Afterword

It was finally over.

I sat in front of the screen for a long time, wondering where to begin, but in the end, I decided to start by typing those words.

I felt empty. I'd been writing this book since October 2022, nearly three years now. It was only a little over 2.6 million words, but I'd still spent almost three years writing it. Now that it was finished, I felt a little lost.

First, I'm sorry.

Because of my health, and because I trusted too much in talent and inspiration while neglecting to plan, I started going on hiatus after just over a million words. I'm truly sorry.

I suppose I've learned my lesson over these nearly three years. For my next book, I'll definitely prepare an outline first—at the very least, I'll map out the main plot for the early, middle, and later stages.

Still, even though it was a bumpy ride, I did finish the book. At least I managed to fulfill a promise to you all, and didn't let that promise become a shackle again. Those occasional chapters that showed up behind a paywall were purely a mistake.

Sometimes I got carried away writing, gave it a quick read-through, and posted it right away.

The last two volumes were probably the parts of the story I was happiest with.

That was because I managed to put so many scenes I'd imagined in my head into words.

The emperor handing the throne to Li Zhaoyuan,

the Black Scale Heavy Army trampling through Jiangnan,

the emperor, torn by indecision, choosing his ideal ending,

Father Xu smiling as he passed the torch to Xu Yuan,

Xu Yuan and Li Zhaoyuan facing off before Weiyang Palace on a snowy night.

All those scenes left me fairly satisfied.

The ending also