Chapter 840

Remarks on going on the shelves

It's going on the shelves tomorrow, and my mood is quite complicated.

First, let me tell everyone about the creative ideas for this book and the direction of the plot that follows.

In the remarks of the last chapter of my previous book, "Dating Superman," I said that for the next book, I wanted to write about the ecological status of ordinary cultivators against the background of Journey to the West and the Enthronement of Gods.

What is an ordinary cultivator?

Using the dialogue between Wukong and Bodhi Zhenyuan Zushi in "Journey to the West" as an example:

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "In the 'Dao' gate, there are three hundred and sixty side doors, and all side doors have positive results. Which one do you want to learn?"

Wukong said: "I will listen carefully to the Master's wishes."

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "I will teach you the Dao of the 'Art' gate, how about that?"

Wukong said: "What is the Dao of the Art gate?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "The Art gate is about inviting immortals and supporting the planchette, divination, and knowing the principles of seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster."

Wukong said: "Can one achieve longevity like this?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "No! No!"

Wukong said: "I won't learn! I won't learn!"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said again: "I will teach you the Dao of the 'Flow' gate, how about that?"

Wukong asked again: "What is the principle of the Flow gate?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "The Flow gate is about Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Yin-Yang, Mohism, Medicine, or reading scriptures, chanting Buddha, and paying homage to the truth and descending saints."

Wukong said: "Can one achieve longevity like this?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "If you want longevity, it's like 'installing a pillar in a wall'."

Wukong said: "Master, I am an honest man and don't know how to use market slang. What is meant by 'installing a pillar in a wall'?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "When people build houses, they want them to be solid, so they set up a pillar between the walls. One day, when the building is about to collapse, it will surely rot."

Wukong said: "According to this, it won't last long. I won't learn! I won't learn!"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "I will teach you the Dao of the 'Quiet' gate, how about that?"

Wukong said: "What is the positive result of the Quiet gate?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "This is about fasting, guarding the valley, quiet and inaction, Zen meditation, sitting in meditation, abstaining from speech and fasting, or sleep cultivation, or establishing merit, and entering meditation and sitting in seclusion."

Wukong said: "Can one achieve longevity like this?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "It's also like 'unfired clay bricks at the kiln head'."

Wukong laughed: "Master really has some dripping. You said I don't know how to use market slang. What is meant by 'unfired clay bricks at the kiln head'?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "Just like the bricks and tiles made on the kiln head, although they have taken shape, they have not yet been tempered by water and fire. Once there is a heavy rain, they will surely dissolve."

Wukong said: "It won't last long either. I won't learn! I won't learn!"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "I will teach you the Dao of the 'Movement' gate, how about that?"

Wukong said: "What about the Dao of the Movement gate?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "This is about having action, gathering yin to supplement yang, climbing bows and stepping on crossbows, rubbing the navel to pass energy, using prescriptions to prepare, burning thatch and hitting the tripod, entering red lead, refining autumn stone, and taking women's milk, and so on."

Wukong said: "Can one achieve longevity like this?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "This desire for longevity is also like 'scooping the moon in the water'."

Wukong said: "Master is at it again! What is called 'scooping the moon in the water'?"

The Zhenyuan Zushi said: "The moon is in the long sky, and there is a shadow in the water. Although you can see it, there is no place to scoop it, and in the end, it only becomes empty."

Wukong said: "I won't learn! I won't learn!"

The Art, Flow, Movement, and Quiet offered by Bodhi Zhenyuan Zushi were not favored by Wukong, but they were already considered top-tier professions in the cultivation world.

Using universities as an example, Tsinghua and Peking University are the first tier, but not everyone who graduates from Tsinghua or Peking is top-tier.

Tsinghua and Peking students are also divided into tiers: those who receive full scholarships from world-famous universities or top laboratories in their senior year are the first tier; those who stay for a doctorate are slightly worse; if they get a job offer from a big company, it's okay, but if they have an ordinary job—especially "degrading" to taking the civil service exam—they are another tier lower.

Bodhi Zhenyuan Zushi's Slanting Moon and Three Stars Cave is the Tsinghua and Peking of the cultivation world.

Wukong is an excellent student who received a full scholarship offer.

Other fellow disciples can only cultivate one of Art, Flow, Movement, or Quiet, and entering the cultivation world, they are still superior to others.

So what about the key universities, ordinary universities, vocational schools, high school diplomas, and junior high school diplomas in the Journey to the West world?

I want to depict the "survival status of ordinary college students" in the Journey to the West world.

This is the original intention of writing this book.

So in the initial setting, Seeing Xiao Yu Yu's starting point is relatively low.

I hope to follow her perspective to show a three-dimensional world of immortals, Buddhas, gods, and demons from low to high.

However, looking at the current results, perhaps I should have made Seeing Xiao Yu Yu's identity more ordinary and common, starting as a village girl or an ordinary girl in a small town, without being captured, without the experience of the Teaching Division, just fighting monsters and leveling up step by step, winning all the way, only winning and not losing, accumulating small wins into big wins, which would be more refreshing to read, and the results would definitely be better than now (if there is a next book, I will try to write it this way).

How should I put it? I am an old failure, without a trace of the demeanor of a god, haven't I read the books of gods?

It's mainly my own obsession at work.

The inspiration for Seeing Xiao Yu Yu's Sha Man identity came from Jun Ji-hyun's movie "Kingdom: Ashin of the North" a few years ago.

The idea of Seeing Xiao Yu Yu going to the Teaching Division also came from watching Liu Yifei's Zhao Pan'er (A Dream of Splendor) a few years ago.

Hehe, Liu Yifei and Jun Ji-hyun are both goddesses in my mind.

Some readers said that Re Gan Mian writing this book must be related to Black Myth.

Actually, it's not; the idea has been there for a long time.

In Ashin of the North, Jun Ji-hyun is a "savage girl," very cool and handsome, but also very tragic, and I have pity in my heart.

Needless to say, Zhao Pan'er is a famous strange woman of the dust.

I am not trying to imitate their plots; Seeing Xiao Yu Yu is just accumulating power in the Teaching Division so she can soar into the sky and kill in all directions.

Old readers should know that I also wrote a fan fiction about Dragon Mother, where Dragon Mother starts out pregnant.

Let alone an old failure like me who has read novels for many years, even a new writer understands that this kind of setting is a bit "poisonous."

I am not being arrogant, nor am I screening readers as some readers think—I don't have this qualification; I long for everyone to like my book.

I just can't control myself, or I forget to control myself.

Why does a writer write novels? To make money, to turn the inspiration in their heart into a story, or because the shadow that cannot be erased from memory becomes an obsession...

Cough, I've digressed, let's continue talking about the plot.

My brain is a bit slow, but I still really hope to listen to readers' suggestions.

After getting feedback from readers, I slightly adjusted some plot directions in the second volume, "Wind and Clouds in Tianmen Town."

I originally planned to write more about Seeing Xiao Yu Yu's folk daily life experiences in the Red Sleeve Workshop to show the face of the bottom-level cultivation world. Now I have strengthened the plot conflict, and she will come into contact with the top-tier big shots of the Primordial World earlier than before, even if it's just showing their faces.

The second volume should be better than the first... I hope so.

Sigh, that's all for the plot content. It will go on the shelves at 12:00 noon tomorrow. Please support it more, thank you very much.