legged in the courtyard and sighed in his heart, "Drink and sing, how long is life? Mind calm, heart clear, not tainted by dust."

After entering a perfect state of tranquility, Ding Hao quickly entered a hazy space.

Tranquility is not the same as sleeping, nor does it mean the mind cannot think. It is a state.

After entering this state, Ding Hao's thoughts still moved, "Nine-Fold Fire Palm!"

...

What is most important in a world? Of course, it is the transmission of knowledge!

The previous generation, the generation before that, and even earlier... how many people have walked through this world, some went to the Immortal Cultivation World, some died, and countless generations were born and died here.

These people seem to have passed through life quickly, taking nothing with them.

But the torch of knowledge is passed on, leaving behind much—thoughts, books, cultivation techniques, skills, treasures, and so much more. These are the valuable legacies left by the predecessors, all part of the transmission.

In Ding Hao's previous life on Earth, the most important transmission was books and knowledge. Knowledge was passed down from generation to generation, constantly enriched, and new generations learned and developed it further.

Learning is a very hard task, and Ding Hao was not a studious person.

But this world is different; the transmission of knowledge here is not very dull!

For example, the cultivation techniques of martial arts are just a small spark of wisdom. Ding Hao obtained this spark of wisdom, placed it in his mind, and could instantly gain all the knowledge within. Even if Ding Hao wanted to forget, it wouldn't be that easy!

At this moment, all the movements, textual guidelines, and even precautions of the Nine-Fold Fire Palm appeared before Ding Hao's eyes.

"Nine-Fold Fire Palm, the palm force is nine-fold, learners cannot achieve it in one step. First, they must learn to stack the force of a single palm, then the force of both hands! The so-called nine-fold means the palm force is stored and not released, seemingly released but not fully, the first palm seems soft, but the subsequent palm force is continuous..."

Ding Hao learned quickly in the perfect state of tranquility. After half an hour, he opened his eyes.

By now, it was completely dark, but the Heavenly Will canopy emitted a faint glow, and there was a weeping willow in the small courtyard. Ding Hao began practicing the palm under the tree.

"Storing the palm force without releasing it, seemingly released but not fully, indeed makes a lot of sense."

Ding Hao pushed out a palm, which seemed light and weak, but halfway through, it paused, then suddenly pushed forward. In that pause, he had already summoned the spiritual energy from his dantian and released it in his palm.

As the double-stacked palm was released, there were two popping sounds in the air, followed by a faint flame aura around him.

"Double-stacked, success!" Ding Hao was pleasantly surprised.

One success made the subsequent practice easier. After practicing with his left hand, he switched to his right. The book mentioned that the Nine-Fold Fire Palm is best when both hands can release it, to surprise and defeat the enemy.

However, practicing the Nine-Fold Fire Palm really consumes spiritual energy.

As Ding Hao continued to practice, the pool of spiritual energy in his dantian gradually decreased, almost drying up.

"Can't continue, can't practice anymore." Ding Hao had to stop temporarily.

This temporary depletion of spiritual energy is temporary. Because his body has already adapted to having this much spiritual energy, it will slowly recover. However, this recovery is slow, sometimes requiring the consumption of pills, and sometimes drawing power from yuan stones.

Generally, one only draws power from yuan stones during battles, as it is too costly!

Ding Hao, of course, wouldn't be foolish enough to draw power from yuan stones; he still had spirit rice.

He wanted to take out the spirit rice to use it.

But when he reached into the storage bag, no matter how he felt around, he only touched the dog's head, not a single grain of spirit rice.

What's going on?

Ding Hao was puzzled, opened the storage bag, and poured out all the items.

Everything was there, except for the spirit rice, not a single grain remained.

"What's the situation?" Ding Hao carefully observed and found a grain of spirit rice stuck to Da Huang's nose.

"You bastard, you stole my spirit rice!"

Ding Hao almost fainted; five yuan stones for a bowl, that's 50,000 taels! All of it was eaten by this grass dog!

Da Huang barked twice, showing dissatisfaction, as if saying, "I was hungry! Spirit rice isn't tasty! I just ate a little!"

"Kid, be careful next time!" Ding Hao wanted to cut open the dog's belly. But even if he did, he wouldn't want to use it. He sternly said, "If you eat again, I'll beat you to death! And be more loyal in the future. Got it?"

"Woof." Da Huang seemed to understand human speech.

"Alright, it's late, let's go out for something to eat." He took Da Huang out of the small courtyard.

When they came out, they saw Liu Yunkun with a middle-aged man, who had rented the third courtyard.

"My name is Di Hu, I am at the late stage of Innate, a merchant." The middle-aged man showed his token to Ding Hao.

"Ding Hao." Ding Hao also showed his token.

Di Hu, wanting to befriend the Immortal Master Liu Yunkun from the Nine Provinces Academy, smiled, "Both of you, living together is a kind of fate. Why don't I treat you to dinner and some water wine at the nearby shop?"

Actually, Di Hu didn't really look up to Ding Hao, but inviting only Liu Yunkun would seem too opportunistic, and he feared Liu Yunkun wouldn't like it.

Liu Yunkun, with a youthful heart, smiled, "That sounds great."

The three of them went out and sat down at a small restaurant.

After sitting down, Ding Hao realized that the bristle beast meat and Wuzhou white were much cheaper here than in the border village.

"Of course, that's the outer domain, so the prices are higher. If it weren't for seeking forbidden drugs, who would go there to eat meat and drink? Ding Hao, you went there to buy forbidden drugs, right?" Di Hu casually asked.

Ding Hao again felt the high intelligence of the people in this world, hitting the nail on the head with one sentence.

Liu Yunkun, a student of the Nine Provinces Academy, frowned and said, "Ding Hao, I don't recommend you take too many forbidden drugs. Although they can provide shortcuts, they are like drinking poison to quench thirst! Long-term use will inevitably cut off your cultivation path! Be cautious!"

Ding Hao smiled, "No, I didn't take forbidden drugs, I just went to eat a bowl of spirit rice."

"Is that so." Liu Yunkun nodded, "Spirit rice is a good thing. Inner disciples of the Nine Provinces Academy can eat it once a month, and outer disciples once a year. The taste is excellent."

A bowl of spirit rice costs tens of thousands of taels, and Di Hu looked at Ding Hao with surprise, asking, "Ding Hao, are you a young master from somewhere?"

Ding Hao threw a large piece of bristle beast meat to Da Huang and smiled, "A small family, not worth mentioning."

Di Hu, seeing he didn't want to say more, didn't press further, just saying, "Ding Hao, with your cultivation, you should be careful when going to the outer domain."

Ding Hao nodded, "Yes, thank you for the warning, Brother Di."

As they were talking, a patrol team passed by outside, led by Zhou Genwei.

Zhou Genwei saw Ding Hao, first stunned, then walked over with a sinister smile.