This director is vindictive.

Chapter 292 Chen Mo: I'm into fantasy, and netizens are into me?

The trailer became a celebration for online novel fans after it was released.

"I'm thinking, although the art style is a bit grotesque, to be honest, the special effects are absolutely amazing!"

"It would be great if Chen Mo could invest in and direct these IP adaptations into film and television works!"

"Wow, I had no idea until I saw it! How many IPs have been generated from just this trailer? The copyright fees must be astronomical! No wonder Chen Mo goes all out!"

"Does the person upstairs have some misunderstanding about Chen Mo's influence? He made billions in live streams for free, you should know that!"

Chen Mo wouldn't recklessly use IPs without proper copyright protection, but as netizens have pointed out, these are indeed major IPs, yet the cost wasn't particularly high. After all, Chen Mo doesn't absolutely need to use them.

In other words, the Legend of Sword and Fairy series spent some money. For those online novel IPs, it's essentially helping them promote their novels. Moreover, this trailer for Chen Mo brought a lot of traffic to the platform. Just for that alone, it's already good enough that Chen Mo didn't ask them for promotional fees.

Actually, the real expense was in the special effects; those were the most expensive part of the wedding.

However, the current results are indeed very good.

As netizens would say, "Your grandpa is still your grandpa."

"Chen Mo is Chen Mo. In terms of marketing and promotion in the film and television industry, he is truly unmatched!"

"No problem, who the hell could have imagined that a wedding could become such a phenomenon!"

"Think about it carefully. This time, they first used the Legend of Sword and Fairy series to evoke a wave of nostalgia among those born in the 80s and 90s, and then used popular online novel IPs to create a collaboration, attracting another wave of book fans."

Because of this, the movies releasing in December are probably all cursing!

However, these netizens were also inspired by Chen Mo's two trailers to come up with all sorts of creative ideas.

Some fans of "The Lost Tomb" even designed a "The Lost Tomb" IP integration specifically for "Flying Sword Immortal".

"Since we've already explored the aesthetics of the underworld, why not go all the way?"
I've got it all planned out. The opening scene could be like Zhang Qiling from "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles," arriving through a bronze gate with ghostly soldiers passing by, followed by a sedan chair carried by a hundred ghosts. When the curtain is lifted, a "Underworld Wedding Banquet" is revealed—cocktails made with Meng Po's soup and a cake decorated with spider lilies.

This suggestion from a fan of the idiotic "Tomb Raiders" series actually received countless likes.

Of course, the comments below are even more interesting.

"Goodness, are they sending the newcomer away only to bring them back?"

"Holy crap, I'm impressed by this idea! A wedding banquet in the underworld is nothing. I suggest we just have the King of Hell be the officiant and change his lifespan in the Book of Life and Death as the wedding gift!"

"You guys are all making jokes, but I'm the only one who noticed the key point—would drinking the Meng Po Soup cocktail make you forget your lines on the spot? The emcee will have to prepare eight copies of the script, right?"

"We suggest playing '囍' (double happiness) on a loop as background music at the wedding; the ghost bride exclaimed that it was a perfect match!"

"Zhang Qiling: It's my first time being a wedding planner, and I'm not familiar with the business, so should I bury the guests first and then dig them out to liven up the atmosphere?"

No one expected that this Weibo post from a fan of "The Lost Tomb" would be turned into a huge frenzy by netizens.

Fans of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" will see this and wonder how they can let fans of "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles" have all the credit.
So I joined in and started playing too.

"For tomb raiding, you really need our 'Gold-Touching Trio,' okay? I've also come up with a plan," Hu Bayi said, tossing out his tomb-raiding talisman. The compass needle spun wildly, pinpointing the "Auspicious Burial Site of Happiness." Fatty Wang, carrying a Luoyang shovel, shouted, "The wedding gift money is buried here! I guarantee our descendants won't be able to dig it all up for eighteen generations!"

How was it? Not bad?

"Upstairs, your ceremony is clearly not quite right! If you ask me, you need to add a little more. For example, you could give the newlyweds a 'treasure-hunting talisman,' since the saying goes, 'Treasure-hunting captains live when united, and die when separated.' That would make the ceremony truly memorable, wouldn't it?"

"If you ask me, we should add something even more hardcore—like having Hu Bayi select a 'Dragon and Phoenix Auspicious Site' for the newlyweds as their wedding room on the spot, with Fatty Wang using a black donkey hoof as a bouquet, and Shirley Yang tossing a red ribbon under a golden umbrella. Wouldn't that be more exciting than the traditional tossing of an embroidered ball?"

"Ghost Blows Out the Light fans are all scrambling, right? Well, let me add a detail: the wedding cake must be shaped like the ancient city of Jingjue, and the moment the candles are lit, it will trigger the 'Ghost Cave Curse,' causing all the guests to hallucinate that desert army ants are swarming in to grab the wedding candies!"

"Are you guys forming a tomb raiding alliance here? I suggest you go straight for a crossover with 'The Lost Tomb'! Have Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling co-host the emcee, one of them reading the wedding vows in 'Zongzi Language' and the other using the Tomb Raider's Finger to put the rings on the couple's finger. And there should be a 'Forbidden Woman' squatting under the stage to create atmosphere!"

"On a tangent, I just thought of something even more sinister—the wedding procession was made of paper Ferraris, and the navigation voice was a fortune teller named Chen the Blind: 'The road to the underworld is 300 meters ahead, please go straight.' The groomsmen were all made up of blood-soaked corpses. With this kind of spectacle, even the King of Hell would have to offer them a cigarette!"

"If you ask me, why not have Zhao Li from 'The Ferryman' drift in in a hearse, with an LED sign popping out of the trunk that reads 'Special Offer for Ghost Marriages, Pick-up and Drop-off Included,' while Dong Qing in the passenger seat holds up the Book of Life and Death and recites a blessing: 'I've crossed your names off for you, so feel free to show your affection.'"

"No, this is supposed to be a fantasy novel, a fantasy novel, a fantasy novel! You guys are actually playing out a real underworld marriage? You're way off topic! But it is quite interesting, I suggest Chen Mo use it in the next match, hahaha!"

We're totally hyped, totally hyped!

Then came all sorts of random appearances and wildly imaginative ideas, but the visuals just seemed too eerie.

Chen Mo himself never expected that these stupid netizens would get so excited.

However, sometimes there are things that you simply can't control just because you want to.

Seeing this wave of popularity, Hengdian World Studios announced overnight that it would create a "Fantasy Underworld Themed Wedding Experience Hall." The key point is that it was praised by countless netizens, who said that Hengdian has a very good business sense!

And they all said they would definitely go and experience it when the museum opens.

However, this wave of popularity has completely extended from online to offline.

A milk tea chain launched a "Meng Po Soup Special Drink" with the slogan "Drink it and forget your ex" printed on the cup sleeve. Sales exceeded one million cups in three days.

Chen Mo was dumbfounded, and Zhao Liying was dumbfounded as well.

Because this whole topic has completely gone off track, okay?
This is supposed to be a fantasy novel, okay?

Whether it's a collaboration with the Legend of Sword and Fairy IP or a collaboration with an online novel IP, Chen Mo's choices are all related to the Xianxia genre.

You mentioned Wang Mazi's blood-red congratulatory message and such, but "Xian Ni" is a classic Xianxia novel, okay?

Nine dragons pulling a coffin—it sounds like the underworld, but that coffin is seriously high-class!

Even Chen Mo himself couldn't understand this, which just goes to show how increasingly difficult it is to manage netizens these days.

However, the journal Folklore Studies soon published an article stating that "contemporary young people use deconstructionism to dismantle the taboo of death, reflecting the unique views on life and death of Generation Z."

The Cultural Weekly reported this phenomenal event on its front page: "From the Legend of Sword and Fairy to online literature, from nostalgia to innovation, and then to netizens' spontaneous taboos about life and death, and the red and white party, The Legend of Sword and Fairy has completed the closed loop of cultural inheritance - it allows the post-80s generation to relive their youth, allows the post-00s generation to understand their parents, and allows everyone to see that: true classics will always live in the creative interpretation of every era."

is this correct?
Chen Mo thought that was completely wrong! It was just because those stupid netizens thought it was funny.

As for a collaboration with a tomb raiding IP? Forget it, if they really did that, Chen Mo felt like Xiao Zhao would really kill him.

In fact, Xiao Zhao was so angry that he could hang a soy sauce bottle on his mouth.

She wasn't angry that netizens were using this as a dark joke, but rather that the others were gloating.

Actually, this wave of hype is even bigger than the one surrounding "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" with Jing Tian.

However, overall, although the scale was larger, the sense of orthodoxy and seriousness was greatly reduced.

Soon, it was December.

On December 10th, the highly anticipated second promotional video for the Chinese-style wedding attire series, titled "Soaring Immortal with a Sword," officially opened its pre-sale window.

Countless people are watching to see if Chen Mo's new "wedding documentary" format can achieve success once again.
Although everyone knows that with such strong pre-launch promotion, the product shouldn't perform too badly, there's a difference between spending money and getting something for free.

But no one expected the outcome to be even more outrageous than they had imagined.

Although the pre-sale period was only two days, the enthusiasm shown by the audience amazed countless people.

Starting at midnight on December 10th, the pre-sale box office of "The Flying Swordsman" exceeded 100 million yuan in just one hour, 200 million yuan in three hours, 300 million yuan in seven hours, and 400 million yuan in twelve hours.
By December 12th, just before the official release of "The Legend of the Swordsman," the total pre-sale box office had reached a staggering 12 million yuan!

Everyone was stunned.

Including Chen Mo and Zhao Liying.

Because this isn't a movie, it's not a movie, it's not a movie!

This is just a mockumentary; in fact, you could say it has almost no plot at all!

But despite all this, "The Flying Swordsman" achieved an outrageous number of pre-sale tickets.

It's worth noting that "The Phoenix's Auspiciousness" didn't achieve such phenomenal box office success, especially considering it was released on Valentine's Day. The reason it achieved such results was due to the influx of young couples to visit and share photos, creating a trend of such activities.

However, the release date chosen for "The Flying Swordsman" is December 12th, which is not special at all.

A shopping festival? What does that have to do with a wedding?!

But the facts are right in front of us.

Interestingly, while the last time "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" was mainly for couples to buy tickets, this time for "Flying Swordsman", the proportion of individual and group ticket purchases is much larger.

What has silenced the film and television industry even more is that, so far this December, there have been no major productions released.

Oh, no, "Mystery of Antiques" has already been released, but unfortunately, the film didn't receive good reviews and its box office performance was just so-so.

This resulted in a very strange situation: "The Flying Swordsman" actually topped the box office charts for the month based on its pre-sale tickets.

As netizens shared photos of their pre-ordered movie tickets, everyone realized that this promotional campaign for "The Flying Swordsman" was truly amazing.

When "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" was first released, most of the audience was young people, but this time the audience for "The Flying Swordsman" is no longer limited to that group.

Many people even said that their whole family went to see it together!

In fact, there are quite a few such groups.

"I've never seen anything like this before. This is a wedding documentary, not some family-friendly movie, yet so many people have their whole families involved?"

"The person upstairs doesn't understand, does he? The nostalgia for the Legend of Sword and Fairy series covers people from the 80s to the 00s. Parents watch for the nostalgia of Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er, kids watch for the special effects of flying on swords, and grandparents can even join in the吐槽 (tu cao, meaning to criticize or ridicule) of the bizarre plot twists—this is called precisely targeting the pain points of the whole family!"

"Here's a little-known fact: After the 'Underworld Fairy Wedding Experience Hall' at Hengdian World Studios was fully booked, Huayun (a film company) partnered with the Cultural Tourism Bureau to organize a 'Fairy Tale Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition,' showcasing wedding dress embroidery and the process of making sword-wielding props. As a result, families going to see the movie ended up traveling together, reaping both box office and merchandise profits. Even capitalists would be moved to tears..."

Even more outrageous, a sociology professor from a university wrote an article in the Youth Daily analyzing: "The phenomenon of 'Swordsman' is essentially a common denominator of intergenerational cultural needs—Generation Z pursues deconstruction and revelry, middle-aged people crave nostalgic resonance, while older viewers complete the demystification of tradition through 'underworld folklore.' Chen Mo unintentionally stitched up the cognitive gap in contemporary Chinese families with a wedding."

Even across the country, many book lovers, drama fans, and game enthusiasts have spontaneously organized group viewing events.

Players born in the 80s and 90s spontaneously organized "Legend of Sword and Fairy themed movie-watching groups," and fans of online novel IPs also formed their own movie-watching groups.

For a time, "Flying Swordsman" became just a gimmick, a reason for enthusiasts to gather!
Finally, on the evening of December 11th, the premiere of "The Flying Swordsman" arrived.

To the surprise of many media reporters.

This premiere was also quite unique.

The premiere was held at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing.

Media from all over the country had been stationed on both sides of the road early on, and fans had already gathered around.

Unlike other movie premieres that involve walking a red carpet, the premiere of "The Flying Swordsman" still had a red carpet ceremony, but the red carpet was designed in the shape of auspicious clouds.

What's even more surprising is that the audience and fans who came to watch today didn't follow the usual path.

There are cosplayers dressed as Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er, cosplayers dressed as Bai Doufu, Xu Changqing, and Zi Xuan, and even cosplayers dressed as all sorts of characters from online novels.

The entire area outside the venue turned into a cosplayer gathering.

When the celebrities started to appear, the flashbulbs on the set instantly turned the place from night into day.

The "Chinese Paladin" group will be the first to appear!

The main cast of "Chinese Paladin," including Hu Ge, Liu Yifei, Yang Mi, Liu Shishi, Huo Jianhua, and An Yuxuan, all gave up their haute couture gowns this time and wore their character costumes instead.

The original characters appeared in their costumes on the red carpet.

As all the classic characters from "Chinese Paladin" made their appearance, the screams of fans on both sides of the red carpet almost lifted the roof off the venue.

Hu Ge tossed his wine gourd aside and raised an eyebrow at the camera: "Today, Li Xiaoyao isn't stealing Ling'er's dress, he's stealing wedding candy instead!"

Liu Yifei's portrayal of Zhao Ling'er brought tears to the eyes of many viewers, with some holding up signs that read "The Sixteen-Year Promise" and shouting with emotion.

When Yang Mi's Tang Xuejian and Liu Shishi's Long Kui walked side by side, fans exclaimed, "Xuejian and Long Kui have finally reconciled!"
Afterwards, actors from various fantasy IPs appeared on stage dressed in their character costumes and looks, eliciting gasps of surprise from the audience from time to time.

Premiere scene.

The entire place was decorated in a fantasy/martial arts style, and even the media reporters were given a set of Chinese-style fantasy/martial arts clothing as a gift before they arrived.

Finally, the documentary "Flying Swords to Immortality," a fantasy-themed wedding, has officially premiered.

Everyone held their breath. Although the promotional trailers were very popular, in reality, all they saw were various people presenting gifts, while the specific content remained a mystery.

Everyone is very curious about the process of this fantasy wedding.

Soon, a line of subtitles appeared on the screen.

Prologue: Flying Immortal on a Sword - A Contract of Fate
On the big screen, the picture lights up, and amidst the surging sea of ​​clouds, a gilded jade scroll falls from the sky. As it slowly unfolds, the seal script characters "Flying Immortal with a Sword - Marriage Contract" appear, the characters formed by starlight.

Chen Mo stood on his sword, his fingertips gathering spiritual power as he inscribed a betrothal message on the millennium-old jade. Each stroke burst forth with sword light:

Following the principles of Heaven, I have betrothed a woman from the Zhao family.
Sword Sect disciples silently swore an oath against their inner demons.
I now seek to marry Li Ying, the fairy of Yaochi.

The Nine Heavens Thunder Tribulation will not break this covenant.
This heart is witnessed by all beings in the Three Realms and Six Paths.
The betrothal gifts are listed on the left:

I. The Milky Way as a Dowry (A section of the Milky Way was cut and forged into a hairpin)
II. Chaos as Witness (Rubbings of the Patterns on the Cauldron of the Primordial Qi of All Things)
III. Riding on a Azure Phoenix (A pair of descendants of divine birds)
伏愿
Heaven and Earth in Harmony, Sun and Moon Shining Together
Frost's Descent in the Gengzi Year of Heaven
Employer: Chen Mojian

At the same time, Li Xiaoyao flew past on his sword, the Seven Star Sword drawing a "囍" (double happiness) character mark; Zhao Ling'er lightly tapped her fingertip, and Nuwa's spiritual power imprinted the betrothal letter onto the sky, forming a permanent light screen.

Compared to the meticulous research on "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness," some older generations can offer their own explanations.

But this time it was the other way around.

Older generations of fans and viewers of the Legend of Sword and Fairy series are somewhat confused.

However, the younger generation of viewers immediately noticed the key points.

"Exquisite, absolutely exquisite!" a young fantasy enthusiast exclaimed.

"Slap! Don't swear, how is that being particular?" But instead, she got a slap from her dad next to her.

"Dad, I think you guys are getting a bit superficial with your Xianjian fandom. Don't you even understand this? Look at the date on the inscription, 'Frost's Descent,' which corresponds to the 'yin-yang balance' in Xianxia stories. The betrothal letter is made of cold jade, which needs to be engraved with Samadhi True Fire, subtly matching the 'water and fire in harmony' hexagram."

"Is this all you ever focus on? You never seem to put that much effort into your studies!" Dad said, somewhat annoyed and embarrassed.

"cut!"

However, the father and son lost their temper and turned their attention back to the big screen.

At this moment, the next chapter begins on the big screen.

Part 1: The Ceremony of Harmony

Although it shares the same lineage as "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness", the way it is presented is completely different!

If "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" showcases the orthodox and serious cultural heritage, then "Flying Immortal with a Sword" appears to be more open and imaginative.

Amidst howling winds and snow, Xu Fengnian strode swiftly through the snow, with the illusory figures of the Northern Liang cavalry arrayed behind him.

He flipped his palm and summoned the "Seal of the King of Northern Liang". The golden seal slammed into the ground and instantly created a wave of frost. A gilded "Destiny Plate" appeared on the ground, and Zhao Liying's birth chart on the plate ignited with a ghostly blue flame: "Geng metal transforms into a phoenix, and the Destiny Palace carries the Peach Blossom Curse".

This scene left many people dumbfounded. Shouldn't it be a perfect match? Why the hell did this guy come on to ruin things right away?
However, before they could react, a sword light suddenly cleaved through the wind and snow in the sky, and Xu Changqing arrived on his sword, his white robes fluttering, and shouted: "Slay the murderous aura!"

The Demon-Suppressing Sword flew out of his hand, its blade wrapped in chains of talismans. It pinned down the surging "Peach Blossom Curse" within the Eight Characters, instantly materializing into the phantom image of blood-red mandarin ducks.

At this moment, Zi Xuan appeared, releasing thousands of purple butterflies with a flick of her sleeve. The swarm of butterflies enveloped the evil energy, condensing it into a luminous cocoon of "Locking Fate Spell." She formed a hand seal with her fingertips and chanted: "With butterflies as matchmakers, may evil be transformed into good fortune—"

The cocoon of light burst open, and the malevolent energy transformed into red silk that fell from the sky. Xu Changqing immediately shouted, "A match made in heaven!"

(End of this chapter)