The morning light illuminated Market Square as groups of disciples, elders, and sect leadership could been seen staring at the buildings, vehicles, signs, and products on display. The pavilions, shops, and stores were filled with quantities of food, weapons, and consumables never thought possible by the guests. Pills of cultivation, antidotes, breakthrough assistance, body cleaning, and others sat on shelves. Weapons, robes, armor, artifacts, and talismans lined the walls and floors and customers would use the lastest cultivation analysis artifacts to test their compatibility with the items in the shop or their own items they had brought with them. Restaurants and food stalls had lines of people waiting to taste their wares, and the cinema had more screens than last time. Stalking Tiger, Concealed Dragon still played in the theater, but it was joined by two new 'movies'. The first was named 'Wushu Hustle', the story of an orphan was traded his last five copper to an drunk old man who gave him a cultivation method. Huoran had obviously been inspired by a movie from his past life, but he didn't wish to copy it completely. It was still a comedy, and overall followed the same story, but Huoran took advantage of having real cultivators as actors and changed the scenery to match the island. The second movie was titled 'Nameless', a story of three assassins and the soldier who killed them. Just like the other movies, Huoran made sure the action was up to this world's standards.
The disciples who purchased QPhones the previous visit had turned it for recycling and received new models as compensation. The new Qphones had all the old apps and a few new ones such as Qmaps, Pavilion (an app for person to person trading or purchases), Path (social media app), Qtube, and Jangle (a discord like app). The new QR pods at the cafe surprised everyone, they weighed less and were more compact, but still offer the same service as before. The same modes were available as before, as well as new modes: Synapses (would increase a user's mental capacity and defense), Musou (a fantasy simulator of a one man army), and Gameroom (contains games chess, go, shogi, and mahjong), as well as the announcement of tournaments for almost every mode as ladder style ranking had been introduced.
Scores of cultivators flocked to the aquarium to experience the majestic view and the richness of water Qi that had rumored to be present there. Many sect brothers invited their junior or senior sisters to witness the spectacle to varying levels of success.
While a few incidents appeared, and were quickly resolved and reported to the sect master or elder, overall everyone respected the rules of the island without issue.
On the evening of the first night, Wei Huoran had invited all the Sect masters and Elders to the 'Golden Dragon' to dine in a large private room. Kong Chun and his elders walked out of the hotel and saw all the other Sect Masters and Elders sitting in the lobby. When they recognized Chun, they all stood and bowed, which he returned. He saw Haung Kang, sect master of the Azure Flame Sect, a third rate sect that exclusively recruits cultivators of the fire element.
"Sect Master Haung, it's a pleasure to see you", Chun said.
"Sect Master Kong, it's my honor to make your acquaintance", Kang responded.
"Has the carriage arrived yet?", Chun asked.
Kang frowned, "I'm not familiar with these horseless carriages and I'm not sure what a 'limousine' is, but I don't believe it's has arrived."
A longer vehicle pulled around to the front door and Wei Huoran exited from the backseat, "My esteemed guests, please enter the car and we will be on our way." The group greeted Huoran, and as the first sect master entered the car door, he stopped for a moment as he was greeted with an interior for grander that any carriage he had ridden previously. A woman behind him began to pat his back, "Sect Master Zhong, why are you blocking the entrance, hurry up and get in so the rest of us can enter too."
Zhong Wuying snapped back to reality, "My apologies, Sect Master Xia", before he found a seat, doing his best to hide his embarrassment and marveling at the comfort of the seats.
Xia Hua was also amazed by the inside of the car, but held herself together so that she didn't obstruct the others behind her. As the sect masters and Wei Huoran loaded into the car, a second car pulled up behind and the elders entered that one. Wei Huoran knocked on the divinding glass window, and the cars began to roll forward.
"Doaist Wei, I must compliment you on the success of this island", Chun told Huoran, "I have never seen anything like this before and it amazes me how you were able to build it."
"I have to thank most of you for part of my success", Huoran said, "about half the citizens currently here were beggars, downtrodden, or slaves that were mortal from the cities of the Xian region. Even if I'm responsible for the bringing my knowledge to a practical level, I couldn't do it all by myself."
The group of sect masters were glad to see his humble attitude, but the car grew quiet and a few of them displayed a look of understanding as it was their cities that Huoran had recruited from.
"How did you find so many mortals with the potential to cultivate in North Wind City?", asked Chen Yuhan.
"I just reached out to people, Patriarch Chen", Huoran replied, "Not because of their potential, there is no foolproof way to measure that. I simply gave them the resources to improve, and then waited to see how they adapted."
"Why would you give resources to mortals though", a tall burly man inquired, "It doesn't seem intelligent or prudent to waste resources on people with no future."
"It's probably common sense to do things the way you have always done", Huoran responded, "But if you realized knowledge that would help yourself, you would hide it. And if that knowledge would help your sect, you only might use it, because in the end everyone is first and foremost, for themselves."
Everyone looked at Huoran as he said this, Xing Jin, the burly man, asked, "What are trying to say, Doaist Wei?"
"Growing up, I once heard a phrase from a mortal that stays with me even now", Huoran decided to use a famous quote from his past life, "If I judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it and everyone else will think it's stupid."
About this time the limousine arrived at the restaurant and employees opened the door and greeted everyone as they exited the car and walked inside.
"Good evening, Boss Wei, welcome to the Golden Dragon", a hostess welcomed them at the reception counter.
"Good evening, I have a reservation for thirty seven, for the Dragon King room overlooking the waterfall", Huoran stated.
"Please come this way", the hostess led the group towards a giant room with several tables inside. The artwork and decorations were very subdued and tasteful dragon art and motifs, and one wall was a giant window overlooking the waterfall and lake. On a different wall the glass tank of an aquarium was present and everyone could view the colorful sea life living and swimming in it.
"The server will be here shortly, so in the mean time place your ID cards or Qphones on the tables to view the menu", the hostess said before she left.
Watching Wei Huoran lay his Qphone down on the table, everyone followed suit and was pleased to see the menu appear in front of them.
"I should let everyone know that not only does the ID cards and Qphones activate the menu, it also lets the chef know what your cultivation level is. The food and drinks here are infused with Qi and we don't want you injuring yourself by overindulging", Huoran informed them.
Kong Chun nodded his head in understanding, "Doaist Wei, I want to speak more about what you said on the way here."
"Of course, what would you liked clarified about my statement", Huoran was curious.
"Why would you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree? It's a fish, wouldn't you judge it based on how fast it could swim?", Chun asked.
"You bring up an excellent point, but I feel you are almost correct", Huoran told Chun, "It's true that swimming would be a better measurement of a fish, but it can't be the only measurement. That swordfish that appeared today is one of the fastest fish in existence, but does that mean it's the only successful fish ever? Let's think about the shark, who isn't as fast as the swordfish, but it's offensive prowess is one of the highest in the ocean. Or perhaps the pufferfish, who is able to defend itself from the other two predators by changing its size and extremely potent toxins. People are the same, just because they don't fit the mold you use, doesn't mean they are trash or unable. It's just us that is lacking in knowledge and experience on how to help a person find their Dao. By now everyone should have heard that the Dao has many branches and I would surmise that most people fail because the don't follow their path, instead the follow someone else's. Let me give you an example, did you know there are artifact and alchemy refinements that can be accomplished using water instead of fire furnaces?", Huoran asked.
"WHAT?", Lin Shi, the owner of the Salamander's Forge Workshop erupted after hearing this, before quickly realizing his fault, "My apology everyone."
Huoran smiled, "Yes, in lessons from my master, he introduced me to these techniques. It made me realize that two people could both follow the Dao of Artifact Refinement but one would use fire and the other water. But if you didn't have the knowledge about this, that potential artifact refiner would never live up to his potential."
Everyone began to contemplate this as the first dishes were delivered to the guests.