Douluo Continent: God Descends

Chapter 13 The Evil Douluo Madman!

Writing novels is actually a very painful thing, because it tests the author's cultural background and typing speed.

If you rush into this industry without a solid foundation, you will most likely be overwhelmed by the vast number of works and end up failing miserably.

Lu Xingchen's connection with writing began when she was four years old.

At that time, he already had a long-term plan for acting. In order to make his future actions more reasonable and to earn some money on his own, he began to frequently visit Cocolia's office and borrow that slightly old desktop computer to create.

To his surprise, Cocolia not only did not object, but gave him her full support.

In her eyes, it is already precious for a child to find something they love, let alone Lu Xingchen, who has been more mature and composed than his peers since childhood. She was unwilling to easily extinguish this rare passion.

Cocolia would even make a point of setting aside time for him to use the computer, and occasionally bring him a cup of warm milk, quietly sitting beside him to handle his affairs without disturbing his concentration.

Since her debut under the pen name "Unicorn," Lu Xingchen has created three works.

His debut work, "Breaking Through the Sky," was a labor of love for him.

The story revolves around Xiao Huohuo, a young man whose martial soul is fire but whose innate soul power is only level three. Because of his weak soul power, he was publicly jilted by his talented fiancée, suffering a great humiliation.

Unwilling to settle for mediocrity, Xiao Huohuo made a "three-year promise" to turn the tables and prove his worth. In the end, through his unremitting efforts, he achieved the legendary transformation of fortune, growing into a fire god who shook the mainland.

It's a pity it flopped!

To ensure that this work could be seen by more people, Lu Xingchen went to great lengths, maintaining an update speed of at least five chapters a day, and managed to write nearly 1,600 chapters.

But reality dealt him a heavy blow—the work ultimately flopped, failing to even crack the top 1,000 in recommendation data.

The publisher's reason was straightforward: the storyline was too bland and lacked appeal.

During the communication, the editor explained that Xiao Huohuo's story is almost entirely about advancement and fighting, with the character's emotional storyline being severely neglected.

Today's readers prefer stories that are warm and emotionally resonant.

The editor suggested that Lu Xingchen pay more attention to popular works, learn from the experiences of "predecessors," and adjust his own writing direction.

With a mix of reluctance and curiosity, Lu Xingchen humbly accepted the advice and clicked on the platform's best-selling list.

But when he saw the titles of the works on the list, he was completely stunned:

First place: "My Soul Travels 20,000 Years Ago, and My Domineering Third Brother Falls in Love with Me"

Second place: "The Story I Had to Tell with the Sea God After Traveling 20,000 Years Ago"

Third place: "My Soul Travels Through Ten Thousand Years, and I Become the Sea God's Son-in-Law"

Fourth place: "The Story I Had to Tell with Huo Yuhao"

Fifth place: "The Biography of Poseidon"

Sixth place: "After Transmigrating into a Soul Beast, I Decisively Joined the Spirit Ice Douluo's Side"

……

Scroll down to number 999: "After Transmigrating into a Female Lizard, the Years I Competed with Xiao Wu for 'Third Brother's' Favor"

Number 1000: *The Overbearing Emperor Falls in Love with Me: An Forbidden Love Between a Human and a Soul Beast*

"Damn it, do these people have such heavy tastes?!" Lu Xingchen couldn't help but curse inwardly.

He patiently browsed through them one by one and found that among the top 1,000 works, more than 900 revolved around "Tang San" and "Huo Yuhao". The rest were mostly melodramatic love stories, with almost no serious world-building or battle descriptions.

Initially, Lu Xingchen clicked on several popular works with the mindset that "there might be hidden highlights".

But after reading just a few chapters, his eyes ached from the shocking content: "Third Brother's body trembled, and the Angel God was immediately terrified, wetting himself and leaving behind a mysterious liquid," "Huo Yuhao's eyes widened slightly, and the Sun and Moon War Goddess, in order to save her life, gave birth to his child on the spot"...

The entire story is filled with illogical plots and excessive mythologizing of the protagonist. Romantic relationships take up more than 90% of the content, and the so-called "battles" are nothing more than a backdrop for the protagonist to show off.

I wanted to learn from my seniors, but it felt like I was being forced to eat a mouthful of "dross".

Lu Xingchen couldn't understand why his meticulously crafted novel, "Breaking Through the Heavens," couldn't even crack the top 1,000, while these utterly worthless works dominated the charts.

He went to the editor with his questions, but the response he received was always: "This kind of plot is normal. Readers like this now. You need to learn more."

"That damned Douluo madman, how dare he humiliate me like this!" Lu Xingchen clenched his fists, his heart filled with resentment.

But he also knew that when you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head—his core purpose in writing novels was to make money, and if he insisted on sticking to his own style, he would probably only end up as a nobody.

Finally, suppressing his resentment and filled with grief and indignation, he began to create his second work: "After I, with half a level of innate soul power, was expelled from my family, my genius cousin fell in love with me."

The protagonist of this work is Yu Xiaogang, a young man from an ancient sect family whose martial spirit is the True Dragon and whose lineage has lasted for thousands of years.

His father was the sect leader, a man of great status, but during the martial soul awakening ceremony, he unexpectedly awakened a boar martial soul that had no combat power.

Faced with the ridicule of those around him, Yu Xiaogang got angry in a fit of rage, and his childhood was spent amidst the mockery.

When she was in her twenties, Yu Xiaogang finally couldn't stand this humiliation anymore and resolutely chose to run away from home.

During his wanderings, Yu Xiaogang unexpectedly encountered a stunningly beautiful young woman and a steady and reliable young man.

During a crisis, the three accidentally triggered a Martial Soul Fusion Skill and discovered that they had a strong compatibility with each other. They decided to travel together and explore the mysteries of the continent.

The main storyline revolves around the adventures of the three, interspersed with numerous emotional entanglements.

Yu Xiaogang and the beautiful girl gradually develop feelings for each other as they spend time together. After overcoming many difficulties, they finally decide to get married. However, on the eve of their wedding, Yu Xiaogang learns that the girl is actually his cousin whom he has never met before.

Afterwards, the two went through a series of "torturous love" plots, including family opposition and worldly prejudice. In the end, Yu Xiaogang ran away in a fit of anger, leaving her cousin alone in an empty room.

If this were in the first era, it would definitely be considered rubbish online.

To Lu Xingchen's surprise, this work, which "compromised with the market," unexpectedly received high praise upon its release.

Although its popularity was far less than that of the "top-tier" works revolving around Tang San and Huo Yuhao, it still attracted a considerable number of loyal fans, allowing him to taste the flavor of "profit" for the first time.

Unfortunately, the work was rather short and ultimately only brought him tens of thousands of federal dollars, far from meeting his needs.