The Holy Emperor

Lin Feng walked down the stairs from his private room into the main lobby of the shopping mall. He had made a small room off to the side and above the shopping mall so that he could sleep and live with a bit of privacy now that customers were coming to the mall.

There was a smattering of greetings as the handful of people downstairs saw him come down.

"Good morning, Senior Lin!"

Lin Feng nodded and waved at an overly excitable Yang Xinhe. Ever since his father had brought him over, Yang Xinhe had been especially friendly out of all the different customers.

Over the last few days, the shopping mall had gained a few regular customers from the Chen family and the smaller Yang family in Yashan city. Even so, it wasn't enough to begin upgrading the shopping mall.

The system had given him the goal of serving fifty unique customers for his next milestone reward and most of the shops cost around 500 points to manually unlock. He was at twenty-two customers and thirty-one points. It could be seen that the growth of the shopping mall was going to be quite slow.

Lin Feng walked around the room, taking a look at all the customers currently there. After he had unlocked those first few pieces of furniture, he had placed them around the mall so people could have somewhere to sit and so the mall wouldn't look quite so empty.

There were wooden benches placed sparsely around the main fountain and between many of the pillars ringing the edge of the room. There were large potted plants in decorative red and gold ceramic pots placed alongside the benches. Overall, the shopping mall was much more comfortable now than it previously had been.

Many people were sitting on these benches and cultivating. Lin Feng was happy to see that there were people in the mall, but none of them were buying anything. At least not often.

Lin Feng felt quite conflicted with this development. He didn't mind people staying here, but he wished they would buy at least a couple more things.

If everyone bought something once a day, he would get roughly 100 points every five days and would be able to afford another shop in around a month.

Unfortunately, his customers were too poor. They had basically all bought a single meal and that was it. The effects of the food weren't as good after the first time eating it, so many of his customers didn't eat another one.

Worse still, many of them didn't bother buying any clothes at all. The effects of the food were immediately obvious and quite valuable, but the effects of the clothing had yet to be found. This led to many people not even bothering to buy the clothes after seeing how expensive they were.

Lin Feng felt quite helpless about this. He would love to tell everyone what miraculous effect the clothing store's products had but he didn't know either! The system just described it as a clothing store and the products themselves never seemed to have any special effect when Lin Feng used them.

If his customers couldn't find what use the clothes had then Lin Feng was just as ignorant as them.

Lin Feng walked over to the vending machines and got some breakfast before going outside.

Lin Feng stood looking out over the lake while eating some steamed buns and considered his progress so far. He couldn't help but feel like nothing much had changed. Even if he was now the owner of a more-or-less functioning mall, it didn't seem to help much.

The new store seemed quite useless and his life hadn't changed much at all from when he had no customers at all. He was still trapped in the valley and his life still seemed to be very empty of any excitement.

Lin Feng's customers even seemed to avoid him more often than not. One of Lin Feng's biggest complaints about being so far out in the middle of the wilderness was how isolated he was, but now that people had started coming around, he was still isolated.

Lin Feng looked down at a carp staring up at him from the lake.

"Am I very unapproachable?"

The carp silently stared up at him and Lin Feng silently stared back. Eventually, he began to feel quite silly talking to a fish, ignoring the fact that he regularly talked to a fox.

Lin Feng threw his remaining steamed bun into the water and walked back inside.

Maybe he had been quite unapproachable for the last few days. His excitement and impatience for some kind of change after so many months alone had left him quite irritable and pushy.

The system also seemed to have some kind of effect on people but Lin Feng wasn't quite sure what. He assumed it had to do with the so-called invincibility given to him by the system.

Lin Feng decided to try to change this state of affairs. Despite his hopes, it seemed like he would be stuck in this situation for a while longer. The people coming to his mall were his only link to the outside world currently. If he didn't want to go fully crazy from isolation, he would have to be a bit more friendly.

Looking around, Lin Feng saw Mei sitting on one of the benches near the fountain chatting with Yang Xinhe. Unlike Lin Feng, Mei had been especially popular these last few days. It seemed like everyone was eager to get to know her.

Ling Feng went over and interrupted their conversation by running his fingers through Mei's fur and rubbing her behind the ears. Mei preened and leaned into his touch happily.

"How's your cultivation coming?" Lin Feng asked.

"Good! I broke through into the Late Stage of the Core Formation Realm last night!" Mei said proudly.

"Good job." Lin Feng smiled at the proud little fox. "You'll be able to take human form soon and help bring customers over."

Lin Feng looked over at Yang Xinhe. This was Yang Wen's son and one of the few customers that consistently greeted Lin Feng whenever he saw him. Lin Feng figured he could talk to Yang Xinhe without scaring him too badly.

"How are things going in Yashan city? I haven't seen your father for a bit."

Yang Xinhe jolted when Lin Feng addressed him.

"Ah! A delegation of the imperial court arrived a few days ago and my father has been busy entertaining them. In fact, my father has had me buy some food from your vending machines for the delegation! Yashan city is normally so poor, my father was very happy to finally have a local delicacy to show off."

Lin Feng felt a bit helpless. Why was his location so bad? Vending machine food from a newly discovered shopping mall was suddenly a local delicacy?

The shopping mall sold such high-end goods but he was stuck in such a little backwater place. Lin Feng wasn't sure if it was the system's choice, but he had some complaints for whoever had decided where to drop him off in this world.

"Is Yashan city so poor compared to other places?"

Yang Xinhe grimaced.

"Yashan city is… quite undeveloped compared to most places." Yang Xinhe Paiutes to organize his thoughts. "Great Yan itself is already quite weak and undeveloped compared to most countries and Yashan city is one of the poorest parts of Great Yan."

"How does the Great Yan Dynasty compare to its neighbors?"

"I've heard that the Emperor of Great Yan is in the Nascent Soul Realm but that might not even be enough to be a large court official in either of the two top countries. The two top countries already have countless Soul Reformation Realm cultivators. Even Unity Venerables should not be impossible."

Lin Feng ignored these realm names completely. He had no idea what the different rankings of strength were in this world and he didn't care. He was more interested in what Yang Xinhe said about the ranking of countries.

"What are these two top countries you're talking about?"

"The two top countries…," Yang Xinhe looked a bit surprised that Lin Feng didn't know about them already, "These are the two great empires of the north and south.

"There is Great Xia in the south and Western Wei in the north. Great Yan was once a part of Great Xia before the Holy Emperor fell.

"Great Xia is the empire of mankind, while Western Wei is ruled by demons. The Demon Tooth mountains were once the old border between these two countries before they declined."

Yang Xinhe had revealed a lot of information with this conversation but it had only left Lin Feng with more questions.

Mei perked up when she heard Yang Xinhe's explanation.

"Big Brother, I know about this! I used to live in the north but I could barely survive at the Foundation Establishment Realm. The demonic beasts in the north are too strong! They're the reason I knew that demonic beasts could transform into humans if they grow strong enough."

Yang Xinhe nodded.

"The farther north or south you go from the Demon Tooth Mountains, the more prosperous the countries become and the more powerful the cultivators and demonic beasts are. The spiritual energy in and around the Demon Tooth Mountains has long been known to be too weak for powerful cultivators and demonic beasts. It has always functioned as a natural barrier and dividing line across the continent."

Lin Feng felt wronged. Why did he have to show up in such a place? How different would things have gone if he had just appeared a little farther north or south?

"Who is this Holy Emperor you mentioned?"

"The Holy Emperor was the founder of Great Xia and aimed to conquer the world. Under his power, Great Xia was unparalleled and nothing could stand in their way. Great Xia swept through the south, unifying the countries and bringing peace and stability to the people, but when he tried to cross the Demon Tooth Mountains his progress stalled.

"Western Wei had a great demon named Wang Hu. They say he was once a common beast but he cultivated until he could suppress the sky. He forcibly unified the other demonic beasts and formed The Western Wei Dynasty.

"When the Holy Emperor encroached on the north, Wang Hu single-handedly pushed Great Xia back south of the Demon Tooth Mountains.

"Finally, the Holy Emperor himself fought his way to Western Wei's capital and battled with Wang Hu for four days and four nights. In the end, Wang Hu was killed but the Holy Emperor was also fatally injured.

"With both Wang Hu and the Holy Emperor's death, both Great Xia and Western Wei were greatly weakened and began to fracture and fall apart.

"Today, both countries still exist but are much reduced from their peak."

Lin Feng's face grew stiffer and stiffer as Yang Xinhe talked. This was really the worst possible place to found a shopping mall.