46 Chapter 46

The Hehuan Forum built by Ning Shu and the sect leader became very popular as soon as it was launched. Many disciples and even elders were addicted to this novel way of communication.

Now the forum has absorbed some of the disciples' feedback and after several rounds of upgrades and revisions, it is divided into four major sections: "Sect Affairs", "Emotional World", "Seeking Immortality and Asking for the Way", and "Miscellaneous Chats". The disciples of the Hehuan Sect chat freely in it and even created a ranking of "Lovers' Red and Black List", which amazed Ning Shu.

It seems that human creativity is truly amazing; it just depends on whether there are channels for it to be utilized.

Just two days ago, Ning Shu worked overtime with her mother to develop the function of sending pictures. Today, she happened to have nothing to do, so she opened the forum to see if everyone was used to using the picture function.

#I found an unfamiliar magical herb in a secret place. Does anyone know what it is? #

#I found a handsome man! I took a picture of him for everyone to feast their eyes~#

#The fruit tea in the city that never sleeps is so delicious. I came here to drink it with my little sister again! #

Ning Shu leaned on the couch and lazily clicked on the pictures one by one. After making sure that the picture pixels were clear, she felt more and more satisfied. After giving a thumbs up to the handsome boy, she clicked on the check-in post of her and her bestie going for afternoon tea.

"Huh?" She shuddered and sat up immediately.

In the photo of that sister, even the pattern on the teacup is clearly visible, and the details are not blurred even if you click and enlarge it several times. The two beauties are leaning against each other with sweet smiles, and even the sunlight outside the window has a thick filter texture.

It is not at the same level as the previous two pictures. If I have to say it, it is the difference between 720P and 2K HD.

Everyone uses the Spirit Stone to shoot, why are you showing off so much?

Ning Shu swiped down a few times, and sure enough, someone below asked why her picture was so clear.

"Eh? Don't you know? Recently, a special kind of spirit stone is being sold near the commercial street of the City That Never Sleeps. It can record pictures and videos super clearly! The cheapest one is only fifty spirit stones a piece!" The sister who posted the post was very enthusiastic to share the new equipment.

A new Spirit Shadow Stone? One that could even take high-definition photos? Ning Shu stroked his chin and immediately decided to go to the shop to find out.

The shopping street in the city that never sleeps now specifically refers to the commercial area that was bought by Ning Shu and renovated. The popularity of the talent show has not yet passed, and this place is bustling with monks from all walks of life who come here to travel and chase stars.

Following the sister's instructions, Ning Shu turned around and around and finally found this special shop in a residential building a few hundred meters away from the main street.

Before I even walked in, I heard a burst of cheerful and lively music. It was the theme song of this talent show. There were also live shots of various contestants in the finals at the door of the store. In each clip, you could clearly see the contestants' eyelashes.

Ning Shu followed the crowd into the store with deep admiration and shock.

The owner of this shop is obviously a frequent visitor to that shopping street. The decoration style is based on that of the jewelry store. Spirit shadow stones of various sizes are neatly placed under the transparent glass counter. They can be held in a small palm, and the large ones are no bigger than a washbasin. It seems that they are all broken ores randomly mined from the spirit stone mine. At least the raw materials should not cost too much.

"Lady, what kind of Spirit Shadow Stone would you like?" A handsome shop assistant came over and asked enthusiastically. Now working as a salesperson in the store is dignified and earns a lot of money. Many young prostitutes like him who work in brothels are thinking of ways to redeem themselves and change their careers.

Ning Shu's face had long been a household name in the city that never sleeps. To avoid causing any disturbance, she wore a veil that obscured her features. The white scarf draped over the counter. She asked curiously, "What kind of things are there? Can you introduce them to me?"

"Okay, no problem!" The clerk enthusiastically took out three Spirit Shadow Stones of different sizes from the counter.

"The advantage of this smallest Spirit Shadow Stone is that it's easy to use. When using it, you just need to input a spiritual force and aim it in a certain direction. The recorded images are also clear and beautiful. However, its capacity is limited, so it can hardly store any singing and dancing performances. At most, it can only save a few pictures.

Then he pointed at the basin-sized thing next to him and said, "This has a large storage capacity and can record a full quarter of an hour of footage. If you like a beauty or an otaku, you can definitely use it to take pictures. It will also be enough to record the performances of the Nichang Girls Group in the future!"

However, it is not so easy to use, because it requires continuous input of spiritual energy, so the user must be at least in the Foundation Establishment stage..."

Ning Shu: ...

My goodness, these days if you haven’t built your foundation yet you can’t even be a fan club member. Is this really reasonable?

Inexplicably feeling that she was being looked down upon, Ning Shu gently stroked her chest and asked for a few of the two types of Spirit Shadow Stones. After paying for the Spirit Stones, she pointed to the live video feed of fans playing at the door:

"You only sell blank Spirit Shadow Stones? Do you sell the ones with contents? For example, the ones with a recording of a celebrity dancing?"

"Oh, you mean that kind?" The clerk shook his head regretfully. "I'm very sorry, but the people who go to the finals to record these images are all loyal fans of the contestants. They take pictures for their own collection, and no one wants to profit from them."

"That is to say, no one has thought of selling videos yet..." Ning Shu muttered to himself with his head down, feeling relieved. "Luckily, I discovered this thing not long after it came out. After a while, there will definitely be people who can learn it on their own and sell pirated copies..."

This incident sounded a wake-up call for Ning Shu. It was true that she had some memories of the Earth era, but the cultivators in this world were not fools. If she could not pay attention to the market and adapt to changes, this first-mover advantage would be surpassed by other cultivators at any time.

"I have a big business deal with your boss. Could you please pass a message to him for me?" Ning Shu said as she lifted the veil on her face to reveal her features, and then hurriedly put it back on before anyone else noticed.

"Ah! You are—"

"Shh..."

Before the clerk could exclaim, Ning Shu raised her index finger to her lips to remind him to stay calm, then took out a few spirit stones and a jade pendant from the Hehuan Sect from her sleeve and handed them over:

"The spirit stones are your reward for your hard work. Give this jade pendant to your boss.

Tell him I'm in urgent need of a large amount of larger Spirit Shadow Stones and image modification and beautification spells. If he can research them, we can split the profits together, and he can earn far more than he already does."

Perhaps knowing his chance to become a successful entrepreneur was right before his eyes, the clerk licked his lips excitedly. "If our boss does figure this out, how are we going to contact you?"

Ning Shu put the purchased Spirit Shadow Stone into the Qiankun bag, turned around and left without looking back, leaving only a sentence: "Inject a spiritual power into the jade pendant, and I will naturally sense it and come to find you."

"Eh? Please wait, sir..." The clerk's words were stuck in his throat, and Ning Shu had already disappeared from his sight like the wind.

This was not because Ning Shu was deliberately showing off in front of mortals. The reason why she was in a hurry to leave was because her mother had just passed her an important news through the love network - the double-dwelling paulownia tree seemed to have begun to grow.

She flew and ran all the way back to the Hehuan Sect. As soon as she entered, she saw the island where her mother lived in the center of the sect covered with golden light and auspicious clouds. All the disciples who were still in the sect ran out to watch the fun, and a few of them opened up their love and discussed it enthusiastically.

Ning Shu had no intention of posting nonsense on the forum. She ran as fast as she could towards the Wutong tree. When she finally arrived, she found that several elders had been waiting there for a long time.

"What's going on now? What should we do?" she asked intermittently, panting.

Zixiao pointed to the golden courtyard behind him and said, "The sect leader has gone to the inner part of the sacred tree to protect it. We can't get in. Go and help her!"

Ning Shu didn't say anything and continued running straight to the backyard. She pounced on the tree trunk with her hands and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she saw her mother standing next to a rectangular object woven with gold wire. It was the forum "server" they had recently built. The sect leader was standing there with a serious expression on his face, and didn't react much when he heard the movement behind him.

Ning Shu's heart tightened: "Mom! What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this server?"

The Sect Master finally came back to his senses, his face still filled with confusion and bewilderment. "No, that's not the case. I just discovered... that this method of weaving the threads of love seems to be more conducive to channeling the information and emotions within the Divine Tree. Look here, even now with its explosive power, it still operates smoothly."

The sect leader thought that he would have to fight a tough battle after he came in, but unexpectedly nothing happened. Those originally idle love threads were also activated because of the need to build a forum, which greatly shared the pressure of other love thread flyer forces.

The mother and daughter, with nothing to do, waited here obediently until the evolution of the sacred tree was complete before leaving. The first thing Ning Shu did when she opened her eyes was to look at the evolved sacred tree:

"Why do I feel like it hasn't changed at all? Won't it get bigger?"

"No, its power has indeed become stronger." The Sect Master also opened her eyes. She looked up at the branches and leaves that blocked out the sun for a moment, then suddenly raised her hand to take a thumb-sized golden flower. "And it's blooming."

Ning Shu reached out and took the flower made of gold thread: "What is the use of this flower?"

"It's not clear yet." The sect leader shook his head. "But I can sense that this flower seems to have some connection with the sacred tree itself. If someone outside the sect possesses this flower, within a certain range of the sacred tree, he might be able to spy on our inner conversations."

Zixiao happened to hear this sentence when he came over: "Isn't this very dangerous? Why did the sacred tree change in such a strange direction?"

"Perhaps it's because the sacred tree itself is eager to establish connections with more and more people. After all, it survives by absorbing emotions." Ning Shu gently held the petals in her hand, a meaningful smile on her face:

"And this isn't a bad thing! I was originally worried about how to further expand our influence, and now that problem has been solved!"

"What are you going to do?" Zi Xiao couldn't help but frowned in disgust when he thought of this: "Are you going to drag those people outside into our forum? It's such a waste of this pure land..."

"No, the Hehuan Forum will remain our internal forum." Ning Shu made a decision immediately: "There are many applications for mutual communication. We can create a software for chasing stars to test the waters.

Well, let me think... Since I can always see the latest updates of my idols, the icon of this app should be a big eye!"