After Having Everything Taken Away, She Returns As A God

Si Fuqing opened it and took a look.

[@EmperorSpeakMovies: After years of watching terrible dramas, my eyes were on the verge of going blind, and every day, I got cursed by fans of various shows. But ‘Crossing the Demon Realm’ saved my eyes. This is what you call a xianxia drama; this is what a female-led series should be. Unlike those so-called female-led dramas where the female lead relies on the male lead for everything.

Where are Si Fuqing’s fans? Aren’t you going to praise this? Fans of stars with less acting skill and looks than your sister are praising their idols to the heavens. What are you waiting for? If you don’t praise her, I’ll look down on you.]

The named Mousses, “…”

Were they being scolded or praised?

Silently, they went to Si Fuqing’s Weibo and found that even passersby were better at praising her than they were. They began to reflect on their fan behavior.

Seeing Si Fuqing’s fanbase growing, they were also happy and started running giveaways in their forum.

Netizens enjoyed watching this blogger, EmperorSpeakMovies, criticize various TV shows and movies; it was a daily source of joy.

Seeing him not only not criticizing but also praising greatly, they began to suspect if he had been paid off.

So these netizens went to watch for themselves, and an hour and a half later—

[Brothers, I came back on my knees. The second episode fired me up. Damn Celestial Ruler, you deserve more than death!]

[No over-the-top expressions, no lousy special effects, the female lead isn’t love-obsessed, there’s a sense of duty to family and country, as well as friendship. Worth watching!]

This video from EmperorSpeakMovies attracted even more viewers to ‘Crossing the Demon Realm.’

Online, various platforms were discussing the first two episodes of ‘Crossing the Demon Realm,’ and Si Fuqing’s stats were skyrocketing.

Si Fuqing had just finished a call with Yu Tang when she overheard two university students excitedly discussing the plot.

“Have you watched ‘Crossing the Demon Realm’? The second episode made me cry.”

“Yeah, I did. I don’t want to do anything today; just waiting for 8 PM. I heard there’ll be a plot where the female lead disguises herself as a man later. Can’t wait.”

The two students walked past Si Fuqing without realizing the person they were discussing was right beside them.

Yuejian raised an eyebrow, “Little junior sister, how does it feel to suddenly become popular?”

Si Fuqing was silent for a moment, then smiled, “It feels a bit unreal.”

It was as if she had returned to the time when her first movie premiered, breaking global box office records and winning the Glenn Best Actress award.

It seemed that overnight, everyone knew her.

“Tsk,” Yuejian rubbed his chin, “I bet one of your enemies is watching your show while eating instant noodles, tears and snot streaming down their face.”

Si Fuqing: “…”

The image was too beautiful, hard to imagine.

She glanced at the time and exhaled slowly, “Only two hours until the IFTV broadcast. I’m quite nervous about the reception in other countries.”

Because the domestic broadcast was on Starlight TV, IFTV followed Muston Dukedom’s time zone.

There was an eighteen-hour time difference.

After all, ‘Crossing the Demon Realm’ was a series derived from the traditional culture of the Great Xia Empire, with a very strict deity system.

This was obscure for foreign audiences but also an excellent way to promote traditional culture.

The Great Xia might have declined, but it could rise again.

This was cultural confidence.

“I can’t guarantee everything,” Yuejian pondered, “but you might make them believe that everyone in the Great Xia knows martial arts.”

Si Fuqing: “…”

That wouldn’t be great.

**

‘Crossing the Demon Realm’ and ‘Great Zhao Dynasty’ premiered simultaneously, but the topics were entirely different.

The former’s discussions on Weibo had already soared to millions, while the latter hadn’t even broken 100,000.

Tong Luoyun’s team claimed they didn’t regard ‘Crossing the Demon Realm’ as a competitor but still compared the two dramas.

Tong Luoyun frowned, feeling uneasy, “Is her discussion rate that high?”

“They must have bought fake views,” the agent said dismissively, “Remember last year? Another star with a massive online presence had tens of thousands of likes and shares on Weibo, but how did the movie perform at the box office?”

“It was awful, not even a fraction of yours. These popularity-based stars look impressive on the surface, but their numbers are inflated.”

Tong Luoyun, from an era without the concept of ‘popularity-based stars,’ naturally didn’t rely on such methods.

Comments and fan counts could be bought, but Tong Luoyun didn’t need to.

In terms of national recognition, the so-called top stars in the entertainment industry combined couldn’t compete with Tong Luoyun.

Her first breakout series had an average viewership rating of 9%.

Nowadays, a rating of 1.9% could be considered a hit.

Fewer and fewer people are watching television these days.

Tong Luoyun said calmly, “But with all this hype online, passersby who don’t know the truth might really think I’m not doing well.”

“The more hype there is, the more it can backfire and create resentment,” the manager chuckled. “The viewership ratings from Great Xia TV are already out. I’ll have them released. We’ll let the real numbers speak for themselves.”

The viewership ratings for “Great Zhao Dynasty” had exceeded 2%. How could “Crossing the Demon Realm” compare?

Soon, the hashtag #GreatZhaoDynastyRatingsOver2# shot up the trending topics.

[@GreatZhaoDynastyOfficial: Congratulations to our Teacher Tong for making a triumphant return to the TV drama scene after three years. Still as unstoppable as ever, ‘Great Zhao Dynasty’ single-episode viewership surpasses 2%!]

Tong Luoyun’s fans immediately began sharing and commenting.

[Wow, over 2%! That’s incredible!]

[Some dramas have a lot of buzz online, but their actual performance is abysmal. When will these popularity-based stars stop hyping and just focus on acting?]

[Emmm, but everyone around me is talking about ‘Crossing the Demon Realm’. Today, I overheard several passersby discussing yesterday’s episode. Hardly anyone mentioned ‘Great Zhao Dynasty’.]

[Your surroundings are the world? Just because ‘Crossing the Demon Realm’ is heavily discussed, does that make it a hit? Which popularity-based star doesn’t have high discussion rates? And yet, each drama is worse than the last. The action scenes are terrible, they even use CGI for horse riding. Tong Luoyun is over thirty and still does her stunts herself, while these young stars can’t even manage a proper princess carry.]

Indeed, many netizens no longer watch TV dramas but they love gossip.

Seeing Tong Luoyun, a seasoned actress, and Si Fuqing, a popularity-based star, going head-to-head, they eagerly watched the highlight reels of both “Great Zhao Dynasty” and “Crossing the Demon Realm.”

After watching, they were hooked.

[Don’t ask, I’m hooked. Just tell me, when does the Celestial Ruler die? My forty-meter-long sword is ready.]

[Is she really only 19? How can a 19-year-old have such strong acting skills? When I was 19, I was still upset about not getting fried chicken. I’m crying.]

[Why am I watching a drama that’s only two episodes in?]

[Si Fuqing’s paid trolls are at it again. If you have the guts, show your viewership ratings. What’s the use of spamming comments? Seeing the ratings, are you bitter? If you’re bitter, show your own ratings.]

Despite the lower discussion rate, Tong Luoyun’s fans were not intimidated.

The viewership ratings were solid, and you can only watch one drama at a time.

“Great Zhao Dynasty” broke 2%. “Crossing the Demon Realm” probably didn’t even reach 1%.

With the official viewership ratings released, Tong Luoyun’s fans began their counterattack.

It was Sunday, and Lin Jihuan was off.

As a member of the Lin family, she had long since gotten hold of Starlight TV’s viewership data.

Lin Jihuan snorted and directly posted a screenshot.

“@HappyLoverOfSweetAndSourPork: Bitter about what? Bitter about your single-digit ratings? Or bitter about not even having a fraction of ‘Crossing the Demon Realm’s’ discussion? Viewership ratings can’t be bought. Who’s getting trounced in both discussion rate and ratings? I won’t say it. [Image] [Image]”

She posted the viewership ratings for the first two episodes, including a graph showing the sharp rise in the second episode.

These ratings were enough to let everyone know that last night’s peak moment, when Si Fuqing ascended to top-tier!