Who Is Number One Under Heaven

The moment he got home, Zhou You couldn't wait to turn on his computer and log in to the Immortal Cultivation Forum. The forum was still very new to him. All day he had kept thinking about it. If he had had his phone with him, he might not have been able to resist scrolling it in class. "Good thing I didn't bring my phone during the day," Zhou You said, relieved. "Yesterday I spent the whole time reading posts. Today I'll take a look at Heaven Market." He clicked the Heaven Market tab in the upper right. A dazzling spread of images filled the screen: magic treasures, pills, cultivation methods, manuals of divine abilities, rubbings of ancient books... "Automatic Punishment-Copying Brush. Item description: Still troubled because your master punished you by making you copy cultivation methods? Please use this magic treasure. It can imitate handwriting and match your own hand perfectly. From ancient times to the present, how many great cultivators succeeded because they were punished with copying? Feel free to use this magic treasure boldly. There is no need to feel guilty. Price: 20 spirit jade." "Bring in the Wine (Imitation). Item description: An imitation of Bring in the Wine by Li Bai, poet of the Great Tang, restoring Li Bai's handwriting to the greatest extent. There is a chance of comprehending Poet Immortal Sword Intent or Wine Immortal Sword Intent. Price: 1,500 spirit jade." "Heavenly Demon Incarnation Great Art. Item description: An obscure but extremely formidable cultivation method. If you can see it, count yourself lucky—you've picked up a treasure. Simple and easy to learn, no foundation required. It can condense a Heavenly Demon incarnation, the equivalent of an extra life. Buy now and also receive a predecessor's centuries of cultivation memories. Free." Everything for sale was something Zhou You had never seen. If he hovered the mouse over an item, its name and description popped up on their own. Quite considerate. Zhou You saw plenty of tempting things, but the prices were absurdly high. He couldn't have afforded them even if he ate a hundred Poverty Ghosts. There were cheap ones too, such as the Heavenly Demon Incarnation Great Art, which was free. "No matter how you look at this thing, something's wrong with it, right?" Zhou You's expression turned odd. From the description, it had nothing but benefits and not a single drawback. But how could there really be a windfall that good? The page refreshed, and quite a few more good things appeared, and none of them were repeats of the last batch. Zhou You was dazzled. He looked at the prices again and gave up. "Hm. Sort by price?" Zhou You noticed the sort button and arranged the items from highest price to lowest. "Let me see what costs the most... the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun taking action once?" "Item description: Number One Under Heaven takes action." "The second-highest price is... the Hall Master of the True Martial Great Hall taking action once. Item description: I am stronger than the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun." The third- and fourth-highest were much the same. All of them claimed to be stronger than the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun. Zhou You couldn't quite tell what this was supposed to be. He only felt there were probably some very complicated relationships behind it. Curiosity drove him to search the forum for posts about Mount Kunlun and the True Martial Great Hall. They were, after all, top sects of the cultivation world, and related posts were beyond counting. Disciples vented their grievances. People looked for company to explore grotto-heaven secret realms. People sought Dao companions. But not one post explained why the prices were high or low. "Forget it. Never mind. I'll look at the cheap ones." Zhou You clicked to sort the prices from low to high. The cheapest were free things like the Heavenly Demon Incarnation Great Art. Zhou You kept Su Tingxue's warning firmly in mind: browse first, don't buy, and wait until he was familiar with the forum before buying anything. "The ones for one spirit jade are all books." Items priced in the single digits of spirit jade were generally books—Introduction to Immortal Cultivation, Introduction to Sects, An Illustrated Guide to Vengeful Ghosts, and the like. All very basic. "Spirit stone. Item description: An ore containing a great deal of spiritual qi. It can speed up cultivation. 10 spirit jade." "Huh. This looks like it would suit me." At the spirit stone's description, Zhou You was tempted. He sent the spirit stone's link to Su Tingxue, wanting to hear her advice. ... Su Tingxue's room was pitch-dark. Only the screen gave off a faint sound and a faint light. Crunch—crunch— Su Tingxue was staring fixedly at a horror movie. Crumbs clung to the corner of her mouth, left from the potato chips she had just been eating. As a Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, she often had to deal with demons, ghosts, and monsters. Being timid would not do, so Mount Longhu suggested that its disciples watch horror movies in their spare time to train their courage. Su Tingxue had always been bold. For her, horror movies were purely a hobby. Ding-dong. Her phone chimed. It was a message from Zhou You, asking about the spirit stone. Su Tingxue instinctively moved to reply. On second thought, wouldn't that show she had nothing to do? No, no. She couldn't leave Zhou You with that impression. She was a good student. She couldn't let Zhou You outdo her. ... After about fifteen minutes, Su Tingxue sent a message. "Sorry. I've been doing math problems this whole time and didn't notice the message on my phone." "You want to buy a spirit stone? That's the right choice. Just as the description says, a spirit stone can increase your cultivation speed." "The spirit jade you have now should be just enough to buy one spirit stone. I happen to have a spare. I can sell it to you at twenty percent off, and you'll still have 2 spirit jade left." Zhou You: "That doesn't seem quite right." Zhou You felt this would mean Su Tingxue was selling him her own spirit stone at a loss. Su Tingxue: "It's fine. In return, could you do me a favor? Help me get Nuomi to come out. I want another fight with her." Zhou You thought it over and replied, "I can ask for you, but whether Nuomi is willing to fight you still depends on her." Su Tingxue: "OK." [Your friend Zhou You (Swimming This Week?) has gifted you eight spirit jade.] Zhou You: "By the way, is the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun the greatest expert under heaven?" Su Tingxue: "...You sorted Heaven Market from highest price to lowest, didn't you?" Zhou You: "Yes." Su Tingxue: "I'll tell you the reason, but you have to keep this secret." Zhou You: "Mm-hmm." [Pulling Out a Little Stool sticker] Su Tingxue: "The forum was founded when Mount Kunlun called together several major sects, Mount Longhu among them. The internet wasn't well developed then. The major sects were all living in seclusion and didn't much care about the forum, so none of them contributed as much as Mount Kunlun. The Sect Master of Mount Kunlun even warned them that forum privileges were tied to how much they put in, and that they had better not regret it. They all said they didn't care." "After the forum was established, the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun relied on having the greatest privileges to promote himself as the greatest expert under heaven. As the internet developed, more and more immortal cultivators entered the forum. The new generation all believed the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun was Number One Under Heaven, which infuriated the sect masters of the other powers so badly that they couldn't eat for days." "The True Martial Great Hall contributed the second most, so the Hall Master set his own price as the second highest and promoted himself as stronger than the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun. But the price was sitting right there. Immortal cultivators who didn't know the inside story didn't believe him in the slightest." Su Tingxue warned him again and again: "Only disciples of the major powers know about this. Don't go around telling people." Zhou You: "Mm-hmm." It suddenly made sense to Zhou You. No wonder he couldn't find a single post about it. So the inside story was that shameful... It would ruin the fixed impression people had of the experts. "Then who is Number One Under Heaven?" Su Tingxue replied quickly: "Hard to say. Anyway, the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun, the Hall Master of the True Martial Great Hall, and those few are all among the top five great cultivators of this age. They all say they are first. As for who is truly Number One Under Heaven, only they themselves know." Zhou You teased, "And here I thought you were going to say your Sect Master of Mount Longhu is Number One Under Heaven." Su Tingxue typed, "If anyone else asked, I would definitely say that. With you, I have to tell the truth," then felt it wouldn't do. If she put it that way, wouldn't he mistakenly think the two of them were very close? Su Tingxue thought for a moment and changed her wording. Zhou You waited a while before her reply finally came. "He isn't that strong."