CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 49: FULL OF MARTIAL VIRTUE!

Live Streaming Company.

On the central large screen, a video was playing.

A young man stood high in the sky, his feet on a fierce and terrifying bone dragon, soaring freely with the wind.

In one moment.

He faced the camera and said, "Because you need to be able to stand in the high sky to shoot movies, you understand?"

After speaking, he performed a backflip, then ran a few steps forward and leaped vigorously.

Just as he was about to jump off the back of the bone dragon, he suddenly reached out, grasped a protruding bone tightly, and dangled in mid-air, swaying back and forth in the wind.

With his other hand holding a smartphone, he smiled at the camera and said:

"If there is any pop star who wants to perform like this, I warmly welcome them to act."

The screen froze.

Next to it, a commentator spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen, our data has exploded. The entire country and even the world are crazily watching this video. The number of likes, favorites, and rewards has broken historical records. This is arguably the best performance since our company’s founding."

He had just finished speaking when someone immediately responded, "Since the company’s founding? No."

The sound of keyboard typing followed.

On the screen, numerous data analysis curves appeared.

The company’s executives looked at those curves—although they did not quite understand the overly complex data analysis—but at this moment, no deep analysis skills were needed.

Because that live video stood at the top of all curves.

"Contact him!"

The company president, wiping the sweat off his forehead, shouted, "Everyone go, contact him immediately, find him, give him the best contract, we want to see the other filming processes of this sci-fi blockbuster!"

As soon as he finished speaking.

All the data on the large screen disappeared.

The video clip also closed.

All machines stopped operating.

Knock, knock, knock—

Someone was knocking outside.

Everyone looked at each other, completely clueless about what had happened.

"Who is it?"

A junior employee ran to open the door.

As soon as the door was opened, a group of people in black swarmed in, and the leader walked up to the company president and smiled, "There are some things, please wait a moment before speaking."

...

Meanwhile.

Wu Xiaode was striding forward furiously.

The Book of the Dead caught up to him, blocking his path, and once again displayed a line of small text:

"In fact, apart from ’dirtiness,’ your soul possesses a trait that others do not have."

"Could it be ’filthiness’?" Wu Xiaode sneered.

"No, you have a special talent that allows you to bypass numerous obstacles and directly find the results."

"The book would like to call it—"

"Kill the competition!"

Wu Xiaode stopped, pondering and said, "Hmm... that does sound somewhat reasonable..."

Upon reflection.

There hadn’t actually been a fight just now.

Perhaps it was just intimidating those guys.

"Can the shot put really be used?"

Wu Xiaode asked with interest.

On the Book of the Dead, rows of ice crystal small text rapidly appeared:

"Current Demon Mist Level: 0."

"At this level, innate techniques cannot materialize into real objects; hence, the shot put is fake."

"Haha, I see," Wu Xiaode laughed.

Only to see the Book of the Dead display a conclusion:

"From now on, the Silent Demon Mist will draw from your ’dirtiness’ and ’kill the competition’ traits to produce corresponding myriad changes."

"You need to continuously elevate its level, remember that."

Just as Wu Xiaode was looking at it, his phone rang in his pocket.

Picking up the phone, it was a call from Zhao Junyu.

"What’s going on?"

"My father wants to see you, come quickly."

...

This was Wu Xiaode’s first time entering the Royal Palace.

Before entering the palace, he went through twelve security checks.

From his appearance to his belongings, to his iris and even his blood, all were scrutinized thoroughly.

Yet even so, as Wu Xiaode walked into the Royal Palace, looking at those stern-faced court guards, he still felt they might come up to fight him any moment.

Zhao Junyu led him all the way into a side hall next to the council hall.

"Father is handling some affairs, rest here for a while, and a servant will come to call us later," Zhao Junyu explained.

"This is too strict." Wu Xiaode sat down on a chair and glanced at the pastries on the table.

He hadn’t tried the Royal pastries yet, should he have one?

No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than a vague sense of foreboding arose in him.

—What if these pastries were poisoned?

What if it was the kind of colorless, tasteless poison that kills upon contact?

Wu Xiaode shook his head.

Why would he have such thoughts...

The Book of the Dead fell in front of him, opening up to display a line of ice crystal small text:

"You have opened the Wall of Sighs in the Death Realm."

"You are very sensitive to death, and occasionally you can detect those unknown dangers."

Sensing dangers...

"Are these pastries safe to eat?" Wu Xiaode asked.

"I advise you not to eat it. Since you rode the dragon, many people have wished for your death, even my father couldn’t stop them," Zhao Junyu said.

"These pastries—"

"Have been sitting there for a long time, no one eats them."

"Okay, what do you usually do for meals? What if someone poisons your food?"

"That’s why I rarely eat outside food. I have a personal chef."

Wu Xiaode nodded and gave up.

Suddenly, he noticed that Zhao Junyu’s complexion was a bit off.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Just now, my sister told me, last night at midnight... our two strongmen died."

"Experts with Soul Power above 10 points?"

"One had 10 points of Soul Power, the other 13."

"How did that happen?"

"The Otherworld has become increasingly dangerous, we suspect it will be destroyed," Zhao Junyu sighed.

The Royal had lost two of its strongmen.

Wu Xiaode stroked his chin and said softly, "No wonder Fu Zhengyang from the Tiger Crane Group dared to trouble me..."

After a while.

An attendant came in to report that the Emperor had summoned him.

Wu Xiaode and Zhao Junyu stood up and followed the attendant into the grand council hall.

They turned past a large seven-paneled screen.

This was his first sight of the Emperor of the Empire.

The hall’s ceiling must have been nearly ten meters high, under the gold eaves and jade walls, many lush green bamboos were planted.

When the through breeze blew, the bamboo made rustling sounds that lingered on.

On the grass among the bamboo, there was a gilded thirty-six-dragon-cloud-pattern throne, and a frail man sat upon it.

The man wore a silver metallic helmet that covered his eyes and most of his head, showing only his nose and mouth.

The metallic helmet was filled with densely packed, hundreds of thin tubes, one end buried inside the helmet, the other stretching beyond the throne, all disappearing into the darkness at the back of the hall, leading to an unknown place.

This was the Empire’s Emperor.

To the side of the throne stood a strikingly beautiful young woman with picturesque eyebrows and a cool demeanor. She merely nodded slightly at their entrance and kept silent.

There were no others around.

Wu Xiaode and Zhao Junyu were just about to bow.

But the Emperor waved his hand and said, "No need for formalities, come over and talk."

Zhao Junyu asked, "How are you feeling today, Father?"

"Almost kicked the bucket, but luckily I thought this thing was too heavy, not good for your growth, so I hung in there," the Emperor said, flicking his helmet with his finger and sighing.

Zhao Junyu turned pale and trembled, "Why severe? Didn’t the imperial physician say your health had improved?"

The Emperor laughed and said, "Whenever something happens in the world, the Central Brain goes into a frenzy of calculations—it has never faced something it couldn’t understand, and that ends up being too much for me as well."

He looked at Wu Xiaode appreciatively and continued:

"Wu Xiaode, I like your livestreams, but there are too many loopholes, so I’ll help you to patch things up, to prevent future reproach."

An attendant walked in carrying a tray and knelt before the Emperor.

Wu Xiaode looked and saw that the tray held the four treasures of scholarly work, and in the middle, a stack of blank multicolored papers.

The Emperor picked up a brush and said, "Now I’ll bestow upon you a film company, funded by the Royal, managed by professionals. As for the name—"

He looked at Wu Xiaode and muttered, "In case monsters attack again, your livestreams will surely involve more fights, what do you think, what would be a good name?"

Wu Xiaode was a bit surprised, but also very pleased inside.

After all, if someone had to nitpick, those two livestreams really wouldn’t hold up.

Some issues would definitely be magnified.

Countless people would dig him up from the internet, uncovering his true identity.

Soon, everyone would realize he was just a youth, without a "big sci-fi film" company behind him.

Once this became a lie—

It would be hard to gather likes through livestreaming in the future.

Yet he desperately needed the admiration and praise from the masses.

Now with the Empire’s Emperor personally endorsing him, everything would be neatly settled.

There would be no more hidden issues.

Wu Xiaode chuckled:

"Thank you, Your Majesty. My livestreams are mostly about fighting, and my surname is Wu—"

"Should it be called ’Fortune in War’?" Zhao Junyu interjected.

"No, we need to set an example for the internet citizens, we should promote peace, value harmony, meet friends through martial arts, command respect through virtue, that’s the spirit of combat in my eyes," Wu Xiaode said earnestly.

The hall suddenly fell silent.

The Emperor looked down at the colorful papers, apparently finding something very interesting on them, enough that he had no desire to look up at Wu Xiaode.

The icy girl glanced at him, her face full of irritation.

What did you do all night?

How many people did you kill?

And you talk like that—

Aren’t you ashamed?

Zhao Junyu’s mouth twitched, and he simply shook his hand, not bothering to speak further.

Wu Xiaode looked at one, then at the other.

Hey, why aren’t you paying attention to me?

I thought I did pretty well.

After a moment.

The Emperor sighed, picked up the brush, and said leisurely:

"I’ve been an old netizen too, but I can hardly bear your kind of spirit."

"Nevertheless, what you said is right, yes, it’s also a direction to strive for."

"Let’s name it that."

Then, the Emperor held the brush in hand, traversed the paper with dragon-like strokes, and quickly wrote four characters:

"Abundance Through Virtue."