Chapter 38: The Tang Family of the Tang Dynasty

Ding Hao, standing at the classroom door, took a deep breath and firmly gripped the letter containing secrets given to him by his mother.

The martial technique Ding Hao practiced was the Nine-Fold Fire Palm, but this palm technique could also be modified into a fist technique.

The martial technique records state that the Nine-Fold Fire Palm can use the fist technique for the first eight folds, and at the ninth fold, it can suddenly switch to the palm technique to release spiritual fire, making it even harder to guard against.

Therefore, this Spirit-Charged Finger Guard was truly the most suitable for Ding Hao to use.

Originally, the Nine-Fold Fire Fist was already very powerful, and if paired with this powerful finger guard, its power could be described as terrifying!

Ding Hao, with a thought, asked, "How many spirit stones for this finger guard?"

Shang Yun said, "No rush, let's take a look at the third ordinary treasure."

She lifted the third red cloth, revealing a pair of gloves, larger than the finger guard, which could cover the entire hand. Unlike the Spirit-Charged Finger Guard, which was embedded with immortal-refined meteoric iron, these gloves were embedded with the claws of a spiritual beast.

Shang Yun introduced, "These are Cloud Leopard Gloves, embedded with the claws of a cloud leopard, which are very sharp, and are also a type of ordinary treasure. Although the production and power of these gloves are inferior to the Spirit-Charged Finger Guard, they have one advantage..."

As she spoke, Shang Yun took out a grayish-white stone-like object, put on the Cloud Leopard Gloves, and held the stone in the center of her palm, then said, "The greatest advantage of these gloves is that they can use beast stones to help channel spiritual energy. You are at the third stage of innate cultivation, even if you are a genius, your spiritual energy is still insufficient. Buying these gloves is just right for you, and the price is also cheaper by several hundred spirit stones. What do you think?"

Ding Hao nodded and asked, "How many spirit stones for each of these?"

Shang Yun said, "The Spirit-Charged Finger Guard is one thousand spirit stones, and the Cloud Leopard Gloves are six hundred spirit stones."

Ding Hao said, "Then I'll take the Spirit-Charged Finger Guard."

Although Shang Yun was well-intentioned, Ding Hao did not need to conserve his spiritual energy. The Spirit-Charged Finger Guard was more expensive, but it could be used all the way to the late innate stage! It was important to know that when Ding Hao's Nine-Fold Fire Palm was fully cultivated, it could release spiritual fire! The Spirit-Charged Finger Guard only blocked the fingers, allowing the palm to normally release spiritual fire. The Cloud Leopard Gloves, which covered the entire hand, would prevent the release of spiritual fire.

"Alright," Shang Yun indicated for the two red wooden trays to be taken away, leaving only the Spirit-Charged Finger Guard.

Ding Hao did not rush to pay, and said with a smile, "Manager Shang, I am a friend of the shop owner downstairs in Wuzhou City. The price should be discounted a bit, right?"

Shang Yun said, "Young Master, one thousand spirit stones is already the friend price! Don't look at me as the manager here, but my authority is very limited." Shang Yun added, "Nine hundred and fifty spirit stones, the lowest! Any lower, and it's not worth it!"

Ding Hao said, "Manager Shang, to be honest, I will eventually come to buy your Monkey Tail Sword. Be a bit more friendly, and I will definitely take care of your business in the future! A bit cheaper."

Shang Yun, unable to haggle further, finally said, "Nine hundred, any lower, and it's really not worth it."

Although Ding Hao said he would come to buy the Monkey Tail Sword, she only took it as a joke.

The Monkey Tail Sword costs five spirit stones; how many people can afford it?

Seeing this, Ding Hao did not haggle further and said, "Then give me some hand crossbow arrows as well."

Hand crossbow arrows were not expensive, and Shang Yun had fifty brought up. Of course, the free ones were of lower quality, not as good as the batch he had taken from Secret Cloud Jing.

Ding Hao smiled bitterly, "Manager Shang, you really know how to do business; these arrows are too cheap."

Shang Yun said, "Young Master, you are the one who knows how to do business; our shop is really losing money by doing business with you!"

Although she said this, Ding Hao knew she was just joking; how could a businessman lose money?

He then took out ten spirit stones and said, "Give me a few better arrows."

In no time, eleven arrows with secret script steel arrowheads were brought in. These arrows could be used multiple times and would cause continuous bleeding when shot into a person, making them very sharp and powerful.

Shang Yun said, "These arrows cost one spirit stone each. Since Secret Young Master is a regular customer, I'll give you one more."

Ding Hao was very satisfied with the batch of arrows. As they say, war is about money, and this was indeed true. Spending money on this equipment greatly increased his strength. These secret script steel arrowheads could pierce medium-grade armor!

If the pale-faced man Secret Cloud Jing had used these arrowheads, Ding Hao's medium-grade vine armor might not have been able to defend against it!

At the weapon counter, Ding Hao spent a total of nine hundred and ten spirit stones, and now he still had over a hundred spirit stones in his storage bag!

The spirit stones he had earned through hard work in Wuzhou City for two months were now almost all spent!

Shang Yun asked again, "Young Master, is there anything else you want?"

Ding Hao asked, "I saw you using a beast stone earlier. How much does it cost?"

Beast stones, which Ding Hao had obtained from a hunter's storage bag, were extracted from the bodies of powerful spiritual beasts or mutated spiritual beasts.

Although these beast stones contained a fair amount of spiritual energy, they also contained too many impurities, making them unusable by humans. They were generally used in the refinement of weapons and were very cheap.

Shang Yun said, "This item is sold at the miscellaneous goods counter, very cheap. However, I must remind Secret Young Master, if beast stones are used improperly, they can easily turn you into a demon path immortal, which would be counterproductive."

"I naturally know," Ding Hao was quite satisfied. Although he very much wanted the Monkey Tail Sword, it was too expensive, so he would have to buy it later.

Going downstairs, he found the spirit rice counter.

Regarding the purchase of weapons, which involved personal combat secrets, the shop owner did not ask many questions. Hearing that Ding Hao also wanted beast stones, he led Ding Hao there. Of course, he also warned him a few times, saying that using too many beast stones could turn him into a beast form, which would be a demon path immortal, and the Heavenly Will System would reject him, leading to his downfall.

Ding Hao was not using them himself, so he did not take it seriously.

This item was indeed cheap; he spent fifty spirit stones and bought a large pile of beast stones.

At the miscellaneous goods counter, Ding Hao also saw the spiritual poison used by Secret Cloud Jing, which cost three spirit stones per bottle. He casually bought two bottles and then removed two secret script steel arrowheads, soaking them in the bottles of spiritual poison.

At this point, Ding Hao still had thirty spirit stones in his storage bag. He smiled and said, "Shop owner, is there any restaurant or tavern here? I won't take these last few spirit stones back; let me treat you to a drink."

The shop owner smiled and said, "That would be great. There is a Tuoba Tavern in the city, near the central arena. I'll make the arrangements and go with you right away."

...

Just as Ding Hao and the shop owner were heading to the tavern, inside the Tang Family's shop.

"What, a third-stage innate cultivator went to see Shang Pei?"

In the shop, there were spies among each other, and the shop owner in Wuzhou City was already under their surveillance.

After receiving the report, Lone Wolf immediately summoned Zhou Genwei.

"It must be him! How many third-stage innate cultivators dare to enter the city alone? It must be him! Shang Pei and Ding Hao were close in Wuzhou, this guy is definitely using a disguise!" Zhou Genwei concluded.

Lone Wolf's face was grim, "These gatekeepers are a bunch of idiots, they didn't even know when someone entered the city! If it weren't for our spies in the Tang Family's shop, we wouldn't have known when the kid left after buying things!"

"Little waste of space!" Zhou Genwei cursed, then asked, "Do you know what he bought?"

Lone Wolf shook his head, "This is a confidential matter of the Tang Family's shop, we can't know. But what can a third-stage innate cultivator buy? Probably just some basic cultivation-enhancing forbidden drugs."

Zhou Genwei sneered, "The little waste of space still wants to improve, not knowing that death is right in front of him! To think he would dare to bully me, he really doesn't know the meaning of death!"

Lone Wolf frowned, "But if that kid hides in the shop's accommodation and doesn't come out, we have no way to deal with it. Should we just let him stay there and improve his cultivation?" Thinking about this, he suddenly stood up and said, "No, I must go and see the head manager and ask him to put pressure on the Tang Family's shop to hand over the person!"

Zhou Genwei worried, "What if they don't hand him over?"

Lone Wolf sneered, "Our Tang Family's shop is the largest in the city and is the city lord this year! As long as the head manager is willing to help, the Tang Family's shop will be pressured to hand over the person! We are all in business, they don't need to argue over a third-stage innate cultivator! The key is to convince the head manager!"

Zhou Genwei nodded, "We can't delay. You go and convince the head manager, and I'll take some people to patrol the east, south, and west city gates to prevent the kid from escaping again!"

"Good! We'll act separately!"

Lone Wolf walked out of the room and soon arrived at a quiet courtyard within the shop. After waiting for a while, an old man's voice came from inside, "Come in."

Then, the courtyard gate opened on its own, and Lone Wolf walked into the courtyard.

The most powerful person in a shop is not the head manager but the grand elder. However, the one who makes decisions is the head manager. In other words, if the head manager says to attack someone, the grand elder will attack. Therefore, the head manager still has considerable authority.

The head manager of the Tang Family's shop was named Tang Kongming, a mid-stage immortal cultivator.

Tang Kongming, with white hair and beard, sat cross-legged in the room and asked, "What is it?"

Lone Wolf said, "Head Manager, it's like this. Our young prince wants to be the top in Wuzhou to enter the Nine States Academy. But a young genius suddenly appeared in Wuzhou, so the young prince ordered us..."

"Devious methods!" Tang Kongming coldly snorted, "Tang Yingyu has always liked these tricks. He thought there couldn't be as many geniuses in Wuzhou as in Tangzhou, so he went to Wuzhou to take the exam. But who knew Wuzhou also has geniuses, so he thought of this method to suppress others. What a mess!"

"Head Manager is wise," Lone Wolf, hearing that Tang Kongming was not angry, breathed a sigh of relief. He had originally been worried that the head manager would not help, but now he realized that killing a small Wuzhou genius was not a big deal.

Lone Wolf smiled and said, "The young prince has no choice. In Tangzhou, Tang Pengcheng and Tang Tianmei are the top geniuses of our Tang family. The young prince can only go to Wuzhou. Besides, the 3rd-level Immortal Rank cannot be taken by outsiders."

"Of course!" Tang Kongming coldly snorted, "Wuzhou is under the rule of the Tang Dynasty. How can something we want be given to others? If we don't want it, they can take it, but now that we want it, if we can't get it, it would be a loss of face. Go, bring the person back!"

Lone Wolf was overjoyed and said, "Thank you, Head Manager!"

...