It could only be said, as expected of these sect leaders… Father Chen and the others were stunned. This group of sect bigwigs with hundreds of millions in annual revenue thought nothing at all of a petty sum of one hundred thousand yuan.

　　Father Chen ran a body techniques dojo, and when business was good, he could earn up to over a million in annual revenue, which was enough for his family to live on very comfortably. He couldn’t compare with these sect leaders, but at least he didn’t need to worry about food or clothing and could still enjoy the occasional luxury trip or two – it was a wonderfully plentiful life.

　　But even given Father Chen’s household situation, there was no way he could bear to spend tens of thousands of yuan like this, as if money was just like dung! As if money was nothing…

　　…

　　That day, thanks to the succession of gifts which Wang Situ received from those wealthy sects, there was an irreversible turn in the battle for top place as Best Author on the Cultivation Reading Network… All the leaders on the website were shaken. Zhu Ge was hit hard and became listless right away, not daring to say a single word.

　　There was no way to frame Father Wang for rigging the votes even if he wanted to, since Father Wang’s votes were all sent through as gifts from the readers… The gifted votes were documented for all the readers of the website to see. It was an absolutely victorious and indisputable counterattack.

　　Father Chen didn’t know what Zhu Ge’s situation was like, but in the last half an hour of the battle for votes last night, Liang Heng had also gotten someone to share Zhu Ge’s novel Shameless in the cultivation forum. In the end, Uncle Cat had directly banned the account and deleted the post… After all, not everyone had works as profound as Father Wang’s.

　　Liang Heng was hit hard – this was the first time after university that he had lost to Father Chen, and he felt stifled and gloomy.

　　Not only did Zhu Ge fail to win Best Author, Liang Heng had also spent tens of thousands of yuan on monthly votes for Zhu Ge this time, but ultimately hadn’t been able to save the situation.

　　At the same time, however, there were a number of suspicious points about the matter.

　　For example, Dark Governor Lady Thirteen, that daughter of a rich family, had disappeared without a trace after sending that first gift of one hundred thousand yuan, and had never shown up again.

　　This time, if Liang Heng hadn’t known for sure that the famous Lady Thirteen would join the battle, he would never have been confident of Zhu Ge’s victory from the very beginning…

　　Where was this Lady Thirteen now?

　　…

　　The Cultivation Reading Network’s editorial department was located in the bustling downtown business start-up area. There were many outstanding young enterprises in this industrial park, and the Cultivation Reading Network was one of them. As a major online portal, the website company had expanded enough that they occupied a whole building, with the departments divided by levels.

　　Today, a middle-aged man with a beer belly had come to the editorial office on the second floor. He wore a military coat and a gold chain around his neck. The middle-aged man’s expression was somewhat gloomy, as if he had weathered some storm.

　　Smoking was prohibited in the editorial office’s lounge area, but the man lit his cigarette. The horrid smell of smoke filled the air, causing the editors who came by to help themselves to coffee frown despite themselves.

　　This man was none other than guru writer Zhu Ge of the Cultivation Reading Network. His real name was Shen Yuan.

　　“Teacher Zhu Ge, Chief Huang says to please go in.” Just a moment later, a very beautiful female editor came to call him in. On the whole, when writers came to the editorial office, the editors didn’t call them by their real names, but by their pseudonyms.

　　This was the first time the female editor was seeing Zhu Ge in person, and to be honest, he was nothing like she had imagined at all. Although his pen name was Zhu Ge, he looked a little vulgar and didn’t have any of Zhu Ge’s elegance ¹ at all.

　　What a real waste of this pseudonym!

　　The female editor struggled to continue smiling and not let her thoughts show on her face.

　　“What’s wrong with Old Huang today? I’ve been waiting a long time.” Zhu Ge uncrossed his legs a little impatiently.

　　“Teacher Zhu Ge, this way please…”

　　“No need, I know the way.” Zhu Ge frowned. As he headed for the office, he couldn’t help looking at this female editor. “Are you new here?”

　　“Yes…”

　　“You should call me Guru Zhu Ge. Understand? I’m your guru author here!”

　　“Sorry, Teacher Zhu Ge…” The female editor apologized.

　　She suppressed the anger and fire in her heart, hating that she couldn’t turn into a fire-breathing Godzilla to fry the fatty in front of her.

　　Actually, this female editor had been looking forward to meeting Zhu Ge today, but now she was no longer a fan!

　　“It’s fine, I’m very big-hearted.”

　　“Mm, congratulations, Teacher Zhu Ge, on winning second place for the year…”

　　“Just you wait, I’m going to look for your leader. Newbies really don’t know how to talk!”

　　“…”

　　Huffing in anger, Zhu Ge entered the office. Once the door was shut, the female editor breathed a sigh of relief.

　　Some of her colleagues who had come to get coffee gathered around her.

　　“Little Yuan, are you alright? Relax, that’s how Zhu Ge is… Boss Huang won’t do anything to you since you’re new.”

　　“Thank you, Cookie, Big Suo… I’m alright.”

　　“Zhu Ge placed second and he’s in a bad mood, so he definitely was holding it all in; he was venting all of it on you just now.”

　　“Boss Huang also seemed to be in a bad mood when he asked Zhu Ge to go in. I wonder what’s going to happen to Zhu Ge.” Little Yuan sighed.

　　…

　　On the other side, in the chief editor’s office.

　　Entering the office, Zhu Ge started fawning over the other party. “Old Huang!”

　　“When we’re in the company, call me Boss Huang.” Sitting in the boss seat, chief editor Huang Tao pushed up his glasses.

　　“Yes! Boss Huang!”

　　The corner of Zhu Ge’s mouth twitched, and the air seemed to freeze for one moment.

　　A while later, Zhu Ge cleared his throat and asked, “About the Best Author… is there anything Boss Huang can do?”

　　“Everyone saw it yesterday: Wang Situ crushed you in terms of gifts, sales and votes. Apart from killing him, there’s nothing we can do now. What, you want to dox him? Drop in on him at his place?” Huang Tao smiled.

　　“In fact, I did think about that before.”

　　“Cut it out, Zhu Ge.”

　　Boss Huang’s face darkened. “Do you know who gave him all those gifts yesterday?”

　　“Who?” Zhu Ge was blank.

　　“They are all sect leaders of major sects from the cultivation forum! If you dare do anything to Wang Situ, I guarantee that these sect leaders will join hands to take you down the next day.”

　　“Sect, sect leaders…” Zhu Ge couldn’t believe it. “How is this possible?!”

　　“You write historical fiction, and Wang Situ writes fantasy. Furthermore, his book contains some academic theory. Those who don’t understand just think it’s entertaining, while those who do consider it a treasure,” Chief Editor Huang said.

　　He steepled his fingers and rested his chin on them. “Also, we’ve always had a big rich female reader named Dark Governor Lady Thirteen in our company. You should know this person, right, Zhu Ge?”

　　Zhu Ge was blank. He didn’t know why the chief editor had suddenly mentioned this person, and a few drops of cold sweat ran down his face.

　　Zhu Ge: “This person is a reader who helped me in the ranking battle yesterday, and also one of my diehard fans, so of course I know them…”

　　“Haha, that’s right, of course you do. How can you not?”

　　Chief Editor Huang chuckled, and from a drawer took out a file which he threw onto the table. “Take a look, Zhu Ge, someone wrote an anonymous letter of complaint.”

　　Furious, Zhu Ge stood up indignantly. “Who’s complaining about me?!”

　　“Calm down, Zhu Ge.”

　　Chief Editor Huang gave a wry smile and stared at him with a complicated expression. “Or perhaps, I shouldn’t call you Zhu Ge…”

　　“Boss Huang, what do you mean…”

　　“What do I mean?”

　　Huang Tao gave a cold smile. “Actually, you’re that Dark Governor Lady Thirteen, aren’t you?”