A Word From the Author: Mountains and Rivers, Grandeur Fills My Heart

With daily updates of seven to eight thousand characters, before I knew it, "On the Great Dao" had reached 170,000 characters.

"On the Great Dao" is Zhai Zhu's tenth full-length novel and his ninth time partially going on sale.

Before attending university, Zhai Zhu had always enjoyed reading classical masterpieces. As his reading volume increased during college, he became immersed in traditional culture. Seeing so much inspired him to write. Upon graduating and facing employment, he bravely chose a novel career at the time: an online literature author. His first book was "Rebirth Journey to the West," with Marshal Tianpeng, a pig, as the protagonist.

This was the first time I earned royalties from my own stories. The happiest times back then were when I received my royalties. In 2008, earning several thousand yuan a month was very attractive to a recent college graduate. Could this be the "house of gold found in books" they talk about?

This sentence wasn't spoken by the Master, so Chen Shi shouldn't have misunderstood, right?

Why "partially"?

Because "Water Margin Immortal Path" ended with its on-sale announcement.

In my on-sale announcement for "Water Margin," I mentioned it had only 195 subscriptions, forcing me to abandon the book. To write in a historical Xianxia style, I consulted many resources, but many imagined plots and even outlines written on paper never made it into the story.

From January 2009 to January 2010, after a year's hiatus, Zhai Zhu stubbornly started another book, "Savage Throne," with the protagonist Debiao Manchu. Doesn't that name sound a bit cheesy now? It actually was back then!

But he was different from Tianpeng and Wu Song in the previous two books; this was the first time I gave my protagonist a name.

In the past, my books directly used the stories of "Journey to the West" and "Water Margin" as their foundation. After finishing "Savage Throne," Zhai Zhu was convinced he had the ability to "create" worlds. Thus, I wrote a protagonist completely different from the previous three books: Ye Xu, courtesy name Shaobao.

It wasn't until "Unrivaled Under Heaven," "Emperor Venerable," "Supreme Human Dao," "Record of the Shepherd God," "Walking by the Abyss," and "Ascend on a Chosen Day" that the pen name Zhai Zhu became known to more readers. Looking back at the seventeen years of creation, ten books, and over thirty million characters, the constraint on my creativity shifted from economic conditions to my physical health.

(Seventeen years... I've been writing for so long. I wonder if any readers who followed me from "Rebirth Journey to the West" are still here.)

After "Ascend on a Chosen Day" was completed, Zhai Zhu finally defeated Urticaria Heavenly Venerable, which gave me the physical condition to prepare for a new book. However, I still cannot eat fish, shrimp, or crab.

Since the epidemic, I have become Six Yang Heavenly Venerable.

Not having to update daily is a great joy, but the stock market (Big A) is so green. I could only refocus my heart on the path of field research, visiting several provinces and cities like Fujian, Hubei, and Hebei, exploring famous mountains, seeking ancient temples, and gathering material.

The magnificent mountains and rivers broaden my horizons.

Because folk customs material is so difficult to collect, I often had to see things for myself. The most memorable part of the entire process was the You Shen festival in Fujian. (Thanks to Zhai Cai for the hospitality.)

Besides field research, I also collected paper materials.

A reader once asked Zhai Zhu what books he reads and requested my reading list. These are some of the books I read during my field research: "Taoist Magic Spells," "Compilation of Chinese Local Chronicles and Folklore Materials," "Witches, Ghosts, and Licentious Sacrifices," "Witchcraft," "Chinese Folk Customs," "Chinese Culture of Elves and Monsters," "Dao Shu," "Grand View of Chinese Talisman Culture," "Huangdi Neijing Waijing," "Biographies of Immortals," "Complete Collection of Zhang Tianshi's Talismans," "What I Wear in the Ming Dynasty," "Taiping Jing," "Guiguzi," "Face Reading Art," and so on.

The talismans in the books aren't conjured out of thin air, you know.

Zhai Zhu grew up in northern Anhui, and worshipping a godmother was a custom in our village.

Zhai Zhu has a godmother, which is a stone tablet. There are inscriptions on the stone tablet, but they are illegible. During festivals, my mother would take me to pay respects to the stone tablet godmother.

Sometimes we would burn incense, and sometimes we would bring red eggs to the godmother, asking her to bless me, who was often unwell, with a long life.

In the village, some people recognized the old willow tree as their godmother, believing it could offer protection.

My grandmother would tell some strange stories, including one about an old cat that ate runaway children, with red eyes and green hair; dragons that ascended from water tanks; children raised in jars; and all sorts of strange demons and monsters...

While preparing for my new book, I thought: Folk culture is an important part of traditional culture. Currently, folk culture is flourishing, and there is much more content to explore.

Why not incorporate "folk customs" as an element in the fantasy Xianxia genre?

Thus, I had an idea.

Suppose the traditional Chinese folk customs, like worshipping a godmother, are real. Stones gain sentience, and the statues in temples absorb incense and fire energy, gradually awakening.

Then, let's make another assumption.

Suppose Sanbao the Eunuch, Zheng He, of the Great Ming Dynasty, sailed west and his fleet passed through a dark sea, arriving at a completely unfamiliar continent.

There are no people on this continent, only strange creatures. (Not North America, don't get any ideas.)

Here reside gods and spirits, and all sorts of Malevolent Spirits from Chinese folklore.

Beyond the heavens, there is a supreme True God, watching over the mortal world.

So, how should the story of the new continent unfold?

Before starting the book, I hoped "On the Great Dao" would bring readers a story that is slightly thrilling, yet playful and humorous, entertaining their minds and bodies.

I hope to write Chen Shi's innocence and cunning, to depict how Chen Shi, a left-behind child, and the lonely old man Chen Yindu support each other, and to portray the grandfather and grandson's bond.

It's also about putting the fantasies of my childhood regarding these rural folk customs into words.

I hope to use Chen Shi's perspective to slowly unveil this story, which unfolds from a worldview based on folk customs.

It's something that happened in the Great Ming Dynasty, but it's also not something that happened in the Great Ming Dynasty.

This time, no matter what, Zhai Zhu must break through, defeat his past self, and write a Xianxia fantasy based on folk customs!

The book goes on sale at midnight tonight. Please subscribe and vote for July's monthly tickets!

Brothers, tonight, let's search for a new continent and set sail!!!