The news that Zhang Li was chosen as the director for "Journey to the West" quickly spread across the internet.
Subsequently, Zhang Li's impassioned speech also topped the charts on various short video platforms.
It had to be said that while Zhang Li's speech was somewhat exaggerated, it still resonated with many.
The most important thing for a director is to find a good script, which is why screenwriters hold such high status in the industry.
As for Jiangnan, a screenwriter whose every work is a hit, it would be an understatement to say they'd be willing to be his lackey; they might as well worship him as an ancestor.
It was just that Zhang Li dared to express it. While others thought the same, they would never dare to say it in front of so many people.
"It still has to be you!!"
"I hereby declare Director Zhang the number one sycophant of Jiangnan!"
"He's got the vibe of Gong Ju Ren from the music scene, but Zhang Li is going all-in. This is the director of the masterpiece 'Journey to the West'!"
"Although I'm envious, Zhang Li has clearly put in a lot to gain Jiangnan's approval."
"You call that effort? You're not in the industry; you have no idea how many people want to fawn over Jiangnan, but they don't get the chance!"
"Hahaha, that's true. Jiangnan now has the demeanor of a god, yet he only has two directors under him. Zhang Li makes TV dramas, and Gu Qianqian makes movies. The former is an old hand in the film industry who has achieved nothing after decades, while the latter is a newcomer who hasn't even graduated from college."
"I can understand Zhang Li. If I had been in a field for decades without any success, and suddenly an opportunity to soar presented itself, let alone integrity, I'd do anything for that chance."
If this had been anywhere else, Zhang Li's statement might have made people think he was extremely fawning and lacking in integrity.
However, when combined with Zhang Li's experiences along the way, many people found themselves empathizing and realized that these things were not a big deal.
The position of chief director for "Journey to the West" was enough to make countless people in the industry, even top directors, envious!
After all, "Journey to the West" had already been thoroughly analyzed by literary critics.
Many book reviewers had become popular influencers with millions of followers by analyzing this book.
Some even launched ranking challenges to see who understood "Journey to the West" the best.
Then, someone became incredibly arrogant.
They directly posted online.
[I've read 'Journey to the West' fifty times, I know everything!]
However, they were then stumped by the questions from netizens.
"Big brother, is the urine of the White Dragon Horse, horse urine or dragon urine?"
"Erlang Shen's third eye, is it single eyelid or double eyelid?"
"If Monk Tang got hemorrhoids, would his hemorrhoids count as Tang Monk's flesh?"
"Nezha has three heads. If he got a stroke, would it affect all three heads or each individually?"
Under these bizarre questions.
The expert who claimed to have thoroughly studied "Journey to the West" tearfully deleted his post.
Are you even eating oil cakes?
How the heck would I know these things!!
...
The news of "Journey to the West" commencing filming spread across the entire internet.
Many of Jiangnan's book fans could no longer sit still.
This was because it had been several months since Jiangnan, the old thief, finished "Journey to the West," and his new book was nowhere in sight.
Although they felt that reading Jiangnan's books was a torment to the soul, as his books were too heartbreaking and made their heads ache with anger after finishing them,
it had to be admitted that his books were truly wonderful, so wonderful that people were willing to endure the pain just to keep reading.
Online literature prioritizes story. As long as the story is compelling, many people can persevere through heartbreak.
However, this did not mean that Jiangnan's book fans didn't want to "kill" this old thief!
When Jiangnan appeared on the trending searches.
Many book fans flocked to his Weibo.
And began urging him to update.
"When will the new book start?"
"You scoundrel, can't you be more proactive? It's been almost two months since 'Journey to the West' was released, do you know how I've spent these two months!"
"I'm suffering from book drought, old thief, hurry up and start a new book!!"
"Speaking of which, has the old thief been 'killed' since he hasn't released a book for so long?"
"Let's crowd-fund the old thief's address, I want to supervise him writing his new book!"
Indeed.
It had been nearly two months since Jiangnan's "Journey to the West" was released, and he had defeated Bai Ye and achieved godhood, without releasing any new books.
Although Jiangnan's movie "A Chinese Ghost Story" was released during these two months, the movie only lasted an hour or two, leaving them feeling empty afterward.
That feeling of book drought was driving Jiangnan's fans to the brink of collapse.
Su Yu, looking at the private messages and fan comments in the backend.
He had been busy with "Masked Singer" recently and hadn't paid attention to Jiangnan's book fans.
He happened to have some time these few days, and he had previously customized a god-level writing speed, so writing a million-word novel was quite fast.
But what should he write?
After the release of "Journey to the West," ordinary online novels seemed unsuitable.
Suddenly.
He stumbled upon a post where fans were voting.
《What genre book do you most want Jiangnan, the old thief, to write?》
Here.
There were several popular categories.
The most popular was naturally Xianxia.
This was because Jiangnan's Xianjian series had deeply captured people's hearts.
And works like "Journey to the West," which are related to Buddhism and Taoism and fall under the category of strange tales, were also popular among netizens' votes.
Among them, science fiction also ranked in the top three.
"Xianxia already has the Xianjian series. I want to see something new. Old thief, you could write a science fiction online novel, as sci-fi has been quite popular in recent years."
"Sci-fi is boring. I still prefer fantasy novels like 'Journey to the West' that are about strange tales."
"Xianxia is forever the god, alright!"
"Doesn't anyone want to see Wuxia?"
When someone mentioned the word "Wuxia" in the vote.
They were immediately met with ridicule from many.
"Wuxia is dead, please don't desecrate its corpse, thank you!"
"Wuxia is not as good as Xianxia, because Xianxia still has gods and monsters to see. What's so good about Wuxia, revenge?"
"Modern Wuxia has lost its flavor; it's impossible to write that sense of chivalry anymore."
"Wuxia fans say that Jiangnan can actually try Wuxia, after all, he had that chivalrous vibe when he wrote Xianxia."
The current online literature landscape is as follows.
Xianxia, due to the two Xianjian books, has become a popular category with many authors imitating it.
Science fiction has remained consistently popular.
Urban fiction is dominated by the "smug, talkative warrior" trope.
Xuanhuan is being kept alive by older authors resting on their laurels, barely surviving.
As for Wuxia.
"Wuxia is dead, light a paper offering."
A few years ago, although the Wuxia market was of varying quality, exquisite works occasionally emerged.
Modern Wuxia has changed for the worse; the male readership hasn't seen a quality Wuxia novel in a long time.
On the female readership side, there are many Wuxia novels adapted into TV dramas, but these are not pure Wuxia. They are called ancient idol dramas, which are essentially romance stories disguised as Wuxia.
Traditional Wuxia has no market, while ancient idol dramas can get IP adaptations. Naturally, authors flock to write ancient idol dramas.
After all, no one would be foolish enough to tackle a genre that has already gone cold.
As a result, the Wuxia genre has declined, and along with it, film and television dramas and games are also on the verge of becoming relics of the past.