Chapter 263: A Small Break!

  Jing finally left her shack with Shang and Li Li, much to the amazement of everyone around them. Heaven's Angels were not as interested as the elders were. They could sense something amazing about the shack but not what in particular. The higher realmed elders could sense the spatial qi surrounding the tiny hut and knew it was the correct decision to focus a small part of their attention on the shack during the tournament.

  The spatial qi only showed itself for a single second before the shack returned back to its normal presence. Jing showed a small smile to the powerful old fogies before making her way to a, particularly empty spot. Her angels followed behind her in curiosity as the Qi Gatherers were given a short rest period to prepare for the semi-finals. Eventually, all of Heaven's Angels came over to Jing as she revealed what she was waiting to show from the shack.

  Seemingly out of thin air, multiple tables, chairs, and all sorts of other fancy furniture appeared all around her. Water began to flow from out of her body and shoot off into the air like miniature missiles as they exploded into various shapes. Intricately designed flowers, well-liked animals such as dragons, tigers, and a panda, swords, and other things she figured the people of this world liked. Multiple gasps, cheers, and screams rang out from the enormous size of her water fireworks that were even larger and more life-like than the elder's show from before the beginning of the finale.

  Water-shaped martial artists briefly clashed with popular martial arts from the Golden Serpent Sect's martial library. Water flowers spun with such magnificence while drizzling a small amount of water that made it difficult to tell if it really was just an imitation of a flower or some sort of new spiritual herb. And some were just giant explosions.

"You're really amazing..." Shang slightly closed the distance between the two of them while staring into the sky.

"Thank you." Jing replied back. With her massive qi reserves, this wasn't all that much. Especially since she was using some of SCP-109's infinite water supply to shape and manipulate the water with her martial arts.

  Li Li was completely enraptured by the fireworks show above and didn't notice Shang.

"I still don't understand why you decided to do this. If the elders haven't thought of it themselves, why waste the energy?" Shang was unused to doing things for others without benefits to himself nor could he really understand it. It was a sort of common trait he found with his girlfriend and her followers.

"It's best to introduce change slowly and positively. Only if it can't be helped, should you drastically change things." Jing answered.

"Why are you trying to change things? Is something bothering you?" Shang asked.

"Yes. I wish to change the sect for the better and maybe eventually the world." Jing didn't hide her intentions from Shang.

"..." Shang was more than just slightly surprised to hear such courageous words from his girlfriend.

  Changing the sect is one thing but the world? Isn't that a task as impossible as rising to the heavens themselves? Even in the past million years, there's yet to be anyone who could claim rising to the One With All cultivation realm. Many thought it was an impossible endeavor but it wasn't. It was just so difficult that calling it impossible felt correct. Not much information is known about the stage but the path to it isn't blocked just harder than all the other cultivation stages combined.

"I'll stay by your side, helping you along the way." Shang declared. How could he be afraid as a man, when his woman had such high inspirations? He too will hold an impossible dream that he'll work toward!

"Oh." The ends of Jing's lips slightly perked up.

  Eventually, the fireworks stopped and it was time to show everyone what she was doing inside the shack. Cakes upon cakes flew out of her storage ring onto the giant table in front of her. Giant cakes, large cakes, small cakes, hand-sized cakes, strangely shaped cakes, and all sorts of cakes appeared on the table. Many found their eyes forcefully staring at the cake tower that pierced through the sky. It was so huge that no one could really believe it was possible to make such a thing. In a way, they were correct. SCP-871's cakes mutate over time. This tower cake was the result of the 5% chance of mutating and since it was so large, it was impossible for Jing to turn it into a spirit cake. She didn't have a cauldron capable of manipulating spatial dimensions to fit it inside.

  The smell of all the cakes drove everyone at the Grand Tournament crazy. Some people couldn't help themselves from drooling. Others had to be physically restrained by Li Li's ghosts to stop them from leaping into the cakes and going on a feast. Overall, everyone couldn't wait to dig into the sea of cakes sitting in front of them.

"Go on, dig in everyone. This is the only time I'll sell my cakes for free." Jing enhanced her voice with qi so that everyone could hear.

  It only took those short few words before the place turned into a battlefield. Not even the elders had enough restraint to stop themselves from taking at least one bite. And you only needed one bite before getting hooked on the delicious taste. Well, if that cake's flavor was to their liking.

  There was lemon-flavored cake, chicken, peach, beef, and thousands more. Jing was initially not sure if she should make it like a flavor roulette but since there were so many, she didn't find a problem with it. With her leaf fan in hand, Jing would fan it across the air and eliminate all traces of dust, dirt, and other trash to keep the event well-maintained.

"Why does this cake taste like chicken!? And why is it so delicious!?"

"Why does my cake taste like noodles? It isn't that bad, either..."

"Wine Cake! Hahahahah! Can I get drunk from this cake!?"

"Ptoey! Why is this cake so sour!? My tongue is going numb from the sourness but I think I want more!?"

  Jing was pretty content with how things were going. People were socializing about the Qi Gatherer's matches and sometimes with those Qi Gatherers. Bing, Runt, and Lei Zhi were quite popular right now with dozens of people surrounding them asking them questions trying to get to know them. Of course, that situation was playing out with most of Heaven's Angels but the Qi Gatherers were getting the most attention excluding herself. Although the attention on Jing was different from the ones on her angels.

  There was malice, joy, pride, interest, attraction, all sorts of elders were staring at her with their own thoughts in mind. Jing ignored them all with a smile as she ate some delicious cake with her boyfriend and son. It wasn't going to be long before all of them were serving under her, dying from rebelling, or being cast out of the sect. So, they should enjoy the status quo as it is now before she completely destroys and remakes it into something none of them will be able to expect.

  Shang ate his watermelon-flavored cake while gazing at Jing from time to time. Li Li glared at Shang staring at his mom while eating his candy-flavored cake. Jing's cake was a mixture of vanilla, chocolate, and ice cream. She chose this one for herself. The taste reminded her of her original world. It felt nice to reminisce, the cuisine in this world was just too lacking...

"Are you okay?" Shang asked, apparently noticing something in her eyes.

"It's nothing, but thanks for asking." It was going to be a while before she shared her origins with anyone.

"Mhm. Okay." Shang continued eating, filing that down for later once he gets closer to Jing.

  The festivities continued until Jing figured it was time to bring out the refreshments. Spiritual alcohol, water, and fruit juice was served to everyone. The glasses came out of Jing's storage ring. She spent quite a bit of cash on this stuff the week before the finale. With her current wealth, she could probably buy the Golden Serpent Sect. So, these little things didn't make much of an impact on her overall cash.

  At first, Jing planned to serve everyone water from SCP-109. After they ingested the spiritual water, Jing would control it to stay within their bodies forever. If they ever slighted her, she would show them the meaning of pain before forcing them to kneel beneath her. Making them realize that their life was under her control forever. The thought of it made her excited but she immediately threw the plan out.

  The elders would easily notice such a thing. It would place her under high suspicion and all her efforts to generate goodwill between her and the sect would be erased just like that. Plus, the pros didn't outweigh the cons in a significant way. Even if she had control over the lives of everyone in the sect, how would that help her in the long run? Sticking to her original plan of reforming the sect seems to be for the best even if it might take longer. It was far safer and more reliable than the alternatives.