Ying Huaixu was eating noodles at a small stall in Ping'an Town.
No kidding, really.
This century-old shop was no joke.
The shop's minced meat noodles had an incredible taste.
Whether it was the noodles, the vegetables, or the ingredients, everything was purely natural.
Even the noodle soup was made from freshly boiled bones.
This was completely different from the simulated machine-stimulated taste buds he experienced before.
"Slurp~"
After finishing a bowl, Ying Huaixu said to the owner, "Another bowl... no, make that two more bowls!"
The small vendor owner smiled happily.
"Coming right up, young hero, please wait a moment!"
The title "young hero" was earned by Ying Huaixu for single-handedly defeating over a dozen mountain bandits.
And Ping'an Town was quite fitting to its name.
They cherished peace.
Ying Huaixu brought them peace, so they treated him as one of their own.
They were simple and honest, even warmly welcoming Ying Huaixu.
However, Ying Huaixu felt somewhat out of place seeing such a lively Ping'an Town.
After all, Ping'an Town was a place every new player had explored thoroughly, and he remembered every NPC's face clearly.
Now, seeing these people come to life, there was an indescribable absurdity.
Ying Huaixu didn't know what kind of effect this was.
And also,
Why was he eating so much?
Ying Huaixu couldn't find a reason for this.
It was as if his body was severely depleted.
But that made no sense.
Because Ying Huaixu had looked in the mirror and seen his own face.
This body, even this face, and his little brother down there, were all crafted by his own hands, with no background and no martial arts training.
Yet the current situation was one of severe depletion.
Moreover, after unlocking his spiritual root, he would be given a nickname.
And his nickname turned out to be Ying Huaixu.
The key was, his identity was excessively reasonable.
It seemed there were records in the local government office, showing he was an orphan who fled from Stillwater City.
This left Ying Huaixu very puzzled.
"Is it the system at work, or does this world really have such a person?"
Of course, this question seemed unnecessary to dwell on.
As long as the identity was reasonable.
Ying Huaixu ate three more large bowls of noodles and was about to leave after paying.
This put the owner in a bit of a bind.
"Young hero, I can't break this hundred tael silver note!"
Ying Huaixu was also helpless.
"What should I do then?"
"There's a bank at the east end of town, you can exchange it for some small silver or copper coins!"
Ying Huaixu nodded.
"Alright, I'll leave this hundred tael silver note with you, and I'll go exchange some money!"
The noodle stall owner was taken aback, then shook his head with a smile.
"Such an honest lad!"
After exchanging the silver and paying, Ying Huaixu couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
One tael of silver was worth a thousand coins, and after eating twelve bowls of noodles, he only spent 24 coins.
He still had over four hundred taels of silver, when would he ever spend it all?
The key was, this silver was practically useless.
In a month, immortals would descend to test spiritual roots, and although his Dao Sword Spiritual Root was hidden, it would still be detected as an inferior spiritual root.
There was really no way around this.
This was the game setting and also a pay-to-win point.
So, no matter what spiritual root you unlocked early on, the sect's detection would always show a low-grade spiritual root.
Speaking of this, Ying Huaixu was a bit envious of Ye Ningshuang.
As one of the protagonists of the Harmony Immortal Cultivation Chronicles, although she had a hidden Heavenly Spiritual Root.
But she didn't need to pay-to-win, as long as she followed the storyline, her spiritual root would rise rapidly.
Ying Huaixu was a bit worried at this moment.
"My spiritual root, won't it eventually require pay-to-win too?"
"But the key issue now is, the game store is gone, even if I wanted to pay-to-win, there's no way!"
Ying Huaixu was a bit worried about his future.
But worrying was useless.
Now he could only take one step at a time.
No matter what, he had to join the Shenxiao Sword Sect first.
For now, he needed to adapt to the current situation and explore if other game functions were still usable...
Ying Huaixu was very familiar with Ping'an Town.
First, he went to several hidden quest points to find some quest items.
But unfortunately, it was useless...
None of the items from the game were present now.
Secondly, the willow tree in the center of Ping'an Town was originally a point to unlock the town's fog, and there was a Waystone at the town's entrance specifically for teleportation.
In the end, after some exploration,
The willow tree was just a willow tree, completely useless.
The Waystone existed, but it didn't have any teleportation function.
Ying Huaixu felt a bit scared.
Because there were too many unknowns, filling Ying Huaixu with anxiety about the future.
The key was, damn it, this was a Harmony Difficulty world.
The only change was, the black fog on his map would clear as he walked.
"Ding~ Unlocked Ping'an Town map, reward 100 experience!"
Hearing the system's voice, Ying Huaixu instantly felt refreshed.
"Good, this is nice!"
But then, what made Ying Huaixu even more excited was.
He saw an exclamation mark on the map.
"Damn, a quest, there's a quest!"
Even though it was a blue quest, Ying Huaixu was still very happy.
Because having a quest meant he had a way to gain experience.
Without thinking, Ying Huaixu ran straight towards the quest.
And when he reached the quest location, Ying Huaixu found it was an acquaintance.
The doctor who treated him in the morning.
The doctor now looked a bit troubled.
Because he had obtained a fragmented pill formula.
Over the years, he had finally completed the formula with his medical knowledge and was gathering the herbs.
He wanted to try refining the pill.
But now, he was missing one herb.
Called Blazing Light Grass.
This thing, the doctor had never even heard of, let alone seen what it looked like.
So he was a bit troubled and unwilling to give up.
Ying Huaixu suddenly appeared excitedly.
"Need some help?"
The doctor was startled.
Seeing it was Ying Huaixu, his expression relaxed a lot.
After all, Ying Huaixu's achievements were quite impressive.
The doctor casually smiled.
"Looking for something called Blazing Light Grass."
[Ding, trigger quest, help Doctor Li find Blazing Light Grass, accept?]
Ying Huaixu was excited.
"Accept, of course, accept!"
However, after accepting the quest, Ying Huaixu was excited again.
The pathfinding function worked normally, and there was a small icon on the map.
It's worth mentioning.
This quest was too easy to complete.
The so-called Blazing Light Grass was all on Doctor Li's rooftop.
Ying Huaixu directly jumped onto the roof.
He pulled down a stalk of grass with small bumps on it.
"Here, Blazing Light Grass!"
Doctor Li: "???"
He looked at the Blazing Light Grass in his book, then at his rooftop.
"Huh? It was right in front of me all along!"
"Are you sure this is Blazing Light Grass?"
Doctor Li was still a bit incredulous.
Ying Huaixu smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't mistake it, though I don't know why I recognize it!"
Doctor Li nodded.
"Wait here for a moment!"
Then Doctor Li went inside.
About ten minutes later.
"Bang..."
A sound like popping popcorn came, followed by a puff of smoke.
Doctor Li waved his hand to disperse the smoke, coughing as he came out of the house.
Then he held a handful of pills.
"These are for you!"
Ying Huaixu dumbfoundedly took the still warm pills, while listening to the voice in his mind.
[Ding, quest completed, reward 300 experience, Bone-Strengthening Pill*10!]