Chapter 646 - 331: He Must Be Beaten Black and Blue

Chapter 646: Chapter 331: He Must Be Beaten Black and Blue

When Chen Jincheng saw the video of his sword dance posted on the National Martial Arts Official Website, he was a little stunned.

’What kind of title is this?’

"Little Sword Saint Chen Jincheng’s Sword Dance, In His Prime"

’In his prime, sure, he’d admit to that.’

’But what the hell was a "Little Sword Saint"?’

’When did he become the Little Sword Saint?’

’Isn’t this just asking for haters?’

He knew the typical bullshit of the country’s Traditional Martial Arts bloggers. When they saw this title, wouldn’t they just jump at the chance to mass-produce clout-chasing content?

Clout-chasing was one thing, but the way these Traditional Martial Arts bloggers did it was completely artless.

It was always, "You fight me," "He fights me," or "Let’s switch to Alone and have him fight me."

Then there were people like Piaoxiang Yuan, a Bruce Lee imitator, who clamored all day about fighting him, leaving him utterly exasperated.

In his past life, this guy had made a career of challenging Yilong. Since there was no Yilong in this world, he was now fixated on challenging him instead.

He had previously thought about doing what Yilong did in his past life: find an opportunity to trick the guy onto a stage and give him a sound beating. Now that this guy was back to his clout-chasing antics, it was time to act. He couldn’t let the guy keep annoying everyone.

As for whether the guy would actually be stupid enough to get in the ring, that was a given. He would definitely be tricked into it. The person who tricked him was someone he never would have expected.

That’s how, in the previous life, the man had ended up all over the trending charts—because he got beaten black and blue and ended up crying.

The announcement posted by the National Martial Arts Official Website did indeed cause a massive stir online.

Chen Jincheng had been getting more and more famous recently, but no one had expected him to have quietly become a "Sword Saint."

The crucial part was that this title wasn’t self-proclaimed; it was officially bestowed by the National Martial Arts Association.

This...

Chen Jincheng now had a lot of female fans. Some had started following him for his music, others for his looks and physique. Whatever the reason, they soon discovered there was more to him. Whether it was defending his female artists against other celebrities, launching his own brand of Soda, or his savvy investments, it seemed their idol’s stock was only going up.

And now, he could even perform a sword dance so beautifully.

Just as the owner of Longquan Divine Sword Pavilion had said, most celebrities nowadays used special effects for something as simple as a sword flourish. Very few had the actual skill.

Similarly, fans of Chen Jincheng who hadn’t seen the livestream were just as surprised when they saw the news. ’How did Cheng become a Sword Saint in the blink of an eye?’

Guo Feng was one of them. Having just finished up with company matters, he pulled out his phone to scroll through Tiao Yin and immediately saw the news.

He almost thought he had traveled through time or that spiritual energy had suddenly been revived. Otherwise, how could Cheng have become a Sword Saint? ’What’s next,’ he wondered, ’news about some Grandmaster Ma felling a dragon with a single punch?’

’Wouldn’t ordinary people like them be dead meat in no time?’

Fortunately, after reading the article, he breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out *that* was what they meant by "Sword Saint," not the kind he had imagined.

But even so, he was still amazed. After all, the National Martial Arts Association itself had said that not many people could perform this Cheng Dance.

’Cheng’s repertoire of skills is getting larger and larger.’

At the same time, just as Chen Jincheng had predicted, the announcement from the National Martial Arts Association quickly caught the attention of many of the country’s Traditional Martial Arts bloggers.

Previously, when Chen Jincheng was establishing his title as the "Number One Fitness Blogger Online," these bloggers had, to varying degrees, all ridden his coattails. Like Piaoxiang Yuan, they had clamored to fight Chen Jincheng and siphoned off a fair amount of traffic for themselves.

The only difference was that they were too proud to be like Piaoxiang Yuan, who shamelessly leeched off the hype every single day by posting about fighting Chen Jincheng.

Being too proud was one thing, but watching Piaoxiang Yuan gain a million followers just by constantly shouting about fighting Chen Jincheng, it was impossible not to feel a pang of envy.

Now that the National Martial Arts Association had released this "Sword Saint" video, it would be an insult to Chen Jincheng not to cash in on the opportunity.

For a time, a new wave of "Challenge Chen Jincheng" and "Fight Chen Jincheng" hype swept across the entire internet.

And among them, Piaoxiang Yuan was the most active.

He immediately recorded a video. "Chen Jincheng, I don’t recognize this bullshit ’Sword Saint’ title of yours! If you’ve got the guts, fight me. I’ll show you what true power is."

After hitting "send," Piaoxiang Yuan’s face was alight with glee.

He knew this would bring him another huge wave of attention.

Just then, he saw his wife walk in.

She was holding a large throw pillow, and printed on it was Chen Jincheng’s face.

Seeing this, he immediately grinned. "Perfect timing. With this pillow, I can make another video. The hype online is huge right now. Chen Jincheng is trending again, and it’s even about martial arts. This is publicity being handed to me on a silver platter."

He took the pillow with Chen Jincheng’s face, tied it to a punching bag, and had his wife start recording as he began wailing on it with his fists.

He bounced on his feet, let out a Bruce Lee-esque "WATAH!" and shouted, "I’m gonna beat Chen Jincheng! Yeah, I’m gonna beat Chen Jincheng! Chen Jincheng, stop being a coward and hiding in your shell! Let’s have a fight, fair and square! WATAH!"

His provocations were becoming completely unrestrained.

After all, Chen Jincheng had never once responded to him. Subconsciously, he had stopped seeing him as a threat.

Especially after reaching a million followers, he felt even more strongly that Chen Jincheng was all talk. The man definitely didn’t dare to accept a fight; otherwise, he would have responded to his provocations long ago.

Piaoxiang Yuan posted two videos, and the one of him punching the pillow, in particular, rode the hype train, went viral, and was seen by a huge number of people.

This prompted a flood of criticism online.

Piaoxiang Yuan’s stunt was a bit Overboard. That wasn’t how you were supposed to chase clout.

Chen Jincheng’s fans were directly provoked. Many of them flooded the comments section with abuse. "I’ve seen shameless before, but I’ve never seen *this* level of shamelessness."

But this only made Piaoxiang Yuan’s video even more popular.

Many fans also tagged @ChenJincheng, telling him to teach this guy a lesson. ’We fans can’t stand this, how can you, the one being targeted, tolerate it?’

After ignoring the "Little Sword Saint" affair, Chen Jincheng had gone back to handling company business.

That was, until he noticed a large number of fans tagging him in their posts.

He clicked on it and found himself in the comment section of a video. But when he saw the content of the video itself, his brow immediately furrowed.

’It’s that Piaoxiang Yuan again.’ The guy had posted another video challenging him to a fight.

But this time, the guy had gone too far. Fucking printing his face on a pillow just to get attention... even someone with the patience of a saint couldn’t tolerate this.

He immediately dialed Yijin’s number.

He made a decision. He had to trick this Piaoxiang Yuan into a ring and beat him black and blue. He could have just ignored the guy, but his fans wouldn’t stand for it.

Seeing so many of his fans cursing out Piaoxiang Yuan, he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

The only question was how to trick Piaoxiang Yuan into the ring. He had to plan this carefully. After all, even if he agreed to fight, the guy, despite his daily shouting, might just come up with an excuse not to get on stage. He might even flash a couple of fake hospital reports for everyone to see.

So, the best way was to have someone else trick him.

He wondered if Ah Nao the Young Scholar, the person who had tricked Piaoxiang Yuan onto the stage in his past life, even existed in this world.

Ah Nao the Young Scholar was someone Piaoxiang Yuan had known for a long time in real life. If it hadn’t been for his deception, Piaoxiang Yuan would never have gotten into that ring to be beaten to a pulp. After that incident, that Piaoxiang Yuan never dared to call out Yilong again.

As for why someone he’d known for so long would trick him into getting a beating? It was either because he couldn’t stand Piaoxiang Yuan and wanted to see him made a fool of, or simply because he was jealous.

After all, by riding Yilong’s coattails and constantly challenging him, Piaoxiang Yuan had gained a ton of followers, which led to numerous advertising deals and a hefty income.

And when you make money that easily, the people who most want to see you fail are often those you’ve known the longest.

Therefore, no one from Er Shi Xingchen Company could be directly involved in this. Having Yijin handle it was the best option.

He did a quick search and, sure enough, Ah Nao the Young Scholar existed. Just like in his past life, his Tiao Yin account had plenty of collaboration videos with Piaoxiang Yuan.

A short while later, Yijin arrived. "Brother Cheng, you called for me? What can I do for you?"

Yijin was doing well for himself these days. By managing clip-sharing accounts and following in Chen Jincheng’s wake, he was now sporting a Rolex on his wrist and a thick gold chain around his neck. He drove a Panamera with an internet-famous girlfriend in the passenger seat. She might have been a little on the chubby side, but he was still the flashiest guy on the street whenever he went out.

Chen Jincheng got straight to the point. "I want to beat up Alone, you know that Piaoxiang Yuan guy online, right? I need you to contact Ah Nao the Young Scholar on Tiao Yin and try to use him to trick Piaoxiang Yuan into getting in a ring. I want to give that Piaoxiang Yuan a good thrashing."

"Oh, that guy!" Yijin agreed without a moment’s hesitation. "Brother Cheng, don’t you worry. I’ll take care of it."

He’d had it with that guy for a while now. He had also seen the new video with the Brother Cheng pillow. How could anyone let that slide?

’There was no way to tolerate it, okay?’

He had already mobilized his clip accounts to flame the guy, but who would’ve thought that the more they flamed him, the better the video’s numbers got. There was no justice in the world. So, he’d also mobilized the accounts to report the video, though he had no idea when Tiao Yin would finally ban it.

Now that he heard Brother Cheng wanted to beat the guy up, he was determined to do his part.

As for whether Brother Cheng could actually beat the guy? That was a stupid question. If the guy could even land a single hit, Yijin would consider it a loss.

Was Brother Cheng’s physical condition some kind of joke?

After getting his orders, Yijin immediately sprang into action. He returned to his own studio and began contacting Ah Nao the Young Scholar, starting his work to manipulate him.

But to his surprise, it took almost no effort. He had barely offered a sliver of profit before the guy agreed to trick Pi Xiangyuan.

’Didn’t the guy claim he and Piaoxiang Yuan were best friends, thick as thieves?’

’So this is what being "thick as thieves" looks like?’

「Time passed.」

After posting the video, Piaoxiang Yuan saw the growing number of hateful comments, but he couldn’t care less. In fact, his face was filled with excitement, because his follower count was climbing.

As long as his followers were increasing, nothing else mattered. He now understood the true essence of clout-chasing.

"Honey, your video got taken down," his wife said suddenly from the side.

Piaoxiang Yuan immediately grabbed his phone to look. It was true. Judging by the reason given for the ban, it was clearly because of reports from Chen Jincheng’s fans.

But it didn’t matter. He immediately recorded another video of himself. "I’m gonna fight Chen Jincheng! I’m gonna fight Chen Jincheng right now! If you have any guts, come at me! Stop letting your fans pull sneaky tricks behind the scenes."

He hit "send." This was clearly meant to provoke Chen Jincheng’s fans.

But he was doing it on purpose. That way, Chen Jincheng’s fans would come back to curse him out again.

And just as he predicted, many of Chen Jincheng’s fans flocked to insult him, which in turn started drawing traffic to his new video.

’These fans of Chen Jincheng are such nice people.’

Just as the couple was celebrating, he suddenly received a phone call. It was from a friend he’d known for a long time, Liu Tao. The man was also on Tiao Yin, where he went by the name Ah Nao the Young Scholar, though he didn’t have many followers of his own, having gained most of them through collaboration videos with him.

He quickly answered the call, and the voice on the other end came through: "Old Pi, I need to talk to you about something. There’s a huge opportunity in it for you. Just don’t forget to give me a cut when it’s all said and done."

"What is it?" Piaoxiang Yuan was immediately intrigued.