Chapter 103 A glimpse through a tube reveals only a part of the whole.
"Such a commotion, I thought something had happened. Turns out it's because you inherited Slowness," Wan Qianzhong said. She didn't find this particularly surprising. She had met many members of the Five Evils before. The Five Evils rarely interacted with each other, but they all had spies planted under each other, allowing them to obtain a lot of information about each other. But Wan Qianzhong had never met "Slowness."
Or rather, in her eyes, no one had emerged over the years who could truly be called the embodiment of "slowness." Whether cultivators or the Five Evils, they all possessed a degree of superiority, but superiority alone was far from sufficient. Among countless speculations, the one truly deserving of the title "slow" must look down upon everyone in the world with equality—perhaps reaching the level of the Heavenly Dao.
Apart from the Heavenly Dao, no one can be called "slow." This was Wan Qianzhong's thought, until she met Shen Cangyu.
A humanoid Heavenly Dao wandering the world. That's how Wan Qianzhong described her. Shen Cangyu always felt she could control everything; the feeling she gave Wan Qianzhong was very similar to that of the occasionally appearing Heavenly Sound.
"So, you want to collect all five evils and have your arm covered with five marks?" Wan Qianzhong said.
Shen Cangyu came to his senses, looked at the mark on his arm, and said, "It's not impossible."
Shen Cangyu was always observing the world, but she forgot to examine herself. She wanted to avoid judging others with her own subjective thoughts and always tried to think from other people's perspectives, but she found that evaluation is always subjective. The others she saw were perhaps only what she thought.
Just as she arrogantly believed that she could change the world and enthusiastically offered advice to countless people, she later discovered that perhaps this path was simply not viable.
She kept expressing her own opinions, but never considered others.
Without this mark, she might not have been able to see it.
True empathy between people is impossible unless one becomes one of them. Shen Cangyu wants to change the Five Evils and find a way out of their predicament; the best way is to join them and truly empathize with them.
"Are you going to test the poisons on yourself to make a complete set of five poisons?" Wan Qianzhong commented. She had long seen that Shen Cangyu wouldn't truly empathize with them, but Wan Qianzhong herself didn't know which way to go in the future. Shen Cangyu offered her a helping hand, and after hesitating for a moment, she accepted. Because Wan Qianzhong had calculated that no matter the outcome, good or bad, she wouldn't lose out.
“Using poison to fight poison may not be a bad medicine,” Shen Cangyu put down his hand and said to Wan Qianzhong, “In the past, I didn’t understand the Copper Coin Eye and made conclusions about you without authorization. I even tried to decide the future direction of the Copper Coin Eye. It was my mistake. I want to see clearly what the real Copper Coin Eye is. Can you tell me about it?”
Shen Cangyu's apology was extremely decisive, which even surprised Wan Qianzhong.
She hadn't expected that Shen Cangyu would overturn her past beliefs in such a short time, realize the flaws in her thinking, and then actively seek solutions. What kind of "slowness" was Shen Cangyu? Would an arrogant person apologize to others? Wan Qianzhong felt that she was far more arrogant in comparison; at least Wan Qianzhong believed that what she believed was right, and she wouldn't turn back until she hit a wall. Asking her to apologize was absolutely out of the question.
Shen Cangyu's eyes were especially sincere. He took a deep breath and began to tell her his story.
Wan Qianzhong's story is long, including where she came from, how she entered Kunlun, and how she sensed something was wrong during her studies and questioned her teachers in Kunlun. As a child, everyone around her thought that her teachers were knowledgeable and that their words and the knowledge they imparted were never wrong. But Wan Qianzhong was a rebellious person, fond of asking "why" and finding fault. She felt that her teachers didn't know much, and that those around her were merely blindly obeying authority.
Listening to Wan Qianzhong's words, Shen Cangyu felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Wan Qianzhong continued to tell his story, how he questioned the opinions of his teachers, how he created the Mind Technique despite everyone's prejudice, how he left Kunlun to find new ground, and how he changed his mind and, under the influence of his inner demons, condensed the ability of the Copper Coin Eye.
The Copper Coin Eye is a Taoist technique created by Wan Qianzhong, carrying her resentment towards the world. She wants to fight poison with poison and stop killing with killing; she wants to destroy everything.
Hearing Wan Qianzhong's words, Shen Cangyu felt they were very familiar.
She had thought in the past that Wan Qianzhong was the author's projection in this world, and that everything Wan Qianzhong wanted to do was the same as everything the author wanted to do.
The author hates the unfairness of the market, and also hates that so-called formulas and trending topics attract too many readers' attention, leaving little-known authors with no place to stand.
Before today, Shen Cangyu would have thought that what they were going to do was something very important and exciting, and that if it succeeded, the world would change drastically.
But Shen Cangyu, realizing that she was blinded by "slowness", suddenly felt that if she, as the protagonist, was blinded by arrogance, then Shen Chunrong, as the author, was no different.
She spoke of the injustice of fate, always feeling that she was not conforming to worldly ways and wanted to raise the banner of justice. She preached to everyone in a lecturing tone, giving off a rather aloof and independent air.
Just as Shen Cangyu realized this, a series of periods appeared in the comment section. She could imagine Shen Chunrong's furious expression on the other side of the screen.
[Give me some face, at least don't mention this in the text; everyone's reading it. You just said you'd help me a few chapters ago, and your enthusiasm was barely up, and now you're betraying me. This is such a blow to my pride.]
“But it’s true,” Shen Cangyu said. “Even if I don’t say it, someone will always think of it.”
Like most stories, it aims for a perfect ending. Everyone strives towards a common goal, and the main characters, driven by the author's will, sound the battle hymn, ushering in a perfect conclusion, and the story enters its end.
Shen Chunrong wanted to use this story to express her dissatisfaction with market preferences. In reality, she could do nothing but change the ending in her own story to create a perfect dream. Even when hit by the market, she always felt that she was right, and that the world was wrong.
Isn't this also a form of arrogance on the part of the creator?
So you think the world isn't wrong, and I'm the one who's wrong, right? That I'm arrogant, that I can't let go of my traditional Chinese attire, that I'm unwilling to please readers, that I'm unwilling to admit that after reading books for half my life, what I write is ultimately not as appealing as light novels.
So, from beginning to end, I was the one who was wrong. You said you wanted to help me, which meant you were here to help me face reality, right?
Just then, a myriad of voices rang out.
"The world is what I see through the lens of the coin eye. In my view, everyone is born to make a profit, and humans are most adept at yielding to money. By using the coin eye, one can easily manipulate others, since there is no one in this world who doesn't love money."
This statement perfectly aligns with Shen Chunrong's inner thoughts. She believes that people love money, which is why a market exists; creators love money, which is why they try to please the audience. Only when there is no greed for money, no evil, no market, and no set standards can creation be truly free.
"First, loving money isn't wrong. People want money simply to improve their lives, and a better life leads to new freedom. In my view, their essence is still the pursuit of freedom. Second, there are also people in the world who don't love money. There are so many people in the world, and everyone has their own choices. There will always be people who value other things more than money. Third..."
Shen Cangyu paused for a moment and said, "Actually, there is no market or trend in this world. The world itself hasn't changed much. What has changed is your perspective. You covered your eyes with a coin, so all you could see was the square hole in the coin. Therefore, you said that the world in the square hole was the whole world. You said the world has changed, but it's just that you covered your eyes with a coin. As long as you remove the coin, the world will still be the same as before."
[...]
“Shen Chunrong, this is the reality I want you to see,” Shen Cangyu said. Compared to the author, she was better at examining herself and had more courage to admit her shortcomings.
The world of creators has never changed. One group of creators grows old, and a new group of creators emerges. They will always try different themes. All kinds of creators will exist. Creators have always been a diverse and vibrant field. It's just that Shen Chunrong can't see it.
They've always been there, just without exposure, traffic, or readers, but that doesn't mean their numbers have decreased or they've disappeared.
People can only see what's in front of them and can't see what's beyond their field of vision.
"We never truly understand others. The world we see is merely a reflection of our own hearts. Our views on the world and others can never exceed our own understanding... We may think the world is too bad simply because we don't know enough about it."
[...]
"Like you, you always feel that the works on the list are all the same, and you don't like to read them. From the moment you open it, you look at it with prejudice, trying to find evidence in the text to prove that it is still the formulaic article you imagined. You feel that the works pushed to you by big data are all the same, but when you turn off the targeted push, you feel that what you see in front of you is all garbage, and reading those works is a waste of your time."
[...]
"When we scrutinize others, we are already blinded by arrogance. And under the manipulation of data, we have long been trapped in information cocoons. The freedom and openness you desire have always been there, but you cannot see it. The cocoon blocks out too much, whether good or bad works. If you want to overthrow Kunlun, you are merely breaking the cocoon. You feel that after change there will only be bloodshed and pain because, without the protection of the cocoon, you have heard too many voices of 'those who are not me,' and that is the source of your pain."
Within their cocoons, they encountered too many of their own kind, gradually believing that everything around them was how the world should be. They divided up territories, established organizations, and gradually transformed into various Daos. When people with different Daos met, they clashed fiercely, vying to determine whose Dao was the most correct, and whose Dao could ultimately lead them to godhood.
They simply wanted to prove themselves right in this way, so that their lives would have value.
Shen Chunrong's anxiety also stems from the fact that she cannot hear the voices of her kind.
Shen Cangyu also understood that the meaning of her existence was to constantly search for various voices, just like the sonar emitted by Shen Chunrong, which helped her find her kindred spirits.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
