23 Chapter 23

Although Tieying stood here with great courage and awareness, it was still very discouraging to be left alone in the corner for most of the day without anyone paying attention to him.

She stood alone in the corner of the polling station, staring blankly at the ants on the ground, secretly thanking herself for not telling her parents about this, otherwise it would have been even more awkward if they had come along too...

Just as she was standing there with her mind full of racing, suddenly a huge shadow was cast in front of her, blocking the sunlight above her head. She subconsciously looked up and saw a tall and muscular man standing in front of her.

The muscular man was different from the other Taoist priests with fluttering robes and an ethereal look. His nearly two-meter height made him look like a small mountain. He wore a tight short vest that revealed his sturdy arms. The tough bearded man had a shiny bald head. He carried a large box on his shoulders like a small pillow.

Tieying couldn't help but take a cautious step back: ...

Even if you don't like it, you wouldn't be so angry as to run over and hit someone, right?

She clutched the hem of her clothes to give herself courage, and said unsurely, "Sir, what can I do for you?"

"Sister Tieying! I'm here to support you!" The burly man put the suitcase on his shoulder down on the ground with a thud and casually pulled out a magazine. His large, fan-like hands carefully grasped the thin paper and said, "I thought if we voted together, we could get it done faster. This paper is too thin and it will break if I tear it!"

I never expected that Tieying would unfold like this: ...

After a moment of silence, she clutched her chest, looked around, then leaned forward and lowered her voice, "Brother, this book is incredibly expensive, and you have to pay for it with spirit stones! How about you just vote for me as a token of your appreciation? If I don't get elected after spending so many spirit stones, wouldn't it all be wasted?"

Heng Wenjun, who was standing at the back, hesitating whether to come and help: ...

To some extent, you two are really a perfect match. No wonder Hong Bao chose you among so many contestants.

"No! No, big sister!" Hong Bao carried out the magazines one by one: "With me here, you will definitely be selected!" After moving all the magazines, the pile was as high as a person. He pointed to the magazine stand behind him and said: "If it's not enough, go buy more. I can afford this little bit!"

The sect that Hong Bao belongs to, "Fulong Pavilion", is a sect of physical cultivation near the Infinite Sea. There are countless sea monsters in the Infinite Sea that are in high demand. The physical cultivators have nothing to do so they go to the sea to "cultivate their bodies". As long as they are strong, they will basically never lack money.

"This... why don't we just forget it, big brother?" Tieying hesitated but waved her hand. She pointed to the fiercely contested ballot box over there and said, "Look at that one, it's packed with people. Even for you, it wouldn't be easy to squeeze in, right? Not to mention you're holding so many votes. You might even get beaten up!"

It was a huge melee at the ballot box, with fans of different contestants forming cliques and fighting each other. The female practitioners of the Hehuan Sect stood there as if it had nothing to do with them, and it seemed that they didn't bother to care unless someone died.

Anyway, cultivators are very tough and won’t die in a stampede. Let them do whatever they want. What does a fight between cultivators have to do with our Hehuan Sect?

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Heng Wenjun, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up: "Brother Hong Bao, Miss Tieying is right. Although you are tall and strong, as the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands. The monks who voted over there are all forming cliques. If you rely on yourself, I'm afraid..."

Hong Bao stood up and estimated the size and number of the crowd. He probably felt that it would be difficult to squeeze in by himself, so he took out the sound transmission talisman.

"The east side of Linglong Tower in Nevernight City is in urgent need of help. Paid. Come quickly!"

Ning Shu had no idea how chaotic the polling station was going to be. She just happily showed off the account book in her hand to Zi Xiao: "How is it? There's nothing to say now, right?"

The magazine's sales have been soaring in recent days, and they have turned losses into profits in just a few days, successfully overcoming the economic crisis on their own.

Zi Xiao was completely convinced by Ning Shu's operation this time. He took the account book and gave a thumbs-up. "I didn't expect your trick to be so effective. I heard that not only is it profitable, but the disciples' cultivation has also improved a lot. The sect leader said that the number of love threads is also increasing. How did you do it?"

"I really didn't do this on purpose. If I had to, it's probably just a side effect of this marketing campaign." Ning Shu leaned back in the rocking chair and shrugged, closing her eyes comfortably in the rocking rhythm.

"When humans work tirelessly towards a goal, they unconsciously invest increasingly intense emotions. Perhaps those monks became more and more devoted as they scrambled for votes. You probably understand these little tricks better than I do."

"Understanding the principles is one thing, but applying them specifically is another." Zi Xiao leaned towards Ning Shu and spoke with a hint of temptation:

"You're so talented, why don't you consider romancing a handsome monk? It would be a real pleasure, you won't regret it~"

"Ahem! I won't do something that's doomed to fail! The water level in our Acacia Lake is already high enough!" Ning Shu coughed lightly and quickly changed the subject: "Besides, I'm busy! It should be almost a month now, so we have to hurry and start preparing for the official talent show!"

"Hey, you're really unromantic~" Zixiao teased her, then turned to business: "You're more worried about the broadcast of the program right now, right? Since we have enough funds now, do you want to buy a few more large Spirit Shadow Stones?"

After gaining experience from the previous auditions, Ning Shu decided to add more viewing spots in the City That Never Sleeps during the official auditions. After all, the talent show only has one episode a week, and it can't be played repeatedly outside like the auditions. One more viewing spot can attract more people, and the space of the Hehuan Sect is indeed too small.

"Such a large piece of Spirit Shadow Stone is hard to come by, and it's not right to always ask for such a high price." Ning Shu shook his head and rejected the proposal, frowning and thinking:

"We need a sustainable broadcasting method. Considering that our Hehuan Sect's business will definitely not be limited to the City That Never Sleeps in the future, this method should ideally be able to ignore distance and number restrictions, while also being affordable... My knowledge of the cultivation world is limited, and I still haven't come up with a good idea."

"It does seem like this is going to be difficult..." Zixiao tapped her chin lightly with her nails, which were stained with cardamom rouge. After frowning and thinking for a moment, she said thoughtfully, "I do have some ideas, but I can't say whether they will really work."

Hearing that the problem that had troubled him for half a month actually had an answer, Ning Shu jumped up from his rocking chair and said, "Tell me about it! Let's try it first and see if it works!"

So Zixiao lightly tapped his heart with his right index finger, and when he showed it to Ning Shu, a thin golden thread immediately wrapped around his index finger, and the other end extended into the sky towards the direction of the sacred tree.

"Young Sect Master, you are aware that the love network of our Hehuan Sect can transmit information to other members of the sect regardless of distance and number, right?"

Zi Xiao didn't say this out loud, but it was transmitted directly into Ning Shu's mind through the connection of the love network. She looked in the direction of the golden thread:

"The essence of this sound transmission spell is that I transmit information to the sacred tree through the connection of love, and the sacred tree transmits the information to you through the connection of love. However, because this transmission method is very fast, it gives the disciples the illusion that they can communicate directly with each other."

Ning Shu didn't understand why Zi Xiao suddenly brought this up, but she still cooperated and used the love network to send a message: "I know, my mother told me about it when I was a child, why are you talking about this?"

"What if I say that love can convey more than just conversation?"

"Really? Why didn't I know that?" Ning Shu exclaimed in surprise, "And I tried it when I was a kid. Aside from a few short messages, there's no way a love network can convey anything else!"

Ning Shu, who had just traveled through time a few years ago, quickly realized that the sacred tree of the Hehuan Sect seemed very much like a server or switch in the cultivation version. She had racked her brains to try to transmit pictures and images, but after failing many times, she finally gave up the idea with hatred.

Now, after all these years, is it really possible? Why didn’t we use the convenient “Internet” earlier?

Zixiao stood up with a headache. "Although it can transmit other things, it's very troublesome... I can't explain the details. Anyway, I'll show you."

So Zixiao took Ning Shu and flew directly to Fangzhizhou where the outer disciples were. Hearing that the competition was imminent, Liu Pianpian and other contestants were honing their skills intensively in the training room. Only after hearing the news that the young sect leader and Elder Zixiao were coming did they all poke their heads out of their respective compartments.

"Young Sect Master, Elder Zixiao, you are here? Is the selection competition about to begin?" The first person to greet them was Shangguan Huaijin, dressed in white gauze. Ever since her last blessing in disguise and her cultivation level greatly increased, she now looks much more lively and no longer has the bitter and vengeful look she had before. She even treated her fellow sisters in the sect much more friendly.

The other disciples who came out one after another also had solemn expressions, holding their breath and staring nervously at Ning Shu's every move.

"The competition won't start for another week, and the format and content won't be announced until then." Ning Shu encouraged the contestants with a smile, then turned to look at Zixiao beside her and got straight to the point: "Sister Zixiao, what are you going to demonstrate to me? Let's get started right away!"

Zixiao nodded happily, turned around and asked everyone to summon out all the love threads in their bodies, because this was one of the basic life-saving spells that all disciples must learn when they start learning. So all the disciples present, regardless of their level of cultivation, condensed a golden silk thread in their palms, and the thin threads crisscrossed each other and extended into the sky. From a distance, it looked like a dense spider web.

Zixiao also gathered her silk thread in her palm, and with a light flick of her finger, hooked the tail end in the center of the golden silk net. Then she pinched her fingers and flew up and down around the silk net in the sky for a while. Finally, she stopped in mid-air and pointed lightly at the center of the net. Suddenly, every node of the spider web became shining with golden light. Ning Shu, who was standing aside and observing, seemed to have sensed something. She condensed her own love thread and placed it in her palm, and sure enough, a colorful picture was transmitted over.

The picture shows an endless grassland, with emerald green grass and the blue sky connected into one. Several horses are galloping towards the setting sun in the horizon. Ning Shu, who was born in a water town, has never seen such a vast scenery.

"How is it? Nice view, right?" Zixiao, who had already flown back to her side, raised his eyebrows slightly. "I've been wanting to show you guys for a long time, and I finally got this chance."

Ning Shu looked at the picture in her hand, which could be freely resized, with a look of amazement on her face. After playing with it for a while, she finally raised her head with bright eyes and asked, "How did you do that?"

"To put it simply, a person's emotional threads can only carry a limited amount of information. To convey a picture, at least forty emotional threads must be gathered to form a magic circle. However, this is too troublesome, so almost no one has done it so far."

If there is any information to be exchanged, direct verbal communication is already very convenient. There is no need to make a fuss over a picture.

This might be the difference between dial-up and 2G internet. Ning Shu made an analogy in his mind: "Since it is possible to transmit pictures, theoretically speaking, as long as enough love threads are condensed, can it also transmit real-time images like the Spirit Shadow Stone?"

"In theory, it's possible." Zixiao nodded in affirmation, "But no one has ever done this before, so it's hard to say whether it will work."

It seems that I have to find a way to upgrade the 2G network to 4G. I don’t know if the sacred tree server at home can handle it. Ning Shu touched his chin and fell into deep thought.