The small commotion about the pictures ended after a few moments, Lin Songmei and Yan Mingqing had known that their master was... ‘cool and young’... but it was still a surprise. The master they knew was a dorky, sorta old, sorta young, lady who spent all day wearing a tanktop while it was snowing and feeding her koi. 

The female anchor and the male anchor continued on though, transitioning and picking up between each other without a hitch, it was seamless in every aspect. The quality of the Daoist Times kept climbing every time there wasn’t a horrendous joke being said... 

[Our next two disciples are Yan Mingqing and Lin Songmei, both disciples of Elder Liu Xueli, the co-head of Starlight Lake’s Martial Pavilion.] 

[With these two disciples, their backgrounds could not be more different...]

[I’m sure everyone’s heard of one, Yan Mingqing! Yan Mingqing is from the Kunpeng Clan’s main family, her older brother is also a direct disciple in the sect, and she has no other siblings as of now other than him. With her stunning looks and reclusive tendencies, she’s earned the nickname of ‘Ice Princess’ from a young age, we’ll only be able to see how she develops from here!]

Songmei looked up at Mingqing, raising an eyebrow, “Reclusive tendencies they said...” 

“I... I couldn’t find anyone to talk to who wasn’t annoying or trying to get closer to me because of my family...” Mingqing coughed, a tinge of red climbing up onto her cheeks after the laudatory spiel the Daoist Times video had given her. “They really know how to make things sound good though don’t they...” 

[The other disciple is named Lin Songmei. Lin Songmei grew up in an orphanage from when she was a baby, her parents are completely unknown. Yet, with enough talent to become a direct disciple of the Starlight Lake Sect, perhaps there’s more to her than we realize! We eagerly await the development of these two disciples. Although coming from a poor background, this is the perfect setup of a brilliant hero story, we’re cheering for Songmei!]

A tinge of pink appeared on her own cheeks, and Songmei, who hadn’t even dreamed of something like this happening, could now understand Mingqing’s words. They really did know how to kiss up!! It felt nice though... 

The pictures of the three now being replaced with some quotes, the anchors continued on, not making a painful joke in transition to every watcher's surprise. With a small window in the bottom corner showing their faces, the male anchor and female anchor began to read out Liu Xueli’s quotes. 

[Mingqing... I like her! She’s hard to get close to, she raises a lot of barriers before she opens up, but she’s quite a nice person. Growing up at the top of cultivation society, she’s very well-informed, yet not arrogant. Therefore, she’s very easy to work with, and I look forward to training her. In fact, her talent and work ethic is in no way inferior to her brother’s!]

[On the other hand, Songmei is very different from Mingqing. Don’t get me wrong, they’re both immensely talented, to an insane level, but Songmei has a very different personality. She’s quite reserved, she doesn’t talk much but likes to ask questions. However, once you get to know her she’s quite friendly! In the end, I’ve been blessed with two talented, kind, and cute disciples! I look forward to supporting them!]

As the quotes came to an end, Songmei paused the video as fast as she could, rolling over and making eye contact with Mingqing. 

Too different!

Ignoring the fact that their Master Liu Xueli’s quotes were longer, the content was just... too different from Elder Wu Sen’s! 

“I mean... At least it was nice...” Songmei murmured, shrugging a little as Mingqing agreed. Songmei and Mingqing didn’t mind that it was different, it was still very kind and caused a warm feeling to bubble up in their chests. 

Unpause.

After the introductions and quotes, the Daoist Times show launched into a deeper dive on each of the disciples, giving some theories based on what was said, trying to extrapolate information. One of the only theories that Songmei heard that held any weight was that Mingqing might... be an extrovert? Under all those layers? However, on the show, it was dismissed without much thought. 

If only they knew... 

Then they moved onto giving some other news, detailing the latest updates on some of the young rising stars, especially the sect’s young trio. The show spent more of its time on Ma Sicheng’s new breakthrough into the core formation realm, while giving the other two, Lan Keying and Wang Baichuan just enough time to give some very basic information. 

With that, the episode came to a close, the anchors thanked their viewers, giving brilliant smiles that only raised their attractiveness to another level. 

Daoist Times really knew how to hire good-looking and talented people... 

Songmei closed the video, continuing to splay herself across Mingqing’s legs while scrolling to find the forums that would be discussing this newest episode of the Daoist Times. 

On the other hand, Mingqing, having listened to what she was interested in, went back to grinding the bricklaying game as if there was no tomorrow. Songmei wanted to bet that if Mingqing could spend this type of effort in cultivating later, she’d reach the peak of the world in a mere ten years! 

Too lazy to join the bricklaying game, Songmei found the forum and so, her finger began to scroll. 

Scroll... 

Beyond those who were making their own theories on what their futures would be like and the very sparse critical comments, Songmei was... surprised. 

There were an immense amount of links to fanfiction websites being posted! Just looking at the titles, Songmei could tell that between the 4 new direct disciples and 2 masters, almost every pairing already had a number of fanfics written about them!

How the hell were people so fast... 

Songmei knew that she hadn’t watched the Daoist Times video on the day that it was released but... still. 

Beyond that, there were also a number of comments that didn’t make Songmei’s jaw drop, but still surprised her to a certain extent. How popular was this sect? How... far did she leap up suddenly in the societal ladder...?

[Red_Velvet: Lu Qiang is so handsomeeee! He’s my new husband!! Look at his pure smile and bulging muscles!

Puzzl3r: Steponme Steponme Steponme Steponme Steponme!! Queen Mingqing!! Please step on me, look at me harshly and insult me! Us knights of the ice princess will follow you forever!!

Sunscreen_Is_My_Lbe: Look at Songmei!! C’mon everyone!!! Let’s form the Songmei fan club!! With her background won’t she get bullied otherwise? We must rally up!! Defend our new idol!!

Leafgreen: Cai Yufei! Punish us!! No matter how big the stick up your ass, we’ll shove one up ours too!! The Cai Squad has arrived!]

What... was this... 

Songmei didn't know how to react, she felt honored but... the cultivation world really was similar to the non-cultivation world in some aspects... 

And now it was to her?? What was she supposed to do... There were even fan groups being formed... 

She just wanted to get a nice house and then live far from any action!! Now she had paparazzi to worry about too?!

Closing her terminal and shelving those thoughts, Songmei rolled over once more to look at the concentrating Mingqing. “Did you know there’s a ton of fanfiction being written about us?” 

“Yep.” Mingqing replied without looking up, her speaking was no longer as verbose, instead now being like short bursts. “I’ve had some since I was young.” 

“I see...” Songmei murmured, Mingqing didn’t bat an eyelid at this point with all the fanfic, in this moment, Mingqing was truly the unfazed ice queen. Shaking her head, Songmei sighed while resting her chin on Mingqing’s thigh. “Half of these don’t even work anyway... I’m only interested in girls. What about you all again? It’s ‘all’ for you and Cai Yufei, and guys for Lu Quiang, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Mingqing answered, her fingers still flying across the keyboard as bricks were continuing to be laid. “The fanfiction writers don’t care, of course. Just don’t mind them.” 

“Yeah...” 

These writers really were creative... 

Songmei couldn't help but be impressed... 

Esiyx

hum hummm
put up some lights today...
that was funnn
Also was checking the stats on ScribbleHub, and like... T~T 6 chapters a week??
bruh...
Orz
I post every dayyy... and there are 7 days in a week i'm pretty sure...
who knows who knows...
anyhow... uhhhh if i have time i'll throw together a sketch of Xueli being cool
i'll say it in an AN when i do... also someone needs to yell at me to post all the explanations/reference pics i'm hoarding i have channels on discord and everything
bruh moment is the me T~T