It Had Truly Gone Viral

Yang Wanqing leaned over, saw the comments, and frowned. "What's wrong with these people? They won't even believe something we saw with our own eyes?"

"That's normal," Cai Jingwen said softly. "After all, those things really were beyond what ordinary people could comprehend."

Cradling the wolf cub, Li Li whispered, "If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't believe it either."

The skepticism in the livestream grew louder, but there were supporters too:

[I Am Ying Zheng: Get out if you don't believe it! We watched it happen live!]

[Yaoyao's Little Red Riding Hood: Exactly! Don't talk nonsense if you didn't watch the stream!]

[Evening Breeze Meets the Woods: There's a replay as proof. What's there to question?]

[East Gate Snowblower: My grandpa has practiced martial arts his whole life. He said special effects could never produce sword light like that.]

Just then, a particular comment flashed across the screen—

[Xiaoke: Check the trending searches! Check the trending searches!]

Yang Wanqing froze, then shrieked, "What? Trending searches? We're number ten?"

She fumbled to open the trending list, and sure enough—

#Chen Hao, the Celestial Master Among Us# — No. 10

#Slaying a Gu Diao in Kunlun# — No. 15

#Walking on Water# — No. 18

Three topics had broken into the top twenty trending searches at once!

"Oh my God!" Yang Wanqing's hands trembled with excitement. "Guys! We've gone viral! Completely viral!"

The livestream's viewer count skyrocketed, shooting from tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand, then two hundred thousand, then three hundred thousand...

Comments flew past too quickly to read:

[New User 001: Here from the trending searches! I heard there's a real master here?]

[New User 002: Walking on water? Is that real?]

[New User 003: What's a Gu Diao? The one from the Classic of Mountains and Seas?]

[New User 004: This isn't a movie shoot? It's a livestream?]

[New User 005: Front-row seat to watch the master!]

[New User 006: Celestial Master Chen is fucking awesome!]

[New User 007: Are you taking disciples? I can't do anything, but I'm great at cheering!]

Looking at the soaring viewer count and the screenful of new comments, Yang Wanqing couldn't stop grinning. "Welcome, newcomers! That's right, this is our livestream! The man driving is Celestial Master Chen, Chen Hao! Everything that happened yesterday was real! It was livestreamed from start to finish! There's a replay to prove it!"

"Wanqing," Chen Siyao whispered, "I don't think my brother likes drawing this much attention..."

Yang Wanqing glanced at Chen Hao. Seeing that his expression remained unchanged and he showed no sign of objecting, she gathered her courage and continued streaming. "It's fine, it's fine. Hao hasn't told us to stop!"

New and longtime viewers argued in the livestream:

[Sword, Come: Newcomers, quiet down! Listen to the longtime fans. Celestial Master Chen is the real deal!]

[Yaoyao's Little Red Riding Hood: We have a replay! Like, favorite, and share if you want to watch!]

[East Gate Snowblower: Even my grandpa said he was incredible after watching. Judge for yourselves.]

[Skipping Dinner: Honestly, I still don't really believe it.]

[Rich Guy: Neither do I, unless he demonstrates it live again.]

[Here for the Drama: Right! Show us again and we'll believe it!]

[New User 008: Show us something! Show us something!]

Yang Wanqing looked at Chen Hao and asked cautiously, "Hao, how about... showing them something else?"

Chen Hao glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "Show them what?" he asked mildly.

"Just... any little trick?" Yang Wanqing offered an ingratiating smile. "Give the newcomers something to marvel at?"

Chen Hao said nothing.

"Chen Hao, it's natural that they don't believe it," Cai Jingwen said softly. "After all, those things really were astonishing."

After a brief silence, Chen Hao suddenly raised his right hand and lightly flicked his index finger.

A streak of white energy, visible to the naked eye, shot from his fingertip and struck a basin-sized rock beside the road.

Boom—

The rock exploded, sending fragments flying!

The livestream fell silent for two seconds, then—

[New User 001: Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!!!]

[New User 002: Am I seeing things? Was that qigong?]

[New User 003: The rock exploded? He flicked his finger and the rock exploded?]

[New User 004: Mom asked why I was kneeling in front of my phone!]

[New User 005: That's not special effects! That's not special effects! That's not special effects!]

[New User 006: Celestial Master Chen is fucking awesome! (voice cracking)]

[New User 007: I believe it! I really believe it! Master, take me as your disciple!]

[Clearheaded: ...I was wrong. I shouldn't have doubted him.]

[Rich Guy: Can a human being even fucking do that?]

[Here for the Drama: My entire worldview just collapsed.]

Yang Wanqing leaned toward Chen Siyao's phone, grinning from ear to ear. "Guys! Did you see that? That's Celestial Master Chen! One little flick of his finger, and the rock exploded! Are you still going to call it special effects?"

The comments went completely wild, and gifts poured in too quickly to make out:

[New User 008] sent Yacht ×1! Message: Celestial Master Chen, take me as your disciple!

[New User 009] sent Rocket ×1! Message: Master, show me the ropes!

[New User 010] sent Carnival ×1! Message: Money well spent! Totally worth it!

[New User 011] sent Sports Car ×10! Message: I believe it! I really believe it!

[I Am Ying Zheng] sent Carnival ×10! Message: Celestial Master Chen is forever a god!

[Yaoyao's Little Red Riding Hood] sent Rocket ×1! Message: Big brother is so handsome!

[Evening Breeze Meets the Woods] sent Carnival ×5! Message: This is my livestream! I'm proud of it!

[East Gate Snowblower] sent Yacht ×30! Message: Even my grandpa can't project energy like that!

On the gift leaderboard, [I Am Ying Zheng] and [East Gate Snowblower] kept overtaking each other, flooding the screen.

Watching the gift totals climb nonstop, Yang Wanqing grew so excited she could barely speak coherently. "Thank you! Thank you for the gifts, guys! Hao, look! We've gone viral! We really have!"

Chen Hao glanced over indifferently and kept driving, as though he had just done something utterly insignificant.

As Cai Jingwen watched his profile, the fluttering in her heart grew stronger.

The more she learned about this man, the more unfathomable he seemed.

Meanwhile, at the Chancheng Ye Family estate.

The Ye Family was a renowned martial arts family in Lingnan, said to be descended from Ip Man. They had practiced martial arts for generations and enjoyed tremendous prestige in martial arts circles. The current family head, Ye Zhengying, was seventy-two. His martial prowess had already reached the transformation realm, and he was a towering figure not only in Chancheng, but throughout Lingnan.

At that moment, Ye Zhengying sat in his study, watching a video on his phone.

In the video, a young man walked on water and slew a monster with a single sword strike. His movements flowed effortlessly, and the energy he projected blazed like a rainbow.

He watched it once, then again, then yet again.

Only after watching it five full times did he put down his phone and let out a long breath.

"Grandpa, have you finished watching?" Ye Chendong stood beside him and asked cautiously.

Ye Zhengying looked up at his most beloved grandson, a complicated expression in his eyes. "Chendong, this video... is it real?"

Ye Chendong hurriedly nodded. "It is! I was watching the livestream the whole time. I saw Chen Hao walk across the lake and kill that monster with a single sword strike! It was streamed from start to finish, without any editing!"

Ye Zhengying fell silent.

Ye Chendong couldn't help asking, "Grandpa, what realm... do you think he's in?"

Ye Zhengying remained silent a while longer before saying slowly, "Walking on water, projecting energy like a sword, slaying a ferocious beast of that caliber... With cultivation like that, I fear..."

He paused, his voice low. "I fear he has long since surpassed the transformation realm and the return to the true realm, and reached the legendary Xiantian realm."

Ye Chendong sucked in a sharp breath.

The Xiantian realm!