Immortal Cultivation Forum

"Fellow Daoist Su, I've transferred the payment." Kong Fan sent a message. Right after that, a forum notification popped up on Su Tingxue's phone. [You have completed the bounty and received eight pieces of spirit jade.] This was the payment agreed on beforehand. It was every bit of money Kong Fan had. "A little short," Su Tingxue muttered to herself. ... That evening, Zhou You went home and took a long, satisfying shower. When he stepped out of the bathroom, a faint cool draft from the air conditioner blew over him, and the chill made him suck in sharp breaths. He scooped two mouthfuls from the watermelon left in the living room, said, "Mom, I'm going to sleep," and couldn't wait to duck into his room. He logged into the QQ desktop client. Su Tingxue's avatar was flashing. He clicked the avatar. Su Tingxue had sent messages. Su Tingxue: "The Immortal Cultivation Forum is an exchange platform built jointly by several major powers, including Mount Kunlun, Mount Longhu, and the True Martial Great Hall. You can rest assured about the platform's security. Its aim is to let immortal cultivators communicate better and share what each has..." Su Tingxue: "This is the Immortal Cultivation Forum. The address is www..." Su Tingxue: "To keep ordinary people from wandering in by mistake, the Immortal Cultivation Forum is invitation-only. This is the invitation code xxxx. You'll need it when you register an account." Su Tingxue: "Remember to sync your QQ friend list then, and I'll be able to add you directly." "The forum isn't under a real-name system. Remember not to volunteer any identity information on it." Zhou You: "Got it." Full of anticipation, Zhou You opened the link. The login options were WeChat login, QQ login, and new-user registration. He clicked new-user registration and entered "Swimming This Week?" Set a password... Bound an email... Entered the invitation code... Bound QQ... Synced QQ friends... Logged in. The interface refreshed. Two spirit swords clashed and drew the curtain aside. What met his eyes was an interface similar to Baidu Tieba, with a background of immortal mountains and cranes and a hazy, drifting immortal aura. The whole computer screen seemed steeped in that aura and suddenly felt high-class. Post after post was hard to look away from. [Someone filmed my sword flight. What do I do?] [You're given one minute of Ascension stage strength. What do you want to do?] [Rational discussion: according to the records of myth and legend, who is stronger, God or the Buddha? (This thread has been locked.)] [Who reported my livestream!!!] [Seeking layer two of the cultivation method Unity Formula] [My master told me to translate the Heavenly Demon Incarnation Great Art. I can't understand it at all. Can some great expert lend a hand? Generous reward.] [Long-term bounty for clues to the Human Dao supreme treasure] [Researching a spell for hitting people by following the network cable. Short on formation cultivators. Private message if you want in.] [My grandson says the Ming history I tell doesn't match what they teach in class. He trusts the textbook and not me, when I lived through it myself.] Zhou You clicked into the sword-flight post. It had been made by someone called "Sword Immortal's Successor." "Help. First time using sword flight, no experience. I accidentally got filmed by a drone, and it was posted online. What do I do?" "Video link attached." It was a link to a short video. Zhou You didn't open it. He browsed the replies below. "How many times does this have to be said? Before you learn sword flight, learn the invisibility art. [dog-head emoji]" "How did your master teach you? That incompetent?" "This one's got no lineage. Got some inheritance from who knows where and just cultivated it however they liked, right?" "Simple. Hire shills. Reply underneath: 'One look and it's special effects.' 'You believe this too? Your IQ is a concern.' 'Identified at a glance: a drone ad.' 'Too fake.'" "Private message me. I'm a professional shill." Zhou You closed the page and opened another post. [Rational discussion: according to the records of myth and legend, who is stronger, God or the Buddha?] (Admin reminder: this thread is suspected of stirring conflict and has been locked.) "OP doesn't want to live, asking a question like that." "If they come to blows, I'll be the first to surrender." "My Buddha would insta-kill God." "Insta-kill, my ass. Monastics, stay out of the discussion." The thread had stacked up more than a thousand floors. It was all right at the start. Later it turned into a war of words, both sides cursing each other's families, and the debate was extremely fierce. Zhou You suspected that if these people met offline, they would already have come to actual blows. He skimmed the replies at random. They were full of terms he had never seen, and the ancient books they cited were all ones Zhou You had never heard of. "Damn it, where is this book? You made one up just to win the argument, didn't you? Shameless!" "A unique copy. Mine is a unique copy. Just to reason with you lot of trash, I went out of my way to steal it from my old ancestor!" "Like hell I believe you. If you've got the guts, reveal your real name!" "If I revealed it, I'm afraid I'd scare you to death!" [Who reported my livestream!!!] The cursor wavered over the title. Even through the screen he could feel the other person's resentment, and Zhou You had a bad feeling. "Feels like there'll be cursing in there. Forget it. Not opening it." Since he knew the post would be full of swearing, what was the point of looking? It would only ruin the good mood of the day. Zhou You shook his head. [Long-term bounty for clues to the Human Dao supreme treasure] The poster was called "Sect Master of Mount Kunlun." "All fellow Daoists know that ever since that demonic calamity a thousand years ago, the Human Dao supreme treasure has vanished. For this reason, Mount Kunlun openly offers a bounty to all under heaven for clues to the Human Dao supreme treasure. One may have Mount Kunlun do any single thing. This bounty stands indefinitely." The replies below were nothing but "Worship the big shot." A message popped up on the interface. [Your friend Su Tingxue (Eats Glutinous Rice Three Times a Day) has gifted you ten pieces of spirit jade.] Su Tingxue: "The payment has been transferred." She had made up the other two out of her own pocket. Zhou You: "Got it. What is spirit jade?" Su Tingxue: "It's the forum's virtual currency, and it can only be used on the forum. Look at the upper right of the forum. Isn't there a place called Heaven Market? You can trade spirit jade and buy things there." Su Tingxue: "But this is your first time browsing the forum. I suggest you don't buy anything yet. Wait until you're familiar with it." Only then did Zhou You notice a link in the upper right that read "Heaven Market." He had been busy browsing posts just now, his eyes unable to keep up, and he hadn't noticed at all that the forum was more than posts. There was a place where one could trade, too. Zhou You: "Got it. Thanks. Cupped-fist salute." Zhou You had been about to browse Heaven Market and see what good things were in there when he noticed the forum had a region selector. He opened the region selector and selected Chang'an. The interface refreshed. A prefix, (Chang'an), was added to the front of every post, meaning these posts were all related to Chang'an. "So this is how Su Tingxue found the bounty?" Thinking it over, Zhou You decided that made sense. If she couldn't select a region, Su Tingxue would have to scroll through the posts one by one, and it would take forever before she found a bounty posted by an immortal cultivator in Chang'an. [Help, a Poverty Ghost is clinging to me (This bounty has been resolved.)] He opened the post. It had been made two days ago by someone called "Azure Ox Temple Has No Ox." It should be Kong Fan of Azure Ox Temple. "Help. There's a Poverty Ghost in my home. It keeps clinging to me, and now I'm so poor I can't even pay the electric bill." The replies below were all over the place. "I'm not clinging to you, am I?" "Who opened an account for me?" "Suggest searching for a guide to surviving in the city on zero yuan." "Private message me." OP: "Bounty ended. It's already been resolved. Thanks to the two fellow Daoists from Mount Longhu and the Carefree Sect. Thank you so much." Someone asked afterward: "Resolved? I know Mount Longhu. Which sect is the Carefree Sect?" The OP replied: "Not sure. I'd never heard of it before either, but they're very strong. From the look of him, the fellow Daoist from the Carefree Sect had only just reached the Qi Refining stage, and he dealt with the Poverty Ghost in less than ten minutes. As the fellow Daoist from Mount Longhu explained, it was a new variety of Poverty Ghost, one never encountered before." "That strong? Even a new variety of Poverty Ghost got dealt with that fast?" "Someone at the Qi Refining stage can deal with a vengeful ghost? How did the fellow Daoist from the Carefree Sect see ghosts?" "What's the Carefree Sect's background? Never heard of it." "Maybe some big shot founded a small sect and only took a few disciples." Seeing that the replies were all guessing at the Carefree Sect's origins, Zhou You felt delighted. He wanted to disguise himself as a passerby and leave a reply praising the Carefree Sect, but he worried that someday someone would expose him as the sect master of the Carefree Sect. That would be too much of a blow to his cool. "Forget it. Not replying." Zhou You read the post over several times. He could tell that eliminating the Poverty Ghost had made Kong Fan very happy. The man kept praising the Carefree Sect. Zhou You still wanted to keep browsing the Chang'an forum. He glanced at the time in the lower right corner. It was already half past midnight. "Time went by so fast. No, no. I have to sleep." The cursor stopped on the X in the upper right corner. "Or... browse a little longer?"