A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality is finally complete.
When I wrote the last word and set down my pen, I felt both a tremendous sense of relief and a lingering, hollow reluctance to let go.
This rather bittersweet feeling — I believe many readers who have followed along from the start probably share something similar.
This is the first time I've written an afterword for a completed work, but I'm sure it won't be the last.
I looked back at the records for "A Mortal's": First upload date: February 20, 2008 First paid chapter date: August 1, 2008 Completion date: September 23, 2013 The entire work spanned five years and seven months, totaling over seven million characters. While I can't compare to some of the monstrous authors on the site, this is genuinely a novel that poured a great deal of heart and effort into.
The initial planning for "A Mortal's" alone consumed nearly three years.
When I finally began putting pen to paper, I hesitated for a long while before ultimately deciding to step into the ranks of web novel authors. After all, as a first-time novelist, I couldn't possibly measure up to veteran authors who had already written multiple books, and I ran into no small number of difficulties and setbacks at the start.
Setting everything else aside, the most fundamental task of typing on a computer nearly scared me off entirely back then. Before writing "A Mortal's," I only knew the most basic computer operations and had never truly typed at length — I'd always been a "one-finger" typist on the keyboard.
I remember writing the first chapter — barely over two thousand characters, the content already thoroughly rehearsed in my mind — and it still took a full four hours to finish.
But once that chapter was done, I felt a sense of accomplishment I had never experienced before.
That feeling was one of the things that kept me going.
However, the real driving force that pushed me to write "A Mortal's" through, day after day, night after night, was the love and appreciation that so many loyal readers showed for this book.
Over five years of unwavering companionship — enough for countless readers to forge a deep bond with "A Mortal's," and for me to meet many warm-hearted friends along the way.
Here, I want to once again express my sincere thanks and deepest gratitude to all these readers and fellow book lovers!
That feeling of being recognized and appreciated by others — I believe it is the thing every author desires most.
The completed "A Mortal's" has gained many elements compared to the original outline, but it also shed some components and content along the way. These were elements I felt were unnecessary in "A Mortal's" and had been reserved for building a different xianxia world in a new book.
I'll go ahead and announce the title of the new book right here: it's called Record of the Demon Sky, and I plan to upload it in November. This book has also been in planning for quite some time. Although I haven't started writing yet, I'm confident it will be an equally exciting novel, and I hope you'll enjoy it just as much.
Heh, I'll also use the month or so of rest time to build up a good backlog of chapters so everyone can read to their heart's content when it launches!
Alright, that's all for the reflections!
The next time I meet all of you will be in Record of the Demon Sky.
Wishing everyone good health and happiness!
(End of chapter)