Painting the Mists

Books 1–3 of the Painting the Mists series. Clear Sky, book one: Martial cultivators, flying swords, and magic talismans. Blood Moon, book two: The kindest hearts make the cruelest villains. The perfect tools if you know where to buy them... Light in the Darkness, book three: Cha Ming and Huxian have faced the heavens and lived.

Life for Cha Ming is a daily grind. A rat race where people don’t make any real decisions. When he asks the universe for something more, fate itself answers his prayer. A talisman brush older than time itself sends him to another world, where magic, fortune, and danger await. Now, the world is at his fingertips. He has a new life, a new body, and can wield the five elements. It’s too bad his new home is a place where might makes right, and immortal cultivators and demons fight at the drop of a hat. But where the divine brush goes, danger follows.

Cha Ming’s new brother is a demon fox. He’s cute. He’s naughty. And he’s always hungry. If only Godbeasts didn’t grow so damned quickly. When the duo joins their classmate Gong Lan on an expedition, they soon discover that not everything is as it seems. It’s not rebels they’re fighting, but devils wearing human skins. Can they disrupt an evil merchant’s soul trade without the help of the army? Gong Lan’s techniques are driving her mad, and it’s only a matter of time before she turns on them.

Cha Ming and Huxian have faced the heavens and lived.... Crippled and broken, Cha Ming finds himself in an isolated village. Only the efforts of a mortal doctor are keeping him alive. His qi pathways are ravaged, and his organs are failing. It’s only a matter of time before his wounds claim him. Meanwhile, Huxian finds himself in his natural environment - a mountain crawling with powerful demons. To survive, he’ll need to eat or be eaten. It’s a good thing eating is what he does best. One man. One fox. One shared life. If one fails, so does the other.

After fighting off a group of bandits, Cha Ming helps a people rebuild. His heart is heavy with guilt, but he can’t stay long. To face an inevitable foe, Cha Ming must journey to Quicksilver City, where he’ll meet the man who once enslaved him. Will he find the courage to face him?

When Cha Ming goes to help his friend Wang Jun’s ailing business in the capital, the last thing he expected was to compete with a seer. Their opponent is always one step ahead, and it’s sink or swim in this devil-infested marketplace. To make matters worse, the king has been poisoned. Cha Ming is barely keeping him alive. If they don’t find a cure, a fight for succession is all but certain....

Cha Ming’s qi core is broken. Practicing martial arts is difficult and painful. But the Monkey King is fading fast, and he’ll need something stronger than mortal medicine to recover. To that end, Cha Ming must cross the Bridge of Stars. The competition is stiff, and it will be hard to pass, even with the three-tailed fox Huxian by his side. It’s a good thing he meets a pretty lady who’s only too happy to help.

Cha Ming has returned from Jade Moon Planet stronger than ever. The Monkey King is back. Huxian’s demon collection is up an ugly toad. They even took back an entire garden. But life is far from perfect. Yu Wen, the love of Cha Ming’s life, is dead. He has vowed to find her in the cycle of reincarnation. To do that, he must journey to Haijing City to heal his core. Little does he know that the ancient underwater empire is a linchpin in the struggle between angels and devils. Meanwhile, Wang Jun has returned from his long exile. His influence in Gold Leaf City has waned.

A war between angels and devils is in full swing, and it’s a war Cha Ming can’t avoid. To deal a pre-emptive blow, he journeys to the South. His mission? Infiltrate the Wang family. Incriminate it. Then break it. Back in Gold Leaf City, Wang Jun is in a neck-and-neck competition with his brother. He’s given up on fairness and will use any means necessary to win. Hong Xin and her courtesans are helping him from the shadows, but as head of the Red Dust Pavilion, she has her own worries....

Gears have been turning for centuries, and war has broken out. Cha Ming and Feng Ming rush to shore up the North’s meager defenses before devils from the South overrun them. No country can escape. In Gold Leaf City, Wang Jun has betrayed the North. He loathes his own actions, but he will do what he must to protect his beloved. He weaves a deep web while walking on the edge of a razor. A single misstep will cost him everything.

The Inkwell Plane is a magical place. Daoist arts and technology work hand in hand, and transcendents are on friendly terms with demigods and demons. But not all is well. As a new ascendant, there aren’t many people who are weaker than Cha Ming. He must fight to prove his worth and carve out a place for himself in this dog-eat-dog world. To succeed, he may need to share more secrets than he’s comfortable with.

It’s been six months since Cha Ming’s clash with the White-Eyed Tiger Clan. His growth has stalled to nothing, 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 decides to shield him. The price for his safety is a single mission that requires no less than twisting the web of fate.

The Burning Lake Prefecture has declared war on the demon lands. The human invaders are mighty, and even Stargazer City’s new seer can’t stop them. Cha Ming would love to help, but his hands are tied. He has a death match to attend and only six months to prepare. To survive, he’ll need to awaken his divine blood using the Iridescent Phoenix’s inheritance. But such a precious treasure is not easy to obtain. Cha Ming’s competitors are strong and have been preparing all their lives.

Three years have passed since Cha Ming’s arrival in Verdant Crossroads. He would like nothing more than to settle down, but his peaceful days have come to an end. To fully revive the Monkey King, he agrees to journey to the Sacred Kerava Desert. The Runebound Clan seeks the ruins of an ancient city, as well as the treasures that lie within.

Cha Ming is back in Verdant Crossroads, and for now, his allies are safe. The Thread Seer has chosen to honor her promise and has begun crafting a new body for the Monkey King.

Cha Ming is back in Verdant Crossroads, and for now, his allies are safe. The Thread Seer has chosen to honor her promise and has begun crafting a new body for the Monkey King. Her seclusion has not gone unnoticed, however. Verdant Crossroads’ traditional allies are giving them the cold shoulder, and their neighbor, the Republic of Fendal, is now eyeing their territory. It falls to the junior Thread Seer, Clever Dusk, to cobble together a defense—and to Cha Ming, her teacher, to help her.

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.

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 Heartforge Trials, where they must defend a dying world from fiendish invaders. Yet it isn’t just his friends who have come, but his enemies as well. When two aggressive neighbors start to nibble away at his territory, Cha Ming volunteers to buy his allies time. His actions instigate an all-out war between three regions, and countless innocents are dragged into the conflict.

The world is collapsing. Planesfall is imminent. Cha Ming and friends have returned to the Inkwell Plane. They are much strengthened from their experiences in the Heartforge Realm and ready to make a difference. But it's not just them who have returned—their enemies have as well. What's worse, the Churches of Jezeriah and Harid Dej have captured the Monkey King. It falls to his student, Cha Ming, to save him.