[Oh, it saved! And Host... it looks AMAZING. Well, 'amazing' in a 'absolutely ridiculous but somehow compelling' way. Want to see the playback?]
"Absolutely fucking not."
[Too bad! You need to review your content! That's Content Creation 101!]
The system projected the recording in his vision.
Lin Wei watched in mounting horror as his "serious cultivation demonstration" played back. With the enhancement filter, he looked like... like he was performing for an audience at the most expensive brothel in the cultivation world. Everything about it screamed "please find me sexually attractive" despite his completely innocent intentions.
The worst part? It actually looked good.
The lighting was incredibly flattering, smoothing out the shadows under his eyes and making his features look sharp and defined. The slow motion made his movements look graceful instead of awkward. Even his voice sounded better, less nervous student, more confident instructor with a hint of bedroom voice.
"I can't post this," Lin Wei said, his face burning with embarrassment. "Everyone will think I'm trying to... that I'm deliberately..."
[Seduce them? Yes! That's the POINT! This is Lust Qi cultivation, Host. This video is PERFECT for the path. It hits all the right notes: attractive, educational, mysterious, and just suggestive enough to make people curious.]
"It makes me look like an idiot trying to be sexy!"
[It makes you look INTERESTING, and right now, you need interesting. Trust me on this.]
"No."
[HOST.] The system's voice became serious. [You have thirteen hours and forty-two minutes until mission failure. Your first video has exactly THREE VIEWS and ZERO ENGAGEMENT. Someone clicked on it, watched for five seconds, and left. That's it. You need something that will actually get ATTENTION, and this will get attention.]
Lin Wei stared at the paused video on his screen, frozen on a frame where the lighting made him look almost ethereal.
The system was right, his first video was honest and heartfelt but it was also boring. Just another struggling disciple's sob story in a sect full of struggling disciples.
This video was ridiculous. Absurd, and Completely unintentional.
But it definitely wasn't boring.
"If I post this and it doesn't work, I'm finding a way to rip you out of my soul and throw you in a fire."
[Noted! Now POST IT before you overthink yourself into paralysis!]
Lin Wei pulled out his communication jade with shaking hands. He uploaded the video to the sect network, tagged it with #CultivationTutorial #BasicTechniques #AlternativeMethods, and after a while of staring at the post button published it.
[UPLOADING...]
[VIDEO POSTED: "Basic Qi Circulation Tutorial"]
[Duration: 2:14]
[Current Views: 0]
[Current Engagement: 0]*l
"Now what?"
[Now we wait, and you should probably eat something. Stress cultivation burns calories and you're already too skinny.]
Lin Wei wasn't hungry, anxiety had his stomach in knots but he forced himself to chew on some dried meat from his supplies. He tried not to stare at his jade slip.
Tried and failed spectacularly.
Minutes passed by like wounded animals.
Then:
[DING! First view!]
Lin Wei's head snapped up. "Someone watched it?"
[Yep! Anonymous viewer. They watched for... one minute, twelve seconds. They're still watching!]
His heart hammered against his ribs, someone was actually watching his content. Right now. In real time.
[They just finished! Two minutes, fourteen seconds. They watched the WHOLE THING!]
"Did they engage? Comment? Like?"
[Not yet, but they WATCHED. That's progress!]
Another minute passed.
Then:
[DING! Second view!]
[DING! Third view!]
[DING! DING! DING!]
The views started coming faster, the notification sounds overlapping.
[Okay, something's happening. Your video is getting picked up by the recommendation algorithm, It's being suggested to people based on their viewing history!]
Lin Wei watched the counter climb with a mixture of excitement and dread. Five views.. Ten.. Twenty.. Thirty..
Then the first comment appeared:
[@MorningDewDisciple: "...Is this supposed to be serious? Because I genuinely can't tell."]
[ENGAGEMENT ACHIEVED! MISSION COMPLETE!]
The system's announcement blazed across his vision in glowing pink text.
[MANDATORY MISSION: INTRODUCTION CONTENT - SUCCESS!]
[REWARDS DISTRIBUTING NOW...]
Lin Wei gasped as energy flooded his body like someone had opened a dam inside his chest.
His Lust Core—dormant until this moment—suddenly ignited. Not with fire but with a warm, pulsing sensation that spread through his meridians like liquid light. The broken pathways that had caused him so much pain for six years suddenly felt... not healed exactly, but more responsive. Like they remembered how to be whole.
[LUST CORE: ACTIVATED]
[QI CIRCULATION: RESTORED (Basic Level)]
[MERIDIAN INTEGRITY: 23% → 28%]
[SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 1]
[ATTRACTION RATING: 4.7 → 5.4]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: "First Steps" - Confidence +1]
Lin Wei fell to his knees as the transformation completed, energy coursed through channels that had been dead for years. For the first time since he was twelve years old, since the accident that had shattered his meridians, his Qi moved smoothly.
Not perfectly, not like the healthy cultivator's, but enough to actually matter.
"Holy shit," he breathed. "It actually worked, It fucking worked."
[Told you! Never doubt the system! Now check your subscriber—you've got your first follower!]
He pulled up the interface with trembling hands. Sure enough, one person had clicked "follow" on his @TrashPhoenix account.
[@MorningDewDisciple is now following you!]
But the views were still climbing. Fifty.. Seventy.. One hundred..
And the comments were starting to pour in like a flood:
[@OuterSectGossip: "I can't tell if this is a joke or the most unintentionally hilarious thing I've seen all week. Either way, I watched it twice."]
[@SwordSaintWannabe: "Why am I watching this? Why can't I stop watching this? What is wrong with me?"]
[@Anonymous47: "...Is he single? Asking for a friend. The friend is me."]
[@InnerSectJade: "The AUDACITY of posting this to the public forum. I'm genuinely impressed by the confidence."]
[@ConfusedDisciple: "Is this cultivation or performance art? I'm so confused but also... engaged?"]
[@ThirstyForDao: "The lighting. The wind. The slow motion. This is either genius or insanity and I can't tell which."]
Lin Wei watched in real time as his video became... viral.
One hundred and fifty views.
Two hundred.
Three hundred.
The subscriber count ticked up too.
[OH MY GOD, HOST! YOU'RE TRENDING! #4 on the Outer Sect forum! #7 on the General feed! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!]
"This is a disaster," Lin Wei said, but his voice lacked conviction.
[This is AMAZING! Look at the engagement rate! 73% watch through rate! That's INSANE for a first video! People are watching the whole thing!]
More comments rolled in:
[@HuoLiang: "Trash Wei is posting thirst traps now? This is pathetic even for him. Desperate attention seeking behavior."]
[@DefenderOfJustice: "@HuoLiang You're literally watching this and commenting. Sounds like YOU'RE the desperate one. Also his form is actually really good?"]
[@RandomDisciple: "I showed this to my roommate and she asked for his contact information. I don't know how to process this."]
[@SeriousCultivator: "Setting aside the ridiculous production... his circulation technique is actually solid. The explanation is clear. This is legitimately educational content disguised as... whatever this is."]
[DING! DING! DING!]
Subscribers kept climbing. Thirty.. Fifty.. Seventy-five..
[This is incredible! The algorithm LOVES you! You're getting recommended to everyone who's ever watched cultivation content! Your engagement rate is off the charts!]
Lin Wei felt dizzy, In the span of two hours, he'd gone from zero views to several hundred and climbing. His ridiculous, glitched, completely unintentional thirst trap was spreading across the sect like wildfire.
[MILESTONE REACHED: 100 SUBSCRIBERS!]
[BONUS REWARD: Qi Purity +10, New Title Unlocked: "Accidental Heartthrob"]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: "Viral First Post" - Your debut content reached 500+ views within 24 hours!]
[Additional Reward: Shamelessness +1 (You survived posting that video. Character growth!)]
By the time evening fell, the video had been viewed over one thousand five hundred times.
Lin Wei had one hundred and fifty subscribers.
And his Attraction Rating had jumped to 6.0 officially "moderately attractive" according to the system's scale.
[CONGRATULATIONS, HOST! You're officially attractive enough that people would give you a second glance in the marketplace! This is huge progress! You've gone from 'background NPC' to 'minor character people notice'!]
"I'm never leaving this shack again," Lin Wei said, face buried in his hands. His ears were burning with embarrassment.
[Nonsense! You're POPULAR now! People are talking about you! This is just the beginning!]
A notification appeared:
[NEW DAILY MISSION UNLOCKED!]
[Mission: "Morning Flexibility Routine (Shirtless)"]
[Post within 24 hours]
[Reward: +5 Qi Purity, +0.3 Attraction Rating, Flexibility stat +2]
[Failure: Qi Stagnation for 24 hours, may lose followers due to inconsistent posting]
Lin Wei looked up slowly from his hands.
"Shirtless?"
[Yep! Gotta keep the momentum going! Your audience expects consistent content now. Can't disappoint them! You've built anticipation! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]
"I'm going to die of embarrassment."
[Probably not! Though your dignity is definitely taking casualties, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for your cultivation advancement!]
Lin Wei flopped backward onto his sleeping mat and stared at the ceiling.
One hundred and fifty subscribers.
A thousand plus people had watched him do basic stretches with dramatic lighting and slow motion effects.
Including people who knew him, Including people who'd mocked him yesterday. Including.. (he checked the viewer list with growing horror), several inner sect disciples, at least three elders, and someone with the username @SectMasterSecretAccount.
*Please let that be a joke account, Please.*
This was his life now, but at least the system worked.
He pulled up his status screen one more time:
[SUBSCRIBERS: 150]
[CULTIVATION: Qi Gathering Stage 4 (Lust Core Active)]
[MERIDIAN INTEGRITY: 28%]
[ATTRACTION RATING: 6.0/10 (Moderately Attractive)]
[QI PURITY: 25/100]
[SHAMELESSNESS: 3/10 (Slight improvement!)]
Progress. Real, measurable, undeniable progress.
He'd humiliated himself again, but this time, it had given him something back.
POWER.
Lin Wei closed his eyes, tomorrow he'd have to do a shirtless flexibility routine, tomorrow people would stare even more, tomorrow the whispers would get louder.
But tomorrow he'd also be stronger.
That was the trade and he could live with that.
[Get some rest, Host! Big day tomorrow. We're going to make you FAMOUS! Well, infamous. There's a difference, but I don't think you care about the distinction anymore. ♪(´▽｀)]
Lin Wei frowned but didn't argue.
Outside his shack, the sect was buzzing with gossip about the mysterious @TrashPhoenix and their... unconventional cultivation videos. People were sharing the links, commenting, speculating about who was behind the account.
Some people had figured it out already. Others were still guessing.
But everyone was talking about it.
Inside his shack, Lin Wei tried to convince himself this was all going to be worth it.
His father had died trying to prove alternative cultivation could work.
Lin Wei was going to succeed.
Even if it meant becoming the sect's most notorious, and most watched... content creator in the process.
Even if it meant sacrificing his dignity one viral video at a time.
Power had a price.
He was learning to pay it.