Chapter 40 – Forklift Certified Florida Man Worshiped as Immortal
Looking at Wu Buyi's reaction, Ouyang Long snorted in disgust. He shook his head and rebuked him.
"Immortals cannot stay or enter this world, Buyi. Our world is protected by Shang Emperor. The natural laws of this world repel every native immortal. Any immortal from a higher realm trying to enter this world will be instantly killed by the Heavenly Tribulations."
Ouyang Long was a studious type. When he was young, he researched a lot about the immortals and the world's nature.
From his perspective, there was a limit to how strong a cultivator could climb up the ranks. A total of 9 stages separated mortals apart;
Commoners, aka the regular people,
1st stage – Muscle Tempering Stage,
2nd stage – Qi Condensation Stage,
3rd stage – Foundation Establishment Stage,
4th stage – Golden Core Stage,
5th stage – Nascent Soul Stage,
6th stage – Soul Formation Stage,
7th stage – Soul Transformation Stage,
And the 8th stage – Quasi-Immortal Stage.
Only commoners and cultivators with the cultivation stages could live in this mortal world. If one managed to advance to the 9th stage or higher, they would be automatically expelled from this world by the laws. Everybody who had prolonged their stay was killed by the Heavenly Tribulations.
"Err... are you sure?" Wu Buyi doubted if that was the case.
"WE FREAKING LEARNED THIS FROM THE SCHOOL TOGETHER! Dammit, how could you forget about common sense!?"
"But that is not..."
Wu Buyi thought of the abundant immortal grass in Leo's store. He also remembered that he gifted cabbages and bananas to Leo. But when he revisited him, he found golden sand bananas and yin cabbages instead.
Again, Wu Buyi believed that Leo's past actions made a lot of sense if he could transform everything he touched into rare herbs or treasures, such as immortal grass, vegetables, and fruits. He still clearly remembered Leo's expression when he asked for local fruits, vegetables, and seeds.
The alchemist didn't know what to feel. If this theory was true, he would have hit the jackpot as his business partner was a powerhouse expert instead of a soul formation cultivator. But if everything was his delusion, the future trades might be complicated as someone stronger than Ouyang Long might try to rob the store.
Wu Buyi prayed. He wished that Leo was a real immortal.
.
10 minutes later, the airship hovered over the store. Ouyang Long looked down and found three buildings in the forest. Wu Buyi also noticed the two alchemy workshops behind the store for the first time.
As Leo had been clearing the land, many trees were uprooted and piled behind the two workshops. The cleared land spread toward the east stream, which was the only source of water in this area.
Wu Buyi gazed at the cauldrons. Sensing that they were in the middle of making something, he was interested in the content. However, when Wu Buyi recalled the theory that Leo was an immortal, he gulped and prayed hard.
Ouyang Long ordered the ship captain to maintain the altitude. He jumped down from the ship and landed in front of the store. Wu Buyi also quickly followed the guy.
As soon as they landed, the chomper plant monster crawled on the roof and approached them. It smiled at the duo.
"Nom-Nom Meow?"
Wu Buyi ejected a monster carcass and tossed it to Cat in a hurry. He also prostrated to the monster plant.
"Sir Guardian, please tell your master that Wu Buyi has brought a new customer!"
"Meow?"
Cat tilted its head and smiled. As nobody had shown this much respect to it before, it started to like Wu Buyi. Cat extended its vine and patted his head like how Leo always used to. Then, it took the carcass and crawled back to its usual spot.
Meanwhile, Ouyang Long looked at Wu Buyi in disgust.
"I can't believe you've fallen so low, Wu Buyi. Why do you, a nascent soul cultivator, kowtow to a 4th-stage monster? This is unsightly."
Wu Buyi looked up and shushed. He glared into Ouyang Long's eyes, "Mind your words, idiot! Don't provoke it."
Noticing how flustered Wu Buyi was, Ouyang Long gave up on the alchemist. He rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the store building.
Wu Buyi didn't tell Ouyang Long - The growth rate of a plant monster was usually slow. It took a hundred years for them to advance or evolve one minor rank.
However, when Wu Buyi first came to the store, Cat was just a 2nd-stage monster at best. The last time he visited the store, Cat was a 3rd-stage monster, whose strength was on par with golden core cultivators, aka 4th-stage cultivators. But after a few days, it got stronger again.
It might even be stronger than him at the moment!
Although Wu Buyi respected Leo and Cat, Ouyang Long didn't. The latter looked at Cat's branches, vines, and roots.
Cat's luster roots gleamed in white, as bright as white jade. Moreover, it produced the same aura as sacred wood, which repelled all evil energy around the creature.
Behind the chomper plant, a transparent dao spirit of the creature hovered behind its master. It had the appearance of a dark-skinned humanoid infant with long ears.
Only Ouyang Long, who was a soul formation cultivator, could see the spirit. He smirked and muttered to himself.
"A 4th-stage monster manages to realize the Dao? This is a rare specimen indeed. Wu Buyi, help me kill the monster so we can share its monster parts. Its roots are made of sacred woods. They're the best ingredient for making anti-undead weapons!"
Wu Buyi widened his eyes in shock. He yelled at his friend and stood between Ouyang Long and Cat.
"NO! YOU'RE CRAZY! THAT IS DAOIST FLORIDA MAN'S PET!"
Ouyang Long had enough of Wu Buyi's idiocy. He snorted and hit the alchemist with a palm strike.
BOOM
The palm hit the alchemist's chest, sending him flying toward the glass window of the store.
Wu Buyi's back hit the glass window. However, it remained intact. Wu Buyi also sensed something soft supported him, acting as a cushion to prevent injuries.
Then, for the first time, Wu Buyi heard a system voice.
<An employee has been assaulted by a visitor.>
.
.
Leo had been looking at the back door of the store. He pouted and looked at the backdoor.
Previously when Leo transferred the blue stones out, Leo discovered that the bins were a lot bigger than the door frame. Thus, he brought them out by removing the glass windows of the front store and carried them through the window frames. After transporting everything out, he put the glass windows back.
The transportation took a long time, but he managed to bring the unnecessary items out. Still, Leo learned from his mistake – Never bought large stuff while he was inside the store!
Annoyed by the limitation of the doors, Leo unscrewed the hinges and removed the entire backdoor. Then, he started slicing the door frame, expanding its space.
Leo's fingernail extended upon his will. Using his fingernail as a knife, he cut through the wood with ease. After five minutes, Leo tripled the size of the backdoor.
"I should have done this earlier. Man, I wasted my time for nothing."
Leo looked at the wide door and thought of turning the sacred wood blocks into DIY doors and door frames. However, he didn't have sufficient tools for carpentry as modern tools were incapable of cutting through iron pine lumber.
As Leo couldn't leave the wall with a large hole, he stacked some rough iron pine lumber on top of each other, serving as a temporary blockade. Then, he moved on to the backyard.
Leo looked at the bins behind the store. Some of them still contained books, arrows, bolts, and weapons of the assassins. He sighed and pushed them to the back of the alchemy workshops. As there were three mountains of items there, Leo chose to use the empty large bins to store the precious materials, such as iron pine nuts, iron pine leaves, and immortal grass.
When Leo was done, all 30 large bins were full, and the field was clean. He gazed at the grain pill ingredients and deeply sighed.
"I probably can't refine all of you in my lifetime. How many million pills do I have to make to get rid of y'all?"
Leo left the bins behind the workshops. He then entered the alchemy workshop storeroom, which was filled with transparent plastic boxes of blue stones. Containers stacked on top of each other, reaching the ceiling. Every box was full to the brim. The baskets of fruits and vegetables were placed in front of the second workshop as there was no other place for him to store them.
His warehouse was full!
Leo regretted what he did. He lamented that he shouldn't have played with the spatial rings of the fallen cultivators.
While grumbling, Leo looked at the black ring on the middle finger of his left hand, which had been with him for 50,000 years.
"Hey, little alien parasite. Can you become one of those fancy Doraemon rings? I want to store these things inside you. Can you open a pocket dimension for me?"
Leo rubbed the ring. However, the system didn't react to his wish, and it didn't break.
He was disappointed. Still, Leo checked the online shopping system to see if he could buy the feature from the system.
DING
<Such a feature doesn't exist.>
Once again, Leo was hit with the cruel reality. He didn't get the luxury that many main characters in cultivation novels had.
Leo didn't give up - he explored the shop domain system next and stared at one of the building icons.
.
Warehouse
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 4
Price – 500 Years of Lifespan
Space – 5 x 5
.
Leo frowned as the 5x5 meters space might be too small for a warehouse. He wondered if it was worth the investment. Still, even though Leo wanted to build it, he didn't have enough lifespan to afford it.
"Hah. I wish a stupid cultivator visited me at night and attacked my store."
As soon as Leo finished his prayer, he heard a loud noise from the front of the store.
BOOM
In addition, the system gave him an alert.
DING
<One of your employees has been assaulted by a visitor.>
Leo widened his eyes. He looked up and moved his fingers, praying.
"Praise Jesus! God bless Florida."
