To heal his heart, he must forge it anew.
Recent events have proven too much for Cha Ming. His heart is broken, and his soul is shattered. He cannot move. He cannot speak. His friends worry for his safety.
Soul trauma is difficult to heal at the best of times, and to do so, the Monkey King calls in an expert. He sends Cha Ming to the Heartforge Realm, the place where legends are born and heroes are made.
Cha Ming isn’t happy with this arrangement, but he’s too busy surviving to complain. The Heartforge Trials aren’t for the faint of heart, and less than one in four ever make it.
Yet there are far worse fates than death. There are many who pass the trials but lose themselves. The realm doesn’t just train heroes, after all, but villains as well. The difference is often a matter of perspective.
Author:
Patrick G. Laplante
Patrick Georges Laplante was born in a small town in the Canadian prairies in 1987. He began publishing Painting the Mists online under the pseudonym RedMirage in January 2018. An engineer by trade, he graduated from the University of Alberta in 2009 and completed his master’s degree in 2011. While writing and engineering have little in common, he actively utilizes his experiences and attention to detail in fleshing out a vivid world and answering the “whys,” which are often left unanswered in Xianxia fiction. As an avid vegan, he aims to prompt internal reflection in his readers through various themes like non-violence, choice, and begging the question: Is personhood restricted to humanity? And what is proper conduct, morality, and love? His work is inspired by a combination of Western fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Chinese web novels, and various Japanese, Korean, and Chinese comics and illustrated novels. Patrick's hobbies include: reading, board games, and taekwondo.
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