The nights in the mountains are especially quiet, aside from the wind and insects, you can't hear any noise.
Wang Longhu lay on the wooden bed, browsing Douyin on his phone. Since he planned to try livestreaming on Douyin to see if it can make money, he definitely needed to understand it in advance.
As the freest platform for livestreaming in the country, Douyin has a unique advantage compared to Shark, Tiger Teeth, and Little Broken Station, which is that there's no need for contracts, and the traffic is huge.
As soon as you open a live broadcast room, you can get some traffic support, and having over a hundred concurrent viewers is easy.
After forcing himself to watch hundreds of different livestream styles in half an hour, Wang Longhu got some insights.
The most lucrative content on Douyin's livestreams are selling goods and PK challenges. The former needs no further explanation, while in the latter, you shout loudly with exaggerated gestures as if pretending to have hyperthyroidism, talking tough with the opposing host and setting up penalties.
Then you'd shout things like 'Brother and Sister, let's get a sports car' 'Thanks to my XX brother's Porsche' 'Brother, send a sports car so the opponent won't steal the tower,' and if you're lucky enough to encounter rich, foolish tycoons, you could make a couple of hundred bucks a day without any problem.
Next is having people send different kinds of gifts, and the host performs corresponding penalties, also making a good amount of money if lucky.
Wang Longhu saw someone sitting on a log sawing wood, costing one pair of sunglasses (9.9 yuan) for ten saws, one Porsche (120 yuan) for 120 saws, and they fall into the water once the wood is cut through, filled with dark humor.
There's also physical penalties, like a few idling youths standing on the streets at night or in rundown warehouses, laying on the ground pretending to sleep when no gifts are sent, but jumping up to do frog jumps or jumping jacks once someone sends them a gift.
These people typically yell slogans arrogantly at the camera: 'Challenge all top guys on the net in this livestream, we are unbeatable' 'One flower for a frog leap' 'One beer for jumping jack' 'One pair of sunglasses for ten push-ups.'
This is how they incentivize people entering their livestream rooms to send them reward gifts.
Even though for Wang Longhu this kind of livestream seems awkward and kitsch, he has to admit, the revenue is pretty good.
"I can now easily do single-handed push-ups, handstands, and one-legged squats, using these as gimmicks should attract more viewers than those youngsters with poorly performed frog leaps,
so while livestreaming, I can practice martial arts without wasting time and still earn money—it's a win-win situation, and even if I don't earn much, it won't affect my martial arts practice."
Wang Longhu nodded, exited the beauty livestream he was watching, and began searching for the preparations needed for livestreaming on Douyin.
In this age of a universal mobile network, Douyin's current magnitude, along with Payment Bao, Micro Bo, and V+Q, can be considered as the four kings of traffic of this era, controlling every mobile traffic portal.
Almost nobody hasn't used any among these four apps; if someone hasn't, they really can be considered as a recluse.
Among the four kings, Douyin is the only one that uses video traffic as its base to enable more ordinary people to post videos for traffic, embarking on the path of monetization through livestreaming.
Douyin's backend has long promoted a 'how to livestream' teaching process, even someone with only a middle-school education can easily learn it.
"A newbie needs to create a blank account, upload self-made videos, purchase Dou+, expose and attract traffic, and once there are over 100 likes, you can activate the livestreaming permission,
for better livestreaming results, it is recommended to prepare a phone, a livestream sound card, a microphone, monitoring headphones, and a fill-in light. Enabling the little yellow car, gift rewards, PK functions, all of which can boost livestreaming revenue..."
Wang Longhu read through the entire tutorial carefully, gaining a preliminary understanding of the matter.
"I already have a blank Douyin account, now what kind of videos should I post?" Wang Longhu lay in bed, deeply conflicted.
He never had any advantages or skills from a young age, except for the recently learned Beng Fist.
Maybe... just give it a shot for everyone?
Action followed the thought, Wang Longhu got up, set his phone on the window ledge, and started filming his torso below the neck, performing the Beng Fist towards the camera.
Initially, the first punch sounded weak, barely heard.
The second punch was slightly stronger, but still ordinary.
Wang Longhu focused intensely, abruptly threw the third punch at the camera, and a crisp sound filled the room, a sound too loud for ordinary people to make.
"Got it." Taking his phone, Wang Longhu slightly edited the text, added a few tags, and posted this video of over ten seconds.
[Just started practicing Xingyi Boxing, now reached Ming Jin's initial success, unable to sleep at night, performed a loud punch, starting to settle down #XingyiBoxing##BengFist##MartialArtist]
After finishing all this, Wang Longhu opened Taobao, abandoning beauty-enhancing devices like fill-in lights since he didn't plan to show his face in the livestream.
Ordered the cheapest microphone, livestream sound card, headphones, and a wild boar headgear from some unknown anime, Wang Longhu lay back on bed, closed his eyes, and drifted to sleep.
Mustn't stay up late, need to get up early for practice tomorrow.
...
Late at night, Yu Yongyi lay idly on the spacious bed of his fifty million RMB mansion, boringly watching Douyin livestreams.
As a third-generation wealthy heir, Yu Yongyi's family had been in the umbrella business since his grandfather's time, owning umbrella manufacturing factories that sell countless units around the world yearly, creating their own brands as well as making others' branded products.
Unlike other wealthy families' children, Yu Yongyi had been obsessed with kung fu since childhood, having watched all the Hong Kong martial arts films, and even at age 17 snuck off to the Guangdong coastal region to seek southern martial arts masters, hoping to be apprenticed.
He finally heard about a Wing Chun martial artist in Foshan, yet upon visiting, the person didn't teach Wing Chun but only taught Yu Yongyi a set of Eight Sections Brocade and a set of Five Animals Qigong, then sent him home, leaving Yu Yongyi frustrated and upset.
Later, as he grew older, Yu Yongyi gradually gave up on pursuing martial arts, inheriting his father's company and starting to do business.
Now, over thirty years later, in his fifties, although no longer as impulsive as in his youth, Yu Yongyi's passion for martial arts and earnest desire remain in his heart.
"Thanks to Mr. Yi for the helicopter gift. Thank you, Mr. Yi. It's so late and you're still awake."
On the phone screen, a fit middle-aged man wearing practice clothes had just split a wooden board with one hand. After receiving Yu Yongyi's gift donation, he quickly clasped his fists together and gave a flattering smile of appreciation.
Judging by the way he addresses him, this probably isn't the first time he has received a gift from Yu Yongyi.
Yu Yongyi casually typed a few words and sent them out.
[Ping Yi Near People: Old Wang, your Eight Trigrams Palm skills are still stationary at the same level. When will you be able to train to Ming Jin, and make a sound worth a thousand gold]
Seeing Yu Yongyi's comment, the livestream host immediately rubbed his cheeks awkwardly, "Mr. Yi, training to Ming Jin counts as being a martial arts master. It's not easy. Many people train until they're over fifty and still don't achieve that sound."
"Fool." Yu Yongyi commented on the screen and then exited the livestream.
He usually likes to browse short videos related to martial arts and follow live streams of martial artists practicing.
Based on his interests, Yu Yongyi follows more than twenty martial artists, and whenever he watches someone's stream, he generously gives them rewards ranging from thousands to tens of thousands.
As a result, Yu Yongyi's account level has reached as high as level 51.
Scrolling to the next video, there was a room with walls, ceiling, and floor all covered in cement, with no decoration at all.
The video didn't have any background music, making it eerily quiet. Yu Yongyi glanced at the zero likes, zero comments, zero collections, and zero shares, and instinctively wanted to swipe past.
Just then, the man on screen, whose face wasn't visible, suddenly stepped out and threw a punch at lightning speed.
Whizz!
"Huh!" Upon hearing the sound, Yu Yongyi immediately stopped his action, curiously staring at the video.
The man then delivered a second punch, again producing a not too soft or loud "whizz" sound. This sound was actually quite subtle, and if the room weren't extremely quiet, even playing a bit of music would have been enough to drown out this sound.
"Is that all?" Yu Yongyi shook his head in disbelief, dismissing his interest.
Snap!
But just as he was about to swipe away, suddenly a crisp sound like whipping a lash emerged from the video—the man had delivered his third punch.
"What?!" Yu Yongyi gripped his phone tightly, unable to believe it, and sat up straight from his bed.
Although he doesn't practice martial arts himself, he knows the field well. A strike with a crisp sound signifies the first level of Ming Jin in the martial arts Triple Force.
Those who achieve Ming Jin can be called martial arts masters.
Yu Yongyi widened his eyes. With his wealth and connections, living in Zhejiang Province for many years, he had only encountered one Ming Jin master skilled in Xingyi and Eight Trigrams Boxing a few years back.
Later, that elder returned to his hometown, and over the years, Yu Yongyi was unable to meet another one, showing just how difficult it is to train to Ming Jin.
The martial artists he follows on Douyin, although genuinely dedicated, practicing Xingyi, Eight Trigrams, Tai Chi, Tongbei, and Bajiquan, none of them managed to produce a crisp sound.
Yet now, a true Ming Jin master suddenly appeared right before Yu Yongyi's eyes.
Shockingly, Yu Yongyi watched the short video of only a few seconds once more, confirming whether the sound was genuine or fake.
In the end, he concluded it was real, more genuine than pure gold.
"A humble room, but virtuous deeds remain." (Slightly edited for clarity)
Having confirmed the man in the video is a Ming Jin master, the crude dwelling he saw in the video suddenly seemed much more agreeable to him.
No pursuit of a high-quality lifestyle, no doubt this man is a hidden expert.
Quickly overwhelmed with excitement, Yu Yongyi eagerly hit the follow and like buttons and couldn't hold back from posting the first comment.
[Ping Yi Near People: What a blessing! The old saying goes 'a sound worth a thousand gold,' and tonight I've witnessed it for real. Master, could you leave a contact number? I'd like to consult with you about martial arts training.]
Yu Yongyi has a young grandson whom he always wanted to train in martial arts, but his son and daughter-in-law disagreed. Given the inconsistency in standards among modern martial arts schools, Yu Yongyi had just about given up on having his grandson train.
But now encountering a Ming Jin master, if he could have him teach, it would be beyond what most people could dream of.
Excited and motivated, Yu Yongyi wouldn't let this opportunity slip away—he absolutely wanted to have his grandson sent to train under the person in the video.
As for whether the other party would agree, Yu Yongyi didn't consider it a problem.
In this world, nothing can't be solved by spending money. In these peaceful times, damaging or hurting others is against the law, and even a Ming Jin master cannot resist bullets or tanks—they still need to eat, work, and earn a living, right?
Given enough compensation, Yu Yongyi doesn't believe anyone could refuse.
He previously wasn't stingy in sending out tens of thousands in rewards to ordinary martial artists' live streams, and now facing a Ming Jin master, naturally, he wouldn't be the least bit frugal.
Putting down his phone, Yu Yongyi already started considering what salary to offer as tuition would be appropriate.
One hundred thousand a month? Or two hundred thousand?