Ying Huaixu ate noodles at a little stall in Peaceful Town.
Well, what could he say?
This century-old establishment really lived up to its reputation.
The noodles with minced meat topping here tasted fantastic.
The noodles, vegetables, and every other ingredient were all natural.
Even the broth was made by simmering fresh bones.
It was completely different from the way simulation machines had stimulated his taste buds before.
"Slurp~"
After finishing a bowl, Ying Huaixu told the owner, "Another bowl... no, make that two!"
The stall owner beamed.
"Coming right up! Just a moment, young hero!"
Ying Huaixu had earned the title of young hero by killing more than a dozen bandits single-handedly.
And Peaceful Town was much like its name.
Its people liked peace.
Ying Huaixu had brought them peace, so they treated him as one of their own.
They were simple, honest folk, and they were downright warm toward him.
Ying Huaixu, on the other hand, found it a little hard to adjust to this living, breathing Peaceful Town.
After all, every beginner player had practically turned Peaceful Town inside out. He remembered every NPC's face perfectly.
Seeing these people suddenly come to life gave him an indescribable sense of absurdity.
Ying Huaixu had no idea what to call this effect.
There was another thing, too.
How could I eat so much?
Ying Huaixu couldn't explain that, either.
It was as though his body was severely depleted.
But that made no sense.
He had looked in a mirror and seen his own face.
He had personally customized this body, this face, and even his little brother down below. His character had absolutely no backstory and had never learned any martial arts.
Yet right now, his body really did seem severely depleted.
Another thing was that, after unlocking a spiritual root, he was supposed to choose a nickname.
Yet his nickname had turned out to be Ying Huaixu.
More importantly, his identity was almost excessively plausible.
Apparently, the local government office had records showing that he was an orphan who had fled here from Stillwater City.
That left Ying Huaixu puzzled.
"Did the system do this, or did someone like me really exist in this world?"
Of course, there didn't seem to be any point dwelling on that question.
As long as his identity held up, that was enough.
Ying Huaixu ate another three large bowls of noodles, then went to pay and leave.
That put the owner in quite a bind.
"Young hero, I can't break this hundred-tael banknote!"
Ying Huaixu felt helpless, too.
"Then what should I do?"
"There's a money exchange on the east side of town. Just go exchange it for some loose silver or copper coins!"
Ying Huaixu nodded.
"All right. Keep this hundred-tael banknote here as security while I go change my money!"
The noodle stall owner paused, then shook his head with a smile.
"What an honest lad!"
After exchanging his silver and paying, Ying Huaixu couldn't help marveling.
One tael of silver was worth a thousand copper coins, and twelve bowls of noodles had cost him only twenty-four.
I still have over four hundred taels of silver. When will I ever spend it all?
The thing was, this silver really wasn't much use.
In a month, immortals would descend to test their spiritual roots. Although his Dao Sword Spiritual Root was concealed, the test would still identify it as a low-grade spiritual root.
There was really nothing he could do about that.
It was a game mechanic, as well as a monetization point.
So no matter what spiritual root a player unlocked early on, the sect's test would always identify it as a low-grade spiritual root.
Speaking of that, Ying Huaixu was rather envious of Ye Ningshuang.
As one of the protagonists of Primordial Immortal Cultivation Record, she had a concealed heavenly spiritual root.
But she didn't need to spend money. All she had to do was follow the storyline, and her spiritual root would keep shooting up in grade.
Ying Huaixu was beginning to worry.
"Am I going to have to pay to upgrade my spiritual root after all?"
"But the real problem is that the Game Shop is gone. Even if I wanted to spend money, I couldn't!"
Ying Huaixu was starting to worry about his future.
But worrying wouldn't help.
For now, he could only take things one step at a time.
Whatever happened, he would join the Divine Firmament Sword Sect first and go from there.
Right now, he needed to adjust to his circumstances and explore whether any of the other game functions still worked...
Ying Huaixu knew Peaceful Town like the back of his hand.
First, he visited several hidden quest locations to look for quest items.
Unfortunately, it was no use...
Not a single one of the things that appeared in the game was here.
Next, there was the willow tree in the center of Peaceful Town, which had originally been a trigger for unlocking the Peaceful Town Mist. There was also a Townstone at the town entrance specifically used for teleportation.
But after investigating everything...
The willow tree was just a willow tree, with no special use whatsoever.
The Townstone was there, but it had no teleportation function.
Ying Huaixu felt a little afraid.
There were far too many unknowns, leaving him deeply worried about the future.
More importantly, this was a damn world set to primordial difficulty.
The only change was that the black fog on his current map cleared wherever he walked.
Ding~ Peaceful Town map unlocked. Reward: 100 experience!
Hearing the system's voice, Ying Huaixu instantly perked up.
"Good, that's something!"
But then something excited him even more.
He spotted an exclamation mark on the map.
"Holy shit, a quest! There's a quest!"
Although it was a blue quest, Ying Huaixu was still delighted.
A quest meant he had a way to earn experience.
Without a second thought, Ying Huaixu ran straight toward it.
When he reached the quest location, he found a familiar face.
It was the doctor who had examined him that morning.
The doctor looked rather troubled.
He had obtained an incomplete pill formula.
Over the years, he had finally completed the formula using his medical knowledge, and he had been gathering the ingredients.
He wanted to try refining pills.
But he was now missing one herb.
It was called blazing light grass.
The doctor had never even heard of it, let alone knew what it looked like.
That left him worried, and unwilling to give up.
Ying Huaixu suddenly appeared, brimming with excitement.
"Need a hand?"
The doctor jumped.
When he saw that it was Ying Huaixu, his expression softened considerably.
After all, Ying Huaixu's record was quite impressive.
The doctor gave a casual smile.
"I'm looking for something called blazing light grass."
[Ding, quest triggered: Help Doctor Li find blazing light grass. Accept?]
Ying Huaixu grew excited.
"Accept! Of course I'll accept!"
After accepting the quest, however, Ying Huaixu got excited all over again.
The navigation function worked normally, and there was a little icon on the map.
One thing was worth mentioning.
This quest was ridiculously easy to complete.
The so-called blazing light grass was all over Doctor Li's damn roof.
Ying Huaixu jumped straight onto the roof.
He pulled up a blade of grass with little bumps along its stalk.
"Here, blazing light grass!"
Doctor Li: "???"
He looked at the rending light grass shown in his book, then at his roof.
"Huh? It was right in front of me all along!"
"Are you sure this is rending light grass?"
Doctor Li still found it hard to believe.
Ying Huaixu smiled and said, "Don't worry, I wouldn't mistake it, though I don't know why I recognize it myself!"
Doctor Li nodded.
"Wait here a moment!"
Then Doctor Li went inside.
About ten minutes later...
Bang...
A sound like popcorn exploding rang out, followed by a cloud of thick smoke.
Doctor Li emerged from the house coughing and waving the smoke away.
He was also clutching a handful of pills.
"These are for you!"
Bewildered, Ying Huaixu accepted the still-warm pills while listening to the voice in his head.
[Ding, quest complete. Rewards: 300 experience, Bone-Strengthening Pill ×10!]
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