Chapter 5: Featured Post

Chapter 5: Featured Post  

Momu was a veteran.  

He had once served as a knight's squire, but after retiring due to injury, he didn’t choose to stay in the city for a leisurely job. Instead, he returned to the perilous village to teach the children reading, writing, and cultivating Battle Aura.  

The village was harsh.  

Isolated on the edge of the Elk Forest, its people survived by clearing land for farming, hunting, and foraging.  

Though the forest had many deer, it had even more predators—wolves, tigers, and leopards.  

Frequently, beasts driven mad by hunger would rush out from the forest’s edge to attack the farmers in the fields.  

In the village, it could be said that every household had been attacked by wild beasts, and more than half had lost loved ones to their fangs.  

Momu himself had witnessed no fewer than a hundred such incidents, averaging two or three every year!  

Not long ago, just last month, a Black-spotted Wolf had attacked the village again.  

Poor Old Tom had only managed to retrieve one shoe, while his son was bitten by the wolf and would likely be unable to work in the fields for ten days to half a month.  

At the time, Momu had just rushed out from the village and could only watch helplessly as Old Tom was dragged into the forest.  

He hated it—hated his own incompetence, hated his lack of talent!  

He hated even more that in his youth, he had been too fond of drinking and fun, failing to earn enough money to buy a better Battle Aura cultivation technique.  

Now, he could only practice the lowest-tier technique, and the children he taught were forced to waste their talents on it as well. It pained him deeply.  

If he had a better technique, the village children could grow stronger.  

Whether they left or stayed, they could live better lives.  

Sometimes, he often wondered—weren’t evil gods in legends always eager to tempt humans into trading their souls for power?  

Why wouldn’t one come for him?  

If one truly appeared, he would absolutely trade his soul for the power to slaughter all the beasts and protect the village.  

But alas, no evil god came to tempt him.  

Perhaps even gods favored the rich and despised the poor, looking down on his aged soul.  

Yet all of this changed two days ago.  

At the time, a village hunter had retrieved a Mithril Ring from the stomach of a beast and brought it to him to examine.  

When he focused on it and activated the Mithril Ring, an overwhelming shock swept through his body and mind!  

He still remembered how he had wept uncontrollably, shouting in excitement!  

Many villagers even thought he had been possessed and tried to revive him with Gold Juice!  

He hadn’t been visited by an evil god—but by a benevolent deity, the Internet God.  

Through the miraculous Internet Divine Technique, this god had placed all cultivation knowledge within reach for anyone to learn. Though the more profound knowledge required special methods to unlock, even the free portions were enough to benefit him and his village immeasurably.  

For the past two days, he had been busy testing the village children with the basic magic spells recorded within.  

Miraculously, one frail child in the village actually possessed magical talent.  

After just a day of study, she had used her Soul Power to inscribe the Fireball Spell’s magical rune and summoned a small fireball on the spot.  

When that feeble little fireball appeared out of thin air, the entire village erupted in excitement!  

Momu himself was moved to tears.  

He knew the village now had hope for the future!  

Today, he had specially slaughtered pigs and sheep, offering the village’s finest goods in tribute to the Internet God, pledging his loyalty according to the rituals he had witnessed in his youth.

He reported to the god that he would gather all the wealth of the village to commission a batch of Mithril Rings engraved with the Internet Divine Technique, allowing literate villagers to wear them and spread the divine light, enabling everyone to cultivate.  

After the sacrifice, Momu had someone guard the offerings to prevent greedy children from stealing them before leaving to organize the knowledge in the Internet Library once more.  

He planned to copy everything down as a backup.  

Though currently, he could only transcribe the free knowledge, even that was of immeasurable value to their village!  

Not to mention the introductory cultivation techniques of various systems, even the freely available information on herbs, formulas, minerals, wild vegetables, and other miscellaneous studies alone could elevate the village's quality of life to new heights.  

Returning home, Momu spread out precious white paper, picked up his ink-filled Crystal Spiral Pen, and activated the Internet Divine Technique.  

Clatter!

The crystal pen suddenly slipped from Momu’s fingers, splattering ink across the paper.  

But Momu paid no mind to the precious pen.  

His eyes widened as he stared at the Virtual Scroll, his vision blurring.  

There, in the upper left corner of the Virtual Scroll, beside his Soul Mark, an inexplicable 1,000 Points had appeared.

Momu knew—the Internet God had noticed him.  

Without even wiping away his tears, he prostrated himself in reverence, loudly praying in gratitude.  

Seeing this, Yu Sheng'an withdrew his Divine Perspective, feeling an indescribable emotion.  

Is this the feeling of self-actualization?

It feels… really good!

Luo Xiya also looked at Yu Sheng'an in astonishment, finally understanding why the Internet Divine Technique had spread explosively in such a short time.  

Because it aligned with the desires of the people—because it stood on the side of the vast majority, the impoverished.  

Yu Sheng'an took a deep breath and turned to Luo Xiya. "See? Many users of the Internet Divine Technique are farmers who’ve never left their mountain valleys in their lives. The reason I called you here today is related to this."  

"Master, your command?" Luo Xiya bowed her head.  

"I want you to spend some time each day monitoring the Forum. If you see questions about cultivation knowledge, answer them to the best of your ability."  

Yu Sheng'an added, "Of course, it doesn’t have to be just cultivation knowledge. Anything you know and are willing to share, you can answer. Likewise, if you have questions, you can post them on the Forum. However, anything regarding the Divine Palace must remain confidential. Understood?"  

"Yes! Luo Xiya understands."  

"Go on."  

Luo Xiya bowed humbly and turned to leave.  

But just as she turned, she mustered the courage to ask, "Master, may Luo Xiya ask you one question?"  

"Go ahead."  

"Who… is Sadako?"  

"Hm? A very famous ghost," Yu Sheng'an answered reflexively before pausing. After a moment, he added, "But she’s quite beautiful."  

Luo Xiya froze… Was the master… complimenting her beauty?

Her chest fluttered as if cradling a restless fawn—what was this feeling?  

"Thank you, Master!" Luo Xiya replied before hastily floating out, her steps unsteady.  

Only after putting considerable distance between herself and the alchemy room did she finally exhale, biting her lower lip.  

Why had the master added that last explanation?

Was he praising that Sadako?  

Or was he implying something?  

Luo Xiya couldn’t figure it out, but she suddenly felt the scenery of the Divine Palace’s Ancient Castle had become much more vibrant and lively. Even the magical carvings on the walls no longer seemed menacing—instead, they now carried a somewhat silly, adorable charm!  

Returning to her residence, she eagerly activated the Internet Divine Technique and began posting with divine permission.  

Truth be told, she had been itching to reply to posts long before this.  

Especially that thing called "airplane"—she recognized every single character, so why did she not understand them when combined?  

Previously, she had been afraid of her master’s reprimand and only dared to lurk silently.  

But now, with permission to post freely, she was overjoyed!  

Sometimes, she answered others’ questions;  

Other times, she spectated others’ stories;  

Occasionally, she even posted her own questions to clear up her doubts;  

And sometimes… she even got into arguments.  

Someone actually dared to challenge her explanation of a certain spell! She could let other things slide, but when it came to magic, Luo Xiya had been trained by her former master, Tang En—her confidence in this area was absolute.  

The argument raged on for half a day.  

Over a thousand replies piled up, drawing countless onlookers.  

It wasn’t until someone confirmed Luo Xiya was correct and rallied to her defense that the opposing side, likely after testing it themselves, finally backed down.  

The whole debate left Luo Xiya exhilarated.  

From the initial skepticism, to her anger, to her well-reasoned rebuttals, to the netizens’ support, and finally to her opponent’s surrender—  

The feeling was simply indescribable!  

So much so that she even reread the entire argument two or three times, mentally summarizing the experience while secretly wishing she could do it all over again!  

She swore that if given another chance, she’d argue with the grace befitting a servant of the Internet God—no, the Internet God’s maidservant!  

After a while, Luo Xiya reluctantly exited the post.  

But the moment she did, her eyes widened to the size of saucers, like a feline spotting prey!  

At the very top of the forum, two special posts had appeared out of nowhere.  

The first post bore two bold labels at the front: "Pinned" and "Featured."  

Its title read:  

Forum Rules Navigation – Featured Post – 10 Points Reward!

And the second post… was the one where she had argued with that person. Right at the front of its title, a "Featured" label now gleamed proudly.