Chapter 69: Divine Tomb

Huizhou Teachers College.

The freshmen of the first year began military training; waves of slogans drifted into the classroom and into Cao Sheng's ears. Cao Sheng, sitting by the window, occasionally glanced at the freshmen on the playground wearing grass-green camouflage uniforms, and could not help but sigh at the fleeting passage of time.

In his memory, his own university military training seemed to have passed only a few years ago, yet in reality, more than twenty years had already elapsed.

Before his rebirth, ever since he turned thirty, he often wondered who had pressed the time-acceleration key; otherwise, why had he blinked and suddenly become forty?

He remembered that for a period, a phrase was popular online: "You grow old before you've ever gone wild."

This phrase resonated deeply with him.

He always thought to focus on building his career and making money first, thinking that once he achieved financial freedom, he would properly enjoy life and travel everywhere.

But his finances could never become free.

His savings would rise a little, and house prices would rise even more; his savings would rise a little more, and prices would begin to soar; his savings would rise a little more, and even the bride price for marriage would start doubling and rolling upward.

By the time he finally had a house, a car, and savings, and could afford to marry, the children of his peers were already in middle school; for those who married early, their daughters had even started dating.

When they all ate and drank together, they actually began discussing topics of health preservation and retirement.

At that time, he wanted to say: "What are you talking about? I haven't even gotten married yet!"

Cao Sheng had no interest whatsoever in the accounting major's courses; he constantly lost focus in class, and he had absolutely no interest in listening to what the teacher was lecturing about on the podium.

Because in this life, he would rather die than be an accountant again.

But, constantly losing focus and constantly looking out the window at those freshmen undergoing military training was also quite boring.

He did not want to waste time like this.

So he took out the scratch paper hidden under his textbook and pondered his next new book.

Although he had no plans to start a new book recently; "I Wish to Become an Immortal" could still be written for at least another year or two, so starting a new book was not urgent.

But since he was idle anyway, he thought to take advantage of the fact that "I Wish to Become an Immortal" could still be serialized for a long time, and prepare the theme and outline for his next book first.

What should the next book be about?

He had already written "I Wish to Become an Immortal" in the Xianxia cultivation genre; for this next book, he wanted to switch to a different theme, letting those pioneers from his original timeline finish all their paths, and letting them try to open up other themes; if those pioneers could open up new themes, that would count as a contribution by him, Cao, to the online literature industry.

Squinting at the blank scratch paper before him, themes flashed one by one through Cao Sheng's mind.

There were online games, post-apocalyptic wastelands, spiritual energy resurgence, the late Han and Three Kingdoms in historical fiction, and the late Qing and Republic military fiction that could certainly be written now, plus sci-fi mechas...

Wait.

He even thought of Fang Xiang's "Card Master".

He also thought of Shen Ji's martial arts novel—"The Dragon and Snake's Evolution".

And that masterpiece that won the monthly vote eight times in a row, "Yang Shen".

Many of these themes required preparing a great deal of material before they could be written well.

He really wanted to write Shen Ji's "The Dragon and Snake's Evolution"; this kind of martial arts novel, he had liked very much before, often reading until Miao Xuefei boiled; if this kind of novel were written well, it would surely accumulate a group of die-hard readers.

But...

Reason told him: he should write the themes that appeared earlier first.

"The Dragon and Snake's Evolution" probably only appeared in the early 2000s, so there was no need to rush writing it.

As for other themes, some appeared very quickly right at the beginning of the rise of online literature.

For example: fantasy, xuanhuan, online games, and so on.

For these themes, if he did not hurry to act, they would soon be produced by others.

For instance, fantasy magic, influenced by magic works like "Harry Potter", saw the theme of fantasy magic appear rapidly right at the birth of online literature.

In the first few years after online literature was born, it was very fond of borrowing everywhere.

The fantasy magic category borrowed from Western European and American magic stories; xuanhuan and mechas borrowed from Marvel, Hollywood, and Japanese comics and movies.

Wu Xia and the wandering hero borrowed from Hong Kong and Taiwan Wu Xia and comics and movies.

Superpowers mainly borrowed from Marvel comics.

And so on.

Cao Sheng had never written fantasy magic stories before, nor did he have much interest in writing them.

As for xuanhuan...

Its inclusiveness was large enough, and the room for maneuver was large enough; he wanted to try it.

Then, some book titles flashed through his mind.

Such as "Battle Through the Heavens", "Douluo Dalu", "Holy Land", "Perfect World", "Demon Law", "Record of Choosing Heaven", "Beast Blood Boiling", and so on.

These were all major hot works in his memory.

Just picking any one of them out could bring him both fame and fortune, earning him a fortune.

But...

He could not produce them.

He was not the original author of these books; even if he were the original author, rewriting them would definitely result in something different.

He could only borrow the themes and story ideas, and then, relying on his own writing skills, produce a work that looked somewhat similar but was actually very different.

He pondered for a long time, and on the manuscript paper before him, wrote two characters: "Divine Tomb".

This was a work by Chendong in the original timeline.

It was considered Chendong's masterpiece that cemented his godhood.

And this author, Chendong, was different from most authors.

His "blooming period" was particularly long.

Other great masters could generally only be popular for a few years; those who could be popular for over ten years were already rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, but Chendong could be popular for over twenty years.

Starting from the early "Undying and Unextinguishable", he began with a small fire, and then continued to be popular.

"Divine Tomb", "Realm of Eternal Life", "Perfect World", "Shrouding the Heavens", "Holy Land", and so on.

Over twenty years, the web novel world has seen storms and changes; countless once-dominant masters have faded, yet he remains blazingly popular.

It's utterly absurd.

This time, Cao Sheng intends to borrow the title and concept from his own masterpiece, Investiture of the Gods.

"Divine Tomb"...

A story of an ordinary youth who walks out of a Divine Tomb.

With this title and introduction, readers' imaginations will run wild, sparking anticipation.

They will wonder: before this person emerged from the Divine Tomb, did he find some exceptionally powerful divine cultivation techniques and immortal pills or magical treasures? Or perhaps something else entirely.

With this title and introduction, it can attract countless readers.

In the industry terminology Cao Sheng knew before his rebirth, this is called: traffic attraction.

Whether a book's title and introduction can attract traffic often determines the book's fate and survival.

A book with traffic attraction can see its popularity explode with just any recommendation slot; conversely, even with the best recommendation slot, if your book lacks traffic attraction, your data won't rise much.

However, he can no longer recall the specific content of the book "Divine Tomb".

Too much time has passed.

That was the second book Chendong wrote after entering the industry; Cao Sheng read it in the early 2000s, nearly twenty years ago. How could he remember the specific plot of a web novel from two decades ago?

He can only rely on his own imagination to construct the outline of this book.

For instance: which gods are buried in this Divine Tomb? What divine martial arts and ultimate techniques did these gods leave behind? Or perhaps divine weapons and magical treasures?

And also...

What name should the male protagonist be given? How should his past experiences be set?

And after he walks out of the Divine Tomb, what kind of world will he face?

Too many things need to be set by him.

When the noon dismissal bell rang, Cao Sheng's draft notebook had not recorded many settings.

Only information on two Emperor Lords was written down.

They are: the Southern Pole Eternal Life Great Emperor and the Northern Pole True Martial Great Emperor.

In his settings, these two Great Emperors have already perished.