The Book of the Seven Souls

For nine hundred years, snow and wind have raged without end. Xie Tingshuang's heart has been empty for eighteen. Born without a thread of emotion, with all seven souls vacant, she descends the mountain to seek the taste of human feeling, only to stumble onto a path of gathering shattered souls. Each time one of her souls returns to her heart, she gains a little more warmth, and a little more pain. But as the seven souls near completion, the Lord of the Heart-Devouring Hall removes his mask, revealing a face identical to hers. She was never searching for the seven emotions. She was a vessel meant to seal Chaos. And her traveling companion, her master Xuancheng, is the final fragment of her soul. The price of awakening him is his total annihilation. Portraits cover every wall of her bedchamber, every one depicting her. Nine hundred years of waiting have brought not a reunion, but a pact compelling her to kill him with her own hands. On the day her seven souls return to their rightful places, Xie Tingshuang finally understands: what she crossed thousands of miles to reclaim was a heart that could choose for itself.