Chapter 1137: Cultural Export from Chinese Mythology

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Main text:

No one expected that Primordial Mythology would become the hottest search term from China on the international internet this year.

And this wasn't even actively released by Chinese people, but done by a well-fed, idle British-American living in China.

Cultural export sometimes gets completed under such unexpected circumstances.

Over ten million views in two days, related entries with over two hundred thousand discussions, rapidly established fan communities, and the accompanying uploads of Classic of Mountains and Seas, Investiture of the Gods, and Journey to the West.

Right now Primordial Mythology's popularity abroad isn't even a bit lower than in its place of origin, China.

It's just that the two sides don't share a language; otherwise Americans would run to Tieba and Bilibili to fight with netizens over character power levels.

This internet spectacle is also truly quite rare.

I remember the last time Chinese culture was this hot abroad should be the period when Wang Xiaojiu was still updating her pastoral life vlogs.

Unfortunately, due to irreconcilable conflicts with her company over profit division, Wang Xiaojiu hasn't updated videos for a long time; even if she updates again in the future, she probably won't use the name Wang Xiaojiu anymore, and it's also impossible to regain that former level of popularity.

With Wang Xiaojiu gone, officials actually consciously searched for replacements.

Luo Quan had once received a related mission; she previously filmed a Bite of China, which also indeed got popular abroad for a while, attracting many foreign tourists.

But she didn't keep updating this series, so once she stopped, the popularity dropped; ultimately it couldn't last.

Originally there wasn't much hope for this cultural export piece; who would've thought Primordial Mythology would suddenly get popular?

A subject already filmed to death in China, a subject that almost gets tagged as a bad movie whenever it appears in theaters, a niche subject that usually has few people making videos or writing about it.

Just because Luo Quan pulled a grand unification-like operation, it instantly became red-hot.

Actually at the start she hadn't considered the foreign market at all.

But looking at this popularity, after Primordial 1 releases, the foreign box office might even be higher than domestic; that's quite deliberate.

As for abroad, the terms Primordial, Investiture of the Gods, Journey to the West took turns topping hot searches, bringing along the 86 version of Journey to the West, which also became the most sought-after film and television resource online.

Teacher Liu probably never dreamed that one day his boasts would actually come true.

Back when the 86 Journey to the West was popular, it indeed had quite some fame in Southeast Asia, but in netizens' minds, the international arena usually refers to East and West.

Before this, foreign impressions of Sun Wukong almost entirely came from Dragon Ball.

But that Sun Wukong in Dragon Ball, aside from having the same name and a monkey tail, has nothing to do with Journey to the West.

And after American netizens learned of the Great Sage's deeds, they were all instantly drawn to this fighter who dared raise havoc in Heaven.

Defying authority, fighting for the weak, free and unrestrained — isn't that exactly the kind of hero the West loves most?

Thus, Journey to the West also got popular.

One Dream of the Red Chamber could spawn Redology, drawing countless Redologists to argue for a hundred years.

And Journey to the West's artistic value is actually not much lower than Dream of the Red Chamber; its readability and depth, among all Chinese classical literature, absolutely sit at the top tier; its big popularity abroad is not hard to understand.

Of course, people who can calm down and read classics are still a minority.

Most people prefer watching condensed content; after all, it's a fast-paced era now, fragmented content shouldn't be too long or complex, simple and violent with enough satisfying points — satisfy these few points and it equals half the success.

So Gao Liang cut each episode into half an hour, releasing only two episodes a day.

It's just that this video wasn't released on Netflix; otherwise who knows how popular it would've gotten.

But Netflix follows trends quite a bit; seeing Primordial so hot, they immediately sent Luo Quan an email asking if there were any scripts, wanting to strike while the iron's hot.

The movies haven't even started filming yet, and these people are already coming to her to film a TV series.

Luo Quan's answer was naturally no; even if she had them, she couldn't give them to Netflix to mess around with.

So many bad movies have already proven that Chinese people's mythology, Chinese people themselves might not film understandably, let alone foreigners?

Weren't there just two bloody examples recently?

Disney invested heavily to film two Chinese-element movies, wanting to harvest the leeks of the world's second-largest film market.

One was Mulan filmed by Disney itself, one was Marvel superhero movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Both movies hired quite a few big-name Xiangjiang and Chinese-American stars; the results were a pile of shit, both movies' ratings added up didn't even reach passing, mocked by domestic and foreign film fans until not an inch of skin was left intact, box office also lost until they didn't even have underwear left.

These two movies Disney originally also prepared to have Luo Quan direct; said the script was very good, and the fan base was right there, could sell big even if filmed into shit.

Can only say fortunately Luo Quan didn't take it; otherwise a thousand years of cultivation would be lost in one morning.

So, Chinese-element movies, letting foreigners handle them is the most, most foolish behavior; Luo Quan definitely won't give this IP to others to ruin; she'd rather miss this popularity wave than not do it slowly herself.

Of course, at her film speed, Primordial 1: Opening Heaven and Earth will definitely be able to catch this popularity wave.

If it were before, with seventy percent of the entire movie needing special effects production, the production cycle would definitely be very long.

But after Unreal Engine was taken by her to Chuan Shi for a major upgrade, not only is game development absurdly fast, using it for movie special effects production is equally applicable; realism and speed both lead the industry leader by several tiers.

When it's filmed and seen, it'll absolutely knock the audience's 3D glasses off.

Besides that, she also has a multi-functional intelligent AI.

Besides being able to simulate human conversation, painting is also its strong suit.

So Luo Quan, following Gao Liang's plan, produced the 3D models of Primordial's various characters.

Pangu mighty and majestic, Hongjun immortal bearing and Daoist bones, the Three Purities each with distinct characteristics, the Two Western Saints outwardly simple, honest, and upright, their inner shrewdness also impossible to conceal, Junior Sister Nuwa even more beautiful, transcendent and refined, simultaneously possessing great dignity, worthy of being the mother of the human race.

After these character design images were released, netizens' imagination of Primordial became more concrete and full.

Worth mentioning is that Luo Quan also said she would release Primordial-themed 3D animation in the future; character modeling would basically be these character design images.

This news instantly triggered cheers from countless Primordial fans.

When netizens asked Luo Quan what she was doing now, Luo Quan's answer was: "Using the method to complete Primordial Mythology's details, while filming the movie Primordial: Opening Heaven and Earth."

Domestically people know Luo Quan is filming a movie, but abroad not many people know this; seeing this news, they also eagerly anticipated a wave.

As for Gao Liang, these days he's been busy translating various literary works, unable to extricate himself.

His cultural attainment hasn't reached the level of translating Chinese ancient texts full of flavor into English; during the process he borrowed heavily from intelligent AI.

Fortunately AI functionality is powerful enough, so his work counts as quite relaxed and full of fun.

The fun lies in transporting something he likes abroad and then seeing tens of thousands of people chasing updates and urging more, arguing fiercely over certain plot points or characters.

This is what he most enjoys seeing, a feeling that life's worth is being realized.

Unfortunately, these works he merely translated, not original like his elder sister; otherwise, this joy would be even stronger.

Because the first part had no role for him, Gao Liang did not go to Hengdian to film this movie but stayed home translating literary works.

Miss Luo Quan brought along Xia Xia, Yu Su, and a group of female students.

The former played Nüwa, the latter played Hou Tu, and the rest were arranged for cameo roles depending on the situation.

After a grand opening ceremony, *In the Beginning: Heaven and Earth* officially started filming.

Probably the first drama crew to get on hot searches just from the opening ceremony.

To embody the mythological atmosphere, Miss Luo Quan's opening ceremony specially arranged a heaven-worshipping ambiance, letting a group of crew members in costumes stand on a temporarily built stage and bow repeatedly to heaven; the topic and atmosphere were thus fully satisfied.

Of course, there are also some voices online accusing Miss Luo Quan of promoting feudal superstition.

And Miss Luo Quan's reply was quite clever: "Many say Chinese people are superstitious, but actually Chinese people are pragmatic.

When you value something deeply, you bow to all gods and buddhas, pray to heaven for blessings, you worship whoever is effective, and discard whoever is not.

Sometimes when you seek answers from spirits and get what you want, you feel heaven is helping you.

If you don't get the answer you want, the idea that man can conquer heaven immediately takes hold.

Thus, we are actually never superstitious; we just seek spiritual comfort for our success.

If worshipping Nokia worked, I believe everyone would unhesitatingly worship Nokia."

This reply directly left those self-media trying to stir up trouble speechless, and Miss Luo Quan's fans burst into applause:

"Haha, wanting to debate scriptures with Luo Bao? You're still too early."

"Putting hats on people is really these folks' specialty, but when it comes to talking sharp, Luo Bao has yet to meet a match."

"After all, she's the grand master of online clapback, with entry angles and argument analysis top-tier—you just don't accept or believe it."

"I've said it N times, told you not to provoke Luo Bao—now you're getting sprayed back, serves you right!"

………………

A small interlude: those self-media trying to stir up trouble for *In the Beginning* were all silenced.

But this sign also rang a warning bell for Miss Luo Quan.

Making money isn't scary; what's scary is making money that anyone could make.

The film market is only so big; you see your movie's box office about to explode, and it's a long series—if you finish filming and release it smoothly, how will others survive?

So, those unnamed competitors will definitely trip you up.

A common business tactic—at least no one has hired a water army to attack her yet.

Actually, they've already planned how to blacken her, such as accusing her of altering history.

There will definitely be people doing this, and definitely fools who will believe it.

Of course, whether the actual effect will successfully add black points to her or backfire is unknown.

At least she remains very confident in her ability to discern most netizens.

After the opening ceremony ended, Miss Luo Quan began intense filming.

Because of the large amount of green-screen acting without physical props, for those veteran actors, it's actually quite challenging.

After all, in their prime, they never encountered such effects-heavy blockbusters.

Even *Journey to the West*, such a fantasy work, had flying on clouds just by placing a small cart underfoot, then covering it with smoke, and having someone off-camera pull it.

Though knowing it's fake, at least the body is moving.

But stand before the green screen, and you're really just posing in place, relying entirely on imagination.

Several veteran actors really tried their best, but at first, their movements were still somewhat stiff.

Fortunately, Miss Luo Quan personally gave some demonstrations, and the veteran actors' learning ability was also very strong, so they quickly grasped the essence.

The flying posture, the hand seals, and the spellcasting motions all became proper and convincing.

Of course, because there are no physical props, their magic-dueling scenes, when viewed dryly, are indeed quite ridiculous.

Those who know it's filming think nothing of it; those who don't think it's a madhouse team-building event.

Compared to older people, young people's performance is much better.

They've been exposed to more effects-heavy masterpieces, plus Miss Luo Quan personally trained them, so each person's progress is very fast.

Of course, mainly because the casting was good.

The young actors Miss Luo Quan selected this time are all recent film academy graduates, full of expectation but with nowhere to realize it, lost and confused.

They're not like fresh-faced idols who already have fan bases, so they can slack off guilt-free.

They have talent, ambition, and drive, but just lack a platform.

Now Miss Luo Quan has given them a platform, and on the first day told them, you will gain corresponding popularity from your performance in the film.

The main roles are just a few, and have nothing to do with you.

But if you perform well, even as a supporting role you can still become famous.

When this was said, these young artists were like they'd been injected with chicken blood—from learning lines to performing, they showed extraordinary seriousness and were uncomplainingly hardworking.

Whether they fell or were tired, not a single one complained.

Because they know this might be their one and only chance in life.

Seize it, and you'll blow up the internet, reach the peak of life.

Miss it, and you'll fade into obscurity, only able to become an eighteenth-line star in the entertainment circle, eventually eliminated by juniors.

So anyone with ambition and brains, upon joining the *In the Beginning* crew, will 100% cooperate with Miss Luo Quan's command—she tells everyone to go east, and even if east is a big mountain, they'll blast a grand road through it.

As for those who don't cooperate, they'll be fired the next day for stepping into the crew with their right foot first.

(End of chapter)