Crisis

Lin Feng excitedly opened up the system menu. The first thing he checked was the furniture and decorations he could place within his shopping mall. He hoped that he could now make his mall into more than an empty room.

Swiping through the different options, Lin Feng saw many different tables, chairs, benches, plants, and other such furniture. There were thousands of options to make his mall a more comfortable meeting place for his customers. Unfortunately, what he didn't see was a bed.

Lin Feng continued to look through the extensive list, slowly losing hope. Finally, he reached the end of the list without seeing anything similar to a bed. Lin Feng was extremely disappointed. He felt like this system wasn't nearly as impressive as most of the others he had read about in novels. Had he received a counterfeit system?

Lin Feng went back through the options and looked through all couches that the system offered before finally deciding on the largest couch he could find.

After unlocking the couch, he placed it down next to him without much thought and lay on it.

Lin Feng sighed. It was much better than a stone bench but he couldn't help but feel quite pathetic. What other transmigrator with a system was forced to sleep on a couch? He felt like his life was not proceeding according to plan. After more than six months in this new world, he was still in such a sorry state. Wouldn't any other transmigrator already have a budding harem and be a king already?

After failing to find a bed, Lin Feng doubted that he would be able to find anything so simple as a bathtub, but he still looked without much hope.

Indeed, after looking through the list for quite some time, he could only come up with a vase that was just large enough to probably have a cramped bath in. Lin Feng unlocked the vase and placed it in front of the couch.

Without getting up, Lin Feng turned dejectedly to look at the large porcelain vase. It was blue and white with an intricate scene painted on it.

Reaching out, Lin Feng ran his fingers along the smooth glaze and intricate pictures.

"I guess it's pretty." Lin Feng whispered to himself sadly.

Mei, who was watching all of this off to the side, was speechless. Had her brother finally snapped? What the hell was he doing?

Lin Feng was too caught up in self-pity to notice Mei's worried gaze. These two purchases had already cost him three of his seven points. Lin Feng wasn't sure why he was trying so hard. Six months for a big vase and a couch. He was incredulous.

Lin Feng carelessly bought a wooden bench and potted plant with the remaining four points and closed out of the system menu. He would see about placing them at different places around the mall later. For now, he was going to take a nap.

Meanwhile, while Lin Feng was having a crisis of motivation, others were having a different sort of crisis.

——

The city lord of Yashan city walked into his office silently. He sat at his desk and stared down at his hands with an impassive expression as he fiddled with the hem of his new brocade robe. After a few minutes, a maid entered with some tea.

"Send for my son, I have something to talk with him about."

The maid bowed and went to do his bidding.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Yang Wen's son, Yang Xinhe, came in.

"Father, you called for me?"

"Yes, sit down." Yang Wen paused to gather his thoughts as he rubbed his fingers along the hem of his robe. "Tomorrow, you will come with me to the Demon Tooth Mountains, north of Changqi village."

"Father, I'm meeting with Xia'er and her family tomorrow."

"No, this is more important, your fiancée can wait. There is an opportunity in the mountains for Yashan city and our Yang family to become stronger than even the imperial family, but we have to move quickly.

"The imperial city already knows about it. If we wait too long, we will lose any chance of taking advantage of the situation."

Yang Xinhe was stunned.

"Father, what kind of opportunity did you find?"

"You'll see tomorrow. Make sure you're on your best behavior. As long as you do well, we might rise to heaven in one fell swoop."

——

The Chen family elders had already gathered when Chen Longhui returned.

"Quickly, gather up the younger generation and have them follow me into the mountains! Our Chen family has come across an amazing opportunity!"

"Longhui? What is it? Where is Xiao Rong?"

"Hurry, gather them up! I will explain while they prepare."

Chen Longhui quickly began telling them what they found after following Chen Rong into the mountains.

The Chen elders gasped.

"What realm is that? Soul Reformation? Unity? Something even higher?!"

"All we need to know is that this is a great fortune to our Chen family, but if we don't hurry, we will only be able to pick up scraps. We do not have the qualifications to compete with the big players."

The Chen Family head, Chen Weimin, nodded.

"Empty the treasury if you have to, make sure everyone going has at least ten spirit crystals."

——

The speed of a Golden Core cultivator was extremely fast. A trip that might take a normal person weeks would only take a Golden Core cultivator a day if they were rushing as quickly as they could.

Wang Mu immediately used a communication jade to alert the imperial court of the situation after he had left the shopping mall. The imperial court placed such importance on the matter that a peak Golden Core cultivator met Wang Mu halfway to the imperial capital and rushed him back.

Wang Mu quickly found himself in front of the Yan Emperor, one of the few Nascent Soul Realm cultivators within the Great Yan Dynasty.

The emperor's face was impassive as he listened to Wang Mu's description of Lin Feng, Mei, and their "shopping mall".

"You say that the spiritual energy reacted to his every move and word?"

"Yes, your majesty." Wang Mu spoke while kneeling and staring at the floor, not daring to look upon the emperor. "It was as if they were of one body."

"And this… spaghetti. You broke through immediately upon eating it?"

"Yes, your majesty. I immediately broke through a small realm into the Middle Stage Core Formation Realm."

The emperor hummed thoughtfully.

"You may go."

"Yes, your majesty."

Wang Mu kept his head low and back hunched as he walked backward away from the emperor, so as to never show his back to the heavenly father of Great Yan.

When Wang Mu finally left and turned the corner, the emperor sighed. The emperor spoke to the empty room.

"The Unity of Heaven and Earth Realm? Our Great Yan has never raised a Unity Venerable in all its long history. What could one be doing here now?"

An old man appeared kneeling in front of the throne.

"This one does not know, your majesty. If it is your will, this one will investigate."

This old man was one of the secret weapons of the Great Yan Dynasty, an old friend of the previous emperor and protector of the imperial family. He was the Great Yan Dynasty's only Soul Reformation Realm Sage.

"See it done."

The old man bowed deeply and then disappeared.

The emperor was quiet for some time as he thought over the implications of Lin Feng's appearance within his empire. The emperor sighed again and called for a eunuch.

"Have the ministers come and see us. We have much to discuss."