As usual, it was better to say a few words.
Last night, when he finished writing the last word of the main story, he was completely exhausted and dizzy. It was as if his body had been hollowed out and he had become a dull and insipid sage.
He had told everyone that he would rest early, but when he laid on the bed, he couldn't fall asleep. He didn't know if it was because of excitement, joy, or some kind of faint disappointment.
Looking at the group chat and the book review section, his friends were in full swing. Many people expressed their reluctance to part with "40,000 Years of Cultivation," while others felt that it had ended too quickly and abruptly. They could have continued to write three to five thousand chapters, or at least three to five hundred chapters. Many more people said that "Shu-Si" had accompanied them for a very important period of time. It could have been from high school to university, or from university to society, or from being single to having a family, or from being someone's child to someone's parent. In the span of three years, they were moved, angry, surprised, or passionate. Those people in "Shu-Si" had already become family members. Those things also felt like they had happened to themselves or in their dreams.
That's right, everyone's feelings were also Old Cow's feelings. Please believe that Old Cow was even more reluctant to part with "Shu-Si" than any of you. He couldn't wait to write for another three to five years, eight to ten years, or even a lifetime.
Just as an earlier reflection said, the age of thirty-four or thirty-five was perhaps the best golden age for a web novelist — all aspects were mature, the body wasn't too bad, and the brain and physical strength could barely keep up. They could persevere with high-intensity updates and frequently stay up late. Time was gone, and Old Cow really didn't know if he could still play as hard as he did now in the next three years!
So, how could he not be disappointed? From March 2015 to July 2018, a total of three years and four months, 1,215 days, 10.23 million words, an average of 8,419 words per day. Thinking and writing really took seven to eight hours, or even ten hours, to complete. Whether it was my child in the hospital or myself in the hospital, there wasn't a single day of interruption. The world of "40,000 Years of Cultivation" had really integrated into my blood, bones, spirit, and soul. It had become a part of my life. To forcibly dig out this part, throw it away, and continue to stride forward, how painful and cruel was that?
I wasn't complaining about being tired here. Although looking back, I couldn't say that I wasn't tired at all, at that time, I was immersed in "Shu-Si Universe" with so many friends, going on adventures, surging hot blood, and waving the flames of war. How delightful was that? How could I care about suffering and tiredness?
For Old Cow, writing had already become a natural instinct, as natural as breathing and heartbeat. He couldn't possibly say, "My heartbeat persisted while I was in the hospital. How hardworking!" or "My child persisted in breathing while I was in the hospital. How hardworking!" That would be too ridiculous, right?
In short, what I mean is that after you've devoted the best three years of your life and tried your best to write a novel of tens of millions of words, it's really difficult to organize one or two thousand words to describe your feelings at this moment. Perhaps, condensing everyone's feelings together is what Old Cow is thinking at this moment?
Why don't we talk about the ending first?
The ending is a big problem.
A novel of tens of millions of words, with thousands of threads, countless characters, and countless deep holes, I'm afraid that no matter how it ends, there will be people who will be dissatisfied.
Some of my friends did say that such an ending was a bit hasty, and that there were still many stories that could be told, including the battle against the Flood, which could also be described positively. At the very least, it wouldn't be a problem to write thirty to fifty chapters.
Yes, Old Cow said that everyone's opinion was correct. If we really wanted to write, there were still many things that could be written. At the very least, we could write that Li Yao was helped by a certain power of a higher level, that he grasped the mysterious ultimate truth of the universe, blew up the Flood with one punch, and then led his wife and children to live in seclusion in the woods and boated on the lake. It wouldn't be a problem to write that, would it?
But I still feel that if we wrote that, we would lose the flavor of the 'Fourth Cultivator'.
Does the outcome of the battle between human beings and the Flood really matter?
From the very beginning, from the moment when the seven Cultivators stepped forward to save the people, and from the moment when Guan Xiong, a Cultivator of the Mountain Sea Sect, rushed forward and resisted the beast tide, everybody should've understood that the outcome of the battle was never important in the 'Fourth Cultivator'.
What mattered was whether or not they felt good, whether or not they were loyal, whether or not they were happy, whether or not they were excited, whether or not they carried out their beliefs to the end.
An eternal cowardly tortoise would always be a cowardly tortoise. The human beings who were brave enough to wield their swords in the face of the Flood or a power of a higher level would forever be proud, glorious, and capitalized human beings!
No matter what kind of formidable enemy we are faced with, the odds of victory will always be fifty-fifty for those of us who have the courage to march forward and wave their sabers. We will either live or die, lose or win, collapse or explosion. It will be fifty-fifty. As for whether we are living on a certain parallel Earth after "the victory of mankind, the defeat of the Flood, and the Big Bang of a parallel universe" or on the original Earth where "mankind has temporarily failed and time has been turned back to billions of years ago", it will be up to you, all the "Observers", to decide.
No matter what, you decide your own future, and the millions of you — we — control the future of Earth and even the entire universe that we can observe. I firmly believe that. Therefore, let the story of Vulture Li Yao come to an end at the most brilliant moment. The rest of the story will be continued by the future generations.
No matter what, the "Four Main Courses of Cultivation" had finally come to an end. Old Cow could finally heave a long sigh of relief and wipe the cold sweat off his forehead. Thinking back to three and a half years ago, when he had just started writing, he had really only wanted to write a simple and easy story about leveling up and killing monsters in the ancient martial arts. Tell me, how did a liberal arts student like me, who had no foundation in science, end up writing about black holes, giant planets, gravitational waves, and quantum states? I really didn't know anything about these things. I checked the dictionary and made up a lie. I even felt guilty!
Everyone said that the first few BOSSes were more charming, but the BOSSes at the end were strong, but their will was not that good. Old Cow said that yes, it was because their strength was too strong, so strong that Old Cow did not know how to describe it. If they were given intelligence, strategy, patience, and perseverance like the BOSSes at the beginning, how could Li Yao and his friends and family survive?
This was also one of the reasons why we decided to end the story. After all, Old Cow was known for being concise and comprehensive, and for cherishing ink like gold. Don't write anymore, or else it would be too realistic.
In the end, we should thank the people that we should thank.
At the end of 'Fourth Cultivator', the concept of 'going back in time' was mentioned. Old Cow believed that everyone had once had a beautiful dream of 'going back in time and being reborn with their memories'. They had once doubted whether their past was worth it. They were even filled with regret and unwillingness, including Old Cow himself.
He still remembered that in 2005, when Old Cow had just graduated, he worked in a real estate company. In 2005, a real estate company. Comrades, if you had persevered, wouldn't you have reached the peak of your life long ago, with nice cars and beautiful … gold? It was a pity that he had written on his own. He had the passion to write and resolutely quit his job to write full-time. In the end, he was beaten black and blue. Basically, he only had to pay for water, electricity, and gas, and he was already a 'white-collar worker'!
At that time, if Old Cow had the chance to 'go back in time', would he have been tempted? At the very least, he would have transmigrated back to warn his past self — Don't ever quit your job. Writing full-time online novels is a dead end. Of course!
But then again, life is where countless possibilities collide with each other in order to obtain the most beautiful results. If I didn't write full-time, I wouldn't have met my wife by chance, your Sister-in-law Cow, and of course, I wouldn't have a cute 'Niu Bao'. Speaking of my wife, sigh, I should still call her my wife. She was really good. At that time, the exposure rate of online novels wasn't very high. Old Cow, who didn't earn much money, didn't have any prospects as a small writer, but she didn't care and often encouraged me. She even advised me when I asked if I should give up on writing and go out to find a professional job. She said that she didn't know if I could become a good writer, but she knew that I was a very bad accountant. China was so big, and there was no shortage of bad accountants. Therefore, I should just stick to writing, which was a very promising job. Hahahaha. Later on, in order to increase the exposure rate of my works, she even thought of ways to appear in public, and even acted in some terrible roles according to the script.
As for my son, 'Niu Bao', there's no need to talk about it. Half of the 《40,000 Years of Cultivation》 was written for him. My thinking was very simple. I hoped that I could write a book that was open and aboveboard. When my son grew up to puberty, I could generously show it to him. At least 51% of the characters in the book were worthy of him learning.
That's all! If time could be reversed, everything could start from the beginning. The regrets of the past would be erased, but those happy and beautiful things would completely change. Even if there were nice cars and beautiful … gold, what would happen to 'Sister-in-law Cow' and 'Niu Bao'? Would they even exist? All of this was something that I didn't even dare to think about.
Therefore, I shouldn't do it, right?
Everything was arranged for the best, and I already got the best result.
That's right, there's still something very important. If time could really be reversed, and Old Niu walked to the peak of life, then there wouldn't be 《40,000 Years of Cultivation》. There wouldn't be Old Niu and everyone moving together, hot-blooded together, roaring together, and laughing together for more than a thousand days and nights. There wouldn't be so many friends gathered together, and everyone together created the infinitely exciting, gorgeous, and super thrilling "Cultivation Four Universes"!
Just what kind of success, just how much worldly wealth would it take for Old Niu to use 《40,000 Years of Cultivation》 to exchange with so many good friends and good readers?
How should I put it, with seven or eight discounts, the cheapest price would be at least five million … USD?
Now, everyone should know how important you are in the depths of Old Niu's heart, right?
In short, I would like to thank my family members who have always silently supported Old Niu. I would also like to thank every single reader, friend, brother and sister, and comrade-in-arms who have always supported Old Niu in various ways (of course, it's best if it's real money). Although it's cliché, it's the truth. It's your support that created the "Cultivation Four Universes". Furthermore, this universe hasn't been annihilated yet. As long as you continue to support, this universe will definitely become more and more vast and exciting. There will be countless stories, legends, dreams, and hopes that will play out here!
Finally, let's talk about the follow-up arrangements.
I'm really too tired today. I'll let Old Niu have a good rest. This is the first time I've rested in three years.
From tomorrow onwards, I'll update some extras.
I believe that everyone will be looking forward to it. Actually, Old Niu himself is looking forward to it as well. After all, this novel is different from other novels. In the main novel, there's always a guy who can't die no matter what, waving his flagella and jumping out to flirt. He's really too annoying. I don't want to write about him, but it's not very suitable. Finally, in the extras, I can get rid of this guy and do something big!
The extras will be long and short. The long ones have ten or twenty chapters, while the short ones have one or two chapters. I'll write along the timeline. I'll first write about the story of the origin of Earth billions of years ago, then write about the small events in the war between the super civilization and the primitive civilization. Then, I'll write about the birth of the Pioneer Civilization and the Pangu Civilization, and finally return to the time of the Xing Yao Federation. I'll even write about the parallel universe billions of years later. If there are no accidents, this should be the case.
As for the frequency of updates, I'll try my best to maintain one update a day. It's not that Old Niu is slacking off. After all, I still have to come up with ideas for new books. The new books might take two or three months to figure out. During this period, I'll try my best to not stop the extras so that everyone can read them every day.
In short, as long as life doesn't stop, creation doesn't stop. As long as everyone enjoys reading, Old Niu will continue to work hard. Definitely.
Thank you, everyone.
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