Chapter 137 - 98: Completely Numb

As Chen Jue flicked out the last needle, completely embroidering the three large words and the exclamation mark on the black banner, the entire stream chat erupted into a sea of joy.

The chat was flooded with users spamming, "Huaxia Martial Arts, your instruction, please!"

The viewers who had originally tuned in to watch couldn’t figure out why this Brother of Special Skills had changed his stream title to "[Special Skill: Huaxia Martial Arts]."

It wasn’t until they saw him use his Hidden Weapon skill—Flying Needle embroidery—to stitch out the three large words "Your instruction, please!" that it finally dawned on everyone.

That damn "[Huaxia Martial Arts]" wasn’t a title at all, but a deliberately truncated phrase.

Once the final three words were added via the astounding feat of embroidering from a distance, everyone finally understood the Brother of Special Skills’ true intention.

He was using his genuine skill in Hidden Weapon embroidery to declare war on all the debunkers who had suddenly popped up across the internet!

He was making the most powerful on-camera statement possible to counter the haters debunking Traditional Martial Arts, as well as the charlatans who got rich while tarnishing its name.

Once they understood this, the scrolling comments in the chat became even more fervent, and donations poured in so fast they nearly caused the stream to lag.

"The second I saw those three words, I fucking lost it. My mind is BLOWN! (Worshipping)"

"Brother of Special Skills is the GOAT! (Screaming)"

"Embroidering with Flying Needles from across the room—if that’s not Huaxia Martial Arts, what is?! (Fired up)"

"Someone get the debunkers in here to run their mouths! This was all live, embroidered in front of hundreds of thousands of people! (Awesome!)"

"Breaking bricks with an Inch Fist is nothing. If you’ve got the balls, try embroidering from a distance. (Smug smile)"

"A special skill! Now THAT’S a real special skill! (Love it!)"

"Brother of Special Skills is absolutely crushing it! Please clout-chase like this more often! (New fan here!)"

Watching the endless stream of comments and the viewer count surpass 500,000, Chen Jue let out a long sigh of relief.

Embroidering with the Flying Needles had taken a significant toll on his energy. Not only were his fingers aching from the constant flicking, but his entire back was soaked with sweat.

The motion of flicking the needles seemed minor, but the instantaneous, explosive bursts of movement involved most of the muscle groups in his upper body.

It all added up, resulting in a significant drain on his stamina.

Thankfully, Chen Jue had finally embroidered the banner to Perfection. Staring at the three white words on the black background—"Your instruction, please!"—he felt like he had just completed an epic challenge.

He rose from his cross-legged position and once again cupped his fist to the camera.

Without another word, Chen Jue moved the tripod, aimed the camera for a close-up of the black banner, and ended the stream. He then took a screenshot of the embroidered "Your instruction, please!" banner and set it as the permanent background for his channel.

And with that, his impromptu debut "special skill" stream finally came to an end.

Meanwhile, viewers were all taking commemorative screenshots and spamming the chat: "Alright everyone, let’s give Brother of Special Skills a proper send-off! (Worshipping)"

"Good work, Brother of Special Skills. (Handing a cigarette to the master)"

"As long as Brother of Special Skills is around, Huaxia Martial Arts will never die! (Smirk)"

"Brother of Special Skills is carrying the whole Traditional Martial Arts scene on his back! (Laugh-crying emoji)"

In short, the chat was gassing him up in every way imaginable, coming up with the most entertaining praise. It had the same energy as a scene with Dongfang Bubai, with his lackeys chanting, "The sun rises in the East; I alone am undefeated."

Thanks to the viewers deliberately promoting it, the half-hour recording of the Flying Needle embroidery stream began to go viral on major news portals, video platforms, and trending lists, its influence spreading far and wide.

The backlash hit those who had been clout-chasing by "debunking" Traditional Martial Arts, as well as the clowns who performed stunts like breaking bricks with an Inch Fist.

Not only were their comment sections raided by viewers from the stream, but the comments themselves were strikingly uniform. Everyone posted the screenshot of Chen Jue’s badass three-word banner, sarcastically inviting these debunkers and clowns to "bestow their instruction" from afar.

With all this momentum, trending terms like "Brother of Special Skills," "Embroidery from Afar," and "Traditional Martial Arts Flying Needle" shot to the top of all the major charts that night.

The half-hour stream VOD was also automatically saved to the Brother of Special Skills’ channel, where it was swarmed by tens of thousands of curious viewers.

People re-uploaded it, shared it, made edits, and even turned Brother of Special Skills into a meme.

In short, the "Brother of Special Skills" account had completely blown up!

His follower count and video views were skyrocketing.

Part of this was the platform itself promoting him to build momentum, and part was viewers flocking to see what the hype was about. In any case, everyone wanted to see a performer with genuine, incredible skills.

As for Chen Jue himself, after ending the stream, he was completely floored.

It wasn’t just his hands that were numb from flicking needles—his wallet was practically numb from all the money he’d made!

The stream’s backend analytics showed that in just half an hour, he had received 1.12 million in donations. According to the platform’s 60/40 revenue split in his favor, after taxes, he had pocketed a total of 620,000 in cash for the night.

It couldn’t compare to the top e-commerce streamers who could casually sell hundreds of millions in a single day and earn commissions in the tens of millions.

But still, it was the most money Chen Jue had ever seen in his own account in his entire life.

Back at his old job, Chen Jue had often approved client loans, casually signing off on amounts in the tens or even hundreds of thousands.

But that was always other people’s money. To him, those were just strings of numbers that had nothing to do with him.

This 620,000 in donation income was different.

This was real cash, hard-earned with his [Hidden Weapon Throwing] skill. In a few days, it would be automatically deposited into his bank account as completely legal income.

’I made 620,000 in a half-hour stream?’

’This is fucking insane!’

...

Chen Jue took off the ancient Face Armor and sprawled out on his bed. He’d never expected that his impulsive decision to stream a response to the trolls and haters would attract such fervent support from so many "whale" fans.

Moreover, the impact of his debut stream had clearly exceeded his expectations.

Not long after he went offline, both of Chen Jue’s phones started buzzing nonstop.

He opened his two WeChat accounts and saw that people were frantically messaging both his main account and his secondary one.

Wu Fang: "Master Chen, you’re incredible! My grandpa watched your whole stream and now he’s rummaging through the house looking for needles to try it himself! (Laugh-crying emoji)"

Zheng Yuan: "Brother Jue! That was sick! I was studying with my girlfriend when my sister sent the link. We clicked on it and your slick moves completely blew our minds! (Awesome!)"

Feihong Cold Weapon Studio: "Boss, that was masterful! Next time you need custom Flying Needles, just say the word. Our studio will provide them for free!"

Guo Shao: "Bro, you’re my real bro! How did you even come up with embroidering with Flying Needles? That was so damn satisfying!"

"You have no idea, I’ve been arguing with people online for days and was getting nowhere! The second your ’Your instruction, please!’ came out, all the trolls shut up! (LOL)"

Besides these few people who knew his real identity sending him private messages, a group of rich kids from Hang City were also frantically discussing the live embroidery in the "Hang City Jungle Team" group chat, with many of them tagging @Brother of Special Skills.

"Boss, I just sent you 10 Carnivals. Please accept my friend request? (Screenshot) (Clinging to your leg)"

"I sent three. My allowance is all used up, almost out of gas money, haha. I’ll be back next month."

"Just finished watching the VOD. Was so blown away I immediately bought a Governor subscription for Brother of Special Skills’ channel. A little something to help the master recharge. (Pushes up glasses)"

"..."

Chen Jue stared at the flood of WeChat messages, slightly taken aback.

He hadn’t expected a stream he’d thrown together on a whim to have such an impact on the people he knew. A strange sense of pride and accomplishment welled up inside him.

He first replied to Teacher Wu and her younger cousin, then popped into the "Jungle Team" chat to post a "(cupped fist) Thanks for the support" message. While he was at it, he accepted all the friend requests from the whales who had added him.

Without the support of these rich kids, he wouldn’t have made 620,000 in half an hour. It was only right to add them on his secondary account and interact a little.

...

By the time he finished replying to all the messages, it was already past 9 p.m.

Chen Jue went to the bathroom to wipe off his sweat, then exchanged a few warm and tender messages with Teacher Wu, who was still sick with a cold, before finally putting his phone down and lying on his bed.

After more than a month of adjusting his daily routine, he now usually went to bed at 9 p.m.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, he would always be asleep before 10 p.m.

In this fast-paced, high-pressure era, a young person with a sleep schedule as regular as a senior citizen’s was truly one in a hundred million.

The moment he got into bed, however, his mind began to race with wild thoughts.

’Previously, I’d browse forums and Zhihu, and it seemed like everyone was making a million a year, becoming a successful entrepreneur, and achieving financial freedom. Then they’d get on camera, eloquently spouting their personal philosophies, their pretentious attitude cranked up to the max.’

’I just made 620,000 in half an hour. If you round that up, doesn’t that make my hourly wage over a million?’

’And that’s after taxes!’

’Isn’t that an even bigger flex? If I started teaching classes, wouldn’t hordes of suckers be tripping over themselves to sign up?’

’If I took a screenshot of my earnings and posted it online, people would definitely steal the image and spread it everywhere.’

With so much money now, Chen Jue’s thoughts drifted to how he should spend this sudden windfall.

’Buy a house in Hang City first?’

’Or focus on having a sweet romance with Teacher Wu?’

’Actually, 620,000 isn’t that much. It’s not even enough for a down payment in the city center.’

’Get a mortgage and become a house slave? Nah, better not. Housing prices are brutal right now... ’

As the saying goes, money emboldens a man, and Chen Jue was no exception, his mind wandering to all sorts of debaucherous things.

Even the absurd idea of getting a VVIP membership at the Jingtang Club and taking his best friend Jiang Zhe to go all-out on the "kidney rejuvenation" services popped into his head.

But just as these vulgar thoughts arose, Chen Jue took a deep breath and cast them all aside.

’What am I even thinking?’

’This is barely the beginning, and I’m already getting cocky?’

’Just keep training. Stay true to the path. The money will follow naturally!’

Chen Jue criticized himself for a moment. He was, after all, someone who had faced a colleague’s death from overwork and had trained his courage by climbing streetlights. He had at least that much self-control and composure.

Closing his eyes, he pictured the text of his attribute panel. That was the true foundation of his progress.

He focused on it and saw that, sure enough, there was a new notification he had previously missed:

——————

[Ding~]

[You have completed an exercise that pushed your hand endurance and explosive power beyond their limits. Your finger fascia and muscle groups have been thoroughly trained. The dexterity of your fingers has increased significantly, and your finger bone strength has slightly improved.]

[Constitution Attribute +0.01]

[Strength Attribute +0.01]

[Free Attribute +0.01]