I Got Rich in the Cultivation World by Watching Ads

Other cultivators rely on grueling training, pills, and bloodlines. Jiang Che is different.

On his first day as a mineworker in the outer sect of the Qingyun Sect, a thirty-second advertisement pops into his mind. Watching it earns him a Body Tempering Pill, more potent than anything he could get by trading three months of mining.

From then on, the Qingyun Sect's outer sect has a strange new figure:

Every day, right on time, he squats at the mine entrance, staring into space with a smile, muttering things like, "That ad could've been shot better," "Who wrote this copy?" and "They could make the discount even bigger."

Everyone thinks he's lost his mind.

That is, until Jiang Che goes to the Spirit Pill Pavilion and uses the ad's visuals to claim a buy-three-get-one-free deal, making twenty spirit stones on the resale.

A few days later, when Swordforge Peak recruits disciples for the first time in a century, he skips the preliminary test with an advertisement and goes straight through the gates.

Later, he unlocks a new System feature: he can place ads himself.

And just like that, the cultivation world gets a makeover:

Banners float across the sky: "Alchemy Pavilion anniversary sale! Thirty percent off everything. Scan the code for a free sample."

Slogans are pasted on flying swords: "Bumpy ride when flying on your sword? Try Brand X's shock-absorbing tassel for a ride as smooth as walking on level ground."

Elders from the great sects get a push notification in their caves: "Foundation Establishment Pills, group deal! Three to join, and the group leader pays nothing."

Everyone goes crazy. Whoever controls the traffic controls the resources. And the man who controls the traffic is Jiang Che.

The Qingyun Sect pays him for homepage ads, the demonic cult hires him to run feed ads, and the demon clans want him as a brand ambassador.

Jiang Che sits in a cave overflowing with spiritual energy, sipping spirit tea as today's rate card pops up on the screen in front of him.

He smiles and taps the next ad.

"Thirty seconds, and I've earned another whole mineral vein."