After returning home, Ji Yunsheng also gave some thought to continuing his live streaming. After studying Kuaishou for a few days, he discovered that he could pay to boost his traffic, but constrained by his meager wallet, he could only afford to spend six yuan to promote each video. Days passed like this, and Ji Yunsheng noticed that even though he spent six yuan on each video, the follower growth was hardly noticeable. On a good day, he might gain ten followers; on a bad one, just one or two.
Friends would often ask Ji Yunsheng if he actually made any money streaming League of Legends every day, and Ji Yunsheng would always reply, "We might not be making money right now, but look—my follower count is starting to grow a bit compared to before!" In truth, Ji Yunsheng knew better than anyone that to make a living from streaming, you needed at least ten thousand followers.
It wasn't until after more than a year of streaming that he realized just how difficult it was. No matter how enthusiastic he had been when he first started out, the reality was just that dismal. Honestly, that was just how things went when heaven didn't grant your wishes. Difficult though streaming was, Ji Yunsheng didn't give up because of it; after all, he wasn't the type to complain about everyone and everything. League of Legends was his greatest passion, and making money from streaming it would be a pretty good choice.
As the pandemic began, his friends one by one went off to get regular jobs, leaving no one who could accompany Ji Yunsheng to the internet cafe to team up whenever he wanted, and they could only log on to play League of Legends with him occasionally. Little Black always liked to tell Ji Yunsheng, "You should post more of your Kuaishou videos! Don't just post clips of quadras and pentakills. Be like other streamers and post funny stuff, or show off some unique signature tricks—otherwise, how are your follower numbers ever going to go up?" Ji Yunsheng would always reply, "The problem is I don't really have any signature tricks."
In Ji Yunsheng's mind, although pulling off quadras and pentakills in League of Legends was very difficult, every streamer was different and had their own style. Ji Yunsheng figured that quadras and pentakills were about the only things he had to show off, so even though they were hard to pull off, he still had to work hard to achieve them. Another few months passed, and Ji Yunsheng's Kuaishou followers grew from a few dozen to several hundred. Ji Yunsheng's confidence began to build, and he felt certain he would reach ten thousand followers—after all, every beginning is hard!
Unpredictable are the winds of heaven, and man's plans cannot match the changes of fate. On April 8, 2021, due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Ruili, Ji Yunsheng's area was also affected. Inspections were very strict, the internet cafes closed down, and Ji Yunsheng had no choice but to accept it with resignation. Ji Yunsheng's mother would always say to him, "Sometimes, man's plans cannot match the changes of fate. Don't be like some people who are always blaming this and complaining about that. Being alive is what matters most; having money is one way to live life, and not having money is another." Ji Yunsheng knew these principles well, having heard them countless times since he was a child, so he didn't feel like this setback could crush his confidence.
Starting from that day, once he got back home there was nothing to do except scroll through short videos, read web novels, and watch television. During this period, as he browsed videos and read novels, Ji Yunsheng became increasingly interested in metaphysics. He would often find himself wondering how wonderful it would be if he could practice cultivation just like the characters in the novels. After all, for a young man, how alluring is the term "immortal cultivation"? What young man wouldn't want to cultivate into an immortal, soar through the skies, plunge into the earth, and become all-powerful like the figures in the novels?
Unawares, alongside scrolling through videos, reading novels, and watching television, Ji Yunsheng added a new daily routine: searching online for matters related to metaphysics. Although Ji Yunsheng knew that the overwhelming amount of metaphysical information online was a mix of truth and falsehood, that didn't diminish his interest in the subject in the least. Nearly a month passed this way, and the outbreak in Ruili improved significantly. On May 1st, the internet cafes reopened, and Ji Yunsheng started going back to the internet cafe to live stream League of Legends.