Forge a path to success.

Chapter 291 Comic Con Charity Sale

"The long wait is over, the composition is complete!" Sreil exclaimed, beaming. "Please find a suitable venue for the poet, so that the melody can reach the ears of the audience!"

The dark-faced poet pushed open the door, looking smug. Chu Hengkong, who was reading a book, immediately stood up and asked eagerly, "Is the piece finished too?"

After recounting his memories, Chu Hengkong privately added some details to enrich the story, while Sriel began composing lyrics and music. The poet's professionalism in this area was truly exceptional, maintaining his storytelling style as always: not revealing personal privacy, but perfectly preserving the key elements. The lyrics had been written a few days prior and had been reviewed by him; even the most discerning eye could find no fault with them. This song for finding someone was ready in every way, lacking only the music and a title.

"The best piece of music in five hundred years, the poet dares to boast of it."

Vande practically pounced on him: "Please sing a couple of lines first! I'm a huge fan, I really want to hear it!!"

Ji Huaisu grabbed it with one hand: "Have you forgotten what this song is for...? It's for finding people, okay? What's the point of singing it in a bookstore? At least find a place with lots of people and good circulation."

"Then let's hold a concert," Chu Hengkong suggested.

Sriel, however, was not interested: "I'm naturally lazy and can't stand so much trouble. How can I go under the spotlight and sing endlessly?"

Upon hearing this, Bangbangji, who was listening in, said, "There's a fundraising event tomorrow!"

Sriel pondered for a moment, then plucked the strings and laughed, "Excellent, excellent! The manager is truly perceptive. This is the perfect occasion for singing. Once everyone has warmed up the atmosphere, the poet will arrive later tonight!"

He strolled out of the bookstore, his movements comical, as if he'd stepped on a banana peel. Ji Huaisu, not understanding, asked in confusion, "A fundraising event?"

"It's an event that the city-state holds regularly." Gulibo ran around carrying a small water bottle. "All sorts of shops gather together to sell all sorts of things. The five major events take turns hosting them, and it's our turn to participate tomorrow!"

Today, the seafood bookstore was anything but relaxed; everyone from the seals to the staff was busy. Gulibo was running around watering various bottles and jars, not the usual cucumbers and tomatoes, but all sorts of uniquely shaped ornamental potted plants. Miaonu was leading the little animals who could draw to create chibi-style stickers. Each time they finished a stick figure, they would put it into a large clay slab, and then identical chibi clay figurines would be produced with a few quick clicks.

The sixth-floor deadline-chasing team swarmed down and gathered around the pool, working while watching the large seal in the water with bated breath. The seal, with two sausages dangling from its mouth, wrote with incredible speed, occasionally letting out a pitiful cry: "Mmm!" (a plea for a break!)
"Don't you even look at how many pages are left in the manuscript? What do you mean by 'rest'?" Poison Otter sneered. "You can rest until you finish writing the publication!"

"Mmmmmm!" (Evil spirit! Demon! Poison otter!)

Chu Hengkong found the bustling atmosphere strangely familiar, as if he had seen a similar scene somewhere before. He searched around for a while, then asked with a strange expression, "...A comic convention?"

“A comprehensive exhibition,” Poison Otter corrected. “Calligraphy and paintings, potted plants, food, relics and secret manuals... everything that people in the city-state sell has a share. Come and visit this exhibition, and I guarantee you'll leave with more than you can eat.”

Van der chuckled upon hearing this: "Wow, that bookstore looks like it's going to make a fortune tomorrow."

The Poison Otter revealed a mysterious smile, while the Carp chuckled and said, "Profit—not a single penny!"

"?"

·
The next morning, because the sea seal was listless and the venomous otter wanted to look after the store, Manager Bangbangji led a group of veteran employees, including Gulibo, to the exhibition.

It blew out fluffy "bubble clouds" with a bamboo straw, each cloud about the size of a small car. The bubble clouds poured into the store, wrapping up the magazines and various goods packed the day before, and floated lightly into the sky.

Bangbangji took a few deep breaths and blew out an unusually wide and long cloud. The little animals scrambled onto it, bouncing around on the cloud like they were on a trampoline. Vande looked on curiously from the cloud: "This spell is quite convenient, Turbid Tears plus Free Wind?"

“Add a little shaping dust—that’s a cloud,” said Bangbangji cheerfully. “Everyone, hold on tight, we’re about to set off—Miss Ji, please don’t poke, it’ll open a hole.”

Ji Huaisu chuckled and withdrew his finger: "I'm just learning a bit about life..."

"You just want to play!"

Long clouds drifted up, carrying wispy, bubble-like clouds towards the city. Children on the street reached out, trying to catch the drifting clouds. Small animals plucked pieces of cloud and scattered them to the ground like flower petals. Musicians played melodious tunes, and the bubble-like clouds drifted away slowly to the music, as leisurely as a fairy tale.

As they floated above the venue, the rooftop opened up like flower buds. Bangbangji directed the bubble clouds to fall in clusters, finally letting the cloud carrying people drift down. Once on land, the cloud transformed into soft, long tables and chairs. Bangbangji then used colorful clouds to draw a sign for a "Seafood Bookstore," and the stall was ready.

"The Supreme Path is really convenient," Chu Hengkong exclaimed.

"The power of elements is inherently closest to daily life, and it is much more convenient than our unification in terms of creating and shaping things," said Ji Qiufeng.

The city lord disappeared a few days ago, and no one knows where he went or what he did. He only returned to the bookstore yesterday and happened to be exhibiting with them. He tapped his daughter's head: "Huaisu, you should learn more from Manager Yu when you have time. Look how well he controls the wind."

Ji Huaisu made a face: "Manager Yu has already crossed the first abyss! I don't even know how to control the wind."

"It's not that amazing~" Bangbangji scratched his head and chuckled, "When the emotion is there, it's there—when the emotion is there, it's good."

"See, you can't learn anything good."

Chu Hengkong observed his surroundings and saw that most of the vendors had already entered the area. Those selling plants and potted plants were busy planting them on-site, those hawking videos were showing preview crystals, and food stalls emitted fragrant aromas. The most numerous stalls were naturally book stalls, but he also saw stalls selling relics and weapons (specializing in various war plants from the Fourth Order), card games and toys (even including local game consoles, a specialty of the Fifth Order), merchants from the First Order hawking seemingly high-end luxury clothing and armor more for decoration than practical use, and insect doctors from the Second Order touting the efficacy of various useful medicines.

"It's quite lively," Vande exclaimed excitedly. "The atmosphere here in the third lineage is even more enthusiastic, so merchants from other lineages also come!"

A lazy male voice drifted from afar, and Trekson strolled over casually, followed by a line of spirited members of the Divine Guard. It seemed the fundraising event would draw a large crowd, so he, as the team leader, had come specifically to check things out.

Cui Ke greeted everyone and then smiled at Ji Qiufeng, saying, "My daughter is here today too, so I'll show her off to you. Hey, come say hello to Uncle Ji!"

A small head wearing a beret peeked out from behind a food stall, her long silver hair tied into two long braids. She said indistinctly, "Hello, Uncle Ji—what are you all doing here?"

Vande stared wide-eyed at the astonished Lico, then at Trek's weathered old face, and exclaimed in surprise, "This is your daughter?!"

Trek stroked his chin: "Isn't it cute?"

"They don't look alike at all!"

"No way, Uncle, I was quite handsome when I was young!"

Ji Huaisu's expression changed immediately, and she said in a coquettish voice, "Uncle Cui Ke, your daughter is so violent! She even blew me fruit the other day."

"Who hit whom?! What gives you the right to call me violent?!" Lico exclaimed.

Trek chimed in, "Hey, Lico, how can you bully a little girl like that? Grow a mushroom already."

"Why are mushrooms growing? Are they for apologizing? It's weird to use mushrooms to apologize, isn't it?"

The Cui family father and daughter were arguing fiercely, and Chu Hengkong commented, "You can tell they're related by blood."

“That’s just how their race is from birth. I’ve hardly ever seen any tree people with a bitter and resentful temperament,” Ji Qiufeng said. “But haven’t we arrived too early?”

Most of the exhibitors have arrived, but there are very few visitors inside. The exhibition hall is in an excellent location, situated in a bustling urban area, just steps from the Fengdao (Windway) station. Normally, it wouldn't lack foot traffic, but today, even those just there to watch are few and far between. Occasionally, a child tries to enter, but is immediately dragged away by their parents, who seem to want to avoid them at all costs.

"It's the norm, after all, this is a fundraising event," Bangbangji told them. "The so-called fundraising event is a charity sale specifically for soldiers."

·
Every second, lives are lost, every second, battles take place. Even as the sun rises and the heavens are established, the fierce struggle never ceases. This has been the norm in the turbulent world for thousands of years.

The city-state of Jingsha is vast and rich in resources, and teems with experts, yet it remains located within the Mysterious Realm of Senluo, where one must confront the perilous situation.

The western third of the secret realm is the territory of the Truth Empire, while the northern third is ruled by the Spiral Tower. These two heretical factions fight amongst themselves and are also hostile to the righteous alliance. The three-way battle has never ceased, and the land divided by war has formed a narrow, rift-like battle line. This battle line almost spans the center of the Senluo Secret Realm and is known to the public as the "Desperate Battle Line."

The pressure on the city-state of Jingsha, facing two major heretical factions with only the strength of one city, is unimaginable. However, Jingsha is the granary and solid backing of the righteous forces, and also the largest base of the allied forces in the Senluo Secret Realm. With the Netherworld God Kingdom now in ruins, if Jingsha falls, the Senluo Secret Realm will completely fall into the hands of the heretics, and the resulting disaster will be unimaginable.

Therefore, the supreme leaders of the various factions decided to adopt a rotation system, with each faction taking turns to defend the front line of the desperate battle for ten years. The three parties participating in the defense, in the order of rotation, are the Jingsha City-State, Longquan Township, and Shura Island.

In the first decade after the fall of Huilong City, the martial arts of Longquan Township were in charge of the main war effort. In the second decade, the allied forces of Shura Island, Wuchen Land, and Paradise were in charge. Now that Huilong City has been resurrected, another ten-year cycle is about to end, and it is time for the Jingsha City-State to take the lead in the war.

·
“War costs money,” Bangbangji said earnestly. “Therefore, the city-state organizes a series of activities to raise military funds, and the exhibition we are participating in is one of them. All the green branches we earn today will be donated free of charge to the various divine guard teams as spontaneous support from the citizens.”

Chu Hengkong couldn't help but think more highly of the little animals; merchants who were willing to voluntarily reduce their profits to serve the public were extremely rare anywhere. But hearing this, he became even more puzzled: "Even you merchants are so passionate about the city-state, so why are the ordinary citizens so uninterested?"

“It’s not entirely anyone’s fault, after all, the Jing Sha clan regularly collects ‘war taxes’,” Trek said, seemingly unconcerned. “Even when there’s no war, the Jing Sha clan is obligated to support the front lines with donated goods, and war taxes are always paid monthly. Those who have green branches hand over green branches, those who grow melons and fruits hand over crops, and those who sew clothes hand over cloth…”

Citizens who pay their taxes on time every month will naturally feel resistant to the charity sale. They've already paid so much in taxes; there's no reason for them to donate money to the military.

"And the anti-war sentiment in the city-state has been very strong in the last twenty years..." Lico gritted her teeth, "It's all that stupid masked man's fault!"

Trek tapped her lightly: "Lico, don't talk about politics when you're out having fun."

"Mind your own business!"

The father and daughter, Cui Ke, started arguing again. Seeing the deserted scene, Ji Huaisu couldn't help but worry: "Then everyone's efforts have been in vain?"

"The guests are coming, and it'll get lively soon," said Bangbangji confidently. "Look—they're here!"

Following its guidance, everyone saw a burly man walk into the exhibition hall. He was wearing armor made of bamboo and wood, carrying a large sword on his back, and had several obvious scars on his face.

This is a mercenary.

(End of this chapter)