Transcribed from a scroll someone definitely shouldn’t have enchanted with echo magic....

  For one night only, the tea hall had transformed.

  Instead of incense, glowing microphone stands hummed softly.

  A projection scroll hovered overhead, flashing:

  “Sorrow & Spirit: A Talent Night for the Cultivationally Wounded.”

  ZhenZen was live-commenting.

  — First up: the girl who woke up inside a painting and never got her jeans back!

  ?? “Brushstrokes and betrayal, I tripped into fate—

  Now I sip qi like soup from a hand-painted plate…”

  — Next! — shout the general's ghost, already marching onstage.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  He bowed.

  Produced a bamboo slip.

  And began... rhythmically declaiming military poetry.

  ??? “I bled in three campaigns, I saw the sky break twice—

  Now I haunt a professor who can’t pronounce ‘rice.’”

  The crowd gave a standing ovation.

  The fangirl who body-swapped with her favorite author did a freestyle rap about editorial deadlines.

  The dandelion boy wept melodically over three blades of grass.

  The mediator sighed in the corner.

  — I said I’d maintain peace.

  Not pitch.

  ZhenZen murmured:

  — 10/10… too much trauma. Would duet again.

  ***

  ?? The winner?

  A background disciple who simply said:

  — I forgot my lyrics. But I showed up.

  That night, no one fought.

  They just sang.

  ?? MirrorFeed Reactions: #SectIdolNight

  @PeachOfPeace

  THE GENERAL’S GHOST RAPPED IN HEXAMETER

  I ASCENDED TWICE

  @CultivatorInCrocs

  the dandelion boy is the soul of this realm

  give him a mixtape and a hug

  @FanserviceSect

  did anyone else cry when the author-fangirl rhymed “rewrite” with “midnight rewrite round five”?

  @CloudedCultivator

  the mediator looked so done he almost evaporated

  @ZhenZen

  They asked me to judge.

  I refused.

  Then rated everyone anyway.

  12/10 for emotional damage.

  @BrushstrokeBabe

  we NEED a live album. call it “Backstories Unleashed”

  @SectOfSalt

  this was better than that time someone dueled a goose mid-tribulation

  ***

  ? Bonus scroll footer:

  Tickets for next year’s Sect’s Got Talent will be available as soon as the spirit piano stops levitating.

  Please bring your own tea.