Chapter 20: The Golden Alliance

At last, when Warm Breeze had tipped five times in a row, each time a million Prosperity Coins, Xu Ze's reserve of chapters was completely exhausted.

Seeing that Xu Ze hadn't posted any new updates, Warm Breeze left a comment: "Is that all? That's it?"

Xu Ze felt deeply insulted and replied grimly, "Wait there! I'm going to write right now—don't go anywhere!"

"I'll be waiting," came Warm Breeze’s reply, thick with mockery.

Xu Ze glanced at the time. It was 10 AM. He had no classes this morning; the next one was at two in the afternoon.

Time to get to work!

At that moment, his roommate Fatty, still half-asleep, was startled awake by the furious clatter of a keyboard. He blinked, bleary-eyed, at Xu Ze, and mumbled, "Am I still dreaming?"

Xu Ze’s fingers danced across the keyboard at such speed they seemed to blur, leaving afterimages.

"I must be dreaming," Fatty muttered, blinked again, and went back to sleep.

Half an hour later, Xu Ze had hammered out ten thousand words, averaging 333 characters per minute. He split them into five chapters and uploaded them all.

He then replied to Warm Breeze, "Five chapters posted. How will you respond?"

Almost the instant Xu Ze sent his reply, Warm Breeze tipped five million Prosperity Coins: "Reader Warm Breeze has tipped five million Prosperity Coins to 'The Immortal Execution.' Come and claim your treasure chest!"

"Continue," Warm Breeze responded airily.

Xu Ze was speechless.

An hour later, Xu Ze finished another twenty thousand words, updating with ten more chapters.

"Reader Warm Breeze has tipped ten million Prosperity Coins to 'The Immortal Execution.' Congratulations to Warm Breeze for becoming the Golden Patron of 'The Immortal Execution,' the fifth reader on the site to attain this honor."

"'The Immortal Execution' has triggered the Treasure Map drop condition. Hurry and grab the treasure map!"

Every reader who saw this banner was stunned.

The rules on Prosperity Chinese Web stated that any reader who tipped ten million Prosperity Coins at once would trigger a Treasure Map drop, with exceptionally generous rewards.

Since the site launched, there had only been four Golden Patrons; today was the fifth.

"Insane! Absolutely insane!"

"Brothers, charge!"

"'The Immortal Execution' is that amazing?"

"This is a true tycoon!"

"Gather round and bask in the aura of wealth!"

"Ah! I got ten thousand Prosperity Coins in the draw!"

"I got a hundred recommendation tickets!"

"I won something too!"

The excitement was at a fever pitch.

All eyes on the site turned to "The Immortal Execution." The publicity generated was more intense than topping the bestseller list. Readers might skip the rankings, but this banner was forcibly displayed to every user opening the app, akin to a splash screen advertisement.

At this point, even the editors took notice. After all, the site's fifth Golden Patron had just appeared.

Every novel that had received a Golden Patron tip had ultimately achieved remarkable success. It wasn’t that the Golden Patron itself was magical, but rather, it represented the highest level of recognition a reader could give, indicating the novel had extraordinary merit.

In the Xianxia Editorial Department—

"‘The Immortal Execution!’ Whose book is ‘The Immortal Execution’?" A woman in her thirties, dressed smartly in a business suit, burst into the room, voice raised.

Kuku and the middle-aged editor sitting opposite her both stared blankly at their team leader. Wasn’t she supposed to be in a meeting with the Editor-in-Chief? Did something go terribly wrong with "The Immortal Execution" that she’d leave her meeting unfinished?

Judging by her expression, the situation seemed dire.

The middle-aged editor racked his brain, recalling his own list of books. He didn’t remember handling "The Immortal Execution," and, relieved, looked at Kuku with a hint of schadenfreude.

Kuku timidly raised her hand, slightly nervous. "Team Leader, 'The Immortal Execution' is one of mine."

The team leader strode over, clapping Kuku on the shoulder. "This book has just become the fifth on our site to have a Golden Patron, and it’s the first ever for our Xianxia channel!"

"What?" Kuku’s beautiful eyes widened in disbelief.

Beside her, the middle-aged editor stood frozen as the words sank in.

Golden Patron? Had he misheard?

Then, suddenly, he recalled that "The Immortal Execution" was a book he’d once tossed into the discard pile, only for Kuku to pick it up later.

Regret stabbed at him painfully.

The agony of a missed opportunity!

Why had he ever abandoned "The Immortal Execution"?

The team leader, curious, asked, "Kuku, is this author Xiao Yan a pseudonym for one of the established stars?"

"A pseudonym for a big name?" Kuku shook her head. "According to his registration, he isn’t an established author. He seems to be a newcomer. He didn’t even know how many words to update during the public period and used to post ten thousand a day until I advised him to slow down."

"I see." The team leader pondered for a moment, then said seriously, "Make sure to maintain a good relationship with him. As for his update frequency, remind him as necessary. If he insists on not reducing it, that’s fine—as long as he maintains quality. If he posts too much and misses out on recommendations, I’ll discuss it with the higher-ups."

With that, she hurried out again.

She was mulling over the fact that Xiao Yan was probably a renowned author from another site who’d migrated here. Lately, due to the Xianxia Star Project, she’d been recruiting established authors from elsewhere. Unexpectedly, a wild genius had appeared on their own.

If only the higher-ups had approved the Xianxia Star Project earlier, their channel might have taken off long ago. Still, it wasn’t too late—the hope for their channel’s rise now rested on "The Immortal Execution!"

After the team leader left, Kuku sat at her desk, dazed, still reeling from the shock.

A minute later, she opened the backend to see how "The Immortal Execution" had earned its Golden Patron.

As she read, her mouth slowly fell open in amazement.

"This Xiao Yan is absolutely insane!"

In just one morning, he’d updated forty thousand words—and seemed poised to continue.

She immediately messaged Xu Ze on QQ: "Xiao Yan, stop updating! The book isn’t on sale yet. If you post so much now, you’ll lose out."

Normally, a book would go premium at around two hundred thousand words. Before that, there were four rounds of recommendation, each lasting a week. If "The Immortal Execution" kept updating at this rate, by the time it went premium after those rounds, it might have reached seven or eight hundred thousand words—a serious loss for Xiao Yan.

Xu Ze replied promptly, "Understood, Editor. I’ll finish the last twenty thousand words and then stop!"

It wasn’t that Xu Ze was out of steam—he just had class that afternoon.

After all, in university, he wasn’t about to skip any classes. That was one of his principles since crossing over: study well, and enjoy student life.