Teen Angst

Fang Shi watched as the annoying young man was teleported outside the store before focusing on the man running towards him. The man stopped when he saw the young man disappear, and quickly asked, "Where did he go?"

"Outside the front gate", Fang Shi replied, "He attacked me, the owner, so of course the formation was triggered. The normal eight day ban is now enforced, but that should give him enough time to learn how to give respect to others."

"I'm Qing Yun", the man introduced himself, "Please excuse me owner, I have to go deal with this."

"Sure", Fang Shi answered, "Just make sure the problem is actually dealt with. My senior realizes that everyone learns at their pace, but it will not end well for that young man if it happens again."

Fang Shi could see that Qing Yun was displeased to have a Qi gathering realm junior advise him, but he didn't care and returned to viewing the cherry blossoms that had bloomed. A moment later, he felt the Nascent soul quickly head to the front gate but his attention turned towards a notification that played. Normally, he would ignore it until after the store closed but with puppets doing all the work he decided to look at it now.

[New! The novel was better]

[New! The novel was better

As an avid reader in your previous life, you have read about many situations. Today, you experienced a willful young master try to assert his authority of you, the lowly shopkeeper.

Reward: scrolls or books are available for sale in physical form, in the pod, or on Tianmu. This set of books rewarded this time have a common theme, they all contain scenes of young masters being domineering towards the protagonist.

Special note 1: additional book sets can be bought or earned by experiencing them.

Special note 2: for an additional charge, the host can modify books if deemed necessary or appropriate.]

Fang Shi was pleased but also confused, 'System, It seems to me that I should have achieved this much sooner than today. Why did I take so long to get this achievement?'

'Response: There were several criteria required to gain this achievement', the system replied, 'Achievements only display the critical requirement needed, but secondary factors are hidden to encourage the host try several methods to unlock them.'

Fang Shi gave the system a metaphorical side eye glance in his mind. He didn't trust the answer, but it wasn't a major problem. Instead, he looked over the different titles the system had provided and he recognized that they had the storyline of a spoiled young master in them. He had read all of some of the novels and portions of the others, which made him curious.

'System, some of these stories were not very good', he thought, 'That was the reason why I didn't finish them. Why did you gift them to me?'

'Answer: please read the special notes attached to the achievement', the system disclosed.

Fang Shi had read the special notes, so he changed his attention to the list of novels. There were fourteen in total but after evaluating them, he notice that two were classic novels, and the other twelve ranged from decent to trash.

'System, it seems that you are hungry for spirit stones', Fang Shi angrily spoke, 'You gave me subpar novels on purpose because you knew I would have to pay to fix them before I released them.'

'Response: This unit is a merchant system', it countered, 'This unit decided to use this method to teach the host how to properly price goods and services for customers.'

Fang Shi didn't expect this answer, and then thought about how he ran things since opening his first store. He had always decided everything based on his experience as a consumer, and not as a merchant. It's true he had some experience running a store, but that was through games. In those games, he could run store however he wished and it didn't affect his life, unlike now.

'I see', Fang Shi reflected, 'I'll consider your advise in the future.'

Fang Shi knew it was time to work again, so he left the cherry blossom trees behind and went to his room. Once there, he sat in his favorite chair, took out his Tianmu, placed it on his forehead, and read the first novel.

This novel had many problems with it: this first few arcs were interesting, but the author fell into the trap of writing cliche plots over and over again. The main character was clever in the beginning, but later on made strange decisions and was quick to kill. Some story arcs stopped following the main character, followed boring side characters with many paragraphs of exposition to increase the length of the story, and the story didn't even finish despite the thousands of chapters.

Fang Shi thought back to his past life. Online novels numbered in the thousands, but most were not very good. Authors were paid by word count and the constant pressure to release chapters everyday causing quality to fall. Authors also were pressured to write certain ways or be censored and this combination of factors prevented them from truly great stories.

'System, I know I'm a merchant and not an author but can I also participate in fixing some of these novels?', Fang Shi asked.

'Answer: Yes', the system replied.

Fang Shi smiled, paid the fee for the first novel, and began to converse with the system on what to do.

Qing Mei had thoroughly enjoyed her day in the shop. She had seen what happened to Qing Zhao that morning, and she was still laughing inside over it. She didn't like her older brother because he had always acted like this, whether it was at home or as they traveled. She knew why, both her and Qing Zhao had enviable spirit roots, and hers was slightly better than his. This placed her in an uncomfortable position, Qing Zhao would be raised to lead the clan in the future, but her fate was to be married for the benefit of the clan.

Qing Mei had went shopping first buying all sorts of spirit herbs, pills, cultivation scrolls, and had a custom weapon ordered. As she made her way around, she properly greeted others from her clan and politely responded to the locals. Even though she her best to avoid trouble, these overconfident men would still try to speak to her as she tried to shop. It wasn't completely terrible as a few of the strangers were handsome enough, she still made no effort due to the duty to her clan. Eventually, Qing Mei arrived at the cultivation hall and she began to investigate the artifacts kept inside.

The majority of artifacts that Qing Mei inspected had a light screen that displayed the user's time in the virtual realm to all others. When she scrutinized the ones that didn't, she found that either no one was inside, they chose to not broadcast themselves, or were watching a 'show' or 'film'.

Once satisfied that these artifacts wouldn't harm her, Qing Mei followed the other guests and soon sat down inside one. She entered Spiritbound first since she was most familiar with taming when she received a big shock. The guru in the game chided her for practicing essentially a dangerous unorthodox method that enslaved spirit beasts. This method damaged the minds and souls of the target, both limiting the potential of the spirit beasts but also reducing the combat power of it as well.

Qing Mei's next surprise came when the guru lectured about the proper method to bound. The visible text that appeared shared much with an ancient scroll that the Qing family founder had used as a basis of their ways. With no other choice, she followed the instructions of the teachers and began her journey.

Qing Mei stayed inside the pod until the closure of the store, and was reluctant to return to Tianbao with her clan. Everything she saw reinforced the hidden desires in her heart. In Spiritbound, she was free to pursue cultivation while making her own choices, and the taming method was so amazing. Fairy and sword allowed her to go on a grand adventure, and almost felt like a guide of what her abilities could be in the future. There was even something called a concert by three women known as the Hong sisters. Qing Mei was embarrassed when it first began because she assumed they were courtesans, but she later found out they were something called 'idols'. As she listened to the music and watched them dance, she realized she only recognized the very first song, and all the following songs were brand new, some were slow, others were fast, and the dances that accompanied them were amazing.

Once Qing Mei had returned to Tianbao and was in her hotel room, she focused on the taming method that she had learned in Spiritbound. If she could quickly improve her strength, maybe she could change her fate. If not, she had heard the Hong sisters were employees of the pavilion and perhaps she could also work there as well.

The next morning, Elder Qing led the group back to the store and everyone entered. Unlike yesterday, Qing Mei visited the shops she had ignored the day before, such as the restaurant. When she entered the pet store, she could hardly contain her excitement. In front of her were five of the spirit beasts one could bind with at the start of the game, so she quickly paid an egg that contained a hawk chick that shared her main element, fire. In addition, she purchased the food and supplements the shop offered as well before heading back to the cultivation hall. After another day of playing Spiritbound, Qing Mei couldn't help but notice she quickly she had adapted to the new cultivation method, and how much more powerful the spiritual beasts were.

Qing Mei stopped her session an hour earlier than the day before, and began searching for the young man that her older brother had offended the day before. It took a few minutes, but she located him in the tea house and approached him.

Qing Mei asked, "Owner, would it be possible for me to work here?"

Qing Zhao was waiting near the big gate of Tianbao with the rest of his clan. Apparently, when they arrived at the mysterious pavilion nine days ago, he had offended the owner resulting in an eight day penalty that restricted him from visiting again. He was scolded by Grand Elder Qing Yun and several of the other elders when they came out to find him, and escort him back to the city.

This had put Qing Zhao in a terrible mood because he was the first candidate in the running to gain the favor of the clan leaders, and his antics had been looked over all the time. But he did his best to look repentant in front of everyone, and decided to focus on cultivating during these eight days.

The first day after being banned, Qing Yun took time to absorb the rich aura of the city, notably stronger than the vein where he came from. That made sense because 5 Nascent soul protectors were stationed here meaning the spiritual vein supporting the city had to be a high 2nd order vein, probably close to a 3rd order vein. He also took time to train his techniques and spells before heading out to explore Tianbao city. This went on everyday, but something was happening that started to catch his attention. His clan would leave in the morning and return late in the evening, but every time they came back Qing Zhao would witness many strange things.

The first few days, Qing Zhao heard his clan mates talk about strange artifacts, as well as, items sold that should be impossible to find. This was especially true on the third day when he saw Qing Lei pull out Qi condensation pills of perfect quality from his storage bag. He, Qing Zhao, was the leader of his generation and he had never seen perfect pills before. After the fourth day, Qing Zhao was baffled as he recognized that everyone was wearing brand new robes, carried weapons of amazing quality and power, and Qing Mei and Lei had small beasts following them around.

This distressed Qing Zhao because he was supposed to be first to tame a pet, but also he couldn't identify the beasts following his younger siblings. By the eighth day, he felt his world was turning upside down. When the group returned that night, he could tell with his senses that everyone had made significant progress in the cultivation. Qing Zhao still felt he was the strongest, but he was now uncomfortable with how much the gap in power had closed.

"Everyone, let's go", Qing Yun's words caught Qing Zhao's attention.

The group moved forward with him in the front nearest to the elders, and Qing Zhao planned to find a way to redeem himself in their eyes. It didn't take long for them to meet up with others from Tianbao, and the groups merged before heading into the forest. Once again standing in front of the gate of the Heaven & Earth pavilion, Qing Zhao did his best to ignore stares from the local cultivators. Of course no one said anything about him, but Qing Zhao could tell that he had earned an unfortunate reputation. After entering, he looked around for the owner but that young man wasn't sitting near the cherry blossom trees today, so he continued on. Fortunately for Qing Zhao, it didn't take long to locate the owner known as Fang Shi in the first floor of the main hall.

"Owner, please accept my bow", Qing Zhao said after approaching him, "Your guidance has helped me understand my own shortcomings."

"As long as you understand now", Qing Zhao heard the owner's reply, "Feel free to venture into the store, and see what you missed."

Qing Zhao was relieved, turned around, and began exploring the store making note that the right eyes saw him seek to make things right.

The first stop for Qing Zhao was the hall where all the goods were sold, and quickly exchanged all unneeded and unnecessary items for the 'spirit coins' the pavilion used in trades. He quickly bought pills, ordered a weapon and new robes, and tried to buy a pet when he ran into a problem.

"Guest, you have not trained into the beast taming method required to buy pets here", the masked woman told him, "Please experience Spiritbound in the cultivation hall first to gain the required knowledge."

Qing Zhao was so angry, but he couldn't do anything without being kicked out again. So he left the shop while grinding his teeth, and went to seek Grand elder Qing Yun. He found the elder sitting in a comfortable recliner in the corner of the tea house, drinking tea and reading a rather large scroll. Finding an empty seat, he sat down and ordered himself a cup of tea as well. He looked around to find a scroll rack built into the wall, and after inspecting all the guests inside the tea house, realized that several of them also were reading scrolls like the grand elder.

Qing Zhao walked over to the scroll rack and after looking several scrolls, walked back to his seat with one called, 'Martial Summit'. He started reading while taking occasional sips from his tea, but he quickly became uncomfortable as main character of the plot ran into the young master of an influential family. The story continued with the young master doing everything to dishonor the main character starting with small tricks eventually leading to a dangerous situation.

When the young master died from his own foolishness, Qing Zhao stopped, rolled up the scroll, and returned the rack to put it back. He selected another scroll titled, 'Asura', and even though the characters were different, once again the main character became the target of a young master who pursuing a jade beauty. This situation turned even worse than the last story with the family suffering huge losses eventually becaming the target of other families living in the same city.

'Did the owner actually forgive me?', Qing Zhao couldn't help but ask himself.

Returning to the scroll rack, he kept swapping scrolls but everyone one of them had the same scene play out, arrogant young masters who suffered in the end due to their own hubris.

Qing Zhao finished his cup of tea, and put the current scroll away on the rack. It occurred that he had been wasting his time today trying to impress the grand elder when instead, he should have been finding out how everyone else was progressing so quickly and do the same. As he left the tea house to find the cultivation hall, Qing Yun put his scroll down to watch the young man and smiled. Soon, Qing Zhao arrived in the cultivation pod cafe and after investigating and receiving an explanation from the employees, he rented one. Placing the strange helmet on his head, he readied himself for what was about to happen next.

He whispered to himself, "I won't allow anyone to take my spot."