Trader Fang’s

The next day, Fang Shi returned to the city office and purchased the five land deeds surrounding his home with no issues. As soon as the deeds were in his hands, he heard the familiar sound for completing a task, but he ignored it for now. On his way home, he bought a few chickens, a couple sheep, pigs, and cows. Another two notifications sounded, and although he was curious, he didn't want to check while walking home. He could only imagine how insane he would look to others if he manipulated the system panel while walking home.

Once he arrived home, he tied most the animals to posts to prevent their escape and placed the chickens inside. He opened the store, and soon afterwards his regular customers arrived. Due to word of mouth, men and women from properties farther away came due to recommendations. Not everyone bought something as they had only came to investigate, but a few bags of rice were sold. Encouragingly, the rice balls and mochi were well received as many of the guests who came bought some to test the rice quality.

As the clock on his wall and the sky outside turned dark, Fang Shi closed his doors for the day. He went upstairs, and opened the system panel to see the expected '!' mark on the task tab, but unexpectedly, there were two '!' marks on the achievement tab. Curious, he selected that tab first to see two entries:

[ New! Where's the beef?

New! Eat your Vegetables!]

The first entry he understood since he purchased livestock, and when he selected the achievement it said:

[ Where's the beef?

Acquired livestock to expand the business

Reward: Vitality boosting meal]

Fang Shi grew excited, and immediately selected the second achievement. He quickly read:

[ Eat your Vegetables

Acquired additional crops to expand the business

Reward: Spiritual boosting meal]

Fang Shi resisted the urge to accept the rewards, and changed the the task tab to check the entry there. As expected, the screen displayed:

[ Land Grab

Objective: Rent or purchase the 5 surrounding plots of land within 14 days of the task assignment 5/5 (completed)

Rewards: Expanded stock selection, Store remodel (10 hours required), 1 of 2 qualifications unlocked (restaurant)]

Fang Shi saw the time requirement for the remodel, and immediately accepted the reward. A new window appeared to his left with the overview of his properties, and he noticed he could switch between several maps: the store, his home, outside, and the farm.

Fang Shi selected the farm map first which had consisted of 1 field, but now expanded to 6. He was about to start his redesign, when a question came to him.

"System, do I have to complete the remodel all at the same time or can I accomplish it by sections?", he asked.

'Answer: It is acceptable to separate the remodel reward by map', Lujing relied.

Fang Shi smiled, and turned his attention back to the Farm map. The system had tallied all the seeds he had purchased previously, so he could easily organize his farm. He took 2 fields and dedicated them towards raising livestock before deciding what to do with the other four. One field was already dedicated towards rice, so he set another field to grow wheat. With 4 fields ready, he took some time to plan the other 2, and ultimately had 1 field grow bamboo and pine trees while the other field would be an assorted variety of vegetables and spices. He moved on to the store layout, and started adding more refrigerators and stands to hold the meat and vegetables that would be available tomorrow. Unfortunately, he couldn't fit everything in the current shop and he tried to find a solution. After several combinations that didn't work, Fang Shi got frustrated and tried to expand the size of the shop. What surprised him most was the fact that he could do it, so he expanded the first floor just enough to comfortably fit everything and submitted it to the system.

'Accepted plans for Farm and Store', the system confirmed, 'Five hours and a half until complete. Do not enter these areas while remodeling is in progress.'

A timer appeared that counted down the time it would take to complete the work, so Fang Shi accepted the vitality boost meal from his achievements tab, and ate dinner. The rest of the night was him staying in the bath as his body refined the meal. Copious amounts of impurities was expelled from his body for several hours until he finished absorbing everything from the meal. He grumbled as he cleaned his bathroom before laying down to sleep.

When he woke up next morning, he got ready for another day, and then went downstairs to grab a few things to make breakfast. When he entered the first floor, he scanned the room and immediately noticed the changes. Now in a good mood, he walked over of the refrigerators that held meat and eggs. He grabbed some eggs and bacon before also getting a small bag of spirit rice and finally a few spirit fruits. He made a simple breakfast using the amazing ingredients but notice during cooking that some of the Qi and nutrition of the food was wasted. He wanted to complain, but he knew the system would just respond that he was a merchant and not a chef. He remembered that when he completed the latest task, that he had almost unlocked a restaurant.

"System, if I have unlocked one requirement to open a restaurant, what is the other?",

Fang Shi inquired.

'Answer: The other requirement is staff', he heard the female voice tell him, 'The host can have the ingredients to cook, but someone must still be the chef, waitress, or hostess. Note: the host cannot hire anyone to fill the positions. If you wish to hire, the employees will require a dormitory, but if you perhaps could trade for a set of puppets, this requirement would be waived.'

Fang Shi made a disdainful face, both options were not very appealing for different reasons, so he put that goal on the back burner for now. He had finished his breakfast at this point, so he went down stairs and took his seat as the doors opened and the fog lifted.

One of his first customers, Yang Cheng, had arrived to buy the same breakfast he normally got. Fang Shi watched the man as he entered, and as expected, Yang Cheng was visibly surprised when he realized that the shop had rearranged the shelves and added new goods. His eyes lit up when he saw the various cuts of meat, and the collection of spiritual fruits and herbs. Yang Cheng quickly purchased his usual breakfast of 2 rice balls and a mochi. He quickly left and went straight home to inform his wife about the new products that had appeared in the store today.

An hour later, Fang Shi had an almost full store, and the crowd was starting to be noticed by others.

Peng Hui was an early Qi Gathering stage realm cultivator who belonged to a 3rd rate sect, the Dusty Peak School. Normally, he would be roaming the inner city, or doing missions for contribution points. Today was different, he had been searching for cultivation resources at sever shops without much luck, so he went to the outer city. He held little hope, but soon a commotion caught his attention as he watched mortals and Body Perfecting realm cultivators leave the outer city for the fields.

Deciding he had nothing better to do, he leisurely followed the few pedestrians until he saw the shop. Peng Hui became wary when he first laid eyes on the building because something told him there was more to this place than what he saw. As he entered, he was surprised when he felt Qi in the air. It was well known this part of the city had little to no spiritual energy in the environment, which is why cultivators did not visit often.

As Peng Hui searched the shelves, he received an even bigger surprise when he saw high quality spirit rice, spirit water, spiritual fruits, and meat with high levels of vitality. His next thought was that all these things were cheap!? Normally, products or goods that were beneficial to a cultivator would only be bought using spirit stones. This shop took spirit stones, but the only item that required it was spirit water at a mere 3 spirit stones.

While he did hold some suspicions about this place, he senses told him that everything was as he saw it. He decided to give this store a chance as it would not be a huge loss for him. When he was at the sect, it felt like he was constantly working for a low amount of resources, so if this gamble paid off, his cultivation would soar.

Peng Hui was disappointed that this store lacked pills, but he went ahead and filled a bag with all the highest quality products. He bought everything, stored them in his storage bag, and returned to his cave at the sect. He nervously took a spirit fruit out, and took a bite.

Peng Hui was stunned as he felt Qi of the purest quality enter his body, and the taste was superb. He quickly finished the rest of the fruit before entering the stance for cultivating. He was amazed with the amount of Qi the fruit held, but also that it required very little refinement to absorb.

A few days later, Peng Hui exited his cave when his friend, Gao Yang had stopped by to speak with him.

As he left the cave, he heard, "Brother Peng, congratulations on taking another step towards immortality."

"Thank you, Brother Gao", Peng Hui replied, "Did you find an opportunity, and come here to invite me?"

"You know me so well", Gao Ying stated, "But perhaps I did not know you so well, Did you come across an opportunity as you wandered the city?"

Peng Hui became hesitant, but reasoned that news of the Heaven and Earth pavilion would spread soon.

"Come with me, brother", he told Gao Ying, "I'll bring you to a store I found recently in my wandering. The goods there are of the highest quality, but the prices are very reasonable."

Gao Ying looked suspiciously at Peng Hui, "Did you go in debt to the owner of this shop?"

Peng Hui understood why Gao Ying had doubts, so he answered, "No, in fact, the store sells most of its wares for silver or gold taels. But, the store always accepts materials of all kinds, so I suggest you bring any particular items that you cannot use or trade. The store has a policy to buy or barter for refining materials, recipes, incomplete cultivation methods or techniques, cursed items, and more."

"Fine, let's go", Gao Ying relented, "Show me this magical shop that appeared from nowhere."

Peng Hui agreed, and the two men left the sect heading to the Heaven and Earth Pavilion.

Fang Shi was sitting behind the counter as he took care of a customer who had finished shopping. As usual the majority of guests bought the cheapest items, so he was surprised when someone placed a basket down filled with the highest quality products. He looked at the customer, and realized he recognized the visitor from a few days ago.

"Thank you for your patronage, this is your total", Fang Shi said as he pointed towards the light screen.

"Owner, I see per the instructions in the shop that you accept items to barter in lieu of currency", Peng Hui pointed out, "But is it true?"

"Of course, if you have something you wish to use, please place it here", Fang Shi pointed towards a plate on the counter.

Peng Hui took a stalk of Starlight Jasmine out of his bag, and placed it on the counter.

It only took a few moments before a light screen appeared behind the plate, and Fang Shi recited the results in front of Peng Hui, "A stalk of Starlight Jasmine, one of the main components of the Qi Nourishing pill. Due to improper storage, it has lost 12% of its essence. Usually, an herb like this that is perfectly preserved would be bought at 4 low quality spirit stones. I will offer you 3 spirit stones and 6 taels of gold, is this acceptable?"

"Yes", Peng Hui replied hesitantly.

"Based on the number of bottles of spirit water you wish to purchase, this balance will not cover the total amount due", Fang Shi informed the man, "Will you pay the rest in stones, or do you have additional items for trade?"

Peng Hui was excited to see that he got a great price for his spiritual plants, so he quickly pulled a few more stalks of Jasmine out, and soon the bill was settled. He collected the items he bought and moved so his friend could check out next.

As Fang Shi heard them speaking to each other about visiting a senior sister to prepare the magical beast meat as they left, he also heard the familiar sound of two achievements in his head. This caused him to smile, which caused the customers who were waiting in line to wonder what happened. But Fang Shi, dud not say anything, and continued to help the next in line.

After closing the shop, Fang Shi first took the time to open the other two maps and submit the changes he wished for the renovation. Then he went to the achievements tab to see what appeared, he saw:

[New! The grass is always greener

New! Pawnstar]

The first achievement was quickly opened:

[The grass is always greener

Received a spiritual herb in exchange for payment (Completed)

Reward: Spiritual Herb Garden]

Fang Shi immediately accepted the rewards, and assigned the Starlight Jasmine he received to it.

Now in a good mood, he selected the second entry.

[Pawnstar

Used an alternate form of payment to sell goods (Completed)

Reward: Pawnstar, this artifact evaluates goods from the customer and distributes currency. Once the host places this in the store, the evaluation artifact on the counter will disappear. Customers will have to use the new artifact, but this should reduce wait times in line.]

Fang Shi considered the last line, and realized that if someone tried to trade 50 items, it would cause congestion at the check out line. He went ahead and accepted the reward before assigning it to a place in the store. He looked forward to tomorrow to see the changes made to his land, and made plans to visit the cultivation pavilion in the inner city as well. He wanted to find a puppet technique, and open the restaurant.