Late at night, in a solitary pavilion above a sea of clouds, the girl Xie Zhiyao turns a little yin-yang golden bell at her waist in her fingers. Ledgers pile up on the wooden table as she frowns in dismay. The immortal sect offers only bland spiritual fruit. She longs for bubble tea and chips from the mortal world, but mortals and immortals are cut off from each other. When spiritual energy from her fingertip touches the bell, a black-and-white rift in space suddenly opens, revealing the lights of a mortal city. The girl’s eyes light up. On her first trip to the mortal world, she finds supermarket shelves full of snacks and brings back chocolate, face masks, and a little cooling fan.
She opens a temporary stall above the sea of clouds, and the immortal sect’s elders rush to buy mortal snacks, paying in heaps of spirit stones. The girl gets the idea to start a trading company.
Others cultivate in pursuit of the Great Way and eternal life. I’d rather become a merchant traveling between two realms. On one side is the bustling mortal world; on the other, the immortal mountains above a sea of clouds. With a trading company in the clouds, I connect mortals and the immortal sect. Rules can be bent, relationships can be cultivated, but the spirit stones have to land in my pocket for me to feel secure. If you need anything, I, Zhiyao, will make sure to get you the best goods.
