The Zhou Prince

Wang Mu sat at a small table set up by one of the many newly emerging stalls within the Immortal Shopping Mall. The empty hallways and rooms of the shopping mall were quickly developing into a thriving community.

Wang Mu remembered when he had first ventured into the twisting and winding hallways. They had been empty and barren. The dim lighting and bare expanses of polished white stone had given it a lonely and desolate feel. Now, it was different. The halls had stalls up and down the sides. The empty rooms were full of people chatting and cultivating. Braziers blazed with light and gave the place a lively feel.

If you walked deeper into the back rooms for a few minutes, past the first major room, you would find those empty hallways again, but Wang Mu was already amazed at how quickly the shopping mall had changed.

He was sitting here drinking tea while watching the crowds of people around him for a reason. Foreign cultivators had become much more common in the last few days and, as a member of the Yan imperial court, he was a bit worried.

Great Yan had avoided a battle breaking out only by allowing foreign cultivators free access to the shopping mall. Now, it had become a game of politics.

Wang Mu and the other cultivators from the imperial court were worried that one of the neighboring countries would be able to sway Lin Feng or Mei into giving them more benefits or restricting their rivals. Luckily, for the past few days that the foreign cultivators had been here, Lin Feng had been quite elusive.

When he did show up, he seemed to be in a bad mood. Everyone who approached him could feel the spiritual energy boiling with tension. So, the foreign cultivators didn't dare get too familiar with him.

Wang Mu was now people-watching to see what the group from Zhou was up to.

——

Fang An was a prince in the Kingdom of Zhou. He was not the crown prince but he still lived a very comfortable life by most people's metrics. Anything that the Kingdom of Zhou could get is something that Fang An could have.

Most people would be very satisfied with their lot, but Fang An wanted more. He had traveled to Great Xia once, and while he was there he had realized that, for all the riches in Zhou, he lived like a pauper compared to even the weakest prince of Xia.

He wanted the Kingdom of Zhou to grow bigger and stronger. He wanted it to grow more prosperous than any other country in the world. He wanted the Zhou Kingdom to have an emperor, not a king, and he wanted to be the crown prince.

Unfortunately, such ambitions were hard to realize for Fang An. The current crown prince was already a Nascent Soul cultivator and was more than a hundred years older than Fang An. His foundations in Zhou were deep and unshakeable.

Fang An didn't see any way he could realize his dreams in this situation.

That all changed when he heard about a shopping mall in the neighboring Yan Dynasty. He heard tales of opportunities and wonders.

If he could take advantage of these opportunities, he had a chance to surpass his older brother and become the crown prince of Zhou.

Fang An quickly sent over many of his supporters within the Zhou court and funded their purchases of the shopping mall's products. He was only held up by the fact that he couldn't talk with the owner of the shopping mall, Lin Feng.

Out of helplessness, he could only go around and ask the other customers of the shopping mall about Lin Feng to try and find anything he could do to get a meeting with the illusive man and gain his favor.

"I heard that he was an immortal in heaven that got bored and came down to see if anything was interesting on earth."

"An immortal from heaven that created a shopping mall?"

"Well, why else would he call it the Immortal Shopping Mall if he wasn't immortal?"

"…Thank you for your time." Fang An walked away from the old woman selling candied haws feeling conflicted.

Everyone he talked to seemed to have a different story to tell about Lin Feng. Some of them fantastical, some of them more normal.

He had heard tales ranging from him being a monstrously strong demon to him being the illegitimate son of the Holy Emperor.

The only thing Fang An could really figure out is that no one knew much of anything about Lin Feng.

Walking back up to his sister, Fang An was despondent.

Fang Qiyu was a minor princess in the Kingdom of Zhou. She had little power on her own, but she was Fang An's favorite sister.

"Still no luck?"

"Nothing. It's like he just appeared out of thin air one day." Fang An shook his head sadly. "We'll think of something though. As long as I can meet with him, we'll be able to reap the benefits."

"Don't worry. Soon you'll be the crown prince, brother." Fang Qiyu said with a smile.

Fang An nodded happily and looked at his sister out of the corner of his eye.

"You won't have a problem doing your role? Everything I've heard says that there's no woman in his life. As long as you do well, you will benefit immensely."

"There won't be any problems, brother. I'm happy with my role."

Fang An nodded distractedly as he turned away from his sister. He was still thinking of ways to get close to Lin Feng. Fang Qiyu smiled at her brother with a complex look in her eyes.

As the Zhou siblings walked down the center of the hallway, past the gatherings and stalls on either side, they heard a commotion from behind them.

Many greetings and offerings were being shouted out as someone passed by.

"Good morning, Senior Mei!"

"Senior Mei, come try my steamed buns! They're famous in Yashan city!"

Mei was walking through the hallway towards the main room. Seemingly everyone she walked by tried to offer her something.

Fang An felt like he had an epiphany. He looked back at his sister and motioned for her.

"Quick, let's go! We'll ask Senior Mei to introduce us."

Fang Qiyu looked skeptically at her brother.

"Are you sure? I've heard that Senior Mei can be difficult to get along with."

"It'll be fine, let's go!" Fang An shook his head and hurried over to where Mei was walking. Fang Qiyu could only follow along helplessly.

"Senior Mei! It's an honor to meet you! My sister and I have heard wonderful things!" Fang An enthusiastically called out to Mei. "I was wondering if-"

Mei looked at the unknown man approaching her with annoyance.

"Who are you?"

Fang An stopped in the middle of his sentence, a bit surprised, before laughing good-naturedly.

"Ah, my apologies, Senior Mei. I seem to have gotten ahead of myself. My name is Fang An, prince of the Kingdom of Zhou, and this is my sister, Fang Qiyu. We were hoping to ask you to help us meet Senior Lin."

Mei scoffed.

"Hoping to meet my brother? You and everyone else." She shook her head. "You introduce yourself and then immediately ask me for a favor. Do people from Zhou not have any manners?"

Fang An's face was frozen in a half-smile as he struggled to understand what was happening. He didn't expect Mei to be so domineering.

Fang Qiyu sighed from behind him and stepped forward.

"Senior Mei, my brother is a bit eager but he didn't mean anything by it, I hope you can forgive him."

Mei looked at Fang Qiyu appraisingly for a moment before nodding.

"I guess I can forgive him this time on account of it being our first meeting."

Fang Qiyu smiled and bowed her head.

"I have long heard of how beautiful Senior Mei is, but now I see that she is magnanimous as well."

Mei smiled approvingly as Fang Qiyu continued.

"I'm surprised to see that you don't wear anything to compliment your beauty, Senior Mei. How about I give you some jewelry to commemorate our meeting?"

Mei looked surprised but interested. She had never thought of wearing jewelry before. Most things made for humans wouldn't fit her as a fox, so she figured she would have to wait until she could take human form.

"What kind of jewelry?" Mei asked.

Fang Qiyu smiled after seeing that Mei was interested.

"Whatever kind you would like, Senior Mei. If it doesn't fit you, we can always have it adjusted or custom-made."

Mei looked very interested in what Fang Qiyu had said. She looked over at Fang An with disdain.

"You have a smart sister. Follow her example more often." Mei looked back at Fang Qiyu. "A meeting with my brother? I can try. He hasn't been feeling well for the last few days, so he might refuse. Follow me."

Mei walked off with Fang Qiyu following behind her. Both of them left a stunned Fang An behind.

"What just happened?" He whispered to himself.

Fang Qiyu looked back at him and hurriedly waved him forward.