In Classical Chinese, the word “chong” was a general term for animals.
In the dawn of antiquity, before language had even fully developed, the more ancient a being was, the more likely it was to be referred to as a chong.
The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions were said to be the fallen corpses of primordial gods upon the Great Net of Heaven. The power of their divine remains descended and became twenty-eight grotto-heaven paths... giving rise to twenty-eight kinds of chong.
The Six Paths were said to be the result of the long efforts of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, who finally tamed six of those twenty-eight kinds of chong.
Supernatural abilities consume one's lifespan to borrow the power of chong from the lunar mansions, but they also plant a seed of “restless stirrings” within the user.
After transmigrating, the protagonist used his talent for plagiarizing literature to become the top scholar of the Tang dynasty... and then the world suddenly came to an end.
The blank scriptures from the end of Journey to the West saved his ghost and planned to use him, a top scholar, as a pen to rewrite the destined end of Journey to the West.
But they could offer no other help. They could only bring Tang Jue's ghost into each chapter of Journey to the West, letting him be reborn as one of its characters by choosing one of the Three Scriptures.
The Three Scriptures were what the Buddha spoke of when the five pilgrims reached Spirit Mountain and completed their journey: “...The Three Scriptures: the Law Scripture, which speaks of Heaven; the Treatise Scripture, which speaks of Earth; and the Sutra Scripture, which delivers ghosts.”
The Law Scripture speaks of Heaven: it can store explorations of the Great Net of Heaven, granting supernatural abilities!
The Treatise Scripture speaks of Earth: it can store realms attained through cultivation, granting cultivation power!
The Sutra Scripture delivers ghosts: it can store the rewritten life of the ghost in that chapter, granting experience!
In other words, there are a hundred chapters in Journey to the West, and each time a chapter restarts, he can choose one of three things: supernatural abilities, cultivation power, or a save file.
A Demon Lord's Career Advancement
The Immortal of the Thatched Cottage
1.4 Billion People Each Give Me a Share of Their Cultivation
Scavenging for Fortune on the Journey to the West
I’m a Cop, Why’d You Give Me an Esports System?
EN
The Legendary Investigator: Ming Taizu
Daring to Seek Immortality for Eighty Thousand Years
The King of Silvermoon in Azeroth
Retirement Begins in the Sixties
A Guide to Attaining Immortality
EN
The Heretical Path to Immortality
Cultivation Refuge
Shennong's Poison Testing
The author's writing is good, and the protagonist is well-developed, but it's the protagonist's personality that's the problem... At first glance, I thought it would be a protagonist like Fang Yuan—ruthless, cruel, intelligent, patient, and adept at disguise—the kind of villainous boss-type protagonist. The result was completely different. How could I have had such a fantasy?
This is such an insult to the ginseng fruit! If it's only effective for low-level cultivators, how can it be offered as tribute to the Queen Mother? And how come it only produces 30 fruits every 10,000 years? It's as if many people can eat them. How could it possibly bribe all the low-level cultivators in the world? Besides, the idea of ants forming a clump is a joke to humans.
Let me explain why the author used 200,000 words to write about the first life.
The phrase "hundred lifetimes" can be used in other themes to quickly reincarnate, but when used in the Journey to the West theme, it means certain death and no rebirth! The Journey to the West theme is extremely unique. The market doesn't lie!
Great book! At first, I just thought the protagonist was a terrible person, unable to control his emotions, how could he possibly achieve anything great? I only kept reading because I was interested in the plot. I didn't expect the writing to be so profound, the protagonist to grow and change, and to not get caught up in the suffering of a wicked world but to contemplate change.
This is the first time I've seen a combination of the path of cultivation and the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness so coherently; it's quite innovative. My guess is that the five members of the pilgrimage group correspond to these virtues, but my understanding of the underlying logic is incomplete.
Check-in
Dude, even if that dragon girl is beautiful, she should have recovered by now. 🙂 This is the only picture I can describe it.
The author clearly had a plan for this setting.
But it's not very well written, and the main character's personality is a bit clownish.
The fact that this book isn't popular is actually a good thing. Given the current fervent atmosphere of online political commentary, the further you read, the more it becomes a guide for finding the right path. Every cloud has a silver lining; this first experience has been a good one, producing a fairly complete product. Now you can confidently move on to more substantial projects. (Multiple recommendation votes are welcome.)
The story's cultivation system based on insects is novel, but the writing style is uninteresting. Mystery requires a gradual unfolding, using specific details to build a cohesive narrative. Instead, a whole bunch of Heavenly Court secrets were crammed in before release, and none of it relates to the insect's core concept. It reads like a dull, negative take on Journey to the West, which is rather disappointing.
I think I understand now. Following the author's train of thought, Sister Luan and Pigsy must have had a past life connection. During the chaos in Heaven, Pigsy had his own plans to reincarnate and ascend to higher realms, so he arranged for Sister Luan to descend to Earth to help him.