This part 1 of the Q&A. The next one will go up next week. There were a lot of questions.
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1) Feng Shang and Meng Yue have mysterious Dao that are either too complicated to sum up in one word, or too strange for anyone else to understand. May you elaborate on that kind of Dao?
It sort of happens sometimes. Basically, straightforward people have straightforward Dao. More unique, troublesome Dao are the result of people with unusual perspectives or ways of thinking.
As for the specifics of their Dao, people have made some very close guesses on the discord. Feng Shang’s Dao, as theorized, is somewhat related to thermodynamics. I’ll guard the specifics about as fiercely as Kubo guards Aizen’s Bankai for now.
As for Meng Yue… looks at rough draft... Wait a couple of chapters.
2) Would you say we are past the halfway point of the story now or not yet?
Yep. Definitely past the halfway point.
3) How many more arcs are planned? Is there a planned ending?
The number of arcs is not quite set in stone because things shrink and grow on the outline wildly sometimes. Technically, it’s 3 Big Arcs left. Take that as you will. Also, yes, there is a planned ending. There has been a planned ending and even a planned last scene from the beginning.
4) Have you ever gotten the urge to write a prequel/ more about the world that cannot be seen in Liu Jin's story?
Yes. A lot of times. Liu Jin’s dad's whole story. Xiao Fang’s journey, which was happening at the same time as the main story. Old Jiang’s adventures with his master. And so on. There are a lot of things that I think about and go, “I wish I had time to write that.”
5) Would the other side of the dead plains have eventually united the continent if it were not for preserving the bloodlines and the 4 divines?
Sort of? Ultimately, they are never going to agree on who is in charge of what. At best, the whole thing would be split in three protectorates, one belonging to each of the three. Borders would be fuzzy.
6) Why isn't Old Lady Zhao in the emperor realm?
She’s happy where she is and being a Renegade always seemed like too much trouble for her.
7) Why is it so difficult for high-level cultivators to have children?
Two reasons. One, as a cultivator grows, so does the weight of their existence, which means any hypothetical children will naturally have a heavier weight. Thus, manifesting that being into existence is something reality will actively reject, meaning conceiving becomes harder. Disparities in cultivation level also make it harder.
Two, I need to limit family sizes. They are already pretty big because people live a long time, but if children were easier, people like Feng Gui would already be great-grandparents. That’s a cavalcade of Fengs.
8) How does the range of techniques of the three powers on the other side of the Dead Plains compare to the Four Great Sects?
It varies. The Peerless Heavenly Sword Peak has the most variety, by which I mean, if you can stick a sword somewhere in there, it’s now a sword technique. They are very flexible in what they can teach. The Temple of the Thousand Shadows is the most specialized. More so than even the Divine Frozen Palace. Their teachings all revolve around one thing, manifesting and controlling a Shadow. However, that thing happens to be a very powerful thing.
The Death Fashioning Scripture is somewhere in the middle. Similar to the Temple, they only deal with one thing. In their case, bodies. However, there is inherently more variety in that.
9) What happened to the other members of the Black Dragon’s following?
Some died fighting each other. Some were discreetly taken care of by He Bin's machinations. Others sort of retired into anonymity. We’ll probably see at least one more later on.
10) If Feng Zhuo was in the Bottomless Pearl would he have been an Emperor already?
Yeah.
11) How old is everyone?
18-19 for Liu Jin and those in his generation.
12) Have Jin and Xiao Shuang consummated their relationship yet? They are already married, but unlike Lu Mei we haven't gotten any hints that this might be the case.
Nope. They have just reunited after a long time, so they are mostly using their time together to get to know each other again. The whole looming war thing throws a damper on things. Also, Xiao Shuang is just more shy about that sort of thing in general on account of having limited exposure to guys.
13) It seems like the more crazy and detached from reality the cultivator is, the stronger their dao. Has anyone ever deliberately raised someone to keep them ignorant, so that they don't know that what they do shouldn't work? What would be the results?
That is a very interesting question. The biggest point wouldn’t be keeping them ignorant of what should or shouldn’t work. The most important part of such an enterprise would be raising them in an environment that deliberately pushes them towards the extreme.
Reality always asserts itself. Overcoming it is not a matter of ignorance. It’s rooted in ego. Having the gall to look at the blue sky, paint it red, insist it has always been that way, and how dare you insinuate I’m lying about the red sky that has always been there, I’ll kill your whole clan for up to tenth generations for this affront!
So you’d need to give them something to struggle against. Something for their ego to overcome and assert itself. Because a Dao is not a question, it’s an answer. You’d need to create the question and see what happens.
Maybe someone already has.