There were so many people who scolded Haotian that Chen Jingke had nightmares for several nights in a row. He thought he had encountered an evil spirit, so he quickly gave Haotian God a few sticks of incense before he finally calmed down.
There is no way, Journey to the West is really too attractive, and this chapter ends just right.
Sun Wukong has just been seduced by the underworld and is gone.
What happened to him later? Did he die or escape? What was the underworld like? There are too many suspenses waiting to be revealed.
But what followed was the popularity of this story. To use a common saying, it became popular, and it became extremely popular.
Even the most reserved readers who dislike novels cannot help but discuss this story.
Not to mention ordinary people. Anyone who has heard this story will not want to know the plot behind it.
It's just a pity that they have no way of knowing the subsequent plot, so they can only listen to it for the second and third time while scolding "the old eunuch who talks about dreams out of context".
Well, Chen Jingke gave himself a pen name: Dream Talker.
As for the reason, it comes from an author I followed in my previous life. The author is called the Dreamer, and he is an old eunuch.
Chen Jingke pursued two of his books, but both books turned out to be big pitfalls, especially the latter one, which pitted him for ten years.
There was a time when he would draw circles and curse every day, saying that the dreamer would not have a little Jiji.
Wu Shu asked him to use a pen name before, and this was the first thing he thought of, so he used it.
Sometimes he even wondered in a bad way whether he had given Journey to the West to the eunuch and let the people of this world curse the dreamer together.
Of course, I just thought about it, but I didn’t dare to be a real eunuch.
Because of the popularity of Journey to the West, it also created a popular business, storytelling.
Speaking of which, during the Tang Dynasty, the storytelling profession was only in its infancy, and it did not form the routines or scripts of later generations.
They are some people who are sharp-tongued and know a few stories. They run around performing in street tea shops, rice stalls and other places, earning three to five pennies a meal.
As for the permanent performance in the restaurant, it's not their turn yet. To put it bluntly, they still can't get on the stage.
But the appearance of Journey to the West has changed this situation. There are too many wonderful stories to tell.
So all the bookstores in the city, large and small, began to switch to Journey to the West, and their business was pretty good.
Because the competition is fierce, these people no longer follow the original text completely, but begin to add their own understanding, gradually forming different characteristics.
The two most popular schools are Impressionism and Historical Expansionism.
Let’s talk about the image school first. The original text of Journey to the West is relatively concise, and many plots are concise and concise. For example, some fighting scenes can only be described in a few or two strokes.
To be honest, if you read a book, you will feel that the meaning of the words is small. However, if you tell it through storytelling, it will seem boring.
Therefore, some storytellers who are better at describing fights try to add battle details and describe each battle vividly and wonderfully, making the story more attractive.
Their addition expanded the original article by more than two-thirds. It can be seen that an author who knows how to fill in water is multi-talented.
Let’s talk about the historical expansionists. In ancient times, information-enclosed knowledge was monopolized by the upper class, and there was almost no difference between the common people and the blind.
They don't know what Nuwa created humans, nor do they know how Nuwa mended the sky, let alone what the Sky-Mending Stone is. Some people who don't believe in Taoism don't even know about the Dragon Kings of Heaven and Earth.
So when listening to Journey to the West, I lacked a sense of immersion.
Some knowledgeable storytellers tried to tell these stories while telling Journey to the West, and the results were well received by everyone.
Moreover, the Historical Expansionists also inadvertently conducted a historical science popularization, allowing the common people to know some myths and historical fragments of China.
Once people understand the history of the Ming Dynasty, they will have a sense of identity. Taoism, as a local religion, is integrated with Chinese mythology and history.
Then several factors combined to create a chemical reaction, and the people became more supportive of Taoism.
Not for anything else, just because it is a local religion.
For Chen Jingke, this was a complete surprise.
He immediately entered the palace with relevant information and found Li Shimin: "Your Majesty, this is the benefit of cultural identity."
Li Shimin couldn't help but be moved after reading the information, but he did not make a decision because of it. Instead, he said: "The time is too short to use as evidence."
Chen Jingke had known this result for a long time, so he was not disappointed, but said: "I know, I came here today just to remind you that you can send someone to pay more attention to this aspect."
Li Shimin nodded and said, "I will."
However, Li Shimin was Li Shimin after all, and he was not satisfied with this. After pondering for a while, he said: "You can promote ancient myths and the story of Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors a little, but you must not talk about things after three generations."
Chen Jingke was overjoyed and said: "Journey to the West takes place in the Spring and Autumn Period after all. Can you briefly introduce to the people what the three generations are... Don't worry, I will never go into details. I just tell them that there are three generations."
"But we need to talk a little bit about the Spring and Autumn Period, otherwise we won't be able to let the people understand the greatness of Lao Tzu."
Li Shimin hesitated for a while but was finally persuaded. It was worth taking a little risk to promote his ancestors, but he still warned:
"Nothing else is allowed to be said except these, otherwise don't blame me for being rude to you."
Chen Jingke ignored his threat and said happily: "How dare I? Don't worry, I won't say a word more."
Then he quickly left the palace, discussed it with Wu Shu, and then wrote a letter to each faction asking them to adjust their propaganda strategies.
After that it was just a matter of waiting.
The profession of storytellers has gradually taken shape, especially the Impressionist and Historical Expansionists, which are the most popular among all storytellers, and they can be said to make a lot of money.
Seeing this, some business-minded restaurant owners tried to invite the best of them to perform in their restaurants, and the results were surprisingly good.
As a result, more restaurants began to follow suit, and the storyteller profession quickly gained recognition.
Then I don’t know which good storyteller actually wants to worship the dream teller as the ancestor. This seemingly absurd proposal has been unanimously approved by most storytellers.
When Chen Jingke learned about this, his jaw almost dropped in shock: "No, they recognized the ancestor so easily?"
"Haha..." Wu Shu laughed and covered his stomach and squatted on the ground: "The real people in our family are all considered the ancestors. Why don't you tell them your name to prevent them from mistakenly recognizing the ancestors."
Chen Jingke felt angry and itched his teeth, and said, "Can you please speak properly? I can't get through life."
Wu Shu wiped away the tears from laughter and said: "I passed it, haha... Well, I don't laugh anymore... Haha..."
Chen Jingke got angry and hugged her roughly, covering her mouth with his mouth, and then she finally stopped laughing.
After a while, Chen Jingke said proudly and breathlessly: "Humph, now you know the consequences."
Wu Shu lay in his arms, her pretty face flushed, and she said in a tired voice: "Yes, I know, you are the most powerful, Master."
After the joke was over, she said seriously: "Do you really think those storytellers are casually recognized as the ancestors? They are being cunning."
Chen Jingke said doubtfully: "Is there any conspiracy here? Come and tell me."
Wu Shu explained: "Although no one knows who the dreamer is, anyone with a discerning eye will know at a glance that it must be related to Taoism."
Chen Jingke couldn't help but nodded. This story is full of Taoist gods and mythological systems set by Taoism. Moreover, it was published by Wangyue Tan. It is not difficult to guess that it is a novel used by Taoism to promote itself.
Wu Shu continued: "Taoism is the most prominent religion in the world, and I don't know how many people want to attach themselves to us. Storytelling is not even considered low-class, and they hope to be related to us."
Chen Jingke suddenly realized and said: "The patriarch recognized by the storyteller is not actually the dreamer, but the Taoism behind him, right?"
Wu Shu nodded and said: "If they were thicker-skinned, they could even say that they are a branch of Taoism."
Chen Jingke couldn't help but shook his head and said: "This is really... everyone has an abacus in their mind."
Wu Shu smiled and said, "What do you think? But when the true face of Journey to the West is revealed, I wonder if these storytellers will be filled with regret."
Thinking of those people's expressions after knowing that Journey to the West was a novel that disparaged Buddhism, Chen Jingke couldn't help but laugh and said:
"No, we must help the storyteller and let everyone know that they recognize the dream teller as their ancestor."
"Haha..." Seeing that he was going to cause trouble, Wu Shu happily joined in and said:
"Okay, okay, don't you want to promote Chinese history? We can just use their power... Let's do it like this."
Soon the Taoist side took action, inviting sharp-tongued storytellers to stay in their Taoist temples to tell pilgrims about Journey to the West, the Taoist mythology system, and the story of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
Needless to say, the effect is really obvious. After hearing these stories, believers have become much more pious.
And because of this incident, the group of storytellers was finally tied to Taoism, and this profession was finally recognized by the public and officially became one of the lower classes.
The group of storytellers is naturally very happy, and they are glad that they recognize the dream teller as their ancestor and have a relationship with Taoism.
Little did they know that there was a young couple staring at them in the dark with evil intentions.
…
Soon the time came to March 15th, and the new issue of Hope Monthly Talk was published. Chen Jingke even printed 10,000 more copies of this issue.
However, he still underestimated the influence of a popular work on the journal. Sales in Chang'an alone were three times more than usual.
When Chen Jingke saw this data, he thought he was dazzled. Not to mention Yihe and others, who had already cheered happily.
After the celebration, Yihe approached him and said solemnly: "Sir, have you also seen the impact of an excellent novel on the journal? I hope that a novel will be serialized in every issue in the future."
Chen Jingke naturally had no objection, so he said: "Then let's serialize it. There are still many Journey to the West."
Yihe said: "But according to the plan, we will stop serializing the chapter on the Wuzhishan Centering Monkey to prepare for the publication of the complete book Journey to the West. By then we will have no stories to serialize."
Chen Jingke said: "Then let's call for submissions. There are quite a lot of legendary novels."
Seeing him like this, Yihe simply made it clear: "We at Wangyue Tan all editors collectively request that you write another novel. It doesn't need to be too good, just like Journey to the West is enough."
"Ha..." Chen Jingke almost ducked and said: "My girl, that's Journey to the West. It's great to be able to write one in this life, but you still want me to write the second one? What are you thinking about?
.”
Yihe was also a person who was familiar with the Broken Windows Theory, and immediately said: "Then you can write whatever you want, as long as it attracts readers. That's it, I'll go tell everyone the good news."
After saying that, without waiting for Chen Jingke to speak, he turned around and ran away without caring about his own image.
Chen Jingke was so speechless that he was tricked by someone. It's disgusting, it's really disgusting.
Of course, this was all a joke, and he had no objection to continuing to write stories.
As for what to write in the new story, he still needs to think about it. But he is not in a hurry. It will take half a year for Journey to the West to be serialized to Wuzhishan, so he has enough time to think.
Let’s continue with the new issue of Wangyue Talk.
This issue is about the story of Sun Wukong causing trouble in the underworld, and being killed by Ma Wen, he descended to heaven and called himself the Monkey King.
It can be said that there are climaxes one after another, which makes people want to stop watching.
The horrors of the underworld, such as pulling out tongues, pans of oil, mountains of knives, seas of fire, etc., can make people's scalp numb and make people with ghosts in their hearts panic.
The magnificence and beauty of the heaven and the aloofness of the immortals make people yearn for it.
However, these are completely ignored compared to Sun Wukong. Everyone is happy that he caused trouble in the underworld and feels humiliated that he was named Bima Wen.
When he proclaimed himself the Monkey King, everyone felt relieved but also worried about his safety.
Then the 'Dream Talker' once again became a dog in pieces, and this time it came to an abrupt end when all the immortals in heaven were petitioning to punish Sun Wukong.
Readers are anxious and scratching their heads, what will happen next? How should the monkey face the attack of the heavenly soldiers and generals?
It's a pity that we have to wait for the next issue.
Damn dreamer, I wish you no luck.
Countless people jointly issued such a curse.
…
The popularity of Journey to the West had an immediate effect on promoting Taoism, and Taoist temples in various places became more popular.
The more widely this story spreads, the more prosperous the Taoist temple will be.
What the people talk about is no longer Amitabha Buddha, but God's blessing and the infinite blessings. The hottest topic after dinner is the six paths of reincarnation in heaven and earth.
In a place that most people don’t notice, something called the centripetal force of civilization is taking shape. Of course, this is all a matter for later, let’s not mention it for now.
Seeing the prosperity of Taoism, Buddhism was anxious in its heart and began to try to connect things together.
However, they lack the kind of leader who can convince everyone, so this series of connections is more of a waste of time.
However, two consensuses were finally reached. One is that Taoism is gaining momentum and is unstoppable; the other is that Buddhism should also take some measures to reverse its decline.
However, on the specific recovery methods, various factions once again started a war of words, and ultimately no consensus was reached.
Master Fa Lin of Longtian Temple put down the letter in his hand in disappointment, and with his character and cultivation, it was inevitable that there would be a hint of bitterness.
Once again his proposal was rejected, and it was none other than Zen Daoxin.
The reasons for rejection are not complicated, and they are based on different principles.
Looking in the direction of Zixiao, he couldn't help but said with envy: "Taoism is so lucky to have a master like Sun Zhenren. Where is the leader of my Buddhism?"
