Phew... I've finally finished writing this section of the Legend of Human Ancestor.
As you can tell, this section of the Legend of Human Ancestor is the longest one so far. It's the result of about a week of planning.
It was incredibly difficult!
I revised it many times. Just in terms of imagery alone, I had to choose carefully — adversity, strength and weakness, calamity. The three types of imagery contained within adversity — hardship, loss, and disaster — were handpicked with great care. In the beginning, there were at least ten such images. Over the following days, I painfully cut most of them. At the final stage, I removed two more images: difficulty and ease. Otherwise, the entire text would have been even longer.
This section of the Legend of Human Ancestor needed to echo the main story. That's why there are the episodes of Human Ancestor suffering hardship, taking losses, enduring disasters, and having his heart eaten to death. Each of these corresponds respectively to Spectral Soul's Food Path killer move, and to Fang Yuan's own situation.
Many of you readers should be able to notice that the connection between this section of the Legend of Human Ancestor and the main story is more of a contrast. The two lines echo each other in subtle ways. For example, in the Legend of Human Ancestor, Human Ancestor faces the greatest adversity of his life — and so does Fang Yuan. Human Ancestor struggles on the brink of death, Spectral Soul does the same, Fang Yuan does the same, and even other characters like Wang Xiao'er do as well (Wang Xiao'er is an important supporting character — keep reading and you'll see). Another example: Human Ancestor once used Attitude Gu plus Self Gu, attempting to deceive adversity, which mirrors Fang Yuan using his own will at the Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Guillotine to try to deceive Spectral Soul. These elements all reflect one another.
Human Ancestor is the protagonist of the Legend of Human Ancestor. How would the Gu Insects on him react brilliantly during his interactions with adversity? This was absolutely something I couldn't overlook. I spent at least three days thinking about this aspect alone.
Then there's the matter of the Ten Absolute Bodies. In this chapter, there's finally a welcome development — the Great Strength True Martial Body has been born!
Once this major storyline is finished, everyone can re-read it. With one chapter released per day, the pacing might feel slow, but reading through it continuously will yield an entirely different experience.
With Reverend Insanity, your first reading and your second reading feel completely different. Especially in these chapters, the real brilliance beyond the surface level — Fang Yuan struggling, fighting against pursuit — actually lies in much deeper layers. The parallels between the Legend of Human Ancestor and various characters, for instance: only by looking at the whole picture can you discover the beauty in this novel's architecture. The scheming among various factions and characters, especially between Qi Jue, Spectral Soul, and Fang Yuan...
After reading tonight's second update, the bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Xiao Zhenren, you'll understand even better.
Recently, I read a reader's review that resonated with me deeply. The gist of it was: Reverend Insanity is actually an evolving work — it initially leaned toward a darker style, but grew increasingly grand and magnificent in the middle and later sections. Simply labeling it as dark fiction is actually a biased take.
That review prompted me to examine myself.
Reverend Insanity has been in progress for about six years now. Over such a long span, the style has indeed shifted. Just as the review pointed out, it initially leaned dark, and gradually changed afterward.
On one hand, there are external reasons. Since the book first began, it has been repeatedly reported, and even recently this continues — it hasn't become safer with the passage of time, but rather more perilous. The broader situation being what it is, I had no choice but to adjust my approach.
On the other hand, there are internal reasons. As the author, I've grown considerably. Especially during the recent hiatus, I gained particularly deep insights.
When writing the early sections of Reverend Insanity, I relied on nothing but hot-blooded passion, defiance, and wildness — focused entirely on writing, paying no attention to rankings or money.
At first, readers were few, but they grew more and more numerous, the response was enormous, and the reviews were extremely polarized.
So, by the time I reached the middle sections of Reverend Insanity, my ears were filled with clamor, as if I were standing in a bustling marketplace. All sorts of worldly affairs came rushing in, making my mind waver and my heart grow restless.
Writing now, having reached the later sections of Reverend Insanity, because of the Legend of Human Ancestor, there are simply too many threads woven into the main story, making every step a struggle and the writing extraordinarily difficult. I often feel willing but unable, growing ever more keenly aware of my own insignificance.
The recent writing hiatus and seclusion saved me!
It was as though the bustling marketplace around me gradually, gradually contracted. The river-and-sea-like flow of people around me grew fewer and fewer, until all that remained was a desk at the street corner, a dim yellow lamp, and me.
The many voices that had constantly lingered in my ears gradually faded to nothing, leaving only the sound of my own pounding heart.
During my seclusion, I never once checked any QQ messages or WeChat texts — I simply focused all my mind on thinking and writing. Finally, I broke through the bottleneck before me.
In truth, the greatest adversity that Human Ancestor faces in the Legend of Human Ancestor, and the greatest adversity that Fang Yuan faces — aren't these also the greatest adversity I've encountered in my writing career thus far?
Now, as I look at Reverend Insanity once more. This book has spanned roughly six years, enduring countless blows, torments, curses, and doubts. Look at the reviews — the insults, the skepticism, the curses have never stopped.
At first, I burned with fierce intensity. Then my emotions fluctuated wildly. And finally, I settled down.
What remained was only the desire and determination to complete this work.
Regardless of any rankings, regardless of any income, regardless of the chaos of the outside world — just this one thought, the pure thought of creation.
Let them report it. Let them doubt it. Let them dismiss it. Let them rage.
I'll simply write this novel to its completion. That's all I can concern myself with.
Recently, I've come to realize even more just how small I am, how very limited my abilities truly are.
I will keep writing just like this, until I bring Reverend Insanity to its conclusion.
Starting in September, I've set a small goal for myself: to maintain a stable one chapter per day for an entire month! If there are new Alliance Leaders during this period, I'll try my best to add an extra chapter.
But if during this period I feel I can't write up to the standard I envision, I will still choose to go into seclusion. In that case, this small goal will have to be temporarily set aside.
As for how long the seclusion would last — I'm not sure myself. Either way, to overcome the challenge, I first need to satisfy my own standards.
If you think it's good, support me. If you don't, I absolutely won't force it.
That's all for now.
Oh, also — there's a second update tonight, a bonus chapter for a new Alliance Leader. It's also a chapter that puts the finishing touch on everything.