Heaven and Earth pavilion (Tianbao location)
Fang Shi had guided the group of powerful cultivators and spiritual beasts all throughout the various halls, giving them a brief introduction to the different restaurants and shops.
"Dear guests, pardon my rudeness but I have some business the senior has requested I handle", he apologized, "But I believe that everyone already knows what they wish to investigate, so I'll take my leave."
Seeing understanding nods from both humans and the spirit beasts, Fang Shi cupped his hands before leaving.
Mei Lihua was the first to speak, "Since I've been here before, I'll head to the cultivation hall but I also encourage everyone to purchase a communication jade first before setting out. Also visiting the evaluation artifact is an excellent way of ridding yourself of damaged items, useless objects, and artifacts you no longer need for high quality spirit stones."
The others nodded in agreement, and began moving towards the shop that sold the communication jades. Mei Lihua split off from everyone once outside, and made her way to the pod cafe. When the elders and ancient beasts reached the commerce hall, they made a few inquiries from pavilion employees and were soon guided to series of booths.
When the initial pavilion first opened in Blue Moon city, it had one evaluation artifact for customers to use. Nearly four years later, the artifact was still the same but the environment around it changed. There were multiple artifacts sitting in booths for privacy.
Each man, woman, or beasts entered a booth and quickly read the intructions that hung on the wall. Place your storage device on the designated spot, and a light screen would appear displaying all the contents in an easy to read manner. Mentally or physically select the items you wish to appraise, submit them, and receive your payment of spirit stones or have the total sent to your communication jade.
(POV: Long Xuanwu)
I placed the strange communication jade I had just purchased in the labeled slot before placing a pearl on the evaluation pad. I have lived for millennia and taken many belongings of humans, but I rather use this spacial storage pearl I had found instead of their storage bags or rings. The pearl was a treasure born of nature, so I had greater confidence that it wouldn't fail but I was also using it as a test to see if this artifact could properly interact with it.
A light screen illuminated in front of me relieving my worries, so I took a moment to examine the display. A large grid of squares sat in front of me, and each one had a small image representing an item and a label that identified that object as well. Hei Tun had told me from his experience that this shop would purchase almost anything whether it was functional or not, so I had filled my pearl with objects I had kept but were useless to my cultivation. Artifacts of all types, storage bags, scrolls, manuals, clothes, even broken spiritual boats of those that tried to attack my lair were now on the screen before me. No spiritual plants or pills appeared though, I consumed what helped me advance or gave lower level plants and pills to my loyal followers.
Since everything was useless, I selected all of it and instructed the artifact to begin the evaluation. A green line appeared above each square and started to slowly scan from the top to the bottom. After a few moments, the squares that represented lower quality items and smaller items were the first to completely turn green. When the first item finished, the display extended to the right displaying the item's name and worth in this new area. As each square turned green, it would be added to the list and in the time it would take to drink a cup of tea, all the items were evaluated.
At this time I was not sure what to do, but a space at the bottom of the screen with a question mark labeled (Help) caught my eye. I choose this option and the new screen that appeared explained everything in an easy to understand answer. According to this information, I just had to select the items that had been evaluated and l could sale them to the store, offer them up to auction, or cancel the transaction altogether. The next step was easy, I selected everything and sold it to the pavilion. A few moments later, the light screen in front of me changed as the selected items disappeared and a final inquiry was made about payment. According to the message, I could directly receive payment in spirit stones, have spirit stones deposited into the shop's account, or a combination of both.
Honestly, I was still skeptical about the store account so I chose to receive ninty percent as spirit stones. The other ten percent will be used to investigate the operation and reliability of the store account. Satisfied with my preparation, I put my pearl away in it's usual place, and exit the booth.
'Let's visit the restaurant first, then the teahouse before going to the cultivation hall', I made my plans as I started to leave the commerce hall, 'After that, I'll go to the bar and sample the wines.'
The sounds of multiple sliding doors caught my attention as I recognized the four human cultivators and that silly flaming bird had also finished their business inside as well.
"Have you already decided what to do next?", the elder named Mi Shuangyuan ask me.
"My subordinates have told me may things about this place", I replied, "Since the rumor about the owner buying old and broken human junk was true, I thought I would follow up by trying the food here. They told me it's very delicious and beneficial, even at my realm."
"Perhaps we will cross paths later", the elder known as Lei Yunsheng responded to me, "We are due to meet with fellow Daoist Mei at the cultivation hall now that we have completed our preliminary preparations."
"Until then", I said as I left hall, heading back to the main hall.
I could sense the four human elders also leave, and they did indeed head towards the building called the cultivation hall. What was curious is that the silly bird stayed in the commerce hall, but ultimately I didn't care too much and stop paying attention to her. Once inside, I made my way to the restaurant on the second floor and easily reserved a private room. Surprisingly, a spirit wolf in mostly human form wearing robes of the Heaven & Earth pavilion guided me to the room.
"What is your name?", I asked out of curiosity as I sat down.
"Yin Xuelan, Lord Long", she answered, "It's a pleasure to have you grace our establishment. We can provider wait staff if you so desire, but if you want a quiet evening I'd recommend using the light screen to order dishes and pay once you're done."
"That sounds ideal, but your presence has surprised me", I replied, "Would it possible to converse for a few minutes?"
"Of course", she smiled, "Just give me a moment to inform my manager."
I watched as she took out a communication jade, sent a message, and put it away.
"I hope you don't mind me asking", I tried to be polite, "But how did you end up working here?"
"About a year ago, my pack was attacked by a rival pack", she start to tell her story, "They completely caught us off guard, but I was fortunate enough to have escaped. Even though I was injured, I was able to hide out until one day this shop appeared overnight out of nowhere. I stayed away in the beginning, but everyday I heard news of the wonderful things found inside. One day, news spread that the owner was hiring and that anyone could apply. So I took the chance to apply, and luck was on my side. Thankfully, I was able to fully heal and even learned how to transform into a human form. Since then, I have enjoyed working as a hostess."
As she spoke, I had already opened the light screen and was ordering food.
"You can fully transform?", I questioned her, "But your ears and tail are clearly showing."
"Ah, this is embarrassing", she blushed slightly, "Lord Long, there's a reason for this. In the cultivation hall, the owner has created artifacts one can use to cultivate. When you use them, it feels as if you've entered a secret realm but in truth you're playing a game or watching a recording. It's not a scam though, everyone that uses these artifacts truly contain strength."
"What does that have to do with you displaying your ears and tail?", I didn't quite understand.
"Often the characters in these games and recordings are spiritual beasts that display a certain feature in their human form", she explained, "The customers have developed a liking of said characters so nowadays spirit beasts that work here often display their own features in a similar fashion."
"I'm actually amazed that the master of the store would hire spiritual beasts", I admitted.
"I'm grateful", she expressed her feelings, "Not only did he not discriminate against us, he also rewards everyone equally based on merit."
A knock on the door interrupted the conversation, but by now I had asked essentially everything I had wanted to. I directed my attention to the screen, and the door to the room opened in response.
"Lord Long, your order has arrived", a human female wearing robes similar to Yin Xuelan guided a cart of food and drink inside.
I thanked the waitress after she placed all the dishes before facing Yin Xuelan, "I've taken enough of your time, so thank you for answering my questions and I won't bother you anymore. I know, add your contact information to my communication jade and if you need help, I'll provide it."
"Certainly", she smiled as she took out her jade and brought it close to mine.
A sound was made after the two jades were close enough, so afterwards she put the jade away and both her and the waitress left the room.
I looked down at the table in front of me to see all the dishes I ordered. Remembering the names, there was egg fried rice, braised pork, chow mein, Tianbao duck, Mapo Tofu, and others. Also there were dishes with names I never heard of before like ramen, yakitori, tonkatsu, onigiri, bibimbap, bulgogi, kalbi, and more. I tasted everything first and immediately had two thoughts, everything was delicious and the ingredients were capable of increasing my cultivation. Curious, I looked at the menu again when I noticed a message: (Meals are available based on ingredient procurement. Lower realm cultivation meals are available daily, Mid realm meals are available approximately every 8-10 days , and high realm meals are available approximately every 14-28 days.)
"Ho", I couldn't help saying.
Even though a grew some spiritual plants in my lair, I could normally eat a meal like this two to fours a year. If this notice was true, I could eat like this two to four times a season. Pleased with this news I ate everything, finishing off the meal with an excellent tea.
'Let's skip the tea house', I decided, 'I'm so full of energy, it seems necessary to go to the cultivation hall first.'
(POV: Zhang Mingyu)
I was sitting at the bar on the fourth floor of the Heaven & Earth pavilion's main hall with several small empty wine bottles on the counter. Today had been so eye opening that I felt I had accidentally walked into an illusion array, but obviously that's not the case.
'What has happened to this city?', I asked myself for the tenth time, 'The last time I was here, the population was mainly mortal striving to breakthrough to the Qi Gathering realm. How could one store affect not only the city but the surrounding area as well?'
The last time I was here eighty percent of Blue Moon city was mortal or in the Body Perfecting realm, which is still essentially mortal. Even though some phenomenon had caused the spiritual vein to increase in quality, that was only several years ago and should only account for a small increase.
I thought back to when I first entered the city, one of the first events to cause me to question reality was witnessing mortal growing spiritual plants. That should be impossible but it was explained to me that they saved up and purchased artifacts that did everything by using spirit stones. First of all, how could mortal afford spirit stones?
One of the mortal's even invited me into his home, and decided to take a look out of sheer curiosity. It was unbelievable. Although his house couldn't compare to my cave back at the True Martial Hall, the quality of the furniture and the artifacts inside was better than the spirit farmers that tend the fields at the sect. How came mortals live a better life than cultivators?
Seeing this only drove my resolve to investigate the source of all this change, the Heaven & Earth pavilion. Upon entering the front gate, I was met with a view I should only see back at the sect with beautiful plum blossoms decorating the grounds. Also, it was impossible to ignore that the ambient Qi was more pure than the Qi in my cultivation room at True Martial hall.
Walking into the main hall, it was strange seeing cultivators and mortals shopping in the same place. Soon, I was guided through the process of using the evaluation artifact and the communication jade called a 'phone' or 'Tianmu'. As the employee guided me through the store, I witnessed three strange occurrences. The first time was entering the pharmacy. Shelves of jade bottles were neatly lined up with labels, but it was one label that caught his attention, (Foundation Establishment pills).
I immediately walked up to the counter where the employee stood, "Is this really Foundation Establishment pills!?!"
"Of course", she responded, "If it pleases you, allow me to present our wares."
I nodded, and watched as she left the counter. She walked up to the shelves that held the foundation establishment pills, and started grabbing multiple bottles. She returned to the counter, activated an unknown artifact, and emptied the bottles contents onto the counter.
"This artifact is used to prevent the pill's medical efficiency from dissipating", she told me.
I had never heard of such an artifact before, but I pressed the questions forming in my mind to the back to ask a more critical question, "Why did you grab so many bottles?"
"These are all foundation establishment pills, Lord envoy", was all I heard and it took all my will not blank out.
"How is this possible?", I exclaimed, "Do you know how many people could advance in realm using these pills? Are each of these pills the same recipe?"
"Of course not, Lord envoy", she answered with confusion on her face, "This pill here is for a cultivator with water, wood, and earth spirit roots. This pill works best for someone with fire and metal spirit roots. We have pills for almost every combination of spirit roots."
"Almost?", I couldn't believe what was hearing.
"There are some combinations that are rare", she quickly said, "When people with with these types of spirit roots come, the alchemist will refine them as required. We actually don't sell as many pills as we used to."
"That's understandable", I agreed, "These pills probably used mountains of resources, and would have to sell at a high price to benefit the shop."
"You have the wrong idea, Lord envoy", she corrected me, "The reason we don't sell as many as before is because more people are breaking through without them."
I felt like everything no longer made sense when I heard that. I couldn't understand why anyone would choose to not take the pill if they afford it. The pill not only increased your chances of breaking thry, but it also protected your meridians from damage if you failed.
"Lord envoy, please inspect our merchandise", is what I heard that snapped me back to reality.
Looking over, I saw a row of pills but what was most amazing was that they all had pill clouds. I had never seen a pill with cloud markings before, and in our sect only the true disciples and sect master would ever have the chance to take pills like this.
"I'll take all the bottles you brought out", I said, "Please make sure they are all properly marked."
This purchase would earn me a huge amount of merit points in the sect, so I couldn't let pass by. Luckily, when I used the evaluation artifact earlier, I earned a nice sum selling things I didn't need. She quoted the price as she stored the pills back into their bottles, which I immediately paid.
The second time was similar to first when I entered the artifact refinery. The first thing that stood out was the lack of weapons, armor, or artifacts on display.
"Excuse me, but is this shop open?", I couldn't help asking after going in.
The man behind the counter smiled as he replied, "We are, Lord envoy, can I be of service? We can refine or modify any artifact you require."
"How come there aren't any artifacts on display?", I asked.
"We work on artifacts for all situations", he clarified, "Non combat oriented artifacts are on display in a different shop of the commerce hall. Combat related artifacts are custom made or altered to the customers specific needs."
The same feelings I felt in the pharmacy started to return, "Every artifact is custom crafted?"
"Yes, Lord envoy", the man answered, "Do you have your personalized jade slip?"
"What jade slip?", I said in response.
"My apologies, Lord envoy", the man asked forgiveness, "I had assumed you had already visited the cultivation hall. If you will allow me to explain, there's an evaluation tool in the cultivation hall that records you spiritual roots, cultivation method, techniques you're proficient in performing, and more. This tool will measure the synergy between your body and your methods, record it on a jade slip, and deliver this slip to you. You will need this jade slip if you wish to use the cultivation artifacts or rooms, or if you wish to have pills or artifacts custom made for you. All personal information stored on the slip is controlled by you, and the Heaven & Earth pavilion guarantees your privacy."
"You won't refine a weapon without this information?", I had to check.
"It's the rules set by the owner", the employee acknowledged, "Owner Fang set up agreements with all the sects masters living close by that our store will never record or sell cultivation methods or techniques considered vital to their sect."
"Since I'm missing item, I will go the cultivation hall to acquire it", I made my intentions known as I headed towards the door.
"I look forward to your return", the employee stated as I left.
I left the commerce hall and crossed the bridge that went over the pond. To my surprise, on a large platform in the middle of the pond, a performance was in progress. I witnessed three women with fox ears and tails dancing and singing. Large crowds of guests gathered around, and it's obvious to me they are listening and enjoying the show. Since I couldn't detect any harmful intent behind the performance, I paid it no more attention and arrived at the cultivation hall.
The cultivation hall was spilt into three sections, the cultivation artifact room known as the 'pod cafe', the rooms used cultivation and breakthroughs, and the cultivation library. Following the advice of the employee from the artifact refinery, I went the library.
"Welcome, ah, Lord envoy", a woman behind the counter greeted me as I strolled in, "I'm librarian Xu Wenjing, and welcome to the library."
I respectfully return the greeting before moving on to my real objective, "I was told I can obtain a jade slip from here that will assist me in the operation of cultivation artifacts and placing orders of artifacts and pills?"
"Yes", she acknowledged my request, "Please follow me so it can be administered."
I complied, and followed after her until we reached a strange artifact that resembled a crystal ball and a mask.
"Place your hands on the crystal sphere and your face in the mask", Xu Wenjing instructed me, "Once the process is complete, you can choose to receive the result in a jade slip if you have use you phone."
'The phone also had this function', I thought to myself as I did as she instructed.
It didn't take long I heard a sound indicating the process was finished. Looking at my phone, I saw a new icon appear labeled (Cultivation Health).
"If you are interested in combat techniques, please follow me", the librarian's words caught my attention.
I followed her into the next room where many shelves held thousands of scrolls and manuals. It was something else found in the room that garnered my interest. Six large light screens mounted to the wall were prominently displayed.
"What are those?", I asked my guide.
"As you know, we are a business", she commented, "Over the four years we've been open, we have bought many low level cultivation methods and techniques as well as incomplete ones. The senior who looks over the store seems to have a hobby of taking these, and researching them. After accumulating them and testing them in the cultivation pods, we have been able to complete methods that were missing portions and offer them to guests that have the right compatibility."
A rush of questions entered my mind but I knew this wasn't the appropriate time to ask. I still needed to hand out the tokens to invite potential candidates to enter the True Martial hall, so I observed the closest light screen.
{Cultivation Methods}
In the middle of the screen was an eight sided trigram inside a circle. Each side had a different word written above it: fire, water, wood, metal, earth, air, light, and dark. A series of lines that appeared similar to a tree extending from the center. Some of the lines led to the name of a cultivation method while other led to any empty space.
'I see', a thought struck me, 'As long as different methods share the same base element…hmm, I should inform my master when I return.'
I looked at a few more light screens but it was the same, collecting and compiling the information from scrolls, jade slips, and manuals to gain enlightenment about cultivation. The idea is so simple and it makes so much sense, but this is the first time I've heard of anyone doing it.
"This has certainly been an enlightening experience", I said to Xu Wenjing, "If I get the opportunity in the future, I would enjoy having a discussion about cultivation. Unfortunately, I'm on a mission from my sect at the moment and I most go."
With that, I left the library before heading towards the 'pod cafe'.
Back in the present, I look back at what I experienced in that cafe still not believing what took place. I finally read the evaluation I received in the library only to find my cultivation method is eighty two percent compatible with my spirit roots. It also predicted that I would never form a golden core due to my body's inability to withstand the break through. Also it said my sea of consciousness was lacking as well. Then the games, movies, and shows…I didn't think it possible for an illusion to feel so real. Yet the strength and knowledge I gained were real.
A new problem has emerged, there are so many talented seeds to invite back to the sect but I didn't have enough tokens to invite them all. And the faces the chosen make when I extend an invitation to them, only a few react normal with gratitude. The rest hesitate, it seems they wish to stay here instead. I understand but I still represent True Martial hall, the overlord of the continent. I should speak with master, he can find the right elder that can come here and speak on equal terms with the mysterious cultivator that watches over this shop. I'll get as much evidence as I can over the next few days, and immediately return to the sect afterwards.
Looking at the empty wine bottles in front of me, I feel slightly ashamed for losing control. I paid my bill and was getting ready to go the courtyard the mayor had arranged for me when a nauseous smell entered my nose.
The man behind the bar seemed to smelled it too, "Lord envoy, I recommend you quickly make you way to the bathhouse. It's a common occurrence when someone visits for the first time."
"What is happening?", I frantically asked.
"The food and drink are removing the impurities from your body", he calmly explained, "Now please get going, it's only going to get worse."
This is how I spent my first night in Blue Moon city.
Fang Shi entered his room after spending several hours in the bar. Today had been eventful since the morning when he had to prevent the major powers in the region from fighting at his front gate. After giving a guided tour to the rambunctious guests, he checked in with his employees before working on his preparations for the upcoming task.
Twice today, Fang Shi heard a sound that he hadn't heard for sometime, the achievement notification. Sitting in his favorite chair, he open the system panel:
[New! I'm on a boat!
New! Threading the Needle!]
[New! I'm on a boat!
Purchase a functioning or broken flying ship (Completed)
Reward: a personal flying ship (Use the system to customize the boat)]
[New! Threading the Needle!
Acquire a medical inheritance this contains a complete acupuncture chart, needles, and procedures (Completed)
Reward: an acupuncture session that opens all the host's acupuncture points]
"System!", Fang Shi sat up straight, "Accept the first reward!"
[Unable to comply, host lacks the resources necessary.]
"What?", Fang Shi's face fell.