"In a world of great prosperity, with no war or famine, no exploitation or oppression, artistic creation fell into a slump instead?" Lord Wenchao's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Yeah. Some scholars believed the most vital core of any work of art that could touch the human heart was its expression of suffering. Once people no longer suffered, they struggled to understand the pain people had endured in the past, and had no need to express pain themselves..." Pan Long sighed. "Anyway, by the time I crossed over, VR games had become the dominant form of culture, and society as a whole was showing signs of stagnation. Experts of every stripe spent their days shouting things like 'humanity's future is full of troubles.'"
"Holy shit! What luxurious troubles!"
"After crossing into this world, I thought our troubles back then were pretty luxurious too," Pan Long said with a smile. "To the people here, the age we lived in was a paradise beyond imagining. No exploitation or oppression, no scheming and deception, no disasters or wars. The angriest I ever got was when the technicians at Smoked Goose Game Company said I was too old for it to be safe and wouldn't let me test a full-immersion game. And the people I envied most were those bastards who went to colonize Mars and build themselves harems of clones..."
"Brother, stop! Please, stop!" Lord Wenchao heaved a long sigh. "Keep talking and I'm going to cry!"
"Anyway, when I first entered the Martial World, I had trouble adjusting to everything," Pan Long said with a sigh. "Back home, it wasn't so bad. Conditions in the Northlands were a little harsh, but the social atmosphere was good. Once I reached the Martial World, though, it was... ugh!"
"You still had it pretty good. Things