Redemption of a Born Demon

Chapter 104: Guiding Public Opinion, A Growing Awareness of Extraordinary People

On the internet, clips from the live streams of various internet celebrities were quickly edited and began spreading rapidly across social media, instantly causing a huge stir and heated discussions.

The time, place, and people involved were all quite real and traceable.

Although the video footage was nowhere near as incredible as what was seen live under the influence of the True Intent, the terrifying destructive power generated by fists and feet that surpassed the limits of a human body of flesh and blood, as well as the sight of the figures wreathed in a radiant glow, was more than enough to stun people.

"Holy shit, he sent a guy flying through a wall with one punch?! Is this for real? I just can’t believe it."

"Creating shockwaves with a punch and a kick? It looks like a grenade going off. Are you sure these aren’t robots?! Human-sized mechs?"

"Didn’t you see them glowing? They’ve gotta be high-tech combat robots equipped with Iron Man’s Arc Reactor, no doubt. (joking)"

"..."

Some were shocked by the content of the edited clips, but most were skeptical.

"Looks like special effects at a glance. Probably a TV show set, right? But I gotta say, the actors’ moves are pretty slick, the atmosphere is well-crafted, and the sense of power feels really authentic. The quality probably won’t be bad. Movie title, please."

"That’s it? This is all?! This is nothing. The other day, I saw a streamer flying around on a Flying Sword looking for heavenly treasures. Now he seems to be in the Demon Realm. The guy hasn’t updated in a week or two. Don’t know if the signal is bad in the Demon Realm, or if he’s already been wasted by a demon lord. (lol)"

"I’ve seen a video of someone flying in the air near the Modu TV Tower, undergoing a lightning tribulation. That was way more shocking than this, okay? They said it was a Great Demon who was taken out by the Donghua Dragon Team for violating the human-demon pact. Do you guys believe that?"

"There are tons of fake videos like this out there. The ones that ’captured’ a dragon, the ones that ’filmed’ a UFO—they all have one thing in common: the footage is incredibly blurry. What era are we in? Are they still using cameras from the last century? I have only one thing to say: only an idiot would believe this."

"Believe it or not, I’m actually Qin Shi Huang... never mind, just send me the money already."

"..."

Even more netizens expressed their disbelief, thinking it was just another fake video. After all, despite the multiple camera angles, the footage was incredibly blurry due to the influence of the magnetic field, making it look very similar to other widely circulated fake videos online and hard to accept as authentic.

On top of that, all the internet celebrities at the scene were still going through official procedures and couldn’t come out to clarify anything, so comments questioning the video’s authenticity became even more rampant.

But there were also plenty of netizens who believed it was real.

"Haven’t you guys noticed the recent policy changes? Morning exercises in schools are gradually being replaced with Five Animals Qigong and Posture Stance, Martial Arts classes have been added to the elementary and middle school curriculum and now count toward the grades for PE, and there’s the newly announced Martial Arts Dao ranking system. This is clearly the country gradually sending us a message! Maybe Cultivators really do exist, and a Spiritual Energy Awakening is about to happen! The people in this video look like they’re at least at the Foundation Establishment Stage."

"I’m in Dragon Tiger Town right now, risking my life to post this. The military entered the town a while ago, and the whole place is under martial law. I’m guessing it’s because of what happened in the video. Any friends nearby should be able to confirm this easily. I’m sure those videos are real. There are Supermen hidden in our society!"

"The ignorant are fearless. I can tell you with certainty that this video is real. I am a Martial Arts Cultivator. There are many things in this world unknown to the common person. The limits of human Physical Ability and potential far exceed your imagination. Those who reach the pinnacle of the Martial Arts Dao were called ’Saints’ or ’Immortals’ in the past, possessing unimaginable power. The people in the video should be that kind of existence."

"..."

With local residents of Dragon Tiger Town posting comments and many from the Martial Arts circles coming forward to testify after seeing the video, the direction of the discussion began to shift. Netizens split into two camps—skeptics and believers—debating each other and driving the topic’s popularity higher and higher.

The discussion also gradually expanded to encompass topics like Martial Arts, the Martial Arts Dao, and Cultivation, eventually going viral beyond its usual niche.

But strangely, the Donghua authorities never stepped in to cool down the hype or control public opinion. They took no action, simply remaining silent as if tacitly permitting the heated discussion to continue.

This was clearly an attitude of "letting the bullets fly for a while."

This led to many people who weren’t in those circles but were connected to Yi Beidou receiving notifications about the video.

In a certain coffee shop, Tian Peijun and Jiang Yanxin had just returned to the country from Siam and were having afternoon tea.

After spending this time pulling all their social connections to inquire, they had managed to get a vague idea of just what kind of person Yi Beidou was. It was as if another world had been opened up to them.

Body Ascension, Red Dust Immortal...

The descriptions were almost unbelievable, but the things they had witnessed in Siam forced them to believe.

’My classmate is a Human Immortal?’

"Yanxin! Quick, look! Is that your classmate in this video?!"

Just then, Tian Peijun suddenly exclaimed, putting her phone in front of Jiang Yanxin.

"I think so..."

Jiang Yanxin’s eyes widened as she finished watching the video.

With their experience in Siam, they naturally wouldn’t question the video’s authenticity.

But they were still completely stunned.

After all, back in Siam, they had only witnessed the river of blood in the backyard of Bao Lian Temple before fleeing in a panic. They had never actually seen Yi Beidou in action.

Now, they undoubtedly had a much deeper understanding of the term "Red Dust Immortal."

「Da Wu City.」

Li Qingdai of the Cyan Wood Heart Intent Sect was having afternoon tea with a few friends. The group, a mix of men and women, were all impeccably dressed, clearly from well-off families.

"Huh, check this out. This video suddenly hit number one on the trending list."

A tall, handsome guy scrolling through his phone let out a cry of surprise, catching everyone’s attention.

"This looks so fake. The video quality is terrible."

"A video like this can get trending? It just looks like special effects."

"..."

The group chattered amongst themselves.

"Qingdai, take a look. A lot of people in the comments are talking about the Martial Arts Dao and Cultivation. You study Martial Arts and you’re pretty good, right? What do you think, is the stuff in this video real or fake?"

The guy handed his phone to Li Qingdai with a smile.

Seeing the video, Li Qingdai’s mouth fell slightly agape, her expression dazed.

"Qingdai? Qingdai?"

Her friends beside her noticed her strange expression and called her name twice before she snapped out of it.

"This video... is absolutely real," Li Qingdai said, taking a deep breath.

"Huh? How can you be so sure?"

The others looked at each other, not quite convinced.

Li Qingdai didn’t answer. Instead, she subconsciously opened her Feixun app and looked at a pinned contact.

The contact’s profile picture was the default gray humanoid avatar, and the name was "Yi Beidou."

’Of course I’m sure. The person in that video is right here in my friends list.’

’He once said he could grant me one request...’

Li Qingdai was realizing more and more just how much weight was contained in that one sentence she hadn’t paid much mind to at the time.

Because the person who said it was an "Immortal" standing at the very pinnacle of humanity.

「Wencheng, Xu Mansion.」

This was the headquarters of the Xu Group. It was originally under the control of the main branch of the Xu Family, but the situation had changed completely since Yi Beidou’s return from Nanyang.

Now, Xu Yao was in the chairman’s office of the Xu Mansion, handling documents and a major collaborative project with the Yundong Group from Yunhai Province that had started not long ago.

"Mom! Mom! Look! Isn’t that my cousin in this video?!"

Xu Zifeng rushed into the office, placed her phone in front of Xu Yao, and hit the play button.

"Where did this video come from?"

Xu Yao’s jaw dropped after she finished watching. If he weren’t so familiar, she would hardly believe that the person who had torn up the street in a flurry of fists and kicks was her nephew.

Although she had heard about what Yi Beidou had done in Nanyang, they had never personally seen him unleash his full power.

The most profound impression she had was of him smashing a man’s head into his chest with a single palm strike, and flinging Ruan Guangqin’s body onto a wall with one finger.

But now, the destructive power in the video was like that of a humanoid mecha, and the sight of light radiating from his body was like that of the Immortal Gods.

’Could an ancient sage of great virtue truly have been reincarnated into our Xu Family?’

Xu Yao finally understood why the Donghua authorities placed such importance on him and had opened so many doors for their entire group.

However, when she saw the final shot of Yi Beidou covered in blood, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of worry.

"Mom, what is my cousin doing now? Why does it look so dangerous? He won’t... one day..."

Xu Zifeng didn’t dare finish her sentence.

"I don’t know either. I’ll give him a call in a few days."

Xu Yao shook her head.

That world was on a completely different level from the orderly world they lived in.

Moreover, as an entrepreneur, she had a keen sense of the changes in policy and public opinion.

In the past, a video like this would never have been allowed on the internet. Even if it was uploaded, it would have been banned in short order, and it certainly would never have been pushed to the number one spot on the trending list.

As long as the relevant departments wanted to, controlling these things was the simplest matter.

This meant that the higher-ups intended to gradually reveal that world to ordinary people, bringing it closer to the mundane world, and eventually, the two might fully integrate.

No one knew what kind of changes would occur in the world when that time came.