Heavenly Dao's story had come to an end. Thank you all for accompanying me along the way.
What I had originally wanted to write was an adventure story, but I gradually veered off course midway through, making it feel quite awkward. Looking back now, I simply had not done enough preparation for a new book, and my lack of experience was also to blame.
After the battle against Yama, the story's pace sped up dramatically. One reason was that the Seven Stars Bureau of Military Affairs truly was no longer a major opponent for the protagonists, but the other—and most important—reason was my health. You may have noticed that a large part of my recent requests for leave had to do with insomnia. In fact, this had been getting increasingly serious ever since I wrote Brilliant Pen Project, and I had never managed to recover from it.
At the time, Heavenly Dao was only halfway finished when I took on a commissioned piece for Honor of Kings, which meant I had to write until five or six in the morning every day. As the submission deadline approached, I even wrote until eight in the morning, then got up around one in the afternoon after sleeping and continued writing. Not only was my schedule completely reversed, but Heavenly Dao's twice-daily updates became once-daily updates. On top of that, my neighbors happened to be renovating, and the quality of my sleep was dreadful. Those few months felt like the hardest stretch to endure.
Coupled with sitting for long periods and a lack of exercise, I now felt short of breath and tight in the chest even when climbing stairs. Taking these issues into account, I could only speed up the latter half of the plot and bring this book to an earlier