The Border Village

"This is…" Ding Hao looked at the few white colored crystals that Boss Shang fished from his pouch.

"This is spiritual rice. This should be easier to transform and absorb than spiritual animal's meat."

"Spiritual rice." Ding Hao put a few in his palm and he looked surprised.

Each tiny grain of rice contained a greater amount of spiritual energy than a large Ex Pill! 

'Power absorption skill, absorb!' He said in his thoughts. 

Ding Hao was elated that he was able to absorb its energy! He was only at level one of the Power Absorption Skill. He wasn't able to absorb spiritual energy from plants. Why was he able to absorb the energy from spiritual rice? The spiritual rice was a seed of a plant. The energy was overflowing, and the energy was just as easily absorbed as medicinal pills. 

Nonetheless, he was thrilled that he could easily absorb its energy. 

Boss Shang was happy to see Ding Hao's overjoyed expression. He nodded, "I bought some spiritual rice for some rich people some time ago. A few were left in my pouch, and I didn't think it would be useful."

Ding Hao said, "This is useful to me. Where can I buy it?"

Boss Shang said, "This is actually prohibited, transporting this is very troublesome. You can only transport a small amount every time. Furthermore, this is quite pricey. The price increases tremendously after they brought it here! In Jiuzhou, only the royal family can afford it."

Ding Hao asked, "This spiritual rice is something good. Why is it prohibited?"

Boss Shang said, "This is because the spiritual rice is planted in the Celestial Cultivation Realm. If we planted it here and shipped it to the Celestial Cultivation Realm, it would imply that others from the 'underworld' could consume it too. Therefore, it is prohibited."

Ding Hao said, "If we plant more of them then the people from the underworld and Celestial Cultivation Realm can enjoy them, isn't that great."

Boss Shang smiled bitterly, "I don't know about that. Jiuzhou is a righteous world, but there are some rigid rules."

Ding Hao pondered for a while and said, "It is so troublesome to bring them into Heaven's Will System then I'll leave the compound of Heaven's Will and go outside the territory to buy them." 

Boss Shang was shocked. He shook his head and said, "Gentleman Ding, before you achieve Moderate Innate Stage, don't ever leave Heaven's Will! The outside territory is not under the protection of Heaven's Will. There are ferocious Spiritual beasts and more importantly there people who murder others for money. They won't care if you are a genius. They will kill you. It's too dangerous!"

Ding Hao couldn't use the Jiuzhou method to cultivate. The Ex Pills were no use. The only thing that could be of any use to him was the spiritual rice. He had to do something about it.

"How much does the spiritual rice cost?" Ding Hao then said, "The price in Tu City."

"Two Yuan Stone for a bowl."

"That's expensive!" Ding Hao was taken aback by the price.

You must know that one Yuan Stone is 10,000 taels of silver. 20,000 taels of silver for a bowl! That was the price in Tu City. the price would triple once the rice had been transported into Heaven's Will! No wonder only the royals could afford them.

Boss Shang chuckled, "It is actually not that expensive. They use Yuan Stone outside the territory. You can't use silver to buy things there. Wait till you have the power, you will know when you go outside the territory."

Ding Hao pondered deeply after Boss Shang left.

He could behave himself and stay in Heaven's Will, and purchase a large amount of Ex Pills. Although it was almost useless, there was still a tinsy winsy bit of use to it. He could slowly grind at the yuandan. If he wasn't able to join the metropolitan examination this year he could always join next year or the year after that.

But in the end, he rejected that thought.

"Ten thousand years is too long. I want it now! I will not remain stagnant. Ding Juncai has made progress. I killed his family. If I perform worse than him, he will surely seek revenge for his family! All I can do now is to earn lots of money and try my luck. I will venture outside Heaven's Will and give it a shot!"

It was what Ding Hao said two months ago that made him earn 20,000,000. 

…

Two months later, in the house of Ding.

"A notice!"

"Gentleman Ding wishes to practice in seclusion in order to prepare for the metropolitan examination. Meditation tutoring services will stop for a month. Hope that everyone can understand."

"Sure, sure. I will come back in a month's time."

People in the city were generally quite understanding. After all, Ding Hao was a genius himself, and he needed to practice cultivation. And he had already served the people for two months, what more can they ask for?

Ling Yunxiao was finally relieved after he saw the notice. He thought that Ding Hao was finally going to put in the effort.

On the other side of the City Lord's Residence, Ding Juncai worked harder to refine yuandan level two!

But they didn't know that Ding Hao didn't practice in seclusion. He brought the 20,000,000 banknotes and went to the border of Heaven's Will.

There were many border villages by the border of Heaven's Will.

One half of the border village was located within Heaven's Will, the other half situated outside of Heaven's Will. Standing in the village, one can see an arc of light split the sky in half. On one side the sky was light rainbow-colored, and the other half was clear blue sky.

Half of the border village was within the territory, and the other half was considered outside the territory. There were soldiers in the village. 

Usually, the soldiers didn't care about whether you crossed the border or not. The problem comes when something prohibited is brought within the Heaven's Will System. An alarm would be sounded, and the guards would capture the offender. 

The sun was starting to come up. The border village started bustling. 

"Three woolly monsters for two thousand taels of silver, anyone?"

"I'll take them for one thousand eight hundred."

"Come and have a look! One iron leaf bamboo. This makes a good wooden weapon, and it is inexpensive."

"I also have one native refining ore…"

Ding Hao was strolling amongst the crowd. He looked around. He was unfamiliar with everything that was sold here.

"I never thought a small village like this could be this lively!"

Heaven's Will System was a good system. But the spiritual animals and spiritual wood lived and grew outside of Heaven's Will System. Thus, many people hunted for the spiritual animals outside the territory, sought treasure outside the territory, and brought them here to be traded.

The meat of spiritual animals and spiritual wood were not prohibited. Hence, they can be traded openly.

But there were some vendors that were acting secretive.

"Concentrated Green Pill, do you want it? Thirty thousand taels of silver for one. Brother if you bring it to the city you can earn five thousand taels of silver."

"I have no money." Ding Hao preferred to say that he didn't have money rather than rejecting the wares. 

He was alone, so he needed to be extra careful. He brought twenty million in banknotes. He didn't want it to be seen.

Ding Hao saw a thief put a snake-like thing into the storage pouch of the carefree young man in front of him. The snake retrieved the snake along with the valuables in the storage pouch. The young man was being robbed, and he did not notice. 

Ding Hao also saw a few tough guys give each other signals as some businessmen entered the outside territory. 

"It seems that there are plenty of crooks here. Stealing, snatching, and cheating are something that happens regularly. I must be very careful."

Ding Hao was in no hurry to buy anything. He mixed well into the crowd.

"Selling a black cloak. It can conceal your body and your face. It is a necessity for those who stay at home, travel, and murder for money."

Ding Hao stopped in front of a vendor. A fair skin man was selling the black cloak.

Many people outside the territory were wearing a black cloak like this. 

This black cloak was quite unusual. Your face and body would be hard to discern after you put it on. Many people put this on when they venture outside the territory. It enabled them to blend into the crowd and avoid detection. 

The fair-skinned man said, "Brother, do you want to buy this? It's very cheap. It costs only one Yuan Stone."

Ding Hao didn't say a word and left. The man shouted from behind, "Three thousand two, two thousand five, two thousand is the lowest!"

Ding Hao returned and put down 2,000 in banknotes.

The fair-skinned man grabbed a black cloak and chuckled, "Young man, this must be your first time in the border village, right?"

Ding Hao didn't reply. He grabbed the cloak and left.

The man said, "Young man, we spend Yuan Stone here. Do you want to exchange some Yuan Stone? One to ten thousand!"

Ding Hao ignored him, grabbed the black cloak, and left.

"Innate Stage level one." The fair-skinned man's eyes sparkled.

Ding Hao was just an Innate Stage level one. He was being extra careful. He quickly looked for a place where there were no people and put on the cloak. The benefit of wearing the cloak was that the thief may not be able to steal from him easily.

The border village was divided into two sides. The outside territory used Yuan Stones, while Heaven's Will territory used banknotes. Hence, many people were money changers. The exchange rate differed every day. The exchanging bank was usually more expensive. Exchanging with the vendor was a better deal.

Ding Hao dared not exchange with vendors. He walked one round around the market, mixing with the crowd. Satisfied that no one was following him, he entered a bank. 

"Would you like banknotes or Yuan Stones?" A bearded old man in the bank asked. 

"Yuan Stones."

"Ten thousand five hundred for one Yuan Stone."

The exchange rate outside was 10,000 to one. Although it costed more here, Ding Hao took out banknotes worth 1,050,000. He could only buy 100 Yuan Stone with that much money. Although it was a large amount, it wasn't shocking.

The old man counted the money carefully before handing him two packets of Yuan Stones.

Yuan Stones were just like shillings. They used some kind of leaf to wrap them. There were 50 Yuan Stones in each packet. Ding Hao opened a packet and counted. And put them into his storage pouch. Then he opened another packet just to check if there were Yuan Stones and put that into his storage pouch too.

The old man watched how Ding Hao opened the leaf packet, he seemed very skilled. The old man said, "You come here often?"

"Yes." Ding Hao replied and left.

He watched how others opened the leaf packet and imitated them. He pretended to be a frequent visitor to avoid being seen as someone new here. He tried to avoid being watched.

Now that he had 100 Yuan Stone, it made things easier. He moved past the dividing line and entered the outside territory.

Although he was now outside the territory, he was still within the border village. It was still safe here. Nobody would kill him for his money here in the open.

The number of goods sold here were a lot more here.

"Large quantities of prohibited medicine, to improve your constitution. Have a look, this is very good."

Ding Hao looked around and was shocked.

All the prohibited medicine that improves your constitution was sold here!