**Title: The Sect is Going Bankrupt, So I Created Internet in Immortal World**
The sky above the Jade Cloud Sect was gray—not with clouds, but with the weight of impending doom. The once-glorious sect, famed across the Nine Provinces for its mastery of Cloud-Weaving Sword Techniques and its legendary library of 10,000 cultivation manuals, now stood on the brink of collapse. Its ancestral spirit beast, a once-mighty nine-tailed fox, had been reduced to a mangy, half-starved creature sleeping under the cracked main gate. The disciples wore patched robes, and the incense offering altar hadn't smelled of anything but dust in weeks.
And at the heart of this disaster stood Lin Feng, the sect's only surviving Inner Disciple.
He wasn't supposed to be here.
Born in the mortal realm to a family of struggling herbalists, Lin Feng had been discovered by a wandering Jade Cloud Sect elder when he was twelve—his spiritual root tested as "Exceptional Grade," a rarity in the cultivation world. He was whisked away to the mountains, given a jade token, and promised immortality. Ten years later, all he had was debt.
Not monetary debt, of course—cultivators didn't use money. They used spirit stones, spiritual herbs, and soul fragments of ancient beasts. But the sect was so poor it couldn't even afford a single low-grade spirit stone to power the defensive formation. The treasury was empty. The land was barren. The only thing the sect still owned was its name—and even that was being auctioned off next week by the Heavenly Commerce Guild for nonpayment of annual spiritual land tax.
Lin Feng stood in the central courtyard, holding a cracked bronze scale that once measured the weight of spiritual essence in herbs. Now, it dangled uselessly from his hand like a dead fish.
"Master said we'd reach the Void Realm," he muttered, kicking a pebble. "Instead, I'm trying to calculate how many days we can survive on boiled tree bark."
Behind him, the sect's grand hall groaned under the weight of neglect. The roof tiles had collapsed in three places, and rainwater pooled in the meditation chamber where ancestors once communed with the Dao. A single disciple, a girl named Xiao Mei, sat cross-legged by the door, trying to meditate. Her stomach growled so loudly it echoed off the stone walls.
Lin Feng sighed and walked over.
"How's the cultivation?" he asked.
Xiao Mei opened one eye. "My dantian feels… hollow. Like I'm trying to fill a well with a single drop of dew."
"We're out of spiritual herbs," Lin Feng said flatly. "Even the fake ones we were grinding from tree roots stopped working last week."
Xiao Mei nodded. "I heard the Elder Council met again last night. They want to disband the sect."
Lin Feng stiffened. "Disband? After everything?"
"They say it's the only way to save face. Surrender the sect name, return the ancestral artifacts, and let the disciples transfer to other sects."
"And what about the elders?"
"Most are too old to transfer. They'll become wandering cultivators… or beggars."
Lin Feng clenched his fists. The Jade Cloud Sect wasn't just a place—it was a legacy. His legacy. He had trained under Master Wei until the man died from a coughing fit brought on by malnutrition. He had studied the Cloud-Weaving Sword Technique until his arms bled. He had sworn to protect the sect's honor.
And now, they were going to *disband*?
"No," he said aloud. "There has to be another way."
Xiao Mei looked at him. "Like what? We can't even afford a single low-grade spirit stone. The nearest cultivation market is three days away by foot, and we don't have the travel talismans. Even if we did, what would we sell? The last sacred herb was eaten by the fox spirit last winter."
Lin Feng didn't answer. He stared at the horizon, where the sun was setting behind the misty peaks. His mind raced.
He had spent ten years learning cultivation techniques, alchemy, formation arrays, and swordsmanship. But none of it mattered if the sect had no resources. Cultivation required energy. Energy came from spirit stones and herbs. No money, no cultivation. No cultivation, no disciples. No disciples, no sect.
It was a death spiral.
But then, a memory surfaced.
Back in the mortal world, before he was taken in, Lin Feng had lived in a small city where a new thing called "the internet" had just arrived. His father, a traditionalist, had cursed it as a "devil's mirror," but Lin Feng had been fascinated. He'd spent hours in a dimly lit cybercafé, playing games, reading novels, and watching videos. He'd even learned programming basics from a tutorial site.
And now, standing in the ruins of a dying immortal sect, an insane idea sparked in his mind.
What if… he brought the internet here?
Not the physical cables or satellites—this was the immortal world, where teleportation arrays and spirit beasts replaced trains and trucks. But the *concept* of the internet—the sharing of information, the creation of virtual communities, the monetization of content—could it work here?
He looked around. The sect had no money, but it had something else: knowledge.
Thousands of cultivation manuals. Ancient techniques. Rare alchemy recipes. Formation arrays that could rival those of top-tier sects. And Lin Feng was the only one who still remembered them all.
What if he digitized them?
But there were no computers. No electricity. No silicon.
Unless…
His eyes lit up.
Spirit stones could store energy. And cultivation formations could transmit signals across distances. What if he combined the two? What if he created a network—a *spirit network*—that allowed cultivators to share knowledge, trade techniques, and even communicate in real time?
It was madness.
It was genius.
It was the only thing left.
---
That night, Lin Feng gathered the remaining disciples—seven in total, including Xiao Mei—in the broken meditation hall. He lit a single candle made from old talisman paper and began to speak.
"I have a plan," he said. "A way to save the sect."
Elder Zhang, a frail old man with a long white beard and a cough that sounded like a dying frog, raised a trembling hand. "If it involves selling the ancestral sword again, I vote no. We barely got three spirit stones for it last time."
"No selling," Lin Feng said. "We're going to create something new. Something that's never existed in the immortal world."
He paused for effect.
"We're going to build the Internet."
Silence.
Then laughter.
Disciple Li, a burly man who used to be a bandit before joining the sect, snorted. "The what? Is that a new type of rice porridge?"
"The Internet," Lin Feng repeated. "A vast network where cultivators from all over the world can share knowledge, trade secrets, and even communicate instantly—without flying for days."
Elder Zhang squinted. "You mean… like a magical library?"
"Better," Lin Feng said. "Imagine if you could read a cultivation manual from the Southern Fire Sect while sitting in our courtyard. Or watch a master demonstrate a sword technique in real time, even if they're a thousand miles away. Or sell a rare alchemy recipe to someone in the Western Desert without leaving your room."
The disciples exchanged glances.
"That sounds like a divine artifact," Xiao Mei said cautiously. "Only the Emperor's Palace has something like that."
"It doesn't have to be divine," Lin Feng said. "It just has to be smart. We have spirit stones, formation arrays, and knowledge. I've studied transmission formations, memory storage arrays, and energy modulation. If we combine them, we can create a network."
Elder Zhang rubbed his chin. "And how do we make money from this… Internet?"
Lin Feng smiled. "Ads. Subscriptions. Premium content. Virtual goods. Maybe even a cultivation streaming platform."
More silence.
Then Disciple Wu, the quiet one who once tried to become a painter before failing cultivation, whispered, "You want us to become… content creators?"
"Yes," Lin Feng said. "And we'll be the first."
He stood up, pacing. "The sect has thousands of cultivation manuals. Most are obsolete, but some are rare. We can digitize them—store them in spirit stone databases. Then, we open a 'website'—a virtual space where cultivators can access them. For a fee."
"And if they don't pay?" Elder Zhang asked.
"Then they get the free version—full of pop-up ads."
"What's a pop-up ad?"
Lin Feng grinned. "A tiny formation that appears in their vision, promoting our other services. Like 'Upgrade to VIP for 10 spirit stones and remove ads!'"
The disciples stared.
"This is either the dumbest idea in history," Li said, "or the most brilliant."
Lin Feng shrugged. "Only one way to find out."
---
The next morning, Lin Feng began construction.
He started with the core: a central formation array powered by the last three high-grade spirit stones the sect owned. It was a risk—if the array failed, the stones would shatter, and the sect would lose its last valuable assets.
But Lin Feng had no choice.
He carved the formation into the stone floor of the abandoned alchemy chamber. It was a complex design—layers of transmission runes, memory storage circles, and energy regulators. He based it on the principles of quantum computing and fiber-optic networks, but adapted to spiritual energy flow.
By the third day, the array began to hum.
A faint blue light pulsed from the center, like a heartbeat.
"It's working," Lin Feng whispered.
Xiao Mei stood beside him, holding a spirit stone tablet—a crude device Lin Feng had crafted from a broken scrying mirror and a memory crystal. "What do we call it?" she asked.
"The Jade Cloud Network," Lin Feng said. "Or… JCN for short."
"And the first website?"
Lin Feng typed a command into the tablet using a rune-based interface. Characters glowed in the air:
**Welcome to JCN.net**
*The Immortal World's First Online Cultivation Platform*
Free Trial: Cloud-Weaving Sword Technique (Beginner Level)
Upgrade to Premium: 5 Spirit Stones / Month
*Pop-up: Your cultivation is weak. Try our new "Golden Core Accelerator" pill! Only 20 Stones!*
The disciples gathered around, awed.
"It's alive," Elder Zhang said, tears in his eyes.
But Lin Feng wasn't done.
He turned to Xiao Mei. "I need you to record a video."
"A what?"
"A moving image. Of you demonstrating the Cloud-Weaving Sword Technique. We'll post it on the platform. Call it… a 'tutorial.'"
Xiao Mei blinked. "How?"
Lin Feng pulled out a spirit crystal lens—salvaged from an old surveillance formation. "Just do it like normal. I'll handle the rest."
Two hours later, the first video was uploaded.
**Title: "How to Weave Clouds in 5 Minutes (Beginner Friendly!)"**
*By Xiao Mei, Inner Disciple of Jade Cloud Sect*
*Views: 1 (Lin Feng)*
But Lin Feng wasn't discouraged.
He sent out spiritual signals—broadcast pulses through the network—advertising the platform to nearby sects and cultivators.
**Attention, Cultivators!**
*The Jade Cloud Sect presents JCN.net—your gateway to immortal knowledge!*
*Free cultivation manuals, live streams, and more!*
*Visit us via spirit stone link or scrying mirror interface!*
The first week passed with no response.
The second week, one hit.
A wandering cultivator from the Eastern Marsh accessed the free manual. He left a comment:
*"This technique is outdated. But the diagrams are clear. 3/5 stars."*
Lin Feng celebrated with a bowl of thin porridge.
By the third week, traffic grew.
A minor sect downloaded the sword technique. A merchant cultivator bought the premium package. A rogue cultivator streamed a live spar using the platform's new "SpiritCast" feature.
JCN was alive.
And then, disaster struck.
---
On the 22nd day, the Heavenly Commerce Guild arrived.
A golden carriage, pulled by two celestial cranes, descended from the sky. Out stepped a man in a silk robe, holding a jade tablet.
"Lin Feng of Jade Cloud Sect?" he asked.
Lin Feng stepped forward. "That's me."
"I am Representative Li of the Heavenly Commerce Guild. We've detected unauthorized spiritual network activity originating from your sect. This violates the Third Law of Spiritual Transmission: 'No unlicensed information networks may operate within the Nine Provinces without Guild approval.'"
Lin Feng's heart sank.
"We're not a threat," he said. "We're just sharing cultivation knowledge."
"Without a license, it's piracy," the representative said coldly. "And your network is interfering with our official scrying channels. We're shutting you down."
He raised the jade tablet. A seal formed in the air—a suppression formation designed to disrupt spiritual networks.
Lin Feng acted fast.
He activated a hidden rune beneath his feet. A counter-formation flared to life, clashing with the Guild's seal.
The sky lit up.
Energy crackled.
The representative staggered back. "You dare resist the Guild?"
"I dare to survive," Lin Feng said. "We're not breaking any laws. We're innovating."
The representative sneered. "Innovation? You're a bankrupt sect playing with spirit stones. You have no rights, no power, no future."
Lin Feng smiled.
"Maybe not. But we have something you don't."
"What's that?"
"User engagement."
He tapped his tablet.
Instantly, a thousand spiritual signals flooded the network. Cultivators from across the provinces—those who had used JCN, watched tutorials, bought pills—sent out protests. Messages poured in:
*"JCN saved my cultivation!"*
*"I passed my Core Formation test thanks to your videos!"*
*"Don't shut them down!"*
The sheer volume of spiritual energy overwhelmed the Guild's suppression formation. It shattered like glass.
The representative paled. "This… this is impossible. How do you have so many users?"
Lin Feng stepped forward. "Because we're not just a sect. We're a platform. And the cultivators *choose* us."
The representative glared. "This isn't over."
"No," Lin Feng said. "It's just beginning."
---
That night, the sect celebrated.
They had no feast, no wine, no fireworks. But they had hope.
Lin Feng stood on the roof, looking at the stars.
The Internet was alive in the immortal world.
And he was just getting started.
---
**To Be Continued in Chapter 2: "Monetizing the Dao – The Rise of Virtual Immortality"**
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