Seven o'clock at night.
The forum.
The pinned post was:
"Grand Solicitation: Seeking all kinds of touching, tragic, and interesting Daoist stories. Those selected will receive one initial character."
Clearly, the blacksmiths were preparing to start making stories.
"The Flood Dragon and the Scholar" was their first attempt.
Actually, the blacksmiths still had a great deal of self-awareness.
In business, they had been beaten black and blue by the shrewd natives many times.
They did not think their plots could outdo the professionals of the immortal realm.
But!
They had an advantage no other books possessed: Golden Core vessels.
Everyone buys my Golden Cores. That's the advantage.
If they said, "Buy a book and get a Golden Core free," they definitely could not compete with the traditional booksellers and all kinds of periodicals in the immortal realm.
But if they said, "Buy a Golden Core and get a story free"—
Didn't that make people feel as if they were getting a bargain?
Moreover, according to the setting of their products, when a Daoist died, he would leave behind a Golden Core. His Golden Core contained the story of his life, and you could even eat it.
Wouldn't that make it feel authentic and immersive?
My story is based on personal experience. It isn't fake.
Below that, the blacksmiths began replying one after another:
"I'm submitting an exciting story about marching off to war."
"I want to submit a dark mythology story—the legend of Fourth Sister turning into a Golden Core."
"I think we could train Jiuzhang a little. This superintelligence could artificially generate stories about All Living Beings, so every one of our Golden Cores would have a story."
"Exactly. Even if it only generated ordinary mortal stories—household squabbles and everyday trifles—that would work."
"I suggest adding some palace intrigue