"A tribute to every reader"

Hello, everyone. I'm Chao Fuyu.

As I put pen to paper to write this letter, my heart was full of apprehension and gratitude. "Ring Lord of the Source Realm" was my first attempt at writing a long-form work, and having you readers stop to browse its pages was already an immense stroke of good fortune for me.

Since serialization began, I have received quite a bit of feedback. Many readers have said the story was obscure, its settings complicated, and the reading often difficult to follow. Let me explain frankly: part of this stemmed from my desire to break out of traditional xuanhuan's narrative framework. I did not want to write only about killing monsters and leveling up, but to try weaving reflections on cognition, fate, and existence into the story. The conflicts in the book were not merely clashes of power; collisions of ideas lay hidden within them as well.

More importantly, however, as a newbie author, my writing skills still had considerable shortcomings. Many ideas were fairly complete in my mind, yet once committed to paper, I failed to present them clearly and smoothly. The narrative pacing, the exposition of the settings, and the transitions between plot points all had rough edges. A substantial part of the obscurity readers encountered came from shortcomings in my expression, rather than deliberate intent. Please forgive the many unsatisfactory aspects of the book.

I have always hoped to build a different kind of xuanhuan world. Here, power, cultivation realms, life and death, and the cosmos all broke free of familiar definitions. I wanted to explore cognition and the nature of the world, and to try incorporating philosophical inquiry into a xuanhuan story. Yet the ambition was grand, and putting it into words was difficult. I fell far short in balancing readability with deeper reflection, leaving many regrets.

During the writing process, I repeatedly refined the settings and plot, doing my best to perfect everything in the Source Realm. But my abilities were limited, and oversights and awkwardness were inevitable. If you have questions about the cultivation realms or worldbuilding while reading, you can consult the "Ring Lord of the Source Realm" encyclopedia, which compiles notes on the relevant settings and may help you better understand this world. I also know that needing annotations means the main text still has room for improvement in how it conveys things. Going forward, I will do my best to let the settings become a natural part of the story.

I did not write this book to follow a trend. I simply wanted to use xuanhuan as a vehicle for setting down a few of my shallow reflections. Traditional xuanhuan often champions power above all else, whereas I wanted to try portraying the weight of cognition. As a first-time author, I failed to properly bring many of my ideas to fruition, and I still have a long road ahead.

Every read and every comment, whether praise or criticism, has been a source of motivation that kept me writing. Thank you for being willing to give a newcomer a chance and for tolerating the immaturity in my writing. Whether you prefer hot-blooded battles or are willing to settle down and savor the reflections behind the story, you are all welcome to continue venturing into the Source Realm.

Some of the book's higher-dimensional worldbuilding and core settings that carry its philosophical reflections are vast and profound, with logical systems nested layer upon layer. They go beyond familiar cognitive frameworks and are difficult to understand or extrapolate from through conventional thinking. As a result, logical oversights and obscurity in the content are inevitable in their written presentation, and I sincerely ask for your understanding. In my future writing, I will also keep reviewing which information should be planted earlier, which explanations should be woven into dialogue and action, which chapters need a slower pace, and which characters need to be written more believably.

The story's overall trajectory, the structure of its world, its plot details, and its characterization were all independently conceived and refined by me. It is an entirely original, personal literary work.

As the work of a newcomer, this book inevitably has many aspects that may fail to satisfy you. Please forgive its shortcomings. The story is still continuing, and I will keep refining the prose and correcting its flaws. I also look forward to continuing to roam this realm of imagination together with you. Thank you for being willing to accompany a new author this far, and thank you for being willing to show the Source Realm a little patience.

Respectfully yours, Chao Fuyu.