Chapter 260.2: Release the Footage, Shock the World! (II)

When it came to the progress of the Extreme Martial Dao's propagation, Senior Sister Xiang reported to Lu Changsheng every day, but no matter how quickly it spread, the latter was never satisfied.

"It's still not enough," said Lu Changsheng firmly. "Not even close. We need to promote the Extreme Martial Dao faster, on a larger scale, and with far greater intensity. And we cannot limit ourselves to the Jade Dragon Kingdom. We need to spread it to other countries as well."

The Extreme Martial Dao Stream was already expanding at remarkable speed within the Jade Dragon Kingdom, but to Lu Changsheng it still was not nearly fast enough, because he was measuring it against something else entirely: the Martial Dao itself.

When he reached transcendence, a rudimentary form of the Martial Dao emerged within this secret world. That proved that his approach was working, but what had appeared was still only an embryonic form, far from a complete Martial Dao.

For it to truly take shape, the Extreme Martial Dao Stream needed far more practitioners. Only with enough people training in it could this secret world have any chance of condensing the Martial Dao into something whole. ℯℯ𝑙.

Truth be told, their progress in Jade Dragon Kingdom was impressive. But compared with the population of this entire secret world, it was insignificant.

With time against him, Lu Changsheng did not merely need one kingdom's worth of practitioners; he needed the whole world's. At their current pace, spreading the Extreme Martial Dao country by country would take far too long.

I can't keep promoting it this way. It's too slow, Lu Changsheng thought to himself.

He had already spent considerable time thinking about how to accelerate its expansion, and now, an idea had finally taken shape. If it worked, the Extreme Martial Dao Stream would no longer spread gradually from one region to another. It could sweep across the entire world at once and make countless people actively seek it out for themselves.

"Master, what exactly do you have in mind?" asked Senior Sister Xiang.

Lu Changsheng looked at her for a moment. "Senior Sister Xiang, what do you think is the fastest way for something to reach every household and spread among ordinary people?"

Senior Sister Xiang considered the question, and although several possibilities came to mind, none of them felt quite right.

Lu Changsheng gave her the answer, saying, "Make it free, and make it useful. If we want the Extreme Martial Dao to spread as quickly as possible, everyone needs to be able to learn it. I've decided to release its basic training method to the public for free so that anyone can practice on their own.

"Then the center would no longer need to protect the basic training methods. Instead, they could focus on advanced instruction, practical combat training, and formal certification.

"We can also establish a ranking system. The Extreme Martial Dao Center will be responsible for assessing practitioners and conferring ranks. That way, even after the basic training methods are made public, the center will still have a clear purpose.

"At the same time, the training system needs to be simplified as much as possible. The easier it is to understand and practice, the faster the Extreme Martial Dao will spread.

"But of course, simply making it free isn't enough. No matter how accessible something is, people won't devote themselves to it unless they believe it's genuinely useful.

"If we want people across the entire world to practice the Extreme Martial Dao, we first have to show them exactly what it can accomplish.

"So go and release the footage of my fight with Hong Chuan. Release the videos I recorded before as well, including the ones where I caught bullets with my bare hands and withstood explosions directly. Have the major clans of the Jade Dragon Kingdom promote those videos as widely as possible. I want everyone to see what the Extreme Martial Dao is capable of.

"Once the videos are out, issue an invitation in the name of the Extreme Martial Dao Center, calling experts from every corner of the world. Host the Extreme Martial Dao Grand Tournament. Whoever defeats me there wins one billion in gold. As for the rules..." Lu Changsheng's voice dropped low as he continued. "...there are none. Bring rocket launchers if you want. Strap on bombs. Drive in tanks. None of it matters. Beat me, and the billion is yours."

Senior Sister Xiang's heart jolted. This whole plan sounded absurd, but she could see why it would work.

The free training methods would remove the barrier to entry. The videos would prove that the Extreme Martial Dao possessed power beyond ordinary imagination. Then the Grand Tournament, backed by an enormous prize and an open challenge to the entire world, would draw attention on a scale that ordinary advertising could never achieve.

If everything went as planned, the Extreme Martial Dao Stream would not need to spread slowly from country to country. As long as Lu Yuan stood undefeated when the day came, Senior Sister Xiang had no doubt this plan would work, so she simply lowered her head.

"Yes, Master," she said, and went off to put the plan into action.

Senior Sister Xiang had always been someone Lu Changsheng could trust to carry out his plans efficiently. And sure enough, within only a few days, several videos began appearing across the internet, television, and other major media platforms.

One showed Lu Changsheng's battle with Hong Chuan, the King of the Century. The others showed him catching bullets with his bare hands and standing unharmed in the middle of powerful explosions.

The footage immediately caused a sensation, first throughout the Jade Dragon Kingdom and then across the world.

"Look at this. This can't be from a movie, can it? He's catching bullets with his bare hands and surviving explosions. How is that even possible? Is this fake?"

"The footage was released through official channels in the Jade Dragon Kingdom. It isn't fabricated. But who is this man?"

"That man is Lu Yuan, the creator of the Extreme Martial Dao. I have a classmate in the Jade Dragon Kingdom who told me about him. Apparently, people who practice the Extreme Martial Dao can become practically impervious to blades and bullets. Lu Yuan is already something of a legend over there."

"If these videos are real, then this goes far beyond ordinary martial arts. Catching bullets barehanded and surviving explosions like that is unbelievable."

For most ordinary viewers, those two demonstrations were what captured their attention the most. Lu Yuan's fight with Hong Chuan meant nothing to them. They had never heard of the so-called King of the Century, and without understanding his standing in the martial arts world, there was little reason for them to appreciate the significance of his defeat.

The fight itself was also far less immediately spectacular than the other footage, so to an uninformed viewer, it mostly looked like two men swelling into unnaturally muscular giants before exchanging a handful of devastating blows.

Despite being impressive, the spectacle lacked the simple, instinctive impact of watching someone pluck a bullet out of the air or walk away from an explosion unharmed.

Those who truly understood martial arts, however, reacted very differently. Their attention was fixed almost entirely on Lu Yuan's fight with Hong Chuan. As the King of the Century, his name alone carried enormous weight among martial fighters, yet in the video, he was killed so easily.

The techniques both men had displayed went far beyond what most people could have imagined, but Lu Yuan was the most terrifying of all. After swelling into a giant more than three meters tall, he crushed Hong Chuan—who stood over two meters tall and was already monstrous in his own right—into a bloody pulp with a single palm strike.

Just how terrifying was he?

"Investigate. Get to the bottom of this. Did a fight like that between Lu Yuan and Hong Chuan actually happen?"

"Lu Yuan is so young... How could he possibly kill Hong Chuan, the King of the Century, and make it look so effortless? Something doesn't add up."

"I've heard rumors that the Extreme Martial Dao can extend a person's lifespan. Find out whether there's any truth to them."

"I want everything we can gather on Lu Yuan and the Extreme Martial Dao within three days."

Just like that, governments and other powerful groups across multiple countries began mobilizing their resources to dig into Lu Yuan and the Extreme Martial Dao.

***

For nearly a month, the videos continued circulating across the world, drawing more attention to Lu Yuan and the Extreme Martial Dao with each passing day. Then the Jade Dragon Kingdom released another piece of news that sent the already growing frenzy into overdrive.

Lu Yuan, founder of the Extreme Martial Dao Stream, was issuing an open invitation to the strongest experts in the world to participate in the Extreme Martial Dao Grand Tournament, and anyone who could defeat or kill him there would walk away with one billion in reward.

To prove that the offer was genuine, the entire prize had already been deposited into a third-party account and formally notarized. There was no question about whether the money existed. Whoever defeated Lu Yuan would truly walk away with it.

However, the prize alone was not what made the announcement shocking. The Extreme Martial Dao Grand Tournament placed almost no restrictions on how challengers could fight. Firearms were permitted. Explosives were permitted. Even heavy weapons could be used. Anything could be used to defeat or kill one's opponent.

The announcement immediately caused a worldwide sensation.

"This is insane! One billion in reward, and there are no restrictions on how you fight? All you have to do is beat Lu Yuan and the money is yours!"

"One billion? You couldn't spend that much in ten lifetimes."

"But that money isn't going to be easy to claim. If those earlier videos were real, then Lu Yuan can catch bullets with his bare hands and survive explosions without a scratch. If guns and bombs can't kill him, what can?"

"You actually believe those videos? This is obviously just a publicity stunt for the Extreme Martial Dao. You really think a human body can withstand bullets and explosives?"

One man scoffed when he heard about the challenge. "I don't believe the human body can stop a bullet. I'll enter the tournament myself. And once I take the stage, Lu Yuan is dead, and that billion is mine."

With a prize that enormous and rules that allowed almost anything, excitement surrounding the tournament spread at an astonishing rate. Before long, even people in the most remote corners of the world had heard of the Extreme Martial Dao, the Extreme Martial Dao Grand Tournament, and the man at the center of it all—Lu Yuan.

And that was exactly what Lu Changsheng had wanted. The publicity campaign had already succeeded in making the entire world pay attention. All that remained was the tournament itself, where the whole world would watch him fend off challenger after challenger, catching bullets and tanking explosions in person rather than on a screen. When that day came, the Extreme Martial Dao would overtake the world, and countless more would take up its practice.