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Mountain Retreat.
Silence. A heavy, suffocating, deathly silence filled the rustic living room of the cabin.
"Asher... you..."
Zane's mouth hung open, his face a total blank. Even Dakota Fanning was visibly flustered. They had just spent five minutes being moved by Asher Reed's "noble master" act, only to watch him sucker-punch a meditating opponent into the dirt.
The drama had played them like a fiddle. The illusion of the dignified protagonist had been shattered into a million jagged pieces.
"Uh..."
Ryan, the host, struggled with his usually high emotional intelligence. He looked at the camera, let out an awkward chuckle, and tried to salvage the vibe. "Haha... well, that's certainly a unique way to win. Asher Reed is... hilarious? He's the comic relief, right?"
The live stream chat for the variety show was not as forgiving. It was a hurricane of "???" and "!!!"
[TOO AWESOME! I am officially never believing a single word Asher says again!]
[Damn it! I literally just finished writing a post about how noble he was! Why is he so resistant to being a hero?!]
[Hahahaha! Don't even look at the other shows; Asher Reed is the first domestic male lead to be a total scumbag, and I LOVE it!]
[Despicable! Too despicable! But as the saying goes... the shameless are invincible!]
[Poor Silas! 'Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river... never bully a young man in poverty!' I believe Silas will have his revenge!]
Asher Reed glanced at the iPad showing the live comments, saw his reputation plummeting into the abyss, and let out a wail of despair.
"Everyone, listen! It's not my fault!" Asher shouted at the camera, waving his hands frantically. "To tell you the truth, this entire script was written by Director Leo Vance. He's the one who filmed it. He's the one who sat in the chair and told me, 'Asher, I want you to look like the biggest coward in history.' I was just being a professional! I was doing my job for the Art!"
Asher didn't expect that shifting the blame to Leo would be so effective. In a split second, the tone of the chat shifted.
[Wait... Director Leo asked him to act like that? Then there must be a deeper philosophical meaning!]
[Actually, now that I know Leo directed it, I find Asher's character kind of charming. It's a subversion of the trope!]
[I think there's nothing wrong with Asher! The goal of a tournament is to win. Did he win? Yes. Case closed!]
Asher stared at the screen, stunned by the speed of the flip. Holy cow, he thought, the gap between our reputations is a literal canyon!
He suddenly recalled Leo's parting words before he left for the variety show: "Asher, you might get a little cyberbullied for the first few episodes. If that happens, just tell them I made you do it. I have thick skin; I can handle the heat."
Brother Leo! Asher thought, his eyes welling with tears of gratitude. From now on, you aren't just my Director. You're my Master!
Raten Taishou: Tournament Grounds.
While the comedy provided a breather, the actual matches of the Raten Taishou began to open the eyes of the global audience.
The debut of Silas's (Zhuge Qing) "Occult Matrix" and Jade's (Feng Shayan) "Spatial Punching" were visual masterpieces. Leo had used the system to integrate authentic-feeling Daoist hand seals and metaphysical concepts, sparking a massive surge of interest in "American Folk Magic" and "Eastern Roots." The NAC judges were already patting themselves on the back for choosing this show.
Then came the "Shocking Secret."
When the audience learned that the elegant, white-haired Xander (Zhang Lingyu) couldn't cultivate the "Pure Lightning" technique because he was no longer a virgin, the internet went into a state of investigative frenzy.
[WHO TOOK HIS FIRST BLOOD?!]
[I need a name! I need a face! Who managed to seduce the Saint of the Northern Sect?!]
[Xander looks so depressed about it. It's the funniest tragedy of the year.]
At the same time, Jo's (Riley Evans) own "support plan" for Asher began.
When the camera showed a rival contestant, a top-tier master named Shan, tied up like a Christmas ham and being dragged toward a hole in the ground, the audience was dumbfounded. Jo was actually going to bury the competition to ensure Asher's victory.
Jo stood over the pit, holding a shovel, her face a mask of absolute, vacant sincerity. "I'll just dig a hole and bury him here. As long as his head is above the dirt, he won't die. I've checked the perimeter; no one comes this way. I'll come back and feed him every day until the tournament is over."
She turned toward the camera, making a confident "OK" gesture with her hand.
"People say I'm slow... but I'm not slow at all. Most of the time, I'm actually incredibly clever!"
The national audience howled with laughter.
["INCREDIBLY CLEVER!" Oh my god, Jo is a treasure!]
[Riley Evans' delivery is perfection. She actually believes she's helping!]
[Poor Shan! 'Thank you, Jo! You're so smart, you've thought of everything!' (Sobs in buried).]
Then came the debut of Luna (Lu Linglong), played by Tia.
When Tia appeared on screen with her signature bright pink hair and high-energy combat style, the "Simp Army" found their new general. Unlike Scarlett's "Enchantress" vibe, Luna radiated a youthful, cute, and fiercely loyal energy that was an instant hit.
[I'm in love! Luna is the 1899th member of my harem!]
[No wonder the crowd was cheering for her! She's too cute for this gritty world!]
Finally, the episode reached the highlight: Wang Ye vs. Iron Monkey.
Leo's Wang Ye stepped onto the stone arena, looking like he had just rolled out of bed. His opponent, a man with the "Golden Bell" indestructible physique, looked like a brick wall.
What followed was a masterclass in Tai Chi.
Leo's movements were slow, fluid, and mesmerizing. He didn't use brute force; he used the opponent's own energy against him. To the untrained eye, it looked like they were evenly matched, until the camera panned to the ground behind Iron Monkey.
The solid stone floor had been pulverized into fine dust by the residual shockwaves of Wang Ye's "mercy."
Silas (Zhuge Qing), watching from the stands, explained the reality to the audience: "Wang Ye is showing him mercy. If he had let that last palm strike explode inside the Monkey's chest, the Golden Bell wouldn't have saved his internal organs from turning into jelly."
Wang Ye let out a long yawn, waving his hand as he strolled off the arena. "That's enough for today, old buddy. I need a nap."
The audience's perception of Leo's character shifted instantly. He wasn't just a "Salted Fish." He was a hidden dragon.
As the credits rolled on Episode 8, the "Wang Ye Fever" officially broke the internet.
The line "Wudang's Wang Ye... pays his respects to the High Priest" became the #1 trending sound on TikTok.
The next morning, a makeup blogger named Chameleon Gentleman, who previously had only 500,000 followers, posted a Wang Ye transformation video. Set to the "Boundless" BGM, he perfectly captured the sleepy eyes and the navy-blue robe aesthetic.
Within thirty minutes, the video hit 200,000 likes. By the one-hour mark, it reached 500,000. By noon, the video had two million likes and the blogger had gained over a million new followers.
"Holy cow! Is this real?!" the blogger posted to his story, his mouth wide enough to fit an egg. "I just posted a cosplay and I'm a millionaire now? The Gojo Effect is real!"
At the same time, Leo Vance logged onto his own TikTok account.
In less than two weeks, his follower count had surpassed 35,000,000.
He had only posted one video, a simple "Hello" to the platform yet he was already the most followed individual account in the country. He sat in his office, looking at the data, a small smirk on his face. In his previous life, he had struggled for years to get 20,000 followers.
In this life, he didn't just have an audience. He had a kingdom. And the Raten Taishou was just getting warmed up.