Volume One: Riverside City Chapter Seventeen: The Mountain Stronghold's Divine Ascendance

August 2nd. After nearly a month of devoted writing, Li Ling finally completed the fourth volume of The Investiture of the Gods.

Throughout July, except for a few days spent helping Gu Yuezi strategize against the Wan Family Bookstore, Li Ling had dedicated himself entirely to this volume of the novel. He rarely even visited the bookstore, since the income from there was negligible compared to his writing.

His efforts paid off handsomely. In Li Ling’s view, the freshly completed fourth volume surpassed the previous three not only in plot but also in the use of language. This process also improved his own writing skills, so he was brimming with confidence about this publication.

However, when Li Ling arrived at the bookstore to submit his manuscript, he found Manager Wu and the other clerks all wearing anxious expressions. Even when they saw him carrying the manuscript, they only managed a strained smile and invited him to speak with their employer in the back.

Gu Yuezi’s mood was also somber. Taking the manuscript with a faint smile, he said, “Brother, you took much longer to write this volume than before.”

“No choice. The upcoming story is more complex, with grander scenes. I have to think carefully before putting pen to paper,” Li Ling replied with a smile, then asked with concern, “Brother, why do you look so troubled? Has the Wan family made a move?”

Gu Yuezi sighed deeply. “More than just a move—it’s a storm. You’ve been locked away writing, so you have no idea how drastically the situation outside has changed.”

“How so?” Li Ling’s expression turned serious. He had thought the other side hadn’t gained the upper hand so quickly. Now it seemed the situation was far worse.

“Ah, I thought that day when I gathered the bookstore owners we could form a united front for defense and offense. But it turns out I overestimated everyone’s loyalty after all these years. From the start, Boss Wang and Boss Liu immediately sided with Wan Family, displaying their books on the shelves. With Wan Rong and the others lobbying continuously and lowering wholesale prices, the others wavered too—even Boss Lu, who was closest to me, ultimately conceded. That was over ten days ago. Now, my Gu family’s books are identical to the Wan family’s, but their prices are twenty percent lower. Naturally, no one is willing to spend money on my books anymore.”

Li Ling frowned deeply. He had assumed merchants centuries ago valued friendship and promises more than modern ones, but now it was clear he had overestimated them. Merchants exist to pursue profit; when greater gains are on the line, ties of friendship are simply set aside.

After sighing, Gu Yuezi continued, “It’s not just the classics where they’ve completely blocked my path. It’s the novels and storybooks as well. This month, the only novel you’ve handed me is your own; all other authors have been poached by the Wan family! And, most infuriatingly, just two days ago, Wan Family released four volumes of The Legend of the Immortals all at once! They timed it almost perfectly with your manuscript submission, aiming to wipe us out completely!”

“The Legend of the Immortals?” Li Ling frowned. “Is that the novel Dai Chang’an wrote by imitating my previous plots?”

“Exactly. I even had someone buy a set to look through. The first several chapters are almost verbatim copies of your Investiture of the Gods, only the names have been changed.” Gu Yuezi turned and fetched the four volumes from a back shelf, handing them to Li Ling. “Take a look.”

Li Ling glanced at the covers, which boldly displayed the title The Legend of the Immortals. He muttered, “Good grief.” Dai Chang’an was truly a master of riding the coattails of popular works, even borrowing the title so blatantly to evoke Investiture of the Gods.

But Li Ling had expected this and felt no irritation. He opened the pages and quickly skimmed the content.

After a short while, a smile curved Li Ling’s lips. Just as Gu Yuezi had said, the book followed the Investiture of the Gods formula almost exactly, only the setting was pushed further back in time to the Xia Dynasty.

So, King Zhou was replaced by King Jie of Xia, Daji by Mei Xi, the Zhou by the Shang tribe, King Wu by Cheng Tang, and Jiang Ziya by Yi Yin—obviously anachronistic, but the author didn’t care, simply slotting the historical figures he knew into the story.

The celestial beings were even easier to incorporate: Donghuang Taiyi, the Human Emperor Fuxi, and the like all fit in well, along with some original characters. The result was surprisingly convincing.

Flipping through a few chapters, Li Ling understood why Gu Yuezi had been confident until recently but was now panicked. The bookstores’ defection was one thing, but more importantly, the content of The Legend of the Immortals was genuinely good—its prose was even superior to his own three volumes. Moreover, it included elements the public loved, detailing the intimate palace intrigues between King Jie and Mei Xi—much more enticing material.

Recalling Dai Chang’an’s gaunt appearance from that day, Li Ling couldn’t help but smile faintly. This made Gu Yuezi restless beside him. “Brother, how can you still be smiling at a time like this? I truly thought Dai Chang’an wouldn’t write anything decent, but now I see I underestimated him. These four volumes rival yours, and he’s faster and cheaper. His impact on your volume is huge.”

Only then did Li Ling place the books back on the table and ask, “Brother Gu, I want to hear the truth. Why did you want to buy my book in the first place? Was it because my first volume’s prose was so elegant and refined?”

Gu Yuezi paused, then shook his head. “No, your writing was just competent. What I valued most about Investiture of the Gods was its wildly imaginative creativity, and the endless parade of fascinating characters.”

“That’s exactly it. The reason people want to read my work is because of my imagination. His advantage means nothing in comparison.”

“But the problem is, he’s stolen many of your brilliant ideas.”

“That’s not necessarily true. He could only steal from the first three volumes, but the truly exciting part of Investiture of the Gods only starts in this fourth volume.” Li Ling tapped his manuscript and slid it over.

“Really?” Gu Yuezi’s spirits lifted at Li Ling’s confident demeanor. He quickly began reading. He had already seen half of the volume before, which was only somewhat better than the first three and not necessarily superior to The Legend of the Immortals. But as he read deeper, his eyes became engrossed, unable to look away.

As Li Ling said, the later battles of the Chan Sect and Jie Sect transcended contemporary imagination, thrilling Gu Yuezi to the point of repeatedly slapping the table in admiration.

The Ten Absolute Formations section was once criticized heavily by later readers. Those formations—the Red Sand Formation, Golden Light Formation—sounded impressive but were unimaginative in content. The Western Qi side repeatedly sent cannon fodder to be slaughtered inside before the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect could break through.

Such a plot might be tolerable once or twice, but in Investiture of the Gods, it happened ten times, leading to reader fatigue. Li Ling rewrote these episodes with upgrades to the formations’ subtlety and lethality, and the methods used by Western Qi to break each formation were distinct and engaging. Once started, readers could not stop. Only someone like Li Ling, familiar with many later cultivation novels, could have made such improvements. This was clearly beyond the capability of readers in this era.

“Excellent! Brilliant!” After several exclamations, Gu Yuezi finally put down the manuscript, exhaled deeply, and for the first time in days showed a genuine smile. “Brother, you really weren’t bluffing. You haven’t let me down. This fourth volume alone surpasses the previous three combined. As for The Legend of the Immortals, it’s not even worth mentioning!”

Li Ling smiled in return. “So as long as we print the book quickly, we can cut off their path before The Legend of the Immortals takes off. Let’s see how they’ll manage then!”

“Exactly. I’ll have them pause all revisions immediately. The fourth volume must be printed within three days, or things will only get worse.” Gu Yuezi stood up excitedly and headed out.

…

In the backyard of Wan Family Bookstore, Dai Chang’an sat beaming before Wan Rong and Wan Ai, listening to the sales figures for his four volumes over the past two days. He felt elated: “Four hundred copies sold in just three days. Gu Yuezi must have heard by now. I want to see his expression. He even accused me of taking the crooked path! Just because Xiaoyaozi wrote well, does that mean I can’t?”

“Mr. Dai, have you thought about how you’ll write the fifth volume?” Wan Ai asked, smiling.

Dai Chang’an straightened and cupped his hands. “I already have plans. The following content will be even more exciting. But with this pace of publication—”

“Don’t worry, you won’t be poorly compensated. If you write fast and well, adding ten taels of silver is just a formality,” Wan Rong said with a smile.

“Ten taels won’t be enough. I heard Li Ling’s Investiture of the Gods volume sells for fifty taels. I should get sixty,” Dai Chang’an said greedily.

Wan Ai’s eyes flashed with displeasure but she quickly smiled. “No problem. If the book sells, you’ll get sixty taels. But there’s a condition: I want to sell two thousand copies of the five volumes before paying that.”

Dai Chang’an hesitated. Even with more than ten volumes written before, he had never sold two thousand copies in total.

“Afraid?” Wan Rong snorted. “I know Investiture of the Gods sold eight hundred copies with just its first volume.”

Inspired, Dai Chang’an nodded firmly. “Then it’s settled! If Xiaoyaozi can do it, so can I! I’ll just add more action scenes to the story. No one cares about that stuff nowadays anyway…”