Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 113 Technology is also a form of magic
Over the next two weeks, a peculiar building sprang up in the fields next to the estate.

It was built with personnel from Mala Village and funding from the Immortal Alliance, with Chen Xuan leading the design and construction. From the outside, it appears to be two stories high, but the interior is actually only one story. The space is also simply divided, with the locations of the counters, shelves, and entrance predetermined.

That's right, this is the "dedicated teleportation branch" that Chen Xuan came up with.

He had noticed before that the branch stores would automatically change their interior furnishings based on the specific rooms they were assigned to. If the branch store's room structure was exactly the same as the main store's, then its furnishings would also be exactly the same. If the branch store's room type was slightly different, then the furnishings would be adjusted accordingly, but there were still patterns to follow. For example, stairs and sofas tended to appear to the left of the bar, and elevator doors were usually on the right wall, etc.

Therefore, as long as planning is done in advance, the branch can perfectly present the image that Chen Xuan wants.

After the house was completed, Chen Xuan scanned the land deed into the APP, making it one of the options for a branch.

But that wasn't all. To outsiders, it appeared to be a teleportation array built by the Sovereign Sect, the Witches' Gathering Place, and France, using substantial resources. Therefore, after converting it into a branch, Chen Xuan removed all the shelves, chairs, lights, and decorations from the interior, and then used wooden frames and corrugated steel plates to create a passageway, connecting the main entrance and elevator door separately.

Meanwhile, some modifications also need to be made to the main store, such as slightly modifying the second-floor corridor with foam boards to block the doors of other guest rooms.

In short... on the day the trial operation began, hundreds of people gathered in front of the teleportation array.

Xu Yuanqing, the Grand Governor of the Immortal Alliance, was naturally among them.

The fifteen cultivators standing behind him were members of the delegation representing the Immortal Alliance. Moreover, well-informed local sects also dispatched a group of cultivators to respond to the call of the Sovereign Sect—they were genuinely curious to know whether Sect Master Chen truly possessed the ability to send people to the West in an instant.

The remaining twenty people were the visiting delegation from France.

Their month-long stay in Chang'an wasn't entirely wasted; they became somewhat familiar with the officials of the Immortal Alliance. Now, returning to their homeland, they will serve as mediators between the two sides.

Chen Xuan pretended to observe the sky for a moment, then nodded to Xu Yuanqing and said, "The time has come, we can set off now."

After saying that, he walked to the entrance of the branch store and pulled up the roller shutter.

"Only fifty people can be transported at a time. Please enter in order."

Xu Yuanqing walked with him at the front of the group.

"This room is much smaller inside than it looks," he said, looking around with interest. "Is there a reason for arranging it like this?"

To an unsuspecting person, it would seem rather strange that such a spacious door leads to a gradually narrowing passage that ends in a dark room.

"The magic array distorts time and space, so the interior of the house must be built according to certain rules to ensure the safety of the array during operation," Chen Xuan lied.

The dark room at the end of the passageway is, of course, the shop's elevator.

It was more like a room, about thirty square meters in size, and there was no indication of its maximum weight capacity. Chen Xuan only allowed fifty people in at a time, simply because squeezing in too many people would be inelegant.

After everyone had entered, Chen Xuan closed the elevator door and turned on the pre-set spotlights.

In an instant, dozens of colorful rays of light shone down from above, breaking the darkness in the room.

"Hiss..." Many cultivators gasped.

They had never seen such dazzling light and shadow. Compared to the ubiquitous diffuse reflection of candles and torches, this light was so concentrated that it seemed almost tangible, casting patches of light on the walls. A few rays of red and green light, condensed to their extreme, transformed into straight lines that pierced through space, demonstrating to them the essence of light.

Some daring people reached out and tried to touch the lasers. They could interrupt them by slightly blocking them, but the light would continue as soon as they moved their hands away.

"Is this really light?" Xu Yuanqing was also shocked. "Why can I see its path so clearly?"

“Because that’s how light is originally.” Chen Xuan smiled calmly, like a hermit master. “It always travels in a straight line and only deflects when it encounters other substances, such as water. The light emitted by a candle is the same, but it emits countless rays of light in all directions at the same time, which is why it is difficult to detect.”

The monks pondered his words with complex expressions. For a fleeting moment, a picture of light formed in their minds: endless rays of light rushing about like quadrilaterals, scattering in all directions when they hit obstacles, creating shadows behind them; the scattered rays then illuminated objects that were previously unlit, creating reflections; and when the light finally stabilized, a room of alternating light and shadow appeared…

Some people's very Daoist heart trembled for a moment at this scene.

This trembling stemmed from their glimpse of a corner of the truth.

The gazes of the crowd towards Chen Xuan now held even greater respect.

Is this the true essence of the Sovereign Sect?

However, Chen Xuan installed the KTV lights here simply to prevent them from realizing that he was in a special elevator.

He pressed the button to first return the passenger elevator from the branch to the main store, then selected the second floor and had it stop directly at the guest room department.

When the door was opened, the scene that appeared before people's eyes this time was even more mysterious.

They actually saw a shining Milky Way!

Countless stars moved slowly overhead, so close they seemed within reach, with darkness behind them, like an endless universe.

Of course, this effect is achieved by several projectors working together—the aisle is surrounded by painted foam boards, essentially a seamless screen, making it easy to achieve. The downside is that when people walk through the lens, they block part of the image, causing the Milky Way to be reflected on them. However, for someone who has never seen a movie before, this flaw is negligible.

Faced with such a magnificent sight, the cultivators dared not utter a sound.

Chen Xuan's words further deepened their awe of the universe: "This path is called the River of Time. Time is the power of the stars; it can guide us through long distances in a short time, and it can also allow us to traverse long periods of time in a short distance."

"Travel through vast amounts of time?" Xu Yuanqing asked incredulously. "You mean the magic array can not only teleport people thousands of miles away, but also has the effect of making one day here equal to several years outside?"

These words sent chills down everyone's spines.

Nobody wants to leave this place only to find everything changed.

"Perhaps, but the latter is its advanced application, which I haven't mastered yet," Chen Xuan replied.

Xu Yuanqing breathed a slight sigh of relief. "I wonder where Sect Master Chen learned this kind of formation?"

He pointed to the sky but did not answer.

However, everyone understood his answer.

As the saying goes, heavenly secrets cannot be revealed, so Xu Yuanqing did not pursue the matter further.

The corridor was only about ten meters long, and the group quickly entered Joan of Arc's room—the interior was decorated like a bedroom deep within a castle, with towering stone pillars and walls and ridiculously high ceilings, the fireplace crackling brightly. However, after experiencing the "Starry Night Walk," even the most magnificent man-made structures weren't so astonishing. Besides, Chang'an City had many towers, none of which were inferior to the cathedral here in terms of grandeur.

Passing through the back door, there was another low stone house, which, compared to the bedroom we had just seen, was comparable to a savage's hut.

After all, the war in France was urgent, and two weeks was only enough time for the engineers to build a decent-sized bungalow on the front line.

Stepping out of this simple house, you'll find yourself on the Normandy beach.

Looking at the gray-blue sea and the vast, open grasslands around them, the cultivators suddenly realized that it was hard to say whether this was the western end of the continent, but they were definitely no longer in the Central Plains.

(End of this chapter)