Chapter 1: Three Challenges of Coming Down from the Mountain

Hello everyone, I am Gu Zhenren.

Today, I am bringing you a new book, *Immortal Craftsmanship*.

I have thought about it very clearly: writing this book presents at least three challenges!

The first challenge: writing after coming down from the mountain.

When I write web novels, it has always been out of interest and passion from the very beginning. Having written so many books, my main purpose has always been interest. Therefore, when I wrote *Reverend Insanity*, even when the subscription numbers were miserable, I persisted for at least seven years. Back then, I was still very young, my parents were not yet old, and I had no need to worry. If one person is full, the whole family is not hungry.

Therefore, when I wrote *Infinite Bloodcore*, I was willing to revise the outline, and even if there was no subscription income during that period, it didn't matter if it lasted for several months.

I am not afraid of you laughing at me—

I am clumsy. When I was inside the mountain, I couldn't pluck the moon, and I fell until I was battered and bruised. This time, coming outside the mountain, my main goal is to fill my worldly stomach.

Reflecting on myself, the "inside the mountain" state might just be my personal comfort zone, circling the land to amuse myself. Perhaps the artistic pursuits of the past, the so-called dreams, were just a form of self-indulgence, a kind of delusional thinking.

"Outside the mountain," however, is where heroes contend for supremacy and a hundred boats race across the current!

The new book *Immortal Craftsmanship* is my first "post-mountain" writing. For the first time in history, I have begun to consider rankings, reader engagement, update schedules, the rhythm of the prose, and conforming to mainstream reading habits.

I hope to be able to write articles that conform to mainstream reading habits and that everyone enjoys.

I am a very clumsy person. Doing this for the first time, it is possible I might not do it well, but I will learn with an open mind and strive to improve! I ask everyone to offer plenty of criticism and corrections; if you could offer some encouragement, that would naturally be even better!

The second challenge: social interaction.

I am a homebody myself. Apart from writing and reading books, my biggest hobby is playing games.

I have social anxiety. Although it has eased with age, I am still not good at socializing with people or interacting with fellow readers.

This time, I will listen to everyone's suggestions and strive to improve in this area, doing more activities on social platforms, conducting some live streams, and so on.

The third challenge: the inner self.

This is the greatest challenge of all.

People all have two lives. One is called the worldly life, and the other is called the ideal. Specifically for a literary worker, the second life is called artistic life.

I wrote *Reverend Insanity* for about 10 years, off and on, with miserable income for the majority of the time, yet I found it sweet as nectar. I spent months rewriting *Bloodcore*, closing myself off in a room, ignoring the outside world, yet I was full of interest, not diminishing in the slightest.

I love writing books; writing itself is the source of my motivation. These processes are all nourishing my own artistic life.

Writing after coming down from the mountain might be a bit different; for me, it might be consuming my artistic life.

How long can my second life last? I am not very clear.

Because this is my first attempt, I also don't know if I am truly suited for this mode of writing.

There are too many ways to kill the second life. It is extremely powerful, yet at the same time, incomparably fragile.

I can only tell myself: coming down from the mountain is to go back into the mountain to chase the moon again.

I will try my best to adjust my mindset, find a balance point within it, and strive to transform; perhaps I might be able to nourish my artistic life with this way of writing, who knows.

I implore you all to bear witness.

Thank you!

2024.4.20 ===== CHAPTER 2 =====