Chapter 18: What Promotion Really Is

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: What Promotion Really Is

"The Fun People Club will face its first formidable foe on home turf against the Profound Light Sect’s Half-Step Grandmaster, Gongsun Jie. For the first time, the club is selling tickets to the public! The lowest price is fifty coins, while the best seats in the stands cost just one tael of patterned silver. During the match, the Fun People Club will provide free room and board. Tickets are limited, so buy them fast..."

"The Fun People Club boasts a powerful starting lineup. The club’s founder, Lord Li, will make his debut, forming the left and right forwards alongside the ’Unparalleled Celestial Pride,’ Shi Xiang. The match will utilize a 4-4-2 formation. Watch to see if this unparalleled duo can bust a Half-Step Grandmaster’s balls!"

"Major casinos in Weining City have opened betting pools. Will the rookie Fun Seekers rise to power by stepping on a Grandmaster, or will these newcomers be crushed by their Martial Arts World seniors and sink into obscurity?"

"Weining Prefecture officials, including the Prefect and the Chief Clerk, are confirmed to attend and watch the Fun People Club’s debut."

Over the past two days, Weining Prefecture had suddenly become bustling. In every street and alley, people were discussing the upcoming match between the Fun People Club and Gongsun Jie. Every street was plastered with promotional posters for the event. The posters featured explosive headlines, accompanied by both text and illustrations.

The most eye-catching of them all was the Fun People Club’s group portrait. Eleven people were drawn on a single sheet of paper, with Li Ye in the center. Shi Xiang, Liu Guangsheng, and the others fanned out in a V-formation. Everyone had their arms crossed over their chests in a highly arrogant posture.

Above the heads of Shi Xiang and the others were their nicknames—Unparalleled Celestial Pride, Anus-poking Hand, Ironfoot Immortal, Flying Leg, Profound Iron Shield, and more. Even those who hadn’t originally had nicknames were given one by Li Ye.

The artist was highly skilled, outlining the likenesses of Liu Guangsheng and the rest with just a few masterful strokes. However, the face of Li Ye in the very center was replaced by a massive question mark, and the nickname above his head read "Mysterious Person," pushing the gimmick to its absolute limit.

There were also individual player posters. On Shi Xiang’s poster, he was depicted executing a flying kick that landed squarely on an opponent’s crotch. The poster thoughtfully included a comic-style "BANG" sound effect next to it, making the pose look incredibly cool.

Liu Guangsheng’s poster showed him standing behind someone, hands clasped with his index fingers pointing straight up in the motion of poking someone’s back door. The old man’s facial expression was both lecherous and wicked...

Distributed alongside the posters were small booklets introducing soccer, explaining the rules and the names of the various positions in the formations. They also included Gongsun Jie’s personal profile, detailing the Profound Light Sect’s status in the Martial World, Gongsun Jie’s martial lineage, his signature techniques, and more.

The people of Weining City had never seen such a promotional combo. After this flurry of advertising, the attention of everyone—men and women, young and old—was entirely captivated by the Fun People Club.

The Ruyi Building was the largest restaurant in Weining City, and a favorite gathering place for dignitaries, scholars, and Martial Artists. Inside the Muguang Pavilion, several richly dressed young masters sat around a table.

A young man in brocade clothes, in his early twenties, asked, "Liu, are you going to Sirius Valley?"

"Naturally. The invitation was delivered straight to the Liu Family," Liu replied. He looked to be only twenty-five or twenty-six. He picked up his wine cup, took a sip, and then looked around the table. "A battle against a Half-Step Grandmaster. Don’t you all want to see it for yourselves?"

"We want to, but we’re afraid that if the Fun People Club loses, the Profound Light Sect will take their anger out on us!" another young man said.

"You’re afraid of the Profound Light Sect’s anger, but not the Fun People Club’s?" the brocade-clad young man retorted. "Shi Xiang hails from the Red Flame Sect. They’re much more ruthless than the Profound Light Sect. Every one of his moves aims to end a man’s bloodline..."

"Say no more. That’s exactly why we have to go!" Liu chuckled bitterly, slamming his wine cup onto the table in indignation. "The Fun People Club is utterly despicable. Sending invitations is one thing, but they also forcibly demanded sponsorships! They claimed it was to advertise our silk shop. The Liu Family has been in the silk business for a century; why would we need their advertising? Yet, they forcefully extorted five thousand taels of silver from us. This is blatantly coerced commerce. Those sons of bitches..."

"My family’s teahouse was also forced to ’sponsor’ them with five thousand taels," the brocade-clad young man said bitterly. "The Fun People Club truly acts like bandits. They boast about providing free room and board, but aren’t they just using our money to do it?"

"Gentlemen, keep your voices down. The Flying Bear Gang has been doing the promotions within Weining Prefecture, and they have eyes and ears everywhere. If they hear us, we’ll be in a world of trouble. Let’s just treat it as parting with wealth to avoid disaster," said a young man who had been mostly silent, pressing his hands down to calm them. "Let them make a fuss. Constantly wiping out clans and seizing wealth will catch up to them. One of these days, they’ll provoke the Inspection Department, and they’ll be dead meat."

"Let’s hope so!" The brocade-clad young man sighed, took a sip of his wine, and stared out the window in dismay. "How did such a scourge ever appear in this world? They’ve turned a perfectly peaceful society into a tangled mess..."

The voices of street peddlers and commoners drifted in from outside the window.

"Old Zhang, are you going to watch the match?"

"Of course I am. For fifty coins, we get free food and lodging for several days. I’d be a fool not to go! I heard that Sirius Valley bought up all the pigs and sheep around Weining Prefecture, so their meals should be pretty good."

"It’s not just the food that’s good! They even bought our family’s tables, chairs, stools, and extra beds. They paid three hundred coins for a single torn quilt. If you ask me, the Fun People Club are immensely generous philanthropists. They gave my family at least one tael of silver. What is spending a mere fifty coins compared to that? I’d love it if they held matches like this more often!"

"At least you have to pay fifty coins. The Shi Family are stonemasons, and they were hired by Sirius Valley to do construction work. They don’t have to pay a single cent, and the whole family gets to eat and drink for free."

"By that logic, the Fun People Club truly are great philanthropists!"

"Old pals, have you placed your bets yet?"

"I did, I did! Those rich young masters are all betting on the Grandmaster, but I went out of my way to bet on the Fun People Club. I’m just waiting for a massive upset to rake in a huge profit! So what if he’s a Grandmaster? A Grandmaster will still hurt if his balls get busted!"

"HAHAHAHA..."

The wealthy young masters fumed with anger at the conversation. Meanwhile, on the second floor of the Ruyi Pavilion, a man and a woman dressed as Young Heroes also overheard the commoners’ chatter.

The male Young Hero slammed his hand heavily onto the table, his brows furrowed in a fierce glare. "A bunch of ignorant fools! If a Half-Step Grandmaster were so easily defeated, the Profound Light Sect wouldn’t have stood tall in the Martial World for so long."

"Senior Brother, don’t lower yourself to their level. What do a few rustic villagers know?" The female Young Hero was dressed in green clothes, possessing a striking, heroic bearing and handsome features. However, her delicate brows were currently knitted. "I just don’t understand. Gongsun Jie is the dignified leader of a sect. Why would he agree to fight a match against this gang of scoundrels? Winning is one thing, but if he loses, the Profound Light Sect’s reputation will be dragged through the mud."

"I suspect Sect Leader Gongsun simply couldn’t bear to watch these villainous scoundrels throw their weight around!" The male Young Hero shook his head. "Junior Sister, since we’ve come to Weining City, we can’t just sit idly by. When the time comes, we must lend Sect Leader Gongsun a helping hand."

"Agreed." The female Young Hero replied. She gripped the longsword resting on the table and huffed, "Constantly destroying men’s lineages and seizing people’s family assets... I’ve long despised this pack of lawless thugs. This time, I will definitely show them the might of my Misty Fairy title."

Construction in Sirius Valley was proceeding in full swing. The hillsides had been converted into viewing stands, and rows of simple wooden cabins were being erected in the valley.

Some spectators had bought tickets and entered early. However, since the match hadn’t started yet and they heard there were wages to be earned, they enthusiastically joined the construction crews.

Sirius Valley’s original training grounds had also been expanded into a massive plaza spanning at least five hundred meters. A standard soccer field wasn’t nearly this large, but considering that the people in this world could leap high and bound far, possessing devastating destructive power, Li Ye had intentionally enlarged the pitch proportionally.

Thanks to Li Ye’s vigorous promotional campaign, Shi Xiang’s Spiritual Power had grown increasingly refined, and even Liu Guangsheng and Fan Jie had stepped into the ranks of Innate Masters.

The other members of the team had also experienced varying degrees of growth. Over the past two days, the smiles on everyone’s faces hadn’t faded. They were all itching for a fight, eagerly waiting for the match to begin.

But they had their worries, too. Shi Xiang stood next to Li Ye, occasionally glancing at the valley entrance, and asked anxiously, "Lord Li, we’ve set up such a massive spectacle. What if Gongsun Jie doesn’t show up? Cao Bin isn’t exactly reliable, either. It’s been so many days, and he hasn’t sent a single message about whether he succeeded or not. I hope he hasn’t betrayed us in the end."

"Don’t worry, he’ll come. Even if Gongsun Jie hadn’t originally planned to attend, once the news of what’s happening here reaches his ears, he’ll come over to have a look," Li Ye said, completely unperturbed.

As the mastermind behind the entire event, the amount of Demon Qi within Li Ye’s body had increased even more. The Team Emblem had grown increasingly excited over these past few days, constantly prattling away in his mind about how it hadn’t followed the wrong person.

"But what if he really doesn’t come?!" Shi Xiang asked, unwilling to drop the subject.

Li Ye looked back at him and replied, "If he doesn’t come, we’ll just continue our promotions. We’ll announce that the Half-Step Grandmaster Gongsun Jie fled without a fight, completely terrified of our Sirius Valley..."