I knew that the material about the Western Continent would inevitably conflict with the original novel in the future. Still, I thought adding a Western Continent storyline would be interesting, so after weighing it up, I decided to give it a try in this book.
I wasn't confident I could write this part well, either. All I could say was that I'd do my best. If you have any ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments. Longtime readers probably already know that when I expand on the original setting, I like to copy ideas from reviews... ahem, I often draw inspiration from readers' wonderfully imaginative suggestions.
I mentioned this in my previous book, too. At first, I felt a little embarrassed about it, but then I discovered that some readers' ideas really were brilliant-even more interesting than my own concepts. At that point, the choice wasn't hard to make.
Besides, there's only so much I can do on my own, and some of the information I've gathered may not be comprehensive. You're welcome to add anything I've missed or point out mistakes.
Back to the topic: the hardest thing to handle about the Western Continent was that much of the information I'd gathered contradicted itself.
For instance, most of the Celestial Worthy's devout followers were on the Western Continent guarding the sefirot, so Penglai Mountain ought to have been the sole dominant power. Yet the Celestial Master, the Holy Monk, and the Underworld Daoist all seemed quite active.
Points like these needed to be reconciled. For example, we could assume that the Western Continent really was Penglai's domain at first, but as the Celestial Worthy's power gradually faded and the other sefirot became increasingly active, other factions emerged.
I also saw a very interesting idea on a forum: the emergence of figures like the Celestial Master might have been deliberately arranged by the Celestial Worthy. Once the sefirot became active, it effectively became harder for Gods to become Great Old Ones.
I came up with another plausible explanation: the Mother Goddess of Depravity first influenced the Brood Hive, giving rise to the Luo Sect. Afterward, under the influence of this Outer Deity's authority, the other sefirot gradually began showing signs of becoming active as well, and the first cultivators appeared.
That was actually the most interesting part. Precisely because there was so little information about the Western Continent, the possibilities were endless.
How should I put it? The real reason I made this standalone post was that I wasn't sure of myself.
There was another problem with the Western Continent material-or rather, a risk: it might break immersion.
After all, the way people from the Northern Continent spoke naturally had that translated-fiction feel, while I thought the best approach for people from the Western Continent would be to give their dialogue a touch of wuxia or cultivation-fiction flavor.
As for that risk, I still figured I'd try writing it first. If readers find it really immersion-breaking later on, I'll reduce the Western Continent's role. If you think it works reasonably well, I'll carry on with the original plan.
Your comments are actually my greatest source of confidence. The biggest advantage of webnovels is that they give authors and readers a platform for direct communication. Only after I've written the material and read your comments, or looked at the ongoing readership and subscription figures, can I get a clear sense of how things stand.
Finally, thank you to both new and longtime readers for reading. Thank you to my longtime readers for your continued support, and to my new readers for giving this book a chance.
This is already my third Lord of the Mysteries fanfic, and the previous two both did reasonably well, so feel free to dive in without worrying.