Chapter 59: I Wish to Become an Immortal 2

"Sister Wang, I apologize. I returned to my hometown for a few days, didn't go online, so I stopped updating for three days and didn't reply to your email. It wasn't intentional.

I agree to the conditions proposed by Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House; we can sign the contract.

Also: 'I Wish to Become an Immortal' has resumed updates.

Finally, thank you for the hard work you have put into publishing this book of mine. Thank you! — Cao Sheng."

Cao Sheng smiled as he sent this email reply to Wang Jing.

He felt a bit like laughing in his heart; he didn't expect that after just three days without updating, Wang Jing would be so anxious, thinking he intended to stop the serialization of 'I Wish to Become an Immortal' on Rongshu.

This was a treatment he had never enjoyed before.

Before his rebirth, when he typed on Qidian, even if he occasionally missed updates, the editor would never send a private message to ask him the reason.

Back then, let alone missing three days of updates, even if he missed thirty years, the editor wouldn't have cared.

About half an hour later.

After Cao Sheng refreshed the email page, he saw Wang Jing's reply.

"Oh! You scared me; I thought you were going to stop the serialization! I have sent the contract from Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House to you; please print it out, sign it, and mail it as soon as possible! Once they receive the contract, the publishing process will move forward quickly. I wish you great success with this physical book again! — Wang Jing."

She sent the contract.

She also sent the mailing address.

Cao Sheng was very familiar with the signing process; that afternoon, he went out to finalize the signing matters.

The rest was waiting.

Waiting for this book to be printed into volumes and launched onto the market.

Logically speaking, for the next period, he only needed to focus on typing and didn't need to do anything else.

But...

He thought of the royalties from Xinchang Publishing House.

He felt it was time to talk to Xinchang Publishing House about raising his royalties.

For a manuscript costing 4,000 yuan per installment, he had already written eight installments for Xinchang Publishing House; each installment was 65,000 characters, so eight installments amounted to over 500,000 characters.

Eight installments have been published, yet he has not received any notice from Xinchang Publishing House asking him to finish the story soon.

Presumably, this book is selling well over in Taiwan.

Otherwise, Xinchang is not a charity; they would have surely asked him to finish the story as soon as possible according to the contract long ago.

— Since you aren't notifying me to finish, then it's my turn to notify you to finish, unless... add money!

Just so happens the contract from Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House can be used as a bargaining chip.

With these thoughts turning in his mind, after dinner, he turned on his computer and sent an email to the Xinchang side.

The content was as follows:

"Hello:

The plot of the first part of 'I Wish to Become an Immortal' will be finished in the next installment; I have already started working on the second part. I wonder if your publishing house is interested in continuing to publish the second part of this book? If you are interested, in a few days I will send the manuscript of the first installment of the second part to you for review. However, I hope the royalties for the second part can be increased a bit; I wonder what price your publishing house can offer me? — Zhongyuan Yidianhui"

Actually, what second part is there?

It is all the plot of the first part.

The so-called manuscript of the first installment of the second part was also nearly finished by him.

He just wanted to find an excuse to raise his royalties.

The next morning.

The acquiring editor responsible for contacting Cao Sheng, Chang Qingshu, sent a reply.

"What? The plot of the first part ends in the next installment? I have been following this book of yours; the content of the eighth installment, which was just released, shows no sign of ending at all. The main plot is still in the Sword-Controlling Sect, and the protagonist hasn't formally stepped into the Jianghu yet! Is it ending now?

Why don't you consider it more carefully? The current sales of your book are excellent; I suggest you write it longer. There is really no need to finish it now. — Chang Qingshu."

After reading this reply, Cao Sheng let out a silent, helpless laugh.

He thought: Are you truly stupid or just pretending to be? Don't you really understand my meaning?

After a brief pause, he replied: "Hello! After finishing the ninth installment of this book, it will be about 600,000 characters. This length is already very long. The content of the first part I originally planned was roughly this long. As you know, I am a newcomer without experience writing very long works, so when preparing this book, it was impossible to prepare for a very long length. I have already finished the content of the ninth installment, and the plot of the first part concludes in this installment. I will not deliberately drag out the story just to earn a bit more in royalties; I hope you can understand. — Zhongyuan Yidianhui"

More than an hour later.

Chang Qingshu replied: "You said the ninth installment is already finished? Then can you send me this installment's manuscript to read?

Also, in your previous email you mentioned that the first installment of the second part was also being written; I wonder if you could send the beginning of this installment as well for our reviewing editor to check?"

Cao Sheng naturally would not refuse such a request.

He sent the ninth installment's manuscript over; for the tenth installment's manuscript, he changed the title, added a brief introduction, and sent that over as well.

The document originally labeled "Tenth Installment" was changed by him to "'I Wish to Become an Immortal 2' First Installment".

The introduction was still the introduction of the first part.

Not a single word was changed.

Nanjing.

Xinchang Publishing House's Mainland Office.

After receiving Cao Sheng's reply, Chang Qingshu spent about an hour finishing reading the manuscript of the ninth installment of 'I Wish to Become an Immortal'.

Then, with a bit of curiosity, he clicked open the manuscript of "'I Wish to Become an Immortal 2' First Installment".

After reading for just a few minutes, his expression changed; his eyes were very surprised, his gaze somewhat vacant, filled with disbelief.

Was the opening plot of this installment incredibly unbelievable?

It was not!

Rather, the opening of this installment and the ending plot of the ninth installment connected very smoothly and naturally, with no sense of awkwardness, constituting a seamless connection.

At the end of Episode 9, it depicted the male and female leads on a date in the small forest behind the Sword-riding Sect, kissing; the opening of Episode 1 of *I Wish to Become an Immortal 2* shows them still kissing in that same forest, the saliva threads still unbroken.

The timeline hasn't even stretched three seconds.

Chang Qingshu stared blankly for a moment, then continued reading with a complicated mood.

He read through the entire script without finding any break or discontinuity between this episode's plot and that of Episode 9.

The style is identical; the plot is a direct continuation of Episode 9.

No matter how you look at it, this should be the plot of *I Wish to Become an Immortal* Episode 10, yet the document header clearly states: "*I Wish to Become an Immortal 2*, Episode 1."

In his entire career, he had never encountered such a thing—or such an author.

Never before had any author dared play such a trick on their publishing house.

Aren't you afraid that, in anger, we might terminate our collaboration with you?

He recalled the messages his colleagues at headquarters had sent these past months—*I Wish to Become an Immortal*'s sales had been climbing steadily; by the third month of publication, its single-volume sales had topped the entire publishing market in Taiwan.

He now suspected that Zhongyuan Yidianhui had heard this news.

Otherwise, how would he dare do this?

Using Episode 10's script to impersonate the second part of *I Wish to Become an Immortal*?

Such a brazen move nearly blinded his eyes.

He had naturally guessed Cao Sheng's intention.

At this moment, his feelings were complex: he admired Cao Sheng's talent, and he admired the audacity of this scheme; his anger had slowly faded.

But he had no authority to raise Cao Sheng's fee; he could only silently email the publisher, reporting the matter—he wasn't sure how the publisher would react.

Would he approve?

Or would he flatly refuse?