Under the Heavens’ challenge from the blank chapter came just before Celestial Bane was published. It was timed perfectly.
“Celestial Bane fans” was a group for fans that was founded by a few Lords. Lonely Seeker of Loss was the group leader and Long Aotian was the vice leader. Apart from them, there were also many other wealthy readers.
Although Ye Lingchen had never suggested for them to create a group for readers, these people took the initiative to form Celestial Bane’s strongest backbone, vowing to be the alliance of wealthy fans for Celestial Bane!
[F*ck! 3Logs is being shameless! What’s an old-timer author like him doing picking on Celestial Bane?!]
[Damn it, fighting for monthly votes? How dare he suggest that! Under the Heavens is already reaching three million word count. Furthermore he’s rather influential. He’s already placing top amongst the monthly rankings! Meanwhile Celestial Bane is only at somewhere over 200 thousand word count and barely published!]
[Most importantly, Under the Heavens had issued a blank chapter as a challenge. I’m afraid the results would be terrible on the monthly rankings starting from the first day!]
[Celestial Bane has quite a lot of rich readers. Let’s all put in some effort. We must push back Under the Heavens’ insolence!]
[Let’s go notify I am Y!]
…
Those that managed to enter this group were all Celestial Bane’s die-hard fans. All of them were getting ready to do something for Celestial Bane at all costs.
Ye Lingchen was not in the group, hence they had to leave their messages on Celestial Bane’s chapter review and comments to leave the message.
[If the author reads it, he should reply right?]
[Let’s see what I am Y says about this. We must duke it out with Under the Heavens!]
Midnight.
As his novel was being changed to paid content, it required a little time to make the changes. Ye Lingchen patiently waited for the back end to make the necessary adjustments, after which he would upload the chapters after publishing.
Feeling bored, he went to the discussion zone.
[Wah, our great author is finally publishing! Let’s subscribe!]
[Support our great author. Subscription is not an issue, just give us the mass release!]
[Keep it up, great author. Although I don’t have much pocket money, it’s still enough for a subscription!]
There were many comments, and most of them were filled with encouragement. Ye Lingchen read through them slowly and could not help but smile.
Although he started doing this for popularity, who would not feel happy when being accepted by the public?
Having that many fans were something worth celebrating, to begin with.
However, a frown soon found its way onto his face.
[Great author come have a look quick! Under the Heavens is issuing you a challenge!]
[3Logs is shameless. To think that he would specifically pick on Celestial Bane!]
[Great author, just do your best. Our monthly vote is ready. Once you publish, we’ll put in our efforts!]
These comments immediately got Ye Lingchen’s attention. He went to Under the Heavens’ blank chapter, took a look at the contents and his expression turned cold instantly.
‘Teach me a lesson? Suppress me with monthly votes?’
Ye Lingchen still had some recollection of 3Logs. 3Logs was the one that slandered his works and even claimed that he paid to get his statistics. He did not expect this person to show himself again on the day of his publication.
‘Hehe, you want a fight? I’ll give you one!’
Ye Lingchen immediately started typing away. He planned to use a blank chapter as a reply to 3Logs.
His typing speed was extremely quick, especially with the relatively short length of a blank chapter. He then uploaded it straight away!
Meanwhile, a lot of readers were waiting for Celestial Bane to be published. Long Aotian was already topping up coins in his QQ Read app, getting ready to go all out.
‘It should be updating anytime now.’
Long Aotian experimented by refreshing the chapter page. To his surprise, a new chapter appeared!
It was not a chapter, but instead a blank chapter as a response.
It was titled, [You want a fight? I’ll give you one!]
[Our generation was born through times of trouble.
Rushed by age as we step into society.
Dreams of greatness and talks of wonders.
Nothing compared to a drunken night!
Do you want a fight? I’ll give you one!
What do I fear?[1]]
That blank chapter was very short, with only six sentences.
However, when Long Aotian saw that, his pupils dilated. He could feel the blood within him boiling with passion!
F*ck!
F*ck!
Is that a poem?
‘I am Y wrote a poem?!’
Although Long Aotian was not very cultured, he could still feel the emotions within the poem through the surface meaning of those words!
Grand and impressive, bringing the passion of a reader to a boil!
Nice poem!
A wonderful poem!
“Our generation was born through times of troubles, rushed by age as we step into society. Dreams of greatness and talks of wonders, nothing compared to a drunken night!” He read the poem repeatedly, face growing redder each time, and beads of sweat were appearing on his forehead.
At that moment, an urge to settle grievances took over him. He felt that he was looking at the birthplace of heroes, witnessing the legends rising one by one!
Using blank chapters to ask for monthly votes was a common practice among the authors.
However, a blank chapter like the one that Ye Lingchen just uploaded was the first in his life!
Under normal circumstances, blank chapters begging for monthly votes usually appealed to the reader’s sympathy. Some might do it like 3Logs, by hyping it up with a duel. Regardless, Ye Lingchen was a cut above the rest by sending them a poem!
Putting the blank chapter aside, just that poem alone was considered a masterpiece!
Such talent!
At the same time, countless other readers noticed it too. When they read the blank chapter, they were all stunned.
Meanwhile, an old professor of Capital University[2] was wearing a pair of reading glasses and opened QQ read on his Ipad.
He heard of Celestial Bane from his student, Hao Jian, during class. Furthermore, it was a particular phrase in Celestial Bane that piqued his interest.
Until that day, he still remembered those words in his heart. “Heart for the world, life for the people. Strive for hidden knowledge, strive for peace in the world.”
To the old professors, those words could be considered the words of a wise man.
When he first heard those words, his heart was in a state of shock. He could only feel his mind being blown to bits. Those words had concluded the countless visions from past to present. At that moment, he had seemingly heard the voice of truth!
It was because of that impression that he started reading Celestial Bane.
Although Celestial Bane did not have the depth of traditional literature, the world within brought him back to the past. He relived the same feeling when he read Journey to the West. It was the world of xianxia filled with fantasy.
With that, reading Celestial Bane became one of his few hobbies in life.
Nonetheless, on that day, he heard that Celestial Bane was being published and needed monthly votes.
Those were of course none of his concerns. However, when he went into the blank chapter, his entire body froze.
That was…a poem?
As a language professor, with just one look, he could tell that the poem was an original! Something new to the world!
In this modern-day and age, someone could come up with such a poem? What great literary talent!
“Wonderful, wonderful!”
His face was flushed with excitement and his eyes were teary. At first, he thought that proper Chinese literature was lost to modern times, yet that day, he saw it. That poem that would even put some old classics to shame, one that could be passed on for generations!
[1] This is a portion taken from a poem. It may sound weird as a translation of the poem would lose a lot of its characteristic structure. We hope this would not affect your reading experience too much.
[2] In raw it was written as Huaqing University, but other details seem to suggest it is at Capital University. We believe it was a typo.