Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“It’s huge!”

Li Yao exclaimed at the ‘Heavenly Horse Lake International Convention and Exhibition Center’.

The convention and exhibition center was located in a newly developed area of Jiang Nan City. It was huge and magnificent. Several silver, bizarre-shaped buildings made people feel as if they were travelling to the future.

Even though the main meeting hall was as large as several football fields, today’s convention and exhibition center was still packed with people from all over the country as well as other related manufacturers and workers.

As far as one’s eyes could reach, there were fans of cartoons and fantasy culture who were dressed in bizarre costumes and pretended to be serious. Like Yu Xin, they were dressed in colorful and bizarre costumes. Some of them were dressed as powerful great magicians; some were dressed as ghastly vampires; some were dressed as glamorous and charming female demons; some were dressed as steel-like robots that were armed to the teeth; and of course, there were also some sword immortals who had local characteristics and were dressed in elegant white robes.

Some of them were swaggering as if there was no one else in the room. They were walking here and there, displaying their delicate homemade clothes. Some of them were even coming up with short plays with plots, attracting the attention of a large number of spectators. They were like-minded and harmonious. Li Yao even saw a young black man who was wearing a homemade “armor”. His hands and back were shining and smoking!

As an ordinary youth of this era, Li Yao had, of course, come in contact with fantasy entertainment products such as cartoons, web novels, and sci-fi movies. He didn’t have any resistance to this. It was just that in the past, when he was plagued by strange dreams, he spent most of his time sleeping or daydreaming. He wasn’t as engrossed as Yu Xin and Zhao Kai. Today, when he arrived at the animation festival, his mood had been infected by so many fans, and he was also interested. He carried a plastic inflatable prop known as the “Sword of Vast Heaven”. He looked here and there. It was quite refreshing.

“Wow, so big!”

Yu Xin was next to him, too. He was drooling while he looked around lewdly. “Look over there! Look over there! That hammer is so white! No. What I meant was that the sabers are so round! No. Well, you will know when you see them. I really want to suffocate in them!”

Li Yao was somewhat speechless. He said, “Speaking of which, why do we have to stand in this place? This seems to be the entrance of a toilet?”

“You don’t understand. We’re here to see a young lady, but everyone is dressed so gorgeously. Do you know who the young lady is and who the cross-dressing big shot is if you don’t take off your pants? What if you drool for a certain succubus or female demon for a long time, and when you’re in a hurry to pee, you find out that the other party went to the men’s restroom with you? The guy will take it out and it will be even bigger than you. Don’t you think it’s awkward?”

Yu Xin said, “So, of course, I’m going to stand at the entrance of the toilet and figure out which girls are the real girls, so that it will be easier for me to take action later… Don’t look at me like that. I meant to take a picture with them, have a heart-to-heart competition, leave a phone number or a WeChat message. That should be fine, right?”

“Yes.”

Li Yao watched absent-mindedly. Suddenly, his gaze froze and he poked Yu Xin. “There seems to be a musical in the booth over there. Do you know what it is?”

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“Where? Where?”

Yu Xin squinted his eyes and read for a while before saying, “Oh, it’s ‘Legend of the Super Cultivator’. It’s quite a popular online novel. Recently, it seems to have been adapted into a comic and a game. The game manufacturer wants to use the animation festival platform to advertise first. Not only have they arranged musicals and imitation shows, but the author of the novel will also be present to sign the book. He’s the legendary web novelist. If he can get an autograph, Zhao Kai will definitely like it.”

“‘Legend of Super Cultivators’?”

Li Yao subconsciously pressed his temples and felt that his head was aching again.

“Yes. You haven’t seen them? Sword immortals, Cultivators, demons, devils, and so on. I’ve read half of them. Not bad.”

Yu Xin said, “I have to ask Zhao Kai whether or not I should bring an autograph back for him. Hehe. Let him manage my breakfast for a month!”

“Cultivators…”

Li Yao stared at the girls in the booth who were wearing the same clothes as before, singing and dancing, and the scenes where flying swords were flying and shooting mystic rays with various sound and electricity effects. For a moment, he felt that the scene in front of him was blurred again, and a distant world was becoming clearer and clearer.

Right at this moment, a commotion broke out in the surroundings. Quite a few animation fans and cosplayers took out their cell phones, lowered their heads, and started discussing.

Yu Xin had just taken out his phone and was about to contact his roommate when he saw a message pop up. He was also stunned and said in disbelief, “Gilson is dead? No way!”

“Which Gilson?”

Li Yao was baffled.

“It’s Gilson, the one who is known as the ‘Butcher’. He is the author of ‘Blood and Sand’, a world-famous author of serious fantasy literature. He is a real god who is best known for his cruelty and mercilessness to his characters. You don’t know him?”

Yu Xin said, “The novel is named ‘Blood and Sand’. Later, it was adapted into a serial called ‘Song of the Abyss’. It has been quite a hit over the past two years. Many people have been chasing after it. Even if you haven’t read the novel, you should have read a few of the serial, right?”

“Now that you mention it, I remember now. I’ve watched a few episodes of ‘Song of the Abyss’, but I didn’t know that it was named ‘Blood and Sand’. I didn’t know that this Gilson was dead, either.

Fantasy literature, or rather, fantasy entertainment works, were all budding in China. They had just entered the blossoming stage. Even the world-renowned gods might not be known by society, but this was the Comic-Con. Most of the tourists and the audience were fans of the related fields. Naturally, they had a strong reaction to the collapse of the industry.

Li Yao did not have much of a reaction to the death of a foreign fantasy writer, but seeing that many people were talking about it, he asked casually, “What a pity. How did he die?”

“I think it’s a heart attack. The old man isn’t young anymore, and he’s also fat. All day, he’s been killing and killing in the novels. His blood flows like a river, and his head is rolling. Even he can’t stand the stimulation. In the middle of the night, he had a heart attack… It seems so. The specific news hasn’t been released yet. It’s all gossip. Let me look at another website…”

Yu Xin lowered his head and scrolled through his phone. He switched to a forum dedicated to the discussion of fantasy entertainment works. Suddenly, his fingers and his breath came to a halt. His pupils constricted to the minimum, and he looked like he had seen a ghost.

“What’s wrong?”

Li Yao was shocked. “You don’t have such feelings for this Gilson, do you? I remember that you like to read comic books, but you don’t particularly like to read fantasy novels or watch dramas. What are you doing here?”

“That’s impossible.”

Yu Xin mumbled, “Gao Wuyi is dead, too?”

“Huh?”

Li Yao was baffled. “Who is Gao Wuyi?”

“It’s a mangaka from Fusang. His name is ‘Strong Colonization Hunter’. He has been drawing on and off for 20-30 years and killed a lot of readers. I started reading it when I was in primary school. Now that I’m about to graduate from college, it’s impossible for me to finish it. There’s no way that I can ever finish it.”

Yu Xin glanced at his phone quickly. “The news has been confirmed by the police of Fusang. It is not fake news. It seems that he was crushed to death by an out-of-control truck when he went out to play mahjong. He has been crushed into pieces beyond recognition. His hands, in particular, have been crushed into minced meat. Oh, he is doomed!”

Yu Xin heaved a long sigh and slapped his thigh.

It could be seen that, for him, who was an experienced comic fan, the death of the mangaka of Fusang was obviously more heartbreaking than the passing of the western fantasy novelist. However, Li Yao could not tell whether he was crying or laughing, lamenting the death of a genius mangaka, or gritting his teeth and saying “good death”. It was truly strange.

The atmosphere of the Comic-Con Festival was apparently more solemn.

In this era of super-advanced information, even across the ocean, nothing could stop the speed of news.

Very soon, the news of the passing of two masters in different fields, one in the east and the other in the west, who brought endless imagination and happiness, spread to every corner of the convention center. Although it was not enough to extinguish the joyful atmosphere, it at least brought two topics that were not so easy to talk about. Judging from the time, the two masters seemed to have passed away at the same time, no more than an hour before and after. There was no telling whether or not it was the will of heaven, but it was quite a pity.

Although he was in a bad mood, he could not postpone the series of events that he had prepared for the Comic-Con Festival. Soon, with the background music and the background music, the atmosphere was heated again. In the booth of the game ‘Legend of Super Cultivators’, the author of the novel stepped onto the stage and started interacting with hundreds of crazy fans or the official fans.

“Thank you for your support. Without you, there would be no ‘Legend of Super Cultivators’. Thank you very, very much—”

The author of the novel was jumping up and down on stage.

Watching him from afar, Li Yao had an ominous feeling deep inside his aching brain.

Creak. Creak.

He seemed to have heard something. He saw a few screws that were not fixed properly break and fall off.

“No—”

Li Yao cried out involuntarily, yet he was unable to stop everything. He could only watch helplessly as a combination lamp weighing hundreds of pounds fell from the sky above the booth and ruthlessly smashed the author of the novel who was promoting the game in front of countless people.

…

When Li Yao and Yu Xin returned to the dormitory, they looked like two disheveled chickens.

It was no laughing matter that an accident had taken place in the crowded Animation Festival. At that time, order was already in chaos. The two of them had just run out, and one of Yu Xin’s shoes had been knocked off. He had no choice but to buy a pair of slippers.

“Somebody’s dead! Somebody’s dead! Somebody’s dead!”

His excitement didn’t diminish in the slightest. There wasn’t the slightest bit of fear or sorrow in his expression. Instead, he knocked on the bed railing of the second brother of the dormitory, Zhao Kai, and shouted, “Take a guess. Who’s dead? I’m not talking about Gilson or Gao Wuyi. I guarantee you won’t be able to guess!”

“What the heck!”

Zhao Kai stuck his head out from under the covers and pulled out one of his earbuds. Although his tone was dissatisfied, there was still a smile on his face as he said, “Stop fooling around. I’m reading a book. What dead people? What does it have to do with me?”

“What book are you so engrossed in?”

Yu Xin shrieked, “You didn’t know such a big thing happened?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been reading books for the past two days. Hahahaha. I don’t know what the author’s dog brain is thinking. It’s quite interesting. I’ll be damned if I believe him!”

Zhao Kai chuckled, “I sincerely recommend you to take a look. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such nonsense.”

“Is that so?”

Yu Xin wanted to tell Zhao Kai about the accident at the Comic-Con Festival, but he was attracted by Zhao Kai’s words and said, “What book? Who wrote it? I’ll read it when I’m free.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you flip it or not, but Li Yao is definitely going to flip it. I guarantee you a big surprise.”

Zhao Kai waved his phone at Li Yao and said with a smile, “The title of the book is . The author’s name is—oh, it’s a newcomer. The name is quite awkward to pronounce. It’s something called ‘Master Snail’.”