"So… are you ready?" Wei Chen asked with his usual smirk as he stepped back a few paces, preparing to watch a good show.
Fatty Hu readied himself to attack, adjusting his stance and gripping the stick tightly.
"Wait, wait, wait! Aren't you going to reconsider? Are you sure that thing isn't a weapon? If you attack me with it, you might get struck by heavenly tribulation, you know!" the Sacred Flame Elder tried to dissuade him.
"Didn't I already swear it's not a weapon?" Wei Chen replied.
"Wait! Something's not right here!" the elder continued, still trying to stop him.
"Kill him, Disciple Pang," Jian Heng ordered.
Pang Hu nodded with determination. His grin widened, the mysterious stick in his hand was indeed powerful. The expressions of both his vice sect leader and that bastard of an elder had already confirmed it.
"Prepare yourself!" Fatty Hu roared as he charged forward.
The Sacred Flame Elder could feel the overwhelming aura of death surging toward him from the stick's tip. At this point, saving his face was the least of his worries. He had to save his own life first!
Face could be regained, but life could not. The Sacred Flame Elder immediately gathered his spiritual energy to defend himself, swallowing his own words and launching a powerful fire ball against Fatty Hu, hoping to immediately kill him to save himself.
"You dare!" Jian Heng was about to rush forward, but Wei Chen stopped him, watching calmly as the blazing fire surged toward Fatty Hu.
Fatty Hu closed his eyes, bracing for the impact. But the moment the massive fireball touched the plunger's flange, it instantly dispersed into harmless fire spiritual particles, as if crushed by an overwhelming force.
As the plunger surged forward, the Sacred Flame Elder felt an overwhelming sense of doom closing in, as though he were staring directly into the face of death.
Especially that suspicious dried brown substance! The aura of death emanating from it was undeniably real. His survival instincts screamed at him to dodge!
The Sacred Flame Elder quickly moved, sidestepping and twisting his body, narrowly avoiding the strike by a hair's breadth.
But—
"Argh!" The elder screamed as a powerful suction force drained his lifespan when the aura of death surrounding the plunger grazed his body.
He felt at least five hundred years of his life being sucked away. Had he not been a Soul Transformation cultivator, he would have died on the spot!
The Sacred Flame Elder quickly retreated as far as he could from the Indomitable Plunger in Fatty Hu's hands.
Dread filled his heart. It was a relief that this fatty's cultivation was much lower than his own…. otherwise, he didn't even want to imagine what would happen if that black rubber thing had hit him directly.
"Oh? Congratulations!" Wei Chen said to the elder with a cupped fist.
"Huh? For what?" the elder asked.
"Because you'll have a new surname." Wei Chen paused, then cleared his throat. "Ahem… congratulations, Elder Dog." He emphasized the word Elder Dog loudly, as if afraid others might not hear it.
Hearing this, the elder gritted his teeth in fury. But if he refused to accept it, heaven would punish him for breaking the oath.
"Fine… from today onward, my surname is Dog!" the elder spat through clenched teeth.
With this, the conflict was finally resolved, and Jian Heng let out a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha! Welcome to the Heavenly Sword Sect, Elder Dog, and the disciples from Sacred Flame Valley!"
Jian Heng immediately displayed his friendliness, sheathing his sword and cupping his fist in greeting toward the Sacred Flame Valley group… especially Elder Dog.
"Elder Dog, we've prepared a guest house suitable for someone of your stature. Please follow our disciple."
As if on cue, one of the disciples stepped forward with a smirk. He was the one assigned to guide this group of troublemakers to their residence.
"Elder Dog, please follow this humble disciple," the young man said with a smile, doing his best to hold back his laughter.
"Grrr… I… I'll trouble you then…" Elder Dog replied through gritted teeth before leading his disciples to follow the guide to their quarters.
After the group left, Wei Chen looked at Fatty Hu. "Oi, Fatty, give that thing back to me already. It's very dangerous," Wei Chen said, waving his hand for Fatty to return the Indomitable Plunger.
"Y.. Yes! Thank you for your help, Senior!" Fatty Hu quickly handed the plunger back with both hands.
Wei Chen took it and stored it inside his broadcasting orb's storage space.
He then turned toward the camera, ready to continue his broadcast, but noticed that the chat activity had become much livelier than before.
The chat room was practically exploding. Many Spirit Net Jade holders who had been silent until now were flooding the feed, discussing what had just happened in the broadcast.
Jian Ganglie: [What kind of heaven-defying treasure is that?]
Drinking Till Dawn: [It must be a Sovereign Grade treasure!]
Ethereal Snow: [No, it withered the grass and dried the ground, forcing a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator to dodge despite the wielder being of a much lower realm. That means it must be fatally threatening to him. This has to be a treasure beyond Sovereign Grade.]
Handsome Tall and Rich: [A treasure beyond Sovereign Grade!? Ha! As if! This young master has seen several Sovereign Grade treasures. The smallest one I've seen was the size of a house! There's no way something that small could be beyond Sovereign Grade!]
Little Wealthy Demon: [Don't you think the fact that it's small and still made a Soul Transformation expert feel dread is exactly why it's beyond Sovereign Grade?]
The Wise King: [This supreme treasure should belong to the virtuous.]
Sky-Severing Demon: [Who? You? Don't make me laugh.]
The Wise King: [It's better than being in the hands of a demon like you!]
Sky-Severing Demon: [Pathetic. Don't use your standards on me, you bastard. I remember it was you who said that before.]
Handsome Tall and Rich: [No! It should belong to the Ximen Clan!]
The chat began to erupt into arguments as more people joined in. Wei Chen smiled, things were starting to get interesting. People in this world were gradually becoming familiar with the Spirit Net Jade. Unfortunately, the current production rate was still too low, but he believed that once Sect Leader Jian opened more production lines, that problem would be solved.
He imagined the day when he would have countless subscribers and donations flooding in. But for now, the number of Spirit Net Jade users was still limited.
Wei Chen continued, "Okay folks, we had a little interruption from a dog… er… I mean, Elder Dog."
Handsome Tall and Rich: [Damn! This guy's mouth is so venomous.]
Little Wealthy Demon: [HAHAHAHAHA! He's so terrible!]
"Alright, where was I? Oh right! How do we determine if someone is truly Heaven's Chosen, right?" Wei Chen said as he adjusted the camera to focus on Jian Heng.
"As you can see, Vice Sect Leader Jian Heng is one such character. He's a bona fide Heaven's Chosen, no doubt about it. His experiences and destiny are filled with twists and turns to the point that it almost feels like heaven itself supports him and Miss Su Yurong." He continued speaking as he walked up the sect staircase.
"But while we often marvel at the Heaven's Chosen for their heaven-defying achievements and strength, we tend to forget that most of them suffered great misfortune in the early stages of their lives," Wei Chen said toward the camera.
In a town square somewhere, a man with bird droppings on his head muttered in wonder, "I've been really unlucky lately. Am I Heaven's Chosen?"
"Hahahaha! If you are, then the sun must be rising in the west!" someone beside him laughed.
Back to the broadcast.
"Is bad luck the defining trait of Heaven's Chosen? Of course not. Is it their strength? Their genius in cultivation comprehension? Those are just parts of it," Wei Chen said, clearly baiting the audience and leading them along with his reasoning.
"The true defining trait is their heaven-defying destiny, so extraordinary it sounds absurd or outright impossible. For example, a crippled cultivator whose dantian was destroyed, yet by sheer chance, he stumbles upon a heaven-defying phenomenon or treasure that restores his power and makes his cultivation soar by leaps and bounds."
"Or a simple guy who falls off a cliff and happens to discover a secret legacy realm," Wei Chen added, then turned to Jian Heng. "No offense, Vice Sect Leader Jian."
Jian Heng merely chuckled and continued walking up the stairs.
Wei Chen continued, "Their destinies are marked by ups and downs, each calamity they face carries a hidden blessing. This kind of heaven-defying fate is what truly defines a Heaven's Chosen."
"This concludes the first part of our Heaven's Chosen topic. Next time, we'll discuss why they're like that and how many exist in the world. Please stay tuned!" Wei Chen said, pointing at the camera with a bright smile as he finally arrived at the sect square.