Leng Qingxiao was waiting in a long line that formed at the front gate of the Heaven & Earth pavilion that consisted of a mixture of cultivators and spiritual beasts in human form. He had watched the event the other day when the store owner had sought guidance against all challengers, and had announced that the pavilion was hiring employees. At first, he had though that he didn't have a chance but when it was announced that only cultivators not attached to a force were eligible, he made up his mind.
To Leng Qingxiao's surprise, there was only one line when he arrived as customers could enter normally. Also encouraging was that the line for applicants moved quickly for some mysterious reason. When he started getting closer to the front gate, he finally realized why everything was moving so quickly. Despite the owner's insistence that applicants couldn't be associated with other forces, many had brazenly or secretly tried to apply anyways, only to filtered out by puppets sitting at the front gate. When they realized they had failed, they simply shrugged their shoulders, exited the line, and entered the store as a customer under the collective angry gazes of legitimate potential hires.
Leng Qingxiao felt some relief at first knowing that a large portion of what he thought were rivals where actually schemers, but his self confidence didn't rise too much when he remembered that he lacked any real skills that the store might need.
After the time it took to make a cup of tea passed, Leng Qingxiao was standing at the front gate.
"Does the Daoist have a card from the pavilion?", the male puppet wearing a tiger mask on his right asked as he stepped up.
"I do", he answered as he pulled it from his storage bag and presented it.
The two puppets looked at it for a few moments before the puppet on the left with a wolf mask spoke up, "You qualify for further consideration, please enter."
Leng Qingxiao was genuinely surprised and delighted, so he quickly walked passed the puppets and went to the main hall as per their instructions. Taking the rising platform that was referred to as an 'elevator', he went to top floor and came to the door that he hadn't remembered being there before. This door was also guarded by a puppet as well but after showing his pavilion card, he was let inside where he climbed the stairs and entered a room with many chairs and sofas. Men, women, and spiritual beasts took up many of the seats but not all, so he found an empty seat for himself.
The room was silent and just as Leng Qingxiao was considering how to gather information, the only other door other than the one to the stairs opened as a woman and a puppet walked out.
"Luo Xinglan, please come in", the puppet said, and a man stood up and followed the puppet in.
Time passed and every ten to twenty minutes, one of the two doors opened. Either another applicant had been approved from the front gate, or they had finished their business in the next room and was escorted out by the puppet until finally, "Leng Qingxiao?"
"Yes, I'm he", Leng Qingxiao stood up and walked to the door with the puppet.
After passing through the door, he entered a smaller room with several windows on the back wall and another door opposite the one he exited from. Bookshelves lined the walls with a desk sitting in back. The owner, Fang Shi was sitting behind the desk, so Leng Qingxiao walked over and gave a polite greeting.
"Please sit", Fang Shi requested, "Can I see your pavilion card?"
"Many thanks, Owner Fang", Leng Qingxiao replied as he handed his card over.
"This is a simple interview", Fang Shi explained, "I will ask a few questions, and the results will be posted a few days for now."
Leng Qingxiao nodded in understanding as the first question was asked by Fang Shi, "Please describe how you first stepped onto the path as a cultivator, and why you're an independent cultivator."
"As most others, I was discovered to have spirit roots when an old cultivator at the Qi Gathering realm passed by my village", Leng Qingxiao narrated, "Most likely, he took me to a sect in the hopes of collecting a fee. Unfortunately, my roots were of poor quality and my pride kept me from accepting a place as a servant disciple, so I went to the closest cultivation city to try my luck. Over the decades, I tried my hand at several professions but my skill was lacking. The only reason I was able to cultivate to my level today was exploring secret realms with a few friends, and doing the occasional job for other fellow daoists."
"Next question, do you have family, a wife, or Dao companions?", Fang Shi asked.
"No", Leng Qingxiao replied.
"Next question…", Fang Shi continued.
After ten minutes, Leng Qingxiao had answered everything as best he could.
"Please return in a few days", Fang Shi reminded him, "A large visible sign will be put up with everyone who is selected. Should that be you, further instruction will be given at that time. Enjoy your day, and thank you for your time."
As Leng Qingxiao exited the room, Fang Shi slumped over slightly.
In a different room, Fang Shi was sitting in his pod looking at two images. The larger image in front of him resembled a large hotel while the second image showed a puppet of himself sitting behind a desk. A small light appeared as it floated from the second image and moved to an unseen location behind him.
Fang Shi was unconcerned, he was too busy at the time so he had a puppet in his place doing the interviews. Each one was recorded, and sent to a folder that he would review later. Instead, he was focused on the first image in front of him. A sight reminiscent of simulation games he had played in his past life was in front of him as he took the time to design the buildings for his new project. Most of the screen was taken up by the hotel as he was designing each level, room by room, but other images were also present. He was decorated each room, running water and power through the building, and optimizing space based on affordability versus luxury. The basic room would provide the basic needs for any guest while the most expensive rooms had dedicated staff, cultivation facilities, and other services.
In the left corner, a map of the whole pavilion was hanging and Fang Shi would occasionally switch to it. When he looked at the map, it reminded him of SimCity or Cities:Skylines from his previous life and made the task of designing a business so much easier. In the upper right, blueprints for the villas were pinned as Fang Shi had worked on them first before tackling the task of designing the hotel. In the lower right was another image, a small floor plan with multiple tables set in the room. This was Fang Shi's first attempt at using the design application the system had provided. He had played around with it, but after getting serious he created a new floor, a game room.
Fang Shi's plan was to release all new items and products all at once. One of the advantages of having so many people apply for a job was that he had gotten many alerts of cliche events taking place. Thanks to that the scroll racks and libraries of the tea house and bar had added many new novels to its ranks.
"First, employees will be hired at both locations", Fang Shi verbally stated his intentions, "As they get trained, the hotel, the game rooms, and villas will be built. Ah, I almost forgot. Tomorrow, I'll officially release the new novels and the new drinks and dishes will be added to the menus. Then I'll accept the system rewards."
Four days later, Fang Shi was looking at a new building that had appeared at the Tianbao location. It was the new dormitory that he had built to house all the employees that were to be announced today. There was a similar building at the Blue Moon location as well, but due to issues he had to rearrange things around. He decided to remove the house he had built for himself and rebuild his floor on the main hall so that the Blue moon location could have a proper male and female dormitory.
Fang Shi looked out his window to see the crowd of people that was forming as they waited for the gate to open. The Minecraft clock slightly moved showing sunrise, and the front gate opened in response. All the excited people found a sign posted in the garden with blossoming pear trees, and soon both cheers of joy and the cries of sadness could be heard as the results came out.
The cultivators who were selected made their way inside where puppets were waiting to verify their identity before transporting them to the new dormitory. There, they were briefed on the position they would take, the current training plans, and a tour of the dormitories. They were shown the rooms, the uniforms, and training rooms, as well as receiving the rules of the pavilion.
Finally, the puppets guided all the new employees to a large room before saying, "This is the dining area for all employees of the Heaven & Earth pavilion. Please take a seat, and the owner will join us soon."
The large group of people looked around to see a room where the tables were arranged in a strange manner.
As on cue, Fang Shi appeared at the door and he greeted the group, "Congratulations, now that you're seated I believe it's the best time to introduce you to your new brothers and sisters."
With a wave of his hand, tables of people appeared in the empty spots in the room.
"Employees of the Tianbao branch, using the power of new artifacts you can speak face to face with the employees of the Blue Moon branch", Fang Shi said as he passed a hand through the image of a table near him, "Tonight, we will have our first company dinner and this dinner will feature new spiritual meals that have astounding results. As an employee, you're expected to present a flawless image to our customers. Starting tonight, not only will you cultivate normally, you will also cultivate your body and soul using these new ingredients. Just a kindly reminder, since you all are inexperienced with cultivating your body and soul I have to say that once your refine these spiritual herbs, you will fill warmth and a chill go through you. Stop eating once you feel that sensation, and quickly go to the bath before something embarrassing happens. Now cheers!."
Fang Shi raised a glass of spirit wine and began to eat as all the employees looked at the food with caution.
"The food is not poisoned", Fang Shi said when he saw the hesitation of the crowd, "Please feel free to enjoy the meal."
A few people took their chopsticks into their hands and sampled some food. Bliss could be seen on their faces, and soon their chopsticks started to move faster. The others overcame their fear, and started to eat as well. Sooner the room grew noisy as everyone ate, drank, and spoke with their neighbors. It took about an hour before the first guest quickly left his seat, and ran out of the room. As he was a mortal, it wasn't strange that he was the first to leave and soon other mortals followed afterwards. This caused the other employees to start making bets on when the first cultivator would have to leave. The night continued as games were played until the late hours when the last few finally succumbed to the effects of the spiritual herbs and running off to the bath. The next morning was hectic as all the new employees started their new life by entering the training hall to learn about their new jobs.
As guests arrived at the store in Blue Moon city, new advertisements were seen everywhere promoting the new spiritual plants in the grocery shop, as well as the new dishes added to the menu of the restaurant. The rest of the day was memorable because there were multiple occasions of a guest or guests quickly sprinting towards the public bath or breakthrough rooms after they disregarded the advice given to them.
At the Tianbao branch, the same could be seen, but also the visitors with higher realms could sense a new array formation blocking their senses behind the store. Protector Jin and Tie E grew concerned, and went find Fang Shi to find out more.
"Oh that?", Fang Shi smiled when the two leaders asked him about it, "The senior asked me to come up with new business ideas, and that was the result."
"Then what is that new building that appeared on the east side of the store?", Jin Huang inquired.
"As you know, I recently hired new staff", Fang Shi didn't hide anything, "This is the employee dormitory."
Satisfied, the two older cultivators walked without asking further questions so Fang Shi returned to what he was doing.
'System', Fang Shi mentally called out.
'Response: How can this unit assist you?', the system replied.
'I believe I should ready to breakthrough and establish my foundation soon', Fang Shi, 'But my mental energy hasn't peaked like my body and qi cultivation have. Other than drinking the new tea that expands my mental strength, what else can help prepare me?'
'Answer: Mental strength has a different cultivation method compared to one's body or dantian', the system explained, 'The body depends on exercise and tempering to advance while one's cultivation is dependent on mastering the qi of the world to reach new heights. To build up your mental strength, herbs are an easy way but also experience and study is necessary. A cultivator who wises to train their mind and soul must temper themselves with knowledge and experience. The more you learn and experience, the more stable you will be.'
'Thank you', Fang Shi said before thinking to himself.
It made sense now why his mind hadn't been damaged when he woke up in this new world. In his past life, he had played many games, read many comics and novels, and watched many shows and movies. The topics of all that media was wide ranging from tragedy, comedy, heroic moments, and more. He knew what he had to do, so he opened the shop tab of the system and began moving items into the shopping cart.
'Once the hotel opens, I'll drop a new entertainment package at the same time', Fang Shi thought to himself as he looked over the list of items he picked.