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Please Give Me Some Time
This is the best time, as well as the worst.
Li Qingshan’s journey in the nine provinces has finally arrived at a peak. Up ahead is a completely new journey, and I’ve also compiled a total of a hundred documents in the folder called “Legend of the Great Sage” now.
I say this is the best moment because this novel has reached an all-time high in terms of readers, which also means your support. Three million characters of plot have laid a firm foundation for this world of Xianxia, as if everything is ready now, as if all Li Qingshan needs to do next is continue with his adventures, defeat powerful foes one after another, and he’ll be able to make it to the Nine Heavens.
However, this is also the worst moment. With the rapid scaling of strength, the story will become less and less grounded, while a formulaic progression will leave people weary. In the beginning, even just killing a group of mountain bandits and obtaining an incomplete fragment of the Cursive Sword Calligraphy could leave people excited and happy. Now, he’s killed several thousand times more demonfolk and obtained a supreme demonic sword like the Immortal Relinquished sword, yet it’s gradually turning into just a symbol.
It’s always the easiest to lose your focus when you’re in such a free and light state.
At a time like this, certain things become easy, while others things gradually become several times more difficult.
Of course, we aren’t without a way to deal with this. The simplest way is through “satisfaction”, to climb higher, to climb faster, to grow stronger, such that the main character and the plot charges ahead like a mad bull, fighting and killing, until he uses up his final breath, and then we wrap up the story.
Or, through “unexplained plot points”, raising various questions and suspense like in Approaching Science, one after another, until we reach the moment when we finally reveal the answer, only to find out it’s difficult to fill in all the gaps of the story, or downright just not presenting the answer in the end and saying stuff like “Call me whatever you want, but the novel is over already. There’s nothing you can do about that.”
TL: Approaching Science is a Chinese documentary film program. Basically, a lot of the episodes cover “scientific mysteries” or “supernatural events”. If you want to be concise, these phenomena can be explained in probably just a few minutes, but the documentary has the habit of “stringing” along its watchers, basically to fill time I guess.
I know exactly how to use these two methods, and I know they’re very effective too, very suited for the environment of webnovels. The former results in fast releases, while the latter results in a sticky audience. Unfortunately, neither is the best way to go.
People chase after immediate benefit, so they look for shortcuts. It’s impossible for me to avoid thoughts like that either. Now that I’ve mentioned it, I haven’t blocked off all these boring shortcuts in the beginning to act all high and mighty, only because I believe I’m capable of much more than this. If you have a mighty ambition like a kunpeng, then you should dive to the depths of the ocean and brave the winds. How can you copy a mere sparrow?
TL: A kun is a legendary giant fish in Chinese mythology, which can transform into a peng (or sometimes translated as a roc), a giant bird. That’s why you need to dive to the depths of the ocean as a fish and brave the winds as a bird if you have giant ambitions like a kunpeng. If you’ve found the patience to read the author’s notes, then I’d advise you to commit to memory what a “kunpeng” is. You can read more about this creature here.
Even if I end the book here and leave behind regrets, I wouldn’t want it to decline with each passing day until people loathe it.
But I’m still filled with confidence that I can finish this book. Ever since I finished Chronicles of Xu Xian, I feel like there’s basically no book in the world I can’t finish. The many difficulties I faced earlier were the best training and practice I could receive.
Some people said I made a fair sum from selling the game rights, so my mind is no longer on writing the novel. All I can say is you don’t understand me at all. I’ve always been a pessimist, a depressed overthinker. I even find indulging myself to be troublesome. Even if this sum was ten times larger, it’ll be very difficult to give me a completely new outlook on life. What’s truly stopping me is exactly these flaws in my personality. They’re like a stubborn illness, making it particularly difficult to treat.
This is my explanation, not excuse. I’ll bow my head and acknowledge my guilt to all those who judge me, and I’ll apologise shamefully to all those who spoke up for me. There are many, many aspects that I am just as bad with, just like writing novels, which brings me shame.
However, perhaps every single person needs to continue battling against themselves, pacing between crushing defeat and reinvigoration. Perhaps it’ll be quite a sorry sight to behold, but I still can’t accept the peace that comes with failure. Please give me some more time.
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