The novel.
This is my third novel that I wrote as a birthday gift for my little brother Tom. I posted the first one on RR last year around this time, but the second one at the moment is only half done – the main lead got stuck with a problem that he couldn’t solve for six months, thus meanwhile I wrote this short work.
The theories (or how some would call them – hypotheses) like the concepts of Qi, force of nature, soul advancement and degradation etc. have long existed before us, but some stuff was made up by myself – like the soul particles (obviously someone had thought of that before me as well, given the number of people who had lived, right?). Be as it may, I hope you didn’t take those things too seriously or look for scientific accuracies within my scribbles.
Just like in the first novel, I intentionally left many things for you, dear reader, to figure out yourself, like – did Old Tony really curse Alex to become a spider, what exactly is the time/soul particle dimension, the different ways of cultivation and Alex’s strange relationship with beasts as well as many other things including – how the hell the reincarnation system actually works and what’s the deal with that damned Buddhist ‘Wheel of life’?.
One thing I’d like to point out though – from the perspective of a person having multiple lives or even an endless loop of reincarnation, the other people they meet don’t really matter. That is why I didn’t dwell much on the side characters and didn’t shy off to let them die or become forgotten. The road of cultivation is that of a solitude … until you meet your own ‘Mathilda’s twin’ and the world is turned upside down ;)
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Regarding the ending – I’ve read very few xianxian novels where I’m ‘fine’ with the ending. To me it feels not right when the main lead becomes the master of the universe and lives eternally or the emperor with a dozen wives who lives happily ever after. Alex’s experiences, advancement and then everything returning to the beginning of the cycle seems a proper way how the life/world works, but you, dear reader, feel free to judge according to your standards.
Originally I planned Alex to have at least a couple more lives, but during the writing process it felt as if it would have been forced. Although making him experience a futuristic world with advanced technology while posessing mind techniques or a life of a spirit plant might’ve been interesting.
The future.
One of these days I’ll write a real ‘xianxian’ novel with all the possible cliches in it. Of course, I have to finish the story that is half-done first as the next birthday gift for my little brother. Currently it is already as long as this one, so a lot of work required.
The problem is the lack of time. While up until the mid of 2022 I was relatively free and could almost sit at pc at will, with the situation worsening in Ukraine (indeed, while politically some people see the light at the end of the tunnel, from humanitarian perspective it is going worse by day), my workload is only increasing and I have no clue if I’ll manage to finish the second novel next year. On the other hand I kind of have to since buying something like a sweater as a birthday gift is just embarrassing.
Thank you for sticking with me all this time! I wish you all a happy New Year!
P.s. Several readers have asked if I’ll write the second part of ‘Dash’. The situation is such – one day when I was cooking dinner my brother asked what happened to Nick and his friends after they set the sail. I told him the short version of those adventures and he liked it, but … well … that is it. Since my brother already knows what happened, there is no need to write about it. My apologies to those who hoped to join Nick on the Dragon isles, but, of course, there is always the slim chance I’ll change my mind :)