Huh, RIP Mario Vargas Llosa. For some reason I assumed living would make him ineligible to be a literature ghost to complain about + praise magical realism. The quote was necessary or important to the author, clearly, since Shenxiu mostly accepts dream logic as in magical realism, and Xu Ke tries to find operating principles which cements this story as proper fantasy. I feel a bit dumb for not realizing a living old man can critique their long dead influences just fine.