The Strongest Talent Tree

Onstage, the performance had begun. Once Yao Ying took her place, she completely threw herself into the energetic song and dance routine.

Her stunning and bewitching looks, paired with the performance outfits personally designed by Feng Hao, brought the charm of their song and dance to the absolute limit.

Under her lead, Xu Zhenzhen and Li Ting’s performances were equally dazzling, eliciting countless cheers from the audience.

Inside the vast theater, tens of thousands of audience members screamed and cheered. The sound was an overwhelming, deafening roar. Not even the performances of those Dance Masters could have generated such a fervent atmosphere.

Most importantly, aside from the fan clubs outside the venue, Feng Hao hadn’t hired any shills. In other words, the tens of thousands of audience members in attendance were all genuine fans and supporters.

Nearly every person in the audience was captivated by the trio’s performance. It was no surprise. For people who had grown tired of traditional dance styles, the Wind Love Dance Troupe’s songs and choreography were novel and absolutely stunning.

"Little Demon Goddess, I love you! Marry me~!"

"From now on, if anyone dares to bad-mouth the Wind Love Dance Troupe, they’ll have to answer to me first!"

"Haha, count me in! Ting’Er, my goddess, I’d love to have dinner with you!"

"Shut up! Zhenzhen is mine! Don’t any of you try to fight me for her!"

"Piss off! Zhenzhen is obviously mine, okay?"

Watching the group argue back and forth, a few students from the Five Provinces Academy couldn’t help but tease them, "You can all stop wasting your breath. As far as I know, Zhenzhen already has a boyfriend."

"What?!" Countless people cried out, their faces pale with shock. "What son of a bitch dares to snatch my goddess?"

"I’d advise you all to just give up. Zhenzhen’s boyfriend is number one on the Crystal Stele in the Five Provinces Academy’s Alchemy Department. I heard he was promoted to a Seventh-level Alchemist not long ago and is highly valued by the academy. If you go looking for trouble with him, you’re looking for trouble with the entire academy!"

"Holy shit! How old is he to already be a Seventh-level Alchemist? Is that for real?"

"Of course it’s real."

"Tch. What’s so great about being a Seventh-level Alchemist?"

"Honestly, Zhenzhen... Of all the guys she could have chosen, she had to pick an Alchemist."

Elsewhere, a couple was waving their hands and frantically shouting the Wind Love Dance Troupe’s name, their excitement at a fever pitch.

The girl was especially ecstatic. Gazing at the outfits worn by Yao Ying and the others, her eyes sparkled. ’If only I had clothes that beautiful.’

"Wow, their dancing is so beautiful, and their voices are amazing too! I’m so jealous!"

She had originally just wanted to see what kind of dance troupe had gotten her boyfriend so obsessed. But after watching the Wind Love Dance Troupe perform, she found herself completely hooked as well.

There were many similar cases. In short, the Wind Love Dance Troupe’s appeal won over men and women alike. In this Mage World, so starved for entertainment, no one could resist the craze.

In just a single performance, the Wind Love Dance Troupe gained an untold number of new fans.

When the show ended, the entire audience was still left wanting more, and the whole venue echoed with shouts of the Wind Love Dance Troupe’s name and those of the three performers.

"Thank you, everyone! Thank you for your support!" the three of them cried out, their faces flushed with excitement.

At their words, the audience below erupted in another wave of thunderous applause and cheers.

For Xu Zhenzhen and Li Ting, the scene felt like a dream. To them, there was no greater happiness than earning this kind of recognition.

"Unfortunately, due to time constraints, that’s all for today’s performance," Yao Ying said apologetically. "But don’t worry, everyone! We’ve partnered with the Thief God Entertainment Company and will be releasing our first album in two days! It will include brand-new songs and dances, as well as plenty of footage from our daily rehearsals."

"Also, if we have any new shows, the Thief God Entertainment Company will notify everyone right away, so please rest assured."

This announcement sent a wave of excitement through the crowd. Already left wanting more, they were naturally eager for the Wind Love Dance Troupe’s album.

"For real? Where can we buy it?"

Yao Ying smiled sweetly. "Of course it’s real! You’ll be able to buy it at all Thief God Entertainment Company outlets. And the album even includes a little surprise that we’ve specially prepared for you~!"

"Oh man, I’m dying! I can’t wait to buy one and check it out."

"Little Demon Goddess, I love you! I’ll definitely buy it!"

"Nobody stop me! I’m buying two copies—one to watch and one to keep as a collectible!"

"How are two copies enough? This young master is buying ten!"

"I’m buying a hundred! Don’t ask why. When you’ve got money, you can do what you want!"

...

Although the performance was over, the Wind Love Dance Troupe’s popularity only continued to grow.

Over the next few days, nearly all of Thief God Entertainment Company’s outlets had long lines snaking out the door, every person there for the Wind Love Dance Troupe.

No one was happier about this than Qian Sanduo. He’d never been sure how the Wind Love Dance Troupe was supposed to make money, but now he understood. As long as the troupe was around, the Crystal Card business would never fizzle out.

Two days later, the Wind Love Dance Troupe’s debut album was released. In less than half a day, the entire stock sold out.

The terrifying speed at which they were raking in money gave Qian Sanduo a shock. He hurriedly ordered the Mechanic teams to rush production, but even so, supply still couldn’t meet demand. Left with no choice, he had to borrow a large number of Mechanic teams from other departments just to stabilize the situation.

Thanks to the album Crystal Cards, the Wind Love Dance Troupe’s fame spread at a greatly accelerated rate.

Seeing that the situation was so favorable, Qian Sanduo decided to strike while the iron was hot and began preparing to enter the markets in other countries.

And so, not long after, under his arrangements, Yao Ying and the others began touring and performing in other countries.

Meanwhile, Feng Hao returned to his leisurely lifestyle: cultivating, forging, tinkering with machines in his spare time, and secretly selling a bit of porn on the side. Life was good.

Most importantly, he was finally living a life of shameless bliss with Yao Girl. It was absolutely amazing.

But recently, Feng Hao had been a little troubled. For some reason, Xi Yueyao had become obsessed with arrays. She holed herself up from morning to night studying Demon Pattern Arrays in the Array department, and she couldn’t even stay still at night when they were getting busy.

On several occasions, just as Feng Hao was getting into the swing of things, he was interrupted by the sudden activation of an array. One time, he was frozen solid in a block of ice, unable to move. Another time, the gravity shifted and sent him floating around the room. And then there was the time a pile of tentacles shot out and trussed him up like a turkey.

Of course, none of that was the main point. The main point was the time they were in the middle of things and Xi Yueyao decided to play with a Flame Burst Array, blasting him straight into the ceiling and burning all the hair off his ’little Feng Hao’.

Fortunately, a Mage’s restorative abilities were very strong, and with the help of his secret-recipe medicinal pills, ’little Feng Hao’ quickly returned to its former dark and dense state.

In short, ever since Yao Girl became obsessed with Demon Pattern Arrays, he hadn’t had a single good session in the sack.

Thankfully, the girl herself realized the effect her random array-play was having on their ’drives,’ so she had finally settled down the past two days and was very cooperative each night.

Although Feng Hao had temporarily escaped his suffering, Xi Yueyao had now turned her demonic claws on Xiaohai and Three-second Fire.

Three-second Fire was fine. As an Elemental Spiritual Object, it was quite powerful in its own right, and ordinary Demon Pattern Arrays didn’t have much of an effect on it.

But poor Xiaohai was another story. As a Midnight Miaomiao that wasn’t even a year old, how could it withstand such torment? It spent nearly every day scrambling and leaping about in a panic.

Case in point: the moment Yao Girl returned from the academy, Xiaohai’s fur immediately stood on end, and with a SWOOSH, it dove into Feng Hao’s arms.

"Little Miaomiao, why are you hiding from me?" Xi Yueyao pouted, displeased. "Come on, come on, I’ve got something fun for us to do."

"..." Feeling the trembling Xiaohai in his arms, Feng Hao felt a wave of exasperation wash over him.