The Qin Imperial Capital
The Qin Imperial Capital is the capital of the Qin State. It has been the capital of the Great Qin state for more than 5,000 years since Grand Ancestor founding of the Qin State by First Emperor Taizu. It is the central hub of the Qin Dynasty. Since the ascension of the First Emperor, he has worked hard to govern the country. He not only re-planned and renovated all the cities of the Qin State, but also carried out a major overhaul of the entire capital with the Qin Imperial Palace as the center.
In the nineteenth year of Qin Shi Huang 'First Emperor, Ruan Ji, then the head of the Heavenly Machine Pavilion, set up a divine array called Nine Stars Arching Moon to govern the Qin Imperial Capital. Each star represents a city: Tianpeng Star, Tianrui Star, Tiansong Star, Tianfu Star, Tianqin Star, Tianxin Star, Tianzhu Star, Tianren Star, and Tianyin Star. The imperial palace was situated within this array, surrounded by the nine stars, hence the name Nine Stars Arching Moon.
The Nine Stars Arching Moon also symbolizes the First Emperor's ambition and aspirations. The stars represent all living beings, and the moon represents himself. Surrounded by all living beings, he reigns supreme over the world.
Among the nine stars, Tianpeng Star, Tianrui Star, and Tiansong Star are considered superior cities, and only those with power and influence can enter these three cities.
Tianfu Star, Tianqin Star, and Tianxin Star are medium-sized cities, and only cultivators are allowed to enter these three cities.
Tianzhu Star, Tianren Star, and Tianyin Star are considered lower-class cities. These three cities have no restrictions and are a melting Three Teachings people, but they are mostly inhabited by ordinary people.
Especially at night, the three cities were in complete chaos, with ghostly wails and howls, and screams of agony, and the sounds of fighting rising and falling; by the next day, the streets were filled with the smell of blood.
Therefore, the residents living in these three cities rarely went out at night, and turned a deaf ear to what was happening outside, much like the saying "everyone sweeps the snow in front of their own door and doesn't care about the frost on others' snow."
But this was difficult for Ma Feifei.
Ma Feifei's Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two was automatically matched by the system to a small shop on the corner of Chang'an Street Tianzhu City. This shop was said to have been the property left to him by his petty hoodlum father, and it was a steamed bun shop.
As it turned out, this petty hoodlum wasn't interested in selling steamed buns; instead, he became addicted to eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring. In the end, he was caught and beaten to death on the spot because he couldn't repay his huge debts.
Then the store was confiscated and bought by the system through unknown means, becoming a branch of the Mysterious Bookstore.
Of course, none of that matters. The main point is that this deserted place is deserted at night!
"Hey System Bro, can we go somewhere else?" Ma Feifei squatted down in front of the Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two, looking at the entire Chang'an Street where there wasn't a soul in sight, and said with a wry smile.
It's around 7 PM now. Because it's summer, the sky isn't completely dark yet; you can still see a glimmer of sunset if you look up.
Even so, there wasn't a single person on Chang'an Street!
"Teacher, are we still keeping this shop open?" Chang Kong, also squatting at the entrance of the Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two.
They had been there for almost two hours, during which the teachers had been wandering aimlessly along Chang'an Street, claiming they were familiarizing themselves with the area. It wasn't until half an hour ago, when all the pedestrians on Chang'an Street suddenly disappeared, that they rushed back to open the shop.
But where would anyone be at this hour?
However, Chang Kong was still quite surprised that Ma Feifei had suddenly brought him to the Qin State and even opened a Mysterious Bookstore Qin State; especially the door leading to the main store and the second store, the god-level spatial teleportation array, which filled this Ninth-tier formation master with awe.
Because such a spatial teleportation array, capable of precisely transporting people tens of thousands of miles away, has not been seen on the Azure Dragon Continent for many years; even the few spatial teleportation arrays that still exist today are not used by anyone, because those coordinates have long since deviated from their original orbits, and whether one can come out after entering is a question, the risk is too great; moreover, no one knows how to repair god-level arrays, so spatial teleportation arrays have not been used since then; let alone a precise fixed-point teleportation like the Mysterious Bookstore, it is not only the first time Chang Kong has seen it, but also the first time he has experienced it.
"Of course we'll open. Go turn on the lights and we'll be open for business," Ma Feifei said, scanning the entire Chang'an Street.
Now that we're here, the store is definitely going to open. This is the first time the Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two is open for business, and Ma Feifei has been preparing for it for a long time. He's determined to make it a great success.
Like the main store, the second store is pitch black at 5 p. m., and the Lotus Lantern must be lit to operate normally; however, because they had been learning about the situation in Tianzhu City, they were not in a hurry to light the Lotus Lantern.
"Okay!" Chang Kong responded to Ma Feifei's instructions and excitedly ran into the Bookstore. After becoming the Lantern Holder, the method of manipulating the Lotus Lantern had been transmitted to his mind through the Lotus Lantern; it contained not only the method of lighting the Lotus Lantern, but also some incantations to activate Lotus Lantern.
'Buzz'
A soft sound came from inside the Bookstore. Ma Feifei felt a bright light beneath her feet, and her shadow was lengthened. She subconsciously turned around and looked at the Bookstore, and found that a Little Fire was emerging from the flawless white mouth of the Lotus Lantern in Chang Kong's hand. This Little Fire illuminated the entire Bookstore.
'Ding! The Lotus Lantern has been detected lit at the Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two. The Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two has activated the "Reading by Lamplight" mode. In this mode, the difficulty of comprehending all books is reduced by 20%. The Lotus Lantern's inherent effects are activated: it increases the reader's reading Wuneng by 20% and improves the host's copying ability by 20%.'
'Ding! The Lotus Lantern is lit and is consuming its Spirit Crystal. (Note: It has been running for one minute and is consuming one thousand Spirit Crystal.)'
"Chang Kong, quick, quick, turn off the lights..." Ma Feifei exclaimed in alarm, turning around and running into the Bookstore while shouting.
"Huh?" Chang Kong was engrossed in studying the Lotus Lantern when he suddenly saw the shopkeeper running over in a panic, looking completely bewildered.
"Puff puff puff puff"
"Puff puff puff," Ma Feifei pouted and blew on the Little Fire with both hands in a trumpet shape.
"Ptooey!" The Little Fire still wouldn't go out. Ma Feifei wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, then fanned the Little Fire with his hand, jumping up and down in frustration, shouting, "What the hell are you yelling at? Hurry up and put out this fire! It costs thousands of Spirit Crystal every minute, who the hell can afford to light it?"
"Oh," Chang Kong didn't understand why Ma Feifei had told him to light the Lotus Lantern and then extinguish it, but he still obeyed the order, activated the magic incantation, and extinguished the Lotus Lantern, plunging the Bookstore into darkness.
Unlike the outside, the darkness inside the Bookstore is so great that even cultivators cannot see clearly, no matter how high their cultivation level.
"Teacher..." Chang Kong's voice rang out in the darkness.
"Hmm..." Ma Feifei responded in a completely emotionless voice.
"What do we do now?" Chang Kong asked in a low voice, sensing that his teacher seemed a little unhappy.
I want to be alone.
Chang Kong looked completely bewildered. "Who is Jingjing?"
Ma Feifei groped his way to the Bookstore entrance in the dark, relying on his memory. He plopped down on the steps and took out his spatial bag to peek inside.
"Heh... Three minutes, three thousand Spirit Crystal." Ma Feifei looked at the spatial bag and sneered.
Ma Feifei felt that the system was simply obsessed with money. At a rate of 1,000 Spirit Crystal per minute, that would be 60,000 Spirit Crystal per hour. Ma Feifei opened the shop for ten hours, he would have to pay about 600,000 Spirit Crystal to light the Lotus Lantern.
Even robbery doesn't bring in money this quickly, does it?
This time, the system seemed to sense Ma Feifei's Grudge and proactively sent a notification.
'Ding! Host, your nighttime business operations are considered private and the system will not charge you any fees. The Lotus Lantern is Eternal-grade god artifact; lighting it requires Spirit Crystal. Since you are using the Lotus Lantern for personal purposes, this cost must be borne by you alone.'