All-rounder Artist-Chapter 956 - 887 days Mount Tai Big Dipper
Chapter 956: 887 days, Mount Tai, Big Dipper
Chapter 956: 887 days, Mount Tai, Big Dipper
March 1st.
9 AM.
Peng Lan, the head of Su City’s New Cathay Bookstore in Qin Continent, had arrived early with her personal assistant to inspect the main store.
By this time, “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” had already been released.
She wanted to know the first-day sales of Chu Kuang’s new book.
Due to the special circumstances of this release, although the major bookstores across Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, and Han had adopted a conservative strategy, the total volume of stock was still substantial. Everyone was worried about sales, so there were many managers like Peng Lan who personally visited bookstores to observe the situation.
However,
when Peng Lan and her assistant entered the Su City New Cathay main store, they were startled by the scene inside.
Inside the bookstore,
customer after customer filled the different seats.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that nearly every customer was holding a copy of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes”!
At the front desk,
the crowded crowd was slightly noisy, with many customers holding “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” checking out at the cashier, creating a bustling scene:
“Where’s Chu Kuang’s new book?”
“One copy of Chu Kuang’s new book, please!”
“The same for me, the old rascal’s new book.”
“Two copies of ‘The Legend of the Condor Heroes,’ thank you!”
“Is this Chu Kuang the old rascal’s new book? Oh, yes, then I’ll take one, two, three, four, five… six copies, and also a few for my five sons in the dorm.”
Peng Lan was dumbstruck.
The assistant beside her was also astonished.
If Chu Kuang had written a detective novel or such, the two would not have been shocked by such a sales scene.
The old rascal had the market appeal.
But the issue here was that this was a martial arts novel!
Since when did the readers from Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, and Han take such an interest in martial arts?
And that was knowing full well that this martial arts novel was written by Chu Kuang for the readers of Zhao Continent?
Ask around.
Peng Lan turned to a customer who was holding “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” and preparing to check out, curious,
“Young man, do you like martial arts novels?”
“Who likes this stuff?” the young customer replied casually.
Peng Lan was almost puzzled, “If you don’t like martial arts, why do you still buy them?”
The young customer replied matter-of-factly, “To read, of course!”
Peng Lan: “…”
Is someone forcing you to read at knifepoint?
Seeing Peng Lan’s reaction, the young customer looked like she was from a village without internet access,
“Those folks from Zhao Continent mocked us before. We want to see for ourselves how Chu Kuang tortures them to death with this novel. How would we know how they get tortured without reading it!”
Huh?
That works?
You bought the books just to see how this novel tortures the people of Zhao?
Peng Lan’s head was spinning, she asked subconsciously,
“How do you know this book is so torturous?”
“Could it not be torturous if written by the old rascal Chu Kuang?”
A customer, also about to buy “The Legend of the Condor Heroes,” couldn’t help but join the conversation. He seemed to find Peng Lan’s question odd, as if it were common knowledge.
Several customers lining up to check out also joined the discussion:
“This novel is going to be turned into a drama soon, directed by Ding Xiao. Have you not heard of Ding Xiao? He is that guy who feels uneasy if he doesn’t torture the audience!”
“Chu Kuang and Ding Xiao! This combination just means a huge pitfall!”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing the people of Zhao crying under the old rascal’s torture!”
“It’s not entirely for that reason though, mainly because I love Chu Kuang’s novels.”
“Yes, it’s been a long time since the old rascal Chu Kuang released a new book. Finally, here’s one, even if it’s a martial arts book, I still have to buy it and give it a look, I’m starving for his works!”
“Starving for his works, count me in.”
“Whatever he writes, I can’t help but want to take a look.”
Peng Lan and the assistant exchanged glances, then joy quickly spread across their faces!
No matter what, good sales are good news. The batch of books we brought in should be able to sell now!
Chu Kuang, solid!
Meanwhile, outside New Cathay,
similar scenes were unfolding in other bookstores as well.
Although Chu Kuang was writing martial arts, the major bookstores were surprised to find that the buying power of the readers from Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, and Han was still very strong!
Swish, swish, swish!
The relatively conservative inventory managed to perfectly handle the situation, avoiding any unsold books!
This also brought relief to the managers of the various bookstores.
“Lucky I had a big picture view!”
“Yeah, mainly because we’ve been educated by Chu Kuang more than once before, knowing that even the most conservative estimate for his books should be at least a few hundred thousand copies.”
“Never thought that one day martial arts could sell like this.”
“Old rascal Chu Kuang still disregards genre.”
“It’s not really disregarding genre though, the readers’ enthusiasm is high, but it’s still relative to martial arts. If Chu Kuang’s new book was a mystery, do you believe that the doors of the bookstores would burst, a few hundred thousand copies wouldn’t be enough to sell.”
“That’s true.”
“After all, it’s a martial arts novel, and no matter how enthusiastic the response, ‘The Legend of the Condor Heroes’ just doesn’t sell as well as his mystery novels, which really saw explosive sales when the Poirot and Sherlock Holmes series were published – truly phenomenal.”
…
In Zhao Continent.
The major bookstores were likewise bustling with people.
Although the people of Zhao Continent were far less familiar with Chu Kuang than those from Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, and Han, they had, after all, heard of his great name.
The Wuxia novel that Chu Kuang had written was exactly the type that the Zhao people loved.
Fueled by such curiosity,
many Zhao people couldn’t help but stop by a bookstore to buy a copy of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” when they passed one.
Meanwhile, inside a small bookstore on a certain street corner,
numerous newly published copies of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” were placed on the shelves.
At that moment,
an old man entered the bookstore and picked up two copies of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” to purchase.
“You are…”
After taking the money, the bookstore owner suddenly looked shocked, staring intently at the old man in front of him, his voice trembling:
“Mr. Canyang?”
“Didn’t expect someone would still recognize me,”
the old man replied with a carefree smile, “I am Canyang.”
The bookstore owner became incredibly excited, “Mr. Canyang, I am your fan! Could you sign for me? I’ve always cherished your works, especially ‘The Command of Huayue’. Oh, and these two novels are on the house — it’s my honor to have my idol buy books from my shop!”
Canyang!
A standard-bearer for the older generation of Wuxia writers from the Zhao Continent, his Wuxia novels had influenced an entire generation, esteemed and respected within the whole Wuxia literary circle!
Even though Canyang had formally retired from writing three years ago, his legends were still found everywhere in the martial arts world.
The owner of this bookstore had grown up reading Canyang’s Wuxia novels; Canyang was his god of martial arts!
“Sure,”
Canyang kindly agreed. After signing, he left under the admiring and adoring gaze of the owner, though of course, he still paid the money.
After leaving,
Canyang drove to a manor.
Inside the manor, an old man around Canyang’s age was drinking tea; he immediately stood up when he spotted Canyang:
“Brother Canyang, nice to see you well.”
Canyang replied with a smile, “Brother Duan still looks so vigorous, no need to retire from writing like I did.”
Had there been bystanders, they would have recognized the manor’s occupant’s identity; this was Duan Qingyun, another top Wuxia master from the Zhao Continent.
There’s a saying in the Martial Arts World of Zhao Continent about “Mount Tai and the North Star.”
Canyang was Mount Tai, and Duan Qingyun was the North Star.
Similar to Canyang, Duan Qingyun had also retired from writing two years ago and hadn’t touched any Wuxia novel since then.
“You don’t know the reason I retired?”
Duan Qingyun sighed, “There’s not much left to write in Wuxia; I can’t see a new path to explore.”
On hearing this, Canyang fell briefly silent.
Others might know that Wuxia from Blue Star was declining, except the Zhao people still held a very high passion for this genre.
Few people knew:
Even in Zhao Continent, the market for Wuxia was shrinking year by year.
Someday, it might become like other continents, losing interest in Wuxia novels.
Just as Duan Qingyun said,
There wasn’t much left to write in Wuxia.
The decision for the two “Mount Tai and North Stars” of the Martial Arts World to retire was not due to a decline in energy but mainly because they felt the constraints of creativity —
more precisely, the constraints pertinent to Wuxia.
Under such constraints, there was no broader future visible for Wuxia.
Even they, universally recognized as the top figures in the Martial Arts World, could no longer write works surpassing their previous ones — this was the real reason behind their succcessive retirements.
The mood became somewhat melancholic.
This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.
Duan Qingyun shook his head, “Let’s not talk about that. We haven’t seen each other for a long time. Sit down, have some tea, play chess. By the way, what are you holding?”
“Novels, Wuxia novels.”
Canyang took out the copies of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” he had bought from the bookstore: “Visiting Brother Lu, how could I come empty-handed.”
“Interesting, whose work?”
“Chu Kuang, you should have heard of him.”
“Rings a bell; his ‘Journey to the West’ had me unable to put it down. He’s written Wuxia novels too? Let me see!”
Duan Qingyun became interested.
Canyang laughed heartily, “Aren’t you not writing Wuxia anymore?”
Duan Qingyun rolled his eyes, “Aren’t you not writing either? I can still read Wuxia, right?”
“It shows your heart for Wuxia hasn’t died.”
Canyang expressed revealingly, “Like me, you must often keep an eye on other Wuxia writers’ works.”
“Let’s not talk about such pointless things.”
Now that they were old acquaintances, Duan Qingyun didn’t mind forgoing pleasantries and direct manners, taking a copy of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” straight from Canyang,
“Pour the tea yourself, I’m going to read.”
“Let’s do it together, remember back in the day we used to sit together, drink tea, and read novels, quite pleasant indeed,”
Canyang remarked nostalgically.
The two men, at the peak of their creative years, continually learned from other Wuxia masters to refine their own craft, hence producing serially more fantastic Wuxia novels.
It’s a pity that in recent years both began to falter.
Back then, they understood that for Wuxia novels to break new ground, someone had to forge a new path!
However, easy as it is to say, how challenging is it to actually forge it?
At least for these two, it was hard to imagine what that new path should be — that was also why they always kept an eye on other Wuxia writers, merely hoping someone would accomplish what they could not.
Amid all these thoughts,
they had both opened the novels in their hands.
[The vast waters of the Qiantang River endlessly flowed day and night, passing alongside Niujia Village in Lin’an as it hurried eastward to the sea. A row of dozens of black cypress trees, their leaves as red as fire, marked the month of August.]
The world of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” slowly began to unfold.
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ps: Recent encumbrances resulted in subpar updates, but fortunately, I can return to my little den tomorrow to focus on writing. In a couple of days, let me show you what a true writing maestro is. Hold me to that!
