The Heavenly Mirror’s Record of Sealed Hearts

People love stories for the parting and reunions within them. But when I began writing this book, my thoughts started with a single word: “lock.” Whatever people lock away, they usually do so because they cannot let it go. In my book, one thing is locked: the heavens. The Heavenly Dao locks Di Hong; Di Hong locks away ascension; and the human heart locks itself. Three seals have endured for ten thousand years, giving rise to countless grudges and tangled affections. The strongest lock is not a magic artifact, but the one people fasten upon their own hearts. That is why the book is called The Heavenly Mirror Record of Sealed Hearts. The heavenly mirror reveals what things truly are, but sealing the heart is a choice each person makes: it is not that they do not love, but that they love too deeply to dare open up. The book follows a young man named Shen Qingxian, whose fate is bound to a case from ten thousand years ago. It begins with the bloody case at Hanshan, then follows his investigation into his own origins, his bloodline, and the heart he sealed away long ago. At his side are Yan Beichen, the magistrate who tests the law with his blade; Su Wanqing of the Wanxiang Pavilion, who pursues the mystery her mother left behind; and Lu Wuxie, a bookish young man who stumbles into the game and unexpectedly becomes the Heavenly Dao's kindred spirit. The four meet at Hanshan, each with secrets of their own, and leave their marks on one another's hearts. This is an ensemble story. As for the cases, they reflect a personal desire of mine. I do not want to write about flashing blades, but about the weight of the word “truth.” Behind every case lies a heart unwilling to show itself. When the case is solved, that heart opens too. One idea in the book is called “the third path”: neither sealing something away nor destroying it, but allowing two forces to find resonance and coexist. This is also my approach to writing. I do not pin people down at either end of good and evil; instead, I let them find a way through the cracks. The book begins with snow falling on Hanshan and ends at a gate in Guixu. On either side of that gate lies the human world.