The sun rose over the Heavenly Capital.
The city woke up to its usual routine. Hawkers set up stalls, guards yawned at their posts, and citizens trudged to work.
But today was different.
At every major intersection, every teahouse, and every market square, street urchins were running around waving sheets of paper.
"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" "The Zither Fairy enters the Demon's Den!" "Star-Moon Sect declares war on tradition!" "Free! It's free!"
A middle-aged scholar, on his way to the academy, frowned at a dirty child shoving a paper at him. "Free?" he scoffed. "Nothing is free."
"Take it, Sir! It has the grain prices too!"
Curious, the scholar took the paper. He glanced at the headline. His eyes bulged.
SHOCKING! THE ZITHER FAIRY...
"Preposterous!" he sputtered, but he didn't throw it away. He kept reading. "Secret meeting? Musical duel?"
He walked into the teahouse. "Did you see this?" he asked his friend.
"I have one too," the friend replied, eyes glued to the paper. "It says here that the Star-Moon Sect's new 'Pop' style is based on ancient lost texts. Is that true?"
"It must be! It's written down!"
By noon, the entire city was buzzing.
The Capital Morning Post was everywhere. People were huddled in groups, debating the article.
"I knew it! The Fairy and the Demoness are secret sisters!" "No, they are rivals! It says here they exchanged 'words of fire'!" "Hey, look at this advertisement at the bottom. ' Wang's Iron Shop - Swords that cut iron like mud. 10% off if you bring this paper.' I need a new knife..."
Inside the Dream Cloud Pavilion, the manager was hyperventilating.
"What is this filth?" he screamed, crumpling the paper. "My Fairy visited a brothel? This ruins her reputation!"
But Liu Qingyan, sitting calmly with her zither, picked up a smoothed-out copy. She read the article. It was sensationalist, yes. It exaggerated, yes. But... it made her sound interesting. It made her sound human.
"Manager," she said softly. "Look outside."
The manager looked out the window. A crowd had gathered at the entrance of their pavilion. They weren't throwing stones. They were... asking questions.
"Is the Fairy really friends with Xiaochan?" "We want to hear her play again!" "Is she really secretly wild?"
The ticket sales for tonight's performance had tripled.
Liu Qingyan smiled. "Xue Mu... you are a devil."
Back at the Hundred Flowers Manor, Xue Mu sat with his feet on the desk.
"Report," he said.
"All five thousand copies gone in two hours," Yue Xiaochan reported, looking at him with awe. "People are already asking for tomorrow's issue. And... three merchants have come asking what 'Advertising' costs."
"Good," Xue Mu grinned. "Tomorrow, we escalate."
"Escalate?"
"We introduce a new segment," Xue Mu said, eyes gleaming. "The serialized novel. We're going to write a story. A story about a lonely swordswoman and a misunderstood demon."
"Is it about us?" Yue Xiaochan asked.
"It's about everyone," Xue Mu said. "And once they start reading, they'll never be able to stop."
The Shadow Impresario had successfully infected the martial world with its first virus: Information addiction.