"Wu, check it out, you're trending!"
On a Saturday morning, while lying in bed asleep, Wu Li was woken up by Chen Dong.
Still groggy, he unlocked his phone, opened Weibo, and saw the third trending topic: "Beichuan University Xingyi Heir: I Can Represent Traditional Martial Arts!"
Wu Li rubbed his eyes and clicked in to look, discovering that the video of last night's interview by the Chuhua Evening News reporter had gone viral online.
"Do you think you can represent Traditional Martial Arts?"
"I can!"
...
"Not convinced?"
"Right."
"Then bring it on!"
...
The video was virtually uncut, conveying Wu Li's message completely.
Wu Li opened the comments to see what the netizens thought about him.
"This dude is awesome, not convinced then fight, I like it!"
"Haha, how much did he drink? Drunk like this."
"Young and reckless, he doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth. Just a decade or so of practice and he thinks he can represent Traditional Martial Arts?"
"At least the guy has some solid records, one against five, how many can do that?"
"I'm rooting for this guy, at least he's more reliable than those fake masters with big bellies and no muscle on their bodies."
"Not to say anything else, but this guy is the toughest I have seen among Traditional Martial Arts practitioners! All that crap about winning people over with virtue, strengthening the body, 'I'm not hitting you because I'm afraid of hurting you' – it's all useless talk. Only this dude dares to say, if you're not convinced, let's fight! Awesome!"
"Just don't let it be another farce, any random boxer could knock him down, Traditional Martial Arts is almost losing all its face."
"Pure bystander here, just stating facts, Traditional Martial Arts has long lost its face..."
...
Besides Wu Li's interview, there was another video on Weibo interviewing some well-known figures in the Traditional Martial Arts field.
"I've seen that video of his, he indeed uses Xingyi Fist, but it's just some very basic moves, they're still flawed, so don't even talk about representing Traditional Martial Arts, he can't even represent Xingyi."
— Sect Leader of Shang-style Xingyi, Shang Haiyun.
"He's still too young, boasting after just over a decade in Martial Arts. Traditional Martial Arts are profound and intricate, I've practiced for decades and wouldn't dare to claim that I can represent Traditional Martial Arts."
— Master of Wudang Traditional Martial Arts Hall, Li Chuan.
"You can tell the young man knows a bit about real combat, he learned some fighting techniques from Traditional Martial Arts, but to say he can represent Traditional Martial Arts or face any challenger, I think he's not there yet."
— Sect Leader of Qingcheng Sect, Liu Qingsong.
"The young man is vigorous, strong, knows some techniques, and can beat a few hooligans, no problem. But once on the real stage, he might not be a match for some professional fighters. Our Traditional Martial Arts, in modern combat, still face many restrictions. I've been trying to refine and improve some techniques from Traditional Martial Arts."
— Chairman of the Beichuan Province Martial Arts Cultural Research Association, Dong Chengshu.
...
"Heh."
Wu Li chuckled; he had a general idea of what the netizens would say, but the comments from these well-known Traditional Martial Arts figures amused him.
In the past, when everyone said Traditional Martial Arts couldn't fight, none of these people stood up. Now that Wu Li had proven himself through action, these figures began to speak: saying the lad knows a bit of fighting, but he is too young, his skills not deep enough...
Between the lines, they simply wanted to tell others: Look, Traditional Martial Arts is still very impressive. Forget this guy who can handle five at once, he's still green. Now, look at me; my skill is deep, but did I tell anyone?
Wu Li logged out of Weibo and opened Mo Yin, discovering that he had gained 530,000 followers, an increase of 500,000 overnight!
During last night's live stream, the peak online viewer count reached 48,000, and the total amount of tips received was 3,586 yuan. After the system's tenfold conversion, Wu Li made over 30,000 in one night.
In the background of Mo Yin, Wu Li received over 1,000 private messages, including requests for apprenticeship, challenges, pleas for attention, and even some asking to meet with him...
He glanced through and seeing no messages from rich women, Wu Li clicked on the trending topics list, finding his video had become the second hottest topic, with the top spot being "Challenging Xingyi Heir Wu Li."
Clicking in, the first video showed a muscular man with his upper body exposed standing in a ring speaking.
"Wu Li, aren't you representing Traditional Martial Arts? Aren't you all about 'if you're not convinced, let's fight'? Well, I'm not convinced by you, do you dare to accept my challenge?"
Subsequent videos were more or less the same. Boxers, Sandboxing practitioners, Free Fighting enthusiasts, MMA fighters – all sorts of people challenged Wu Li, almost all of them amateurs.
With popularity comes controversy, and with Wu Li now trending, there were more than a few looking to ride his coattails. Since he'd boldly declared "not convinced, let's fight", some modern combat practitioners saw an opportunity. They issued public challenges, hoping that defeating Wu Li would not only skyrocket them to fame overnight, but also gain them hundreds of thousands of new followers.
[Temporary Task: Vindicate Traditional Martial Arts]
[Publicly compete against a modern combat practitioner, defeat the opponent, and vindicate Traditional Martial Arts]
[Reward: The final award will depend on the opponent's fame and actual strength]
Wu Li once again received a temporary mission from the system.
"Ts, they really want me to cash in on both fame and fortune, huh."
Wu Li smiled and opened his personal panel:
[Name: Wu Li
Fan Value: 49200
Live room viewer conversion ratio: 1:1
Money: 44753 yuan
Live room tipping conversion ratio: 1:10
Owned Skill: Xingyi Fist (Master Level)
Owned Items: Master Level Experience Card x1]
A fan value of over 40,000, enough for him to exchange for hundreds of Martial Arts techniques. Even if he didn't level any up, just having the complete content of hundreds of Martial Arts from ancient to modern times in his mind was something unprecedented. That's why Wu Li had the confidence to make the bold statement that he could represent Traditional Martial Arts!
However, Wu Li didn't rush to make any exchanges. Since the system had issued a task, he decided to first select an opponent before making targeted exchanges.
"The higher the fame and strength, the better the reward. So, these unknown small fries on Mo Yin are worth skipping."
Wu Li scrolled through the challengers, none of them had over 100,000 followers. It made sense; why would any well-known professional risk challenging him? Little to gain from a win, a potential career disaster if they lost.
"So, I have to be the one who challenges someone else," Wu Li mused for a moment before making a decision.
There was no cap on the system's task rewards, implying that defeating an amateur fighting champion and a world Boxing Champion would yield vastly different rewards. Of course, the difficulty of defeating the latter would also be exponentially higher.
Wu Li certainly wanted to reach for the stars but, setting aside whether he had the ability, why would a world champion bother with an unknown like him?
So, he needed to find someone who he was confident he could beat, someone who would pay him some attention and be willing to fight him – and the more famous, the better.
Having lain in bed for most of the day, Wu Li eventually found a suitable target on Mo Yin.
(This story is set in a parallel universe; all characters are fictitious, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.)