Courtesy Call

Blue Moon city may only rest on a 3rd rate spiritual vein, but it could still support a mid level Foundation Establishment cultivator and several early Foundation Establishment leaders. This lead to the mayor of the city taking the land with the highest levels of Qi, and several 3rd rate sects, business owners, and the city guard occupying most of left over property known as the inner city. Normally, the residents of the inner city live a privileged life, but today several of the notable citizens have appeared at the mayor's residence unannounced.

"Mayor Chen Wei, you must come out and see us?", a man shouted at the gate of the mayor's courtyard.

The guards at the gate were unsure what to do as more voices of disapproval followed after the first.

"I don't wish to bother the mayor, but we must avoid offending these people", the guard leader said, "Send word to Mayor Chen, and see what he wishes to do."

"No need", a voice interjected, "I heard the noise, and came to see what was happening."

"Mayor!", the group of guards reacted before the leader spoke, "We apologize for this situation."

"It's fine, as you said we cannot offend these people", Mayor Chen agreed, "Open the gate so I may greet them."

"Right away", the leader yelled before nodding to his subordinates.

The gates began to open, and the group of men and women stood still until they finished when the mayor's voice called out, "My honorable friends, please excuse my late arrival. I was in a meeting with several of the sect leaders of the city, and it took a moment to grant you an audience."

Several faces of the unexpected guests suddenly stiffened upon hearing the Mayor's words, but when he invited them inside, they still bowed humbly and walked in. They made their way through the courtyard, and into the residence where Mayor Chen guided them into a room with four other people.

As the mayor entered he heard a whisper between two of the people inside, (Have you also noticed more spiritual beasts have appeared lately?)

He quickly and loudly announced the new visitors as they entered, "Fellow Daoist, you may already know them, but let me introduce Lan Mingyu, Mei Hua, Zhao Wei, Wang Ling, Chen Bo, Feng Dewei, Xu Rong, and Gao Lian. These are owners of some of the finest items you can purchase in Blue Moon city."

Then the mayor turned to the merchants, "I am also sure you know these distinguished guests, but these are the sect leaders of our fair city: This is Sect Leaders Liang Shen of the Dusty Peak sect, Hua Yang of the Verdant Grove sect, and Master Ling Yun of the Ironclad Forge sect."

The two groups bowed to each other and the newcomers took their seats.

"Since you took the time to come here, I would like to know how I can help assist you today?", Mayor Chen inquired his new guests.

Wang Ling was the first to speak, "Mayor, you must shut down the Heaven & Earth pavilion immediately. Not only does it take such a shameless name, but they take our customers. I've noticed over the last few weeks that I have 5% less customers than normal. I saw one of my regular customers the other day, it had been a few days since their last visit. You know what happened? They started going to this new store instead of mine!"

"I have noticed this as well", Xu Rong, "While my sales of 2nd rate pills hasn't changed, I've noticed a decrease in 3rd rate pills and elixirs."

Each merchant told similar experiences after the first two, and Mayor Chen's face changed to confusion as each merchant expressed their concerns.

"Heaven & Earth pavilion? Since when did such a place exist in this city?", Mayor Chen asked.

The room grew quiet, but everyone realized that the mayor was being informed by an assistant standing in the back of the room.

Several minutes later, the mayor responded, "I see, you old foxes have a new competitor and want me to deal with him?"

All the merchants grew embarrassed when they heard their predicament described this way, and could only sit there.

Seeing that the merchants had nothing to say, Mayor Chen pressed on, "I can promise you that I can investigate this store thoroughly, but from what I'm told, the backer of this shop could possibly be the same level as me or higher."

This caused everyone in the room to react in various ways, but none of them seemed to take the news in a positive light.

"How could someone of that level survive in the outer city where poor farmlands are?", Master Ling Yun asked, "I don't doubt the words of your informers, Mayer Chen, but it's just illogical for someone at your level to stay in an area devoid of spiritual energy."

"I have to agree with you, Master Ling", Mayor Chen said, "But from the initial investigation of that land, we could not find anything that suggest a hidden vein is buried there, or at least, that's what my assistant says as of now. I will send a group of investigators with more experience than before to verify the claims. That being said, unless we find out the danger is false, I would recommend to everyone in this room not to attempt anything silly."

"Of course, Mayor Chen", Liang Shen replied, "We all already have our own worries to take care, I can't imagine anyone here would be foolish enough to invite more danger into the city."

The meeting lasted for a few more hours before the mayor escorted his visitors to the gate. Pleasantries were exchanged, and the merchants headed towards their carriages but stopped before entering them.

"So in the end, we are right back where we started", Gao Lian said.

"My daughter tried to meet the one who crafted their talismans before", Lan Mingyu told the others, "Perhaps she acted a bit willfully, and they banned her for a week afterwards. The time of restriction has passed, but she still refuses to return, the whole thing makes my head hurt."

"Couldn't we find the source of spiritual power he is using, and take it?", Chen Bo suggested.

"If the Mayor's people couldn't find it, why would you be able to?", Zhao Wei countered.

"Maybe the owner wouldn't respond to your daughter, but what if we personally made the request?", Feng Diwei inquired, "The owner is only twelve years old, and should have the the decency to show us some face."

Everyone seemed to like this suggestion the most, so they all bade the others farewell, entered their own carriages, and headed home.

Fang Shi was reasonably pleased the last few days, especially with his cultivation cafe. Every since word got out, the only time a terminal was empty was when it self cleaned before the next customer used it.

'If I could put more cultivation artifacts on the first floor, I would easily pay off the amount needed for the quests', he thought to himself.

'Notice: Host, if more units were added now, the target you must reach will change as well', the system informed him.

Fang Shi immediately furrowed his brow, 'Then there is no need for change now, we can discuss expansion once the quest is finished.'

It was rare for Fang Shi to mentally speak with system during work hours, but even he was nervous about this last quest. The slow first day had caused him to fall behind, so he made the cultivation rooms and cafe 24 hours. Now it felt like he would just barely make it but he started to wish he could check the progress of his shops in a more detailed manner.

'System, is it possible to find out how well the cultivation cafe is doing?', he asked.

To his surprise, Fang Shi heard the achievement chime a moment before the system's answer, 'Answer: the host can check the new tab created on the status menu.'

Fang Shi was about to take a look when he heard the sound of many carriages stopping next to the front gate. Following that, dozens of men were running around, and chaos ensued as they began shouting and trying to block the walkway from the gate to the store entrance. Fang Shi was baffled at first trying to figure out what these guys were doing, but then he saw a mixture of eight men and women walking through the gate before heading towards the store.

Every since opening the store, Fang Shi could admit that he had a relaxed attitude, and even when others caused troubles he relied on the system to handle it. Today was the first day Fang Shi felt anger, he couldn't believe these rich entitled people would try to block his business and suppress his customers. One of the retainers that had hopped off the carriage first came inside the shop, and bellowed, "WHERE IS THE OWNER? I PRESENT THE…"

Just as the retainer went to introduce the guests, Fang Shi put his thumb and middle finger together and made a flicking motion. In the middle of the announcement, the loud man felt something smash him in his stomach before some force grabbed the neck of his robes and threw him from the store front to outside the gate.

All the other retainers took out or unsheathed their weapons as they stood in front of their masters. The group of people and their guards and retainers were amazed when several moments later, a twelve year old boy appeared at the front entrance of the store.

"Who do YOU think you are to come into my shop, bother my customers, start shouting, and now you're drawing weapons!", Fang Shi loudly admonished the group, "You all have exactly one breath to put those weapons away or you're leaving the same way that last guy did!"

One guard was about charge forward when one of the men being protected by them shouted, "What are you all doing? Put away you weapons, and wait by the carriages."

The guards and retainers complied, and soon only the eight people stood looking very embarrassed.

Fang Shi didn't relent, "Are those your people? Do you always go around disturbing other people's business like this? Tell that first guy that he is banned for a week, and the same will happen to the other guys that pulled out weapons if they try to enter again."

Before any of the eight could say anything, Fang Shi turned and entered the front door while mumbling curses slightly audible by everyone. These were the same eight that visited the mayor's residence last night, but now they all had fear on their face. Fang Shi hadn't realized it, but when he threw the man out and lambasted the group with his anger, they felt the pressure of a power greater than them. The sky had become cloudy, and it had even looked like lightning could have struck at anytime until Fang Shi went back inside.

"What do we do? Isn't it normal to announce your presence?", Mei Hua panicked.

"Calm your emotions and adjust your condition", Wang Ling advised.

"Why don't you do that?", Xu Rong angrily said, "Did you feel that just now? That was definitely the strength of a cultivator at the late stage of the Foundation Establishment realm or possibly at the Golden Core!"

"We have not been asked to leave yet", Gao Lian pointed out, "Let's not make any more mistakes, and proceed as we planned."

Everyone agreed, and they all moved towards the store entrance. Finally looking at their surroundings, they were delighted by the gardens and apologized to the other customers who had witnessed everything.

They made their way inside, and were once again shocked when they noticed the quality of the products in the store. They walked past everything, and made their way to Fang Shi sitting behind the counter helping customers.

"Owner Fang Shi, we deeply regret how our people acted", Lan Mingyu apologized, "We had no intentions of causing trouble for you, and only wished to ask your master about some matters."

Fang Shi gave the group a suspicious look before saying, "Then go ahead and say it, he is listening now. If he feels like answering you, he will let me know."

Fang Shi noticed how conflicted these group of people were, their faces reflected their anger at having to talk to him, but they also faked their kindness to prevent being tossed out like their retainer was.

"We were just hoping that the artisans of our shops had the opportunity to discuss their Dao with the artisans of yours?", Mei Hua politely explained.

"This sounds familiar", Fang Shi said, "Also, two of you remind me of these two girls that came in a few weeks ago wanting the same thing."

Lan Mingyu and Mei Hua immediately knew it was their daughters, and suddenly felt like their chances were slipping away.

Fang Shi sat there for a few minutes before saying in frustration, "My master says that if you return in a week, there will be a chance for them, but it will different than what they expect."

Everyone in the group smiled suddenly upon hearing the answer.

"Excellent Owner Fang, we will no longer bother you and just tour the rest of the store ourselves", Feng Dewei bowed and started the walk away with the others.

As the group walked away, Fang Shi looked at his clock and noticed it was sunset. So he left his seat as his replacement appeared, but before he went upstairs, he looked at the robes the puppet wore.

"Hmmm", he said to himself as he went up to have dinner.