Painting the Mists

Life for Cha Ming is a daily grind until a talisman brush older than time sends him to another world where magic, fortune, and danger await. He has a new life, a new body, and the power to wield the five elements. His new home is a place where might makes right and immortal cultivators fight demons at the drop of a hat. A game of universal proportions is unfolding, the Clear Sky Brush at its center — and the power to choose comes at a heavy price, one that creation itself will pay.

Cha Ming's new brother is a demon fox — cute, naughty, and always hungry. When the duo joins their classmate Gong Lan on an expedition, they discover they're not fighting rebels but devils wearing human skins. An evil merchant's soul trade must be disrupted without the help of the army. But Gong Lan's techniques are driving her mad, and it's only a matter of time before she turns on them.

Crippled and broken after facing the heavens, Cha Ming finds himself in an isolated village kept alive only by a mortal doctor's efforts. His qi pathways are ravaged and his organs failing. Meanwhile, Huxian navigates a demon mountain where the rule is eat or be eaten. One man, one fox, one shared life — if one fails, so does the other.

Still carrying guilt from past battles, Cha Ming must journey to Quicksilver City to heal his core — and face the man who once enslaved him. Meanwhile, Huxian rules a demon mountain with great perks but heavy responsibilities. When Cha Ming's friend Wang Jun finds an immortal-jade mine on Huxian's doorstep, Cha Ming must find middle ground between them or lose one of his friends forever.

When Cha Ming goes to help Wang Jun's ailing business in the capital, he finds himself competing with a seer who is always one step ahead. Meanwhile, the king has been poisoned and Cha Ming is barely keeping him alive. But the Song Kingdom's problems run deeper than politics. Evil spirits have sown deep seeds of resentment, and if Cha Ming and his friends don't pull them out by the roots, civil war will be the least of their worries.

Cha Ming's qi core is broken, making martial arts painful, but the Monkey King is fading fast and needs something stronger than mortal medicine. To that end, Cha Ming must cross the Bridge of Stars — a stiff competition even with the three-tailed fox Huxian by his side. There he meets Yu Wen, kind and intelligent, and their bond grows every day. But a great evil has been following her for as long as she can remember, and now it knows exactly where to find her.

Cha Ming has returned from Jade Moon Planet stronger than ever, but at a terrible cost — Yu Wen, the love of his life, is dead. He has vowed to find her in the cycle of reincarnation and must journey to Haijing City to heal his core. The ancient underwater empire, however, is a linchpin in the struggle between angels and devils. Meanwhile, Wang Jun returns from exile to rebuild his influence — a gamble that could cost him everything, even his soul.

A war between angels and devils is in full swing, and Cha Ming plans to strike first. He journeys south to infiltrate and destroy the Wang family from within. In Gold Leaf City, Wang Jun pursues his ambitions by any means necessary. And a dark creature has escaped its ancient prison, devouring everything in its wake — forcing Feng Ming and the old Sea God Emperor into a desperate holding action while the plane itself hangs in the balance.

War has broken out, and Cha Ming and Feng Ming race to shore up the North's defenses before devils from the South overrun them. In Gold Leaf City, Wang Jun has betrayed the North — loathing his own actions but doing what he must to protect his beloved, walking the edge of a razor. Meanwhile, Huxian rushes to complete the Candle Dragon's trials, fighting for his life because he alone knows the true strength of their enemy: a fiendish hunger that devours worlds.

Cha Ming and Huxian arrive in the Inkwell Plane at the bottom of the food chain, carrying secrets that emperors and immortals would kill for. As a new ascendant, Cha Ming must fight to prove his worth in a world where Daoist arts and technology work hand in hand. Huxian and his pack of rowdy demons find themselves surrounded by strange customs and powerful rivals. Both must adapt quickly — because the Inkwell Plane is rotten at its core, and no god, demon, or immortal can save it.

Six months after his clash with the White-Eyed Tiger Clan, Cha Ming's growth has stalled and his search for an heir to the Golden Dragon has come up empty. When two angry city lords come looking for revenge, an unlikely group shields him — but the price is a single mission that requires twisting the web of fate. To find answers, Cha Ming must journey to the Star-Eye Monkey Clan, whose ancient builders stand on the brink of war.

The Burning Lake Prefecture has declared war on the demon lands, and Cha Ming has a death match to attend with only six months to prepare. To survive, he must awaken his divine blood using the Iridescent Phoenix's inheritance — but his competitors have been preparing their whole lives and wield alchemical skills and iridescent flames that exceed his own. If he wins, he takes control of the Burning Lake Prefecture. If he loses, he and Huxian die, and every demon tribe in the north will be forced to surrender or perish.

Three years have passed since Cha Ming's arrival in Verdant Crossroads. To fully revive the Monkey King, he agrees to journey with the Runebound Clan to the Sacred Kerava Desert in search of an ancient city and the treasures within. Darker forces are already one step ahead. Their motley group of demons, clergymen, and outcast Daoists must learn to work together — but the ruins they seek are beyond redemption. The seal is breaking. Only madness awaits them.

Cha Ming is back in Verdant Crossroads and his allies are safe, but the Thread Seer's seclusion has left their traditional allies cold. Their neighbor, the Republic of Fendal, now eyes their territory. It falls to the junior Thread Seer, Clever Dusk, to cobble together a defense — and to her teacher Cha Ming to help. As a craftsman, he has no trouble finding allies, but he and his friends are much better at finding trouble. His research on rankers and Daoism infringes on the domain of the gods, and the last thing he needs is for Mendin's deities to notice him.

Cha Ming is back in Verdant Crossroads and his allies are safe, but the Thread Seer's seclusion has left their traditional allies cold. Their neighbor, the Republic of Fendal, now eyes their territory. It falls to the junior Thread Seer, Clever Dusk, to cobble together a defense — and to her teacher Cha Ming to help. As a craftsman, he has no trouble finding allies, but he and his friends are much better at finding trouble. His research on rankers and Daoism infringes on the domain of the gods, and the last thing he needs is for Mendin's deities to notice him.

Recent events have proven too much for Cha Ming — his heart is broken and his soul shattered. To heal him, the Monkey King sends him to the Heartforge Realm, where legends are born and heroes are made. The Heartforge Trials aren't for the faint of heart; fewer than one in four ever make it. But there are fates worse than death — many who pass lose themselves entirely. The realm doesn't just forge heroes, but villains as well, and the difference is often a matter of perspective.

After two decades of training in the Heartforge Realm, Cha Ming's soul is finally on the mend. He and his friends have advanced to the second phase of the Trials, where they must defend a dying world from fiendish invaders — but his enemies have come too, and Cha Ming volunteers to buy his allies time, instigating an all-out war between three regions. Dabbling in the morally gray throws his auras out of balance and threatens to tear apart his foundations. Worse, the fiend outbreaks grow by the day. To defend the Chasewind Plane, Cha Ming must awaken the Clear Sky Brush and embrace his destiny as the next Painter.

The world is collapsing. Cha Ming and friends have returned to the Inkwell Plane strengthened from the Heartforge Realm, but their enemies have returned as well. The Churches of Jezeriah and Harid Dej have captured the Monkey King, and it falls to his student to save him. Yet all this pales before the true threat: the rise of the Inkwell Clan and their leader's mysterious rebirth. The Inkwell Plane is crumbling at the seams, and only Cha Ming, wielder of the Clear Sky Brush, can save it.