Grand opening

Peng Hui had risen over the last couple years in n the Dusty Peak sect thanks to the Heaven & Earth pavilion, so his continued presence at the store was to show his gratitude. He had made friends with many of the inner court disciples of the other 3rd rate sects, outer court disciples of the 2nd rate sects, and most of the younger generation from the city's eight great families.

Peng Hui had built up a reputation of being the first to find and try new things at the store, and give fair evaluations to the products. If it wasn't for the well known fact that he belonged to the a local sect, most the guests would have assumed he was a disguised employee. Today was like any other day, and Peng Hui went to enter 'Sanctum' to see if anyone had posted any new earth techniques or spells. An a strange thing occurred with 'Fairy and Sword' as players would often record short scenes of their combat and submit it to the Sanctum forums. Peng Hui had taken to watching these submissions, and experimenting if he could add them to his own combat abilities. Most attempts had ended in failure, but a handful of times Peng Hui was able to succeed fully or partially. It was always pleasing when he could comprehend something new, but it was also oddly satisfying when he could revise a spell or technique that he had partial understanding of to make his own.

Peng Hui walked towards the doorway that normally led to the Sanctum when he noticed that something had changed. The sign that was labeled 'Sanctum' now said 'Yunhui' instead. Peng Hui became excited, it had been some time since anything new had appeared in the store. Without hesitation, he headed in to discover a hallway split three ways: the first was labeled 'Sanctum' much to the his relief, the second was labeled 'Longtan', and the third was called 'Xiantian'. Since 'Longtan' was closest, Peng Hui entered this new area first. Inside was another scantly decorated room, so he sent out his sense to learn about the function of this place. All the information entered his mind, and he was unsure how to react to the purpose of this new addition.

Just as Peng Hui was about to exit and checkout the other new product, a small light screen appeared in front of him:

[Welcome to Longtan, Peng Hui. Fang Shi has reached out to make contact with you, and invites you to visit his space. Do you accept?]

"Yes", Peng Hui answered without delay, and everything changed around him.

When Peng Hui opened his eyes, he saw a small village that closely resembled the starting area of Monster Slayer in front him. Music could be heard throughout the area, so he started walking around. It didn't take long for him to realize that there were imagined hanging from the walls, and when he used his senses words appeared in his mind.

(An image of the new store in Tianbao. I don't want to say anything bad about the city, but sometimes you have to speak out. They tried to fleece me because of my cultivation level, so instead, I opened the store outside of the city. In the end, I think it looks much better like this.)

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"I can show my pictures to others with this", Peng Hui nearly shouted.

The Tianmu communication jades had become popular in Blue Moon city, but people had figured out quickly that it had it's limitations on what it could do. Now that was going to change because images taken could be displayed and shared with others.

Peng Hui added a comment to Fang Shi's post, (Its fortunate that Owner Fang's travels were safe, but can you really open a store in the middle of nowhere?). He liked the image, exited Longtan, and enter 'Xiantian' afterwards.

Upon entry, Peng Hui was once again instructed on how to use the product when the information was infused with his mind. The function of this item was ground breaking as it allowed massive amounts of cultivators to message each other and share information over very long distances. Just like Longtan, Peng Hui was greeted by a small light screen:

[Xiantian welcomes you, Peng Hui. As you have entered for the first time, the host will transport you to 'The Heaven & Earth pavilion' for now. Once new groups are created or you create a new group yourself, you can change to these new groups at that time.]

Since it appeared that he was the first to join with the exception of the owner, Peng Hui didn't post anything for now. He exited Xiantian, and went to Sanctum to read on the newest posts. At the end of the day, Peng Hui had finished his time in cultivating, and exited the pod with his Tianmu in hand. He was going to have a meal, so he went to the ramen shop, ordered his meal, and looked at his communication jade.

As Peng Hui look at the screen, a new item quickly caught his attention, 'Library'. He quickly opened the new item, and was greeted with a new view of a mostly empty screen. What amazed him was what he did see: Yunhui, Sanctum, Longtan, and Xiantian. This made him investigate the new 'Library' that was added, and he found out that in the future more new items would be added to the jade using this 'Library' item.

Peng Hui organized everything he found today, and sent messages to all his friends, junior and senior brothers and sisters, and his connections the different sects explaining the new item. He felt confident that he would keep his moniker of 'The number 1 fan of the Heaven & Earth pavilion' for another day.

Fang Shi was currently playing Monster Slayer in the branch pod cafe. It had been thirteen days with no customers, but he wasn't too worried. When he selected this spot for the location of the new store, he knew it would take time before customers would appear.

Until this point the only visitors he had were spiritual beasts who had been trapped by the store protective arrays, and he had instructed the system to lead them back out. That wasn't his initial thought, when the system first told him that spiritual beasts had entered the formations, he had half a mind to capture them. The only beasts he raised at this point was in the farm and aviary wall scrolls, but he wouldn't just capture more. First of all, even if he did capture them, he wasn't sure what to do with them. Also, he would rather form an agreement with them rather than capturing them.

For Fang Shi, it was just another day of playing games, eating, and enjoying the view. Even though it would take time before his cultivation advanced another minor realm, he felt like it was just like the old days when he opened the store in the morning and closed it in the evening. Thanks to the circumstances, his combat capabilities and comprehension of cultivation and refining had also advanced as well.

Fang Shi exited the pod to have lunch like usual when something different happened.

The voice of the system spoke, 'Alert: A group of 27 cultivators have been detected entering the inner area of the forest.'

"What are their realms?", Fang Shi asked with excitement.

He had known that the store lights would catch the attention of others sooner or later, but this group had arrived later than he had assumed they would.

'Answer: 1 Golden core, 3 Foundation Establishment, and 23 Qi Gathering realm cultivators', the system replied.

A smiled appeared on Fang Shi's face, and he immediately started using the system panel to stock the shelves of the shops and restaurant. Inspiration hit him suddenly, so he switched to a different tab and started to design something. Once he was done, hit submitted his changes and sat back ready to welcome the incoming guests.

Lei Qingshan was leading a small mercenary group through the Evernight wilds, a forest in the wilderness that started a few li away from the Tianbao wall and covered all the area up to the Ironfang range. He was assigned the duty of investigating the mysterious fog that had appeared in the forest by Protector Lei of the Thubderheart clan. As a Goldeb core junior of Protector Lei, he went to the mercenary quarter to hire a group. They had named themselves Shadowstrike, and Lei Qingshan had hired them on several occasions for other scouting jobs. Their travels so far had been slower than what Lei Qingshan would have preferred, but it was understandable considering the chaos of spiritual beasts disappearing or being displaced from their territory. Normally it wouldn't take long to travel to the area where the lights were seen, but Lei

Qingshan hadn't reckless led this group of lower cultivators. The group had set up camp for the night, and Lei Qingshan was calculating their position when Yu Feng, one of the Foundation Establishment leaders of Shadowstrike called out.

"Captain Lei, the scouts have spotted an unusual building in the distance", Yu Feng reported, "it's definitely the source of the lights you are searching for."

"Are we really that close?", Lei Qingshan was confused, "Why didn't they see it before?"

"Pardon my scouts, but the fog that they have been navigating through appears to come from an array", Yu Feng explained, "It's highly likely that the array has either weakened, or the one controlling it has reduced its strength willingly."

"Have the team stop setting up the camp then", Lei Qingshan ordered, "Since we are this close, and I don't sense any danger, it's better to go now. It's obvious that whoever is inside has already knows we are here, so no need to be quiet."

"Captain, might I suggest we have our camp ready just in case", Yu Feng advised.

Lei Qingshan rubbed his chin, "Very well, leave a small team to continue setting up the camp and watch over as we go investigate the findings of the scouts."

Yu Feng gave him a slight bow, and left to carry out his instructions. Lei Qingshan stood up, checked his things, and walked over to the gathering group of cultivators that were forming around Yu Feng, who in turn gave him a nod.

"As all of you should have heard, our destination is within reach", Lei Qingshan informed the small crowd, "Remember to pay attention and watch each other, the spiritual beasts could drag you away and it would be too late for us to help you."

Seeing that everyone understood the risks, Lei Qingshan unsheathed his sword and took the lead. It took several hours of trudging through the forest before they found a clearing. Walls made of tall, spiked logs blocked Lei Qingshan's view of the inside, and he was surprised that his Qi sense couldn't penetrate through it.

Nevertheless, the gate was open so Lei Qingshan gave a signal to the others and walked in. Once inside, he was awed by the site as he saw several buildings that appeared to be built by barbarians. Several constructs immediately grabbed his attention as he saw water wheels, stairs, and platforms around the buildings. Movement caught his eyes, and he saw small creatures that looked like cats, some running on four legs and others walking on two. Lei Qingshan readied his weapon as he watched their activities, but they didn't pay him any attention and continued to go about their work. After looking around and nothing happening, he laid eyes on a sign that read 'Heaven & Earth pavilion'.

"Follow me", Lei Qingshan ordered as he headed towards the closest building.

He reached the door, but was surprised when it automatically slid open when he was close enough. A Qi Gathering realm cultivator was too nervous, and activated one of his weapons in response but it failed to successfully launch it.

"Please dear guests, if you activate your artifacts again without provocation I'll be forced to have you removed", a voice called out, "If that were to happen, it would be at least eight days before you would be allowed back in."

Lei Qingshan saw a young man of 15 years of age standing there wearing very nice robes, "Who are you?"

"I'm Fang Shi, manager of the Heaven & Earth pavilion", the young man said, "And if you're curious about the others here, these are all puppets whose responsible for the day to day operations here."

"How and why would you open a store out in the Evernight wilderness?", Lei Qingshan inquired.

"That's not really any of your concern", Fabg Shi frowned, "Either way, I can spare some time to guide you around the premises or you can look around on your own."

"Captain Lei, look at the shelves", one of the women on the team whispered to Lei Qingshan.

He swept the room, checking all the spiritual plants laid out for sale. Lei Qingshan grew excited as he recognized not only the types of spiritual plants displayed, but the quality of them. He did a double take when he saw that each item had a sign posted next to it, and the prices were leagues cheaper than what he had saw at auctions before.

A glint appeared in his eyes as he pointed his sword at Fang Shi, "You're no longer the manager here. I claim this place in the name of the Thunderheart clan, and be glad I'm being merciful to you."

Lei Qingshan watched the young man sigh, and then immediately felt he couldn't move or use his Qi.

"I warned you when you entered to not activate your artifact ms again", Fang Shi said as he approached the Golden core cultivator. The small team watched as the manager grabbed Captain Lei by his collar, and started to drag him out. They were all stunned into silence as Fang Shi countined to the gate, promptly throwing the man outside. Lei Qingshan watched as the young man walked back inside the gates before fog filled his vision, and he could no longer see the walls of the store anymore. He found he had regained control of himself again, and immediately rushed into the fog only to realize he was stuck in an array.

Meanwhile, when Fang Shi returned inside, he looked at the remaining cultivators standing inside, "So dear customers, are you ready to look around? Or do you wish to join the troublemaker?"