Chapter 77: Boss Fang Is a Rule-Abiding Person

"Ah—! Why is it closing again?!"

"We haven't even had our fill of watching yet!"

The crowd was right in the middle of a thrilling spectacle, never expecting the shop would shut its doors so soon!

Instantly, a chorus of wails and groans erupted!

Watching Fang Qi wave goodbye to everyone from inside the shop as he closed the doors, An Cheng let out a loud cry: "This young master feels like smashing the shop doors down!"

"Be my guest!" Ouyang Cheng laughed heartily, making a grand gesture of stepping aside to yield the way.

An Cheng's face twitched immediately: "Forget it, I'll come tomorrow!"

"Miss Nalan, that was so unsatisfying to watch..." Lanyan complained as they walked away, "Confounded boss, closing up! Closing up! All he knows how to do all day is close up!"

"Mm." Nalan Mingwen nodded, "How about we come earlier tomorrow."

"Riding the sword on the wind I come, to banish demons between heaven and earth; with wine I rejoice in carefree bliss, without wine I am mad all the same.

With one gulp I drain the rivers, with another I swallow the sun and moon; drunk after a thousand cups I do not fall, for I am none other than the Wine Sword Immortal!"

Outside the internet cafe, someone was mimicking the mannerisms of the Wine Sword Immortal, swaying their head and chanting the verses, looking every bit like a transcendent immortal master.

"Incredible!"

Stepping out of the internet cafe, even though it was already closed, Song Qingfeng and the others still could not suppress the excitement surging in their hearts, shouting aloud.

"Just who on earth is this Wine Sword Immortal? How can he be so terrifyingly powerful?!" On the way back, the group could not help but discuss it among themselves.

"Why wouldn't the boss let us keep watching!" Lin Shao swung his fist fiercely, "Flying through the sky on a sword! That's just too exhilarating!"

Xu Luo said: "Tomorrow we'll try it ourselves! Didn't Li Xiaoyao manage to fly in his dream right at the start?!"

Almost everyone left the internet cafe at this exact moment—evicted, of course.

Consequently, the street outside the internet cafe was bustling with unprecedented noise and excitement!

Shen Qingqing, possessing a gentler temperament, tried to steer the conversation away from the frustrating topic: "Tomorrow, shall we all learn the Sword Control Technique together? Once we learn it, we can go out and fly together!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Lanyan also cried out with rare cheerfulness, "When everyone has mastered it, we'll fly out of the city together on our swords!"

"Count us in too!" Ye Xiaoye hurriedly bounded forward to join the excitement; with her cultivation level, she could not even steer a Dharma vessel with ease, let alone fly on a sword, which was far more elegant and free than piloting a clumsy vessel!

"And me!"

"Count me in as well!"

...

Naturally, where there was joy, there was also worry; for instance, An Cheng noted: "If this continues, won't it be incredibly dangerous for us cultivators if we cross paths with warriors who know the Sword Control Technique?!"

"That's hard to say." An Huwei shook his head, "Even if a warrior can control a sword with their qi, the act of flying relies on a meticulous command over one's own power. If they cannot achieve that, flying around makes them a sitting duck far more than staying on the ground!"

"Furthermore, when it comes to the Sword Control Technique, we cultivators will absolutely perform better than warriors! For us, flying in the future means we can utilize the defenses of a Dharma vessel, yet the moment danger strikes, we can abandon the relatively clumsy vessel at any time while retaining full combat capability. This is nothing short of excellent news!" An Huwei possessed this confidence; from the moment they began their cultivation, cultivators spent every waking moment mastering the precise control of spiritual energy, something no warrior could ever hope to match!

"Senior An makes perfect sense." The eyes of Ouyang Cheng and the other juniors lit up brightly upon hearing this.

"Then wouldn't we...?" The youths exchanged glances, "Tomorrow, let's all come early to learn the Sword Control Technique!"

"Count the few of us in too!" An Cheng and his companions raised their hands high, shouting toward Song Qingfeng's group.

"But... Boss Fang won't open the doors until eight o'clock tomorrow, right?" someone immediately complained, "We have to wait another eight hours..."

"Can we think of a way to make Boss Fang open up earlier?"

As the crowd walked away, they began to scheme and deliberate.

...

This was destined to be a sleepless night.

Thus, Song Qingfeng and the others, who had long grown accustomed to the eight o'clock opening time, arrived before the internet cafe doors just after five o'clock this morning, when the sky was barely dawning, all wearing heavy dark circles under their eyes.

"At a time like this..." Lin Shao looked gloomily at the tightly shut shop doors, "Did we really need to come this early?"

Shen Qingqing let out a yawn as she walked over from the corner of the street, freezing in her tracks the moment she spotted Song Qingfeng and the others: "How are you all so early too!"

Even though they had agreed to come early, this was simply absurdly early!

"How could we not be early? We couldn't sleep!" Song Qingfeng complained.

The mere thought of mastering the Sword Control Technique and soon soaring through the heavens and plunging into the earth made it impossible for anyone to sleep a wink.

An Huwei, An Cheng, and their companions also arrived exceptionally early today, earlier than they ever had before!

"We came this early, but will the boss even open the door?" An Cheng walked ahead with an air of doubt, "If he doesn't open up, won't our trip be in vain?"

Before the words could fully leave his mouth, he saw that a massive crowd of players had already gathered around the main entrance.

"..." The faces of An Cheng and his companions twitched, "How are you all so early?!"

"To enter the Legend of the Sword and Fairy and learn the Sword Control Technique, of course!" Song Qingfeng replied, "Didn't we agree to come early."

An Cheng had originally thought he was early enough: "...Who knew that your idea of 'early' meant this hour?"

"The problem is, how do we get in now?" Ouyang Cheng pointed at the tightly shut doors of the internet cafe.

"At this hour, the probability of the boss opening the door is practically zero." Nalan Mingwen had also arrived early, offering her analysis in a cool, detached tone.

"Then why did you come?!"

"Can we not just wake the boss up to open the doors?" Nalan Mingwen spoke up.

"..."

If it were past seven o'clock, it might still be acceptable.

Waking someone up at five in the morning to open shop...?!

Everyone's faces darkened a shade.

The thought alone left them feeling rather anxious.

"Perhaps everyone has a better alternative?" Nalan Mingwen inquired.

Everyone immediately shook their heads.

"Do we... really have to shout?" Song Qingfeng felt a wave of apprehension; it was barely past five!

"If you don't shout, are you going to stand here and wait for two hours?" Enduring the freezing dawn wind, Lin Shao rubbed his arms.

Everyone's face twitched in unison.

Standing here for over two hours to swallow the bitter northwest wind versus shouting at the door; between the two choices, anyone could deduce the answer without thinking.

"Who's going to shout?" The crowd looked at one another.

"Together, of course!" Lanyan drew a spherical Dharma artifact riddled with hollow perforations from her robes, "This pearl is called the Sound Transmission Pearl. It can gather our voices and focus the transmission right to the vicinity of Boss Fang's room..."

The crowd's faces twitched violently: "Is it really alright for us to do this?"

"What's wrong with it?" An Cheng suddenly laughed, "Such an excellent suggestion! We aren't violating the internet cafe's rules in the slightest! Could the boss actually ban us forever?"

Ouyang Cheng's eyes similarly lit up upon hearing this: "This boss has many merits, but his best trait is his adherence to the rules! Since we aren't breaking any rules by causing trouble inside the internet cafe, what can he possibly do to us?"

"That seems to be true...?!" Light dawned upon everyone at once!

The sky was just beginning to brighten when Fang Qi was sleeping in a daze.

Suddenly, wave after wave of thunderous roaring erupted, startling Fang Qi so violently that he vaulted straight out of his bed.

Immediately following, a chorus of voices bellowed in unison like a crashing thunderclap: "Boss Fang! Get up and open the shop!"

Fang Qi very nearly tumbled right off his mattress!

"What the hell?! What on earth is going on?!" Wearing only his pajamas and bearing a face as dark as charcoal, he flung the window open and peered down, finding a massive crowd already gathered below. Hovering before them was a bizarre, floating orb; though the group was clearly shouting from the ground floor, their voices exploded right beside his ears on the second. The last remnants of Fang Qi’s drowsiness vanished in an instant!

Glancing up at the pitch-black sky outside, he checked the time—half past five in the morning!

"Holy crap!"

He felt an overwhelming urge to curse someone out on the spot!

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I wonder if any of you remember the days when internet cafes were first becoming popular, when the owner hadn't opened up early in the morning for some reason, and you actually tried to shout for them to wake up and open the doors?

Rest assured, everyone, you won't get beaten up by the boss.

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