Fang Shi had finished his morning routine of waking up with the Sun, taking a bath, cultivating, and eating before leaving his residence. He made his way to the entertainment lounge but as he looked at the sea, he noticed that a small fleet of ships from both factions off in the distance. This slightly spurred his curiosity, but only for a moment. Shoving this information to the back his mind, he continued with his original purpose and arrived at the lounge.
As Fang Shi entered the hall, he noticed a small group of people standing off to the side. It had first started with that young man, Elias Thorn, but now more guests regularly gathered around his broadcasting screen to observe his playthrough of Zuizhong Huanxiang. He was taking his time to explore all the differences between the original game, and the game that had been modified to fit this world. Activating his personal cultivation pod, he waited as it started up and took the time to use his senses to scan the island. This was something he normally did several times a day to ensure he wouldn't receive any surprises.
Today, the situation of the island was as quiet as ever but there were two odd occurrences that caught Fang Shi's attention. The first thing was that he noticed that several people from the Free island Compact were meditating in the area where the elemental essence crystals were located. This didn't make him nervous because those places were passively protected by a formation and puppets. The other thing that caught his attention was in the restaurant. The minister from the empire was holding a banquet with all his magistrates with the exception of one, who had sailed away on the small fleet earlier.
This made Fang Shi curious enough about what was happening that he sent a sliver of his consciousness to monitor the gathering while his main body started up the game.
In the northern banquet hall, a feast was currently in progress as six tables were set up at the head of the room. At the head was Minister Liang Zhenyuan, and slightly below him were Magistrates Han Yuncheng, Gao Shuren, Wei Changming, Su Meizhen, and Duan Shilin. Fang Shi's consciousness silently remained in the ceiling before transmitting the discussion in the room.
"Qui Zhen really turned disaster into opportunity when he came to this island to rescue your nephew, Minister Liang", Wei Changming offered a toast towards the head table, "This island has truly shown us the way forward."
Liang Zhenyuan accepted the toast and drank his cup without hesitation.
"Yes, he has earn a great merit", he added, "That's why I gave him my token, and gave him the honor of reporting to the second prince. He has earned it."
A feminine voice spoke next, "Normally I'd be jealous of such an honor but to be honest, this island is so comfortable."
A wave of laughs erupted from the head tables in agreement.
"Magistrate Su is too blunt, but I can't deny what she says", Magistrate Gao said as he took another drink.
More laughter followed until Minister Liang unfolded his fan, "So what does everyone think of information the scholars have delivered to us?"
The laughter died down before a man at the farthest right table spoke first.
"My scholars have been using all their time studying the knowledge held on the upper floors of the Shenluo building", Magistrate Han informed the others, "Soon we will be able to build walls and buildings just like them."
"That's nothing", Gao Shuren dismissed his rival, "My men are investigating how people travel. I also became interested in this as well so I had to see it for myself. The roads are stronger, the horseless carts are faster, and that doesn't include the biggest discoveries I've made so far."
His words words hung in the air trying to build anticipation until a cold snort interrupted him. Magistrate Gao looked over to see Minister Liang giving him a smile that didn't quite reach his eye.
"Hmmm", Gao Shuren cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment, "Ships. The Shenluo company own all kinds of wonderous ships. Smaller battleships made of floating metal that could sink out while fleet. Large cargo ships that are ten times bigger than our grandest ship. Sky ships that do as the name suggest and travel, through the sky."
The room grew quiet at the last comment before Liang Zhenyuan asked the obvious question, "How can a ship sail through the sky?"
"It's all true, I assure you", Magistrate Gao tried to respond without letting his frustration leak out, "I have advanced far enough in the game that I witnessed the ship in the sky dock with a tower. Later it disembarked, and disappeared over the horizon. There are records in the Shenluo building that my scholars are looking over."
"It's a good thing we already sent Magistrate Qui back to the homeland", Liang Zhenyuan looked relieved, "Has anyone else made additional discoveries?"
"Yes", Magistrate Wei replied, "Like the others, my subordinates have also made it to the Shenluo building and they were able to read the journal of a great sage named Hojo."
"A Sage?", Minister Liang sat a bit straighter, "What did this great man write?"
"Everyone should have the game at this time", Wei Changming started to explain, "And by now everyone should have realized how strong the man named cloud is. Most of you should have heard the name Sephiroth as well, the name of the strongest soldier. Both of these men reached their capabilities because of the Sage Hojo who devised a way to insert essence crystals into the body, and this is the basis of the Soldier program."
"What!?", Liang Zhenyuan Strongly spoke, "You mean the same worthless crystals we paid to the immortal could create soldiers like this."
The other magistrates spoke in the background causing the room to become noisy.
"Yes", Magistrate Wei nodded, "I included a secret letter with Magistrate Qui. It's a request for additional scholars to be sent back to us. The Sage Hojo has written many things, and we don't have enough people to study it."
"Excellent work", Minister Liang wore a smile, "I will personally ensure the second prince hears of your accomplishments. Who else has something to report?"
In the rafters, Fang Shi had listened to everything so far but the news that essence crystals could be used to create soldiers made him frown.
'First of all, is it possible?", he thought to himself, 'And if it's possible, doesn't it mean they will no longer pay me in essence crystals? I hope that's not the case but I should make a plan if things turn out that way.' He found the crystals very helpful and versatile, and didn't want to lose his supply because of an arms war.
As he pondered the future, Su Meizhan had also given her report about the various weapons used by Shenluo leaving Duan Shilin as the final magistrate to brief the minister.
"Magistrate Duan", Liang Zhenyuan called out, "What have you been working on lately?"
"Football", Duan Shilin answered, "We have successfully finalized the roster, secured uniforms and equipment, and our first game will be in three days against Mistvale Enclave."
Everyone in the room seemed to turn their head in embarrassment with the exception of one.
"Outstanding!", Liang Zhenyuan smiled.
The minister had been overseeing the training of his troops on the day the first football game had taken place, and fallen in love with the game.
"Speak with my aide", he added, "After our victorious first meeting with the Compact, I'm ready to continue our dominance over them."
Ever since their arrival, he had been frustrated by his inability to deal with the enemy and football had become an outlet for his stress.
Meanwhile, Fang Shi continued to listen but grew bored of the conversation. Eavesdropping on the banquet had given him ideas for building and selling custom ships, and investigating the practicality of elemental essence crystals. He was interested in the profits that would be made customers forming football clubs and leagues, but that's all. In his eyes, mortals playing football was slow and tedious and resembled children playing.
Fang Shi had heard enough at this point, and was about to recall the sliver of consciousness back to his body when he noticed that the Free Island Compact had began to gather for their banquet.
'I'm already here', he told himself, 'Since I have time, let's look in on their banquet as well.'
Fang Shi peered into the southern banquet hall to see it decorated much differently than the northern one that hosted the empire. The prior hall had only been draped in the colors of the empire while this one had thirteen different color styles representing each member of the alliance. Now in place, he began to focus on the discussion that had started inside. After awhile, he realized that most of the topics being discussed were the same as those the empire had spoken about.
Fang Shi thought he had wasted his time until he heard, "My friends, some of my subordinates have stumbled upon a strange opportunity."
This peaked his interest so he searched for the source, and found a woman named Talia Nerissa. He took a moment to remember who she was and after a moment it came to him, she's from the Seabloom Archipelago.
"Tell us more, Envoy Nerissa", Kadeem responded with a slight smile on his face.
"Well", she started her response, "Everyone here should be familiar with the story called Avatar."
All the other envoys signaled that they were familiar with the show, so she continued, "A few members of my assembly that have become avid fans of this story, and in their spare time they imitate what they have seen. From what I've been told, they have been exploring the bay for days and their persistence paid off when they found a powerful force emitting from the bay. I'm not sure what prompted them to try this but they performed the forms of a water bender at this location, and they felt a slight response."
All the other envoys and Fang Shi's mental sliver of energy looked at Talia in amazement before one of them asked the question on all their minds, "Were they capable of moving the water just like they did in the show?"
"Unfortunately Envoy Wren, they haven't been able to yet", Talia said, "That being said, I believe they will soon. Others have already began exploring the island hoping to find areas similar to the first, but with other elements."
Once again, Fang Shi began to question his own knowledge. He had always assumed that the abilities that appeared in avatar required Qi to perform, but it seems that wasn't the case. Too many surprising events had occurred today, and he had to ponder how it could affect the future. Once his mental projection had returned to him, Fang Shi made an inquiry.
"System", he asked, "Is it possible to perform feats similar to Avatar without the support of Qi?"
[Host, There are numerous Daos to walk in life which involves the body, Qi, your mind, or a combination of the three.]
"Of course. Over three thousand Daos can be walked", Fang Shi murmured.
[Host, do you believe in coincidences?]
Seeing this, Fang Shi arched a single brow in response with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I'm not sure why you're asking this, but I do believe some coincidences can exist", he countered.
[Host, by now you should be aware that Qi is made of Yin and Yang, which can broken down further into the five elements. You should be aware how the five elements are associated with the human body.]
"Yes", he admitted, "The liver and gallbladder are wood, the heart and small intestines are fire, the spleen and stomach are earth, the lungs and large intestines are metal, and the kidneys and bladder are water."
After stating things he had learned from his previous life, a thought occurred to him. Every since his cultivation had been enhanced by the system, he had several unique rewards. He originally tested with three spirit roots but the pills the system provided not only helped him gain elements that didn't have before, but also purified those spirit roots and his body. Just recently he had been given acupuncture, opening points all over his body.
'Why can the dantian refine Qi of different elements but certain organs in the body are associated with those elements as well?', Fang Shi contemplated.
"System, is my cultivation method incomplete?", a thought dawned on him.
[Host, your method is incomplete. Now that all acupoints have been opened, this unit will reevaluate and adjust your cultivation method based off the new information.]
He closed his eyes and felt a presence scan him several times. Several minutes later, a new stream of knowledge merged with his mind. He reviewed the new method several times before putting it into practice. Fang Shi immediately noticed a difference as soon as he activated the new method. Watching the process, he followed the Qi he absorbed from the air and from the spiritual food he ate and made a discovery.
Qi that came from spiritual meals didn't immediately enter the dantian or meridian system. It passed from the stomach into the dantian through the acupoints that both shared. A similar effect happened between the lungs and dantian as well. Further observation showed that the statement the system had made was true as Fang Shi could pinpoint the channels between each organ and a corresponding part of the dantian. Then he noticed acupoints that didn't relate to any organs or the dantian. Observing them, he noticed that in these acupoints were located near major blood vessels and the strong blood energy fused with the Qi flowing through the meridians. He checked every acupoint throughout his body, and when he reach his head he noticed another strange acupoint. These points in the head also fused different types of energy together but instead of blood energy and qi, it mixed the enhanced qi with energy from the sea of consciousness.
'This must be why the Qi of Foundation Establishment cultivators is stronger than Qi gathering cultivators', he pondered, 'This is why it's difficult for cultivators of a lower realm can't easily operate artifacts of a higher realm.'
Fang Shi finally understood the whole process: Absorb Qi, enhance Qi in two stages, refine Qi, divide into the different elements, and finally store it for use. Not did this help him understand the process of cultivation, it also helped him understand why people failed to advance. From mortal to Foundation Establishment, many errors could end their journey of the Dao. Malnutrition, ignorance, improper practices, malicious intentions, and other factors were responsible for the long history of humans failing to continue the journey.
This inspired a thought in Fang Shi, 'Perhaps I've stumbled across the real purpose of the Dao of the merchant. You still strive to cultivate the same as anyone else, but you accomplish it by cooperating with friends of every land.'
Fang Shi was feeling grateful to the people that lived here. He had been buying their martial techniques which had formed the basis for his upgraded cultivation method. He could already feel the difference in the power and speed of the new method over the old.
'I need to upgrade the natural formation as quickly as possible', he thought, 'I think the current strength of it will be insufficient for my needs. Also, I'll start looking into essence crystals more. The energy they hold I'll dub nature energy, and it should be possible to create cultivation methods and techniques to sell.'
His began to imagine the world around changing with customers using these techniques to swim or fly, build walls and buildings, or increasing the quality of life for their fellow citizens when a small voice interrupted him.
"Master Fang has been sitting there for an hour. When will he start playing", he heard.
Coming to his senses, he realized he had sat down a long time ago but had let his mind wander for too long. He cleared his throat in embarrassment before looking at the screen in front of him that had been on the whole time, and proceeded to start the game.
In Blue Moon city, a different banquet was being held and the participants were not as enthusiastic as they should been. Inside the room were Liang Tian of the Profound Sword sect, Yun Qian of the Azure River sect, Lord Rui of the Rui Golden Hall, the spiritual beast Xiong Tianzu, Blue Moon city's Mayor Chen, Feng Guo of the Dusty Peak sect, Hua Lian of the Verdant Grove sect, Tie Han of the Ironclad Forge sect, the Blue Moon city family alliance (all the patriarchs or matriarchs of the top eight families), and two new comers.
"Friends", Liang Tian welcomed each guest, "Thank you for attending today. I believe everyone here knows each for the most part but might be curious about the two new faces that appeared today."
Everyone gave a slight nod which prompted him to continue, "Everyone, let me introduce you to Sect masters Mo Quanji and Xu Wenxuan, of the Myriad Wonders and Celestial Ink sects."
The two men responded by the introduction by bowing with a small drink in their hands before finishing said drink in one motion.
"Now, everyone might be curious why I'm introducing these two men tonight", Liang Tian explained, "And to better understand why let me ask, does everyone here know what recently happened between True Martial hall and Heaven & Earth pavilion?"
The room instantly became more gloomy, and Liang Tian got his answer.
"Brother Liang", Yun Qian looked helpless, "I think it's fair to say that we have heard of that day's events."
"Since everyone is aware then we all should also be aware that retaliation will come", Liang Tian didn't hold back, "That being said, the two newest third order sects hold the key to our survival."
Mayor Chen, who looked like a starving man finding food, immediately spoke up, "Did they recently accept a genius disciple to offer to True Martial hall or find an ancient weapon that can defend the city?"
Liang Tian was dumbfounded for a moment before replying, "No, but everyone here should know that both of their sects only came into being a year ago by recruiting independent cultivators. Yet, here we are a year later and their sects are officially recognized third order sects."
Mayor Chen looked the two men and couldn't help foolishly asking, "Is that true?"
Mo Quanji answered, "Yes, we both gathered our closest relatives and friends and built our sect together. Mostly with the help of Owner Fang."
Feng Guo had a suspicious look on his face, "Are you saying Owner Fang is your backer?"
"No, No", Xu Wenxuan shook his head, "We are customers, just like everyone else here. The difference is that our foundation was built on his store."
"Right", Mo Quanji agreed, "We both started at rogue cultivators and over time the road of cultivation became dimmer and dimmer, so we took a chance. After convincing those around us, we took everything of value to Owner Fang to fund our ambition. Our current library was all bought from his store, our artisans are trained by his cultivation pods, and the land we farm was only possible because of the goods we bought from him."
Everyone in the room suddenly understood, larger organizations always restricted core secrets from outsiders. But in a year, these two were able to organize into a force that rival other third order sects. Given a few more decades, they would probably ascend to second order status which is extremely fast for sect. They didn't have a spiritual land, genius disciples, or massive resources yet they still managed to rise up.
"Is it actually possible to accomplish this?", Yun Qian offhandedly said.
"I think so", Lord Rui replied to her, "Even where I live, I've been seeing similar organizations form from the products I sell."
Yun Qian turned back to Liang Tian, "What do you plan to do?"
"I will taking everything out of the vault or scripture pavilion and selling it to Owner Fang", Liang Tian announced, "I'll be carrying out reforms in the sect to plan a fast but safe advancement for all the disciples and elders."
"But that's your legacy", she protested, "No matter how many benefits you receive, you'll be killed before you can strengthen the sect in time."
"I disagree", he stated, "Even though time isn't on our side, we still have a chance. Look at owner fang, he went from early qi gathering to mid foundation establishment in four years. Look at these two sect, they grew from a group of people to a third order sect in a year without using demonic or unorthodox methods. Also, let's like at the time it would take to fight a war. They just lost an elder, and we still close to the border between the two great sects. They will have to organize their forces, announce their intentions to Heavenly Craft Pavilion to prevent misunderstandings, meet with us to discuss the rules of engagement, and gather their allies. That will extend our timeline before the first wave of Qi gathering disciples arrives to start the battle. Don't be deceived, True Martial hall will attack. They can't lose face but having a subordinate sect try to gain independence which is why I asked you here. Profound Sword sect will be doing everything it can to fight against the coming tide, and I ask that you join me or stay out of the way."
All the other guests wore pensive looks on their face until Yun Qian's voice spoke, "I will talk with the others but I believe you're right. I've heard of other sects that earned the ire of True Martial hall, and it's never a good ending. They won't listen to our pleading, so the only choice is to defend ourselves."
Once she broke the ice, all the other sect masters and family heads gave similar answers. The rest of the evening became more light hearted. They ate and drank with renewed enthusiasm until the dead of night, feeling relieved that they would be facing their fate together instead of alone.