Lu Feng woke up to the first rays of the morning sun. After a long refreshing bath, Lu Feng donned a matching set of royal blue robes, along with the perfume he came to like very much over the past few days.
Following a brief session of meditation, Lu Feng decided to explore the system space for selecting items.
'System Space'
Would you like to explore the system space?
'Yes'
Immediately, the familiar scene of a warehouse with endless rows of items manifested.
'If I don't include a few weapons, the fancy elder is sure to puke some blood!'
Remembering the bombastic and willful style of the fancy elder, Lu Feng flew to a row hosting a plethora of swords and sabers. He wanted to select a zhanmadao, a long and powerful single-bladed saber. After looking at a few options, he selected a zhanmadao sword that had an almost ethereal blue glow. Unlike the weapons he took to the Lotus Plaza, there was only a single copy of this particular electric blue zhanmadao.
Lu Feng wasn't overly concerned about this, he had lifted entire mountains of ores and materials of all kinds and had an extensive collection of smithing manuals; he was sure if he so desired he could make an equivalent or better sword.
Browsing through the other weapons, Lu Feng picked a pair of matching daggers, after pondering for a while he picked an extra pair for himself. There were more than a dozen pairs of these daggers, so Lu Feng didn't give it a second thought.
The straight daggers had a narrow blade that had complex inscriptions on the blade. The daggers were made of an unknown material from the void that even escaped the analysis of the system. Lu Feng recalled the fun memory of lifting this lot of daggers from the treasury of the ninth human emperor, who had these made for his sons and daughters, to be gifted at their coming-of-age ceremony.
Even though the daggers had not been enhanced with elemental powers, a peculiar specialty of these daggers was that they had no grade, they could be as powerful or as weak as the cultivator using them.
They had the disadvantage of using up the essence of the cultivator and if controlled with the mind remotely, it also had a high consumption of spirit energy, and this consumption gradually accelerates the longer the daggers are wielded. When used judiciously keeping in mind the consumption of energies, they are some the best weapons one could hope for irrespective of cultivation level.
Flying up to the aisle that hosted defensive items, after spending a good deal of time looking at all the items, Lu Feng picked up a copper medallion. It was a Buddhist defensive treasure that had the same origin as his Immortal Vajra body scripture, they were both from the Apsara world. He managed to lift two of these medallions. With Iris, the AI, taking away one of the two, this was the only specimen left.
The medallion provided very high resistance to spiritual and mental attacks and also reduced the essence and spirit energy consumption when wielding items. This was extremely well suited to be paired with the daggers he just picked up.
After contemplating for a bit, Lu Feng decided to keep the copper medallion for his use and picked a high quality body armor that had high resistance to physical attacks and fire, this paired nicely with the electric blue zhanmadao, which had lightning and ice attributes.
He also selected a few pill Dao scriptures and a few precious berserker and healing pills that were extremely effective and almost had no sequelae, Lu Feng felt these would come in handy when crafting pills for his soon-to-be-established business and the pills would come in handy if he decided to venture into the secret realm that was said to open soon.
'Exit System Space'
Items and Scriptures have varied compatibility and will need to be reforged/recompiled. ETA 108 Hours.
With each type of item and scripture adding twelve hours to the ETA, Lu Feng having a limited number of comprehension orbs saved up, decided to use a familiar trick to speed up the process.
Lu Feng began to meditate and started pondering on the Dao, with scriptures and laws of all kinds from different worlds flashing before his eyes, forming a jumbled knot of threads.
As Lu Feng recalled the intricate details of the items and pill Dao scriptures he selected, the concerned laws and scriptures manifested in his sea of consciousness as part of the jumbled knot.
Experiencing the physical laws and the truth of scriptures in the knot, Lu Feng subconsciously compared and contrasted the same with the experiences of his fleshly body in the world he's in.
As time passed, the knot began to vibrate, and Lu Feng entered a state of epiphany.
Seven hours later, Lu Feng opened his eyes.
The chime of the system sounded in his mind.
Items reforged/recompiled with the aid of the user's state of epiphany. Send the items to your storage ring?
'Yes'
Being in a state of epiphany was no joke, Lu Feng simultaneously felt refreshed and emaciated at the same time. It was mentally quite taxing and only a good feast would cure the condition. At least that's what Lu Feng believed in.
As it was afternoon now, Lu Feng felt the opportunity was ripe to visit the Lotus Plaza and feast on their dime.
Holding the room token, Lu Feng disappeared from his room.
Reappearing in the lobby, Lu Feng began walking towards the exit as he heard someone calling his name.
Turning around, Lu Feng saw a young lady walking towards him.
"Young Master Lu, you had a visitor, he didn't leave a message, but he asked to let you know of his visit."
"Visitor? What's his name?" Lu Feng asked curiously.
"Uh... He said his name was Brother Song," the woman answered with some hesitation.
"I see, he's a friend of mine... Thanks for the reminder, I'll visit him later. Farewell."
'They must've finished gathering the requested items'
Hungry, he set this thought at the back of his mind, hopped on his sword, and rushed towards the Lotus Plaza.
As soon as Lu Feng stepped into the Lotus Plaza, he was quickly spotted by the manager at the front desk.
"Master Lu, how are you today? Elder Zhang informed me that you'll be visiting sometime today," the manager greeted Lu Feng with a cupped fist.
Waving his hand, Lu Feng patted the manager's shoulder. "No need for the formalities, just call me brother Lu. We're of similar age after all. By the way, I didn't catch your name yesterday..."
"My name is Zhang Wei, I'm Elder Zhang's nephew. So Master- I mean brother Lu, shall we go visit them? They've been waiting for you in the appraisal room since early morning."
"Nice to make your acquaintance brother Zhang, yes let's go," Lu Feng was escorted to the appraisal room.
Elder Fu and Elder Zhang were pacing around the room when they heard the door click. Stopping in their tracks, they directed their gaze toward the door expectantly.
As Lu Feng and Zhang Wei stepped in through the door, they saw the faces of the two old men light up with joy.
Elder Fu rushed towards Lu Feng with large strides and grabbed him by the shoulders, "Lad, you've finally come. I've been waiting for you... Come come, take a seat!"
Lu Feng, Zhang Wei, and the two elders were seated at the table.
Not wanting to give the two eager old men a chance to start, Lu Feng quickly spoke, "Seniors, before we get down to business, can we please have lunch, I've gone out of the city overnight to retrieve all the items, I'm quite famished as I had to fly for several hours without pause."
A moment later, Elder Fu banged the table, and ordered Zhang Wei with enthusiasm, "Little Wei, brother Lu is hungry, go arrange a feast, bring our best wine to pair with the dishes. Get it done quickly, go!"
Wondering when and how the 'Lad' and 'youngster' became 'Brother Lu,' Zhang Wei exited the room with hurried steps.
Soon, tray after tray of delicious food and numerous jars of wine that emanated a heavenly fragrance were arranged on the table.
Not finding his manners, Lu Feng quickly dug in without waiting for the two old men.
Braised duck, sweet wild boar, succulent demon ape tenders, braised earth bear paw, water serpent stew.
The food was delicious beyond description and with the dishes containing the meat of cultivating beasts and rare herbs and plants, Lu Feng quickly replenished his Qi and Essence energy.
He followed each bite with a swig of the otherworldly wine, changing the variety every few bites.
Even though Elder Fu and Elder Zhang didn't mind the table manners of the hungry lad, Zhang Wei who witnessed the scene couldn't help but be embarrassed for Lu Feng.
Lu Feng, who didn't mind the looks he got, was finally done with his meal. He left no dish and no wine untasted. He cleaned out a few dishes he really liked, like the braised paw of an earth bear. Nobody else at the table had the opportunity to taste it.
Zhang Wei had the table cleaned and the room tidied.
After suppressing a burp, Lu Feng cupped his fist and apologized, "I'm sorry Seniors, I was extremely tired and hungry with all the flying and digging I had to do."
Elder Fu laughed as he replied, "I understand your predicament, I too get extremely hungry when I fly for a prolonged period. Hope the dishes were to your liking nephew Lu... I hope you don't mind me calling you nephew."
"Not at all, Senior. I'm honored," Lu Feng replied with a smile.
Zhang Wei who was watching the scene unfold was flabbergasted, 'First, it was Master Lu, then it was lad and youngster, then it briefly became brother Lu and now they've finally settled on nephew Lu'
With a sigh, Zhang Wei couldn't help but think, 'If you're wealthy enough, you can become anyone's nephew. And to think it took a decade for Elder Fu to call me little Wei... Unfair, truly unfair.
Zhang Wei's thoughts came to a halt as he saw Lu Feng place a large zhanmadao sword on the table, the brilliant electric blue color of the sword and the ethereal glow it emanated captured everyone's attention.
Lu Feng then took out a full set of black armor.
With a single look, Elder Fu could tell that the sword and armor, Lu Feng took out were true Empyrean grade items. Picking up the zhanmadao sword, Elder began to examine it. Soon, surprise flashed across his eyes. He put down the sword and examined the armor. Shaking his head, Elder Fu sighed.
"What's wrong, Old Fu," Elder Zhang questioned with a look of concern.
Lu Feng who knew what was going on, couldn't help but smirk. With a grin on his face, he asked, "What do you think Senior?"
Elder Fu looked at Old Zhang who sat next to him and then at Lu Feng before speaking, "They're too good!"
