"I don't care about your noble sentiments!"
Yan Xiaosan muttered, frowning as he packed his things.
[You can't go pushing a beat-up little handcart to set up a stall! I am a high-and-mighty Dragon-Absolving Heaven Cultivation System! I have never suffered such humiliation in my life! Get back here right now!!!!]
Inside his mind, a grey-green sphere was jumping up and down, trailing sparks and lightning, wishing it could rush out and perish together with him.
Yan Xiaosan sneered. They had tricked a modern youth like him into this bizarre world and still expected to boss him around? His hands didn't stop as he tallied up the prepared items one by one. "How can you not make a comeback by setting up a stall? How do you expect to make a comeback if you just sit and wait to die?"
[Cultivate! I'm a system! I can make you soar straight to the top!]
The system cried out at the top of its lungs.
"What am I supposed to use to take on quests?"
"What am I supposed to use to cultivate?"
Yan Xiaosan countered.
[...I have a golden finger!]
"Are you giving it to me for free?"
[...]
"Are you handing me cultivation techniques and resources directly?"
[...]
"Then, just like the Dragon-Absolving Heaven protagonist, you're full of hot air."
"You quietly kidnapped me to this place and now you're talking about cultivation—is 'cultivation' just short for 'collapsing into a coma'?"
The more Yan Xiaosan spoke, the angrier he got.
What was the ideal cultivation experience?
Living in seclusion amidst picturesque mountains and clear waters, cultivating in silence, and then astounding the world with a single feat.
Or becoming a genius of a major sect, commanding countless resources, cultivating diligently, and eventually stepping out into the world to earn honor.
At the very worst, it should be getting the face-slapping script, starting out utterly ordinary and suffering every kind of humiliation—broken engagements, three-year pacts, having one's bones excavated while walking the invincible path—pushing through countless hardships to fight his way out... Never mind, he'd rather be humble and play it safe...
He could tolerate all of that!
And now?
If the data transmitted to him by this trashy system was correct—
This was the Penglai Realm!
Hundreds of years ago, a Divine Miracle descended upon the Penglai Realm.
It shook the Cultivation World, and the famous clans and powerful tribes of the Five Regions vied to explore it.
It was ultimately verified that the Divine Miracle was an ancient trial ground for inheritance, accessible only to cultivators whose bone-age did not exceed sixty years.
After decades of bloodshed, the various factions finally reached a consensus to designate this place as a land of opportunity and cultivation for the younger generation, establishing various academies within the Penglai Realm, creating an era where a hundred schools of thought contend.
The Penglai Realm was sealed off by a joint web spun by the renowned clans and powerful tribes; one could only enter by receiving a summons and obtaining a Penglai Token.
And if one wanted to earn the qualification to enter the Divine Miracle, they had to pass the trials set by the academies and acquire a Divine Miracle Token.
In other words, without the Penglai Tokens granted by the various academies, not a single fly could flutter in from the outside world.
And now, he had become the first successful fly in history.
He knew Article 1 of the Penglai Statutes by heart: Anyone without a Penglai Token shall be regarded as a stowaway and executed by strangulation.
Ha.
No Divine Miracle Token meant no entry into the Divine Miracle; no Penglai Token meant no entry into Penglai.
He was just a fly wandering through the cracks of the Penglai Realm! A rootless coolie!
If the Penglai Realm hadn't permitted outsiders to carve out immortal caves, he would have evaporated on his very first day as a stowaway.
The more Yan Xiaosan thought about it, the angrier he became. He slammed the wooden door shut, pushed his cart with a huff and a puff, and headed toward Penglai Market.
Feeling the sheer force that wanted to squash it flat, the system trembled with fear.
Penglai Market.
Wherever there are people, there is consumption. To facilitate resource exchange among the various academies and provide leisure and entertainment for their disciples, the Penglai Market came into being.
The market wasn't actually all that large. As far as the eye could see, there were only commercial firms, auction houses, and taverns—strongholds belonging to the major factions.
Yan Xiaosan's little handcart at the very end of the market looked particularly conspicuous.
It immediately attracted the attention of a few disciples passing by in twos and threes.
"Little system, are you really sure they can't tell I'm a mere mortal?"
[Rest assured, Host, with me here, nobody can see through the fact that you have no cultivation unless you volunteer the information!]
"Turns out you're actually worth a damn." Yan Xiaosan wiped away a non-existent cold sweat from his brow.
He was definitely the worst-off system in existence.
[Host, will anyone actually come to buy?]
"Who knows? The little bit of convenience you provided is only enough to make stuff like this; I don't know how to make anything complicated either. People should just be looking for a novelty."
Yan Xiaosan fiddled with the small wooden bowl in his hand. In the Penglai Realm where geniuses could be found on every corner, he couldn't complete the system's tasks and had to rely on the backdoor opened by the system just to cobble together this setup.
[I really don't have much energy left, Host! If we fail, we'll genuinely be left drinking the northwest wind!]
"Is your pathetic bit of energy enough to smash through the Penglai Realm's seal and send me back out?"
[...]
#What should I do when my host wants to talk back and blow my brains out every single second#
"Step right up and take a look, folks! Little San's food stall is officially open for business—"
On the third floor of the tavern diagonally across from the handcart, right by the window—
Ji Qiyi poked his head out halfway to peer at the stall. "I wonder which academy that student belongs to, and what kind of Dao they cultivate, to actually lower themselves and set up a stall here."
"It's probably the Mortal Dao, or perhaps the Commercial Dao." Wenren Qi reached out and pulled Ji Qiyi back inside. "Mind your decorum!"
"We're not back in the clan, why be so stiff?" Ji Qiyi curled his lip, raised his wine cup, and gulped it down in one go. Turning his head, he asked the dark-robed man sitting by the other window, "What do you think, Mu Jian?"
The man's eyebrows looked as though they were painted with ink, with star-like eyes and thin lips. Even upon hearing the question, his gaze never left the stall.
"It's food. It might be the Culinary Dao."
"These days, which major clan is so extravagant that they'd actually let a disciple cultivating the Culinary Dao take up a Penglai quota?" Ji Qiyi finished speaking, looking as though his interest had been piqued. "No, I have to go try some..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the person opposite him stood up first and walked downstairs.
Ji Qiyi froze.
Wenren Qi froze.
"Did I see that right? That's Mu Jian, right? He hasn't been possessed by an interloper, has he?" Ji Qiyi pinched Wenren Qi's thigh. "Does that hurt?"
A flash of amusement crossed Wenren Qi's eyes as he reached out and grabbed Ji Qiyi's mischievous hand.
"Let's go take a look."
......
Yan Xiaosan stared at Mu Jian, who was standing in front of the stall staring at him without saying a word, his legs trembling.
Ah, you've got to be kidding me. Do I have to pay protection money on the very first day?
"I... this is just a small, humble business, a small, humble business. There's not much profit here."
As soon as those words left his mouth, the man's brow furrowed even deeper.
Yan Xiaosan placed his hands on the pushcart, ready to bolt at any second if the situation turned sour.
Violence was strictly prohibited in the Penglai Market.
"Forgive him, fellow Daoist. My friend is a strict ascetic who isn't very good at dealing with people; his original intention was just to come and support your business."
Just as the atmosphere was growing increasingly bizarre, Ji Qiyi arrived at the front of the stall, patted Mu Jian lightly on the shoulder, and explained to Yan Xiaosan with a beaming smile.
Let alone the stall owner being frightened, even he got a headache just looking at him. He had thought that after a few years apart, the guy's quirks would have improved at least somewhat.
Forget it, his condition had only worsened.
"Mn, I want to buy."
Mu Jian finally withdrew his staring gaze, lowering his head to look at the small wooden bowls displayed on the wooden cart.
Yan Xiaosan let out a sigh of relief and took his hands off the cart; he had almost scared himself into running away. "Ten spirit stones each. Would the customer like to give it a try?"
"Clink."
Mu Jian placed a pouch of spirit stones onto the stall. The mouth of the pouch wasn't tied very tightly, and the spirit stones spilling out were dazzlingly brilliant.
"I want to eat."
Top... Top-grade spirit stones!!
At that moment, the light bursting from the depths of Yan Xiaosan's eyes was in no way inferior to the spirit stones themselves.
"Little Tong, wasn't your pricing too low?!"
[Host, although the ingredients I produce come with their own pure spiritual Qi, they are all unranked items. Pricing them at ten low-grade spirit stones is both stable and allows us to make a small profit.]
"I think we overlooked a problem."
[?]
"Where are we right now?"
[Penglai Realm, right?]
"Exactly! We're in the damn Penglai Realm! What kind of people are here? Geniuses! What is a genius? High-end clients! How are we supposed to sell to people with this kind of net worth?!"
"How could we have been so cautious?! We should be selling Chinese cabbage at the price of jade!!"
[????]
After spinning through several thoughts in his mind, in reality, Yan Xiaosan merely paused for a moment before breaking into a shy smile.
"It doesn't cost that much. I'm just running a small, humble business to earn some honest money. Ten medium-grade spirit stones will be enough."
The system, whose entire supply of ingredients had been free: ......
For spirit stones of adjacent tiers, the exchange rate from low to high was one thousand to one.
"Whatever. How do you eat these?" Mu Jian didn't care in the least. He picked up a small upside-down wooden bowl and stared at the crystal-clear solid inside.
Daring not to slight his major client in the slightest, Yan Xiaosan picked up a prepared wooden skewer, took the small wooden bowl from Mu Jian's hand, poked it right through the middle, and handed it back.
Mu Jian grazed his fingers against the ones that had just touched him. Seeing that the crystal-clear morsel had been skewered and handed back to him, he subconsciously brushed his hand against Yan Xiaosan's fingers before moving upward to grip the wooden skewer, taking a bite.
"So smooth... Delicious."
Yan Xiaosan skewered two more and handed them to Ji Qiyi and Wenren Qi.
He had originally wanted to pitch his products, but the flavors were all synthesized by the system to match his original world, so he had to leave it to blind selection. "I made a lot of new flavors, and I don't know which one you fellow Daoists prefer. If you still like them, you're welcome to honor me with another try."
After taking their first bite, Ji Qiyi and Wenren Qi exchanged glances simultaneously, seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
The spiritual Qi contained within the food was exceptionally pure; without a certain level of cultivation and techniques, it was simply impossible to achieve this.
Perhaps Mu Jian had guessed right after all—this fellow Daoist cultivated the Culinary Dao.
Even though his current level wasn't high enough to be of much help to them yet, what about in the future?
He was a talent worth getting to know.
The two men turned their heads, only to twitch the corners of their mouths in unison.
"Skewer me another."
"Coming right up!"
"Delicious."
"This one is red bean flavor."
"Delicious."
"This one is mung bean flavor."
"I know, this one is soybean flavor."
"......Well, no. That one is pineapple flavor."
"Also delicious."
Ji Qiyi endured and endured, unable to bear watching his companion act so utterly devoid of dignity, and finally chimed in with a question: "May I ask what this spirit food is called, fellow Daoist?"
Yan Xiaosan smiled so hard his eyes vanished.
"Put Chai Ko."