Fang Shi glanced at the two spheres in his hand as he walked through the front gate of the store. An old habit from his previous life came back as he rotated them in his palm like medicine balls he own back then. With a thought, he phone floated in front of him as he sent messages to the six spiritual beasts that frequented his shop everyone day.
The message was clear,
Fang Shi knew the message was hypocritical considering how he claimed the land the shop was built on, but he didn't let it bother him. He took the artifacts in his hands that he was playing with, and placed them in an exquisite box as he made his way upstairs. As the privileged owner of the pavilion, he could take advantage of his authority to reserve a private room but today there wasn't the need. He simply made a request to the system and when a room became available, the system automatically prepared it for his use.
It didn't take long for Fang Shi to enter the private room, and a female employee was there ready to serve the guests.
"It's good to see you, Shuyin", he said.
Wen Shuyin clasped her hands and greeted him with a slightly nervous tone, "Boss, can I go ahead and arrange a pot of tea for you?"
"Not at the moment", he responded, "I will have many important guests here in a few minutes, and I'll place my order then. For now, let's open the window and activate the arrays."
"As you wish", Shuyin confidently answered as she moved towards the window.
With swift and graceful movements, she did as Fang Shi requested when a knock was heard at the door. She quickly made her way to the door, took a breath, and opened it. The room suddenly became tense as the auras of five spiritual beasts and five guardians from Tianbao Fortress city clashed.
Fang Shi cleared his throat, and the system annulled the pressure one moment before applying a different pressure to the group. His eyes looked beyond the spiritual beasts to the man he knew was responsible for this event, Protector Lui. Lui Qinglan was the replacement for Mei Lihua after her return to the Verdnat Soul sect, and he was a giant pain in the ass. Fang Shi had only briefly met the new protector before taking the trip back to Blue Moon city, but the reports he had received while away were troublesome. On the first day, the system had banished Protector Lui from the pavilion grounds due to his hostile actions toward the spiritual beasts customers for a week. In fact, today was the first day he had been allowed to enter again and it had seemed like he had learned his lesson until now.
"Protector Lui", Fang Shi singled him out, "I don't remember inviting you or the other protectors today and yet, here you are causing trouble in my store. Are you incapable of learning or should a ban for a whole season properly teach you have to behave in someone else's place?"
"Owner Fang", Protector Lui sneered, "Is that how you should properly address me? Didn't your senior give you lessons of edit…"
Lui Qinglan's face scrunched in pain cutting off the sharp retort he was delivering.
"Protector Lui, I believe it's not I who needs a lesson in respect", Fanf Shi sat with a pleasant smile on his face, "I've already told you and the other protectors that whatever rules you set for yourself do not apply here."
"Owner Fang, please excuse Protector Lui", Jin Tianxuan interjected, "He hasn't been here long or experienced everything as we have. As this is just a small matter, would it be possible to make it into nothing?"
A moment later, Lui Qinglan relaxed as the pressure receded and Fang Shi replied, "Fair enough, I'm not so ruthless to forgo forgiveness but this is the last time. I don't want to lose customers, but your current behavior is not one of a guest but rather a troublesome thing. My senior asks me to inform you that if there is another incident, the Verdant Soul sect will have to send another replacement."
The five protectors looked at Fang Shi and after both sides stared at the other for some time, he began to realize that they didn't intend to leave.
"Daoist You Du", he called out to the spirit beast, "I'll leave the final decision to you. If you don't wish for them to attend this meeting, I will remove them by force."
You Du sighed before speaking, "I'll give them some face, Daoist Fang."
Fang Shi nodded and everyone came inside to sit down at the round table. The guests were impressed when their server, Shuyin, grasped the tables edge and rotated it. The table surface divided into many separate sections and did oddly satisfying movements before aligning into a larger surface. With a nod from Fang Shi, Wen Shuyin began taking orders from the customers first and left the room once completed to deliver the orders.
"The reason I called the five of you here today has to do with this", Fang Shi pulled a box from his sleeve pocket and sat it down on the table, "I hadn't seen these two individuals before but they were battling against each other fiercely at the stores front gate. I had no choice but to restrain them to protect my customers safety. Their strength is not on the same levels as yours, but no one was willing to intervene and stop their fight. I have already engaged the arrays in this room so that I can release both of them, and I ask the five of you to speak with them. Normally, I would provide an explanation but I think they would accept the situation easier if you explain it to them."
The spiritual beasts nodded in agreement, and Fang Shi opened the box before tapping the two spherical objects inside. All the nascent souls watched as basilisk and a swallow, Hei Yaoxing and Ming Zhaoyan, appeared on top of the table. The pair saw the other first before looking around the room noticing all the high ranking individuals in the room, but a familiar voice grabbed their attention.
"Spiritual beasts of the forest, I return custody of these two back to you", Fang Shi stated.
"Hei Yaoxing, take your place behind me", You Du commanded the young lizard, "Feng Lei Yu, can you watch Ming Zhaoyan?"
"Yes", she answered curtly.
"Daoist Yu", Fang Shi had grew curious, "Do you mind if I ask them a question?"
"Yes", You Du agreed, "I have a feeling I know what you want to ask. I'm curious about this as well."
Fang Shi addressed the pair standing at the table, "What caused you to fight so close to the fortress?"
Hei Yaoxing was first to speak, "Ancestor Long Xuanwu recently held a banquet and he noticed your absence, Senior You Du. The ancestor asked my father to find out what happened, so he sent me to find you. Unfortunately, I was found and followed by her, and she decided to attack me."
Hei Yaoxing pointed his finger at Ming Zhaoyan as he narrated the events causing everyone to turn to her.
Ming Zhaoyan tried her best, but with so many high level cultivators and spiritual beasts looking at her, she still grew embarrassed.
"I was sent to observe the movements from the Hei clan, and I just thought I had the opportunity to weaken the other side", she confessed.
This narration earned a smack on top of the head from Feng Lei Yu, who proceeded to berate her, "You stupid swallow, are there brains in that of head of yours or do you just follow the flow of the wind?"
"Senior Feng", the Ming Zhaoyan pleaded with tears in her eyes, "I just did as anyone would have in that situation."
"You aren't aware at all", Feng Lei Yu pinched the younger bird's cheek, "You were probably given orders to observe only, but you disregarded those orders for an 'opportunity'. Did it ever occur to you that you were in enemy territory and your actions would have given Long Xuanwu justification to attack the Fengming Xuanjing at worse or demand reparations at least?"
The sobbing girl suddenly grew quiet as a realization came over her. Senior Feng was correct, she was only supposed to watch but her bad habit caused all this.
"Could I perhaps suggest something?", Fang Shi decided to intervene.
When no one responded, he assumed that it was alright to go ahead, "I just happened to have added a new game to the game room floor of the main store that I wish to promote. It's easy to learn, and we can use it to settle this incident. Protector Lui, if you'll have a match with me, I'll forgive past conflicts. Afterwards, if the two of you find this acceptable, you can have a match as well with a wager. Just make sure you don't ask the other to do something outrageous. I get to promote a new product, and everyone else can settle their differences, a win for everyone."
The room grew silent as everyone processed the proposal.
"I'll accept", Lui Qinglan said proudly, "Even if it's something from your shop, I believe in my abilities."
Hei Yaoxing and Ming Zhaoyan also accepted, so Fang Shi drained his cup of tea and stood up.
"Let's go then", he said as he left room.
All the other occupants scrambled to drink their own tea and follow after him, slightly exasperated at his quick and decisive actions.
As the group moved towards the floor where the Soulforged artifacts were currently set up in, Fang Shi was making his own moves.
He pulled out his phone and connected it to the sound system of both stores, "Attention all guests, in an hour and five minutes I will have match with a distinguished customer using the new Soulforged artifacts in the game rooms. For any guests that were curious about these new products, please watch our match if you're interested in this new game."
Soon the group arrived on the floor so Fang Shi gave the following suggestion, "As neither of us have played this game before, we will take the next hour to get familiar with it. I don't want anyone to complain afterwards, so I propose that the winner is decided when one player reaches three victories first."
"I agree", Lui Qinglan gave a quick reply.
"Then let's begin", Fang Shi said, "I'll use this artifact on this side of the room, you can use the other side and everyone else here can serve as witnesses to prevent cheating."
No one seem to argue so the Fang Shi and Lui Qinglan, as well as Hei Yaoxing and Ming Zhaoyan, found an isolated artifact to sit at.
An hour later, the four participants stopped their preparations, and returned to the center of the room. Fang Shi had a pleasant smile on his face, but the other three seemed to be in deep contemplation.
"Is everything alright?", Fang Shi asked the other three.
"Yes, it's fine", Hei Yaoxing answered, "It's just as you said, the game is easy to learn but difficult to master."
"If you enjoy it, please feel free to come and play it anytime", Fang Shi smiled, "Are you ready to start, Protector Lui?"
Lui Qinglan simply nodded in return, so they both sat down at a pair of artifacts that had been moved to the middle of the room. Fang Shi also connected the the visuals of the light screen to all the displays in both stores, which currently played the same introductory video over and over again. The only difference was a timer in the corner counting down from five minutes.
Fang Shi also decided to inform the viewers on how the contest would be conducted, "For everyone watching, this is Fang Shi, owner of Heaven & Earth pavilion. Today, I've challenged Protector Lui of Tianbao fortress city to a match of Soulforged to demonstrate to everyone what this new game is. This battle will be 1 vs 1, and victory is decided when the health bar at the top of the screen is empty. The person to claim three victories first will be proclaimed the winner. Please enjoy."
The timer completed it's countdown, and screen changed as the mode for 1 vs 1 was selected. The next screen showed rows of character portraits, and two strange boxes in the middle.
To help the viewers understand, Fang Shi continued his narration, "This is the character select menu, and here you can choose one of three ways: first you can select from one of the characters you see here, second you can import yourself into the game to take on challengers, or third you can press the random option."
Lui Qinglan had already created a profile of himself during the hour of training, so it was apparent that he would use that to fight. Fang Shi went with a different approach, he immediately chose the random option. On his screen, viewers could see a giant wheel appear and begin spinning at high speeds. It slowed down after several seconds before stopping on an image of a man in dark blue robes wearing a large straw hat. What stood out most for this character was the giant brush he carried in his arms, and the giant scroll on his back.
With the selections made, both characters spoke a threatening comment to the other as the scene transitioned to a new one. The characters stood on opposite sides of what appeared to be a busy street in a big city. Large buildings could be seen in the background as bystanders walked by or sat watching the action. Some looked frightened by the fight that was about to start, but looking closely, you could see some old men eating melons as well.
"Ready…Fight", the announcer said and both competitors were able to move their characters.
It became incredibly obvious to the audience after a minute that both players had prepared in different ways. Lui Qinglan's avatar was aggressive and relentless, constantly pursuing Xu Wenmo, the character Fang Shi picked by random. On the other hand, viewers were confused by Feng Shi's strategy as he crouched and jumped around attacking with various techniques at random. After several minutes, this continued until Xu Wenmo's life bar ran out and Lui Qinglan claimed his first victory.
The next round began essentially the same, Lui Qinglan would throw out heavily damaging attacks and Fang Shi still acted in a strange way except that the attacks this time were different than the first round. In the first round, Xu Wenmo mostly used the giant brush in his hand and the large scroll on his back to block, parry, and attack. In this round, he tossed talismans, attacked with ink, and wrote words in the air. The crowd was amazed with ink floating in the air spelled shield would physically block the attacks of Lui Qinglan. But the second round finished like the first with Protector Lui's victory.
The crowd grew restless as the third round started. In their minds, after watching Fang Shi defeat so many opponents in a different game in the past, this should have been an easy victory. There were even signs of some customers leaving to return to what they were doing before. Unlike the last two rounds, Xu Wenmo moves became sharp. Fang Shi controlled the character like his own hands and feet, performing combination attacks. Lui Qinglan was shocked as his previous strategy started to crumble as his moved were blocked, dodged, or parried and countered. He could no longer read his opponent as Xu Wenmo would perform similar actions with varying results. Several time his opponent spilled ink on the ground or threw out talismans, but each time it had a different effect. The ink puddle was slippery one time, but the next time it was like tar causing him to get stuck. A talisman could explode, cause a bright flash, or generate a lightning bolt among other effects.
Lui Qinglan became nervous as he looked at the screen. As he lost ground and life, he noticed that Fang Shi was successfully building up the second bar that stayed on the lower part of the screen. From his hour of familiarizing himself with the game, this second bar would fill from successfully attacks and completely fill after three levels. Characters could utilize this bar of energy to perform devastating attacks against their opponent, and the higher the number on the bar, the stronger the attack.
Fang Shi's bottom bar was nearing level three, so Lui Qinglan tried to grow more aggressive in his attacks to swing the momentum back into his direction. His sword hit several times and he wound up to finish it with a giant two handed strike, but Fang Shi parried at the last moment. Lui Qinglan watched in horror as Fang Shi launched his maximum level ultimate attack. He desperately tried to block, but it was too late as his avatar was bound by paper from the giant scroll on Xu Wenmo's back. The latter quickly wrote sword multiple times in the air with each one turning into a real sword and diving towards the bound Lui Qinglan at the same time.
"Victory", the game announced and the impressive performance by Fang Shi caused the crowd to be interested in the match once again.
Unfortunately for Lui Qinglan, he wasn't able to adjust to the change in the opponent's game plan, losing the next two rounds as well.
"Thank you for letting me win", Fang Shi bowed to Protector Lui.
Lui Qinglan slightly bowed in return before asking the question, "Owner Fang, why were your movements during the first two rounds so odd?"
Fang Shi smiled sheepishly, "If I could hazard a guess, would it be accurate to say that you spent your hour before the match only playing the character you fought the match with?"
"Yes, that's right", Lui Qinglan confirmed the former's guess.
"I took a different approach", Fang Shi admitted, "I chose random, learned the chosen character's techniques, and then randomly chose again for the whole hour. Unfortunately, I never used Xu Wenmo, so I sacrificed the first two rounds to learn his move set."
Lui Qinglan grew quiet, but Fang Shi could sense the man was startled. Then the former turned and bowed to the latter.
"Please accept my apologies for my behavior", he said, "It was very disrespectful to treat your master and you as I did."
"All water under the bridge", Fang Shi replied, "Allow me to give you a tour of the rest of the shop."
As the two walked away, the other cultivators followed, leaving the spiritual beasts behind to settle their own matters.
Zhan Mingyu opened his eyes ending his meditation. He was a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator belonging the True Martial Hall, the first order sect that reigned over the Qin continent. He had recently broke through to the late stage, and had entered closed door seclusion to consolidate his gains. Using his inner strength, he cleansed his body of the impurities that had built up during his meditation and changed into a clean set of robes before exiting his meditation chamber.
Opening his front door, he found several communication talismans laying in front of it. Picking them up, he brought them inside and one by one placed them on his forehead to read them. Most were from fellow disciples, but the last one came from the Mission Hall. Even without reading it, he knew what it said. As an inner disciple of the sect competing to become a true disciple of one of the sect elders, he was required to take on mission appropriate to his rank to earn contributions. This talisman was just a reminder that he was due to accept a new task when his seclusion was complete.
Taking talismans out of his storage ring, Zhan Mingyu responded to all the messages he received with the exception of the mission hall. Then he crushed a small talisman, and waited until a giant crane appeared in front of his cave.
"Mission Hall", he told the bird as he held out a hand with some spirit stones in his palm. The crane promptly took the stones, and adjusted its position to allow him to climb onto it before taking off. Though he had seen it many times, the view of the sect from the air always calmed his mind. Ten minutes later, Zhan Mingyu was once again on the ground walking towards a grand building with hundreds of disciples walking in or out. He greeted or received greetings from many of them as he made his way towards the section of the hall meant for inner disciples.
"Inner Disciple Zhan Mingyu reporting", he said as he reached the counter, placing the communication talisman down with his sect badge.
The hall elder looked at him before taking the items set down, "Welcome Disciple Zhan, have you come to take a mission?"
"Yes, elder", he said.
"The scroll with all the current missions it sitting where it always does", the elder explained, "Bring the wood slip with the mission you wish to take once you've decided."
Zhan Mingyu thanks the elder and walked to the table where the mission scroll lay. He skimmed through it until he found the one he wanted, a recruitment mission. As the premier sect of the continent, the True Martial Hall didn't recruit new sect members the same as second or third order sect did. Every ten years, the True Martial Hall invited potential recruits from the continent to partake in a two stage entrance exam. The first stage would measure the potential of all the recruits brought, and the second was having the chosen ones of the first round face each other. This is how eighty percent of the sects members were accepted into the True Martial Hall. The other twenty percent were like Zhan Mingyu, born from the leadership of the sect and the most likely to rise into positions of power in the future.
Writing the mission down on a wooden slip, he went back to the elder at the counter receiveing a token that would allow him to leave and a map.
Thanking the elder, Zhan Mingyu headed to the front gate of the sect looking over his destinations. He wasn't familiar with any of the cities on the list since he never traveled to the southern portion of the continent before. One name on the list that could be seen as he put it away was, Blue Moon city.