Regarding the Gods and Devils beyond the realm, Yu replied in a post on September 22. Many friends may not have seen it, so let me give a unified response again:
This book had revolved around Great Xia from beginning to end, and of course it would maintain a consistent style and tone.
Other Gods and Devils objectively existed in this world. The appearance of certain characters was meant to broaden the worldbuilding somewhat, leave behind threads of context, and make room for future imagination.
But as for the Gods and Devils beyond the realm as a whole, they would not occupy too much of this book's pages.
Just like in my previous book, Secretly Raising a Little Golden Crow, which had always focused on the Twin Tree civilization and climbed all the way to the very summit.
Other civilizations, such as magical-mechanical civilizations and prismatic crystal civilizations, objectively existed as well. But the path protagonist Du Yu took as he climbed upward was his own home's path, not theirs.
This was the final volume of this book.
The main story threads would, of course, remain tightly centered around Immortal Sheep, the Jade Venerable, and Lu Ran.
Looking back over the entire book, its thread was also exceedingly clear: it was the coming-of-age story of a young man, and the journey of struggle, resistance, and ascent he undertook with his family and comrades in the world of Great Xia's Gods and Devils.
Come to think of it, Old Gods had been running for nearly a year and a half now.
Thank you all for accompanying Little Lu Ran every step of the way until now.
Yu would do my utmost to write this final volume well and tie up the ending.