Chapter 35: Dahuang Awakens

Fate plays tricks on people. When the hunter dug the pit, he probably never imagined it would be for himself.

After Ding Hao killed the hunter, he still had some morals and did not leave the body to rot in the wilderness. Instead, he dragged it back and buried it with the hunter's dog.

After this battle, Ding Hao felt he had lost a lot. Dahuang was severely injured, and he used two Ningbi Pills. He also used fifteen crossbow bolts. However, the hunter's storage bag was empty, containing only some fragmented spirit stones, a broken hard bow, a medium-grade dagger, a cultivation technique, and some white stone-like things that gave Ding Hao some hope.

"These stones are irregular in shape, about the size of a finger, but they are full of very intense and violent spiritual energy." Ding Hao tested them and found he could also draw spiritual energy from them.

However, the spiritual energy in the stones was strange and could not be refined into an original pill. Instead, it made him feel a bloodthirsty and murderous madness. After a while, many long hairs grew on Ding Hao's body, which scared him to death.

He quickly put the spiritual energy into the Star Absorption Stone.

This way, he soon returned to normal, and the Star Absorption Stone was very happy.

"Looks like I can't use these gray stones; I can only give them to the Star Absorption Stone."

Although the hunter's items were not valuable, Ding Hao still took the long bow, which had a much longer range than the crossbow. He also took the medium-grade dagger, but threw away the low-grade Xiu Chun Dao.

The only thing that gave Ding Hao some comfort was the old cultivation technique. In this world, the more precious cultivation techniques were stored in the Light of Wisdom in the City Lord's residence for easy transmission. However, some people would write them down on paper to spread them.

Generally, these techniques that spread were more common, although there were also more mysterious ones, like demon techniques or beast techniques.

The hunter's technique was called "Beast Shadow Body Technique." The first page read, "Suitable for beast-type immortal roots, elemental-type immortal roots are second, and tool-type immortal roots are ineffective. When cultivated to the extreme, the body becomes like a shadow beast, elusive and unpredictable."

Ding Hao was secretly delighted. He was a flame growth beast, which could be considered a beast-type immortal root, so he could cultivate it. When he used the crossbow to shoot the hunter, he noticed the hunter's excellent footwork, which was due to this technique.

While flipping through the technique, Ding Hao prepared to continue his journey to the native city.

He was almost there.

After walking for a while, Ding Hao suddenly felt Dahuang move in the storage bag.

"Awake?"

Ding Hao was delighted and quickly took Dahuang out. Unexpectedly, a beam of spiritual energy shot from Dahuang's body into the sky, reaching about four to five meters high before dispersing.

Ding Hao had seen this phenomenon too many times!

"How is this possible!" Ding Hao looked at the lying Dahuang, feeling stunned.

Dahuang's current state was like a human awakening, "Could it be that Dahuang, after swallowing two Ningbi Pills, actually awakened?"

Ding Hao had only heard of humans awakening, not dogs.

Awakening is best done with the help of the will of heaven.

However, here, outside the will of heaven, there would be no system to help, so it all depended on Dahuang himself! This made it much more difficult. After Dahuang released the signal, a faint spiritual energy attracted from the surroundings.

"It seems that awakening doesn't require the will of heaven. However, the spiritual energy in the air is much weaker than in the will of heaven system. I wonder if Dahuang can succeed." Ding Hao was nervous.

Awakening takes some time and cannot be disturbed, so Ding Hao guarded Dahuang.

Ding Hao was quite worried at this moment. What if someone passed by?

"I'll have to fight!" Ding Hao clenched his fists tightly.

Fortunately, it seemed that Dahuang's luck had turned. No one happened to pass by. After a while, a faint spiritual energy light appeared above Dahuang's body.

"Success!" Ding Hao's face showed joy as he watched the light, "It's about to form an immortal root! What is it?"

The light was blurry and slowly formed a human figure.

Although the figure was not very clear, Ding Hao felt it was a bit like himself.

"Me?" Ding Hao was a bit at a loss. He never thought he would become someone else's immortal root. However, for a loyal animal like a dog, the owner is everything, so forming an immortal root like the owner was not strange.

Ding Hao wondered what skills he would have with himself as the immortal root.

After Dahuang formed his immortal root, his wounds naturally healed. A lot of spiritual energy was used to heal, and the original pill Dahuang formed was very small, but it was enough for a dog.

"Woof woof." Dahuang got up and circled around Ding Hao, showing affection.

"It doesn't seem to have changed much." Ding Hao petted Dahuang, finding that awakening had not changed Dahuang much.

However, what Ding Hao did not expect was that Dahuang nodded in response to his words, "Hmm."

Ding Hao was almost shocked to sit on the ground, "Was that 'hmm' just now from you?"

Dahuang "hmm" again, and Ding Hao was sure.

This was too shocking. Ding Hao was stunned for a while before he patted Dahuang's head and smiled.

"Woof" and "hmm" are both monosyllables, but they represent different meanings. "Woof" is a bark, which all dogs except mute dogs can do. However, "hmm" is a word, and Ding Hao had never seen a dog that could speak!

"Can you say other things?"

Although Ding Hao wanted a speaking friend, Dahuang could only say "hmm." However, his barks had a strange flavor.

"It's okay, learning to speak isn't that simple. Children learn to speak at three years old, and parrots need 180 days of training after their tongues are cut. One day, I'll train you to speak normally!"

Dahuang "hmm" again, and the sound was like an old man coughing, which was quite funny.

"Your voice is really hard to listen to." Ding Hao laughed and added, "Also, if there are outsiders, don't 'hmm.' It's too shocking, and I don't want others to know yet."

Dahuang nodded without making a sound.

Ding Hao continued, "When you have free time, practice your tongue. The first phrase I'll teach you is... hmm, got it. Follow me, damn it! This is the most commonly used phrase in my hometown." Ding Hao was a bit wicked, teaching the dog to swear as the first phrase.

"Woof woof woof!"

"Damn it!"

"Woof woof woof!"

"Damn... it!"

"Woof... woof... woof!"

This encounter, which led to Dahuang's awakening, was a mix of misfortune and fortune.

However, due to this encounter, Ding Hao felt he needed to be more careful! These forest hunters seemed honest, but when faced with money and treasures, anyone could turn into a greedy wolf.

By evening, it started to drizzle.

Ding Hao finally reached the edge of the forest and could clearly see a tall, gray-black city on the plain ahead. In the drizzle, the city looked very old, with the walls covered in various vines.

Between the city wall and the forest was a hundred-meter-wide flat area, completely barren. As soon as Ding Hao stepped out, he would be seen.

"No rush." Ding Hao did not rush out. He put on a straw raincoat, which was like two pieces of grass board on his shoulders. He took out the "Domain Customs" and read that the city had four gates. The north gate was closest to the Duanmu family, and outside the gate was a large forest, which was convenient for demon and beast masters to enter and exit. Regular cultivators should avoid this gate as it was very dangerous.

"The north gate is close to the forest but very dangerous, so I can't go there! Of the remaining three gates, the south gate is closest to the merchant guild, so I'll enter from there."

With this in mind, Ding Hao spent some time reaching the south gate.

After waiting for a while, he saw a merchant caravan come out of the official road. Ding Hao then stepped out, following the caravan from a distance, but he did not dare to get too close.

At the south gate, he saw several burly guards with the character "Tang" on their chests, holding weapons and checking waist badges one by one.

"Didn't they used to not check when entering? What's going on today?" someone in the caravan asked curiously.

The burly guards replied, "We received orders from above today. We have no choice. Who wants to be out in the wind and rain?"

Ding Hao followed behind, thinking that they were probably checking for him. Zhou Genwei must have colluded with the young prince! That hateful young prince, he had no grudge against him, yet he targeted him multiple times!

The caravan members were checked one by one, and Ding Hao became nervous. Although he had changed his appearance, some aspects were hard to fake.

Soon, it was Ding Hao's turn. The Tang family guards were quite lax and said, "Waist badge."

Ding Hao did not speak, showing his waist badge, "Miyun Jing."

"Go ahead." The guard did not suspect him, as they were looking for a fifteen-year-old boy, not a yellow-faced man.

However, a young guard said, "Hey, you're at the third stage of innate cultivation and you're running a business?"

This made the other guard's eyes narrow. They were looking for a target at the third stage of innate cultivation! Capturing that little waste of space would earn them 200 spirit stones!

Seeing the guards gather around, Ding Hao chuckled and pulled out several black cloaks from his storage bag, saying, "Brothers, I have a spatial immortal root and specialize in these things. It's a small business, please be lenient."

The guards examined Ding Hao for a while but found no flaws, so they said, "Go in, third stage of innate cultivation, you're quite bold."

Ding Hao felt relieved and walked into the wide and old native city, feeling at ease.

"Finally here! Ha ha, time for a big shopping spree at the merchant guild!"