I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 599 - 599 598. In the crowd_1

Chapter 599: 598. In the crowd_1 Chapter 599: 598. In the crowd_1 All was settled, the sacrifice of the Inheritors of the Ninth River finally sealed the Evil God. Emerging from the cave, it seemed as though nothing had changed, yet everything had.

At the end of the movie, those who had saved the world in obscurity made their way down the mountain, destined to remain incognito and watch over this place for a long time to come.

At this point, everything should have come to an end.

Just as Cao Manwen was preparing to stand up, he saw the darkened screen light up again.

One by one, old photographs appeared.

These were the past experiences of the Inheritors of the Ninth River.

Some returned to their hometowns after that and lived ordinary lives.

Others were tormented by their dedication, restlessly struggling throughout the remainder of their lives.

Some threw themselves into the defense of their country, fighting until the very last moment.

Those old photographs, like chapters of life, displayed the stories after the legendary closure.

To the viewers, these photos seemed to be of the Nine Streams, but in reality, they knew that these pictures told the stories of everyone from that era.

The course of history flowed through the photographs, with backdrops ranging from ruin, decay, and war to reconstruction, prosperity, and peace.

No matter the time, there were always people struggling for this land in various ways.

Some plunged into murky oil fields to stir with their bodies, some rode horses bearing flags and emblems to execute justice in the mountains, and others simply stood in front of a podium to pass on hope, dedicating their whole lives to it.

They may have given each other mutual support, or they may have been strangers, all standing here for one goal.

Professor Hu also saw a photo of himself with his father. In that black and white image, his father appeared somewhat awkward, while he himself looked naive and clueless, clearly a father and son.

The photograph was ordinary, but to Professor Hu, it was a priceless treasure.

Not until the movie’s credit roll had concluded and the auditorium lights came on did the audience snap out of their melancholy and start to leave.

Cao Manwen, helping Professor Hu to his feet, saw that the old man no longer had tears streaming down his face but instead wore a contented expression.

“It’s good that someone remembers.”

Professor Hu muttered.

The legends his father once told him, Professor Hu had thought no one would mention them again.

In this age when the mysterious was fading and traditions were dimming, Professor Hu had given up on the idea of passing them down.

But now, he had rekindled some hope.

Could he give one more lecture to his students?

Even if everyone treated them merely as legendary stories and passed them on through word of mouth, some would remember.

Seeing this scene, Cao Manwen momentarily didn’t know whether the movie was real or fiction.

If it was fiction, then Professor Hu’s reaction and those superpowers he had witnessed were not illusions.

If it was real, had Lu Ban actually traveled through time and left behind these images in the past?

Cao Manwen’s mind was in turmoil.

Stephen was equally disoriented.

The foreigner’s steps as he left the movie theater were heavy.

On the one hand, he was profoundly impacted by the Ancient Overlord, his brain overwhelmed as though scalded by boiling water, incapacitating his ability to think.

And when Stephen began to think, what he saw before his eyes made him hold his breath.

The fearless sacrifice, the willingness to face death with open arms, touched this young man who had grown up in an environment of liberalism and individualism.

Stephen saw outside the cinema, a young man supporting an elderly person.

It seemed they too had just come out of the cinema, perhaps a grandfather and his grandson.

This kind of legacy, Stephen had seen in the movies, and he saw it outside the movies as well.

He was very envious of this legacy.

Outside the cinema, many more were preparing to come in for the second showing. Stephen wondered if among them were any Inheritors of the Ninth River?

He walked into the crowd.

…

After the release of “Nine Streams,” reviews always seemed to be half a beat slow.

It wasn’t until the afternoon that “Cinema Weekly”‘s official account published its feature article.

The main thing was, the critics were contemplating Lu Ban’s thoughts.

On the surface, the movie seemed like a legendary fantasy, centering on superpowered individuals, much like martial arts films.

But in reality, the critics believed that the movie used a contemporary setting and legendary story to talk about something that truly exists—the Inheritors of the Ninth River were a microcosm of a large group of people.

Lu Ban showcased the struggles of that era, the people’s thoughts, attitudes, and legacies in a trendy and unique way.

Through the conflict involving the Mysterious Monarch, the movie portrayed people’s attitude toward the land plagued by war and uncertain of its future direction—some wanted to rely on external forces and sell themselves out, some stood by and only took care of themselves, while others fought strenuously and moved forward with difficulty.

At this point, many critics were able to see through the plot.

But what they couldn’t decipher were the ugly monsters and the Evil God at the end.

Of course, as part of Lu Ban’s cinematic universe, it was normal to include such elements.

But this time, Lu Ban had clearly introduced something intense—the monsters’ appearance and the Evil God’s posture had never appeared on the big screen before.

What kind of message was he trying to send?

In addition, critics pondered why Lu Ban had chosen a pseudo-documentary style to shoot the film.

Following the normal thought process for such a genre, a director should strive to create a worldview that stems from reality but is above it, finally returning to reality with a legendary ending that has faded into obscurity. However, the documentary style added a sense of realism to the film, and yet the superpowers were fictional, creating a contradiction.

It’s not as if Lu Ban had actually found the descendants of those superpowered individuals, that such events truly occurred, making his film a genuine documentary, right?

That would be too exaggerated.

Nevertheless, putting aside these hypotheticals, the film was indeed very good, and the courage shown by humanity in the face of disaster was far greater than what Lu Ban had shown in his previous film “Doomsday,” where humans, no matter how hard they tried, couldn’t escape annihilation.

Even the fact that all the characters except the villains survived was hard to imagine, considering he had just destroyed an entire civilization of humanity in his previous movie.

Therefore, many critics began from the angle of Lu Ban’s change.

Some said that Lu Ban was always a gentle Director, death was just a means to an end, not the goal, and in this film, the survival of the characters better demonstrated his thought, thus leading to such a harmonious resolution.

Others said that in the end, didn’t all these characters die anyway? Those interviews were just memories by their descendants. In Lu Ban’s films, the main character only has two possible endings: death on the spot or death after the story ends.

Still others said that as Lu Ban grew older, he began to shift from his sharp and ruthless beginnings to a more gentle approach. In youth, one tends to yearn for extreme emotional expression, but as one grows and experiences more, the power of harmony becomes clearer.

Regardless, compared to Lu Ban’s previous works, “Nine Streams” had conflict, an era, heroes pulling back from the brink, villains reaping what they sowed, and a good ending. Critics unanimously believed that this film was worth recommending to everyone to watch!