“Forced PK?”
This was the first time Xie Zhiyu had encountered this unfamiliar term. She blinked and looked at her phone screen.
At some point, the phone had become wrapped in vines. The livestream screen, which had originally shown only her camera feed, was now split into two. A new livestream appeared on the right.
At the very center of the screen sat a young man dressed in a strange Taoist robe. He had an ordinary appearance, with a trace of inexplicable gloom on his face. When he looked toward the camera, his expression was sharp and intimidating.
“Are you the fraud my junior brother was talking about?”
He was completely blunt the moment he opened his mouth.
His lofty tone and unabashed scrutiny made Xie Zhiyu frown despite the fact that her face wasn’t even visible on camera.
She let out a cold laugh and replied just as bluntly, “Who’s your junior brother? And do you have any manners? You come in here and immediately call someone a fraud? I wonder who the real fraud is.”
Since the other party wasn’t showing her any courtesy, why should she bother being polite?
The man’s face darkened so much that it seemed as though water might drip from it.
He laughed out of pure anger. “Do you know who I am? How dare you speak to me like that? I think you don’t value your life anymore.”
Xie Zhiyu sneered at that.
“Who cares who you are? Are you really that amazing? What, do I need to watch your expression before I speak? Heh.”
The moment the two connected, they were already engaged in a war of words. The tension between the two streamers was palpable, and the atmosphere in both livestreams became heated.
【An’an Eats Watermelon: Good grief, I’m speechless. Who is this guy? Why did he start being sarcastic the moment he came in?】
【Langlang Mountain: No idea. From the looks of it, he seems to be from a reclusive sect. Although this guy is pretty rude, Work Sis, you should still be a little careful. Those people from reclusive sects aren’t easy to mess with.】
【Zhou Er Fu Shi: These disgusting people again. Tsk. I’m going to the other livestream to see what’s going on.】
……
Faced with this sudden PK, not only was Xie Zhiyu confused, even her fans were puzzled.
It wasn’t until more than ten seconds later that someone came back from the other livestream to report the situation.
【Guozi: Streamer, be careful. That’s the official livestream of the Sanquan Sect. There are nearly 30,000 people in their livestream. You offended one of their disciples, and now they’ve sent their senior disciple to expose you as a fraud.】
“Sanquan Sect?” Xie Zhiyu frowned even more deeply, her face full of confusion. “Who did I offend?”
How did she not know about this?
As soon as she said this, the man connected to her livestream immediately sneered.
“Stop pretending. Wasn’t my junior brother ‘A Fleeting Encounter’ just commenting in your livestream? He didn’t even say anything, yet you inexplicably blocked him. As his senior brother, of course I came here to cause trouble for you.”
Oh.
Xie Zhiyu suddenly understood.
She deliberately emphasized every word. “So you’re that little idiot’s senior brother.”
“What is this? The younger one gets beaten, so the older one comes looking for revenge? I only blocked him. Is he made of glass? He can’t even handle something like that? Then why come online at all? Isn’t he just asking to get roasted?”
Her ability to be sarcastic was practically at its peak. Even after learning that the other party was a disciple of a reclusive sect, she showed absolutely no intention of backing down.
This made many viewers who had previously been taken advantage of by these so-called reclusive sect disciples feel extremely satisfied, as though they had finally gotten some of their dignity back.
【Heart’s Desire: Just entered the livestream, and I’m already feeling so damn satisfied by what the streamer is saying, hehe.】
【Aurora Under the Night Sky: +1. None of these disciples from reclusive sects are any good. They’re rotten to the core, yet they rely on their cultivation and spend all day starting PKs to attract traffic. After winning, they spew all kinds of disgusting remarks, and the platform refuses to ban them. Just seeing them annoys me now.】
【Heart’s Desire: Exactly. It’s bad enough that they’re disgusting online, but they also frequently take advantage of ordinary people in real life. There’s even a reclusive sect near my home. They directly occupied the central area and said they were going to build their sect there. Why didn’t they act this arrogant before the spiritual energy revival? They’re seriously disgusting.】
【Still Water: Uh, you two above should be careful too. You’re being awfully bold. Aren’t you afraid the Sanquan Sect will come after you later? If I remember correctly, the disciples of this sect are pretty petty, right?】
【Zhou Er Fu Shi: What’s there to be afraid of? Just stand up to them. They may be arrogant, but they wouldn’t dare openly attack you.】
……
The comments were filled with all kinds of opinions.
Not only were people in Xie Zhiyu’s livestream discussing the matter, viewers in the other livestream were also quietly investigating her strength and background.
【Jiong Tu: We’ve pretty much figured it out. The streamer on the other side is just an ordinary person who recently awakened a Spiritual Root. Her livestream seems to sell some Spiritual Root-related products. She only started streaming less than an hour ago today. Earlier, your junior brother commented in her livestream, but the streamer and her fans all ganged up on him. She seems pretty young and hot-blooded.】
The man saw this comment from one of the livestream moderators.
Zou Mu was the chief disciple of the Sanquan Sect.
He had been an orphan abandoned as a baby. Later, an elder who happened to descend the mountain saw that he possessed a Spiritual Root and brought him back to the sect.
He had diligently cultivated for many years, and with his excellent talent, he had reached the highest cultivation level in the sect by the time he was nearly thirty—the peak of the Qi Refining stage.
Because he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the sect, the elders greatly valued him, while the disciples beneath him deeply admired him.
Years of flattery and praise had made him arrogant and extremely protective of his own people. Of course, there had always been people who disliked him, but relying on his superior cultivation, he would secretly teach those people a lesson.
The elders who knew about it turned a blind eye, so over the years, his personality became increasingly domineering.
Of course, he didn’t think he was domineering.
In his view, he was merely cleaning up his sect while helping his junior brothers cultivate better.
Those disciples who made dissenting noises were nothing but harmful influences to cultivators like them. On the path of cultivation, if they allowed such distracting voices to interfere with them, how could they devote themselves wholeheartedly to the Dao?
He had always held onto this belief, and it was precisely because of it that his cultivation advanced so quickly. Therefore, he firmly believed that the path he had chosen was the correct one.
He had originally thought he would spend his entire life cultivating within the sect.
But after he turned thirty, the elders summoned him one day.
“Three days ago, we joined forces with the other reclusive sects to observe the celestial phenomena of the future. We discovered something major—the world is about to undergo a revival of spiritual energy.”
The person speaking was the Great Elder.
He had left the sect half a month ago and had only returned today, his face filled with excitement.
When Zou Mu first saw him, he had wondered what could possibly make the normally impassive Great Elder so happy.
He never expected that half an hour later, he would hear this news.
He froze.
“Spiritual energy revival? Could it… really mean what I think it means?”
“That’s right, Xiao Mu. The golden age of us cultivators is coming!” The Great Elder patted him on the shoulder, unable to hide his excitement.
“After the spiritual energy revival, our cultivation will become much faster than before. Xiao Mu, haven’t you been stuck at the peak of Qi Refining for a long time? Perhaps you’ll be able to break through directly to Foundation Establishment afterward. Since our sect was founded, only our founding patriarch ever reached the Foundation Establishment stage. He even nearly reached the Golden Core stage. Perhaps after the spiritual energy revival, you’ll have the opportunity to surpass even our patriarch…”
The Great Elder spoke much more than usual.
After listening for a while, Zou Mu was already completely captivated by the prospect.
Excitement also appeared on his face, and his hands unconsciously clenched into fists.
The Great Elder continued speaking.
“Over the past few days, I haven’t merely been observing the celestial phenomena. I also took the opportunity to search through the cultivation notes left behind by our founding patriarch. That was when I finally discovered why you’ve been stuck at the peak of Qi Refining for all these years.”
Zou Mu became even more excited.
“What’s the reason?”
Great Elder: “According to what our founding patriarch wrote, in order to break through from the peak of Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, one needs to undergo not only day-after-day cultivation, but also a Heart Tribulation.”
“A Heart Tribulation?” Zou Mu asked in confusion.
“That’s right. Simply put, a Heart Tribulation requires you to experience certain hardships and setbacks. Only after gaining enlightenment from them can you completely break through.”
At this point, a trace of guilt appeared on the Great Elder’s face.
“We previously kept you confined to the sect to cultivate, never realizing that breaking through your cultivation actually required you to venture outside and gain experience. As a result, although the spiritual energy within your body has already reached perfection, you’re still stuck at the Qi Refining stage.”
“I was thinking that since the world is about to undergo a revival of spiritual energy, why not take advantage of this period and lead some disciples down the mountain to gain experience? What do you think?”
So the reason he had been stuck at the peak of Qi Refining was that he hadn’t experienced enough hardships.
Zou Mu immediately nodded in agreement, and the very next day, he really did lead quite a few disciples down the mountain.
It was his first time venturing into the outside world, so he was extremely unaccustomed to it during the first few days. He even ended up making quite a few embarrassing blunders.
However, he secretly used his spiritual energy to get back at those who mocked him, so he didn’t suffer too much.
Even so, the experience still dealt a considerable blow to his spoiled and arrogant personality.
It wasn’t until one day, when one of his disciples bought him a cellphone, that a whole new world opened up before him.
He began following the example of disciples from other sects and started livestreaming online, proclaiming that the world was about to undergo a revival of spiritual energy.
At first, everyone treated them as scammers.
But once the world really did undergo a revival of spiritual energy, countless people flooded into his livestream and began addressing him as a big shot.
Zou Mu’s vanity was intensely satisfied. He even openly recruited disciples for his sect in the livestream, taking the opportunity to amass large amounts of money and treasures.
During this process, he felt the bottleneck that had always remained firmly in place within his body suddenly loosen slightly.
This made him even more convinced that his beliefs were correct.
He had originally thought that he could use this method to raise his cultivation level, but unexpectedly, it wasn’t long before his junior brother came looking for him and told him that he had been blocked by a scammer streamer.
Without thinking twice, Zou Mu immediately applied for a forced PK with that streamer. The moment they connected, he launched into an aggressive tirade.
But he never expected that this streamer, who had only been cultivating for a few days, would publicly make him lose face.
Zou Mu’s expression alternated between green and red, and resentment and killing intent immediately arose in his heart.
He said harshly, “You’re nothing more than an ordinary person who has only cultivated for a few days. Don’t get carried away. And the intelligent plant you showed in your livestream—I can confirm that it’s fake. Young man, you’re fabricating things just to attract traffic. Today, I’m going to expose your fraud.”
He maintained a stern expression and released the full aura of someone at the peak of Qi Refining. Even through the camera, his intimidating demeanor was unmistakable.
Quite a few viewers were intimidated by him, and public opinion immediately swung to his side.
After being bombarded with accusations, Xie Zhiyu hadn’t even had time to lose her temper when the system became angry first.
Inside the system space, it waved its little fists furiously.
“I’m so mad! How can this person twist right and wrong like this? Host, beat this poser to death!”
The very next second after it finished speaking, she heard a notification sound.
【Congratulations! Your livestream’s popularity has surpassed 10,000, achieving the “Slightly Famous” achievement.】
【Reward obtained: Truth-Telling Talisman (Single Use).】