Something’s in the Way

It had been a few hours since Sect master Han had broken through, and Fang Shi had retired to his home for the evening. After eating a delicious dinner and reading the nightly sales reports, he went to check the achievements in the tab, but was surprised to see two instead of one. It dawned on him that earlier, when he had heard the chime, he thought it was louder than normal. He had taken that as a sign that a great achievement had occurred, and now realized it was because two achievements chimed together.

Laughing at himself, he opened the tab to see two entries in the tab:

[New! Ride the Lightning

New! I love Gold!]

He tapped the first entry:

[Ride the Lightning

Protect and assist a cultivator through a heavenly tribulation (completed)

Heaven tribulation is thought to occur when talented individuals attempt to breakthrough to the next realm, but this is incorrect. It is both a test and a benefit for cultivators who are ill prepared for the promotion in strength. The lightning tests cultivators in all aspects of cultivation (Body, energy, mind). Since most beings in this world only focus on one of the three methods of cultivation, the tribulation is dreaded that rarely leaves the recipient unscathed without the assistance of artifacts and talismans to protect them.

Reward: Breakthrough protection room. This room will be optimized to protect a cultivator through their breakthrough. Not only will spirit stones be required to rent this type of room, but the room will absorb any extra energy the user can't handle as a tax.]

Fang Shi was quite surprised as he read, but still pleased with his gains so he opened the next entry:

[I love Gold

Have a Golden Core realm cultivator visit the shop for the first time (completed)

Reward: Shops will now have levels that required a number of points to unlock the next level. All shops are currently 3rd rank at the moment, and points will be calculated but the amount of merchandise sold.

New quests are now available in the tasks tab.]

Fang Shi thoughtfully contemplated this entry as swapped to the task tab. There he saw the same tasks that originally appeared, but now there was a bar on the right side with the numbers 0/100k best each one. Also, each task had a reward that on completion, a courier would be sent out to gather basic recipes for that shop. He then realized another problem, his current puppets wouldn't be able to make the goods for 2nd ranked items and goods so he would need to either upgrade his help, or hire someone at that rank.

'I need to send a puppet out to purchase scrolls on higher level puppets right away', Fang Shi thought to himself.

It was true that he had three human employees, but they weren't close to what he needed for his shop. Before bed, he added the new breakthrough rooms as a new floor in the cultivation building and went to sleep.

Several days later, Fang Shi walked into the store to start his shift when something was missing, customers. As he looked around, it was very noticeable that nobody other than his employees and puppets were inside the store.

'System, has it been like this all morning?', Fang Shi asked.

'Answer: Yes', the system answered.

Before he could ask more questions to the system, the front door opened and Sect master Han was leading around fifty disciples into the store. What caught Fang Shi off guard was the fact that the robes they wore was not the Dusty Peak sect robes but something else. Fang Shi was about to ask the sect master a question, but he could see the latter had an irritated look on his face.

When Sect master Han saw the confusion on Fang Shi face, he quickly changed to a more amiable expression.

"Owner Fang", Han Shan greeted him, "It's a pleasure to see you this morning."

Fang Shi returned the bow, "Sect master, did you recently change the style of the Dusty Peak robes? Also, is something the matter? It appears as your condition is somewhat disturbed today."

Han Shan looked himself and the disciples behind him before turning back to Fang Shi looking embarrassed.

"I told you before that I could no longer serve as Sect master of the Dusty Peak sect", Han Shan explained, "So I have become a guest elder of the Profound Sword sect, and I was going to introduce your store to their disciples. On the way here, some arrogant Qi Gathering realm cultivators tried to block our path claiming they were representing the Rui family of Jinling city. They backed off when they saw we were from the Profound Sword sect, but I believe they are the reason your shop is empty today."

"I see", Fang Shi said, "Please enjoy your time here. Just some advice Elder Han, my store isn't quite ready to handle cultivators of your level. At the moment, the only things you will find that affect your cultivation normally will be the spirit rice, meals and liquors made from the spirit rice, the artifact pods, and the bath house. I am working hard to increase the products for cultivators of your level, so I ask for your patience."

"Thank you for your words", Elder Han replied, "I'll make sure to ask if I have any questions."

Elder Han turned towards the disciples following him, and started briefing them on the store. While he was doing that, Fang Shi had left his seat with a puppet replacing him and had walked to the front gate.

Fang Shi opened the map of the shop and zoomed way out until both the shop, and the five kilometers surrounding it, was in view. He noticed that even though the plots of land owned by his neighbors was represented on the map, he wasn't able to see anything on the property. The roads were a different story as he could see icons representing people walking down the roads.

Focusing on the roads that led to his shop, he saw two groups of icons both north and south of his shop blocking the path as others would try to walk towards his shop. The groups would intercept the incoming customers, and moments later, the people would slowly walk away.

Anger boiled up inside him, so he called a few puppets over, "You and you, head north and let those who are blocking the path know if they continue to stay within five kilometers of this shop, my master will break all their bones, heal them, and charge them extra. The other two head south, and do the same."

The door puppets left, and Fang Shi watched the map as the pairs went to the assigned locations. The icons representing the puppets arrived at the place where the group of people blocking the roads were, and Fang Shi watched as the icons started moving around. It didn't take long for the puppet icons to chase off the groups and return to the store. He continued to watch for longer to see that his neighbors appeared on the road again, and were making their way to his store.

Fang Shi continued to observe the situation, and it didn't take long to figure out what was going on. Forced to move, the interlopers had set up just outside of the five kilometer border and started harassing people from there. He returned to his seat, and started helping the customers who had finally arrived, discussing the situation with them.

Now that things had slowed down, he contacted the system, 'System.'

'Response: Yes host', it replied to him.

'Send our courier and an escort into town', he ordered, 'I want it to purchase cranes, crows, and peacocks. Let's get fifty of each now, I want them to be trained to deliver items for me.'

'Response: courier and escort have been sent', the system informed him.

Another achievement chimed in his head, but as usual, Fang Shi ignored it for now. The rest of the day was similar to the morning, only those that the Rui family couldn't afford to offend and his neighbors were the only customers he had today.

'What bad timing', Fang Shi lamented, 'Just as I need sales to upgrade my shops, they decide to pull this stunt.'

Fang Shi opened his panel to check the achievement he received today:

[New! It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a bird]

He laughed a little as he opened the entry:

[It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a bird

Acquire 100 birds (completed)

Reward: Aviary wall scroll. Birds released inside can be trained by the host using the panel.]

Fang Shi quickly accepted the reward, and instructed the courier to deposit the birds purchased today inside the new wall scroll that appeared in his house. Afterwards, he spent a few minutes watching the wall scroll as he saw flocks of cranes, crows, and peacocks fly or strut around. He entered his personal pod to release his stress fighting monsters before going to sleep.

The next day, Fang Shi was sitting at his seat like normal, and when Elder Han appeared, the former called the latter over.

"Owner Fang, is there anything I can help you with?", the elder asked.

"As a matter of fact, I have a proposition for you", Fang Shi said, "As of today, I'm offering delivery services to the people of Blue Moon city. If you could spread the word, I would gladly provide you with a few jars of my highest quality rice liquor. Just remember that this liquor is meant for cultivators that are above the Nascent soul realm, and if you drink too much, your dantain will explode."

"Could you possibly instead provide a few jars of liquor more appropriate from my realm", Elder Han said before he looked like he remembered something, "Well, I'll still take one jar of the strong stuff."

"Deal", Fang Shi smiled before handing the elder a small scroll, "Here are the instructions on how to use the service. Come back tomorrow, and I'll have your jars ready for you."

Elder Han tucked the scroll away in a sleeve pocket before bidding farewell to Fang Shi, and walking towards the Cultivation building. Over the next few days, the farmers and citizens of the western outer city began to see birds flying over the city ridden by mysterious cultivators. Graceful cranes, crows with shiny black plumage, and beautiful peacocks could be leaving the top floor of the main store of the Heaven & Earth pavilion with a puppet riding it.

Three Qi Gathering realm cultivators realized where the birds were coming from and that their presence no longer hinder the business of their target.

"Ming Xiu, Shi Huang, we need to go talk with the other three", a man said to a woman and another man, "Our plan no longer works, so we have to contact our employers and get new orders."

"I was wondering how much longer we would stand here", Ming Xiu sighed, "Any longer, and the mayor might have us arrested for being mistaken by bandits. Of course Zeng Bo, since you look the most like a bandit, they would chase you first."

Zeng Bo just ignored her words as he sent a message talisman to the second team.

"Let's go", Zeng Bo said as he started to walk towards the inner city.

"Why are we going this way?", Shi Huang complained.

"You know why", Zeng Bo replied, "Or do you want to get beat by those cultivators like last time?"

Shi Huang frowned, but he didn't continue to argue as the three of them started walking. It didn't take long before they reached the inn they had reserved for the time they would spend here. Two other men, and another woman were waiting for them as they entered the inn.

Shi Huang looked at the other group before saying, "It looks like you suffered the same as us."

The unknown woman rebuked him, "Did you three just get tired of watching the road, so you all made up this ridiculous story?"

Zeng Bo just shook his head, "Stick your head out the window, Tang Li, you will know if we are lying then."

Tang Li went and sat by the window before saying, "Ok, I see what you're talking about. What do we do now, Yun Feng?"

"Let's send a message back to the Rui family", Yun Feng responded, "I see those birds are carrying two men on them, if we try to attack the bird again, we will suffer a worse fate than before."

While the six cultivators agreed and started drinking, Fang Shi had received a notification:

[Using a delivery service to circumvent your latest rival's attempt to stop your business. While you've only set them back temporarily, the system recognizes that you adapted to overcome a bad situation.

Reward: spin the wheel for a prize.]