Young Noble Be Monster Slaying

Chapter 361: Commercial Advertisement

The undercover squad had unexpectedly transformed into a brigade of members from various immortal sects, a twist Chu Liang hadn’t expected.

However, he, Luo Yao, and Pushan remained the core members. Not only had they been commended by the righteous forces to infiltrate the diabolical sect, but they were also under orders from the Violet Gold Marquess to infiltrate the White-Bone Hall. With their multiple identities, the three grew increasingly in sync with each other.

The operation assigned by Ghost Face was scheduled for ten days later. Everyone then agreed on a time to reconvene and returned home to prepare on their own. After all, everyone had their own matters to attend to, except for Ji Lingyu, whose primary task was escaping from home.

The second round of trials at the Great Astral Sect ended for now, with Yun Chaoxian winning largely due to his strong connections. However, the upcoming trials would be a test of personal abilities, and Chu Liang could no longer assist him.

As the guest helper for this trial, he had completed his duties and fulfilled his role.

With this matter resolved, Chu Liang returned alone to Silver Sword Peak.

Upon returning, he saw Lin Bei sighing deeply.

"Business at Berry Wonderland has been quite bad since Xiaoyu'er left," Lin Bei complained.

Not every visitor to Berry Wonderland came solely for Liu Xiaoyu'er, but the koi's blessing was a major part of the Berry Wonderland experience. People obviously wanted to experience this unique aspect of the visit. If they were informed that Xiaoyu'er would return in a few days, they would simply come back then. There was no pressing need to visit Berry Wonderland immediately.

As a result, the number of visitors at Berry Wonderland has plummeted recently.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it," Chu Liang said with a sigh.

He was genuinely happy for Xiaoyu'er to reunite with her sister and would never pressure her to return to work. After all, Chu Liang was a person with a conscience.

Instead, he considered counting these days as part of Xiaoyu'er's annual leave or as compensatory time off that she would need to make up later. Of course, this was just a joke.

Xiaoyu'er helped out because of her kind heart and because she considered Silver Sword Peak her home. Chu Liang knew he couldn't force her to do anything.

Moreover, if the entire park couldn't function when one person was absent, it meant that the business model was unhealthy. It would then be better for the business to use this opportunity to develop alternative activities or explore opportunities in other industries.

In addition, there were only two creatures on Silver Sword Peak, making it impossible for them to perform in a show at Berry Wonderland. If he left Mount Shu riding the Golden-Furred Hou, Berry Wonderland would lose its security guard. If Xiaoyu'er went to visit relatives, the park would be without its mascot.

Ultimately, the root problem was a lack of manpower.

In addition, the Baize youngling had been having so much fun at Berry Wonderland lately. Due to its young age, it was oblivious to everything. However, if its mother—an existence that had reached the pinnacle of the eighth realm and was potentially on the verge of entering the ninth realm—woke up and found her child working on Silver Sword Peak as a flying-disc catcher, how would she feel?

Chu Liang didn't even dare to imagine.

Fortunately, Berry Wonderland had successfully diverted traffic to Red Cotton Peak, making this period the most prosperous and bustling that Mount Shu had ever seen. Recently, many tourists were drawn to the area, and the disciples of the Mount Shu Sect who had set up stalls there reaped the benefits.

However, the merchants on Red Cotton Peak were still operating on a small scale, with limited goods to offer. Typically, their trade was confined to minor exchanges among disciples.

It was still too challenging for these stalls to handle the sudden influx of visitors. Those tourists who took a short stroll through the Red Cotton Market would quickly find it lacking in variety and excitement.

This created an urgent need for merchants from Taotie City to set up stores on Red Cotton Peak. However, Chu Liang needed to carefully plan how to attract them to the area.

After worrying about these issues, Chu Liang went to the Hall of Conservation to find ancient books and look up information on the Dragon God's throne.

Unfortunately, there was very little recorded about it in the texts.

After all, the Dragon God's throne existed in ancient times. In fact, there weren't many detailed records about the Dragon God either.

Occasionally, the texts mentioned that the Dragon God once burned the Sky-Supporting Pillar and forged the refined bronze into a supreme throne. From this throne, the Dragon God reigned over the nine provinces and four seas, with endless lands submitting in worship.

But there was no mention of the kind of power that this throne held.

Nevertheless, Chu Liang was just curious. All he could do was explore and test it out in the future.

...

The next day, another visitor arrived at Silver Sword Peak.

"Miss Xiaohan?"

Chu Liang was slightly surprised by the visit.

It was Zhang Xiaohan, an outstanding disciple from the Wind-Catching Hall of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion.

Previously, Chu Liang had written two short stories to promote his berries, which Zhang Xiaohan had published. Without her help, Berry Wonderland wouldn't have become so popular. However, that was the extent of their interaction.

He hadn't done anything noteworthy recently, so why would someone from the Wind-Catching Hall come to see him?

"Young Hero Chu," Zhang Xiaohan smiled, "I'm here because I need a favor."

After listening to her explanation, Chu Liang finally understood the situation.

It turned out that his stories "The Legend of the Berries" and "Meng Jiangnu" had caused a huge sensation after they were published in The Seven Stars Gazette. The Celestial Pivot Pavilion had even created a bi-monthly publication for Zhang Xiaohan because of the popularity of these stories.

Although the Celestial Pivot Pavilion managed to get almost every cultivator to own an edition of The Seven Stars Gazette, its reach among the ordinary people of the Nine Provinces was still limited. While the magazine was known by all, most commoners only heard about it in passing, finding the world of cultivation too distant and irrelevant. Unless the news was particularly interesting, they wouldn’t pay much attention.

Therefore, the Celestial Pivot Pavilion had been working to make The Seven Stars Gazette more engaging, aiming to promote it across the nine provinces. The start of the "Uncommon Tales of the Martial World" was part of this effort. While it had some success, it hadn't reached the desired impact.

Zhang Xiaohan's bi-monthly publication, however, unexpectedly caused a sensation. While it was merely well-received among cultivators, it became very popular among commoners.

The high-ranking members of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion took this matter seriously. They promptly instructed Zhang Xiaohan to make the bi-monthly publication a regular feature, appointing her as the exclusive writer for the series of stories.

However, when Zhang Xiaohan wrote a story herself, its popularity fell short compared to the previous ones. Unlike Chu Liang's two stories, her creation didn't capture as much attention.

"I've been thinking, Young Hero Chu. Deities, demons, ghosts, and romance were the themes of your stories and these themes might have been the reason why people loved your stories," Zhang Xiaohan said. She frowned and continued, "I couldn't quite capture that same appeal. Can you write more stories for us? The Celestial Pivot Pavilion will pay you."

Chu Liang then understood why she had come to visit him. She was here to commission him for more stories.

When he wrote the stories, his only intention was to promote the berries, so he used a few folk tales he remembered without much thought.

Hearing Zhang Xiaohan's words, Chu Liang realized something about these stories—It was indeed no easy task to write a popular story.

First, the story had to be simple as not everyone would appreciate overly complex plots. Then, the key point of the story needed to be captivating and emotionally moving.

Meeting all three criteria simultaneously was no simple task.

To write these stories, Chu Liang relied on the works of the writers who came before him.

After a moment of thought, he said slowly, "We are friends, after all. Since you have this request, I won't refuse. There's no need to mention payment. But..." he paused before continuing, "I happen to need some help too. I want to organize a large market on the Red Cotton Peak on Mount Shu and hope to attract some merchants to set up stalls there. I am wondering if you can publish a short announcement for me on The Seven Stars Gazette."

Zhang Xiaohan thought for a moment and agreed, "If it's just a short announcement, that should be fine."

Previously, The Seven Stars Gazette had never considered doing commercial advertising. Chu Liang was the first to make such a request. However, after a moment of contemplation, Zhang Xiaohan realized that a short notice wouldn't take up much space. She deemed this something she could decide on her own.

"Thank you, Miss Xiaohan," Chu Liang smiled. "As for the story you need, I have one that features deities, demons, ghosts, and romance..."

"Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a young man who planted berries and everyone called him the Berry Boy."

"This Berry Boy has an old yellow ox. One day, the old yellow ox suddenly started talking..."[1]">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowherd_and_the_Weaver_Girl[/ref]

1. IThis is referring to the folktale The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, with Berry Boy being the cowherd. ☜