On the evening of the first day of the Lunar New Year at 10:30 PM, as the end credits rolled, the first episode of "The Mystic Journey" finally concluded, marking the end of the first day for the show.
Beyond its special effects and plot, "The Mystic Journey" also offered all viewers a brand-new experience in terms of episode length. The first episode ran for a staggering 100 minutes.
This provided an extraordinary surprise to the audience. At the 40-minute mark, they had expected the first episode to end, only to find it continuing.
It kept going and going. By the time 40 minutes had passed, when two episodes of a typical television show would have concluded, it was still airing. It wasn't until two hours had passed that the end credits finally rolled, signaling the end of the episode.
This once again set a precedent in Chinese history for a television episode to run for 100 minutes. Just this aspect alone was enough to inspire numerous news articles from media outlets across China.
In fact, even without this exceptionally long runtime, "The Mystic Journey" was destined to dominate the news headlines on the second day. The quality of the drama was simply outstanding; both the plot and the special effects left Chinese viewers astounded.
Although all Chinese people knew what "immortals" were, they, like all foreigners, were discovering for the first time that cultivation could extend into outer space.
Furthermore, cultivation wasn't just about alchemy, drawing talismans, or cultivating one's character as depicted in myths and legends, leading directly to ascension. It turned out there were so many wondrous worlds to explore through cultivation. There were even teleportation arrays for cultivators on Mars. These kinds of fantastical settings truly opened up the eyes of the Chinese public.
In reality, the cultivation world-building in "The Mystic Journey" was starkly different from traditional Chinese worldviews. The most traditional Chinese cultivation worldview focused on achieving immortality through self-cultivation or consuming elixirs, rooted in Taoist philosophy.
However, during the Ming Dynasty, with the appearance of "Investiture of the Gods," the cultivation worldview evolved. It became one that relied on magical artifacts to attack opponents and tied the changes in the immortal realm to the historical transformations of China.
By the Republican era, this cultivation worldview underwent further changes, with works like "The Legend of the Sword and Fairy" introducing distinctions between immortals and demons, the concept of sects, and ultimately, grand battles between immortals and demons, still relying on magical artifacts.
This kind of cultivation worldview was, in some ways, similar to martial arts settings.
Then came "The Mystic Journey," which brought about another new evolution in this worldview, connecting it to the entire universe. It also introduced a detailed division of cultivation realms for the first time, along with concepts like ascending to the immortal realm and the divine realm.
This is why all cultivation web novels revere "The Mystic Journey" as their progenitor. Before "The Mystic Journey," no cultivation novel had detailed realm divisions. Describing a person's strength was limited to phrases like "immense magical power" or "three flowers crowning the head, five energies returning to the origin." In essence, there were no detailed realm settings.
Even in Jin Yong's era, this was not the case. Those novels primarily established a general power hierarchy through the battles between different characters.
For example, in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," readers typically categorized the combat power levels from ordinary soldiers, minor villains, the Seven Greats of Jiangnan, the Seven Masters of Quanzhen, below the Five Greats, and the Five Greats of the world.
It was through the combat prowess of these characters that the strength levels within the novel were roughly distinguished. Only with "The Mystic Journey," which meticulously detailed cultivation realms, did modern Xianxia web novels emerge. While "The Mystic Journey" might not be considered as captivating today, its contribution to web literature is unparalleled.
Getting back to the topic, precisely because "The Mystic Journey" drew upon the strengths of many predecessors and had a worldview that differed from traditional Chinese cultivation settings, Chinese viewers experienced the same level of surprise as Western audiences.
More importantly, because Chinese viewers did not have the same reservations about cultivation as Western audiences due to cultural differences, the audience base was significantly broader.
Consequently, it was no surprise that the next day, "The Mystic Journey" dominated almost all news outlets. Industry professionals watched in bewilderment as its viewership ratings continued to soar. Even with a starting viewership of over 30%, the ratings were still climbing, possibly aiming to surpass the viewership of "My Fair Princess" from years past.
In a nutshell, it was incredibly impressive.
Concurrently, Lianliankan, which was featured in "The Mystic Journey," naturally rode this wave of popularity to soaring heights. Boss Huang cunningly created a persona for Li Qiang: he was someone who loved to pull out a complete set of computer equipment from his ring and play games in front of everyone.
For instance, while his disciple was fighting, he would be playing on his computer, watching his disciple. If his disciple was about to lose, he would unleash a sword energy attack with his mouse.
When meeting the Emperor, he would casually play on his computer in the middle of the imperial court, forcing the Emperor to offer sycophantic smiles. Even when trapped somewhere, he would pull out his computer for entertainment, incidentally piquing the curiosity of immortal-level experts also trapped within the formation.
After the drama aired, Li Qiang gained the nickname "Computer Immortal." As a result, many subsequent dramas that emulated "The Mystic Journey" liked to incorporate this trope, having the protagonist pull out a computer from their ring to play games, showcasing their immense power and serving as the ultimate way to show off.
With such powerful promotion, it would be against all logic if Lianliankan didn't become popular. Moreover, Lianliankan was already a game that had taken another world by storm. Therefore, after the major holiday break, middle-aged people working in offices generally developed the habit of slacking off and playing Lianliankan on their company computers.
More importantly, as Lianliankan infiltrated the computers of these middle-aged individuals, the OO Game Center also made its way onto their machines.
Subsequently, the OO Game Center could bring along its legendary online game, Facebook, OO, the Jiangnan Online Mall, and the entire Jiangnan suite of products, successfully establishing themselves on these middle-aged users' computers and introducing them to a brand-new world.
Indeed, the Jiangnan Group in this world was probably the only one that established a dedicated team of about 50 people specifically to research the usage habits of middle-aged and elderly people, focusing on developing the simplest new user guides to help them play on computers.
Of course, the popularity of "The Mystic Journey" didn't just benefit Lianliankan alone. Jiangnan Group had already prepared various related merchandise and blind boxes. On the first day of its release, blind boxes totaling over 100 million yuan were snapped up instantly. People across China were lining up to buy blind boxes, as they offered a chance to win replicas of various items from "The Mystic Journey."
In addition, Caiwei also announced the launch of "The Mystic Journey"-themed Eastern immortal-style fashion, priced at a reasonable 8,888 yuan per set, with a global limited edition of 100,000 sets.
Furthermore, a game based on "The Mystic Journey" was also in intense production, reportedly using Blizzard's team. Well, that's what the publicity claimed. In reality, it likely involved only one of Blizzard's directors and a few Blizzard planners, with the rest being Chinese game developers.
However, that was enough. Who would dare say it wasn't produced by Blizzard's team?
Domestically, various commercial promotions were being conducted around "The Mystic Journey." Boss Huang was determined to extract every last bit of profit from the drama.
As for overseas, Boss Huang hadn't given it much thought for the time being. Besides selling "The Mystic Journey" blind boxes and licensing some movie merchandise, he hadn't planned any other money-making strategies. After all, Boss Huang's time was limited; he couldn't devote himself entirely to work. It would be too exhausting!
However, sometimes in life, efforts made with intent yield no results, while unexpected endeavors bloom. For instance, on the Lantern Festival, a plane landed in China from faraway America. A group of people emerged from the VIP channel at the airport.
"Mr. Zuckerberg, welcome to China. I am Li Chunlei, a secretary from the secretariat of Jiangnan Group. I am responsible for your reception. I hope you have a pleasant stay in China!" Li Chunlei said with a smile, though he felt a bit overwhelmed internally.
It wasn't that he disliked the job, but he genuinely didn't know what the job entailed.
About a week prior, Jiangnan Group had received a letter from the American social media company Weibo, stating that their CEO, Zuckerberg, intended to visit China for a business inspection and hoped that Jiangnan Group, as a friendly entity, would send someone to receive him.
This was a perfectly normal request, and Jiangnan Group naturally wouldn't refuse. Thus, Li Chunlei was selected to receive Mr. Zuckerberg. However, upon taking on the task, Li Chunlei felt a bit lost.
Although the person would arrive in a week, he had to prepare various reception plans in advance to avoid damaging the company's reputation. But the problem was, Zuckerberg only stated he was coming for an inspection without specifying any industry or projects. He didn't even know his first destination, leaving Li Chunlei completely bewildered.
He proactively called Weibo's CEO's office to inquire. The secretary he spoke with, after a lengthy conversation, couldn't provide any concrete details. They simply told Li Chunlei not to worry, to handle the basic reception, and that no other preparations were needed, as their boss was a very easy-going person. This left Li Chunlei speechless.
As a result, this seemingly simple task that required no preparation caused Li Chunlei to work overtime for four consecutive nights. He created dozens of different plans, covering various cities, industries, and enterprises. Li Chunlei made plans for any location related to Weibo that might require an inspection. Feeling confident that all bases were covered, he mustered his strength to receive the CEO of Weibo.
"Thank you!" Zuckerberg said with a smile. Li Chunlei breathed a sigh of relief and was about to ask if Zuckerberg wanted to return to the hotel to rest or visit somewhere nearby when he heard Zuckerberg ask, "Li, do you cultivate?"