Chapter 22: Preparing for War

Wen Wanru had great faith in the technical skills of Su Xiaoyu’s friend. The short film they made previously had caused a huge stir online in just a short amount of time, and countless praises had flooded the related comment sections.

Therefore, Wen Wanru was filled with anticipation for this advertisement and didn’t want the quality of the final product to drop due to her impatience.

After that, Wen Wanru discussed payment with Su Xiaoyu for over ten minutes before leaving.

For the two of them, this was their longest conversation to date.

After closing the door, Su Xiaoyu let out a long breath.

As someone with social anxiety, talking to someone for this long was a bit hard to adjust to. If the other person hadn’t been Wen Wanru, she probably would have found an excuse to run off long ago.

“I wonder how Tong Shishi and the others are preparing.”

Su Xiaoyu pushed her wheelchair over to the diorama box.

She had only informed Tong Shishi about holding the Sect Grand Competition that morning. At this moment, Tong Shishi was still making preparations. For instance, in the sect’s square, some Artifact Refining Masters were using special materials to construct the Battle Platforms for the competition. Formation Masters were also setting up formations around the area to prevent attacks on the platforms from spilling out and injuring the audience.

Judging by the current progress, the competition couldn’t start today.

However, the disciples of the Qixi Festival Sect were already bubbling with excitement, each one preparing for the upcoming battles.

If it were just an ordinary sect competition, they wouldn’t be this enthusiastic. But the Heavenly Maiden had said she would prepare rewards for the victors! Who wouldn’t be fanatical under those circumstances?

That was the Heavenly Maiden!

Everyone had witnessed her Divine Manifestation, and she had even bestowed Spirit Pills with astonishing effects. Under these conditions, who wouldn’t eagerly anticipate the rewards granted by the Heavenly Maiden?

All over the Qixi Festival Sect, people began to study their spell combinations.

Su Xiaoyu swept her gaze across the scene. She could see someone on a mountain practicing Wood Manipulation, the vines on the ground twisting like spirit snakes under their control.

She also saw someone by the river practicing Water Manipulation, causing water to explode and drench the sky.

There was even someone spewing flames, intensely blazing.

Different people prepared for battle in different ways.

For example, an Artifact Refining Master would prepare extra Magical Artifacts for themselves—offensive, defensive, and various support artifacts, not a single one could be missed.

Alchemy Masters would prepare more Elixir Pills for themselves.

Talisman Crafting Masters prepared Talismans.

Then there were Puppet Masters preparing puppets, Beast Tamers feeding their Spirit Beasts, and Formation Masters crafting Formation Flags… It was only the Spiritual Plant Masters who were in an awkward position. Their sub-profession was indispensable in daily life, but had little practical effect in battle, forcing them to make extra effort with their spells.

The Qixi Festival Sect was bustling with activity.

“Spells, huh…”

Su Xiaoyu murmured to herself, also wanting to learn some magic to protect herself.

But learning spells required at least the Qi Refining 2nd Layer. She had only just stepped onto the threshold of cultivation, currently at the Qi Refining 1st Layer, and couldn’t learn spells yet.

Not watching the diorama box for long, Su Xiaoyu pushed her wheelchair to the bedside, climbed up, arranged herself into a cross-legged meditative posture, and began to cultivate.

…

Around dusk, Su Xiaoyu was awakened from her cultivation by the alert sound from her mobile phone.

She picked it up and saw it was a call from a courier.

Although she had only ordered the photography equipment that morning, she had paid for expedited shipping, so it had already arrived.

Su Xiaoyu answered the call, and the courier’s voice immediately came through from the other end. “Hello, your package has arrived at your door. Please come and sign for it.”

“I understand, I’m on my way now.”

After hanging up, Su Xiaoyu got onto her wheelchair and headed for the door.

Her residential complex had self-service delivery lockers where packages were usually placed. But she had specifically paid extra to have it delivered directly to her door. After all, going downstairs to the lockers to retrieve things was somewhat inconvenient for her.

When she reached the door, Su Xiaoyu used her arms to prop herself up and looked through the peephole, confirming that a courier was indeed outside.

Since the package required a signature, she couldn’t just have him leave the items and open the door afterward.

So, Su Xiaoyu opened the door.

The courier was briefly taken aback to see a person in a wheelchair answering the door, but he didn’t say anything more. He quickly completed the sign-off procedure with Su Xiaoyu and left.

Su Xiaoyu closed the door and brought the purchased items back to her bedroom.

Opening the boxes, various photography props appeared before her. The majority were cameras, many of them, each one incredibly small. The smallest were pinhole cameras. But even though they were tiny, their quality was very high. Su Xiaoyu tested them; the recorded footage was quite clear, not much worse than what her mobile phone could capture.

By the time she had familiarized herself with all these photography props, much time had passed, and the night was already closing in.

After glancing at the sky outside the window, Su Xiaoyu first ordered takeout to solve her dinner problem.

Once dinner was finished, she turned her attention back to the diorama box.

Pushing her wheelchair over and taking a look inside, she found that everyone had returned to their living quarters to cultivate.

Seeing this, she opened the lid of the diorama box. After observing the terrain inside for a moment, she took a camera and placed it on a mountain near the Qixi Festival Sect, hiding it within the mountain’s interior with only a part exposed, making it not too conspicuous.

Afterward, she placed the remaining cameras in various other locations.

She also placed a camera inside the Qixi Festival Sect itself, commandeering an unoccupied pavilion and setting one up within.

…

When Su Xiaoyu placed cameras in other locations, she hadn’t startled anyone. But when she was setting one up inside the sect, Tong Shishi, being the person with the highest cultivation, sensed the activity and immediately flew out from her residence.

“Th-this is…”

The moment she flew out, Tong Shishi was shocked, witnessing two giant hands fiddling around a pavilion inside the Qixi Festival Sect.

After the initial shock, Tong Shishi immediately knelt and called out loudly, “Heavenly Maiden!”

Just as she was bowing, Tong Shishi noticed one of the giant hands approaching her. Then she saw two giant fingers carefully closing in, grabbing her clothes, and lifting her up just like that.

Tong Shishi: “…”

What was the Heavenly Maiden doing now?

Before Tong Shishi could think much more, she felt a dizzying spin. By the time her reeling head recovered, she realized she had been moved far away from the Qixi Festival Sect and was now standing atop a distant, tall mountain peak.

It was then that Su Xiaoyu’s voice sounded from above.

“Tong Shishi, you’ve come at the right time. There’s something I need you to see.”