Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 470 Stephen Chow: I hope we can collaborate more often

When it comes to writing, inspiration is always crucial.

Sometimes, you can't come up with a satisfactory plot no matter how hard you think about it, but then an inspiration might suddenly flash into your mind, and then everything becomes clear.

Cao Sheng was torn between writing a pure love story and "Cultivation Chat Group." He couldn't make up his mind all night and didn't sleep well.

The next morning, while sitting on the second-floor balcony reading and drinking tea, I suddenly had an inspiration.

He thought of the universe of his creation that he had wanted to build before.

According to his previous vision, the upper limit of martial arts power in his universe of works, starting from "The Legend of the Primordial Era" and continuing to "I Want to Become an Immortal", "Tomb of the Gods", "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth", "The Legend of Martial Arts", etc., is constantly decreasing.

In the novel "The Legend of the Primordial Era", saints are immortal and represent the upper limit of martial power. Below the saints, there are countless supernatural powers, skills, and innate treasures. For the strong, plucking stars and seizing the moon is just commonplace.

But in "I Want to Become an Immortal", the highest pursuit in the entire cultivation world has become ascending to immortality.

By the time of "The Tomb of the Gods," becoming an immortal had become a legend, because the path to ascension had been severed.

By the time of "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth", cultivation and immortality had long become legends. If the protagonist hadn't entered the world of the Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth, he would have had no chance to come into contact with the power of cultivation.

By the time of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts", not only was cultivating immortality a myth and legend, but even innate treasures like the Xuanhuang Linglong Pagoda had disappeared. Cultivators could only cultivate their physical bodies. Even with the protagonist's talent, he could only break through some limits of the human body and obtain some legendary supernatural abilities.

Cao Sheng's inspiration today is to incorporate the book "Cultivation Chat Group" into his own creative universe.

Because this book is set in a modern city, it features chat software like QQ. Therefore, chronologically speaking, the story takes place around the same time as "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth" and "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

Therefore, it became inevitable to reduce the upper limit of the book's combat power.

For example, in the setting of this book, although the cultivation world still exists in modern society, the highest level of cultivation in the cultivation world is only the Golden Core stage or the Nascent Soul stage, and it cannot be higher.

Therefore, if he were to write "Cultivation Chat Group," a novel of around two million words, he should be able to bring the male protagonist's strength to the top of the cultivation world, allowing it to conclude normally.

It doesn't need to be written to over 800 million words like the original "Cultivation Chat Group".

Writing such a long book is not worthwhile for him.

Because he still has many themes and stories he wants to write about.

If a book is written to more than 800 million words, then he will lose a lot of his prophetic advantage as a reborn person.

Moreover, he didn't have the patience to write such a long work; before his rebirth, he had never written such a long work.

As for the fact that the upper limit of martial arts in this book is inconsistent with the upper limit of martial arts in "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" and also inconsistent with the upper limit of martial arts in "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth"?
He didn't think it was a problem.

Parallel universes!
Marvel's Avengers can have parallel universe storylines, so why can't online novels?
The concept of parallel worlds has long existed in online novels.

The author and readers are no strangers to this topic.

In Cao Sheng's creative universe, the concept of parallel worlds can be fully utilized to set different works at the same point in time to occur in different parallel worlds.

For example, "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth", "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts", and "Cultivation Chat Group" take place in three parallel worlds.

The Buddha said, "One flower, one world; one leaf, one Bodhi."

The existence of parallel worlds can be deduced from some of the settings in "The Legend of the Primordial Era".

Cao Sheng, who had this idea in mind, began to write the outline of "Cultivation Chat Group" that afternoon.

The first step is to establish a cultivation system for a modern-day cultivation world.

—Qi Refining Stage, Foundation Establishment Stage, Golden Core Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, Deity Transformation Stage.

He originally intended to set the upper limit at the Golden Core stage or the Nascent Soul stage.

But when he was officially setting it up, he felt that the Golden Core stage and the Nascent Soul stage were too weak, and there were too few major levels in the entire cultivation system.

Therefore, above these four major realms, he wrote another one: the "Transformation of the Divine Realm".

However, before the protagonist fully matured, many experts in the cultivation world were pursuing advancement to the Nascent Soul stage, but none of them reached the Nascent Soul stage.

The highest level of cultivation was only at the half-step Nascent Soul stage.

Reaching the Nascent Soul stage is the dream of top experts.

Once the protagonist has fully matured, he can become the first master in modern society to break through the Nascent Soul stage.

This plot point can be left at the end of the story.

More than a week has passed in the blink of an eye.

In addition to writing "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" every day, Cao Sheng would also set aside some time to write the outline for "Cultivation Chat Group".

This is his first attempt at writing a slice-of-life story.

"Cultivation Chat Group" is about the male protagonist's daily cultivation life after he comes into contact with the cultivation world.

In this kind of slice-of-life story, the plot doesn't progress very quickly.

The charm doesn't lie in a dramatic storyline.

Rather, it lies in the enjoyment of daily life.

This, on the contrary, is a challenge for him.

Because he has never written one, he can't say he's good at it.

Fortunately, he had followed the original "Cultivation Chat Group" for quite a long time, and because of the book's engaging nature, he still vaguely remembered many of the plot points.

For example, in the opening scene, the male protagonist uses an induction cooker and a hot pot to refine elixirs.

Using talismans from the cultivation world to modify tractors, helicopters, and so on.

He also remembered some of the characteristics of the cultivators in the cultivation chat group, such as a cultivator who liked to talk nonsense and often inadvertently offended a certain big shot in the group.

For example: a guy whose name is always forgotten because of his special cultivation method.

For example: a fortune teller who studies divination but always gets the opposite result.

and many more.

Cao Sheng wrote down all the characters he remembered in his outline. He couldn't remember the names of many of these distinctive characters, but he remembered their characteristics. The names weren't that important.

Because there is the original version of "Cultivation Chat Group" as a reference.

The outline for Cao Sheng's new book is being prepared quite smoothly.

In just over a week, the outline he wrote was enough for him to write hundreds of thousands of words of plot.

But he didn't rush to put pen to paper.

He is still refining the outline.

One morning, Cao Sheng finished his morning exercise and was having breakfast in the second-floor restaurant.

Assistant Wang Jing came to his side to report on her work.

"Boss! The PR department of Tencent called me last night, saying they're preparing to launch your endorsement ad and hope you can cooperate."

Cao Sheng, who was about to put a fried dumpling in his mouth with his chopsticks, had just dipped it in vinegar when he heard this. He stopped, turned to look at Wang Jing, and frowned, saying, "You want me to cooperate? How can I cooperate?" Spread your legs?
Wang Jing smiled and said, "It's very simple. I just hope you can add a sentence recommending QQ below your work's introduction."

Cao Sheng responded with an "oh".

Continue eating breakfast.

Adding a brief recommendation below the work's synopsis is easy.

Cao Sheng had no objection.

After chewing a few bites and swallowing the fried dumpling in his mouth, Cao Sheng asked curiously, "By the way, which media outlets are they planning to promote it on? Have they said anything?"

Wang Jing chuckled lightly, "No! They didn't tell me. I guess they're mainly advertising it online! After all, for those who don't know how to use the internet, even if they see such an ad, it's meaningless. Those who know how to use QQ are ultimately those who know how to use the internet, right?"

Cao Sheng didn't say anything more.

After breakfast, he didn't go to the balcony to read anymore. For the past week, he hadn't read in the mornings, but instead used his mornings to write the outline for "Cultivation Chat Group" in his study.

It's the same today.

After breakfast, I brewed a pot of tea, went to the study, and turned on the computer.

Sitting in front of the computer, waiting for it to boot up.

Cao Sheng was thinking about something else.

He received a call from Xu Laoguai last night.

On the phone, Tsui Hark said that Stephen Chow wanted to say a few words to him, and soon Stephen Chow's voice came through the phone.

Cao Sheng chatted with Zhou Xingchi for a while.

The voice of Stephen Chow on the phone was completely different from his voice in the movie, which was expected by Cao Sheng. He already knew that the Mandarin dubbing of Stephen Chow's movies was done by other people.

The voice of Stephen Chow on the phone was not funny at all. In fact, it sounded rather dull, and he spoke Mandarin haltingly, not at all like a comedian.

Cao Sheng still remembers what Stephen Chow said on the phone last night: "Cao Sheng, I really like the script you wrote for 'The Legend of the Demon Lord of the Tomb of the Gods.' Really, I'm not just flattering you, I really like it. You might not believe it, but I actually don't like comedy scripts. When I acted in the past, I never considered those scripts to be comedy scripts. Actually, I've always wondered why everyone thinks I act in comedies? Are they really that funny?"

Last night, Stephen Chow also said, "I said I liked your script because I felt it looked very serious, not comedic. Originally, I had planned to act in one or two more movies and then stop acting, because as I get older, I can no longer portray the feeling of my younger self. I know everyone likes to see me act like that, but I'm really losing my edge and can no longer capture that feeling, you know? However, after reading your script, I think if you offer me a script like this in the future, I should be able to act in a few more. I hope we have more opportunities to work together. Please take care of me! Please take care of me, Mr. Cao."

At this moment, Cao Sheng sat in front of his computer, the words Stephen Chow had said to him on the phone last night echoing in his mind, and he felt a mix of emotions.

He can actually understand the feeling that Stephen Chow was talking about.

Before his rebirth, he was a struggling writer. In his youth, he was full of vigor when he wrote, although the results of his works were very unstable, sometimes good and sometimes bad.

But the male protagonists he wrote at that time were decisive and ruthless, with clear likes and dislikes, and were willing to risk their lives for a sense of injustice.

Therefore, the male protagonists he wrote at that time were often loved by some readers.

Many readers also say that his works have a unique spirit and energy.

But as he grew older, the sharp edges in his personality were gradually smoothed out by society.

The pressures of life.

The pressure of writing.

Regarding marriage... I haven't been able to find a satisfactory marriage partner for a long time.

And as time goes by, a few more gray hairs will appear at his temples without him even noticing, gradually giving him the feeling that his life is like the sun after noon, that he has entered the second half of his life, and that there are not many days left to squander.

When you're young, questions you've never considered before often begin to surface in your mind.

For example: What is the meaning of my efforts? What is the meaning of making money? After I die, what connection will this world have with me? What will this world become? Why should I care? After I die, who will have my house, car, money...?
What is the meaning of my life?
My parents worked hard all their lives, but what was the point of all that hard work?
and many more.

The more he thinks about similar issues, the more negative his inner world inevitably becomes.

Gradually, I lost my enthusiasm for life.

They also lost the vigor and clear-cut likes and dislikes they had in their youth.

Many things have lost their weight in his heart.

Sometimes, he also wants to write another book in the style of his youth.

But while they had the will, they lacked the ability.

Just like Stephen Chow said on the phone last night: I'm increasingly feeling powerless and unable to portray the same feeling as before.

After ending his call with Stephen Chow, Cao Sheng was lost in thought for a long time before finding the movie "Shaolin Soccer" released last year on his computer.

This is Stephen Chow's most recent work.

Cao Sheng had already watched this movie several times before his rebirth.

Last night was a rewatch.

In this movie, he noticed that Stephen Chow's acting style was indeed very different from before.

His facial expressions aren't as varied as they used to be.

On the phone, Stephen Chow mostly had a long face, looking like he was suffering from a lot of bitterness and resentment.

While watching this movie, Cao Sheng was reminded of another Stephen Chow movie from the original timeline, "Kung Fu Hustle".

He recalled that Stephen Chow's expressions in "Kung Fu Hustle" were also very limited, similar to his performance in "Shaolin Soccer".

This is very different from her previous performance style.

After those two movies, Stephen Chow seems to have stopped acting.

And now?
Stephen Chow said he liked the script for "The Legend of the Demon Lord of the Tomb of the Gods" and its style, and wanted to collaborate with him more often.

This surprised Cao Sheng.

He really likes Stephen Chow's movies.

Even if Stephen Chow stops acting in comedies, he will still be happy as long as he can see Stephen Chow's performance in a movie every year.

Stephen Chow's box office appeal is trustworthy.

If Cao Sheng can collaborate with Stephen Chow on all his future scripts, then... that would be something to look forward to.

He had already lost interest in writing screenplays.

But now, he has the desire to write screenplays again.

……

The computer booted up successfully.

Cao Sheng logged into the author backend on Qidian.com and added a recommendation below the introduction of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts": My QQ number is..., feel free to add me as a friend, and please give me any feedback, thank you!
This is the recommendation he came up with.

It's not that hard to get; it uses itself as bait to attract people to use QQ, while also gathering its own book fans. When QQ launches the group function, it will be easier to build its own book fan group.

(End of this chapter)