"Li Bai's Demoness: 'Qingliang Temple' is a nest of feudal-superstition freaks and relics. They deserve to be knocked flat and trampled into the ground!" declared the mighty Demon King from the Kunlun Demon Realm.
"Moon丶Shadow Dance Scar: Awooo, the Demoness is here! Quick, grab a little stool and watch!"
"Liberators: The Demoness versus Qingliang Temple! Fellow cultivators, come watch the fight!"
"Jialuo: Cigarettes, beer, instant noodles, sunflower seeds, peanuts, bottled water, drinks, playing cards, and Eight-Treasure Porridge! Anyone want some?"
"Li Bai's Demoness" had already become somewhat famous on the "17th Floor" forum, a well-known warrior. The moment she showed up, a crowd of trouble-seeking netizens swarmed in to watch.
Wasn't the whole point of surfing the internet to have fun? This time, there was plenty of fun to be had.
Perhaps those newly registered sockpuppet accounts had never experienced how fierce "Li Bai's Demoness" could be. They jumped straight into the fray without a word. More than a dozen accounts opened fire, while the peanut-gallery crowd watched with delight.
She's taking over the forum again! Again! This is so exciting!
The "17th Floor" forum's head moderator's face was probably as black as the bottom of a pot. Damn it, that menace is back!
"Dragon Wolf A'ya Zi: Whoa! Could this Demoness actually be Doctor Li? Her combat strength is off the charts, and she posts and replies at an absolutely godlike speed!"
"KFC Who Doesn't Flirt: A man using a woman's ID? Isn't that perverted? How come this psychiatrist hasn't cured himself?"
"Driver Returns: Doctor Li is obviously a man. Why would he choose an ID with 'Demoness' in it? She must be his girlfriend."
"Star Luo: The Dao is one foot high, the demon one yard higher. One against fifteen, and she's still holding her own. She really is a Demoness!"
"Er Gouzi: Not necessarily Li Bai. Fighting for three days and nights without logging off—he's obviously a shut-in. A doctor has to go to work. How would he have so much time to argue online?"
The spectators weren't about to let the excitement die down. Before long, something new came up.
"Li Bai's Demoness: What merit and great freedom? It's all utter nonsense. You weaklings haven't even reached the Spirit Drawing Realm, and you still dare to swindle people?"
Then she began refuting and exposing the posts one by one, spouting another set of astonishing, utterly bizarre claims. Her obscure jargon about cultivating the Dao, drawing spiritual energy into the body, and gathering it into spells left everyone bewildered and clueless.
The "17th Floor" forum erupted. Was this person another cultivator? Why did she sound so convincing?
"Moon丶Shadow Dance Scar: What Spirit Drawing Realm? You been reading too many novels?"
"Golden Crispy Chicken: I'm dying! Daoist magic ran into a novel reader! Hahaha, let me laugh for a while."
The sockpuppet accounts were all dumbfounded. What the heck was the Spirit Drawing Realm?
They'd only ever heard of cultivation stages like Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Body Integration, Tribulation Crossing, and Mahayana. They'd never heard of anything called the Spirit Drawing Realm. Of course, those other terms all came from novels, too. Anyone who took them for real must be a fool; there simply weren't enough con artists to go around.
A newly registered account called "Hermit Mountain Dweller," not even twelve hours old, replied, "What kind of demon are you?"
Less than ten seconds after he posted, the Demoness replied.
"Li Bai's Demoness: I am the Green Flood Dragon King of the Kunlun Demon Realm!"
The Green Flood Dragon King of the Kunlun Demon Realm?
The netizens were even more confused. This wasn't how things were supposed to go!
Why couldn't either side understand what the other was saying? They were obviously on completely different wavelengths.
The sockpuppet accounts stirring up trouble on the "17th Floor" forum were a little stunned, too. You say your thing, I say mine—and this sudden intrusion had turned the whole exchange into a conversation between people who didn't understand each other at all.
"Hermit Mountain Dweller" made another post of his own. "Nothing but the work of Evil Spirits and heretics. If you have the guts, come debate the Dao face-to-face!"
This wasn't the first time he'd challenged "Li Bai's Demoness." The shameless Azure Flood Dragon had stood him up every time before, then turned around and unleashed a torrent of abuse.
"Li Bai's Demoness" was as forthright and domineering as ever. "Who's afraid of whom? Bring it on!"
"[Haruhi Suzumiya, Club President]: I'm with the Demoness! Take down Qingliang Temple!"
"Commander Xu of the Northern Guard: Benches and refreshments are ready. I'll be watching the magical showdown."
The Demoness, who'd been stirring up trouble on the "17th Floor" forum, had managed to win two or three little fans. They joined in cheering her on, clearly just as eager for a spectacle.
But a moment later, a newly registered ID appeared: "Li Bai's True Self." It replied, "When? Where? Name the terms!"
Li Bai hadn't rushed to cultivate. He held his phone to charge while logging on to the "17th Floor" forum to keep an eye on the Demoness's flame war with those Qingliang Temple sockpuppets.
His concise challenge, which appeared out of nowhere, immediately set the entire "17th Floor" forum ablaze.
Many people had already suspected that "Li Bai's Demoness" was Li Bai himself, a psychiatrist at the Seventh People's Hospital Psychiatry Department, or someone very close to him. But no one had expected another account called "Li Bai's True Self" to suddenly appear at that exact moment.
"Li Bai's Demoness: I'm backing you, Young Master! Give them hell!"
Barely two seconds later, "Li Bai's Demoness" popped up again, quick and nimble.
This time, even more people joined in the commotion, and quite a few brought out their sockpuppet accounts.
Only then did everyone realize that "Li Bai's True Self" might really be Li Bai himself, while the person behind "Li Bai's Demoness," whom many had suspected was Li Bai, was someone else entirely.
The suspicious accounts that had been jumping around and taking turns battling "Li Bai's Demoness" fell silent in the blink of an eye. Not one of them was anywhere to be seen.
Li Bai scrolled across his phone screen and let out a cold laugh.
He now understood exactly what Qingliang Temple was up to.
These charlatans weren't just vicious dogs that barked only when they were ready to bite. They were also stirring things up behind the scenes, taking the opportunity to build momentum and make Qingliang Temple famous.
The simplest and most effective way was to find someone with enough weight to make an example of—someone with a background that wasn't too complicated, but who wasn't completely unknown either. Then they could squeeze him hard, kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, and establish their authority.
Li Bai had recently been dragged into the Yao Family's scandal and become infamous. He'd also driven Daoist He and his two disciples out of the villa belonging to Cao Lei, chairman of Yuantian Hotel. Cutting off someone's income was no different from smashing their rice bowl. Qingliang Temple naturally wasn't going to swallow that insult, so they'd decided to target him.
The sockpuppets that had been fanning the flames hadn't expected this psychiatrist to actually accept the challenge.
Was he kidding?
If a psychiatrist knew immortal arts, wouldn't treating patients mean performing rituals, chanting spells, sprinkling talisman water, and then shouting, "By the command of the Most High Lord Lao, hurry and obey!"?
Just imagining the scene was wonderful.
If that were the case, what would people of the Daoist faith live on?
After a long while, an old account finally replied.
"Old Man of Southern Mountain: On the eighteenth day of the third month, under the Dragon's Head-Raising sky, at Qingliang Temple. I'll exchange Daoist techniques with Fellow Daoist Li."
Someone immediately recognized "Old Man of Southern Mountain's" true identity.
"No Pure Milk: Holy crap, that's Daoist Li Jin Dan, Qingliang Temple's second senior brother!"
"Cat Who Doesn't Eat Fish: Looking forward to the magical showdown. Anyone going?"
"Tuzki: I'm in, I'm in!"
"Dog Admin Opened the Group: Sign me up +10086!"
Who could have guessed that a rowdy online flame war would spill over into real life? Clearly, plenty of people were tempted and joined in the excitement.
The ones who were least concerned about making trouble weren't the Demoness or the netizens blindly cheering them on. They were the media.
The owner behind the "17th Floor" forum was the Huxi Daily, the biggest-circulation newspaper published locally in Huxi City. Netizens submitted plenty of tips every day, making the forum an important source of news for the paper.
The editors, always hunting for hot stories like hounds, sprang into action at once.
As soon as an unfamiliar number called Li Bai's phone, he hung up without hesitation and enabled whitelist filtering. Only numbers saved in his contacts could get through; all others would be blocked automatically.
Qingliang Temple was ultimately a little slow to react. Just half an hour later, the reporters, who could get through any crack, had obtained the phone numbers of all three Daoist masters. A barrage of calls kept coming one after another, leaving them frazzled. Even the young Daoists weren't spared. None of them would be getting a peaceful night's sleep.
By contrast, Li Bai, who'd had the foresight to reply to "Old Man of Southern Mountain" on the "17th Floor" forum under the ID "Li Bai's True Self" with "I'll be there," simply turned off his phone and began cultivating, paying no mind to the storm raging outside.
For the sake of three hundred yuan in pocket money and the moonlight stones that contained Moonlight Essence, the Demoness's forum-clearing blade was itching for blood once again. She seized a sockpuppet account and began another glorious slaughter. As a lawless demon, this was the proper way to do things.
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