Chereads / A Polymath’s journey to a new world / Chapter 28 - Market Square

Chapter 28 - Market Square

When everyone heard the question the young man asked, most of the crowd from the different factions were befuddled, but Elder Ya Yu of the White Tiger Sect was the first speak angrily, "Who are you? What are you doing here? Do you know who we are?"

Wei Huoran frowned at Ya Yu, "I was under the impression that you all were visiting guests, but if that's not the case, I must inform you that my master has awaken and if you think you can enter the island with that attitude, I must insist you leave."

Ya Yu paused for a moment before smiling, "Trying to bluff this old man, you must be very bold junior. Clear the way, even though you are at the Mid Foundation Establishment stage, don't think your realm compares to mine. I'm a Golden Core cultivator of the White Tiger Sect, a second rate sect of the Nanying continent. We oversee all the sects, guilds, families, and clans of this region."

Huoran took a moment to see that all the guests were inside the boundary of grand array and then calmly looked the the red faced elder, "Elder, I believe you have have forgotten who the master is that has been in secluded cultivation. Even if your sect leader or ancient ancestors were here, they would bow down to him", Huoran pointed a finger at Ya Yu and said, "Suppress."

Ya Yu eyes bulged as his realmed dropped all the back down to a mortal person and fear filled his eyes as his pride had caused him to forget who was rumored to be on the island. He turned to the other White Tiger sect elders and shouted said, "Escape!"

Huoran heard this and immediately said, "Lock." The space around the flying boats shifted slightly and none of the artifacts could move. He continued, "Now I'll ask once again, are you visiting guests or are you invaders?"

Fu Kai quickly answered, "Pardon our rudeness for intruding on your master's land all these years, we, the Mountains and Rivers Sect, would be honored to be guests on the island."

The Tang and Chen family and the Sword Heart sect echoed Fu Kai's sentiment and bowed to Wei Huoran.

Yu Ya's disciple, Shi Peng, stepped forward, "The White Tiger Sect would also be honored be honored to be a guest of the Sage of the island. Could this humble disciple make a request to remove the suppression of my master?"

Huoran simply responded, "Your master has presented himself as a danger to citizens of the island, his suppression will last until he leaves the island."

Shi Peng was upset as others normally complied with his request but endured knowing the power of the backer, "This junior understands."

Wei Huoran smiled now that things were under control, "Now as I said before, Welcome to Sun and Moon island, as this is the name given to us by my master. Since this is your first time, you are required to register at the entrance. Part of this registration is a cultivation evaluation that will be recorded on a card. This card will be valid only for the duration of your stay, once the deadline is reached, the card can no longer be used, and we will alerted of your illegal stay on the island. Your personal information will not be shared or displayed. We only accept sun and moon currently in Market Square. The second step will be a currency exchange, we accept all currencies and will exchange one for one, so if you bring us one hundred gold coins, we will give you one hundred gold sun and moon coins. Here let me make this easier", he pulled out his tablet and activated a holographic display, "as you see here the spirit stones have been processed into spirit coins, but have no worries, a low quality spirit coin has the same amount and quality of Qi as a low quality spirit stone. We do accept materials, resources, and artifacts of ordinary quality to one's of the highest quality and we will pay market prices, no negotiations."

Taking a moment to see if everyone was paying attention, he raised his hand and a drone appeared floating there. He continued, "This artifact has been present the entire time since your arrival. It's undetectable by every measure you could think of and it patrols the sky and seas around here. It does only observe public areas and I guarantee that your privacy will be respected. I am informing you of their existence to impress my next point. Do not fight anyone while inside or attempt to harm, kidnap, or threaten any of the citizens. We will capture you as you have already witnessed our capabilities earlier. We will reserve the right to decide your punishment based on the offense. That concludes my introduction, please move to the registration facility in an orderly manner."

The cultivators slowly landed their flying ships and exited them, leaving them floating at the pier. They made their way to registration offices and after a few hours, everyone was in awe as they held cards made of spirit stone that not only held their information but displayed their meridians chart. This has already stunned many of them when it was explained what this represented. The next stop was just as shocking as the first as they exchanged their currencies and resources for the 'Sun and Moon coins' needed.

A man was standing at a podium as the crowd entered the next room, "Hello, my name is Ding Tao and I'll be your guide today. I will introduce you to many of the unique artifacts and businesses present here that aren't available in the outside world. The first of which is in my hand, the Qphone, this artifact has become essential to life here. The Qphone is powered by ambient Qi energy or special spirit stones to operate and has many functions. It is a communication tool that used to send messages through written or vocal commands", Ding demonstrated both functions to the audience before moving on, "as you witnessed earlier from Boss Wei, the Qphone can display images but it can also take images as well."

Ding Tao pointed the Qphone at himself before a shutter sound was made and then he displayed the image he just took.

"There are other functions as well, there are location arrays inscribed so that you can locate your Qphone should you lose it, a emergency button that will signal your allies if you are danger, a map function that will record your surroundings, a practice function that will display your techniques and methods for easier comprehension, a function to watch videos of battles, and more."

As Ding described the Qphone, the elders and disciples dropped their jaws as they couldn't believe the abilities of such a small artifact.

"Unfortunately, the Qphone will only operate in Sun and Moon island currently as the arrays it needs to operate are only engraved here. So I'm just reminding you now if you buy one at one of our shops that it will become useless once you leave the island. I have heard that Boss Wei is open to sharing this information with others, so maybe one day your faction will be able to support this. The next artifact that is exclusively available here is a car or bike. When you leave here you will see carriages that look like this", and he displayed a holographic image of the vehicles, "the cars and bikes you see displayed here are also powered by Qi and are self driving. Here on the island, driving one of the vehicles requires a lot of testing and certification, so to make it easier for you guests, Boss Wei made what we call taxis. These taxis are very simple to use. After you enter the door or mount the bike, place your Qphone or Identification Card here, speak your destination and pay the fee and the vehicle will deliver you there."

The more Ding spoke, the more the cultivators felt like this was dream. Never had they imagined such things could exist.

Ding let them soak in the information for a moment before continuing, "Now let's cover where you might want to go, first let's talk about the bank. You don't have to open an account at the bank since you are guests but it could make your day easier. The bank holds all the currency for all the citizens, and before you let greed get the better of you, just know that it has one of the highest protection arrays of any building here and you most likely will die before you get close to the vaults. The bank tracks all money entering or leaving it and handles transactions. When you are out shopping, you will regularly see residents use their Qphones to pay for goods and services. This is all accomplished by the bank. Your identification card can also provide this device if you have an account at the bank for the duration of your visit. The next facility to mention is the QR pod cafe, this is the home of the QR Pod, an artifact that mentally takes the user to a virtual realm. Though you don't actually travel, it feels like it. You can hunt beasts, fight each other, fight yourself, and many more activities. Of course you know what a restaurant is, but you should know that we have ingredients up from ordinary to Foundation establishment plants and beasts available and the taste is better than anything you ever had. The resorts have spas, pools, and many more activities to increase your recovery or relaxation. The cultivation center is very special, as you all got evaluated upon entering the city, you can take that evaluation to the center and for a small price, find the optimal cultivation methods and techniques for yourself. And if your doubtful about the recommendations, you can get a special session with the QR pod to try out it. If you're going to stay the night, our hotels have beautiful rooms for those that need to sleep and meditation rooms for those that don't. Anyways, I've talked long enough, a map with locations in the city and their descriptions have been loaded to your card. Please exit the room to the left and enjoy your stay in Market Square."