Chapter 4

### Chapter 4: The Fairy of Wuzhou

Ding Hao had only two taels of silver in his pocket, so he didn't dare enter a large shop. Ahead, there was a medium-sized pharmacy, and he walked into it.

As soon as he entered, a clerk immediately came up to him and politely asked, "Young sir, what kind of medicine are you looking for?"

This was the first time Ding Hao had entered a pharmacy. He looked around and noticed that the shelves were filled with many large and small porcelain bottles. Some bottles were labeled "Healing," others "Strengthening the Body," "Calm the Mind," and "Strengthen the Foundation." There were many varieties.

The clerk smiled warmly and said, "Young sir, you look to be around fourteen or fifteen years old, so you must have awakened. Why don't you tell me what grade of your immortal root is, and I'll help you choose the right medicine."

Ding Hao's face turned awkward, and he hesitated before saying, "My immortal root hasn't awakened yet. I'm looking for medicine to help with the awakening process."

Upon hearing this, the clerk's face immediately showed a look of disdain. Not awakening by this age meant he was definitely a waste of talent!

His enthusiasm quickly waned, but since the other party was a customer, he still said, "Sir, I recommend our Strengthen the Foundation pills. These are used by children who haven't awakened yet. They can stabilize the meridians and help break through the immortal acupoints. Additionally, I recommend the Calm the Mind pills to help you enter a meditative state, and the Essence Pill, which enhances mental strength. You know, the strength of mental power has significant benefits for breaking through the awakening and achieving the immortal root..."

Ding Hao thought to himself that people in this world indeed placed great importance on the immortal root. The title "young sir" had been reduced to "sir" upon hearing that he hadn't awakened.

However, the clerk's words made sense. Ding Hao said, "I don't need the Calm the Mind pills. Show me the Strengthen the Foundation pills and the Essence Pills."

The clerk reached out and took a small bottle from the counter, opened it, and a faint medicinal aroma immediately filled the air. He poured the contents into his palm, and the pills were small, about the size of peppercorns.

Ding Hao asked, "How much silver for a bottle?"

The clerk replied, "A bottle of Strengthen the Foundation pills contains fifty pills and costs two taels of silver."

Ding Hao thought the price was reasonable. He had two taels of silver, so he could buy a bottle.

However, the clerk added, "For children under eight years old, take two pills twice a day. For each additional year, add one pill per dose."

Ding Hao quickly calculated that at fifteen years old, he would need nine pills per dose, twice a day, which meant the bottle would be finished in less than three days!

Thinking about this, he smiled bitterly and said, "How can I afford that?"

Seeing that he hadn't awakened and had no silver, the clerk's face turned sour. He rolled his eyes and said, "What do you want? Cheap and good? Do you expect it to be free? Kid, if you don't have silver, don't ask so many questions."

The title "sir" had turned into "kid." Ding Hao glared and said, "How do you know I don't have money?" As he spoke, he took out the two taels of silver.

"Have money, then buy it!" the clerk said rudely.

Just then, another customer entered, and the clerk became impatient. Ding Hao said, "Let me take a closer look."

"Look, look," the clerk said, handing a small bottle of Strengthen the Foundation pills to Ding Hao and turning to greet the wealthy-looking man who had just entered.

While the clerk was busy with the other customer, Ding Hao poured the bottle of pills into his palm.

At that moment, when the clerk opened the bottle, Ding Hao clearly felt the black stone under his tongue move! He also sensed a feeling of hunger from the stone!

"What's happening?" He had been with the stone for a long time and felt a connection with it.

So, he took the opportunity to pour the fifty small pills into his palm. Ding Hao felt the stone's greed for the pills, which was almost insane.

"The black stone wants these pills? What's going on?" Ding Hao was puzzled but then had an idea.

On Earth, he practiced the Star Absorption Technique but was frustrated by the lack of spiritual energy to absorb. Could it be that the black stone sensed the spiritual energy in the pills and wanted him to absorb the pure energy?

Thinking about this, Ding Hao glanced at the clerk, sneered, and began to practice the Star Absorption Technique. A suction force immediately emanated from his palm.

Ding Hao moved his hand back and forth, making the small pills spin in his palm, evenly absorbing the spiritual energy. He then poured the pills back into the bottle. However, Ding Hao wasn't satisfied and shamelessly called out, "Clerk, are these Strengthen the Foundation pills defective? The medicinal power isn't enough. Show me the Essence Pills!"

"Kid, don't talk nonsense. Our pills are of the highest quality!"

After a while, Ding Hao left the pharmacy, having switched and absorbed the spiritual energy from three different types of pills. Afraid of arousing suspicion, he didn't dare to switch more and found an excuse to leave.

"Haha, I never thought the Star Absorption Technique, which was useless on Earth, could absorb the spiritual energy from pills!"

After absorbing the spiritual energy, he felt a force moving through his meridians, giving him a sense of power with no outlet. Seeing a pebble on the side of the road, Ding Hao picked it up, channeled the spiritual energy to his palm, and squeezed it with all his might!

Crack!

"Wow! The pebble was crushed into several pieces. How much strength is that!" Ding Hao's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at his palm.

With this discovery, Ding Hao continued forward, entering several more pharmacies and secretly absorbing the spiritual energy from many pills.

The pills, after their spiritual energy was absorbed, turned into something like flour particles and lost their medicinal aroma. However, Ding Hao was cunning and didn't completely drain the pills, leaving a little spiritual energy to avoid arousing suspicion.

However, this act became less interesting over time.

The reason was that most of the spiritual energy he had stolen was absorbed by the black stone! Only a small portion remained in his body.

"Damn bloodsucker!" Ding Hao cursed the black stone in his heart.

But Ding Hao also knew that even if the black stone didn't absorb the energy, he couldn't use it! Since he hadn't awakened, he didn't have a dantian, so any spiritual energy he absorbed would eventually dissipate through his pores, leaving only a small amount in his meridians.

When he took the stone out of his mouth, he noticed that one corner of the stone had a white symbol that looked like a nebula.

"The stone has changed! What does this nebula mean?" Ding Hao was surprised. The stone had shown no changes on Earth, but after absorbing some spiritual energy in this world, it had developed patterns on its surface!

When the stone's surface developed patterns, it gained the ability to change shape!

"Interesting, this stone was useless on Earth, but here it's a treasure! I wonder where my ancestor, the evil master Ding Chunqiu, got this treasure from, and what it will eventually become?"

With these thoughts, he continued forward and soon arrived at the center of Wuzhou City. There was a vast square, and in the center stood a giant jade sculpture, over a hundred meters tall, made of the finest emerald jade from the Nine Provinces.

The sculpture depicted a beautiful woman in a flying posture, standing in the center of the square, looking up at the sky with a solemn expression.

In the Nine Provinces, the term "Nine Provinces" referred to the nine great powers of the Immortal Cultivation World. They all came from the Nine Provinces, so they established the Nine Provinces Dao Sect in the Immortal Cultivation World. This woman represented Wuzhou!

All the people of Wuzhou worshipped and venerated this woman. Their faith and wishes were all focused on this jade statue. There were nine such giant jade statues in the Nine Provinces, each representing the collective thoughts, faith, and wishes of all the people, forming the fundamental power that protected and maintained this small world, the Will of Heaven!

The woman standing there was incredibly beautiful, but no one dared to have impure thoughts. Ding Hao thought about the story of King Zhou desecrating the statue of Nüwa, which led to Nüwa's anger and retribution. Such things would definitely happen in the Nine Provinces!

Ding Hao didn't dare to have impure thoughts and went to the statue to offer two incense sticks.

Afterward, he wandered around the nearby shops. As he became more familiar with the area, he felt more confident entering higher-end and luxurious shops.

"There's a bookshop over there. Let me go in and take a look."

Ding Hao entered the shop and immediately saw the book "Ten Methods for Awakening the Immortal Root" that Old Ding had taken back.

"Damn, this book only costs five coins, but he reported it as ten taels of silver! This wicked servant will pay for it one day!" Ding Hao was furious.

At that moment, a kind-looking middle-aged man approached and asked, "Young sir, I am the owner of this shop. I'm about to close. What do you need?"

Ding Hao was surprised and said, "It's still early, why are you closing..."

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and said, "Don't laugh, but my son is thirteen and hasn't awakened yet. Today, I've invited a master to help him enter a higher meditative state. The master is about to arrive."

"I see," Ding Hao thought, feeling a sense of shared suffering. He said, "To be honest, I'm fifteen and a half and haven't awakened yet. I came here to look for books on awakening to find a way out."

The middle-aged man, feeling sympathy for his son, said, "I have a few good books. If you want to buy them, I'll sell them to you at a discount. If you don't want to buy them, you can stay downstairs and read as much as you can after the master arrives."

Ding Hao, who had never encountered such kindness in this world, was grateful and said, "Thank you, sir. I'll stay here and read. If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely repay you!"

As they were talking, someone called out, "Is the shop owner here? Master Min has arrived!" A slender figure in green, accompanied by several people, entered the bookshop.

Ding Hao, who had no interest in watching the beauty, was focused on reading the books, hoping to find more useful information.

The shop owner hurried over and was about to kneel, saying, "Greetings, Master."

"Exempt from the formalities. Where is your son?"

"Upstairs."

"Lead the way." The woman, known as Master Min, took a light step forward but glanced at Ding Hao, thinking, "This young man is so focused on reading, eager for knowledge."

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**[End of Chapter 4]**