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Fang Shi was surprised to get an achievement when he had acquired the items earlier, as nothing had happened. Curious, he opened the entry:

[When Life gives you lemons

Merchants will often get stuck in situations where they are stuck with a bad deal or are unable to make profit. The user was able to make money despite the the restrictions the system had placed.

Reward: a spin of the roulette wheel (minor)]

Fang Shi was somewhat disappointed by the reward as it would often appear in novels he had read before, but he went ahead and accepted it anyways. A small table with a wheel appeared, so he went to it and spun it. It didn't take long to stop, and he saw (a 3rd ranked pill recipe not own) on the space it landed.

'Notice: Congratulations host, the system will now select and send a puppet to a market that sells recipes you lack', it told him.

"If I give it enough money or items, can I have it search for other such items?", Fang Shi asked.

'Answer: Yes, but the host should be warned that if you or any employees leave the area within 5 kms of the store, the system can no longer guarantee your safety", it replied.

Fang Shi wasn't sure how far the puppet would have to travel, so he bought talismans and artifacts that would assist the one leaving to move while staying undetected. Once he felt confident the puppet would be fine, the latter put on a hood and promptly left the store.

Everything had been busy, but had been going well so he decided that tonight was the night he would take the Earth Harmony pill he had received from the pod quest.

'System, I'm not sure how long this will take", Fang Shi said, "But I assume it will take awhile, please watch the store as I do this."

'Notice: instructions understood', the system responded.

Fang Shi undressed in his room, and went into the spacious bathroom where he had specifically designed a 'rainforest' shower room just to clean up from breakthroughs. He sat in the middle before removing the pill from his storage, and ate it. The pill slowly dissolved, and soon he felt heat building up in his stomach. Since he was still in the Body Perfecting realm, he didn't have a method to use yet, so he just sat there as the heat generated from the pill started to naturally spread around. Perhaps due to the change of quality of food in his diet, there were very few impurities being expelled as he sat there.

Just when he thought that this would be a long, but comfortable ordeal, pain shot through his body.

"System, what is happening?", Fang Shi shouted.

'Answer: Even though the host is due to follow the path of the merchant, things must be done to ensure that the host can work for a long time', it explained, 'The Earth Harmony pill not only refines the host's body for the perfect breakthrough, but increases the spiritual roots by one level.'

"I only have two mediocre spirit roots though", Fang Shi said through gritted teeth, "Should it be this painful to improve them?"

'Answer: As the host said, he is missing three roots', the system asserted, 'Balance is required to live long, so the pain the host feels is the three missing roots being planted.'

Fang Shi wanted to say more, but the pain had gotten to the point that it took everything to resist it. He sat down what felt like days, as the two different processes progressed, the refinement of his body, and the growth of three spiritual roots. On the shower floor was water, blood, and sludge as the water falling on him kept him clean. He endured as long as he could, and the the pain and pressure finally lightened as Fang Shi felt the cooling sensation of what he guessed was Qi. A core of energy that he assumed was the dantian was absorbing the cool stream of energy from his surroundings, but he also felt two other cores in his chest and forehead. At first he was worried that he wouldn't be able to supply these additional cores, but after some time he could feel they were absorbing the required energy without any issues.

When all three positions achieved a sense of fullness, and the chaotic aura became calm, Fang Shi stood up. He opened the system panel and checked the front panel, a panel he hadn't looked at for awhile:

[ Name: Fang Shi

Realm: Early Qi Gathering (0.1%)

Spiritual Root(s): 2nd ranked Wood, 2nd ranked Earth, 3rd ranked Fire, 3 ranked Water, 3rd ranked Metal

Cultivation Method(s): None

Technique(s): None

Asset(s): Land covering 30 plots of land, 4 buildings (Mainstore, Cultivation store, Pavilion, Bathhouse, 2 gardens, Pond, and Bamboo forest.]

Looking over the panel, Fang Shi realized that he wasn't able to guide the Qi that had been absorbed.

"System, can you suggest a cultivation method for me?", he asked.

'Notice: request received', the system confirmed, 'Scanning host's body…matching cultivation methods in the pavilion against the host…optimizing methods…completed.'

Information entered Fang Shi's mind, and he could understand that this was a low level but complicated method. He understood from the transfer that this was called the 5 elements harmony method. What struck him as odd was that this method was a combination of body, mind, and soul cultivation methods, but he could cycle the whole method our individual parts by themselves. For example, if he was in the shop, he could use the complete method since the energy here satisfied all cultivation methods. But, if he was somewhere else, and only had spirit stones on him, he could just refine the stones.

Fang Shi finally took a look a the clock, and saw that the whole process had taken almost a day. He decided to order a big dinner, rest for the night, and return to his normal schedule tomorrow.

A large crowd had gathered near the reception desk of the Pod cafe's first floor as eight people were in the center. On one side was three familiar faces from the Dusty Peak sect, Peng Hui, Gao Ying, and Mei Lingxue with a fourth unfamiliar man standing close. On the other side was more people of note from the Faded Star sect, Wei Zhang, Li Xiang, Zhuo Zhen, and woman hiding behind the three.

"Does everyone agree with the terms of today's competition?", Wei Zhang directed his question at the Dusty Peak disciples.

Peng Hui looked at the other three before nodding at Wei Zhang in agreement.

The eight walked towards eight pods that had been vacated for this showdown. Each of the eight enter a pod, wear the mask, and log in Monster slayer.

In the camp for the Dusty Peak disciples, the four of them are doing the preparations for the hunt. All the team members quickly inhaled all the food that a man simply called 'The Guide' made for them.

Peng Hui looked at their new fourth member, "Rui Feng, is this your first time teaming up in Monster Slayer?"

"Yes, Senior Brother Peng", Rui Feng replied.

"Do not worry, as long as we communicate, we will beat that other team easily", Peng Hui pat Rui Feng on the shoulder as the other two finished their preparations.

"Let's go", Peng Hui said before whistling, and grabbing onto a rope that came passing through.

The others copied Peng Hui, and soon all four members of the hunting team were flying through the up towards the mountain top close by.

The crowd that had gathered had split as half were watching the Dusky Peak sect members, and the other half were watching the Faded Star sect team. On their screen, the three men and the mysterious woman had also left the starting camp heading towards the same mountain. As the flying spirit beasts reached a secret camp at the peak, the four let go of the ropes and landed.

"You Lan, are you ready?", Zhuo Zhen asked their fourth team member.

She looked over as she pulled out her bow, "Of course Senior brother."

The four of them started running across the limbs of a giant tree that connected to the secret camp to the peak. They reached the other side, and started crawling through a small path through the boulders that rested at the peak avoiding the shrubs and trees. Both teams had essentially reach the same location at the same time. Neither side made a sound as they creeped their way towards their target, a winged dragon like beast the size of several carriages, Rathalong.

It wasn't a true dragon, but definitely had some drops of dragon blood in its veins. It could burn its enemies with fire, poison with its tail, and kill with its teeth and claws. The audience saw both teams set up an ambush, but they definitely differed in their methods.

The Dusky Peak team with laying out talismans into an array around the monster's head, and the Faded Stars were setting up traps. Both teams acted at the same time, Gao Ying attacked the talismans with his hammer and unleashed a giant explosion. You Lan shot a trap located near the beast's head releasing a poison cloud around it. It quickly woke up, but the poison cloud caused it problems and it step on the second trap that caused it to sink into the ground.

The people watching have increased in numbers as each team tries to be the first to kill or capture the Rathalong for the the first time.

Peng Hui and his team had been doing well to dodge the fire and poison, but Rui Feng had made a mistake trying to setup a trap, and was slammed by its tail. He went flying against a rock formation, so Mei Lingxue threw a flash talisman. Gao Ying ran over and started dragging Rui Feng away from danger with her help when another explosion went off. The explosive trap that was meant for the creature had also been thrown against the same wall as Rui Feng, and detonated. The rock formation started to shift as water surged through the cracks before everything crumbled. A hidden pocket of water swept over the beast and Peng Hui as his teammates watched them get thrown off a cliff.

The Faded Star team had also had bad luck as the poison smoke trap hadn't been very effective. It was starting to turn into a duel between the monster and You Lan, as the latter kept the Rathalong off kilter with arrows that threatened its eyes, ears, and nose. Unfortunately for the animal, every time it charged at her, she would gracefully dodge out of the way and this time way no different.

Li Zheng saw an opening after it crashed into some trees, and as it stumbled out, he jumped and landed on its shoulders. The creature immediately took the skies as it tried to remove Li Zheng from its back, but he held on. When he felt bold enough, he would slip his sword in between the scales to cause new wounds. After several failed attempts, the monster tried a risky maneuver and slammed itself against some rocks to rid itself of the nuisance. Li Zheng tried to jump from the Rathalong's shoulders to its tail but missed and barely managed to save himself using a tree.

The monster launched several breathes of fire towards the group before retreating. The four of them checked themselves, drank potions to quickly heal, and headed the the area they were sure it was headed.

Back to Peng Hui, he had saved himself by cushioning the fall using the tree branches on the way down. He quickly drank a health potion, and pulled his last explosive talisman as the Rathalong bellowed in pain and anger. He could the monster had broken a limb in the fall, and it was preventing it from standing upright. Peng Hui threw out an artifact in between him and the creature. It heard the noise of something hitting close to it, and found a way to get back onto its feet. Seeing a lone man approaching it, it rushed forward to kill him. The next moment, a painful surge of lightning went through its body as it triggered the trap Peng Hui had set.

Peng Hui appeared near the head of the Rathalong, and threw two more talismans at it, tranquil mind talismans. His other teammates had finally caught up to him, and once the lightning trap ran out of energy, they started tying it up.

A few minutes later, the Faded Star sect had killed their target, but when they exited their pods, they saw they had lost.