Yao! Into the Furnace

Hunt Yaoguai. Come Home and Brew Elixirs. You are a yellow weasel running an elixir shop on Spirit Mountain. A shop needs elixirs. Elixirs need ingredients. The ingredients grow inside the Landscape Scroll—and most of them can run, bite, and have no intention of cooperating. So your daily routine is simple: leap into the painting, beat up little yaoguai, gather ingredients, then haul everything back to Spirit Mountain, toss it into the furnace, stock the shelves, and sell it to the customers lining up outside. [b]Others restock by caravan. You restock by magic treasure.[/b] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Your Magic Treasures Fight on Their Own. They're Better at It Than You. You don't need to chase yaoguai around mashing the attack button. Your magic treasures seek out targets automatically. All you have to do is weave through the horde, group enemies together, and unleash your ultimate at the right moment. Inside the Landscape Scroll, getting hit won't kill you or cost you any loot you've already collected. It only makes the scroll close faster. When time runs out, the scroll spits you—gourd and all—back onto Spirit Mountain. So every trip ends one of two ways: - You bring back a lot - You don't bring back quite enough The yaoguai can never send you home empty-handed. They can only make you bring home a little less. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Genuine Elixirs. No Explanations After Consumption. Bringing home ingredients still only leaves you with ingredients. Queue up recipes at the furnace and wait as elixirs roll one by one into the collection tray. Carry them to the shelves yourself, or hire a helper to do it for you. Customers aren't picky—whatever you stock, they'll buy. Every now and then, a freshly brewed elixir gleams with a rare enchanted radiance, making its suddenly higher price feel entirely reasonable. As for whether customers might sprout something new from their heads after taking one... The effects are real. So are the side effects. The people of Spirit Mountain are a trusting lot. They take their pills, and somehow the line never gets any shorter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Worship the Immortal Who Knows You Best: Yourself The little shrine on Spirit Mountain is dedicated to no established deity. Instead, its statue was carved in your likeness—only taller, grander, and more imposing—with “Seat Reserved for This Great Immortal” already inscribed on the pedestal. You'll need it sooner or later. No harm in setting it up early. Invest your earnings from shopkeeping and adventuring into the shrine, and your future immortal self will lend your present self some power: your magic treasures hit harder, the scroll stays open longer, the furnace burns hotter, and the shop becomes easier to manage. First worship your future self. Then let your future self bless your present self. Cultivation is all about give and take. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can't Win? Go Home and Brew a Few Batches. This is an incremental loop where adventuring and shopkeeping feed into each other: - Beat up yaoguai and bring ingredients home - Brew elixirs, stock the shelves, and sell them for money - Invest your earnings in growth - Take fiercer magic treasures deeper into the scroll You don't have to conquer every challenge in a single run. If you can't reach somewhere this time, sell a few more batches and try again on your next trip. Others cultivate in seclusion; you open for business. Others contemplate the Dao; you work out how to make the furnace run a little faster. All you wanted was to save a shop that had run out of stock. As for why you eventually started thinking about ascension— Once business takes off, even a little yellow weasel is bound to develop a few wildly unrealistic ambitions. Yao! Into the Furnace.