Third Prize: Possible
Award-Winning Review: Period Cup—A Review of Tianyuan
First of all, why had I chosen a book like Tianyuan? Was it because Tianyuan was the best book? Of course not! It was simply because so many people had already written about the other books!!
Thinking back, I had been a fine young man myself, but after being led astray by my classmates into reading "The Wanderer's Journey," I had never stopped reading webnovels. Heh, I really do ramble on!
Tianyuan officially began updating in 2009 and was met with a flood of praise from the start. Especially when it reached the Zhang Bingyun arc, elegant titles such as "author who abuses women" and "heartless author" came pouring in. People read webnovels for the thrill, so novels with plots like this were generally not far from being abandoned. Readers could not even be bothered to criticize the author. But Tianyuan was different. Other than expressing some dissatisfaction and feeling as though their hearts had been slashed open, the readers did not say the author had written it wrong. Why?
Because of the tone of the entire book! First, Master Xue created a "prosperous Tang Dynasty" that appeared calm on the surface while deadly undercurrents surged below. Second, Jiang Yu's origins meant that he could never be accepted by the Daoist Sect, the Demonic Sect, or the Buddhist Sect. The Daoists and Buddhists joined forces to destroy the Demonic Sect, only to fall into endless internal strife afterward. What Buddhism and Daoism displayed was not immortal grace or boundless compassion, but greed and cunning no less than that of the Demonic Sect. They had completely cast aside humanity's truth, goodness, and beauty, leaving behind only "profit." Cultivation, cultivation—it did not cultivate truth, but cultivated truth away. How could a heroine as much like a real fairy maiden as Zhang Bingyun possibly follow the protagonist through trial after trial in such a deceitful world?
Personally, I thought Tianyuan was Master Xue's darkest book. Not because the protagonist was dark, but because the world was too dark. Nearly everyone in the entire world was trying every possible means to scheme against Jiang Yu. There were only a handful of good people in the whole book. Aside from the protagonist and his few brothers, there was almost no one decent. It was as if the entire world were sinking into ruin.
The most hateful part was the depiction of Zhang Bingyun's later fate. The slash Master Xue had made across our hearts was just about to heal, yet he had to tear the wound open again and rub in a handful of salt, ensuring that you would never forget it. Then he told you: this was simply how dark the world was. Who could change it!!! (The tone of the protagonist's suffering throughout the entire book was set here.)
The portrayal of Zhang Bingyun, this quasi-heroine, was no better than the heroine in Witch's Song!
Li Heng possessed wisdom, yet power had blinded him. Li Longji possessed great wisdom, yet always used it in the wrong places. Li Linfu was treacherous and sinister, yet deeply emotional and loyal. Zhang Shuo stubbornly clung to doctrine. Gao Xianzhi was thick-headed and considered himself number one under heaven. An and Shi, the two Demonic Sect spies, seemed foolish and stupid but were actually incomparably cunning. Then there was Yang Guozhong, who considered himself clever. Together, they built the Tang Dynasty's final golden age. And of course, there was that cockroach who had no real ability but simply could not be killed—Chai the Official. His life was also a great tragedy. Aside from indulging himself, he had never done a single meaningful thing. If he had not become entangled with the quasi-heroine Zhang Bingyun, he would have been nothing but a passerby. Not merely a passerby in this book, but a passerby in his entire life.
Among all of Jiang Yu's enemies, Gao Xianzhi was the most pitiful. He opposed Jiang Yu time and again, sometimes winning and sometimes losing, but on closer thought, Jiang Yu seemed never to have regarded him as a major opponent. Even until his death, he probably never knew that he had merely been an expendable pawn of the Buddhist Sect. Opposing Jiang Yu had brought him no substantial benefits at all. Had he died at Jiang Yu's hands, that would have been one thing—at least his death would not have been unjust. Yet when the Demonic Sect launched its massive assault, he died miserably at the hands of the Daoist Sect because of the struggle between Buddhism and Daoism. That showed the Daoist Sect's nature well enough.
Those lofty immortal and divine sects had long forgotten why they cultivated. Every last one of them only knew how to pursue greater power, greater benefits, and better magical treasures. In their eyes, people were merely talking tools—things to be used or sold out. No one cared about the interests of "people." They only wanted to wipe out the other two factions and rule the world alone. Their eyes had long been blinded by power. They had long forgotten why the first Tianyuan Lord had sealed the Heavenly Court. They were repeating the mistakes of their predecessors. Perhaps they knew they were making mistakes, yet they could not stop. They could only sink into what appeared to be light but was actually endless darkness. They were not even as straightforward as the Demonic Sect. Daoism and Buddhism were thieves, while the Demonic Sect was a robber. None of them were anything good.
The most tragic one was Li Heng. Li Linfu helped him ascend to the position of Crown Prince, and Jiang Yu gave him the power to contend with cultivators. Yet he still possessed the heart of an ordinary man, forever thinking only of the throne and power. Though he knew that taking one more step might grant him immortality and the worship of countless people, he still craved the mortal world and committed a grave mistake. He did not even know who had crippled his cultivation. Ridiculously, he thought Jiang Yu and the others craved worldly power just as he did. As a result, that once-wise heart became utterly foolish. He had been reduced to a figurehead without even realizing it.
I remembered someone once saying that if you helped someone a little, they would be deeply grateful. If you helped them again, they would still be deeply grateful. But once they realized that they could never repay the debt of gratitude they owed you, perhaps that was when they would turn against you. There were far too many examples of this in reality.
Finally, I had to talk about Tianyuan Power. First of all, those ancient great powers truly were formidable. They had foreseen that someone would become the second Tianyuan, so they left behind numerous contingencies. Yet human plans could not surpass Heaven's will. The one who obtained Tianyuan Power was not a member of the Daoist Sect, but an outsider within the Daoist Sect—Jiang Yu.
Why did Tianyuan Power exist? Could it be merely to give someone invincible strength at a certain moment? Of course not. How was Tianyuan Power created? It was not gained through cultivation, but through the wishes of all living beings—the attachment at life's final moment, the pain, the hatred toward enemies, and the disappointment with society. Thus, the first Tianyuan was born. They hoped the world would no longer know pain or suffer the misery of war. They wanted Daoism, Buddhism, and the Demonic Sect all to get lost. Thus, the first Tianyuan sealed the Heavenly Court, the Western Paradise, and the demon realm. And according to the earlier text, the first Tianyuan had also been a member of the Daoist Sect.
Clearly, Tianyuan Power would not casually acknowledge a master. It would only recognize as its master those who truly cared for the common people, not those hypocritical members of the Daoist Sect. Thus, human plans could not surpass Heaven's will. Other than helping Jiang Yu survive his tribulations and delaying the time when he would seal them, the contingencies Queen Mother of the West left behind were almost entirely useless.
If those members of the Heavenly Court who descended to the lower realm had remembered the lesson of the first Tianyuan's seal and treated the people well, there would have been no later story. But would they have done that? Would they have treated kindly the people who looked no different from ants in their eyes? Of course not. Rivers and mountains might change, but one's nature was hard to alter.
From Jiang Yu's early days, when he was still green, to his later maturity, he did many things—some right, some wrong—but he could ask himself with a clear conscience about every one of them. He had never wronged anyone. Trouble almost always came looking for him, and he both won and lost, with far more losses than victories. If Jiang Yu had not possessed Tianyuan Power, his ending would also have been destined to be a tragedy. In truth, even this ending was tragic enough. Aside from Jiang Yu remembering Gongsun's aura and being able to find her after her reincarnation, which gave us a small measure of comfort, there was almost nothing satisfying in it. Even when he silently used Tianyuan Power to reseal the Heavenly Court and the many cultivators of the Dao, immortality, and demonic arts, there was no sense of exhilaration—only a deep sorrow.
Life was like a raging river. Ordinary people could only drift with the current, while those in power sat in great ships, admiring the scenery along both banks without caring in the slightest whether common people lived or died. Daoism, Buddhism, and the Demonic Sect, meanwhile, traveled upstream. Anything blocking their path, whether person or boat, would be smashed to pieces if it did not move aside. Jiang Yu, however, wanted to cross to the other shore over a great river filled with immortals and gods. How could those immortals and gods possibly let him have his way?
After the story ended, I kept wondering why Jiang Yu had not made a proclamation to the world while sealing them—at least showing off in front of those enemies before letting them complete the sealing in terror. Would that not have been more satisfying? Later, I understood—Master Xue had not written a feel-good novel, but a suffering novel. The entire world opposed the protagonist. If that was not a suffering novel, what was!
Pighead's Commentary: Pighead had always been unwilling to say much about Tianyuan, because it had been exhausting to write.
Since this book's world was described as dark, it was somewhat similar to Pighead's state of mind at the time. That was simply how it was.
Was Jiang Yu a tragic man? At least he still had something to hold onto. At least he still had the power to change some of the things he wanted to change. Whether immortals, gods, or demons, what they did was ultimately nothing more than an enlarged version of humanity's seven emotions and six desires.
Some said that sacred beings, immortals, and demons desired nothing. That was far too false.
If they truly desired nothing and had already reached the state of non-action, why would they still cultivate for longevity?
As for Miss Zhang Bingyun... I am very sorry... I can even remember Wei, the one killed with a single slash in Gods and Demons, yet she has already become blurry in my memory. A character destined for sacrifice, a character powerless to resist—how tragic. (To be continued.)