Let's debut, fairy!

Chapter 80: The Tragedy Caused by a Bite of Vinegar Fish

Talk about it.

From the moment they arrived in Hangzhou, Meng Bai took Su Xintang on a culinary tour of the city's streets and alleys.

She said everything Su Xintang ate was delicious and smiled happily, until Meng Bai ordered a plate of West Lake Vinegar Fish and gave her a detailed introduction, praising it to the skies.

Then, Su Xintang eagerly took a large spoonful, and then...

[Hey streamer, why aren't you laughing anymore?]

The anchor never smiles.

[No, is it really that bad? It's just an act, isn't it?]

They didn't say it tasted bad, they just seemed a little hesitant to speak.

[Not just a little]

[I can't stop laughing, her expression after she finished eating was hilarious!]

[The main reason is that the streamer's boyfriend is too sarcastic. When introducing West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce, he used a whole string of adjectives, which really heightened the streamer's anticipation.]

What's the point of having a boyfriend like that? I suggest breaking up with him and then being with me. To be honest, I'm also a cultivator; I didn't go to sleep until 4:30 last night.

"Well, you're a bit average. I go to bed at 7 a.m. and get up at 8 a.m. to go to work. I feel like I'm floating when I walk. I might be about to become an immortal."

"They only sleep for an hour, are they really working this hard?" Su Xintang asked seriously when she saw this.

"Pfft~~" Meng Bai couldn't take it anymore, he just lay back and laughed until his stomach hurt.

However, something even funnier happened next.

Meng Bai discovered that on the recommendation page below the video, a content creator had used footage from this Vlog and the video of "Returning Home to Cultivate Immortality" to create their own fan-made content.

The title is "A Tragedy Caused by a Bite of Vinegar Fish".

Upon clicking, you'll find an AI-generated narration: "Tired of cultivating immortality, my boyfriend and I transformed into human form and went to Hangzhou to shop and eat delicious food."

Accompanied by narration, there was a two-second clip from behind-the-scenes footage showing "Meng Bai dressed as a toad spirit" and "Xia Tang" standing together.

Then, the scene cuts to the two of them happily strolling through the streets.

Then the two sat in the restaurant, and Meng Bai introduced the vinegar fish to Su Xintang.

The moment Su Xintang eagerly took a bite of the vinegar fish, the scene immediately changed.

"You beast, die!" The cultivation girl Xia Tang appeared, wielding fire tongs and began to beat the toad demon.

"Let's fight!" This content creator even removed the original sound effects and added the "ping-pong" fighting sound effects from an old movie.

This sound effect takes the humor of the video to another level.

Su Xintang couldn't take it anymore; she was laughing so hard she was clutching her stomach and convulsing.

Today, she finally understood the true meaning of "editing" for the first time.

"This video will go viral, it'll even surpass our video's stats." Meng Bai suppressed a laugh and left a comment on the video using the account 【Xia Tang】.

Only one character was left [6].

Just as Meng Bai had predicted, the popularity of this fan-made video skyrocketed.

These kinds of videos don't even require viewers to have watched "Returning Home to Cultivate Immortality" or Vlogs. The information density is extremely low. To put it bluntly, they're just playing on the "West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce is unpalatable" meme.

But the effect is very direct.

The popularity of this fan-made video quickly benefited the accounts of [Xia Tang] and [Yi Shao Bai Tang].

Meng Bai clearly felt that Su Xintang's [salary] was about to be unlocked, just a hair's breadth away.

Su Xintang didn't notice this. She put away her phone, followed Meng Bai's posture, lay down on the car's flatbed, put her hands behind her head, looked at the stars in the sky and said, "It's so nice."

"What's so good?"

“I took a look at this content creator. He didn’t have much traffic before, only 83 followers. This fan-made video brought him a lot of popularity. If he can seize the opportunity, he might have a different kind of experience.”

Meng Bai didn't reply immediately, listening to the whistling wind and the sounds of cars passing by.

After a while, he finally spoke up: "Our appearance helped this content creator, and his appearance also brought us a lot of new traffic. This is a natural cause and effect."

Therefore, spiritual practice still requires interaction with people, with heaven and earth, and with all living beings. Only through interaction can one experience more surprises. Trying to escape the world and hide away is not feasible; it will only lead to getting stuck in a rut.

"Hmm~" Su Xintang seemed to understand but not quite.

Meng Bai continued, “Only by embracing the mystery of all beings can we truly escape the mystery and break free from our predicament. Therefore, we come from all beings and return to all beings; we are all beings, so there is no mystery of all beings.”
Your gods of the River Drum Sect, detached from sentient beings yet sustained by their offerings, are neither truly free nor truly inaccessible. If they are not shrouded in mystery, then who is?

"So, will we unknowingly change many people in the future?" Su Xintang asked again.

"Perhaps." Meng Bai didn't know either.

In fact, even before the future, they have already changed many people without even realizing it.

It also changed them.

As I said before, they are just one of the masses.

"I was thinking, should I take you to Nanchang next time to try the Jiangxi spicy food? A lot of people love watching that..." Meng Bai suddenly thought of some fun scenes. Spicy food is a form of pain, so Su Xintang isn't afraid of spicy food at all; she can eat it no matter how spicy it is.

Of course, authentic Jiangxi cuisine isn't as exaggerated as it's portrayed online. Some of the trendy restaurants aren't really worth visiting; a decent local eatery might be better.

However, after saying that, he shook his head and said, "Forget it, let's just eat and play normally. There's no need to go out of our way to do any challenges."

I think the real reason people enjoy watching this vlog is precisely because we never intended for it to be seen by everyone.

Because there was no intention to let others see it, it was purely Su Xintang recording their lives.

Therefore, every emotion that Meng Bai and Su Xintang expressed in the video was genuine and full of emotion.

I was genuinely happy and genuinely surprised. There was no acting involved, and I didn't consider what the audience would think.

Everyone's had enough of the acting.

Time passes slowly.

Su Xintang suddenly spoke up. "We've accumulated 50 followers across all platforms."

It was around 2 a.m. when the two changed cars and lay down.

"Hmm?" Meng Bai turned his head to look at Su Xintang lying next to him. "You felt it?"

“I felt it.” Su Xintang sat up, the [Payment] sign on her right shoulder flashing.

Meng Bai also sat up and asked, "Are we about to advance?"

"No," Su Xintang shook her head.

"How could that be?" Meng Bai asked, puzzled.

After sitting facing each other in thought for more than a minute, Meng Bai suddenly slapped his thigh and exclaimed with delight, "I forgot, I forgot, I forgot!"

"Forgot something?"

"The light spot only takes effect when I touch it from you. Do you remember the last green spot I used to [start a number], it took me about ten minutes to touch it?"

“Uh…” Su Xintang remembered too.

So she said with a bit of a laugh, "Therefore, we don't need to check out at all. We can rest well at the hotel for the night before leaving."

"Hahahaha... We should be prepared for both possibilities. Lying in a hotel is not as fun as lying on the highway."

“That’s true.” Su Xintang curled up her legs, hugged them, looked at both sides, and said with a smile, “You really like having a backup plan.”

These four words seem to be etched into his bones, becoming an instinct.

Don't tell me yet.

Meng Bai put several of his "two-pronged approach" into action.

Having prepared both a main account and a secondary account, they were able to accommodate two different groups of fans.

Even in terms of content, they had a two-pronged approach: relying on their own abilities on one hand, and riding the coattails of celebrity popularity on the other. It was precisely this dual approach that led to their initial success.

As she laughed, Su Xintang suddenly remembered something else: Meng Bai said that he had many points of light scattered on his body.

These light spots need to be touched for a certain amount of time before they take effect.

If the green dot has already taken 10 minutes, what about the other, better light spots? Wouldn't they take even longer?
That means...

Su Xintang suddenly looked down at herself, not daring to look at Meng Bai, and tentatively asked, "Where else on my body are there any spots of light?"

Meng Bai was about to reply when he suddenly realized what was going on.

He couldn't help but glance at Su Xintang's plump, tender flesh. He remembered there were golden specks there; the green specks had been there for 10 minutes, but the golden specks...

"Ahem... well, let's not be too ambitious, let's focus on the present." Meng Bai forcibly changed the subject.

"..." Su Xintang, who's being unrealistic? That's what I'm asking about.

"Huh?" Meng Bai suddenly noticed something else.

"what?"

"The [payment] needs to be used within 24 hours on Earth, otherwise it will expire," Meng Bai said, staring at Su Xintang's left shoulder.

“There’s plenty of time. Just 10 minutes is enough. 24 hours is more than enough,” Su Xintang muttered, hugging her legs and resting her head on her knees.

Her mind is now filled with images of touching other light spots in the future.

Just thinking about it... oh dear, this is just too... these specks of light are so indecent!
She stole a glance at Meng Bai, wondering if he was also having impure thoughts.

Meng Bai was indeed having wild thoughts, but he was thinking about something else entirely.

From the very beginning, he was thinking about how to maximize the benefits of the "remuneration" by exploiting a bug.

After all, the "salary" refers to the ability to elevate one's level, but it doesn't specify which level one should be raised from.

Su Xintang is indeed at the "Jade Bone Realm" now, but her bottleneck has loosened. What if she cultivates to the "Divine Embryo Realm" and then uses the [fees] to advance her realm?

Wouldn't that be going straight to the level of a deity?
(End of this chapter)