The next morning, Lin Wei woke to the sound of his communication jade buzzing.
Not just buzzing, it was Vibrating so hard it was moving against the wooden shelf beside his sleeping mat.
He opened one eye and immediately regretted it.
[Good morning, Host! You have 389 unread messages! Your video reached 2,000 views overnight! You gained 53 more subscribers while you slept! You're FAMOUS! ♪(´▽｀)]
"Three hundred and eighty nine messages?" Lin Wei's voice came out as a croak.
[Yep! Mix of comments on your videos, private messages from admirers, several marriage proposals—all jokes, I think, and oh, this is fun: FIVE separate death threats from Huo Liang's lackeys! Your viral success has made ENEMIES! This is growth!]
Lin Wei groaned and pulled his blanket over his head. "I want to go back to being invisible."
[Too late! You're INFAMOUS now! Well, 'infamous' or 'famous,' the line is pretty blurred. Either way, people know who you are! Now GET UP—you have a Daily Mission to complete.]
The blanket was yanked off by an invisible force, leaving him exposed to the cold morning air.
"Hey!"
[No laziness allowed! Your mission timer started at dawn. You have 12 hours to complete it or suffer Qi stagnation. That means NO CULTIVATION for an entire day, which would be devastating now that your meridians are actually working. Up! Up! Up!]
Lin Wei sat up, rubbing his face. Through the gaps in his shack's walls, he could see it was barely past sunrise. The sect was still mostly quiet, just the early risers heading to morning practice.
"What's the mission again?"
A screen materialized in his vision:
[DAILY MISSION: Morning Flexibility Routine (Shirtless)]
Objective: Demonstrate basic stretching and flexibility exercises to improve Qi flow, must be shirtless to show proper form and muscle engagement to your audience.
Requirements:
- Minimum 2 minutes of recorded content
- Must show at least 5 different stretches
- Must be shirtless (non-negotiable, stop asking)
- Must be posted to public forum OR subscriber feed
Rewards:
- +5 Qi Purity
- +0.3 Attraction Rating
- Flexibility +2 (actual cultivation benefit!)
- Maintains subscriber engagement (consistent posting prevents follower loss)
Failure Penalty:
- Qi Stagnation (24 hours - cannot cultivate)
- Subscriber disappointment (may lose 20-30% of followers)
- System mockery (I will not let you live this down)
- Momentum loss (algorithm stops recommending your content)
Time Remaining: 11:47:23
Lin Wei stared at the screen, his brain still foggy from sleep.
"Shirtless," he said flatly.
[Correct! The Lust path requires VISIBILITY, Host. People need to see what they're subscribing to. Also, flexibility content performs extremely well with audiences. Trust me, I've analyzed millions of data points. Half naked stretching gets engagement.]
"You want me to strip for content."
[I want you to demonstrate proper form for flexibility exercises, which requires showing muscle engagement, which requires removing your shirt. There's a difference. One sounds educational, the other sounds slutty. We're going for educational... Mostly.]
"That was NOT comforting."
[Look, you can either do this mission and maintain your cultivation progress, or you can refuse and spend the next 24 hours unable to circulate Qi while watching your subscriber count drop. Your choice! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]
Lin Wei wanted to argue, wanted to refuse as usual. But yesterday's success had been a convincing enough reason to follow the system.
And all it had cost was his dignity.
He was starting to realize dignity was overrated when you were desperate.
"Fine," he muttered, pulling off his sleep shirt. The morning air was cold against his bare chest. "But I'm doing this INSIDE. Privately, no one needs to see this live."
[Agreed! Set up your recording array. Make it quick and professional. In and out, easy mission. You've got this!]
Ten minutes later, Lin Wei stood in front of his recording array, shirtless and deeply uncomfortable.
The morning air raised goosebumps on his skin. He crossed his arms over his chest, then forced himself to drop them. Looking insecure would just make this worse.
His body wasn't impressive, he was too thin, ribs visible, not much muscle definition but the system claimed his Attraction Rating was 6.0 now. Apparently that was "moderately attractive."
He didn't feel moderately attractive, he felt like he was about to make a terrible mistake.
"This is ridiculous."
[This is CULTIVATION. Now start stretching! Remember: explain what you're doing, make it educational. You're not just showing off your body, you're teaching technique!]
Lin Wei took a breath and activated the array.
The jade slip started glowing, recording...
"Morning," he said to the camera, trying to sound casual and failing. "Lin Wei here, TrashPhoenix. Today I'm demonstrating basic flexibility exercises that help improve Qi circulation through the meridians, these are especially useful for people with damaged or blocked pathways."
He bent forward into a simple toe-touch stretch, holding the position.
"This stretch opens the back meridian channels, you should feel tension along your spine and the backs of your legs. Hold for thirty seconds, breathe steadily..."
[Boring! Add some personality! Smile! Make eye contact with the camera! You look like you're being held hostage!]
Lin Wei frowned but complied, he looked directly at the array and forced a smile, or something.
"These stretches might look simple, but they're really effective for improving Qi flow to the lower dantian. If you have circulation issues, try..."
The shack door shook suddenly.
Lin Wei froze mid-stretch, half bent over, shirtless.
A voice from outside: "Wei? You in there?"
Zhang Min, one of the few outer disciples who didn't actively mock him. More of a neutral acquaintance than a friend.
"Uh... yes? What do you need?"
"Just checking if you're alive, you haven't been to the dining hall in two days. Some people are taking bets on whether you died of shame."
[DON'T STOP RECORDING! The array is still running!]
Lin Wei's eyes widened. "I'm... I'm fine! Just been busy."
"Busy with what? I heard you talking to yourself."
"Cultivation practice! Very intensive! Requires focus!"
"...Are you okay? You sound weird."
"I'M GREAT! THANKS FOR CHECKING!"
"Oh, well. Good luck with that."
Zhang Min's footsteps hesitated, then retreated slowly.
Lin Wei exhaled and returned to his stretching routine, hyperaware that the array had captured that entire awkward exchange.
[Perfect! Authentic behind the scenes moment, audiences love that kind of realness. Very relatable.]
"That was not 'perfect'.."
His communication jade buzzed.
Then buzzed again.
And again.
"What now?"
[Uh. Host? I need to tell you something.]
Lin Wei grabbed his jade slip and opened it.
His heart stopped.
The recording array... was Livestreaming.
Not just recording for later, broadcasting live to his subscriber feed right fucking now.
[CURRENT VIEWERS: 67]
The comments were rolling in real-time:
[@MorningDewDisciple: "Is this happening RIGHT NOW? He's actually doing a live stream?"]
[@RandomFan: "He's actually shirtless. I thought the mission title was a joke."]
[@OuterSectGossip: "SOMEONE SCREENSHOT THIS BEFORE IT ENDS"]
[@ThirstyDisciple: "It's 6 AM and I am AWAKE for this"]
"LÚ TǏ!" Lin Wei hissed, keeping his voice low. "Why is this LIVE?!"
[I don't know! The array must have auto-connected to your subscriber feed! It's a feature I didn't realize was enabled! Probably happened because you got so many subscribers so fast—the system automatically upgraded your account to include livestream capability!]
"TURN IT OFF!"
[I can't! You have to manually disable it from the array settings, but if you touch the array now, it'll end the stream abruptly and your viewers will be disappointed! You'll take an engagement penalty!]
Lin Wei lunged for the recording array anyway, but the moment he moved, more comments exploded:
[@ThirstyForDao: "The way he moves though 👀"]
[@Anonymous91: "Why is this cultivation content? Why am I still watching? What's wrong with me?"]
[@ConfusedButEngaged: "I came here for the technique explanation and stayed for... I don't know why I'm still here"]
[VIEWERS: 89]
"This is a disaster..."
[This is OPPORTUNITY! You're getting MASSIVE real time engagement! Just—just finish the stretches! Complete the mission! You're already committed! Think of the rewards!]
Lin Wei stood there, half bent toward the array, shirtless with eighty-nine people watching him live.
Ninety-seven now.
One hundred and three.
He had two choices:
Run away and fail the mission (Qi stagnation, subscriber loss, momentum death).
Or finish what he started and hope he survived the humiliation.
"I hate this so fucking much," he said to the system.
[Noted! Now STRETCH! Your audience is waiting!]
Lin Wei straightened, took a breath and turned back to face the array.
One hundred and three people were watching.
One hundred and fifteen now.
One hundred and twenty eight.
"Right," he said, voice slightly shaking. "Where was I? Flexibility exercises for meridian health."
He moved through the next stretch, arms overhead, side bend, holding the position. His ribs showed when he bent. He was too aware of every imperfection in his body.
[@InnerSectJade: "His form is actually really good? Like genuinely proper technique?"]
[@SwordDisciple: "I'm taking notes, this is legitimately helpful cultivation advice."]
[@HuoLiang: "This is pathetic, Trash Wei is so desperate for attention he's stripping on the sect network. Disgusting."]
[@DefenderOfJustice: "@HuoLiang You're literally watching this live at 6 AM. Sounds like YOU'RE the desperate one."]
[@RandomCultivator: "Can we talk about how his meridian control is actually impressive for someone with damaged pathways?"]
Lin Wei tried to ignore the comments and focused on the exercises. Third stretch: seated forward fold. Fourth: spinal twist that unfortunately emphasized his torso in ways he hadn't anticipated.
[VIEWERS: 156]
"This stretch targets the lower dantian area," he explained, forcing his voice to stay steady despite wanting to die. "Important for energy circulation in them..."
The shack door rattled again.
Louder this time.
"Lin Wei?"
Different voice, this time a Female voice. It sounded familiar.
"Oh, fu..."