In previous years, the Semi-Finals, Finals, and award ceremonies were held in the Imperial Capital of the Great Sima Nation.
This time was different. Emperor Jing seemed to have fallen in love with Jiangdu City, decreeing that the Sect Alliance must build a brand-new tournament venue there.
Everyone knew that Emperor Jing was busy tinkering with something in Jiangdu City.
To that end, he had seized a large number of laborers from various races and emptied 90% of the national treasury.
The empty treasury drove Emperor Jing to further increase taxes and hike the annual tribute required from the Sects within his borders, leading to widespread grievances throughout the court and the common folk.
Regarding this, Emperor Jing never cared, merely saying, “Once the day of the Great Industrial Era’s completion arrives, I shall repay all of this tenfold.”
‘Repay it tenfold? Heaven knows when your Great Industrial Era will be finished. For all we know, it’s just a foolish decision made on a whim, much like those idiot emperors in history who wanted to build landmark monuments just to leave their names in the history books.’
Furthermore… what if the so-called Great Industrial Era was just a smokescreen, an excuse to weaken the power of the Sects? Should the Sects simply sit and wait for death?
Loaded with such deep resentment, the major Sects were outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant regarding the funding and construction of the new venue, doing their utmost to slack off.
For the defensive Formation Arts, they used the worst quality available.
For the stone platforms, they used the cheapest materials possible.
Although the superficial appearance had to be acceptable—and the entire new venue still looked grand and imposing on the surface, even more eye-catching than the old one—the major Sects responsible for the construction knew very well that the interior was entirely made of “tofu-dregs.” They had simply done enough to get by.
Fortunately, the tournament rewards were as impressive as ever.
Before the Semi-Finals began, the organizers would hold a modest ceremony to express their expectations for the teams and to present prizes to the best teams from the previous year.
During the ceremony, all the teams that had advanced to the Semi-Finals would make an appearance to go through the motions and then stand to the side to observe the awards.
Jiang Ke’er didn’t know which “genius” had designed such a resentment-inducing process.
She could already imagine the overwhelming scent of bitterness she would have to face.
Therefore, the group of Little Demons consulted with Si Lian and prepared to take a different approach for this award ceremony.
The day of the ceremony arrived in the blink of an eye.
After a routine speech, the next segment began—the entrance and showcase of each participating Team.
Although the Bagpipe Squad was ranked first in points, they were not the first to enter. Instead, two teams familiar to everyone took the lead.
Heavenly God Team One and Battle Wasteland Team One.
For the past ten years, the Shenzhou Cup had seen almost all awards divided between these two teams. They were like fated rivals who understood each other through conflict; their duel was the most anticipated highlight of the tournament!
Even though the spectator stands of the massive, circular arena stretched for tens of miles, the earth-shaking cheers could still be heard, blanketing the entire venue. This was clear evidence of the popularity these two teams enjoyed.
As soon as the two teams met, the atmosphere immediately became tense!
Both sides manifested their Faxiang, releasing their momentum and battle intent without restraint. This caused the surrounding weather to shift; the clouds were split into two layers as if a clear boundary had been drawn between them!
The momentum of both sides was equal, holding their ground at opposite ends of the vast square. This instantly set the blood of all the spectators boiling, and their expectations soared!
‘It will definitely be a brilliant showdown of the century!’
‘Ahhh, why isn’t it the Finals yet!’
After these two star teams made their appearance, the atmosphere in the arena was pulled to its peak.
But right at that moment…
**[Now entering is the Bagpipe Squad.]**
It was like a piece of rat dropping falling into a bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall worth 10,000 Magic Crystals. That uncomfortable feeling, like a fishbone stuck in the throat, caused the surrounding spectators inexplicable agony.
The atmosphere that had been fervent a second ago turned ice-cold in an instant, as if it were the depths of winter. All that was missing were bleak snowflakes falling from the sky.
But it didn’t matter. If there were no snowflakes, there were still rotten eggs and bruised tomatoes.
“Rotten eggs! Bruised tomatoes! All the essentials for heckling! One Magic Crystal each!”
In the vast spectator area, a voice that was completely out of character for the setting suddenly rang out.
“One Magic Crystal each?! Why don’t you just rob us? One Magic Crystal can buy tens of thousands of rotten eggs and bruised tomatoes!” a nearby spectator shouted in anger.
“Robbing isn’t as fast as this. Are you buying or not?” The other party seemed completely confident.
“I’ll buy!” The spectator grit his teeth. “Give me ten of each!”
To disgust those hateful Demonic Talents, what did it matter if he spent a few dozen Magic Crystals? He was willing to spend this money; as long as he could make those demons unhappy, he would be happy!
It was worth it!
“Come and see! Take a look! The Shenzhou Cup is a super event that only happens a few times in a lifetime! Do you all want to leave with regrets? We have rotten eggs and bruised tomatoes. For something more high-end, we have smelly socks and stinking peanut butter! We can satisfy all your dreams of heckling!”
This voice was truly tempting, and soon the surrounding spectators could not resist.
Anyway, there was safety in numbers. Plenty of people were already throwing things, so what did a few more matter?
“The moment to enjoy yourselves has arrived! Now is the time to crush the will of the Bagpipe Squad members! Quantities are limited, so buy quickly!”
“For a few dozen Magic Crystals, you won’t be cheated, and you won’t be conned. After all, what I’m selling is literally garbage!”
“If you don’t act now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life! It’ll be too late to feel remorse when your Dao fades and your body perishes!”
“The only chance in your life to throw trash at a team you hate! Make sure to grasp it!”
No one expected that the best-selling items at the Shenzhou Cup venue wouldn’t be figurines of the players, souvenirs, or various food and cultivation resources, but rather the rotten eggs and bruised tomatoes that had appeared out of nowhere.
These god-awful, treacherous merchants had sold trash for ten thousand times its original value, yet people found it irresistible, eagerly crowding around to buy frantically.
One had to admit, although throwing trash at the members of the Bagpipe Squad was immoral, it felt genuinely satisfying.
**[You have received 50 Orthodox Points from a certain Cultivator…]**
**[You have received…]**
Jiang Ke’er filtered out the notifications flooding her screen and put on a professional smile once more.
“Thank you, buddy, for purchasing the smelly socks and peanut butter!”
“Everyone, keep up the hard work!”
Everything happened extremely quickly. Jiang Ke’er found that she had even underestimated the enthusiasm of the audience.
She had prepared several full Qiankun Bags of goods, but they were sold out in the blink of an eye.
By the time the security Cultivators arrived to maintain order, her stock was already gone.
‘Tsk, I should have brought more if I’d known.’
“Exactly! Bring more next time!” a spectator who had become addicted to throwing things laughed.
Even though these spectators were inwardly cursing these merchants for being outrageously exploitative, they were also somewhat grateful to them for coming up with such a brilliant idea, allowing them all to vent their frustrations and thoroughly disgust the Bagpipe Squad.
It was truly like delivering charcoal in a blizzard.
“How do I address you, friend?” A familiar Human Cultivator patted Jiang Ke’er’s shoulder and asked with a smile.
“Qing Yi,” Jiang Ke’er replied as she slowly took off her mask and hat.