Wu Li's handsome face coupled with a white training suit, stood out wherever he was, exuding youthful vigor that was immediately striking.
He punched and knocked the snow off a tree, leaving behind a fist imprint on the trunk, which awed onlookers and exuded an indescribable coolness.
Zhang Jia'er had to admit she was infatuated for a moment. Compared to those androgynous pretty boys, she appreciated this type of masculinity, filled with virile energy. In this video, Wu Li perfectly fused strength with handsomeness.
"Do you mind if I use your roommate's video to make a collab?" Zhang Jia'er asked Wang Xuecheng on WeChat.
Originally, Zhang Jia'er was just going to give Wu Li a like and mention him during her live stream, sort of as a favor to help him get some recognition. But after watching Wu Li's video, she suddenly thought it had the potential to go viral, so she decided to make a collab.
A collab is where the screen is split left and right, showing someone else's video on one side and your own on the other, commonly done with a very popular video to gain traction.
"Of course, that's no problem at all," Wang Xuecheng quickly replied.
Zhang Jia'er, excited, stood up and went to her closet to pull out her dance outfit to change into. She already had in mind how she wanted to shoot the collab.
...
"If you want to practice martial arts, you have to put in the effort!"
On the right side of the screen, Wu Li in a white training suit spoke, while on the left, Zhang Jia'er in a red dance outfit, with her stunning figure on full display, also smiled and looked ahead. The subtitle read: "If you want to practice dance, you have to put in the effort."
"What is kung fu? Kung fu is something that's honed over time!"
"This punch of mine, twenty years in the making, can you withstand it?"
As Wu Li punched the tree, Zhang Jia'er balanced on one leg, lifting her right leg up high against her body into a standing split.
"This move of mine, twenty years in the making, can you do it?"
After shooting the video, Zhang Jia'er edited it several times over and, once satisfied there were no issues, clicked 'publish.'
At that time, Wu Li's video had been out for just over an hour, and Zhang Jia'er saw that the number of likes was at 257 and comments were at 67—an impressive performance.
Mo Yin promotes videos based on the theme and location of the content. There is also an underlying advancement system where the decision to promote a video a second time is based on how much the video's views, likes, and comments increased during the first promotion phase.
Many people post a video and days later, the likes and comments are still the same. That means they've failed to advance in the rankings. Mo Yin doesn't provide further promotion, and unless they pay for it, almost no one else will see their video.
Zhang Jia'er, having streamed for over a year, had her own insight into Mo Yin's advancement system. By her judgment, Wu Li's video should be able to make it through the first round of promotion, and with her own collab video added, it was sure to go even further in the second round.
Zhang Jia'er had over fifty-four thousand followers. Discounting the inactive and less engaged accounts, she believed that at least half would watch her videos. With over twenty thousand viewers, she was confident she could capture their attention.
...
By six in the evening, two hours after Wu Li posted his video, the number of likes had reached thirty-two thousand, and the comment count had surpassed one thousand.
By seven in the evening, the likes had increased to fifty-three thousand, with comments breaching two thousand.
By eight in the evening, the likes soared to seventy-one thousand, with over three thousand comments.
"Old Wu, how many followers do you have now?"
As they finished shooting Wu Li's video, Wang Xuecheng and Chen Dong were constantly monitoring its performance, as if they were the ones featured in the video. They asked Wu Li about the numbers nearly every half hour.
Wu Li was also continuously refreshing his account, "Now, over five thousand people are following me."
"Not bad, Old Wu, you're on the verge of going viral!" Wang Xuecheng exclaimed excitedly.
Wu Li responded with a smile, "Thank your classmate for me."
He had also followed Zhang Jia'er's account and seen her collab video, which had already surpassed a hundred thousand likes. Zhang Jia'er had tagged 'Xingyi—Wu Li' in her video title, so many viewers interested in her video followed the link to Wu Li's account.
As Wu Li refreshed his feed, he read through the comments left by viewers.
"This is one solid punch."
"Great kung fu skills!"
"The visual effect is definitely good, but I wonder how it is in actual combat."
"If that punch hit me, would it cost you eight thousand bucks?"
"Must be special effects, the tree trunk has been tampered with."
"I think I could achieve the same effect with my punch."
"Xingyi? Traditional Martial Arts are so common now, who still practices this stuff?"
"Just another show-off, no real fighting skills."
...
The more Wu Li read, the more furrowed his brows became. Initially, comments were full of amazement and admiration. As they multiplied, skepticism crept in. Some doubted whether the tree had been rigged, while others opined that the punches only looked impressive without substance. Eventually, most comments jeered at Traditional Martial Arts.
Wu Li's ID included the characters for 'Xingyi', and his attire clearly marked him as a practitioner of Traditional Martial Arts. Recently, the reputation of Traditional Martial Arts had taken a hit due to some so-called masters and sect leaders who, when they fought in public, were easily defeated, leading netizens to believe that Traditional Martial Arts were all talk and no action.
Although Traditional Martial Arts were mainly promoted for health and fitness, martial arts are inherently competitive. Coupled with the way films and novels have mystified Traditional Martial Arts, most people think, what's the point of martial arts that can't be used to fight?
So, videos where "Traditional Martial Arts masters" are knocked out with a single punch have led to even deeper disdain for Traditional Martial Arts, because after all the hype, no truly formidable fighters have emerged.
The only well-known and battle-proven martial artist is Li Xiaolong, but he rose to fame too early and passed away young, leaving modern audiences with only stories of the legend and widespread skepticism, with some even questioning the authenticity of Li's accomplishments, considering Traditional Martial Arts outdated.
Wu Li couldn't understand why a strongman, who many international fighters acknowledged, was sometimes not recognized in his own country.
The decline of Traditional Martial Arts had many causes: the change of times, government regulations, and the impact of foreign martial arts. But Wu Li believed that the main reason was that, for years, Hua Country had not produced another martial artist like Li Xiaolong, who not only had immense fame but could also fight!
Kung fu, two characters, one horizontal, one vertical.
Right, standing; wrong, lying down!
Anyway, the ability to fight is what truly convinces people of the worth of Traditional Martial Arts.
Wu Li felt that since he possessed such a Martial Arts System, it was his responsibility to make the world witness the pinnacle of Traditional Martial Arts once again!
By nine that night, the likes on Wu Li's video had broken through a hundred thousand.