The first thought when entering the Indigenous City was, run down.
It was a mess everywhere, and most of the houses were half broken down. It looked like a forgotten city.
It really was a forgotten city, he heard that this used to be within Heaven's Will, but the system shrank and this place ended up out of it. After a long time, it turned into the dump it was right now.
The four great merchant guilds were born from these ruins.
The four branches were in the four corners of the city. The city did not have any law or order, so the order here was kept by the four businesses.
The four families had a yearly 'Flower Snatching Festival' to determine the rankings in terms of status and power.
In the middle of the city was a stage. The Flower Snatching Festival would be held there at the end of every year. The store that manages to defeat everyone else and obtain the flower would be crowned the city lord, and would be in charge of the city for a year! The other three families would have to obey and accept the city lord's orders for the year.
Ding Hao had read that only the central streets of the city were safe. The alleyways and corners were full of crime and debauchery.
Ding Hao followed the merchant group in front of him, and quickly arrived at the merchant's clan's store.
"How impressive."
Compared to the ruins around them, the four great stores all stood majestically. It looked like an elephant's tusk, standing tall and proud, while the black and large building looked like a gigantic beast hiding in the corner of the ruins.
On the huge door was the large red word, "Merchant!"
"What an impressive group of merchants the Shang Family is!" Ding Hao put his raincoat into the storage pouch and walked into the store.
Looking inside, the decorations looked very traditional. The hall was extremely large, so much that you would not be able to hear the other side talking if you stood on one end. There were a lot of chairs and Bodhi trees around for guests to rest on. The inside was only separated from the outside by a door, but the difference was still so immense.
Ding Hao had been to the merchant clan's store in Wuzhou, but there was no comparison to this one, no wonder Boss Shang was so happy to manage this store.
He looked around and found an invisible pressure, causing him to be unable to channel his spiritual energy, "There's definitely some formation that suppresses spiritual energy here to stop thieves and robbers!"
The floor was extremely white and clean, but it was not made of marble. Stepping on the floor gave a clean and soft feeling. He did not know what sort of material it was, but it felt very luxurious.
The hall was quite large, and no one looked at Ding Hao when he entered. Many people were sitting down and chatting away, quite like a hotel from Ding Hao's old world.
Ding Hao did not look at any merchandise, but headed straight to the center of the hall. He saw the center had a large formation, and within that formation was an extremely large tree that was full of fruits. Those fruits had a subtle dark glow, and the surface seemed to have some veins. They looked very mysterious.
Ding Hao looked down and saw a bronze plate under the tree, engraved on it was 'godly spirit fruit'.It was a very strong forbidden medicine, and a plant from the Celestial Cultivation Realm. It could greatly increase one's mental strength, and could be used to break into the Energy Forging Stage from the Innate Stage, and also help cultivate the mental state during the Energy Forging Stage.
DIng Hao looked at the price, "My god, ten spirit stones for one!"
Ten thousand taels of silver would get one Yuan stone, and ten thousand Yuan stones would get on spirit stone!
Ten spirit stones were equal to a billion taels of silver! A hundred thousand Yuan stones!
Ding Hao had more than a thousand Yuan stones in his pocket, and he already felt like he was quite rich. He just realized he was actually poor, a really poor person!
This was not even the most expensive, there were even some displays with souls sealed inside, or some beast eggs that were sealed. A tag said, 'Energy Forging level four spirit servant, good quality, two hundred spirit stones.' another one said, 'Upper realm spiritual beast, third grade, human crocodile, three hundred spirit stones.'
"It's all good stuff here!" Ding Hao salivated as he looked at them.
He suddenly felt like he was very poor, so very poor!
Just as he wandered into the exhibition hall, he saw a familiar face walk over.
Ding hao was looking for him, so he hastily said, "Boss Shang."
Boss Shang was with a few people, and gaped when he looked at Ding Hao, but he could hear it was Ding Hao's voice.
"All of you go busy yourselves, I have a guest." Boss Shang arranged for the rest of them to work before walking toward Ding Hao, whispering, "Young master Ding?"
Ding Hao said, "The one and only."
Boss Shang smiled bitterly, "Amazing, you left the city at Innate Stage level three, how unexpected. Come, let's talk in my office."
Ding Hao walked by his side and asked, "Aren't righteous and evil paths at odds? Why are you still selling spirit servants here?"
Boss Shang said, "The difference between the righteous path and evil paths are in the cultivation skills and methods, if the evil practitioners can have spirit servants, righteous cultivators can as well. The difference is, those ghost cultivators kill people to use their spirits, while righteous cultivators capture evil spirits. Furthermore, if evil cultivators can capture beasts and demons, then why can't righteous ones?"
Ding Hao said, "I see."
Boss Shang continued, "However, all of these need to wait for after the Energy Forging Stage, because only at that stage can you project your mental state and interact with them. You would be considered an evil practitioner if you did it in the Innate Stage."
"Ah, so I would not have been able to use them even if I had the spirit stones. It seems like increasing my own skill is still the most important."
Boss Shand said, "Correct, the most important thing is to raise your cultivation levels!"
The two of them chatted and went upstairs. When they reached the second level, it was the spiritual rice counter that Boss Shang managed.
There was a large warehouse there full of spiritual rice, the amount was staggering. Looking at those grains, all of them shone vibrantly and each grain was full of spiritual energy, Ding Hao got really excited.
"I can't believe you're managing the spiritual rice, what a coincidence."
Boss Shang laughed, "I was actually in charge of the fur and skins, but I remembered you needed this, so I changed with someone else."
Ding Hao was touched when he heard that, Boss Shang could be considered his first friend in this world.
"Boss Shang, I can't thank you enough. If you need anything in the future, I will definitely help you in any way I can."
"My family is the one that owes you a debt." Boss Shang smiled, "You've said it before yourself, only giving others a chance would you yourself get a chance. Even though it was hard, my son Xiao Hai managed to enter Jiuzhou Academy, but with his potential, he will probably end up an outer disciple in the future. Young master Ding, you'll be very successful in the future, so when you enter the inner disciples or even the Celestial Cultivation Realm in the future, don't forget to give him some help!"
What a good parent, Boss Shang was fighting so hard for the sake of his child.
Ding Hao smiled, "Boss Shang, you really do think highly of me. Everyone else says I have a growth-type celestial gene, which is not that good. It's still hard to say if I can be an inner disciple or not, let alone enter the Celestial Cultivation Realm!"
Boss Shang shook his head and said, "Young master Ding, you mustn't give up, I have a good eye for people. Let's not talk about potential, but skill. You are a dragon among men to be able to head out of the city alone and still reach safely. Your courage, skill and wit are things I've never seen before."
Ding hao was very happy hearing that, he said, "If that's so, then get me some spiritual rice."
Entering the second level cost him three bowls of rice, the third level six. It seems like the next stage would be twelve, then twenty four, then forty eight. Ding Hao did not want to attract too much attention, so he planned on getting to Innate Stage level six first, "Get me eighty four bowls of rice."
The spiritual rice here was so much cheaper than in the village, eighty four bowls only cost him 168 Yuan stones, how cheap!
Boss Shang scooped his rice as he smiled, "I really don't know how you do it, managing to wolf down eighty four bowls of spiritual rice, I guess it'll increase your cultivation by quite a bit."
Ding Hao accepted the eighty four bowls of rice but felt a pang in his heart.
Even though he trusted Boss shang a lot, this was still his greatest secret that he could not reveal!
Just think, normal folk would cook the rice to eat, which caused a mediocre effect. Who would expect him to be able to absorb the spiritual energy inside the rice. If that secret got out, it would cause a huge fuss! It was way too easy to cultivate like that, and he was afraid Boss Shang would have his own plans if he knew!
Even if Boss Shang was a good friend, it did not mean he would not tell anyone else. What if he got drunk? What if he told his closest friends.
Ding Hao would rather be called paranoid than place his fate on someone else's hands, not even his friends!
There were some secrets only he alone could know!
Dig Hao thought, 'After buying the rice from Boss Shang this time, I shouldn't get any from him anymore.'
With that thought, Ding Hao determined that he might as well buy more since it was the last time.
He stored the eighty four bowls into his storage pouch and said, "Why don't you just give me another three hundred bowls."
"Three hundred bowls!" Boss Shang almost spit out blood. The eighty four bowls earlier already felt like quite a lot, but Ding Hao wanted three hundred more. Normal folk would not be able to finish eating it in a month!
Ding Hao thought, 'Based on this amount, it will only be enough to get me to Innate Stage level eight!'
Boss Shang had experienced this before when Ding Hao frantically bought medicine, so he prepared another three hundred bowls. Ding Hao's storage pouch still had Minion inside, so it was not going to be enough space, so he took out another moderate grade storage pouch and stored all the rice inside, before hiding it in his clothes, not showing anyone else.
Three hundred and eighty four bowls of rice cost him 768 Yuan stones. Ding Hao still had a thousand Yuan stones, so it was feeling more and more like he did not have enough money.
Boss Shang helped him store the spiritual rice before saying, "Young master Ding, what do you plan on doing after this? Why don't you cultivate in Indigenous City for now?"
"Cultivate in the city?"
"Correct. With so much spiritual rice, you won't be able to head back under Heaven's Will. We have our own dormitories here that do not allow anyone from outside the merchant's clan to enter, so it's very safe.
Ding Hao mulled over it before rejecting the offer.
Staying with the business stuff would invite a lot of eyes. If anyone noticed he managed to increase a level every night, it would cause too much of a ruckus! It could even potentially cost his life!
Ding Hao said, "No need, I will head right back after I have what I want."
Boss Shang exclaimed, "It can't be, how could you enter Heaven's Will with so much spiritual rice…" He suddenly thought of something and asked, "Are you planning on smuggling it?"
Ding Hao was just struggling to find an answer, so he quickly said, "Yes yes, smuggling. How could I possibly eat so much."
"Is that so." Boss Shang did not ask, but he did have his suspicions. He said, "It will be very dangerous for you to smuggle goods in your state, especially since your cultivation is low, do you want to buy some weapons?"
Ding Hao said, "That's exactly what I was thinking!"