Author's Q&A (1)
Q: Where are we at, in terms of the narrative?
A: We entered the main story.
Q: Is the Surpassing Radiant Saber actually faster than light, or is it a metaphor?
A: Since it jumps through space, it can arguably surpass light. Just consider it a metaphor.
Q: Could a cultivator in Nascent Soul Grand Perfection use the best dharma treasure of the Black Ghost Valley to be as strong as a cultivator in Heavenly Being?
A: That’s probably the limit.
Q: Will we see other factions and demon beasts that ascended outside of the three great factions and the Sea Dragon Tribe?
A: They are not as important, so we might not see a lot of details, but we might see a little more of them?
Q: How many chapters can you write in a day?
A: That’s a Tremendous spoiler;;
Q: Are there pills that can change your physical gender in the upper realms?
A: There are a lot of Cultivation Methods that can change your gender. Pills that can do so are sometimes made by some enthusiasts.
Q: When will the centipede get a human form?
A: When it reaches the Nascent Soul.
Q: You previously stated that you initially assigned literary genres to the seven transmigrators. What are they?
A: Kim Young-hoon - classical wuxia
Jeon Myeong-hoon - classical xianxia
Kang Min-hee - apocalypse
Oh Hyun-seok - healing
Kim Yeon - thriller&gore&suspense
Oh Hye-seo - eastern romance fantasy
Seo Eun-hyeon - infinite loop
BlueMangoAde’s Note: these genres do not necessarily apply to the actual characters of RToC. These were just initially assigned genres, after all.
Q: Why is the arm that was recently attached to Eun-hyeon by the Mad Lord so weak? Was it just roughly made to experiment with the Formless Sword?
A: In the eyes of the Mad Lord, Eun-hyun is just a bug, so he thought the bug would be grateful to have what amounts to a bigger limb. He did not realize that the bug can fire invisible beams to kill Nascent Realm cultivators.
Q: I am curious about the age of the transmigrators.
A: This should come up in the work eventually, but I don’t think age matters much in xianxia.
Q: Are there no beings that are very powerful from birth? Do the True Immortals start from the Qi Refining as well, or were they divine from birth?
A: There are beings that are born at the Minor and the Middle Boundary level, but nobody is born as a true immortal… Well, actually, there are beings that are born at that level, but they are mindless and more or less inanimate.
Q: Why is the Mad Lord so sweet?
A: Seo Hweol and the Mad Lord are the characters I showered with most affection…
Q: I am curious about the power balance of the world of RToC. Yuan Li in Nascent Soul was able to maintain an advantage against hundreds of Core Formation cultivators. Does this apply in higher realms as well? Or does the difference get even bigger?
A: In the first place, Yuan Li is a somewhat exceptional Nascent Soul cultivator, so he’s multiple times stronger than equivalent cultivators. The Core Formation cultivators that were left behind were really poor quality and weak, and Yuan Li’s cultivation method itself specializes at massacring weaker beings… There are multiple reasons Yuan Li was able to overpower hundreds of Core Formation cultivators, but a normal Early Nascent Soul Cultivator can be defeated by a hundred Core Formation Cultivators fighting a guerilla war. At any rate, the difference between stages get bigger as it usually does in xianxia.
Q: Is the centipede male or female??? This is very very important.
A: It’s male..;;;
Q: What is the reason Seo Eun-hyeon ignored and destroyed the black castle in his twelfth regression?
A: From his perspective, it’s just a white elephant…(burden/source of trouble)
Q: Can pills only be made with humans and demons as ingredients in RToC? Are there no pills made with plants like other xianxia?
A: Human pills are more common in the Head Realm because resources are scarce. Other places have a lot of human pills as well, but it’s not as common as it is in the Head Realm.
TranslatingNovice: This is a Q&A translated by another member of our discord community, BlueMangoAde! They say if Resnut is the right minister then BlueMangoAde is the left minister. Both are a great help in maintaining the accuracy and quality of this great work by the great author Tremendous (did you get the pun?). A round of applause for BlueMangoAde!
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Author's Q&A (2)
Q: What happens if someone with heavenly spiritual roots reaches Five Energies Converging to the Origin?
A: It will be revealed in a few chapters, but it turns their spiritual roots into mixed spiritual roots. Of course, it’s possible to avoid that by researching special methods to filter out spiritual energy, but nearly no cultivator has researched the matter. At least, that’s what I decided for my setting.
Q: Why did Young-hoon abandon Seo Eun-hyun in the first life when he was living miserably after his soap business failed?
A: By the time Seo Eun-hyun was selling soap, Young-hoon was dead.
Q: Is it possible for Young-hoon to ascend within his lifespan?
A: That’s a spoiler… In my initial idea he was beyond what my readers were imagining, but that felt like I was hyping Young-hoon up too much so I am wondering if I should go with my initial idea or…
Q: Why do cultivators of the Cheungmun Clan use steroids when Azure Heaven Creation Sect cultivators are natty?
A: That’s why they were left behind in the lower world.
Q: There will be mecha General Seo rocket punch, right?
A: There will also be dino form.
Q: At this point in the story, “three great figures of Qi Building” seem kind of laughable. Was this meant to be a mocking title before the mass ascension? Or were they respected because it’s like they were running a marathon without legs?
A: The three great figures of Qi Building is not a mocking title, but refers to those with great expertise in their fields despite being in Qi Building. I think this is a misunderstanding due to lack of explanation in the novel. They are each beings that reached great understanding in their respective fields of alchemy, artifact refining, and cultivation method. Elixirs made by Makli Yun-ryeon and artifacts made by Gongmyo Cheon-saek were often bought by those in Core Formation and Nascent Soul realms. Cheungmun Ryeong also had a lot of important guests for his knowledge of cultivation techniques. The only reason they were not brought for ascension was because of their age. If they were all 50 years younger, they would have been squeezed in for ascension.
Q: Yang Su-Jin stated that all Enders are fated to visit Shattered Heaven Peak, but didn’t Kim Yeon die before visiting the place in Eun-hyun’s previous life?
A: Attraction of fate is not absolute. If Kim Yeon and Seo Eun-hyun were strong enough to live their fate, they would have reached Shattered Heaven Peak eventually. But it is possible to die before living out one’s fate.
Q: Are there any plans for the centipede or the fox to gain human form? I just need a yes or no…
A: I already had plans for the centipede to gain human form, and the fox was never going to show up again after being beat up with Formless Sword. However, the previous Q&A showed that there were fans of the fox and the centipede and I decided to give the fox a human form after some thought… But it might be different from what you are imagining.
Q: Have you decided anything about Seo Eun-hyun’s parents or other family? Or is this a spoiler?
A: I have, and this will come up when Eun-hyun reaches Nascent Soul. But Eun-hyun’s parents are just part of his background and not very important in the story.
Q: I have questions about the size of the realms. What is the size of the Head Realm compared to Earth? There were many arguments among the readerbase about how Bright Cold Realm might compare to Jupiter in terms of size, so how big is it? Also, I have a question about Spiritual Roots. Are there many other roots that are not part of the 5 elements such as the Ghostly Yin Transforming Immortal Root? Do you have an example?
A: The Head Realm is about the size of Mars. Bright Cold Realm is about the size of the Milky Way Galaxy. I’m not being weird here, this is just xianxia norms. There used to be a lot of roots like that, but the vast majority disappeared due to spoiler reasons, only leaving the spiritual roots related to the five elements.
Q: Three great sects of the Head Realm are Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder, Azure Heaven Creation, and Black Ghost Valley, right? But Azure Heaven Creation Sect feels like it is at best a sect that has mere 2000 years(...) of history that relies on Asure Tiger Saint, so how was it able to grow so much more powerful than other sects with more history? Was it very lucky???
A: Other sects do not train their disciples by shoving into lava and beating them up, but safely feed them elixirs. This is why Azure Heaven Creation was able to catch up.
Q: Seo Eun-hyun seems like he was incompetent back on Earth, so how did he do such a good job as the chief strategist of the Wulin Alliance? Did he just try very hard?
A: Seo Eun-hyun might seem like someone incompetent from what has been shown, but he only made a lot of mistakes when he first joined the company and usually did not make the same mistake again. If he spilled coffee repeatedly, even Oh Hyun-seok would not have been able to stand it.
Q: I don’t know about xianxia too much, but what’s the difference between what the MC is training and what martial artists do to train their body? Is it the difference between using spiritual energy and internal energy? Also, now that Eun-hyun is in the Middle Realm, will he ever visit the Minor Realm? Will there be other savepoints?
A: The difference between body refining method and what martial artists are doing in RToC is that martial artists are expressing and training the potential that is within the human body, and body refining cultivators use the heaven and earth spiritual energy to modify the human body. There are more stories to tell about the Minor Realm even outside of the Head Realm such as the Astral Realm, so we will see more than you expect. Savepoint stuff is spoilers.
Q: Since you draw inspiration from Reincarnated Swordmaster, I wanted to ask if True Immortals at the top can become as strong as Outer Gods of RS?
A: While RToC has influences from RS, the true immortals of RToC do not draw inspiration from RS. Just comparing power, the most powerful true immortals are comparable to the RS Outer Gods.
Q: What’s Buk Hyang-hwa’s concept if she ascends? Giant robots? Ironman?
A: Napoleon Bonaparte
Q: I’ve heard that Bright Cold Realm and Blood Yin Realm are the strongest Middle Realms from other readers. Is this official?
A: Both of them are special realms with a lot of relation to the true immortals. However, it’s not quite right to call them the strongest, just special.
Q: Why is Cheungmun Ryeong at the first constellation of Qi Building when Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators come to him for his advice on Understanding before Breakthrough? Is his talent at Seo Eun-hyun level?
A: He was born with weak spiritual meridians. More specifically, he was so weak that he was fated to die in the womb, but he miraculously survived his birth.
Q: It seems like there are so few Star Shattering and Sacred Vessel cultivators in the Middle Realms, so I was wondering if Entering Nirvana is a realm that you can actually reach in the Middle Realms. Is it like the Tribulation Transcendence Stage of A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality, where you can immediately reach True Immortality?
A: While it is a special stage, it is not like the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, which only exists in technicality. Specifics are spoilers.
Q: I love you author, I hope you live a long and healthy life. Will we see stuff like Obsidian memory?
A: I love you too, readers. Obsidian was a mechanism that I did not like while reading Reincarnated Swordmaster, so it will probably not appear, and only very close to the end of the story if it does appear.
BlueMangoAde’s Note: Obsidian memory refers to a technique in Reincarnated Swordmaster that allowed the transference of others’ memory across time loops.
Q: It took Kim Yeon 10 years to reach Nascent Soul, but Oh Hyun-seok is still at the later stage of Core Formation. Is there a difference between talents among Enders? I was wondering if the Enders taken by the Heavenly Beings later have higher potential.
A: Most things related to Enders are spoilers. However, the difference between Kim Yeon and Oh Hyun-seok comes from the fact that Kim Yeon’s Four-Axis level consciousness gave her an advantage at reaching Nascent Soul and that the Mad Lord’s consciousness compression techniques allowed her to train faster, which was very effective for her.
Q: Do you like kimchi-jjigae or doenjang-jjigae more?
A: Doenjang-jjigae
Q: Will going back to a Minor Realm create a new savepoint? Will we visit other Middle Realms? Is Seo Eun-hyun a virgin?
A: We will visit other Middle Realms. The condition that changes savepoint is a spoiler. As for whether Seo Eun-hyun is a virgin… I will stay silent for Seo Eun-Hyeon’s dignity.
Q: Seo Eun-hyun was romantically as dense as he is back on Earth, right?
A: Yes.
Q: Will Kim Young-hoon and the fox be a couple?
A: lmao
Q: Is there a reason Cheongmun Ryeong did not get trained by Azure Tiger Saint? I think he could totally crush Yuan Li if he did. Or receive elixirs to become more healthier?
A: Cheongmun Ryeon might kill himself if he was trained by the Azure Tiger Saint…
Q: How many chapters do you expect?
A: I am aiming for 700, but I am not sure. There might be more or less.
Q: In the recent chapter, Seo Eun-Hyeon was able to cultivate quite fast despite only having reached early Core Formation in his past lives. Is this because of the abundance of heaven and earth spiritual energy in the middle realm?
A: The plenty of energy and because his experience of being Four-Axis stage General Seo is not completely trash. However, Nascent Soul and beyond cannot be passed so easily with experience of wielding external items.
Q: I was disappointed that growth beyond the Deity Transformation stage in A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality was just numerical. Will there be qualitative growth in the Middle Boundary stages in this novel?
A: Nascent soul is the beginning of qualitative growth.
A: Were all the relationships with the colleagues good? Will there be trouble with Kang Min-hee and Jeon Myeong-hoon?
Q: It’s as it has been shown in this work. Young-hoon was nice but distant. Hyun-seok took good care of Eun-hyun. Kim Yeon had a crush on him. Jeon Myeong-hoon obviously bullied him… I will leave the rest for the joy of speculation.
Q: It was stated that everybody in the company knew Kim Yeon had a crush on Seo Eun-Hyun. What did the other five think of this?
A: Kim Young-hoon - Ugh, you dense bastard.
Oh Hyun-seok - Ugh, you dense bastard. But you will accept it some day, right?
Kang Min-hee - Ugh, you retarded bastard.
Oh Hye-seo - Ugh, you dense bastard.
Jeon Myeong-hoon - Ugh, you retarded bastard.
Q: Is Kim Yeon beautiful? I am curious you did not describe her looks much.
A: Her heart for Eun-hyeon is very beautiful.
BlueMangoAde’s note: Some Korean readers used this answer to meme that Kim Yeon is ugly. (Because the answer seemed like refusing to describe how she physically looks.) Tremendous later clarified that they were subtly hinting that her breasts are big (thus, beautiful heart).
Q: 1. Is there a being like the Martial Arts God of Reincarnated Swordmaster? 2. Can you attain eternal life by reaching the equivalent of the Great Boundary with martial arts?
A: 1. Not sure what to say… There is something, but I’m not sure if I should call it Martial Arts God. 2. Theoretically possible.
Q: How big was Seo Eun-hyeon’s company? Was it small?
A: It was a mid-sized company.
Q: RToC lacks description for how characters look, so I am having a hard time imagining them. I think the reason there are a lot of fans for the centipede and the fox is because it’s easy to imagine what they will look like as humans, intuitively.
A: Umm… To tell the truth, I dislike describing what characters look like. I think their true nature matters more than what they look like. I will think about adding character descriptions.
Q: Is Heart Path Method martial arts?
A: There will be an explanation later. Also, Heart Path Method is a name arbitrarily given to the technique used by Heart Tribe by the Heaven Tribe and Earth Tribe, rather than an official designation.
Q: Do cultivators get buffs to their looks as they reach higher stages?
A: Some do and some do not.
Q: Is the Heart Tribe an evil cult?
A: They are like revolutionaries. If I have to find a metaphor, they are like Communists during the industrial age.
Q: Does a Longevity Fruit only increase lifespan once or every time you eat one?
A: It increases it once, and every time you eat it afterwards reduces the lifespan increasing effect because of the resistance(?). 100 years from the first fruit, 50 years from the second, 25 years from the third etc…
TranslatingNovice: Napoleon Bonaparte rofl. Q&A was once again translated by BlueMangoAde!
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Author's Q&A (3)
Questions about Tremendous
Q: What’s your gender?
A: Tremendous
Q: Do you listen to music while writing? What do you listen to if you do?
A: I think the OP of Jojo part 6 is amazing. I listen to the OP of the last episode of Jojo part 6 when I run into a writing block.
Kim Young-Hoon
Q: What’s the current relationship between Young-hoon and the fox? How many children do they have?
A: Uh… It’s closer to the relationship between an athlete and a punching bag.
Q: Can the fox left with Young-hoon shapeshift into a human?
A: Yes.
Q: Does Young-hoon teach the fox martial arts?
A: It’s a spoiler but a small spoiler, so, yes.
Q: Will Young-hoon’s Heavenly Tribulation when he reaches 3rd Manifestation be faster than light?
A: Sure.
Q: Did you know that people really want to see Young-hoon again? I think people are more interested in him than love interests.
A: My producer always asks me when he will come back too. (lol) I am waiting for that day as well.
Q: I think you said that Kim Young-hoon’s cultivation talent was not very good, but if he ascends, will his cultivation naturally increase with age, taking care of his lifespan? Or is that difficult because of his Five Elements Spiritual Roots?
A: Yes, that’s possible. However, Young-hoon will have a difficult time reaching Core Formation and beyond on his own, no matter what.
Q: How far into Qi Refining did Young-hoon reach when he became a cultivator after being defeated by cultivators?
A: 6th Star.
Q: What’s the trap that the Makli Clan left for Young-hoon as they admitted him to their clan after the Palace of Heavenly Demons was destroyed?
A: It was something like the Summoning Wind, Dragon Transformation.
Q: Did Young-hoon of the ninth cycle die due to spatial pressure? Or did he reach somewhere like Seo Eun-Hyun thought?
A: Schrodinger’s Kim Young-hoon
Q: Are the only Kim Young-hoon who can be called Young-hoon hyung-nim by Seo Eun-hyun the Young-hoon of first and second cycle?
A: Yes. For now.
Seo Eun-hyun
Q: If Seo Eun-hyun becomes a third stage Heart Tribe spy and uses the Heavenly Tribulation attack, will the Heavenly Lightning be formless and ignore defense?
A: Yes.
Q: Yu Hwa transforms into a sunset colored river, but can Seo Eun-hyun transform as well, since he is at the second stage of Manifestation as well?
A: That’s the characteristic of Yu Hwa’s Treading Heavens, so it is difficult for Seo Eun-hyun.
Q: Is Seo Eun-hyun tech illiterate? He was unable to use Excel despite being a deputy manager…
A: To be honest, it was based on my experience of being too incompetent to use the SUM function.
Q: Out of all of the masters so far, who is the closest to being Seo Eun-hyun’s true master?
A: This might be unexpected, but it is Buk Hyang-hwa. The reason will probably come out at the latter part of the story.
Q: Seo Eun-hyun will be able to reach Entering Nirvana before the story ends, right?
A: Of course.
Q: Cheongmun Ryeong and Azure Tiger Saint kinda seem closer to mental support while all the really helpful stuff seem to come from Yuan Li, Mad Lord, and Seo Hweol. Is this intended?
A: While stuff he learned from dickheads stand out more, stuff he learned from the Cheongmuns is not bad either. Seo Eun-hyun at that level really needed their help.
Q: Seo Eun-hyun will receive a badass Esteemed One title when he reaches Star Shattering level, right?
A: Of course.
Q: Sensei, I have a question. How big is Seo Eun-hyun’s dick???
A: Seo Eun-hyun has the hidden power of the dragons…
Q: Can Seo Eun-hyun play at being a real genius instead of fake genius if he goes to the Black Ghost Valley?
A: If he goes to the Black Ghost Valley, it’s no longer “playing” at being genius.
Q: Is the reason he did not get struck by Heavenly Lightning when he surpassed his lifespan as General Seo because he counted as a Four-Axis cultivator?
A: It’s because he counted as the Mad Lord’s property.
Q: I am waiting for dino-mode General Seo…!!! I am really looking forward to it!!!!
A: …! You will have to wait a bit!
Q: Would Crown Prince Seo be a Star Shattering puppet?
A: It would be an amazing and terrifying puppet.
Q: I don’t care if it’s Heavenly Being or Third Stage of Manifestation, when will Eun-hyun grow?
A: His growth rate will increase again after the Seo Hweol episode.
VS Battle
Q: Who is stronger? Young-hoon at the third stage of Manifestation or Seo Eun-hyun at the third stage of Manifestation?
A: I think it would depend on how they fight. Seo Eun-hyun would probably lose at a contest of pure martial arts, but Young-hoon would probably lose if they fight with everything they have.
Q: Crown Prince Seo made by Mad Lord vs Grand Prince Seo made using Seo Hweol by joining hands with the Mad Lord???
A: The dino mecha wins, obviously.
Q: Can Seo Hweol defeat the Mad Lord by himself?
A: Seo Hweol could win if the Mad Lord was by himself, but the Mad Lord wins if he uses his puppets…
Q: Is the Mad Lord’s talent supreme among the five ascendants? Can any of them defeat him in a fight?
A: None of them can beat the Mad Lord in a straight fight.
Seo Hweol
Q: Is Cheungmun Ryeong like an unlucky Seo Hweol?
A: Huh? No, they are very different. In the zombie genre, Se Hweol is like a mutant zombie while Cheungmun Ryeong is a zombie with tenacity.
Q: Why did Seo Hweol panic so much when Gyu-ryeon kissed him? Wasn’t he going to kill her anyways?
A: He panicked because he thought the Vast Cold Beautiful Agreement was a secret ancient technique meant to defeat him.
Q: Why did Gyu-ryeon fall in love with Seo Hweol? She fell in love very quickly. His face? Does he look handsome to dragons?
A: Yes. He looks handsome as well as being gentle and knowledgeable.
The Ascendants
Q: What would the five ascendants (Azure Tiger Saint, Jin Byuk-ho, Heo Gwak, Seo Hweol, Mad Lord) do for a living in the modern world?
A: Azure Tiger Saint: fitness trainer
Jin Byuk-ho: construction worker
Heo Gwak: captain of a ship
Seo Hweol: the mafia
Mad Lord: (under the assumption his life goes well) dentist that cares a lot about his family (under the assumption his life does not go well) insane mad scientist
Q: How many Heavenly Being cultivators gathered for ascension?
A: Over five hundred. That generation is a nonsensical golden age. Enough that Seo Hweol’s suggestion to ascend together to prevent the depletion of the world was accepted.
Q: How amazing is 500 Heavenly Being cultivators ascending at once?
A: It’s ridiculous. One of the reasons humans declared war on the True Devil Realm was that they were supplied with high quality talents in bulk.
Q: Could Song Jin fully come back to life if he got a new body?
A: Song Jin… lived too long.
Q: Can the Mad Lord build True Immortal level puppets if he reaches the Great Boundary?
A: The strongest puppets possible are Entering Nirvana level puppets. True Immortals cannot be turned into puppets. However, even True Immortals could be killed if you threw hundreds of millions of Entering Nirvana puppets at them… but that’s only theoretical, since it is unclear whether the Mad Lord will reach the Great Boundary.
Q: Are puppets always made to look like living beings?
A: It depends on what the maker wants.
Q: Is the reason the Mad Lord does not use a unique ability despite being on the same level as the Path Beyond the Heavens because he does not realize he has reached that stage, much like Seo Eun-hyun in the 9th cycle?
A: Yes.
Enders
Q: Do the True Immortals all know that Enders existed for a very long time?
A: The majority of high level True Immortals are aware.
Q: Do Enders have the same fate as previous Enders every time?
A: Same fate but the ability is different every time.
Q: Do legendary traits such as Heavenly Golden Thunder Body, Ghostly Yin Transforming Immortal Root, and Unique Holy Body exist beyond being abilities Enders have?
A: Some traits exist, and there are some traits that will exist in the future. You can think of it as the world giving them the optimal ability to achieve their fate.
Q: Are the initial genres you applied to Enders still applicable?
A: Some were abandoned and there are a lot of changes.
Q: Are all enders equivalent in talent? Do they have specialties?
A: While they do have their specialties, the values of the fates they were granted are equal.
Heart Tribe
Q: The third level of Manifestation is like Bankai in Bleach, right?
A: Up to Heaven Treading is like Bleach, but from the third stage on is based on my own worldbuilding. But there is no such thing as a truly original work, so I may have been unconsciously inspired by other works.
Q: Do Heart Tribe members usually not go through Five Energies Converging to the Origin and Ultimate Pinnacle?
A: They go through Five Energies Converging to the Origin, but they do not go through Ultimate Pinnacle. In the world of RToC, Gang Spheres have been invented by Kim Young-hoon…
Q: Do you need a strong desire to awaken as a Heart Tribe member even if you master the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon? Is there a reason Kim Yeon failed to awaken?
A: To be more precise, you need an unimaginably strong desire to master Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon. The reason Kim Yeon failed to awaken as a Heart Tribe member will be shown later.
Q: Why does the Earth Tribe hate the Heart Tribe so much? Heart Tribe also seems to especially hate Earth Tribe, what about Heaven Tribe? Or has it just not been mentioned?
A: Heaven Tribe tends to imprison and abuse the Heart Tribe in their basement, so it’s not as visible from the outside.
Q: Do White Goat Race and Demi-human Race not belong in any of the Tribes?
A: Those species can be considered the mortals of the Bright Cold Realm. They are just “slave species” that become Heart Tribe members more often.
Q: Heart Tribe seem like they have less lifespan than other cultivators. What is the average lifespan of someone that belongs to a slave race?
A: It’s difficult to answer because there is too much variance.
Q: Is the Heart Path Method the wider concept that includes martial arts?
A: Yes.
Q: Heart Tribe means those who have combined their outer heart essence with their inner heart essence and manifested their complete heart essence. Are there methods other than martial arts that allow this?
A: It’s not impossible.
Q: Can the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon be considered a Heart Path Method?
A: Fully mastered Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon can be considered a Heart Path Method. But not even the Mad Lord has fully mastered it. (he thinks he mastered it)
Q: Yu Hwa said that the first stage of Manifestation can be reached by integrating the outer heart essence with the inner heart essence. Is consciousness and the color of intent the outer heart essence?
A: You can think of it that way.
Q: What’s the relationship between Sacred Master Baek Woon and the Heart Tribe? It does not appear to be bad, given how Jang Ik follows her orders.
A: It’s like the relationship between the Ottoman Sultan and the Barbary pirates. While not officially acknowledged, it is beneficial to Sacred Master Baek Woon for the Heart Tribe to exist.
Q: What’s the proportion of the slave races in the Bright Cold Realm who cannot even attain Qi Refining?
A: About 30 percent.
Q: Is the Heavenly Tribulation added by Heart Tribe spies one per person? Or can they add it multiple times.
A: One per person. But sneak attacking and running away adds one as well..
Q: If you get hit by ten thousand third stage Heart Tribe Masters, you get hit by ten thousand Heavenly Tribulations when you ascend?
A: Yes. That’s why every race of the Bright Cold Realm is frantically trying to exterminate the Heart Tribe.
Q: Is there no way to remove Heavenly Tribulation added by Heart Tribe attacks? Do you have to get hit by it?
A: You have to use true immortal treasures such as the Heavenly Lightning Banner or do a very expensive ritual. There are more people willing to tank the tribulation than those willing to pay that price.
Q: Other than the ten thousand Heavenly Being level members of the Heart Tribe, does the Heart Tribe Alliance have Four-Axis and Integration stage members as well?
A: Yes. But overwhelmingly less than Heaven and Earth Tribes.
Q: What stage of Manifestation is Jang Ik at?
A: Two stages higher than the third stage of Manifestation
Q: I really hope the name of the third stage of Manifestation is not Beyond Heaven Beyond the Path.
A: There’s already hints about the name of the third stage.
Female Characters
Q: Can Gyu-ryeon be a love interest as well?
A: But she kissed Seo Hweol…
Q: What happens to Gyu-ryeon without Seo Eun-hyun’s interference? Does Seo Hweol still betray her???
A: Nobody remembers her name after a thousand years…
Q: Can Gyu-ryeon be happy? Please.
A: I think of Gyu-ryeon as Seo Ran of the Middle Realm. She will be happy… probably, eventually?
Q: Will Eun-hyun save Gyu-ryeon later?
A: Yep.
Q: Can you please make love interests as attractive as Gyu-ryeon? Why are all the confirmed heroines so unattractive?
A: Sorry. I was bad at writing female characters back then.
Q: Did Gyu-ryeon die to Yu Hwa in previous cycles?
A: Yu Hwa was fated to die by Seo Hweol while saving Baek Nyeong. Gyu-ryeon also died to Seo Hweol.
Q: Can Yu Hwa be a love interest? Spiders are totally worth it. How can you not love Heart Tribe spider-mama?
A: I considered making Yu Hwa a love interest because I personally really like her. However, narratively, she cannot be a love interest.
Q: Could Yu Hwa’s race swing across buildings like Spiderman if they existed in the modern world?
A: Yes, it’s possible. However, Yu Hwa’s race are peace loving musicians, so they would do street performances more than playing Spiderman.
Q: Please make a mention in the story that Kim Yeon is pretty.
A: Of course she’s beautiful, but I probably won’t write it in the story.
Q: How would Kim Yeon react if Seo Eun-hyun rejected her after waiting centuries in the 13th cycle as planned?
A: In hindsight, I should have done that even if Seo Eun-hyun would have been called a psychopath by some people… Kim Yeon’s reaction is related to her fate, so spoiler.
Q: Can Oh Hye-seo be a love interest as well?
A: There is no way of knowing what she did with Seo Hweol while hidden.
Q: Just why don’t you write that the love interests are pretty…! Kim Yeon, Buk Hyang-hwa, future heroines, just say they are all pretty…
A: Personally, I have a meaningless preconception that specifically describing that a character is beautiful fits evil beings more. I thought people would naturally accept that love interests are beautiful without description?
Q: Why is the Blood Body praised for its beauty a lot when love interests are not?
A: The Blood Body is closer to a sculpture than a person. It’s like Yuan Li’s artwork.
Q: About the Buk Hyang-hwa Napoleon thing, what’s your thought on artillery?
A: Firepower is the true way.
Q 등선향에 있던 여우랑 북향화의 수도 재능은 어느정도인가요?
Q: What’s the cultivation talent of the fox from the Ascension Path and Buk Hyang-hwa?
A: Fox <- unexpectedly a first-class talent. Buk Hyang-hwa <- not very talented at cultivation but there are more things she can do as her Extraordinary Pattern Law Talent trait improves.
Q: Please tell me you won’t abandon Buk Hyang-hwa? You won’t, right?? When will best girl come back?
A: I love Buk Hyang-hwa
Q: Kim Yeon, Oh Hye-seo, and Kang Min-hee according to the size of their breasts?
A: If I must, Kim Yeon > Kang Min-hee > Oh Hye-seo
How Will The Story Unfold?
Q: How long until the end?
A: We started the Middle Realm storyline in earnest, so I think we are 2 out of 7 until the end.
Q: It’s so fun, can you write 1000 chapters?
A: My goal is finishing within 1000 chapters. I don’t think I will reach 1000?
Q: You’ve stated that there was a lot of story left to tell about the Mad Lord. Will we get a storyline about all of the five ascendants?
A: I don’t think we will cycle through all of the five ascendants. We will see the Mad Lord’s first stage of Manifestation and his backstory at an appropriate time.
Q: Will we see Yang Su-Jin again?
A: We will see him a lot.
Q: Will we visit Black Ghost Valley and Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect?
A: Yes.
Q: Will we see the centipede do more? So loyal yet so weak.
A: We will see him more.
Q:Will Five Elements Spiritual Roots be very helpful eventually?
A: Yep.
Q: Can you make Four-Axis cultivators more badass? It’s not a low level, but they keep getting beaten up, they feel less powerful than Core Formation cultivators in the lower realm.
A: Oops… I will try. :( To tell the truth, the name of the stage is kinda bad… but I will try my best while unpacking the relevant worldbuilding.
True Immortal
Q: Are demon beasts that reached True Immortality called Immortal Beasts?
A: Yes.
Q: Are the power differences between True Immortals big?
A: The power differences between the stages of the Great Boundary are very very big. However, due to the nature of their abilities, True Immortals and Immortal Beasts can effectively gang up on each other.
Q: The Lustrous Glaze Peacock is said to want to mate with everyone and make Azure Peng have children. What’s their genders?
A: At the level of Immortal Beasts gender is meaningless. The Lustrous Glaze Peacock just loves mating.
Q: Why was it fine to hear Yang Su-Jin’s name but not Yu Hao Te’s name? Is their name as a True Immortal different from their name while they were mortal?
A: The intention behind the name is also important. You do go insane if you understand the true nature of a True Immortal and call their true name, but you are not very affected if you just hear their name without understanding the true meaning.
Cultivation
Q: Are none of the axes made in Bright Cold Realm during Four-Axis?
B: Majority of Bright Cold Realm cultivators make their axes in Bright Coldt Realm by gathering a lot of Five Elements Spiritual Energy or by softening great dharma treasures. Seo Hweol was pretending to leave to other Middle Realms to gather a higher quality of energy.
Q: Does Earth Tribe not care about the quality of their spiritual roots since they gather up turbid heaven and earth spiritual energy and refine it with explosions?
A: They do not. If they survive the explosion, they grow, and if they are too weak, they die from their dantian exploding, so it is purely the survival of the fittest.
Q: Even Earth Tribe cultivators seem to do rituals for their Axes in the Four-Axis stage. Is this different from what Heaven Tribe cultivators do to raise their cultivation?
A: The rituals at Four-Axis are not aimed at the heavens.
Q: Do Earth Tribe cultivators control all of the five elements?
A: Heaven Tribe cultivators control every element as well after late Nascent Soul. However, they are inferior to Earth Tribe cultivators at the skill of controlling all five of the elements at once.
Q: Can the Mad Lord make true Star Shattering puppets if he reaches Star Shattering himself or picks up a corpse of an Esteemed One?
A: The corpse of an Esteemed One will not work. It is impossible without the Mad Lord himself reaching Star Shattering.
Q: The rarity of stages seem to be set up so that Qi Refining of the Lower Realms corresponds Core Formation of the Middle Realms, Qi Building corresponds to Nascent Soul, Core Formation corresponds to Heavenly Being, Nascent Soul corresponds to Four-Axis, Heavenly Being corresponds to Integration, with stages above being incomparable. Is this right?
A: That seems right.
Q: Is making Four-Axis Axes by using the Five Elements also Heterodox Axis Foundation?
A: The Orthodox and the Heterodox are decided by the method, rather than the ingredient. Building your own Axis with rituals - Orthodox. Taking from someone else - Heterodox. However, the way Seo Hweol is doing is the correct method, and it’s the other Four-Axis cultivators that are building their Axes the wrong way, which means the difference between the methods is not greatly meaningful for them.
Q: Does the power at the Integration stage depend on the method the cultivator used to build the Axes?
A: Yes. How one cultivated during the Four-Axis stage decides the stability at the Integration stage.
Q: Did Sacred Master Baek Woon build her Axes the orthodox way?
A: Yes.
Q: Is Understanding Before Breakthrough better than cheating your way up? Slower but more powerful?
A: Yup.
Q: The founder of the Yin Soul Ghost Incantation only being able to create 108 curses while Seo Eun-hyun is able to create thousands is a bit lame. Is Seo Eun-hyun special, or was the founder just not very good at it?
A: The founder of the Yin Soul Ghost Incantation understood pain via self harm, understanding human pain to be physiological. The founder did not study mental pain very much, so Seo Eun-hyun managed to surpass the founder.
Etc
Q: Since this is a Xianxia novel, the setting is eastern in nature with eastern characters, but does western culture and western characters exist in your setting? If so, will this be relevant?
A: Common sense would dictate that to be the case, but since this story is Xianxia and eastern fantasy, I am reluctant to do so. So they will not show up even if they exist.
Q: What is the most delicious dish at the Bright Cold Realm?
A: Full course meal of Devil Race meat, prepared by Human Race chefs of Bright Cold Realm.
Q: Is the webtoon adaptation going well?? I am terrified…
A: I am receiving the storyboard, and I am also nervous… But the character sheet looks great. I will get permission from the producer to post the character sheets when we confirm the company that will be doing the webtoon adaptation..
Q: Can I write fanfics?
A: Fanfics don’t need permission as long as you don’t profit.
Q: I am always astonished by the depth of worldbuilding when I read RToC! Do you research things every time you worldbuild? Or have you studied the relevant material and naturally worldbuilding as you write the novel?
A: Thank you for the overwhelming praise. I have learned how to worldbuild as I read Reincarnated Swordmaster, and did research of my own to create my world. The stages are something I have been thinking about for a while that I am organizing at RToC, rather than something I came up with when I started the novel.
Q: Who’s your favorite character so far?
A: In order of how much love I put into them: Seo Eun-hyun, Seo Hweol, Buk Hyang-hwa, Mad Lord, Kim Yeon, the Final Boss, Yuan Li, Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Heo Gwak, Kang Min-hee. The rest are below them and relatively equal to each other.
Q: What’s the race of Sacred Master Baek Woon?
A: From Star Shattering, race becomes meaningless. Ah, if you were asking about her tribe, she reached the Sacred Vessel stage as a Heaven Tribe.
TranslatingNovice: Lmao. Q&A done once again by BlueMangoAde!
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