Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing had already gotten used to the fact that, here in this world, the level of technology wasn’t much higher than back home, so they used computers to check social media as usual.
Opening up the largest social media platform in Hua Country, Qin Jingzhou wasn’t surprised at all to see the top trending topic: “A Sword Immortal Appears,” followed by a black-purple “Hot” tag.
You couldn’t blame netizens for being so amazed. With the current concentration of spiritual energy, even the number of Golden Core Extraordinaries in the various countries was extremely limited. Even in populous Hua Country, there were only about thirty Golden Core cultivators in total.
And Golden Core cultivators couldn’t really pull off anything too earth-shaking, so they didn’t live up to netizens’ fantastical ideas of cultivators as high and mighty immortals.
But with Qin Jingzhou’s flying sword hovering at his back while he dashed into a club to snatch someone—well, that was straight out of some xuanhuan drama, sheer Sword Immortal style.
He clicked into the trending topic and saw a short video, a bit blurry in quality, but with the flying sword hovering and smoothly turning, all captured clear as day.
Ling Jing, holding her chin in hand, finished watching the ninety-second video. “They got your face on camera. Give the netizens an hour, and they’ll definitely dig up your real identity. And don’t forget, the club owner is another possible way for them to find out.”
Qin Jingzhou glanced at the lower right corner of the screen. “We’ve got time. If the club owner wants to talk, let him. You already know I intended to use this as a way to attract attention.”
The moment he finished speaking, Ling Jing’s phone chimed. She unlocked her phone with a smile and scrolled for a bit. “The club owner already managed to get through to me and wants to know if you need him to keep things secret.”
Qin Jingzhou also picked up his phone and sent over a list for the original host’s assistant to buy materials and equipment. “No need. We pull an all-nighter and make a mechanical flying sword, and at nine tomorrow, we go live to ‘clear things up.’”
Ling Jing perked up. “Wow, you always left promos and PR to others before—going hands-on yourself this time?”
“Breaking regular people’s fear of cultivators is the key step, so I have to do it myself.”
Ling Jing, on the way back, had already heard what the World Will actually expected. “Exactly. This is only the first round of Spiritual Energy Revival, with cultivators’ highest stage just Golden Core. If they hear the word ‘cultivator’ and panic, refusing to reason or even just surrendering, then when the second or third rounds of revival come, ordinary folks without talent… that’ll be total darkness. Without restrictions, cultivators harvesting mortals could get even worse than the capitalists.”
Qin Jingzhou said, “Without sufficient population and quality, the number of cultivators will only decline. If you count on cultivators ‘replenishing their own ranks’—look, if two Golden Core cultivators can manage to produce two talented kids in their lifetime, I’d salute them as lucky parents.”
Ling Jing covered her forehead. “The cultivator birthrate really is tragic.” She pressed a kiss to Qin Jingzhou’s cheek. “So that’s why you like kids so much?”
Qin Jingzhou took the chance to kiss his girlfriend. “Meeting you, I already feel like Heaven has favored me.” Then he seriously corrected himself: “After being a dad so many times, only Xiao Qing and Xiao Xi are ones I truly want to care for forever. The rest… are just passing through, but a Dao companion is forever.”
Ling Jing herself was just about to reach the Divine Transformation Stage. For cultivators, starting from Golden Core, everything got tough, so she had mostly let go of hopes. She nuzzled his face gently and gave a soft “Mm.”
While the two of them snuggled like lovesick grade-schoolers, but still delighted, the assistant arrived at a jog with a team of coworkers in tow, hands full of large and small bags.
Suddenly being told by their boss to buy a huge haul of electronic components, a bunch of tools favored by master hobbyists, and livestream equipment—how could the assistant not be curious about what the boss was planning next?
As for the villa’s staff, from the moment they’d seen the boss subdue He Huisheng instantly with a makeshift taser, then saw him easily heft his own son off the ground—even if the youngest son was skinny, he still weighed more than a hundred pounds—well, they’d started to sense there was something about their boss that was different now.
The two groups merged, eyes glued on Qin Jingzhou as he methodically checked through the supply list, with Ling Jing busy setting up the livestream gear.
The assistant felt that something about the boss was subtly different today. Since the He Qingya situation, there’d been a lot of pressure, and Old Master would grumble about the heavens and the fates, leaving a shadow between the boss’s brows. Today, though… Qin Jingzhou’s face was utterly expressionless, making his feelings unreadable.
That assistant was about to complete ten full years with the boss next year.
Qin Jingzhou noticed the original host’s assistant—a truly talented and loyal young man—and gave him a bit of warmth. “Curious what I’m up to?”
All the assistants nodded in unison.
Ling Jing stood and opened her laptop, pulling up the video that had racked up over a hundred million views in no time. “Watch this first.”
The housekeeper had already seen the video and had a pretty good guess who the “Sword Immortal” might be.
The assistant watched the video closely, then took off his glasses to clean them, replayed it after putting them back on, and finally asked carefully, “That’s your profile… your figure… Boss, is that you?”
Qin Jingzhou, marking up some materials with a Sharpie, answered, “Yeah. I’ll clarify everything tomorrow at nine.”
The assistant was stunned. “Clarify what?”
You just admitted you’re the “Sword Immortal”… Hold on, when did you get so powerful? If you’d had that power, why’d you need to worry about He Qingya and her son?
Every thought played on the assistant’s face—it couldn’t be more obvious.
Qin Jingzhou said nothing, and in front of the staff, assembled a slender flying apparatus from four micro-engines. He added a spiritual stone by the main control circuitry, then welded the four corners together before settling onto the sofa and controlling the simply constructed aircraft with his phone, making it zip effortlessly around in midair.
The assistants stood stunned, shocked and confused in equal measure. Wait, are you really still our boss? We remember you majored in philosophy!
Micro jet engines were easy to buy, which proved the technology tree of this world was a bit lopsided.
The real sticking point was the high-powered battery needed to run those engines—a specialized battery wasn’t something you could just purchase.
So Qin Jingzhou decided to use a spiritual stone for power. So far, its battery life actually exceeded his expectations.
Once he’d finished, he handed the phone to his assistant to try it out in person.
The assistant was a bit flustered and flattered, wondering if there was anything on the market as intricate as this tiny jet drone.
He wracked his brain, but didn’t hesitate, taking his boss’s phone and testing the drone’s maneuverability. The longer he tried it, the more he felt there was something hidden in the design.
The little drone, assembled right in front of his eyes, could continually roll, dive, and climb… as if air resistance just didn’t matter during high-speed flight.
Now he was certain—a drone with performance like this was truly one of a kind. Only a cultivator’s artifact might match it.
His face was alight with excitement, fiddling with the drone for a full fifteen minutes before reluctantly handing the phone back amid his coworkers’ eager stares.
He looked again at his colleagues and at the drone hovering steadily midair, then turned to ask his boss, “Was this sudden inspiration, Boss… enlightenment?”
Qin Jingzhou took back the phone. “No, I’m just cheating.”
The assistants: …Now we’re even more curious, what do we do?
Without another word, Qin Jingzhou used a small lathe to quickly produce a rough flying sword shell, then fit the micro drone perfectly into the flying sword’s body, making sure the air intake and exhaust for the jet engines lined up exactly with the holes he’d left open.
A flying sword practically identical to the one in the trending video was born right before their eyes.
Qin Jingzhou looked to Ling Jing. “Should we film a short video now?”
Ling Jing had just finished calibrating the equipment. “Sure.”
The next morning at nine, a short video was posted on Zhang Jingzhou’s social media account.
Truth was, careful comparisons done by fans last night had already confirmed the “Sword Immortal” was none other than finance show regular and investing mogul Zhang Jingzhou!
Instantly, countless netizens swarmed to his account to comment or beg to be accepted as his disciple. Since Zhang Jingzhou had closed his DMs, people could only vent their wild excitement in the comment section.
In half a day, his account had gained eighty million followers.
So, at nine the next morning, when Ling Jing logged in to post the video, of the claimed one hundred million fans, five million were waiting to click instantly on the notification.
They watched as Qin Jingzhou packed a spiritual stone-powered drone into a sword-shaped shell, then floated the newly-forged flying sword in midair, calmly showing off its lifelike, agile movement.
Then, Qin Jingzhou lightly leapt up and landed on the sword.
With the appearance of a flying sword, the high-powered micro drone steadily carried his weight as he wove, dipped, and soared three stories above the ground.
The netizens were left speechless, their fingers only able to spam exclamation marks to show how utterly mind-blown and incoherent they were.
At the end, Qin Jingzhou held the flying sword in his hand and smiled. “So everyone, trust in science. Whether it’s immortal cultivation or scientific endeavor, the future is bright. Place an order now and enjoy a five percent discount.” The video ended there.
Netizens: …
The barrage of comments instantly overwhelmed the platform’s servers, bringing the whole site crashing down.
Even so, stubborn fans kept madly reloading, eyes boring into the spinning little flower icon as they posted with passion: “Never expected you to be a livestream salesman!” and, “Chairman Zhang, you sly dog! Old-school capitalist! And somehow I don’t dislike it at all—in fact, I wish there were more like you!”
Foreign fans chimed in too: “Shut up, and take all my money!”
A bit late to the party, but He Qingya finally caught up after stuttering through the video: What nonsense about trusting science! If I hadn’t seen you slice through reinforced concrete like it was tofu with my own eyes, I would’ve almost believed you!