Chapter 11: Starting a New Book

Because he had stayed up all night, Cao Sheng, who hadn't slept a wink, skipped class today.

When his roommates got up to eat breakfast, he had already finished his and returned to the dorm; when they went to the teaching building for class, he washed up and climbed into bed to sleep.

The entire morning, the whole dormitory building was quite quiet, very suitable for sleeping, and Cao Sheng slept very comfortably.

He slept until the dormitory building gradually grew noisy and someone started shaking his bed before Cao Sheng opened his eyes and woke up.

Opening his eyes, he saw Song Chao from the bunk below standing beside his bed.

Seeing Cao Sheng open his eyes, Song Chao asked curiously: "Hey! Where did you go last night? It's only been a few days into this semester, and you've already spent two nights not returning to the dorm; are you in love? Did you go to a hotel with a beauty? And today you actually skipped class; last semester you never skipped a single class!"

"A hotel? Who went to a hotel?"

Another roommate heard the words "hotel" and immediately got excited, looking around with wide eyes, and his gaze quickly locked onto Cao Sheng on the bed.

The gazes of the other two roommates also turned over.

They all seemed convinced that Cao Sheng had gone to a hotel with a beauty last night, and one by one they curiously crowded over.

Including Song Chao, four heads and four pairs of curious eyes looked at Cao Sheng sleeping on the top bunk, and a chorus of questions was thrown at Cao Sheng.

"Cao Sheng! Did you go to a hotel with a beauty last night? Is it true or false?"

"Third Brother! When did you start dating? Is it Wu Can from our class? But I saw her energy level was quite good this morning!"

"Could it really be Wu Can? No wonder her complexion is so good today, while you look so listless! Hehe..."

Cao Sheng looked at them speechless.

Suddenly he remembered a joke he had seen online before: after a woman returned to her rural hometown, she still kept the habit of morning jogging; having just run for a whole morning, by that same morning, a rumor started circulating in the village—that this Miss had an unscrupulous lifestyle, getting up so early in the morning, no one knew which man's bed she had run out of, and her hair was even messy from running.

At this moment, Cao Sheng felt his reputation had been unfairly damaged.

He thought that if his reputation ever got ruined, it would definitely be because of the rumors spread by these guys in the dorm.

"No, I stayed at an internet cafe all night."

He felt it necessary to explain.

"Tsk! Who believes that?"

"Can you even use the internet? And stay all night?"

"Exactly! Who has ever seen you go online before? And stay all night?"

"Third Brother! Just admit it! Did you really go to a hotel with Wu Can last night? Confess honestly!!"

The four roommates, one speaking after another, all wanted to expose Cao Sheng's true face, yet not a single person believed Cao Sheng's explanation.

Cao Sheng was utterly speechless.

Finally, he simply gave up arguing; only to avoid ruining Wu Can's reputation, he explained that the woman he went to the hotel with last night was not Wu Can.

Seeing that he finally admitted to going to a hotel last night, Song Chao and the others all felt a sense of accomplishment; after the other three roommates returned, they immediately shared this news.

Thus, the matter of Cao Sheng going to a hotel with a woman last night was considered stone-cold fact in their dorm.

Every roommate was quite curious about who that woman was.

They took turns questioning Cao Sheng, all wanting to dig out this secret.

They also made a scene demanding Cao Shao treat them to a meal.

When it came to treating others to a meal, Cao Sheng absolutely would not agree.

His living expenses for this semester were already insufficient, and recently he had been worrying about earning money! How could he possibly treat the entire dorm to a meal because of such a nonsensical matter?

Not only did he refuse to treat, he turned the tables and wanted to mooch meals off his roommates.

The reason he gave was also quite brilliant.

"I've recently fallen in love, spending money like water; as brothers, if you don't help me out, who will?"

In response, the roommates scattered in a huff.

Only Song Chao, who slept on the bunk below Cao Sheng, agreed to treat Cao Sheng to a meal today at noon, but limited to cafeteria food, and not exceeding two yuan.

The banter and bickering with his roommates relaxed Cao Sheng's mind.

Mooching a lunch from Song Chao also made him quite happy.

But he knew in his heart that mooching food and drink was not a long-term solution.

So, he was still thinking about starting a new book, a new book with a high probability of being published.

That evening, carrying a stack of newly bought draft paper, when he came to the teaching building for evening self-study, he began to ponder what to write for the new book.

Xuanhuan? Fantasy? Xianxia? Cultivation? Post-apocalyptic wasteland?

One genre after another flashed through his mind, and one by one the book titles that had been hugely popular when online literature first rose also flashed through his mind.

For example: "Zi Chuan", "Blasphemy".

These two books had long dominated the rankings on Qidian.

For example: "Legend of the Dragon Warrior", this was the first online novel he had ever read.

For example: "Legend of the Little Soldier", "Journey to the Mysterious Realm", "Zhu Xian", and so on.

All were hugely popular works from the early days of online literature, influencing countless authors who came later.

Copying these novels word for word was absolutely impossible for Cao Sheng.

He did not have such a good memory; he could only write a Typical work of the same genre.

After pondering for a long time, he decided to write a Cultivation novel.

There were many reasons.

First, in his original timeline, he had written several Cultivation novels; writing in this genre, he had experience.

Second, the facts of his original timeline had long proven that when online literature first rose, Cultivation novels could become hugely popular and rapidly accumulate a large number of readers.

Third, the Xianxia and Cultivation genre, in the first few years after online literature was born, was once the impression many people had of online literature, believing that online literature was simply Xianxia and Cultivation novels.

Moreover, Xianxia and Cultivation works, with their cultivation levels, names of various heavenly treasures and earthly gems, and so on, could give readers a great sense of novelty.

It could satisfy readers' craving for the strange and novel.

Cao Sheng still remembered his amazement the first time he saw the cultivation ranks.

— Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Jin Dan, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Integration, Tribulation, Mahayana… and so on.

Each major realm had several minor realms beneath it.

Moreover, every realm could be explained with convincing seriousness, and the entire cultivation system was, in theory, self-consistent.

It made one wonder whether such a cultivation system truly existed.

If a work like this were written, as long as the story wasn't too bad, he really couldn't think of any reason the publishers in Taiwan would be unwilling to publish it.

Having decided in his heart to write this subject, Cao Sheng began drafting the cultivation system for this new book on manuscript paper.

Then, based on the Nine-Line Method, he structured the overall outline of the entire book.

Previously, when he wrote "Those Days of Living with the Flight Attendant," although he had also written an outline, he hadn't used the Nine-Line Method to write it.

Because a romance story, for him, was generally very simple, and there was no need to make the outline too complicated.

Simply set up the characters and the plot direction, and that was about enough.

But xianxia cultivation works were different, because they involved many novel settings, so when writing the outline, the more detailed the better.

And the Nine-Line Method was the most formal way of writing an outline.

This method divided the entire outline into nine lines.

They were: protagonist, supporting characters, skills, companions, equipment, adventures, background, factions, and harem.

By perfecting the settings of these nine lines, one could completely construct a book's outline.

Only, what should this book be called? He couldn't make up his mind for a long time.