Brothers.
The fourth arc had begun releasing a long time ago.
However, due to some details that needed consideration, this little side story had been delayed until now. After giving it some thought recently, I decided to release it in early July.
To be honest, this little side story could not really be called a side story.
At most, it could be called some revisions to the details. I wrote this content so that you brothers could roughly understand the direction the fourth arc's plot would take.
All right.
Without further ado, the following content will cover some of the coming plot directions.
Brothers, take a look. If you have any thoughts, feel free to leave a comment. I will appropriately adjust the direction of the plot based on everyone's suggestions, ensuring that the content remains reasonable.
----Main Text----
July, unlike any other month, is a timeline that belongs exclusively to Dead Kid.
Dead Kid, or rather, Lost Kid.
I have always believed that every lowly adjective—words such as inferiority, cowardice, incompetence, decadence, arrogance, dullness, self-denial, and so on—could be used to describe Dead Kid.
Or rather, Dead Kid was originally the collection of all those adjectives.
Although that was what I said, I had always believed that Dead Kid was the type of person most likely to achieve self-awakening among all personality types.
Therefore, the broad framework of this fourth arc was: I wrestled with my heart for so long; one day, I will shed my old shackles and would rather be myself!??
To put it plainly, the central idea was: the self-redemption of a Dead Kid.??
----1----
Why bring up the term Dead Kid?
The current Lu Chen, or rather King Lingguan, was, to a certain extent, a Dead Kid: inferior, cowardly, and without goals. Brothers, think about King Lingguan's identity. One slot, ten-day limited-time prize guessing contest.
This fourth arc revolved around self-awakening and the events that unfolded after self-awakening.
As the protagonist, Lu Chen clearly fit the Dead Kid personality at this point in the timeline's development.
However.
After all, he was the protagonist of the story. No matter how I wrote him, I could not turn him into a complete scumbag, or the story would become impossible to read. So at this point, a supporting character had to represent Lu Chen, and that was where King Lingguan's role came in.
Brothers, that was the first story development point. Next came the second.
----2----
Since Dead Kid was going to awaken, then according to the usual pattern, an opportunity would surely have to appear at the right time.
That was what the second point was about.
What was an opportunity?
It had to be tremendous ups and downs!
When a person had weaknesses but was unaware of them, or when someone guided them and pointed out those weaknesses but they did not take them seriously, that was when tremendous ups and downs were most likely to occur.
What were tremendous ups and downs?
Tremendous ups and downs in oneself? That definitely would not be enough. I had always believed that this level of ups and downs was still far from enough to make an arrogant person truly achieve self-awakening.
Then what else was there?
There was now one point: because of one's own mistaken decision, the people around them suffered calamity.
Similar situations had been written many times before.
Things like killing one's wife to prove the Dao, killing one's child to prove the Dao—those were methods of evil demons, and they truly did not suit a protagonist.
There were also things like slaughtering an entire clan or massacring an entire sect. That was one kind of awakening method for Daoist disciples. Or there could be the death of one's wife and daughter, the death of one's sons and nephews, the death of one's brothers—a kind of awakening where calamity spread to friends and family.
There were many others, and I would not explain them one by one here.
The three kinds I just listed all involved the death of people other than the protagonist, people who were extremely important in the protagonist's life.
Death of the body was far less devastating than death of the heart.
This was the process through which most Dead Kids achieved self-awakening.
I had previously considered using a similar approach, but after thinking it over, perhaps that alone would not be enough, so I planned to make it even more cruel.
One person might only bring a thread of pain.
But if beloved brothers and loved ones all died because of one incident, one person meant one thread, and a hundred people meant a heart reduced to dead ashes.
What if that still was not enough!
What if, not long before this incident, someone had deliberately warned him about it, yet because of his arrogance, he had not realized the danger in time?
What if that still was not enough!
What if, after those tremendous ups and downs, he was given a tiny hope, only to be told the very next second that this hope would immediately disappear, or that another person's death was required to obtain it?
Would that be enough?
I thought it would be enough.
After all, the human spirit was a taut string. There would always be a limit, and once it was exceeded, it would snap. That was probably why an exceptionally good person could suddenly undergo such a drastic change in personality after experiencing such events.
Therefore.
Before he reached his limit, he had to be given hope, given a period of respite, and allowed to pass through that respite safely while holding onto hope.
During that period of respite.
Dead Kid would inevitably begin to think. He might also feel helpless, his heart filled with bleak images.
At that moment, something carrying vivid color needed to appear within those bleak images.
That was what was called self-redemption.
It could be an external object, or it could be self-fantasy, but the effect it produced had to be allowing Dead Kid to safely make it through that period of respite.
At that moment, the event's singularity would arrive.
At the critical moment, an external force had to use the same method to destroy that vivid color. Yet that external force would happen to be blocked by Dead Kid. That was what was called self-redemption.
Therefore.
Whether it was an external force or self-fantasy, the underlying logic was ultimately nothing more than Dead Kid's self-redemption.
Brothers, that was the second story development point. Next came the third.
----3----
No matter what happened, there was always a cause, a process, and a result.
The cause was Dead Kid's nature. The process was Dead Kid's self-redemption. And the result was inevitably Dead Kid completing his self-awakening.
A Dead Kid who could complete self-awakening was called the protagonist. One who could not was the antagonist.
One method, two different outcomes.
This immediately set up the opposition between protagonist and antagonist. A person could be bad, but there had to be a reason, and they also had to display traits opposite to the protagonist. That was the key to making an antagonist pitiable.
After achieving awakening came Dead Kid's determined rise. At that point, he could no longer be called Dead Kid; he should be called the protagonist of a novel.
That was all for the third point.
As for the developments after self-awakening, that fell within the formula of a satisfying webnovel. Revealing too much would instead take away a lot of the satisfying moments, so I would not say more here. Whatever type you want to see, you can all bring it up, and I will do my best to satisfy everyone.
Brothers, those were the three story development points. Next came the fourth.
----4----
The fourth development point would cover several story beats that would probably happen.
For now, they were only for reference.
1.
[The Twelve-Day Brand, the Sacrificial War]
A great deal had already been foreshadowed earlier. Very soon, the Sacrificial War would take place.
Nantian Wan'er was Lu Chen's last trace of tenderness. Sacrificing Nantian Wan'er would certainly be more effective than sacrificing anyone else, so Nantian Wan'er's sacrifice would be the fuse that set everything off.
2.
[Chen Tingting!]
A new character who would appear alongside Nantian Wan'er's sacrifice. You can all guess her specific identity. Likewise, one person, ten-day limited-time prize guessing contest.
3.
[Lu Chen's Dao techniques are nothing more than this!]
When this line appeared, it would more or less mark the beginning of the Sacrificial War.
4.
[The kindness of that day, the fruit of this day!]
The second person would be sacrificed, further setting the sacrificial process in motion. After that, there would be other plot developments, which I would not say more about for now.??
5.
[The puppet controlled by everyone, the singularity of the Golden Age]
This point involved far too much of the later plot, so I could not reveal too much content. However, everyone could think about what this sentence meant. This point would officially appear in the next arc.
6.
[The courage to face one hundred as one surpasses the strength to face one as one hundred.]
Facing one hundred alone required courage, but one hundred facing one also required courage. This would be a mid-battle turning point in the Sacrificial War.??
7.
[Could a backward current crossing time and space change the direction of history's development?]
This would be the conclusion of the Sacrificial War, and a new writing technique would also appear. For now, I was only recording it. Everyone could guess whose storyline this was.
8.
[Flowers in a bleak world]
Dead Kid's self-redemption. No more, no more.
9.
[Aristocratic Clan and commoners, the final theme of everything]
After Dead Kid's self-redemption, there would inevitably be debts repaid with vengeance and kindness repaid with gratitude. Therefore, from this point onward, it would no longer be small-time squabbles, but the arrival of a new world and a new stage.
10.
[Female cultivators have never been dependents. We also need freedom. Give me liberty, or give me death!]
A new storyline.
It would probably begin after the Sacrificial War. It was the product of Dead Kid's self-redemption, though its timeline might be placed somewhat later.
There were still many more plotlines, but I could not say too much here. If I kept talking, I might end up revealing the entire arc. Hahaha, brothers, please forgive me!!
This little side story.
That was about all there was to it. A little side story, a little side story, a little side story—so today's content ended here.
Dead Kid's redemption.
Please look forward to it.
Before you continue