8: Chapter 8's first wave of popularity points has arrived!

Chen Wu's phone was vibrating so hard on the bed of his rented room in the urban village that it almost flew off. He was using fingers stained with instant noodle soup to scroll through a replay of the convenience store brawl. Three minutes ago, he had pinned three thugs armed with weapons against the refrigerated display case. Coke cans had rolled everywhere, and the surveillance footage had been edited into a 15-second short video that had been shared thirty million times on TikTok.

"Buzz—" His phone suddenly exploded with a string of notifications, the brightness making him squint his eyes:

• #Convenience Store War God# tops the trending searches in 32 countries (Explosive)

• YouTube: "Chinese Clerk Takes on Three Alone" surpasses 700 million views (New)

• Fighting Fanatic Xu Mang: "Chen Wu's punches are special effects! I'm offering ten million to expose this fraud!" (Hot)

He casually swiped the screen, and blue-green light suddenly exploded in his retinas—the words [Initial Broadcast Popularity Settlement: 5,327,419 points] appeared like molten iron, searing his eyes with pain. Immediately after, a holographic projection enveloped the entire room: the torn curtains, the pile of dirty socks on the floor, and the instant noodle cup in the corner were all shrouded in a pale blue mist. Three "Newbie Gift Packs" floated before his eyes, feeling as warm to the touch as glass that had been sitting in the sun.

"Iron Shirt" 24-hour Trial Card (30 points), body tempering pill · Modified (Neutralized Version) (50 points), Livestream Camera Skin "Ancient Martial Incomplete Manual" (Free)—Chen Wu's finger was just about to touch the "body tempering pill" when a sudden "sizzle" of electrical current came from outside the window.

He looked up and saw over twenty drones crashing onto the awning downstairs like insects that had their Soul sucked out. One of them slammed onto the windowsill, its propellers still spinning, with the "Traditional Martial Arts Renaissance Foundation" logo printed on the blades.

In the next second, the reflection from a sniper scope flashed from the opposite rooftop—like an icicle stabbing into Chen Wu's pupils.

Clang!

The door of the rented room was kicked off its frame, wood chips splashing onto his face. Three elderly men in bluish-gray Tang suits stood at the doorway. The white-browed old man in the center held a bronze compass, its needle spinning like an electric fan. The hum of the magnetic field made all of Chen Wu's hair stand on end, and his phone screen instantly blurred into a mosaic.

"Mr. Chen," the white-browed old man's voice sounded like an old phonograph, "we are from the Traditional Martial Arts Renaissance Foundation. Please come with us to cooperate with our research on the Ancient Martial Legacy."

"Cooperate?" Chen Wu reached for the fruit knife under his pillow—he had just bought it yesterday to cut ham for his instant noodles—"You didn't say 'cooperate' when you kicked down my door."

A System alarm blared in his head, the electronic voice as sharp as nails scraping glass: [Ancient Martial Sealing Technique · Dragon-Locking Array detected! Magnetic field strength 1.2 Tesla, rising!]

The white-browed old man's compass suddenly shot out a silver thread, coiling toward Chen Wu's wrist. He instinctively threw a punch—it was the Surging Wave Hands Incomplete Manual he had realized during the convenience store brawl: force rises from the heels, the punch strikes like waves hitting the shore. But just as his punch reached the halfway point, the magnetic field suddenly warped its trajectory—his fist wind grazed the old man's shoulder and smashed into the wall, knocking off a large chunk of plaster.

"Boy, the Dragon-Locking Array has trapped Siberian tigers; your amateur Moves are—"

Before the old man could finish, Chen Wu suddenly grabbed the "body tempering pill · Modified" from the holographic interface and stuffed it into his mouth. A bitter taste instantly exploded at the back of his tongue, like swallowing a bullet soaked in coptis. In the next second, a "click" came from his wrist—it was his ulna stretching, followed by his shoulders, spine, and hips. The bones throughout his body popped like roasting soybeans, making cold sweat break out on his forehead, but a faint golden light began to glow from his fingertips.

"Taiji Whip Hand!" the white-browed old man shouted lowly, his palm coiling toward Chen Wu's neck like a snake.

At that moment, a line of golden bullet chat floated across the livestream interface—it bore the icon of the Mount Wudang Golden Hall, and the ID was [Wudang Yunxuzi]: "Use the Dui position footwork! The Dragon-Locking Array is arranged according to the Acquired Eight Trigrams; take the Zetian Guai position!"

Chen Wu looked up and saw that the livestream's popularity had already surged to "Number One on the Global Hourly Rankings." The bullet chat flooded in like a tide:

• [Wudang Yunxuzi]: "Step your left foot 30 degrees to the southwest!"

• [MIT Bio-Lab]: "His electromyography values are 8 times that of an average person!"

• [Anti-Fraud Alliance]: "This magnetic field must be special effects, right? Who carries a compass out of the house?"

The System AR navigation suddenly jumped out: a blue arrow was pinned beneath his feet, and the numbers for Magnetic Field Strength: 1.5 Tesla (equivalent to an MRI machine) floated beside it. A red recommended plan flashed blindingly: [Utilize the electromyographic overload caused by the body tempering pill to strike the array core (the white-browed Elder). Success rate: 73%].

Chen Wu gritted his teeth and slammed his left foot toward the southwest—the floor tile cracked with a "snap," and sand seeped out from the crevices. He stared at the white-browed old man's chest (the core of the Dragon-Locking Array was at the heart position), his shoulders sinking slightly like a wave gathering strength.

"Boy, are you cra—"

"Heh!"

The moment Chen Wu crashed forward, the capillaries under his skin all burst—blood mist seeped from his fingertips and the tips of his ears, mixing with the faint golden power of the body tempering pill to wrap around him like a thin veil. The white-browed old man's compass flew out with a "buzz," and the magnetic field instantly collapsed. The old man himself was sent flying as if hit by a truck, slamming into the opposite wall with a "thud," bricks shattering everywhere as he lost consciousness.

The livestream went black for three seconds.

When it lit up again, Chen Wu's knuckles were dripping with faint golden blood—every drop was like molten gold leaf, sizzling as it hit the ground. The old man on the wall had his head slumped, the compass rolling by his feet with the needle stopped at the "Kun" position.

The bullet chat exploded:

• [MIT Bio-Lab]: "Analyzing blood sample! Unknown enzymes discovered, catalytic efficiency is 12 times that of ATP!"

• [Professor Hanson, Cambridge]: "Look at the moment he crushed the floor tile! Thermal imaging shows the sole temperature is -10°C! This is a cooling mechanism from excessive perspiration—but he discharged 3 liters of sweat in that one step! The human limit is 1.5 liters!"

• [Tokyo Martial Arts Research Institute]: "The electromyogram completely overlaps with the Dunhuang Muscle Tendon Change Classic murals! This is empirical proof of 'Muscle Changing'!"

Chen Wu wiped the blood mist from his face and looked toward the livestream camera—his face was still stained with instant noodle soup, but his eyes were as bright as tempered fire: "That Move just now was called... Array Breaker."

I. Aftermath of the Array Breaking

Three hours later, Chen Wu sat in a meeting room at the Special Affairs Investigation Bureau, a cup of cold jasmine tea placed before him. A female military officer in a light blue uniform, Lin Wan, pushed a document forward. The cover was stamped with "Top Secret · Martial Dao Gene Project."

"Mr. Chen," Lin Wan's short hair was combed meticulously, "the Traditional Martial Arts Renaissance Foundation is a private organization, but their Dragon-Locking Array used superconductor quantum locking technology—which, along with the mitochondrial activation principle of your body tempering pill, represents the two extremes of 'Ancient Martial Arts vs. Science.'"

Chen Wu flipped through the document, which contained a surveillance screenshot from a hidden cultivation cave on Zhongnan Mountain: eight Sect Heads surrounded a projection, and a Xingyi Sect Elder had smashed a stone table, sending stone shards flying onto the prayer beads of an old nun from Emei.

"The Chen family's Surging Wave Hands is only passed to males, not females! This boy must have stolen the technique!"

"Not necessarily." The Old Emei Nun turned her prayer beads, "The footwork he used to break the Dragon-Locking Array is the Yu Step, which has been lost for three hundred years. The Yu Step aligns with the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, with every step treading on the 'Heaven, Earth, and Man' Trinity. It's not something that can be learned by stealing."

Lin Wan pointed to another screenshot—in a Hokkaido underground base, people in black were using a dummy to replicate Chen Wu's movements. In the third second, the turning angle had an error of 0.7 degrees; after AI correction, the dummy suddenly exploded, blue blood splashing onto the glass.

"DARPA has already launched the 'Martial Dao Gene' reverse engineering project," she tapped the document with her finger, "The Pentagon's annotation is: 'We must crack Chen Wu's DNA before China does.'"

Chen Wu picked up the tea and took a sip—it was so bitter he frowned: "What do you want me to do?"

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

"Cooperate with the test." Lin Wan handed over a headgear equipped with electrodes, "Electromyographic response, gene sequencing, Cultivation Technique demonstration—we need to prove that ancient martial arts are not 'feudal superstition,' but 'human limits' that can be explained by science."

The sunlight from outside the window shone in at an angle. Chen Wu looked at the parasol tree downstairs and suddenly smiled: "Fine. But I have one condition—the livestream must be completely public."

II. Survival Mode: 72 Hours in the Sahara

When the System's scarlet warning popped up, Chen Wu had just finished showering and was drying his hair with a towel.

[Novice protection period ended, Survival Mode activated]

[Mission: Create a new Cultivation Technique within 72 hours; if viewership is below 5 million, you will be erased]

The next second, the floor beneath his feet suddenly turned into sand—it was so hot he jumped up, scalding sand grains burrowed into his shoes, and the soles of his feet tingled with pain. He looked up; there was no moon, the stars shone like crushed diamonds, and the wind whipped grains of sand against his face, stinging his eyes shut.

The popularity of the livestream interface instantly shot to "Number 1 on the Global Charts," and the comments were filled with question marks:

"Brother Chen, why are you suddenly in the desert?"

"What the hell is Survival Mode?"

"Create a new Cultivation Technique in 72 hours? Who is this trying to force to death?"

Chen Wu sat on a sand dune and pulled out his phone—the signal was full, and the "livestream satellite link" provided by the System was still working. He opened the System's deduction module, and blue data streams wrapped around his Soul, breaking down the Incomplete Manual of the Surging Wave Hands into muscle movement trajectories:

Waves rise from ripples: Force originates from the heels, driving the calf muscles to contract by 30%.

Force originates from the waist and hips: The spine rotates 45 degrees, transmitting power to the shoulders.

Fists land on vital points: The wrist joint maintains a 15-degree bend to reduce counterforce.

But there were no "waves" in the desert, only sand.

He looked up at the distant sand mountain and suddenly remembered the parasol tree in front of the convenience store—when the wind blew, the leaves would drift in the direction of the wind, like waves. The desert wind was also a wave; the sand grains were the bones of the wave, and the wind was the Soul of the wave.

"Waves rise from ripples... sand rises from the wind." Chen Wu muttered softly, reaching out to grab a handful of sand—the scalding grains leaked through his fingers like flowing water.

The System's deduction module suddenly lit up: Blue data streams overlaid the movement trajectories of the sand grains with the Moves of the Surging Wave Hands, forming a new map—the sand grains were the carrier of the "waves," and the wind was the medium for the "force."

For the next 72 hours, Chen Wu didn't close his eyes. He performed the Yu Steps on the sand dunes, treading until the sand grains hovered; he practiced the Surging Wave Hands against the wind, letting the palm wind whip sand against his face; he even bit his fingertip and dripped blood into the sand—the pale golden blood seeped into the sand, surprisingly causing the grains to form tiny crystal nuclei.

In the early hours of the third day, when the first ray of sunlight pierced the night sky, Chen Wu suddenly stood up—his clothes were shredded into strips, his face was covered in sand, but his eyes shone like stars.

"Vast Sea Art." He said softly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the sand suddenly rose from the ground—like golden stars, arranging themselves into the trajectory of the "River Chart": One and Six share the same ancestry (Water), Two and Seven share the same path (Fire), Three and Eight are friends (Wood), Four and Nine are companions (Metal), Five and Ten travel the same route (Earth). Immediately after, bronze vessel inscriptions began to appear on his skin—from his wrists to his chest, in seal script were the characters for "Water," "Wind," and "Sand," each stroke looking as if it were carved into his bones.

"Rise!" Chen Wu shouted.

A sandstorm suddenly swirled up—like a giant Dragon, with scales made of yellow sand, eyes made of red sand grains, and a roar like a hurricane. It circled Chen Wu three times, then fiercely rushed toward the sky—NASA's emergency report popped up instantly:

[An ionospheric hole has appeared over the Sahara, its shape completely consistent with the demonstration of the Vast Sea Art!]

The popularity of the livestream room instantly broke "1 billion," and the comments were filled with exclamation marks:

[Old Nun from Emei, Zhongnan Mountain]: "The martial path reaching the divine... a communion between heaven and man."

[Tokyo Martial Arts Research Institute]: "The electromyogram perfectly overlaps with the Muscle Tendon Change Classic! This is the ultimate form of 'Muscle Tendon Change'!"

[Middle Eastern Tycoon]: "Mr. Chen! I offer 100 million! Please come to Dubai and teach my son!"

Chen Wu looked at the sandstorm Dragon in the sky and suddenly smiled—his lips were chapped, but his laughter was like the wind in the desert, light and distant: "This is... the power of ancient martial arts."

III. Trouble After Returning

When Chen Wu returned to the city, it was already three days later. As soon as he left the airport, he saw the utility poles by the roadside covered with small advertisements: "Chen Wu's same style body tempering pill! Guaranteed to turn you into a superhero!" Below it was a WeChat ID, and the profile picture was actually a photo of him breaking the Dragon Locking Formation.

"Fake." He frowned and tore down the advertisements, only to find he couldn't finish—every utility pole, bus stop, and trash can on the entire street was covered with them.

Returning to his rental apartment, he opened the dark web, and a video immediately popped up: A man wearing a tank top sat in a basement, holding a red pill in his hand (it looked exactly like his body tempering pill), and said with a smile: "This is Chen Wu's 'Muscle Tendon Change Pill,' I spent 100,000 buying it on the black market!"

The video fast-forwarded—after the man took it, the skin on his face began to fester, yellow fluid flowed down his chin, and he screamed and rolled on the ground: "It hurts! My bones are rotting!"

A blood-red ID floated in the comments: [You destroyed our God].

The System interface suddenly popped up, and in the newly unlocked [Sin Value Store], the first item was "Memory Eraser" (requires 100 Sin Value points), with the description: "Make everyone in a designated area forget for 24 hours."

Chen Wu stared at the icon, his finger hovering over it—he thought of the Sahara sandstorm, the comments from Wudang's Yunxuzi, the documents Lin Wan handed him, and the festering man on the dark web.

"Ding—" His phone suddenly received a WeChat message from Su Xiao (that girl wearing a duck-bill cap): "Teacher Chen, the basic class starts tomorrow. I brought mung bean soup and saved a bowl for you."

He looked up and saw the neon lights flashing outside the window; an LED screen on a distant building was broadcasting news: "Suspected ancient martial arts murals discovered in Antarctica, dated to 3000 BC—the people on the murals are practicing the 'Yu Steps'."

Chen Wu closed the System interface, picked up his phone, and replied to Su Xiao: "Okay."

Then he opened the livestream and said to the camera: "Everyone, I need to clarify one thing—the 'body tempering pill' on the market are all fake. My body tempering pill is provided by the System; there is no formula, and it cannot be mass-produced."

He paused for a moment, his knuckles turning white: "If anyone has been injured because of taking a False Core, I will be responsible to the end."

The comments in the livestream room flooded in instantly:

[Wudang's Yunxuzi]: "To dare to act and take responsibility, that is the mark of a true practitioner."

[MIT Biology Laboratory]: "We can help analyze the ingredients of the False Core!"

[Middle Eastern Tycoon]: "Mr. Chen! I donate 10 million! Let's establish an anti-piracy fund!"

Chen Wu looked at the camera and suddenly smiled—his face was still stained with desert sand, but his eyes shone like stars: "Ancient martial arts are not a myth; they are something to be guarded. Guarding its truth, guarding its Soul."

The wind outside the window whipped the small advertisements over, landing at his feet. The "Chen Wu's same style body tempering pill" on the advertisement rustled in the wind, but he didn't tear it down again—because he knew that true ancient martial arts could never be obtained just by taking a pill.

The System notification sound suddenly rang in his mind: [Popularity +1,000,000]

[Current Popularity: 6,327,419 points]

Chen Wu looked down and saw the "Vast Sea Art" icon in the holographic interface flashing with golden light—that was the ancient martial art that belonged to him, which he had exchanged 72 hours of his life for.

He picked up the mung bean soup on the table (which Su Xiao had just brought over) and took a sip—it was as sweet as a spring in the desert.

The neon lights outside the window were still flashing, but he knew that his path had only just begun.