Chapter 479: Three Friends

Wanting to attract tourists and get them excited to participate, they needed to build a reputation.

Buying advertisements was naturally a crucial part, but without a strong reward to back it up, the ads would be useless.

However, if an ordinary small fishing village were to offer up too precious a reward on its own, it would attract too much attention and invite disaster. So Jiang Ke’er decided to find a nominal sponsor.

[This event is exclusively titled and sponsored by the Jiuzhou History Museum. All rights of interpretation are reserved exclusively by the Jiuzhou History Museum.]

The Jiuzhou History Museum—at first glance, wow, what a grand name.

But Jiang Ke’er knew full well that this was just something she had fabricated out of thin air.

Although she did have an idea of opening a museum to flaunt her wealth, she wouldn’t actually put it into practice until the “anti-Jiang Ke’er device” was built.

“Why do you need to guard against yourself too?” Qiao Xiaoxian didn’t quite understand.

Ever since she had accumulated some wealth, Jiang Ke’er was always muttering about needing to be careful of Jiang Ke’er.

“Even if I explained, you wouldn’t really get it.” Jiang Ke’er revealed a mysterious smile of intellectual superiority.

“In short, if there were a Jiang Ke’er in a parallel space with the same opportunities, and one day she gained the ability to cross between parallel spaces… then she would definitely come over and borrow other Jiang Ke’ers’ treasures to expand her own collection, because I’m planning to do exactly that myself.”

“…You don’t even spare yourself.” Qiao Xiaoxian was caught between laughter and tears. “Can’t you just proactively reach a truce? As long as you don’t think about ‘borrowing’ other Jiang Ke’ers’ treasures…”

“No! Knowing how rotten Jiang Ke’er can be, she would never let go of any treasure! Even if I don’t make a move, they’ll definitely strike first!”

“So I must get the jump on them!” Jiang Ke’er said seriously. “One can never be too cautious. I still need to be as careful as possible.”

“At least in a certain sense, you know yourself pretty well.”

“But if there really are other Jiang Ke’ers, my treasure hoard should already be gone by now…”

All in all, having solved the sponsor problem with a fictional museum, Jiang Ke’er began pouring money into an overwhelming publicity campaign.

The festival competition involved mission rewards, and Jiang Ke’er didn’t want any accidents, so she put great effort into the promotional work.

[Champion reward: a six thousand six hundred year old Toon Thunder Tribulation Wood as big as a little finger!]

As long as the prize name was placed in the most prominent position, cultivators would come flooding in endlessly, seizing this chance to get rich overnight.

“As big as a little finger! That’s a peerless Thunder Tribulation Wood of six thousand six hundred years, and it’s as big as a little finger!”

“Used as the energy core for any Power-Enhancing Artifact, it can make the artifact’s strength skyrocket! Close to the level of a Grade 8 Artifact!”

The news spread across Shenzhou in an instant, and the cultivators were set ablaze with excitement.

What are they waiting for? The new emperor’s dragon boat festival amnesty commanded all sects to give their disciples three days off, during which no mandatory missions could be assigned.

Since they had nothing to do anyway, why not go try their luck?

Day one, join the dragon boat race. Day two, join the fishing competition. Day three, stroll along the beach and experience the simple, rustic village life.

Let’s go!

The effect of the publicity far exceeded Jiang Ke’er’s expectations.

There were still three days until the dragon boat festival, yet a massive number of cultivators had already rushed to the village to line up and register.

There was no time. The venue she had set up was far too small, and even with emergency expansion, it clearly wouldn’t be done in time.

Jiang Ke’er stood anxiously at the registration desk. Just as she was about to announce that registration was closed, a familiar short figure appeared in the crowd.

The Ancestor Master of Taiming Sect’s Lingyin Valley—Luyia—wearing a huge straw hat and veil, looked around with a panicked expression, as if afraid of being recognized.

“Of course you can.” Jiang Ke’er smiled. “Sign here. The registration fee for each event is 1 Magic Crystal. Which one do you want to sign up for?”

“Huh? There’s a registration fee?” Luyia looked taken aback. “Um… if I don’t win, can I get a refund? 1 Magic Crystal is quite a lot, you know…”

“Sorry, no refunds.”

“Then can I owe it for now? I’m definitely going to win anyway, so I’ll pay you back after I take the championship!”

Luyia’s sparkling eyes looked straight at Jiang Ke’er.

She was about the same height as Jiang Ke’er, and with that pitiful, pleading look, it really did seem hard to refuse.

“Sorry, no.”

If it were in private, that would be one thing, but with so many people watching, once she set a precedent, others would surely follow suit.

“Fine then, can I use my panties as collateral?” Luyia asked calmly.

Jiang Ke’er could tell that Luyia said this with absolute smoothness, without a hint of awkwardness—clearly she was quite practiced at it.

“Not here, but you could auction them off on the spot. I’m sure plenty of people would buy them.” Jiang Ke’er offered a friendly suggestion.

“Good idea…” Luyia suddenly realized.

“Which event do you want to sign up for?”

“Wait! I’ll give you my spot this time!” Jiang Ke’er pressed her forehead.

“I’ll pay you back tenfold!”

“Both events!” Luyia said happily. “Don’t worry, after I win!”

“For the competition, you need to carry a bamboo stick when entering and leaving the arena. These are specially made bamboo sticks—you must carry them to compete.”

Jiang Ke’er pulled out two bamboo sticks and handed them to Luyia. “Good luck to you.”

“Thanks! You’re such a good monster. I’ll remember you!”

Luyia left in high spirits.

***

After seeing Luyia off, Jiang Ke’er had intended to end registration there, but then she spotted several more familiar faces in the crowd.

It seemed the promotion for this competition was truly a success… even Shifu had come.

Si Lian and Yiqin stood together, arms linked as they chatted cheerfully. With their stunning beauty, they had already become a beautiful sight among the cultivators.

Not far behind them, Li Er had his face thoroughly covered, only the two little black cat ears on top of his head visible. Jiang Ke’er recognized him by the pattern on his ears.

And beside Li Er followed Changsun Qingyue, Changsun Wuji, Mu Guoguo, and Yan Liben, all with their faces covered just the same… They all looked sneaky and furtive, clearly having snuck out of the palace to play.

There were also the semi-corporeal Jie Shui, Gan Ruanruan, and A Miao, slipping out together with them.

Because she, as an unreliable Queen of the Earth, didn’t understand ghost cultivator cultivation methods at all, after resurrecting Jie Shui, Gan Ruanruan, and A Miao three months ago, she had air-dropped them to the priestess Ming Ling, letting Ming Ling help them cultivate, and giving the young couple a chance to be reunited.

Aside from not having shadows, they now looked no different from normal people—seems like they had been cultivating well.

Seeing all these familiar faces, a strange warmth suddenly welled up in Jiang Ke’er’s heart.

But she dismissed the thought of going over to catch up, continuing to play her role as “Master Water,” silently registering every participant until the last familiar face had finished signing up.

“Wow! I’m so lucky! I just barely caught the last spot!”

Jie Shui laughed triumphantly.

The number of registrants had far exceeded the arena’s capacity, so it looked like they would need to expand overnight.

Oh right, and there were also three friends brought by Huang Xiansheng.

After registration ended and the crowd dispersed, the commentator Huang Bozhong took the initiative to approach Jiang Ke’er.

“Let me introduce you to my three friends. This is Mr. Gu Yuyue, and this is Mr. Dong Jun. Could you register all three of them for me?”