Chapter 924: Preparations (II)

Though the idea for the gala had come on a whim, once it was set in motion, it could no longer be something held just for his teacher alone.

The first group that Chu Liang thought of was the demons.

Ever since Caiyi’s death, the relationship between Mount Shu and the East Sea demons, formerly known as the demons of the Far West, had grown rather complicated.

On one hand, the Demon God was still at Mount Shu, so the demons did not dare cause trouble. On the other hand, they had agreed to send Caiyi to watch over the Demon God, and within days, the great nine-tailed fox was dead. Who wouldn’t be suspicious?

Of course, they would wonder if the humans were trying to go back on their agreement.

The Mount Shu Sect had given several explanations, claiming that Caiyi had plotted to kill Chu Liang and was slain in self-defense. But without solid proof, it was only natural for the East Sea demons to harbor doubts.

That said, Caiyi had not gotten along with the other demon kings to begin with. After she leveraged her role in rescuing the Demon God to elevate herself above even the Great High Priest, the others had grown increasingly resentful. Still, they had kept their complaints to themselves.

And so, her death did not cause widespread outrage, but it did make the relationship between the two sides even more fragile.

By organizing the gala now, Chu Liang hoped the demon race could witness it. Better yet, if a few East Sea demons took the stage and performed, it would present a clear image of unity between the human and demon races.

But if they were invited to Mount Shu for the event, they likely wouldn’t dare to attend. Their first thought would be that the sect had set a trap to wipe out the entire demon race.

To address this, Chu Liang came up with a solution.

He visited the Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals to borrow the Divine Mirror of the Eight Trigrams once again. To be more precise, he went there to rent the Divine Mirror.

With the power of the Divine Mirror of the Eight Trigrams, Chu Liang could project the visual and sounds of the gala performances across the East Sea. By forging a high-grade replica of the mirror, he could broadcast the entire performance in full, allowing the East Sea demons to watch from thousands of miles away.

In truth, if he only needed to show the event to the demons, he wouldn't need to rent the Divine Mirror of the Eight Trigrams. A one-to-one projection could be handled by any decent illusion-type artifact.

However, Chu Liang’s ambition was much greater than that. He wanted to broadcast the gala performances live to all thirty-six major cities of the Yu Dynasty.

That meant crafting thirty-six high-grade replicas of the Divine Mirror of the Eight Trigrams, with each one serving as a receiver for the original’s projection. Combined with the rental fee for the original artifact, the cost would amount to a small fortune.

Nevertheless, that was fine.

This would increase the gala's exposure by dozens, perhaps even hundreds of times. Sponsorship bids would soar in response, and the number of spirit-stone coins in Chu Liang’s pocket would only grow.

The reasoning behind this idea was simple. Red Cotton Peak had already built strong brand loyalty among disciples from the sects in the Divine Nine, the Terrestrial Ten, and other top-tier immortal sects. Whenever they wanted to shop or enjoy themselves, Red Cotton Peak was the first place that came to mind.

However, the much larger groups of lower-tier cultivators and non-mainstream practitioners were far less likely to travel long distances just for leisure. After all, the land of the nine provinces was too big, and the door-to-door delivery provided by the Red Cotton Peak was simply too expensive for them.

This enormous, mostly untapped lower-tier market had only been partially reached by Red Cotton Peak, with most of its influence limited to the Southern Regions. In contrast, the Immortals' Square in the capital city of Yu had used its imperial connections to expand into most of the remaining three regions.

In this regard, Red Cotton Peak was already falling behind.

In response, Chu Liang devised a new strategy.

Broadcasting the gala to the thirty-six major cities was only the first step in Chu Liang’s plan to expand Red Cotton Peak’s reputation. His goal was not just to create a moment of excitement, but to build a lasting image of prestige around the shops at the Red Cotton Peak.

After establishing this image, he intended to open branches of these stores of luxury and prestige in other cities. This would then attract the attention of those non-mainstream cultivators in that area.

The plan followed a clear structure. He would begin by selecting key locations, then link them together to form a network. Over time, this network would expand until it covered the entire lower-tier market.

To the outside world, this project would appear to be a noble cause aimed at promoting harmony between humans and demons. For this reason alone, the Yu Dynasty would have to support Chu Liang's plan. As for the personal motives he had woven into it, those would no longer matter quite as much.

The gala began as a simple way to distract his teacher with the sight of beautiful women, but by the end of the night, Chu Liang had turned it into a plan with real and lasting value.

...

"Do you know what makes a good joke?" Chu Liang clapped his hands. "It's all about the setup and the payoff. As long as you can get people to laugh, there's no need to worry about what is or isn't appropriate. What could be more important than everyone having a good time? If anything happens, I'll take the responsibility. So just go for it."

Once news of the gala spread, the response was even more enthusiastic than Chu Liang had expected. Maybe it was because the world had been so chaotic in recent years. Everyone had been feeling stifled and needed a chance to relax.

The number of submitted performances from various immortal sects reached nearly two hundred. Everyone wanted a chance to appear on stage. Chu Liang had to sift through the entries one by one, selecting the most promising, polishing them where needed, and choosing only the very best for the final lineup.

He had only just finished watching the first performance when yet another dispute broke out.

"Young Hero Chu, didn’t you say that we can say anything as long as it makes people laugh?" The three Wenren brothers from the Sea King Sect stood before him, looking clearly displeased. "Our act was hilarious. Why were we eliminated in the first round?"

Chu Liang spread his hands helplessly as he explained, "Brothers Wenren, I said a few dirty jokes were fine, but not that the entire performance should be nothing but that. Yours went a little too far. Sure, that might be everyday life for you, but this show is being broadcast to millions. There will be children watching. How will they feel if they watch your performance?"

Wenren Mo gave it some thought before answering seriously, "Envious?"

"Yes, even I envy you," Chu Liang muttered as he ushered the three brothers away. "But you still need to cut out all the raunchy material first."

"If we cut it all, there’s nothing left!" Wenren Yan cried out.

"Oh, so you

do

know that?" Chu Liang said, rolling his eyes.

Just as Chu Liang managed to send the Wenren brothers off, Yun Chaoxian came bounding over, his face brimming with excitement.

"Chu Liang! I just had a flash of inspiration. Listen to this. I’m thinking of juicing twelve durians using only my armpits, then using that juice to make boiled fish with pickled vegetables. This would be a performance of martial arts and culinary skills. What do you think? Does it have potential?"

Chu Liang let out a long sigh and gently pulled him aside. "Let’s try not to activate that kind of inspiration too often. Brother Yun, your brilliance is needed elsewhere. Could you help sort out the formation for those one hundred and eight senior brothers of yours first?"

"I don’t want to perform with that bunch of dummies," Yun Chaoxian grumbled. "They can’t even figure out how to line up one hundred and eight people in nine rows, let alone how many go in each row. They’ll ruin my performance."

"You mean your durian-armpit juicing performance?" Chu Liang gave him a long look before sighing again. His voice softened as he continued. "Brother Yun, people like us who were born clever need to show more patience. When we deal with those who aren't as gifted, we should be calm, kind, and gentle. No matter how foolish they seem, we can’t lose our tempers. It's not their fault they were born that way... It's just our misfortune to have been born smart. So we must treat them kindly. Don’t you think so?"

"You’ve got a point." Yun Chaoxian chuckled. "I’ll speak to them the same way you speak to me. After all, I’m the clever one here!"

"Good luck with that," Chu Liang replied. He couldn't say anything else but words of encouragement.

No sooner had he sent Yun Chaoxian on his way than a streak of radiant light crashed down nearby, and Feng Chaoyang landed with a dramatic flourish.

"Hahaha! I’ve finally emerged from closed-door cultivation!" he bellowed. "Chu Liang! I’ve come to challenge you!"

"Challenge?" Chu Liang didn’t even lift his head. "What kind of performance is it? Martial arts? Or comedy?"

"What performance?!" Feng Chaoyang’s eyes darted around in confusion at the mess that had overtaken Red Cotton Peak. Still, he quickly straightened his back and declared with pride, "After several days of arduous closed-door cultivation, I’ve finally comprehended the Great Dao of Ruinous Star and broken through to the seventh realm! I’ve come to challenge you!"

He had come to challenge Chu Liang the moment he advanced to the seventh realm for two reasons. Firstly, Chu Liang had always been his lifelong rival. Secondly, the Great Dao of Ruinous Star was a battle-oriented dao, famed for its overwhelming power and peerless killing intent. Within the same realm, its users were nearly unbeatable.

Now that he had reached the seventh realm, that fierce confidence needed a target. And the first person he wanted to defeat was, naturally, the one who had stood above him all these years—Chu Liang.

With both of them now at the same cultivation level, he believed, without a shadow of doubt, that he was no weaker than any of the top prodigies of his generation.

Whether he won or lost, he was convinced that this would be a duel for the ages—one destined to be recorded in history.

"Oh." Yet Chu Liang didn’t even flinch. He simply nodded.

"Oh?" Feng Chaoyang blinked, visibly startled by that response.

"Go sign up over there," Chu Liang said, gesturing casually. "Get in line. I’ll call you when I have time."

"You..." Feng Chaoyang froze, the words catching in his throat. His brows furrowed as he stepped forward. "Take this seriously. I came here as a seventh-realm cultivator. You are the opponent I value most. I want you to—"

He never got to finish his words.

Before Feng Chaoyang could finish his sentence, Chu Liang had already turned away to speak with someone from South Melody Conservatory about an issue with their choice of musical composition. Only after a few moments did he glance back at Feng Chaoyang.

By then, all of Feng Chaoyang’s momentum had been thrown off. Whatever fighting spirit he had built up was gone.

He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it might be better to come back another day.

Just then, Chu Liang lifted his eyelids lazily, looked up slightly, and gave a small wave. "Come on, then."

"Hmm?" Feng Chaoyang blinked again.

"Didn’t you say you wanted a serious challenge?" Chu Liang replied with the same lazy tone. "Go ahead. Make your move."

Feng Chaoyang looked around. The area was bustling with activity. People were rehearsing skits, dancing, juggling swords, and performing stunts. No one even looked in his direction. It was nothing like the grand, earth-shaking duel he had imagined.

"You’ll regret underestimating me!" he roared, as divine light flashed behind him!

Of course, that divine light did not belong to the power of the Great Dao of Ruinous Star that Feng Chaoyang had just awakened.

It came from Chu Liang.

He had already flashed forward in a streak of lightning and struck Feng Chaoyang squarely in the chest with his palm. The attack carried pure yang lightning, a force so fierce that even Daoist Cangqiu had been unable to endure it. There was no way Feng Chaoyang could withstand something like that.

He didn’t last a second. He was sent flying down the road, landing in a patch of grass more than a hundred zhang away and becoming completely unconscious.

Chu Liang turned back toward the crowd and shouted,"See that?! That’s what happens when you try to jump the queue! And for the last time, anyone who’s been eliminated! Stop coming back to beg me for a second chance!"