It was getting dark as he walked home. The sparkling lights in the houses by the street made it look like a magnificent ocean.
The splendor of this world was no less than the world Ding Hao came from.
There was home behind every light. However, Ding Hao knew very well that he had only himself to depend on in this world!
When he got home he saw a broken bowl on the ancestors' offering table.
Ding Hao did not say a word. He knew Ding Laosi left it there to humiliate him.
He pretended not to notice it.
Ding Laosi did not know that Ding Hao took it as a reminder to do the best he could.
"There's a saying, '
Ding Hao ordered the servants to prepare a simple dinner and send it to him. He crossed his legs on a cushion after dinner.
'All I have now is the black stone. Can't let others discover this secret.' Ding Hao thought.
When one had no true prowess, it was dangerous to show one's cards! He wanted to use this black stone to earn some money by helping others meditate. If people found out about the stone, it would be dangerous for him.
"But luckily, the stone unlocked the first star. It has a lot more different functions now!" All Ding Hao had to do was think about it, and it would come true. "Turn into a… ring! Smaller and make it grey, so that it is inconspicuous!"
The stone turned into an inconspicuous, little, grey, stone ring according to Ding Hao's desire. He happily wore it on his middle finger and nodded. "I will use both my hands to distract them, so nobody will notice the ring."
Ding Hao was very pleased that he was able to come up with those ideas.
"It would be great if I could test it first." Ding Hao was thinking about who he should perform the experiment on, and he heard a dog barking outside. He got an idea.
'People are unpredictable. Dogs are more trustworthy than people!'
It was a summer evening, the servants were all sleeping. Insects were making noise. Ding Hao carefully opened the door and brought Minion, the dog, into his room.
"Minion, sit."
Ever since Minion entered a meditative state that day, it listened to Ding Hao's commands.
Minion sat down. Ding Hao moved his hands in circular motions above its head, and murmured, "Enjoy wine and songs while we can. Life is short. Quiet the heart. Quiet the mind."
Ding Hao thought, rather than murmuring the phrase, he should speak them out loud.
After he said the phrase, Minion went into the perfect-stage meditative state. It was breathing steadily and had adjusted its mental strength."
But Ding Hao had a new idea. "The stone places people immediately into the perfect/stage. It would be too shocking. No! I can't allow everyone to enter the perfect-state. I'll maybe help them enter the middle or higher stages!"
Then he kicked Minion out of its meditative state. The poor thing woke up just when it had entered the meditative state. It had not had the chance to enjoy the twilight zone, floating between reality and fantasy. It barked at him.
"Bow-wow"
"Stop that. Let's try again!"
He tested more than ten times on Minion. Minion was now barking very loudly. But Ding Hao finally got the hang of it. "I've got it!"
"The four sentences that I say before going into meditation. Every sentence is one level! If I only say 'Enjoy wine and songs while we can', it is the lower-stage meditative state. If I continue and say 'Life is short', then it is the middle-stage. If I continue and say 'Quiet the heart', it is higher-stage. If I complete all four sentences, then it is the perfect-stage! Haha, I've got it, thank goodness!"
After Ding Hao figured it all out, he stroked Minion's head and said, "Minion, thank you. Let's enter the perfect-stage meditative state together as a reward to you!"
"Enjoy wine and songs while we can. Life is short. Quiet the heart. Quiet the mind."
Ding Hao helped Minion enter the perfect-stage meditative state. He turned the ring back to its original form and put it into his mouth, and he too entered the perfect-stage meditative state.
It was a wonderful feeling to achieve the perfect-stage meditative state. You would feel refreshed and balanced. Every cell was in a dreamlike state. It benefited mental strength greatly!
Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and extrasensory perception. The six senses were all strengthened!
Even Minion's sense of hearing and smell became sharper, and it was as agile as a leopard!
…
"Boss Shang and the others have not come yet?"
Ding Hao waited three days. He felt uneasy. He couldn't just sit and wait. He had to do something.
He turned the black stone into a ring. It was ready to be used at any given time. He walked out the Ding family's door and saw a boy and a girl standing there.
'It's them?' Ding Hao frowned.
The boy standing there was Ding Laosi's eldest son, Ding Junjie. The girl was Ding Hao's promised wife, Zheng Peipei. They had been betrothed when Zhen Peipei had been in her mother's womb.
Ding Junjie was 16 years old and he had awakened at age 11, It was a level six willow-leaf saber celestial gene.
Willow-leaf saber was one of the assigned sabers for the public servant. Thus, Ding Junjie got a job at the government office as an office boy. After he had awakened, he practiced a saber fencing art used by the public servants, He was already in level three.
Zheng Peipei and Ding Hao were about the same age. She had a freckled face, but she was young and pretty. If she dressed up, she could turn a few heads.
The Zheng family had a clay statue. They admired the Ding family's wooden statue. Fifteen years ago, the ladies of the two families got pregnant. The two families decided on the marriage between Ding Hao and Zheng Peipei while they were in the womb.
The Ding family had their reservations at the time because the Zheng family only had a clay statue—it was of a lower level.
But seeing that the Zheng family was sincere, they sent matchmakers and all kinds of wedding gifts. The Ding family agreed.
Ding Hao's parents passed away when he was young, he became a piece of trash, and the wooden statue fell silent. The Zheng family was tempted to go back on their marriage arrangement. Fortunately, the housekeeper of the Ding family, Ding Junjie might be able to evoke the seed seizing right. Now they were happy for the pair.
As a person from the modern world, Ding Hao was not happy about the arrangement. Furthermore, he had the impression that Zheng Peipei was proud and mean. He did not like her.
When Ding Hao came out, Zheng Peipei mocked him, "Piece of trash, you are timid and useless! Why did you come out? Haha, I'm not here for you!"
Ding Junjie joined in and said, "The beauty matches the hero. Peipei is here to see me, not you! I've never seen any girls come to see him over the past 15 years."
Zheng Peipei laughed and said, "No girls in their right mind would come and see him."
Ding Hao walked past them. They made him very angry. He turned and scolded them. "Zheng Peipei, shame on you. You and I had a marriage arrangement. You are my fiancée, but you are here to flirt with the son of a servant! Shame on you! If you want to, please look for someone else who is of a higher class!"
"What son of a servant?" he said pointing at Ding Hao. His face had paled.
"You!" Ding Hao said loudly. "Your father Ding Laosi is the servant of the Ding family. He uses the offerings of the Ding family to raise his family. He even adopted my family name. Am I wrong? Would you like me to ask others?
On earth, Ding Hao had a sharp tongue. He angered Ding Junjie with just a few sentences.
Zheng Peipei tried to help. "Ding Hao, let me ask you then. My father admired the Ding family wooden statue, but who knew you would turn out to be a piece of trash? And you want to marry me? You say that I'm your fiancée? It's like
"Swan?" Ding Hao laughed. "I think you are a blind swan. Back then, you admired my family's wooden statue, and now you have your eyes on Ding Junie's level six celestial genes. How short-sighted! You are the toad! You want me to marry you?! Dream on!"
Zheng Peipei's face turned red with anger. She wondered if this was the same piece of trash? He was scolding people so ruthlessly. Then she turned to Ding Junjie and said in a coy manner, "Brother Ding, he said I'm a toad!"
Ding Junjie drew his willow-leaf saber. Gnashing his teeth, he said, "Piece of trash, I was only going to seize your celestial identity in six months' time, but now, you have angered me! Don't blame me for killing you!"
Ding Hao was not afraid of him at all.
He had absorbed some medicinal pills' energy yesterday, and there was still a small amount of it wandering in his meridian. It should be sufficient to land a rock shattering punch.
Ding Hao gathered energy into his palm, stared at Ding Junjie, and said, "You've been awakened! You are an innate stage, and you dare challenge me, who is in an acquired stage? I'm only defending myself! I won't be blamed even if I kill you!"
"You kill me?! Are you kidding me?!" Ding Junjie walked toward him sinisterly. He thought I could disable him with one slash and told others that I was seizing a murderer. People would believe me!
At this moment, a woman shouted, "Stop!"
Ding Hao turned his head. It was Min Qingqiu. She was wearing a green dress. She was so elegant and slender, she looked like a fairy. She has been going to Boss Shang's bookshop to help Xiao Hai meditate. But no matter what she did, Xiao Hai was only able to enter the low-stage meditative state, and he woke up very easily. Thus, she and Boss Shang had come to see Ding Hao to try their luck.
This woman had an extraordinary air to her, and there were soldiers following her. Ding Junjie quickly put his saber back, laughed, and said, "Lady, we were only fooling around…"
She had just spotted Ding Hao and already someone was trying to hurt him. She hated bullies. She arched her eyebrow and spat, "Just fooling around? You are an innate-stage who has been awakened, but he is an acquired-stage who has not been awakened; he was unarmed; and you had a saber. Let me ask you, how is it that you are fooling around? How are you going to explain yourself if someone got hurt?"