[It feels like Ding Yun's Journey to the West this time is more geared towards male-oriented fiction. It has a completely different feel from her previous novels, which leaned more towards female readership. There are still no signs of romance.
Could this be a novel without any romantic pairings?]
[Finally, some new content. So many people praised The Lotus Lantern, but I found it quite mediocre. Wasn't it just a reversal of the rich young master and Cinderella story, turned into a tale of a fairy and a common mortal, with the usual parental disapproval? Big Wind Novel
The rich young master and Cinderella had the rich young master's parents disapproving. The fairy and the mortal had the fairy's parents disapproving. Sometimes it wasn't even parents, but elder relatives like brothers, but the core idea was always parental disapproval.
The degree of disapproval was even harsher than in CEO novels. CEO novels might involve a check being thrown, telling Cinderella to leave. The Lotus Lantern, however, involved murder. Not only was the mortal boy playing the role of Cinderella to be killed, but their own daughter and grandchild were also to be eliminated.
This is simply perverse and insane...]
[To those above, I suggest you read some history books. I think writing The Lotus Lantern that way is perfectly fine. In ancient times, if the daughter of a noble or influential family eloped with a poor scholar, the first thing the family would do would be to suppress the news and then declare their daughter dead from illness. This was to prevent her actions from affecting the reputation of other women in the family, or even the entire clan.
Therefore, in this regard, The Lotus Lantern is not exaggerated at all; in fact, it can be considered quite realistic.
Our family's genealogy clearly records an incident from over five hundred years ago: the legitimate daughter of the clan leader at that time secretly became involved with a poor scholar. Not only did they become intimate, but she also became pregnant and used the scholar to force a marriage.
The clan leader was unwilling to marry his daughter to the poor scholar and didn't pay enough attention to secrecy. As a result, the news spread. Not only did the family suffer immense shame, but seventeen engaged women were broken off by their fiancés. Another twelve women, who were already married but without children, were directly divorced and sent back. Three of them drowned themselves, two committed suicide, and four cut their hair to become nuns. Those who were married with children also suffered greatly.
They endured hardship during that period, facing disdain and suspicion everywhere.
The impact was enormous!
Even ordinary families face such situations. For someone like an emperor, or like the Heavenly Emperor and a Grand Princess of the Heavenly Court, the situation would likely be even worse.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the majesty of the Heavenly Court was completely lost!]
[Many stories truly need to be viewed in the context of their time. We cannot use our modern sensibilities to judge whether someone's actions in that era were right or wrong.]
[I've seen the mythological figure Nuwa in many of Ding Yun's novels, but why does this mythological figure feel so mysterious? We only hear her name.
She never appears.
So, who is Nuwa, and what is this great merit she supposedly possesses? Is it mending the heavens? But what is mending the heavens? Is there a hole in the sky that needs to be filled with stones?]
[I don't know. We can only wait for the author to reveal it slowly. What's the point of us guessing wildly!]
[The author's imagination is truly boundless. A monkey born from a stone. I suspect it won't be long before many people start imitating this. Who knows what else might be born from stones then.]
[People have already started writing "Journey to the South" and "Journey to the North." In "Journey to the South," a gorilla pops out of a stone. In "Journey to the North," a meteorite falls from the sky, and a Godzilla emerges from it. What a disaster!]
[I just checked, and there are even "Journey to the Northeast," "Journey to the Southwest," and "Journey to the Southeast."
Are these people not ashamed, but proud of themselves?]
[I actually find "Journey to the Southeast" quite interesting because the author didn't have a creature emerge from a stone, but rather a person gave birth to a stone fetus.]
[The Monkey King wreaked havoc in Heaven and was suppressed.
Wow, what happens next? Will he continue to resist and break free from the Five Finger Mountain, or will it be a direct ending? It shouldn't be a direct ending, right? It's only been a few chapters!]
...
As Ding Yun graduated, "Journey to the West," which had been filled with controversy and热度 since its beginning, officially concluded.
The television series followed closely behind.
Various in-depth interpretations emerged incessantly.
Ding Yun finally had more time to write more mythological novels and construct a mythological universe.
For instance, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Dong Yong and the Seven Fairies.
For instance, "Mirror Flower, Water Moon," and "Biography of the Moon Goddess."
And then there were "Emperor of Heaven, Earthly Soil," and "Records of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors."
Ding Yun even managed to write "Legend of the Shushan Swordsmen," "Journey to the West Sequel," and "Investiture of the Gods" soon after graduating from university. To be precise, it was about localizing them.
A completely fictional mythology, while it might attract many readers due to its exciting story, struggles to truly resonate and become part of national memory.
Even civilizational memory.
Therefore, when Ding Yun adapted these myths, she made a point of deeply understanding all the historical stories and legends of this world.
Her so-called localization meant replacing the names of some mythological figures with individuals from this world who had similar legends or stories. For example, with the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Ding Yun couldn't simply transplant the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors from another world; she had to replace them with names from this world that could be considered worthy of being called Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
Of course, this also depended on whether there were suitable replacements.
If there were none, then direct transplantation was the only option.
However, as long as the number of completely fictional mythological figures wasn't excessive, they could still resonate deeply through a blend of truth and falsehood, of fiction and reality. For instance, Hongjun Laozu, a mythological figure who appeared in "Investiture of the Gods," had no prior mentions in any texts or novels. Yet, through the continuous efforts of later generations and the influence of the "Hong Huang" (primordial chaos) genre, he eventually became deeply ingrained in popular consciousness, recognized by many as the master of all sages.
As long as the influence is significant and deeply ingrained.
No matter how many experts clarify that he is fictional, it will be useless.
What Ding Yun is doing now is precisely this. To expedite the completion of her tasks, after graduating from university, she accelerated the pace of publishing novels and constructing her mythological universe. Previously, she only published two books a year. After graduating, she could publish four books a year.
As her novels continued to be released, the overarching framework of the mythological universe gradually evolved from a mere sketch to a logically coherent whole.
The completion of the entire mythological system, with its branches and leaves, was only achieved five years after Ding Yun's graduation, with the publication of "Hong Huang," after which it only required adding more branches and leaves to the existing mythological framework.