I am truly sorry. My updates have been very unstable recently, and I've been taking days off left and right.
The truth is, I fully understand everyone's frustration. Because I'm not just an author — I'm also a reader. When I'm reading a web novel and the author keeps taking days off, my reading experience is awful. I feel disappointed, I feel let down, I feel angry, and sometimes I even mutter under my breath — this author is such an idiot!
But reality is cruel. As much as I hate to admit it, I have to say that when it comes to recent update issues — I am that idiot author.
I really want to update consistently, even do bonus chapters, massive update sprees!
And so, I once made promises of extra chapters.
What author doesn't want to update consistently and frequently?
For a web novel, frequent updates mean popularity, and popularity means income. Who would want their wallet to suffer?
I'm a mortal, I'm an ordinary person — of course I want to earn more money.
But cruel reality tells me — I'm not good enough!
I truly am not good enough.
I can't manage consistent updates, can't do bonus chapters. All I can do is take frequent breaks, rack my brain trying to plot things out, and then write it out bit by bit.
Some readers might ask: "Didn't you use to update consistently before?"
I can only smile bitterly and answer: Yes, my updates used to be consistent. I even did bonus chapters and massive update sprees before. But that was in the early-to-mid stages of the novel.
The later a novel gets, the harder it becomes to write. The early stage is like painting on a blank canvas — the pen wanders freely. The middle stage is about keeping track of scattered threads with patience. The late stage is the hardest, because you have to gather every thread that's been spun out, fill in every plot hole, and give every character the ending they deserve.
Only when you achieve all that can the late stage of a novel truly be called a proper late stage.
The late stage of a million-character novel is difficult. The late stage of a two-million-character novel is very hard to write. Three million characters? That's even harder. Everyone, our novel has already surpassed six million characters. You can imagine the difficulty.
"Reverend Insanity" is different from most web novels. In typical web novels, the plot is linear — one thread runs straight through, very long. The setting keeps changing, again and again. Almost all the characters from the early and middle stages, unless they're major supporting roles, gradually disappear by the late stages.
But "Reverend Insanity" is more like a stage play, a grand stage. Regardless of who a character is, they have a chance to appear again in the later portions. I won't even mention major supporting characters like Bai Ningbing and Hei Lou Lan. Let me give you an example — Qing Huizi. This character once encountered Qi Jue the Demon Immortal and fell into a dire crisis. Fortunately, Qi Jue didn't take his life. In truth, Qing Huizi was a minor character from the middle portion of the novel — I'd only mentioned him in passing.
Or consider the stout lady from the Mo family, a character who appeared during Fang Yuan's Immortal Zombie phase. She resurfaces in the later portion of the novel. And her reappearance affects Mo Li. And Mo Li's encounters, in turn, affect other characters.
Every character has their own thoughts, their own joys and sorrows, and every action they take — whether intentional or not — triggers changes in the life trajectories of other characters.
I believe that only a novel world built this way can truly be said to have life!
So the plot design of "Reverend Insanity" is extremely intricate and incredibly difficult. Especially in the later portions, with the grand stage of the Five Regions and Two Heavens! So many characters! Every time I put pen to paper, I'm extremely cautious. One slip-up and I'll contradict established settings, break characters, or create logical errors.
And that's only the difficulty of the main story.
There's another part of the novel where the difficulty of conception is several times higher than the main narrative!
Without me even saying it, everyone knows — I'm talking about the "Legend of Human Ancestor."
The "Legend of Human Ancestor" is inherently difficult. I not only have to create a mythology, but that mythology has to surpass the level of Pangu splitting heaven and earth, Nüwa creating humanity, and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Because those latter ones don't involve philosophy. The "Legend of Human Ancestor" contains philosophical depth — you can read it closely and study it carefully. Every dialogue and every plot point I design has to align with a certain principle.
Let me just give a couple of examples.
Yan Huang Lei Ze crushes the Hatred Gu, only to discover that Hatred Gu cannot be killed. This is a small plot point, but it contains a very simple truth — an eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind. You cannot use hatred to extinguish hatred. To truly eliminate hatred, you need a different approach.
Another example.
Human Ancestor refines Wealth Gu. He first uses Labor Gu, then Crisis Gu, then Grief Gu. Stupidity Gu is tricked by him and perishes. Zhi Hui Gu is also deceived, but ultimately escapes. In the end, Human Ancestor loses both his hands before he successfully refines Wealth Gu.
This story is an allegory for wealth. Earning wealth requires great labor. Maintaining wealth demands a sense of crisis. Losing wealth brings grief. The foolish are swallowed up by excessive wealth, and even the wise are often tempted by it — but those with true wisdom eventually see through it. And in the end, wealth must be created with one's own hands.
There are many, many more examples like this.
The difficulty of the "Legend of Human Ancestor," I feel, is even greater than that of an ordinary web novel.
It too gets harder as it progresses. Because in the later portions, I need to incorporate all ten of Human Ancestor's children, explain how the Nine Heavens are destroyed, and weave in foreshadowing from the early and middle stages (like the Qiankun Crystal Walls).
The main story is difficult; the "Legend of Human Ancestor" is even harder. And what I need to do is skillfully combine the two together.
This is an extraordinarily difficult task!
At least for me, it is enormously difficult.
I need to write the "Legend of Human Ancestor" chapter by chapter and seamlessly weave it into the main story as a finishing touch. And the order of these chapters cannot be jumbled — they absolutely must not be rearranged.
Honestly, the pressure on me is immense.