Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 442 Hu Xue
"Fellow Daoist, I see you possess extraordinary talent and remarkable physique, a true acting prodigy, one in a million. Our Wutong Interactive Entertainment is currently recruiting NPC actors. Would you like to give it a try? The benefits are top-notch, the pay is excellent, and if you become a sensation, earning over 100 million a year is not a dream! Don't miss this opportunity!"

Jia Xiaoren, waving a flyer in his hand, enthusiastically pulled a strikingly beautiful female cultivator aside at the night market square outside Chang'an City, earnestly promoting his product.

"Hold on a thread, I'm a player!"

The female cultivator ruthlessly pulled away her sleeve, revealing her hidden ID.

Jia Xiaoren's expression immediately changed, and he waved his hand dismissively, "Oh, then you can leave!"

Suddenly, Bai Chenxue popped out from behind Jia Xiaoren, grinning mischievously, and asked, "Hehehe! Master! You've been promoting this all morning! Have you managed to get anyone to come over?"

Jia Xiaoren said with his nose in the air, "Hmph! They must have pulled in a few more! They should all be reporting to the boss's ship by now!"

After saying that, he looked suspiciously behind Bai Chenxue—there was no one there—and couldn't help but ask, "You didn't go out to play all morning and didn't manage to bring anyone back, did you?!"

"How could that be!" Bai Chenxue said smugly, hands on her hips. "I pulled ten! Ten! And they're all stunning beauties who know magic! You know that?"

Jia Xiaoren frowned, looking incredulous.

Since that day, when Wu Yu, the chairman of Jiaming Group, sent his secretary Xu to help Wu Tong set up a studio, within a week, the sign for Wutong Interactive Entertainment was erected outside a twenty-story office building.

Although the office building was quite old, it had just been renovated, and the lower floors didn't require much work. So, before the property registration was even completed, Secretary Xu moved in with Bai Chenxue and Shen Yun. They also installed a new card-operated elevator—the floors above the fifteenth floor would be converted into studio apartments for employees who needed accommodation.

Then, Wutong Interactive Entertainment's first project planned to be filmed in the game "Ten Continents Chronicles" was sent to Wutong: "Non-Human Office".

This is an episodic drama series with a relatively large investment. The script was originally based on the rights to a comic of the same name, and it had already been revised. Some of the lead actors had also been negotiated. However, the investors suddenly withdrew their funding because the director, Shang Jing, and the producer were unwilling to cast a young male idol, who was the investor's choice, as the character Lie Lie. The investors even explicitly requested that the role be adapted into a tragic love story with a nine-tailed fox, in order to generate hype later. They also wanted to use the veteran actress originally cast as the nine-tailed fox to promote the male idol!

This infuriated Director Shang, who feigned illness and quit. However, he knew this was just a momentary impulse, and he estimated that in the end, under Chairman Wu's intervention, both sides would have to compromise—either by not changing or making minor adjustments to the script, and ultimately the actors would have to listen to the capital.

This is a common occurrence. The reason why Wutong Interactive Entertainment is becoming increasingly unsuccessful is that everyone is unwilling to lower themselves to use those dirty tricks to promote this one and put down that one. They are also not valued by Chairman Wu to the point that he has to spend money to produce well-received dramas to change their fate. To be honest, Chairman Wu can't afford to spend money. If he offends other capital, Jiaming Group will also be implicated.

Therefore, Wutong Interactive Entertainment has been dragging its feet and enduring this situation for years.

Just as Director Shang was about to reluctantly return to work, he suddenly received a notification.

Although the original investors withdrew their investment, Chairman Wu invested several million instead. However, instead of having Director Shang audition for roles, he gave him a plan that he found absurd: to film in a virtual reality game.

Just kidding! ?

Director Shang initially thought Chairman Wu had gone mad, but after spending an entire night researching "The Record of the Ten Continents," he became somewhat perplexed. Had China's technology become so advanced?

Of course, confused as he was, he still had to do what his boss asked, since he was still receiving a salary from Wutong Interactive Entertainment. So, he specifically applied for a spot, hoping to see if he could get one when the quota opened next time.

Despite Mr. Wu's investment of several million yuan, which he claimed was money to buy activation codes, Director Shang still couldn't bear to use them... Even though activation codes were scarce on the market and their prices had even dropped somewhat, he still didn't want to. After all, games were now distributing access on a large scale, and given the trend, a complete liberalization seemed quite possible, so activation codes were no longer so precious.

But even if it's a purchase, every little bit saved counts. Even without the exorbitant actor fees, Director Shang still considered the costs of post-production, editing, and special effects. Even hiring AI from the game would seem to cost money, but it's uncertain whether it would involve copyright issues related to "Ten Continents Chronicle"...

Since he hadn't bought an activation code yet, Director Shang wasn't in a hurry to finish filming. Without an investor who was interfering and forcing him to use certain actors, Director Shang was in high spirits. He worked through the night to prepare several documents and sent them out, requesting that several employees under the second princess of Jiaming Group who could supposedly work in the game recruit actors in advance and prepare for auditions—even if he couldn't enter the game, he could still audition via live stream or video!
As for the cost...

"What?! Two hundred yuan a day?!"

A very pleasant female voice suddenly rang out in front of the Boss Airship.

It was Hu Xue who spoke.

As a demon cultivator, and one who had been struggling in human society, she had gone astray in her early years. In order to improve her cultivation, she deliberately lured the ignorant men and women in remote villages to worship her. However, she dared not eat people or take their lives. She only dared to use some illusion magic to frighten mortals and obtain the title of "Eternal Life Goddess" to greedily accept incense offerings.

Because Hu Xue was not from Chiyuan Cave, and sometimes she would actually use her sorcery to cure villagers' illnesses in order to increase the number of worshippers, no one had ever bothered her.

However, as her appetite grew and she increasingly demanded that the villagers supply her with chickens and ducks, the heavenly tribulation struck down, completely erasing the cultivation she had painstakingly acquired over many years through greed for incense offerings, and leaving her with a body full of injuries.

After recovering from her injuries, Hu Xue, feeling deeply wronged, was too timid to continue deceiving the incense burners. Just as she was hesitating about whether to seek refuge in the Du Guang Kingdom in the south, she heard about the Taiyin Sect.

I've heard that the Taiyin Sect treats all demon cultivators equally, allowing them to learn any cultivation techniques or spells they wish for free!
I've heard that the Taiyin Sect strictly forbids slave contracts. Once discovered, the slave will be expelled, and if someone is found to have committed a demonic act or taken a human life, they will be killed without mercy!

Really? There really is such a wonderful place in the world?!
Half-believing, half-doubting, and with nowhere else to go, Hu Xue cautiously made her way towards the legendary Chang'an City, inquiring as she went. Along the way, she encountered many demon cultivators similar to herself; they formed a group, intending to travel together, and then…

"Even if it's a lie, with so many demons like us, we can fight our way out and escape!"

With this mindset, Hu Xue transformed into a stunningly beautiful woman and volunteered to enter Chang'an City. She and her fellow demon cultivator brothers and sisters who came with her had agreed that if anything happened to her, they would all use their best skills to escape with her! The reason Hu Xue volunteered to come and test the waters was because her cultivation in human form was extremely high! In the eyes of the human race, she was exceptionally beautiful!
But this time, his usually infallible face wasn't so effective—

"Hey, you, you! You need to fill out the forms and get your permit before you can come in!"

At the city gate entrance, the gatekeeper checking identity tokens stopped Hu Xue. Without even raising his eyelids, he pointed to a wooden shed not far away, where several small tables were set up and people were queuing up.

"Look, the demon cultivators are over there. Don't go to the wrong one. There's a subsidy for demon registration. If you register for the wrong race, you won't get that benefit!"