In the past few months, I have experienced the pain of life, and I have been struggling physically and mentally.
Life is like a balance scale, with reality on one end and the inner self on the other. For me the side of reality grew heavier and heavier until the scale tipped, and that is where the pain came from.
People often walk for so long that they get lost in the scenery along the way and forget why they set out in the first place.
That is what happened. In the midst of that pain I felt waves of bewilderment.
Since my last book was completed, I have been on a break, trying to find my direction and recover the reason I set out in the first place.
That was about five or six years ago. I had already been reading webnovels for a while. The first was A Journey to the Ethereal, then Blasphemy, Zhu Xian, Mad God, House of Beast Tamers, Boiling Beast Blood, Mount Shu, I Alone Am Immortal, and so on.
I had read a great many novels, but a knot of frustration built up in my chest. The protagonists I saw were almost always blessed with heaven defying fortune and were upright and noble in character. The villains were mostly foolish, deranged and ugly, their titles resounding, yet they were all paper tigers, impressive to look at until they met the protagonist, and then they wilted.
So I began to think that I wanted to see a truly great villain.
This villain would be uncompromising and solitary, proud, dark and decisive in killing, never weak in the knees. He would never hide his own evil, and he would have no false goodness at all.
At a glance you could tell he was utterly evil, his demonic aura overwhelming and his killing intent filling the air. What he was best at was trampling rules and slaughtering the famed righteous sects.
Alone, he would be an enemy to the whole world, sowing terror among all living things. He would be a great master of the demonic path, sometimes arrogant and domineering, sometimes sinister and cunning, sometimes cold and merciless, standing at the very pinnacle and looking down on the world with disdain, while every brave soul who dared to challenge him came to a miserable end.
He was cruel in his methods and perhaps even dabbled with Gu worms. In short, you could tell at a glance that he was no decent person at all.
So what should his name be... Super Demon King? Black Mountain Old Demon? Green Robe Ancestor?
No, no, no.
After thinking it over, I thought, why not call him Gu Zhen Ren?
As it happened, I needed an account on Qidian at the time, so this ID was born.
Some TV dramas always do it like this: the villain defeats the protagonist and is just one final lethal strike away from killing him. Then the villain starts rambling on and on, while the protagonist secretly gathers his strength for one last gamble, and every time he turns the tables and wins.
If the situation is reversed and the villain is the one at a disadvantage, it goes like this. The protagonist unleashes his power and the villain is beaten to the ground. Facing the protagonist's sword, the villain suddenly bursts into tears, wailing and swearing to mend his ways. The protagonist, who is kindhearted and benevolent, hesitates. At that moment the villain launches a desperate counterattack, but it fails. The protagonist, who sees every detail with perfect clarity, completely subdues him. His heart hardens at the same time, he shouts, despicable, shameless, vile, and finally kills the villain.
There are also villains who kidnap the protagonist's family and friends, and almost never succeed in using them as leverage. Even with a huge advantage, they somehow get defeated by the protagonist for all sorts of unavoidable reasons and in baffling ways.
It was about six years ago that I created the ID, Gu Zhen Ren, because I had a wish in my heart to see a truly evil archvillain. He would have his own way of doing things, rejected by the world, roaming free and unrestrained and disdaining any explanation. He would be decisive in killing, never trapped by feelings, and never weak in the knees even at the sight of a beautiful woman.
His dreaded name made the whole world tremble, and at the mere mention of him people paled.
Those who understood him admired him, revered him and loved him. Those who hated him gritted their teeth and used every means they had, only to make him much stronger.
He walked his own path, solitude wrapped around him, and his cold eyes could see through every falsehood.
When faced with criticism and rejection, he scoffed with disdain. When faced with hollow praise and flattery, he sneered in silence.
He could endure solitude. He could even enjoy it.
If he was not walking toward success, then he was walking toward destruction.
He was a warrior, walking alone through darkness on a solitary journey, cutting through every obstacle in his path. Nothing could stand in his way. If a god blocked his path, he would kill the god. If a Buddha blocked his path, he would kill the Buddha!
This dream had always been buried deep in my heart. During these years of writing, I thought several times about starting to write it, but nothing came of it in the end. I did not quite dare. I felt my skill was not yet good enough.
And so, so many years passed. I went through some things, and compared with when I first started writing, much of it is now a case of things remaining but people having changed.
The past was somewhat unbearable to look back on, and this dream was also hidden away in the dust of time, gradually forgotten by me. Even when I did remember it now and then, I felt I was not prepared enough and still lacked the ability to write such a cathartic story.
But these past few days I stopped walking forward and looked back, and I suddenly understood something. Life is not cooking. When you cook, you usually have the oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar prepared beforehand, and only then do you start.
Life does not wait for you to be ready. Even when you think everything is ready, do you not still lack a wisp of east wind, that one final condition?
Life is always rushed. Many things happen suddenly with little to no preparation.
Fate is unpredictable and ever-changing. No one can tell what will happen tomorrow.
So I made a decision. Against the backdrop of the prophesied end of the world in 2012 drawing near, I would write a new book.
This book would be called Gu Zhen Ren.
No other title could suit it better.
This is a cause planted six years ago, bearing fruit in the present.
Giving the book the same name has no other meaning. It is not narcissism or arrogance, just a way to fulfil a dream. To realise that original dream and to recover that feeling that once moved me.
There is no doubt this book will invite controversy. From the perspective of the Dragon Sky community, this is what you would call having warped values.
Yes, I will say it plainly here. This is a book with warped values.
Because the protagonist of this book is a great villain who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals and never gives up, supremely evil. While the antagonists in this book are mostly great, glorious and upright young heroes, or reputable and honourable orthodox sects.
I know this will disappoint many people, but please try to understand. Those who abandon their principles the moment they see a beautiful woman, do they still have the bearing of a peerless demon king or a great boss of the demonic path?
That is just being lovesick.
That is right. This book will kill women, and beautiful women at that. It will kill them in great numbers and without restraint.
And it will never hold back. No matter what kind of existence it is, as long as it is an enemy. No matter how powerful he is, it will fight him. No matter how beautiful she is, it will kill her all the same.
This book is very evil. Read with caution.
Reading is, after all, a hobby, something done for pleasure.
You read to have fun. If you are truly not happy, if you do not enjoy it, then do not read it. Just switch to another book. There are a great many good books on Qidian, and I will recommend one or two as I write.
If you cannot continue, if you feel unhappy, if you feel your outlook on life, your values and your morals are being trampled, then you have my respectful send off.
Those who want to read it are naturally welcome.
The above is the preface to this book, and also a declaration.