Upon hearing someone enter the door, the staff in the room immediately moved towards the front entrance. However, because the group of buildings directly in front of the door took up so much space, the female sales assistant had to walk around a bit before reaching the door. When she saw Luo Cheng’s appearance, her eyes lit up, and with a full smile, she spoke: “Hello, sir, welcome to Yunhua Portable Houses. Here we have all kinds of styles, models, and functions of portable houses, as well as accompanying products. May I ask what you need?”
Generally speaking, on rest days, some bear children 熊孩子 literally "bear child," is an internet slang that refers to bratty or mischievous kids who cause trouble in public. It’s commonly used online to complain about children who misbehave in restaurants, stores, or public spaces. would follow their parents to the portable house store to casually look around or get things for free. But on workdays, when a single man came in, and with his good looks that could attract attention even without the aura of a cultivator… the saleslady thought, 'Who cares if he buys or not! Just following him around and introducing everything is worth it, ahhh!'
Luo Cheng's looks were very high, so much so that some of his old classmates, coworkers after he started working, and neighbors around his residence would joke and wonder why he didn’t pursue the path of cultivation.
This wasn’t to say that people with high looks would cultivate faster or had some kind of "appearance buff" for cultivation. It was more about the fact that even if his family conditions were average, he could still walk a different cultivation path—an idol cultivator.
An idol cultivator didn’t just refer to becoming a celebrity or an idol in the traditional sense. It also included the rise of internet influencers, live-streaming personalities, and even self-media routes. By relying on good looks to gain a fanbase, one could naturally gain fame across different media platforms, monetize that fame, purchase cultivation resources, and use that to help further their cultivation.
Although the number of idol cultivators who could truly carve out a path through this was very rare, there were still those who had achieved success this way and continued to sustain themselves by gathering fans. Especially since it was said that in other worlds, some great cultivators could even collect faith power this way and advance their cultivation by leaps and bounds!
Therefore, for someone to have such a shortcut yet refuse to take it, choosing instead to abandon the path of cultivation and be an ordinary office worker… well, everyone who knew Luo Cheng was puzzled in their hearts, unable to understand the rebellious, youthful arrogance he once had, and even felt a bit of regret on his behalf.
Luo Cheng didn’t particularly care about the little stars in the enthusiastic saleslady’s eyes. He had no choice—being handsome meant he was used to people looking at him when he went out. Besides, the saleslady was merely appreciating his looks. Compared to a certain incident when Luo Cheng was once approached by a wealthy woman who directly handed him a business card with her private number, subtly implying she wanted to keep him, this was far more polite.
He first glanced around slightly and then noticed that to the left and right of the imperial palace model, there were two other large display stands. One held a miniature of a world-famous cathedral, while the other showcased a miniature of a Buddhist-style architectural complex. His expression froze for a moment before he stuffed his startled heart back into his chest and asked the saleslady, “Can I use a portable house purchase voucher here?”
Hearing this, the saleslady’s eyes lit up. She had originally thought that Luo Cheng might just be browsing today, unsure if he would buy anything. But since he had a purchase voucher, as long as he found a house model he liked, she would definitely close a sale today. And what could be better than admiring a handsome guy? Watching a handsome guy while earning commission at the same time!
“Yes, sir! May I know the level of your purchase voucher?”
Luo Cheng took out his purchase voucher, which had the level marked on the back. His voucher was E-rank, a tier higher than the lowest F-rank, meaning he could probably afford a larger house.
Seeing the voucher in Luo Cheng’s hand, the saleslady beamed and led him further inside in a certain direction. “This room contains all E-rank models. The E-rank portable house comes with selectable packages, including the house itself, a planting room, and a garden. It also has three formation core slots and fifteen external integrated offense-defense setup points. Upon purchase, the house includes a complimentary concealment formation stone and a basic protective formation stone, which can defend against all basic attack-type spell techniques below the Foundation Establishment stage, with a total durability of about one thousand attacks.”
As she spoke, the saleslady gestured toward another area. “Right next door is our Yunhua chain store for formation stones and formation flags. If you wish to upgrade your house’s formation stones, you can visit there later to pick out one that suits you. Also, the two complimentary formation stones can be traded in at that store.”
Of course, the buyback price wouldn’t be anything pleasant.
Luo Cheng nodded. Since he had never considered leaving the city to cultivate, he wasn’t familiar with portable house stores. He had only occasionally seen ads for the latest models popping up online. However, he did pay some attention to protective formation stones, formation flags, and formation talismans.
Even within the city—where spell techniques were common and one might run into a cultivator just walking down the street—ordinary people still did their best to ensure their own safety. Aside from an expired protective talisman left by his irresponsible parents, Luo Cheng only had two Flash Talismans and one Water Shield Talisman in his Qiankun bag. These were all basic emergency-use talismans. Anything more advanced, especially offensive talismans, was simply out of reach for ordinary people.
However, only the Water Shield Talisman had a protective function, and it required active activation. Unfortunately, he had casually left it in his Qiankun bag by his bedside. When that fat bird crashed down the night before, he hadn’t even had the chance to grab it. And even if he had, there was no way that talisman could have withstood the crushing weight of a thousand-jin impact. One jin (斤) is approximately 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs), so a thousand jin (千斤) would be around 500 kg (1100 lbs)
If Luo Cheng wanted to buy talismans, formation stones, formation flags, or anything with offensive effects, he would either need to become a formal cultivator or refine them himself. If he was not a cultivator, he wouldn’t even be able to refine them.
In fact, if Luo Cheng wanted to officially start cultivating, it wouldn’t be very difficult. Both his parents were cultivators, and no matter how much they neglected their family, they could still obtain some basic cultivation techniques. Back when they gave birth to Luo Cheng and left home, they had left behind three books on basic cultivation methods. But they were all the most ordinary, most common ones.
Later, when Luo Cheng grew up and reached the peak of body training, ready to start cultivating, it happened to coincide with the peak of his rebellious phase. Naturally, he never even touched those things.
However, at this moment, he was in no hurry to start cultivating or to buy a large number of items for exploration. The most urgent thing for him was to leave this city first. Since he had already decided to embark on the cultivation path, and that strong sense of impending danger in his heart made his mind automatically imagine a whole scenario where he was being watched.
Even though Luo Cheng himself wondered if he was overthinking things, he still wouldn’t waste any more time. He planned to complete the most pressing matter as soon as possible, leave this place quickly, and head toward his intended destination before thinking about anything else.
After introducing the differences between E-rank portable houses and F-rank ones, the saleslady began operating a 3D virtual machine beside her. “Aside from the models currently displayed in this room, we have many other designs that we couldn’t fit here. Additionally, portable houses can be customized and modified according to your requirements. If you only need a basic model, you can directly choose a style you like.”
These portable houses were just like how people used to buy cars and what was generally advertised to the public were the basic models. But if one wanted to upgrade things like the seat material, the in-car audio system, or the navigation system, there would be additional costs. Not to mention modifications, some experts spent more on modifying a car than on buying one in the first place. Houses were even more so as the places that could be customized were practically endless.
Luo Cheng didn’t have that much time for now, so he first took a look at the styles. Immediately, he was once again dazzled by the overwhelming variety of designs. At the same time, he silently regretted not checking online beforehand. Even just getting a rough idea and setting some expectations would have been good!
While Luo Cheng was bewildered, the saleslady was not. Sometimes, she could accompany a customer selecting a house for an entire day and still not make a sale. Not to mention, she actually wished Luo Cheng would take his time picking.
So, she enthusiastically showcased even the most peculiar and strangely designed houses, making them appear one by one in the virtual display cabinet before him.
These so-called basic model houses were not basic at all. Setting aside the the various styles of European villas, there were already hundreds of styles for the Huaxia-style small buildings and courtyards alone.
However, Luo Cheng’s exchange voucher just happened to be an E-rank one. At this level, portable houses not only included the house itself but also came with a small courtyard. The total area combined reached a full mu "Mu" (亩, mǔ) is a traditional Chinese unit of area.
1 Mu (亩) ≈ 666.7 square meters
1 Mu ≈ 0.0667 hectares
1 Mu ≈ 0.1647 acres
It is commonly used in China to measure farmland, plots of land, and real estate. of land, and just the garden designs alone were enough to make one’s head spin.
Luo Cheng glanced around and even saw a house labeled “Yi Hong Courtyard” 怡紅院 "Yihong Courtyard" is the name of a brothel in Dream of the Red Chamber, one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. In modern contexts, it often implies a brothel or an establishment with questionable moral standing. flash by. He quickly stopped the saleslady from her overenthusiastic recommendations "安利" originally refers to the Amway company, which sells products through direct marketing. Because Amway distributors often aggressively promote their products, Chinese internet users started using "安利" as slang for enthusiastically recommending something—whether it’s a TV show, book, game, or product. and said, “Set some limits. Huaxia-style, with artificial hills, flowers, and trees that can block horizontal lines of sight, and a design that hides attack points relatively well.”
Since he was going to exchange for a residence, he naturally had to choose one that was both comfortable to live in and had effective concealment and protective measures. Even though he still couldn't buy formation flags and formation stones with strong offensive power, he still had to plan ahead. If the placement points for those formation flags were so obvious that people could spot them from afar, then what difference would it make whether he bought this or just slept in the wilderness?
The saleslady’s eyes lit up in realization, and she quickly pulled up a large number of thumbnails, displaying them in front of the two of them. Seeing that some of the buildings clearly had corners resembling a palace, Luo Cheng raised his hand and pointed, "Remove these types."
These red walls and green tiles were way too eye-catching! And the height of those outer walls—while they could block the view of passersby to some extent, if taken to the wilderness, they would instead be too conspicuous and glaring!
After another round of selection, Luo Cheng finally picked a few and enlarged them for closer observation before confirming the exchange for one of them.
The saleslady was both happy and regretful. She hadn’t expected Luo Cheng to make a choice so quickly. As she led him to complete the exchange procedure, she still didn’t forget to continue recommending, "Sir, actually, if you add a bit more money to the card you're using, you can exchange for a higher-grade portable house! The price is much cheaper than buying one directly!"
Luo Cheng walked as he casually asked, "How much more?"
"Only two million!" The saleslady's eyes instantly brightened. "D-grade houses not only come with six basic formation slots, but also a full forty integrated offense-defense…"
This is a meme phrase from Chinese internet culture. The structure "謝邀，+ [reason]" originates from Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A site, similar to Quora), where users often start answers with "謝邀" (thanks for the invitation) before giving their response. It became a humorous way to respond dismissively or sarcastically.
The "沒錢" (no money) part follows a common meme format:
"謝邀，沒錢" = "Thanks for the invite, but I'm broke."
"謝邀，不約" = "Thanks for the invite, but I’m not going."
"謝邀，不考了" = "Thanks for the invite, but I’m not taking the exam."
"謝邀，人在火星" = "Thanks for the invite, but I’m on Mars." 😂 (used to pretend ignorance or detachment)
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