"The devils will arrive by the end of the season", a voice was heard by all sitting in the room.
"Protector Jin, this is before the normal time of their arrival", Tie E stated, "Has the reason for this been confirmed yet?"
"Yes", Jin Tianxuan replied, "Everyone here should have felt the change that recently happened when the spiritual veins suddenly grew in strength."
The other eleven members in room nodded in agreement before Jin Tianxuan spoke again.
"According to Owner Fang, that is what woke the devils from their slumber earlier than usual", he explained.
"I heard the one who made the discovery was injured", Gu Lin Wang probed the human cultivators.
"That's actually the best news of this whole ordeal", Lei Huang laughed, "In the past when the devils came, you spiritual beasts would leave the forests to hide behind the drakes that fancy themselves as dragons. It's normal that you're not familiar what happens when the devils come.
The whole reason this wall was built and manned was because of those monsters, our battles with your kind was caused by your ancestors."
"You humans built a wall across our territory", You Du hissed, "Now you want to act like you're the victims?"
"It's not the time to discuss this", Shui Yan retorted, "Since all of you are here instead of leaving as you usually do, does that mean we can cooperate at some capacity?"
"Don't think we don't know about your sneaky actions", Feng Lei Yu angrily eyed Mei Lihua, "Secretly buying cultivation artifacts for the city behind the wall, and trying to upset the balance between us."
Mei Lihua countered, "It's not like I'm the only to do so, everyone else here as well. Perhaps you thought we didn't know about the secret city you're building in the forest?"
Jin Tianxuan wanted to rest his head in the palm of his hands, "We are getting off track. Like Protector Lei said, we're more optimistic at the moment."
"Why is that?", You Du decided to let the other matters rest.
"When the devils wake, the first thing the do is force their weakest members out", Jin Tianxuan began to lecture, "In past conflicts, even these weak outcasts will kill many of the youngest disciples that help guard the wall. The weakest devils have the same realm as your juvenile spirit beast or Qi Gathering cultivators, but the way they attack is strange. This time was different since the one attacked survived the encounter, though he was severely wounded.
Being able to kill the devil and living to tell the tale is a great accomplishment. Unfortunately, it still means that the rest of them will be here soon."
"If the stray devil was killed, why do you assume the rest as coming?", Yan Wei was confused.
"I heard why from Owner Fang", Xu Ling answered, "According to the senior in the shop, devils can essentially be classified into one of three categories. Even though they look human, it further from the truth. Devils consume what they lack to achieve what they need to get stronger. Some devils are full of vigor so they search for humans, beasts, and plants to absorb the mental energy and Qi from their bodies. The devils located to the northwest have strong minds, meaning that when that one found its way here, it was too late. Once it located us, the first thing it did was send a signal back to the others. The only way to prevent it would have been to find it first, and sneak attack it without it detecting you."
"Wouldn't that be difficult to do if their mental strength is that high?", Gu Lin Wang asked.
"Very difficult", was the only thing Xu Ling could say.
"What is your plan?", Feng Lei Yu had to ask, "And what about Owner Fang?"
"We will guard the wall", Jin Tianxuan, "That is our duty, and we will do so this time just like previous protectors have."
"As far as I've heard, Owner Fang will stay at the pavilion", Mei Lihua added, "I invited him to Tianbao, but he refused. Said that he was perfectly safe where he was."
"I also intend to stay in the pavilion", Qing Yan told the others.
"Elder Qing, it's perfectly safe in our city", Shui Yan tried to persuade him, "Why would you put you and your clan at risk?"
Qing Yan laughed, "I feel that even if all of us here tried to assault the pavilion, it would still stand and we would be the ones to fall. As long as we are customers, I think the senior watching over the pavilion will protect us."
Shui Yan grew red in embarrassment, when she thought it, she also felt the same way after thinking over the elder's words.
"We intend to do that same", You Du admitted, "I were going to issue the order to evacuate to the other mountain, but all the clans and tribes here refused."
"I also wanted to stay in a villa there", Mei Lihua smiled, "When Owner Fang heard about the devils, he added two new games to the cultivation hall."
"What?", a mixture of voices reacted.
"Do you know what these new games are?", Lei Huang inquired.
"Yes", Mei Lihua replied, "The first is called Celestial path, and it's a strange training exercise. You face opponents while exciting music plays, and you have to move along as you fight. I was skeptical at first but I tried it out, and I can testify that your level in movement techniques quickly rise using it. There is pure movement mode, movement and battle mode, and dance mode."
Everyone was interested as Mei Lihua spoke, but when she mentioned the last mode, the room was awkwardly silent.
"Also, the other game is called 'Mirror of the Mind'", Mei Lihua articulated, "Owner Fang said that it is able to strengthen a cultivator's mind, and remove heart demons."
"That's amazing", Xu Ling grinned, "If Owner Fang is correct and these devils specialize in mental strength, we should start playing this game immediately."
Everyone else also quickly agreed, but no one seemed to notice Mei Lihua's face. In two moments, her face displayed two very different emotions as she remembered the horror she endure followed by the pleasure of leading others to experience what she did.
"Then if there is nothing else, let's head over right now", she giggled.
"There's one more thing", Jin Tianxuan said, "If you check your Tianmus, I just got a notice that a new talisman is being sold. It says the new 'Mind Shield' talisman can protect the user from mental attacks. This will be essential for the upcoming battle."
"That greedy old senior is just trying to take advantage of us", Fei Lei Yu complained.
"Then let's finish now and go over", Qing Yan urged the rest of them, "I've been playing Spirit Bound lately to get used to fighting devils. But I want to try these new things now that I heard of them."
Everyone eyes lit up, and Tie E responded, "That's right, devils do show up in that game. Let's go now then."
Everyone left the room they had been in which turned out to be a tent set up in between the wall and the pavilion. Once everyone left, Jin Tianxuan turn his hand over and the tent swiftly disappeared into his a storage ring.
[Congratulations to the Host for advancing to the Foundation Establishment realm
As a gift, check the room were the wall scrolls are hung.]
It had been several days since Fang Shi completed his breakthrough, but it had been hectic dealing with everything that happened afterwards. The surge of Qi, the news of devils, and the preparation to deal with the aftermath had kept him busy.
The new talismans were made, sold, and restocked quickly as the cultivators and spiritual beasts came to understand how it worked. Based off fake tattoos from his past life, these paper talismans would be pressed against the forehead. This would leave marks representing how many mental attacks the talisman would protect against. The cheapest would prevent three attacks while the most expensive would shield against nine.
The new games were also a hit, no, Fang Shi couldn't lie. Celestial steps was popular, but Mirror of the Mind had caused several customers to accuse him of being a demonic merchant. It wasn't until guests felt the benefits of playing the horror game that the accusations stopped, but he had to add a function to the cultivation pod to automatically soundproof the inside when someone was playing it.
Fang Shi also played both games during after hours, but he would never tell a soul what his fears were. To his surprise, the fears that cultivators held were different than what he imagined. They all feared death, but the difference was what caused it. Generally, lower level cultivators feared stronger cultivators or spiritual beasts, mid tier cultivators feared lose of cultivation or the inability to breakthrough, and the highest cultivators feared aging.
As Fang Shi contemplated these things, he arrived to the small room where all the wall scrolls were on display. After scanning the walls, Fang Shi found new scrolls hung up next to the old ones. Three of them were pictures of different buildings that read: Brewery, Distillery, and Winery. Other scrolls included Blacksmith, Glass workshop, and Factory. All of these scrolls had the same benefit, a ten percent increase in the amount of items they produced.
Fang Shi went to the wall scroll for the mine, and he was pleased to see that the upgrade was complete. He saw tiny people walking into and out of the entrance unlike before, so he checked the plaque.
(Mine level 3: The mine will continue to infuse spiritual energy into anything stored inside such as stone, crystal, jade, gems, and more. Host can now designate a mine on land owned by the Heaven & Earth pavilion.)
Fang Shi opened the system panel and navigated to the tab that displayed the two stores owned by him.
"Let's leave Blue Moon city alone", Fang Shi declared, "If I start digging underneath the city, it will be very difficult to explain how a mine appeared under the store."
With a quick swipe of his finger, Fang Shi selected the Tianbao location and looked over it until finding a spot in the back.
[Acknowledged: Mine will be set at this location. The unit still prioritizes the Host's task reward, are there any changes to the priorities?]
"No", Fang Shi confirmed.
[Response: This unit will commence as instructed, Host will be notified upon completion.]
With this done, Fang Shi headed to his personal pod. The events of the other day had brought him a new benefit. The devil that had appeared had heavily injured a cultivator and his crow partner, but they had killed it. When he heard this, Fang Shi had hoped that the devil's corpse would be sold to him, and he luckily got that wish. When the remains of the devil were traded, a new achievement was added to the appropriate tab, [New! Mind over matter].
[New! Mind over matter
Buy a cultivation method for mental cultivation (Completed)
Reward: a personalized mind cultivation method for the host.
Notice: Cultivation method provided will be lower level due to limited knowledge. Acquiring more methods will allow the system to create a better method.]
"I'll accept the reward once I step inside the pod", Fang Shi commanded the system as he walked towards his cultivation room.
Zhong Yunlie stood in front of the gate with other members of Crimson Vault, a mercenary group that was hired to help defend the wall. Crimson Vault consisted of several teams, and Zhong Yunlie's team was the third out of seven. He looked at the other four members of his team: Jian Wuhe the swordsman, Ran Qinyan the flame, Ta Hu the fist, and Qi Lumei the seal.
Normally, Zhong Yunlie didn't participate in battles such as this because his normal job was an artifact refiner. Over a season ago, something happened that caused him to change. A new store had opened in the Evernight forest that offered products of the highest quality to anymore, and their stock seemed almost never ending. As word got around to all the mercenaries in Tianbao, they began to visit to see if the rumors were true. Soon, the first visitors came back with stories that were hard to believe and when Zhong Yunlie heard about the prices of materials and artifacts sold there, he made the trip.
The stories were true, and Zhong Yunlie was in despair because he knew no one would come to buy from him anymore. Just when he thought all hope was lost, he heard of something called 'the virtual realm', and that you could go there to learn a profession from amazing teachers. It didn't take long for him to find the cultivation hall and like everyone else, he learned about the cultivation artifact.
Zhong Yunlie knew that this was the moment that change his life as he used his savings to cultivate the perfect method, and start over learning how to refine artifacts. With his experience he was able to learn and perfect his craft very quickly before the next life changing event took place.
One day, Zhong Yunlie came to the cultivation hall the same as always when something on one of the light screens caught his eye. He normally didn't pay attention to the screens used to advertise different products in the store, but today he saw something he had never seen before, a man in a suit of iron. A few hours later, Zhong Yunlie finally found a goal to strive for. He didn't want to recreate the suit from the movie, but he did want to create his own suit.
Zhong Yunlie's days after that was either him watching the movie again for inspiration, training in the virtual workshop, or with a team earning spirit stones. Thanks to his persistence, he made great strides in refining and today with the other members of team three, he had the chance to show off his results.
"Do you remember how defense was before today?", Zhong Yunlie reminisced about the past.
"Do you?", Ta Hu smirked, "I certainly do, but you were in the forge when the wall had to be defended before."
"I still witnessed it", Zhong Yunlie recalled, "I saw how things went as I delivered weapons to the guards."
"That depended on who was leading the defense", Jian Wuhe responded, "Some protectors would have us fight from behind the wall, but there were those that would throw us out here as fodder."
"It ironic", Ran Qinyan joined the conversation, "That this time we requested to be out here."
The five of them looked to their sides to see the other mercenary teams also in their own smaller groups holding their own discussions.
"I heard that the devil's corpse was sold to the pavilion for a high price", Qi Lumei, "It's no wonder that our team leaders went to the protectors to get permission. I heard our team leader even said that even if it's not given, we would go to the pavilion and protect that place."
Ta Hu got serious, "Zhong Yunlie, Qi Lumei. You two were working in workshops before and this is your first time on the frontline, but I'm not worried. The time spent fighting together in the virtual realm should have prepared you for what's next."
Zhong checked the gauntlets, boots, and helmet he was wearing, "Right, we fight until the higher level devils come. Just make sure to take the bodies, I still need to build the rest of the suit."
Suddenly, the Tianmus of all five made loud sounds and they all quickly checked there communication artifacts. Zhong Yunlie saw two notifications on his device, the first was an alert while the second was images.
"This is it", Ta Hu smashed his fist together, "Make sure your mind shield talismans are applied and remember your training."
Zhong Yunlie pressed a paper talisman against his forehead before lowering the visor of his helmet. He began to circulate his Qi and pour it into the artifacts on his hands, feet, and head. The dark and stuffy helmet changed after he activated it, and his view returned to normal with the exception of a series of floating circles in front of his eye.
Zhong Yunlie looked at several teammates and then the forest in front of them, and the circle would follow his eyes. The circles would focus on a teammate's face, and a light screen would appear displaying information about the target. As he checked the information displayed about the trees in the forest, a shout was heard causing him and all the defenders to focus on a certain point.
A figure walked out the forest with pale skin, long white hair, and wearing white robes. If this was the past, Zhong Yunlie would crazily forging in a workshop behind the wall. He would frightened, and his thoughts would be a mess as he cursed his fate.
"Defend our home!", an unknown voice shouted, and the various teams shouted in response.
Instead of shouting, Zhong Yunlie raise his gauntlets. Sending a command to the artifacts, he could feel as small array plates in them shift to answer his order. The targeting circle in his view changed indicating that he had a clear shot, so he simply stated in a loud, clear manner, "Fire!"