I had originally planned to rest a bit and write this tomorrow, but the timing might be sensitive — quite a few friends have been pinging me with all sorts of texts and DMs asking about it. I was just about to take a nice afternoon nap to come down from the excitement of finishing the ending, but my phone kept buzzing and buzzing. I… can a person not get some sleep?
Completing the novel in May was always the plan. I said so a very, very long time ago — it's just that I couldn't pin down the exact date back then, so I gave a rough window of May or June. You always need to leave yourself some wiggle room, right? If it weren't for the pandemic, I'd have headed off to Spain for a vacation by now.
Also, my contract was signed at the end of 2016 and runs until early 2022. I still have one book left — roughly three million words — and the new book will definitely be on Qidian.
Enough about that. Back to the book itself.
If the ending stretch of Part Seven saw me choose a more logical progression, which made the pacing much faster and left less room for richer, more detailed development, then Part Eight was entirely under my control from the very first chapter. What each chapter should cover, where the turning points go, how the ending ties together — I had it all mapped out. There was no sudden acceleration of the plot, and no subplots were cut.
I had this ending planned before I even started writing. Every member of the
In the end, the contrast between the eerie and the innocent, between shadow and sunlight, between darkness and new life — it was a peculiar scene that carried a touch of cosmic horror alongside warmth. It also signals that Klein has begun to awaken, so the story doesn't just abruptly cut off.
As for the five gold coins foreshadowing, the individual journeys of the Tarot Club members, and the other plot threads unrelated to this book's main storyline — those are naturally saved for the second installment. I've laid it on so thick that the final section serves as both an ending and a prologue.
So, the second installment covers the period from Klein's slumber — or even earlier — all the way through to his awakening.
All of this was decided before the book even started. The reason I planned a second installment was, first, that the worldbuilding was simply too vast and there was too much to write. Crammed into a single book, the main plot would lose all focus, the subplots would drag on and become scattered, dull, and bloated. Second, the Tarot Club members' growth arcs couldn't keep pace with Klein's. If I gave them too many subplots and stories to make their advancement feel earned, it would undermine the main storyline's structure and create that same problem of losing focus. But if I didn't give them those stories yet still had them grow and play crucial roles at key moments, plenty of readers would cry foul — that they got everything too easily, as if one person's enlightenment meant the dogs and chickens of his whole household ascended to heaven.
So after weighing everything and considering all the circumstances, I resolved to write at least a Mysteries 2. This way, the current installment could develop its plot at a comfortable pace without needing to race across the entire world map, while the Tarot Club members would only unfold the first half of their lives — completing their transformation and growth, stepping out of their comfort zones, ready to live out even more compelling stories and lives in the second installment.
For me, this is also a challenge: after a gap of several years, how do I bring everyone back into this world? How do I ensure new readers who haven't read Mysteries 1 can still follow along smoothly and without restriction?
I've never written a book series before, nor have I written a second book set in the same world. On one hand, when I designed the settings for my earlier books, I never considered this possibility and didn't leave enough room for expansion. On the other hand, I was afraid of falling back on old patterns and failing to break through. But that fear itself is a kind of limitation, and I feel that having found my own writing methodology, I'm ready to give this challenge a try.
As I've said before, my motto — no, my creed — is: "Never satisfied, always challenging."
For the second installment, I haven't settled on the protagonist or the entry point yet, but some scenes have already begun forming in my mind: They revolve around the Tarot Club members' various attempts to awaken Klein — a hidden thread woven through the different people represented by the five gold coins and the iron cigarette case.
He might encounter a Hunter who lights up a cigarette and reminisces about the old days. He might catch a fleeting glimpse of half a beautiful face. He might hear news from overseas about the discovery of a new continent. He might cross paths with the Kings of the Sea. He might explore those still-unrevealed legends of treasure on the ocean. He might clash with all manner of "Transmigrators" and "Infiltrators."
The exact style will be decided when the time comes. In any case, the worldbuilding leaves plenty of room for the second installment — I'm not at all worried about running out of material.
As for the Apocalypse, that's definitely not something that can be resolved in a single book. To give the Apocalypse in the second installment more oppressive weight, I've decided to give the Mother Goddess an epic-level buff — ahem, I mean, in short: why is the boar pregnant? Why is the man sporting a belly? Why did the stone give birth to a child? Behind all of this — is it the distortion of human nature, or the degradation of morals?… As for the specifics of the buff, that'll probably go into the third installment tied to the Western Continent. But I might not actually write it. *serious face* Regarding the Western Continent — I actually hadn't done any worldbuilding for it before, just left open some connection points. Seven remaining Source qualities, plus a small number of Beyonder characteristics that don't include Sequence 1 or Uniquenesses… what kind of world and advancement system would those build?
I've basically settled on my ideas recently and know what kind of setting I want to design. Hehe.
So: an orthodox system centered on Source qualities, an unorthodox path rooted in Beyonder characteristics, and various minor traditions that each hold a piece of both.
The first takes its inspiration from the Taoist concept of "receiving one's register" — it means you've been recognized by the Celestial Court and have become a member of the system, so you can happily summon the Six Ding and Six Jia and other deities to help you fight. A wild Taoist without a register? If you want to summon the Six Ding and Six Jia, the Earth God, the Mountain God — why would they listen to you? So in the tradition of talismans and registers, the talisman and the register are two separate things. "Receiving one's register" essentially means being part of the establishment. And then, if you replace the Celestial Court and Pure Lands with Source qualities, the whole setting immediately becomes lively and eerie.
So I got hungry writing this, and my wife is rushing me to go out. Since this was an impromptu decision to write, well, let's stop here for now. I'll continue with these completion thoughts tomorrow, talking about the ideas and lessons from writing *
Additionally, I'd like to thank Wutong for the generous tip. I was just startled when I opened Qidian Reading. Also, following this, there will be a scheduled two to three week side story serialized here first, followed by sporadic side stories. I hadn't originally planned to write any, but now I've found there are many things that don't involve the second volume but could be written—like Klein's dreams while dormant, some fragmentary stories from the Fourth Age, and so on, and so forth.
Regarding why the Blessed's contingency was interfered with, I've already provided a certain hint: Why does "Magic Mirror"
Also, the physical book reset version is out. This time, the cover is one I like. The content only has minor revisions to some internet slang and words not found in dictionaries, such as "Him." For specific purchase locations, you can check my Weibo, "Cuttlefish That Loves to Dive — The Real Deal." For the upcoming sporadic side stories, you can follow my official account; just search for "wuzei1985"—the one with the anime avatar.
Mm-hmm, I'll continue with the completion thoughts (Part 2) tomorrow.
(End of Chapter)