I finally finished writing the attaining the Dao arc.
To be honest, this arc went through several revisions. I considered Seeking, Stealing, and Expounding, but ultimately decided on Attainment-or rather, Enlightenment.
Turning Shang into Enlightenment.
Readers who have played Cultist Simulator probably recognized it: this was the Enlightenment Principle, which I combined with Zhuangzi's death of primordial chaos to form the theoretical basis for the protagonist's attaining the Dao.
I felt the combination was fairly clever and didn't come across as too jarring. It was also a way of borrowing the wisdom of those who came before me.
"Xu Wugui," in the Miscellaneous Chapters of the Zhuangzi, discusses the Seven Sages and the Seven Mysteries-conveniently, both sevens.
The ancients said Yin-Yang had six measures: Qian Yang was the measuring cord, Earthly Yin the leveling standard, Lesser Yang the compass, Greater Yang the balance beam, Lesser Yin the carpenter's square, and Greater Yin the counterweight. That left it exactly one measure short of seven.
Thus came Mystic Thunder, filling in the final measure and pointing toward the boundary between [Huaji] of the Seven Sages and [Great Stability] of the Seven Mysteries.
Now, let's talk about this book.
My original reason for writing this book was my love for Mystic Mirror. Honestly, I didn't expect to make any money from it at first, so its eventual success really was a pleasant surprise.
I've never actively asked for monthly votes or recommendations. To be honest, I felt guilty, as though I'd fallen short morally-like I'd taken someone else's things and then gone around flaunting them.
I love both classical culture and xianxia novels, so finding a work like Mystic Mirror was a surprise on top of a surprise.
I also quite like things with a modern flair, and to me, Mystic Mirror's worldbuilding