Chapter 43: Off with it!

To begin with, the plot details were all provided by Gu Meng along with the branching storylines generated by the system, which would be triggered once certain requirements were met.

It would not be like the otherworldly game in that novel, where playing it could automatically generate a variety of non-repeating new plots using the game's AI.

However, the current volume of plot content was already massive. Gu Meng cutting together the plots of those twenty-odd martial arts novels and their adapted "what-if" prequels and sequels was an absolute breeze.

Gu Meng had the post-production group of Maodou's former film and television department continuously record and edit, re-recording repeatedly.

Using equipment that only game companies of a certain renown could acquire, including but not limited to rendering with unreleased 70-series graphics cards.

Selecting the best combat footage, they edited Maodou's versions of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "The Return of the Condor Heroes", "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", "The Legend of Chor Lưu Hương" (The Chu Liuxiang Legend), and a series of other martial arts animations, releasing them one per day to drive traffic.

Since the copyrights were about to expire, the copyrights Maodou acquired could not only be used to make games, but also be edited after the game's release to be broadcast as official TV series or animations for profit. Because both Maodou and its competitors were film-and-game companies, they actually released official film and television versions a certain period after completing the film-games.

Therefore, acquiring the adaptations meant buying the full copyrights in one go, which was completely normal.

Anyway, since they were there to be used, Gu Meng's philosophy was to push things to the absolute limit at this time.

If other content creators (UP hosts) in the future were to edit their own fan works, such as "The Legend of the Young Master of Juxian Manor" or "The Blackened Prince of Dali's Southern King", and release them for free as gaming videos or just for small-time monetization, Gu Meng wouldn't care.

If they wanted to sell them as full-length animations, they would first have to secure the copyrights from the two grandmasters, Guyong and Jinlong—Gu Meng's copyrights could only be used by Gu Meng, and each novel could not possibly allow infinite remakes; there was only one original story and a few side stories, which wasn't even enough for Xuan You himself.

If other creators wanted to do secondary creations and re-dub them into official animations, they would have to secure the original book copyrights themselves. If they genuinely managed to get them, Gu Meng wouldn't mind as long as they gave him a small cut of the profits.

After all, he was selling games, and everyone making fan videos could only increase the game's influence and boost sales.

The hype surrounding "Pure Love" last time could be said to have possessed the right time, the right place, and the right people; even with crazy amounts of money thrown in, it would have been hard to achieve that kind of effect.

Unfortunately, Gu Meng didn't have a second old man left to sacrifice.

Sigh, if only he had a hundred fathers, and one died with every new project, then things would be simple.

Sacrificing the old man to the heavens grants boundless magical power!

Fortunately, the mini-game "Legends of Heroes: Zero" had gained quite a bit of popularity, along with the high-quality real-in-game PVs whose authenticity was hotly debated by everyone, plus the promotional push from the martial arts game tournament.

Attracting people in first, once they actually sat down to play, they would naturally be won over by "Legends of Heroes: True", whose art and architecture might still be somewhat rough, but whose combat aspects had overwhelmingly prominent strengths.

In the China of December, it was destined that the most popular new game would be "Legends of Heroes: True", the most talked-about game company would be Game Metaphysics, and the most frequently mentioned game producer would be Gu Meng.

...

Leaving these external matters aside, Cabbage picked and chose and finally selected a suitable character.

Hesitating for a moment, she abandoned the option of creating a custom character with a giant, comical head.

She chose a character from "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" that she had watched not long ago.

Dongfang Bubai was simply too powerful and couldn't be selected, so Cabbage chose Lin Pingzhi, a tragic figure who had left a deep impression on her when she watched the show.

She officially entered the game.

A simple cutscene played, featuring a dashing young man in fine clothes on a spirited horse.

Accompanied by the background music ~

"This music, whoa~~!"

Cabbage let out a strange cry; it was the music from the CCTV version of "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer"—Gu Meng had bought the copyright.

Many classic martial arts TV series tracks from the past had been bought by Gu Meng, and after so many years, many of them had become quite cheap.

If the asking price was too high, Gu Meng simply wouldn't buy it; there were so many divine tracks, if this one wasn't available, there were others.

With the exception of tracks on the level of "A Laughter in the Sea", where high asking prices were normal.

Most songs in the parallel world were consistent, and for the few missing songs, such as "The Scripture of Difficulties", Gu Meng unhesitatingly "wrote the lyrics and composed the music" himself to fill the gap.

"Laughing as you and I vainly squander our scheming, loving the rivalry over the beauty of flowers in a mirror..."

"Aha~ passing through a lifetime yet never penetrating this riddle..."

"Facing the wind and kissing the rain, burying the setting sun without a shred of hesitation..."

"Defying the mountains and chasing the seas, treading snowy paths without despair..."

"Plucking flowers and holding wine, enough to break the passionate heart of this world..."

"Relying on these two eyes and a hundred or a thousand hands, impossible to guard against..."

"The sky is vast, the snow is drifting, who will sail together with me?"

"The sand is rolling, the water is rippling, smiling as we wander..."...

The music video had been made long ago, mostly consisting of footage captured directly from the game, and the dispositions of the important NPCs were all very faithful to the original work.

The Prince of Nan'an's harem and daughters were all drop-dead gorgeous, alongside femme fatales like Kang Min.

This time, Gu Meng wasn't short on money, so the promotional music video was released simultaneously with the game.

It wasn't just this theme song for Demi-Gods; every martial arts title had its own music video, either featuring cover songs or "new songs" like "The Scripture of Difficulties" and "Mythical Love Affair".

From now on, the Dragon King would have yet another title: the Martial Arts Singing God!

...

Once the game officially began, Cabbage was able to control her character, strolling around Fuzhou City, though there weren't many buildings.

"The graphics are quite refined."

"I'm starting to believe this is actually in-game footage."

"Game Metaphysics is awesome, I'm buying it, I'm buying it."

"It's rare to see a martial arts game with such delicate modeling."

"Cabbage just casually picked a starting location, for Fuzhou City to reach this level is already very impressive."

Chinese gamers were still far too forgiving.

Clearly, there were still many flaws, and compared to the truly top-tier masterpieces of this parallel world, it had quite a few shortcomings.

Before truly engaging in combat, the charm of this game had not yet fully manifested.

Fortunately, combat was inevitable, and the crisis Lin Pingzhi had to face right at the start was very straightforward.

In truth, everyone knew it in their hearts; even Cabbage had read "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer".

People from the Qingcheng Sect were going to come and make trouble.

Generally speaking, the martial arts Lin Pingzhi started with were absolutely no match for Yu Canghai when the plot kicked off a few months later in the game.

However, that was only under normal circumstances!

Anyone who had played "Legends of Heroes: Zero" knew what Lin Pingzhi needed to do.

"Found it, found it! It's here indeed!"

Cabbage happily tucked a special item shaped like a cassock into her inventory.

"Great, it's the 'Warding Evil Sword Technique', we're saved!"

"Leader Bai is so ruthless, she's definitely no true gentleman!"

"To master the divine art, one must first castrate oneself; to master the divine art, you've got to wield the blade and self-emasculate!"

"Chop it, chop it, chop it!"

"Chop it, chop it, chop it!"

"Don't ask about right and wrong~ You men have no right at all~ During the days of practicing the Sunflower Manual~ I am truly so happy~"

"The sun sets in the west, and I alone am undefeated!"

"Our Sunflower School is truly invincible under heaven!"

"Whoosh—ah—"

Another strange cry rang out as Cabbage clicked to use the item.

Severing the thing that never really existed to begin with.

"This way, I can become stronger. Yay!"

"Tragic, Cabbage has turned into a little trap (femboy)."

"Isn't that even better?"

"It feels so much lighter after the cut."

"May Leader Bai reign for a thousand generations, unifying the pugilistic world!"