TL Note: I don’t usually translate author notes, as it’s usually just the author thanking his fans, but I thought you guys might be a little more interested in this one. The translation will be a little rough, but I won’t count it in the rate of releases.
*****
After publishing for 66 days and writing over 270,000 words, the official launch is finally here.
I want to express my gratitude to everyone for their continuous support throughout this journey.
Let’s talk about a few issues encountered during the creative process.
Some readers questioned the feasibility of ancient people discovering gunpowder and advancing technology too rapidly, as well as the reason why firearms couldn’t be used in the cultivation world.
I didn’t anticipate readers being concerned about these aspects. In my impression, over a decade ago, there were many novels about transmigrating and rapidly advancing technology. No one found them unreasonable, and I simply omitted certain processes.
As for why firearms couldn’t be used in the cultivation world, this is a common question in every cultivation novel. Why? Because I am writing a cultivation novel. I set it up this way, and if high-tech weapons could be used in the cultivation world, it would turn into a completely different story.
There were many similar small issues, perhaps because I didn’t think it through, and I didn’t expect readers to be so discerning.
However, overall, these were not major problems.
What truly had a fatal impact on the structure of this book was the process from Li Fan’s first arrival in the cultivation world to the discovery of the Cong Yun Sea’ transformation, which was too short and rushed.
My original outline was as follows:
Li Fan went through hardships to reach Liuli Island, joined a fleet, engaged in a struggle of wits with Zhang Haobo, and, using the treasure hidden in the sea in advance, seized the position of the captain. Later, he cleansed himself in the spirit pool, arrived at Ten Thousand Immortals Island after several years, completed tasks, accumulated enough contributions, and exchanged for a water attribute cultivation technique.
I thought that from then on, the path of cultivation would be smooth, but it turned out that after only a few years, the spiritual aura of water in the world became increasingly scarce.
The cultivation speed slowed down, and the entire Cong Yun Sea was sealed, preventing entry and exit. Panic spread among cultivators, and killings gradually began.
Li Fan had to escape Ten Thousand Immortals Island and hide on a remote island.
Later, as the seawater dried up, revealing the seabed, Li Fan suddenly realized and understood the reason for the difference between what he saw in the two lifetimes.
…
Originally, I intended to write at least over a hundred chapters, similar to the first volume of Lord of the Mysteries [1], providing enough setup before revealing the reversal.
But I had to change my focus midway.
Because when the book reached a hundred thousand words, it only had a little over a hundred collections [2]. Trying to test the waters didn’t work.
If I continued with the original outline, it would be a dead end.
So I had to accelerate the pace and completed the reveal in forty-something chapters.
After that, although the performance started to improve, it was still lacking somewhat.
As I said before, it was too rushed.
Inevitably, many issues arose, such as the underwater treasures being too new, not resembling treasures found in the sea at all.
But I could only try to round it off.
The second problem was that the reduction of [Truth]’s charging time by the Venerable Heart Refinement Mantra was too much. At that time, with insufficient experience, I set it directly to reduce 11 years.
This also led to the need to fill in these 11 years before I could continue the plot of the previous life.
It also caused the problem of the slow progress that many readers have reflected on.
This is because I’m not just writing about this life; I also need to consider laying the groundwork for the next life’s plot.
These two issues, in my opinion, had a relatively significant impact on the structure of this book.
Other issues were minor and had little impact.
Let’s also talk about a few issues that received more feedback from readers.
…
Next are some explanations.
I am indeed a newcomer and not someone’s alt account.
So, there may be some immaturity in my writing, and I hope everyone can understand.
I will work hard to improve myself, and I hope for your encouragement.
My job is decent, so I won’t play the sympathy card.
Most of my writing relies on interest.
Being a part-timer and a novice, it’s already quite difficult to write over 4,000 characters every day for more than four hours.
Maybe in the future, as my brain speed increases, my typing efficiency will improve.
As the saying goes, “The writing carries the Dao.” On the first day of cultivation in He Zhenghao’s first lesson, there was a passage:
“Some peaks, seemingly towering, have already exhausted their fate and cannot advance further in their lifetime. Some now are just small mounds, but who knows if, after several years, they will grow into a pillar supporting the sky?”
“Just like this mountain at your feet, inconspicuous back then, but after dozens of years, it can already overlook all the other mountains.”
“Of course, more are like the countless peaks under this Cong Yun Sea, which can only serve as a foil, silently looking up at the peaks above the Cong Yun Sea.”
“If mountains are like this, what about people?”
This sentence is also for myself.
At that time, the collections of this book hadn’t even reached a hundred. Meanwhile, other books from the same period had already reached several thousand.
I could only encourage myself like this.
Now, with everyone’s support, the achievements of this book are already better than most books from the same period.
Once again, thank you all.
Thanks to everyone who has been voting and rewarding.
Also, thanks to the editor, Dusty, for the continuous help.
It will be on the shelves at twelve o’clock tomorrow, with a possible delay of a few minutes.
First, three consecutive chapters will be released, and a couple more chapters will be added later in the evening.
If you think this book is well-written, please consider giving it a subscription.
See you all tomorrow!
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[1] Lord of the Mysteries is another very popular webnovel. I highly, highly recommend if you haven’t read it yet.
[2] I think collections are like favorites or something like that on Qidian?