My Web Novel System - Chapter 16

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Tomb-robbing…?”

After hearing this, Sherry quivered and seemed to become sober. “What do you mean by tomb-robbing?”

“Have you heard of traditional Chinese tomb-robbing? In ancient times, nobles with remarkable statuses had ideals about their afterlife. They believed that as long as they built a tomb, they could bring their glory and wealth from their existing life to the next. Thus, they would place many treasures they had used when they were alive in the tomb that they built. These included all kinds of jade, precious metals, and even pottery figurines that represented the illustrious identity of the tomb owner. There were carriages, horses, soldiers, weapons, and everything they could think of. The Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang were typical examples of this kind of burial culture. What’s even more terrifying is that some people would even designate a living person to be buried alive upon their death in an attempt to bring their loved ones to the afterlife with them.”

Fang Yuan introduced Sherry to what he knew about the ancient Chinese burial culture.

He liked these strange folk stories in the traditional culture and was very familiar with these stories.

Sherry had never heard of such a strange thing and stared into the distance with her light brown eyes.

She was already engrossed in his story.

“Due to the ancient burial culture, there are probably countless treasures buried under the land on anywhere you step in China, especially in the ancient capitals of the Chinese dynasties. Where there are treasures, there will be treasure hunters. Thus, we have tomb robbers. My novel will be about this.”

“I have to admit that the Chinese story you just told me is very interesting.”

Sherry put down the glass she was holding. “But…that’s purely from a creative point of view. We actually recommend following the existing genre of work. The reason why ‘The Coiling Dragon’ could achieve such success is that it meets the readers’ expectations about the world of swords and magic.”

She paused for a moment before she continued, “Forgive me for being blunt, but this tomb-robbing novel that you came up with off the top of your head isn’t the conventional Western novel. In the American literary world, the cemetery theme usually only goes in three directions. It’s either a gothic novel about vampires and werewolves, a horror novel about spirits and ghosts, or a detective mystery novel about murder and solving crimes. No one has ever seen or heard of tomb-robbing and wouldn’t even know what it is, so they probably wouldn’t pay for it. However, I can see that you’re very talented based on your concept! I’d suggest giving up on the idea of a tomb-robbing novel. I don’t want to see you walk into a wall and bleed. Perhaps a different idea would be a better choice for this competition.”

After a long discussion at the table, Sherry’s impression of Fang Yuan had improved greatly.

Thus, she was analyzing Fang Yuan’s concept as a fellow writer and put forward many suggestions for modification.

Fang Yuan also knew that most things in the world were so.

New things always came with risks, so they would always encounter obstacles one way or another.

Since it was human nature to seek stability, many simply would not innovate to avoid risks and would prefer a path taken by predecessors.

This thinking would not bring change to the world, but at least they would not have to bear the disaster of a total loss.

Fang Yuan was different. He had a strong belief and proof that his concept would work.

He knew that the novel, “Candle in the Tomb”, was a huge sensation in his previous life.

Fang Yuan also knew that this work had once been bought by one of the five largest publishing houses in the world for the rights to be translated and published.

It even was well-known overseas.

He was certain that this was a trump card that would bring him a sure win.

“Sherry, thanks for your suggestion, but…”

Fang Yuan smiled faintly and recalled a classic quote from the great scholar, Lu Xun, from his previous life.

Due to the alteration in this timeline, this quote did not exist in this parallel world. Thus, it was right to put it out there.

“Expectation isn’t something that just exists, just like a path on the ground. In fact, the world was originally untouched. Paths only exist because one person braved walking that path. Eventually, a path will appear when more people take the same route.”

‘A path will appear when more people take the same route…’

Sherry repeated this sentence in her mind and understood what Fang Yuan meant.

Earlier, she had persuaded Fang Yuan to write common genres in the West, such as gothic, horror, or mystery novels since these were all paths that had been tested and verified by previous generations.

Fang Yuan was clearly saying that there was always a road that had not been taken, and he was brave enough to be the first person to forge that path.

He wanted to write the world’s first tomb-robbing novel and become the founder of this genre!

“Youngsters nowadays are really unpredictable.”

Sherry smiled with squinted eyes. The drunkenness on her face was obvious. Although she called him a youngster, she was certainly not considered old.

She was not even thirty this year and was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. She also had a beautiful face and a perfect figure.

However, with countless awards under her belt, she seemed solemn, graceful, and unattainable.

Sherry said softly, “Lead the way to your room. I want to see how you walk this path.”

“Huh?”