The scenery was set, and the director’s team was all in position.

And so, on September 1st, *Journey to the West* held its opening ceremony.

Compared to the difficulties of filming *Journey to the West* in its original era, shooting it in the Interstellar age was much simpler.

Sun Wukong’s headpiece was like a prosthetic skin, causing the actor no discomfort at all.

If there were any monkey-type Half-beastmen with heads as good-looking as Sun Wukong’s, she might have just cast one of them to keep its natural monkey head.

But as it turned out, Brother Monkey’s face was far more refined than any actual Beastman’s.

Compared to *Rebirth Night*, Jiang Qin was more worried about this production, so she was on set from the very first day.

The first scene they shot was the monkey bursting out of the stone.

Many people on set were completely baffled by this premise.

Jiang Qin could even hear them whispering amongst themselves:

"Why do you think a stone can give birth to a Beastman?"

That’s right. In their understanding, Sun Wukong was essentially a Beastman, because he had the body of a beast and the mind of a human.

So, they considered him a Beastman, and they were a little confused.

They didn’t understand why a monkey-type was chosen when there were so many more powerful Beastmen in the Interstellar!

But right now, they were even more confused about how a stone could gestate life.

So, they started speculating:

"Maybe that rock was actually a rock-monkey Half-beastman?"

Everyone shot the speaker a look.

The person sheepishly shut their mouth, not making any more thoughtless guesses.

"Maybe the monkey’s mom and dad put him in a hibernation pod and disguised it with a layer of rock?"

"No, the script says the stone is just a big rock."

"Well... okay, we can’t think of any reason a stone could give birth to a monkey."

"Whatever. Maybe the reason will be revealed later in the plot."

As they were just ordinary crew members, they hadn’t read the script and didn’t know the details.

...

In the shot, the great stone cracked, the monkey burst out and leaped into the air, and the camera moved with his action...

But this very first shot had a major flaw.

Mrs. Yin frowned and called a halt.

"Let’s do it again."

After several consecutive NGs, Mrs. Yin could only frown and tell the actor to take a break and try to get a feel for the character on the side.

Meanwhile, she watched the playback on the camera, her brow furrowed in thought.

Jiang Qin joined her, watching as well.

"Xiao Qing, what do you think of this take?"

"Maybe... our technology is too good. We failed to capture that hazy, mythical sense of grandeur."

"Too good?" Mrs. Yin hadn’t expected such an answer.

As a famous director, she wasn’t the arrogant type who looked down on everyone.

On the contrary, because she genuinely loved filming, she had the patience to learn from her juniors and the humility to consult her seniors.

After all, everyone has a different perspective and different ideas.

She was perfectly willing to adopt the good aspects of others’ views to broaden her own experience.

Movies and television are things that need to align with audience preferences, so she always worried about falling behind and not keeping up with the changing times.

Trends are the kind of thing that change from month to month.

Only by constantly learning and understanding the public’s views could she produce works that would appeal to the aesthetics of generation after generation.

Therefore, she didn’t feel at all awkward about needing to consult Jiang Qin.

In fact, she greatly admired Jiang Qin.

After all, very few people could create works that were loved across the entire Interstellar and were released in both the Empire and among the Myriad Races.

But Jiang Qin had done it.

It wasn’t just her film and television projects; her songs were also loved by the masses.

So, she trusted Jiang Qin’s professional judgment and decided to listen to her.

With an idea in mind, she went to speak with the actor playing Sun Wukong again.

After another two or three NGs, she was finally satisfied.

The moment she called it good, everyone on set breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew, I’d heard Director Yin was strict, but I didn’t realize she really wouldn’t tolerate the slightest flaw."

"That’s normal. She’s not short on cash. Even if the shoot burns through money, she can afford it, so of course she’ll strive for perfection."

Hearing this, the others fell silent.

Aside from a few who were truly in it for their dreams, most of them, the actors, were in it for the money.

After all, a big reason many of them chose the path of acting was because their natural talents weren’t high.

So they had to try other ways to make a living.

And even those who were in it for their dreams wouldn’t turn their noses up at more money.

While Director Yin was indeed a bit difficult, she paid the actors a generous bonus out of her own pocket.

The moment they thought about that payment, the actors’ complaints completely vanished.

After a break, filming resumed.

This time, they were shooting the scene of picking the Flat Peaches.

The main actors, of course, were the group of celestial maidens.

When this group of females appeared in colorful long dresses, everyone on set was stunned.

"Wow!! They’re so beautiful!"

"The dresses are beautiful, the makeup is beautiful, and the accessories are beautiful too."

"So does ’celestial maiden’ just mean a beautiful female?"

"And they’re all pure-human females, too."

"What? Pure-human females?"

"Yeah, Miss Jiang specifically picked them out. She said the celestial maidens don’t have that many scenes, so she gave this job to them."

"I guess Miss Jiang wanted to help out these poor pure-human females, right? She’s so kind."

"Yeah, I’ve already joined Miss Jiang’s fan club. From now on, I’m a proud Jiang Fan too!"

...

After filming wrapped for the day, the cast and crew discovered that their production had started trending!

The reason was this group of celestial maidens.

A number of paparazzi photographers who had come to take pictures of the stars had filmed their appearance and uploaded it online.

In the footage, within the ethereal, mist-shrouded Flat Peach Garden, a group of celestial maidens appeared one after another, laughing and chatting.

What was most captivating was how their movements were filled with a classical elegance.

Their light laughter was both charming and graceful—it was absolutely perfect.

The colors of their clothes were also exceptionally brilliant.

[I always used to think bright colors were tacky, so I only liked pastels, but why do I think they look so good in these?]

[Such bold color combinations. Each one would look gaudy on its own, but why do they create such a wonderful sense of beauty when put together?]

[I know, I know! It’s a certain... ah, yes, this must be what Immortals feel like, right?]

[I feel the same way. I didn’t know what Immortals were like; I didn’t even know the word ’Immortal’ until Jiang Qin popularized it.

But I just feel like Immortals *should* be this brilliant. I can’t even imagine what an Immortal in plain colors would look like.]

—

You can read the next Chapter in an hour.

I won’t do this tomorrow. Sorry, sorry.