Splitting the Heavens: Interview with the author, 睡秋 (Sleepy Autumn)!

From an Azure World, protected by the chaos, fighting to ascend to a Spirit World, striving to evolve into an Essence World while protected by the Star Curtain. What happens when the Star Curtain falls? Facing foreign invasions, Shang Xia has to think of ways to survive while blazing down a new path of cultivation. Creative fighting is one way to do it, but so is shit stirring and beating his enemies when they're down. Follow Shang Xia through his journey of growing stronger and overcoming all obstacles in the way of his world's survival!

Introduction from Blip

Three years ago, I was choosing between several novels, but Splitting the Heavens managed to catch my attention more when I was reading through the raws. In the first 100 chapters or so, some of the fights (Battlefield Between the Two Worlds) were really well written and the appearance of Shang Bo was just too cool for me not to pick this novel. The characters and their personalities are something I find very comfortable translating because all of them have their own unique traits and sense of humor, which I very much favor and knew I could bring to all you readerpeople. 

However, that was when I had initially chosen to translate STH. After I started translating, I found the novel more and more enjoyable. From the start to wherever we are now, I've also seen the development of certain characters, from a mess to someone indispensable for the progression of the novel. It’s like watching a child grow up. As a result, we were super excited when the author of Splitting the Heavens accepted a text-based interview from us. A few questions were skipped due to spoiler reasons, but here were some of the questions that the readers were curious about. Below are the author’s responses to our questions:

Kou Chongxue & Shang Xia

Why come up with the idea of changing weapons every level rather than getting Shang Xia to fully master a single type of weapon like Kou Chongxue who mastered the way of the sword? In the event of a fight if Kou Chongxue and Shang Xia were of the exact same level, who would win and why?

The reason Shang Xia changes weapons every level is for the suspense and to keep the novel fresh. It’s too easy to be targeted and for his enemies to learn of his weakness if he only uses one weapon. Moreover, I (the author) don’t believe that there’s a weapon that will never be damaged or destroyed. 

Shang Xia's main weapon; the stone rod

 

As for a battle between Shang Xia and Kou Chongxue, if it were an open contest where they fight 1 on 1 in a competition setting (giant platform, no other factors), Kou Chongxue would be at an advantage. If it were a battle between worlds, Shang Xia would have the advantage as his ability to adapt to different situations is a little better than Kou Chongxue.

Kou Chongxue's main weapon; Hidden Frost Sword

 

Did you have any inspiration when you came up with any of the characters and if you could pick one as your favorite character (doesn't have to be the MC) who would it be and why?

Chinese Culture inspires me a lot. Of course, there is too much and I only used a small part of it, and most ideas seem a little far-fetched. 

As for my favorite character, it’s Kou Chongxue. He’s so damn cool and has a good sense of responsibility. He’s a guardian in the early stages of the book, a leader in the middle arcs, and a great support in the later parts of the story. 

Does the fact that Shang Xia is a transmigrator ever come up again? Or has that origin story been abandoned.

After Shang Xia fully integrates into the new world, he uses the knowledge of the old world only and keeps his old life somewhere deep in his memories. When he manages to travel through the sea of stars in the future, he might decide to look for his old world that is stuck deep in his mind.

Novel system & its challenges

Many cultivation novels have traditional tiered realms—how did you differentiate your realm system, and what challenges came with designing it?

Everyone is already familiar with the traditional cultivation levels and it’s getting boring. That is why I created this novel system in hopes of attracting more readers. However, it’s not easy to come up with something refreshing. After all, many readers today have already gone through many different books and are seasoned experts. They are very picky and particular and are very harsh in their requirements. 

Since readers are hopping around novels, trying to come up with a new idea that isn’t too deep such that readers need to use a lot of brain cells was my consideration. At the same time, it has to be something they are familiar with in order to capture their attention at a single glance. That’s the hardest part of coming up with cultivation levels. 

Compassion & Purpose

How did you decide on having the worlds steal physical land from other worlds?

The ability and direction of the novel where worlds’ ‘ascend’ comes from the principle of balance and energy conservation. The higher one’s level of cultivation, the more resources they would need to consume. As such, when a high-level cultivator reaches the highest level his world can contain, they might consume all the resources of their world. If they wish to grow even stronger, their world might not be able to support them further. Hence, the high-level cultivator would need to push their world to a higher level to become stronger in order to help themselves grow. 

In addition, I hope to show that high-level cultivators still have compassion; which is why they will try to save the mortals living on those worlds and take over rather than being a cold-hearted parasite who only cares about their cultivation. 

What is your proudest arc?

My favorite arcs are the completion of the world ascensions. It’s what I anticipate writing the most and it makes me the happiest. I like it when everyone is united to complete a certain goal and give their all for a shared purpose.

When did you decide to come up with interstellar battles (in the form of star ships) in the battle for worlds?

Within their worlds, individual combat abilities are too terrifying when comparing high-level cultivators to lower-leveled ones. It reached an extremely exaggerated state and I hope to use interstellar battles to balance this sort of individual combat strength. Or at the very least, restrict the unreasonable strength level. Hopefully, Star Ships could be used to show the strength of lower-leveled cultivators gathering together to resist and even defeat higher-leveled ones. 

Perhaps, it was because I was searching for a ‘balance’, but it might have also been an extension of my indecisiveness.

Will Shang Xia daddy's identity be ever revealed? What about his mother?

I believe everyone (including Shang Xia) already knows Shang Xia’s dad’s identity. Because of his dad’s special role / occupation, they hadn’t interacted much and there isn’t much relationship between them. It would be awkward if I forcefully write a part about his dad’s identity or a reunion. Instead, during their conquest and expeditions to other worlds, both sides have already reached a level of understanding that allows them to cooperate seamlessly. 

Rather than a father-son relationship, their interaction is more like friends or people of the same level, allowing them to have much more relaxed interactions. Of course… Another reason his dad doesn’t explicitly reveal his identity is because he feels awkward and ashamed after establishing so many families out there. 

Do the Lightning Birds ever get revenge on Shang Xia for the callous way he has treated them? (spoiler question, so unfortunately, no response)

Thank you all for reading, and thank you to the author for participating and Blip for translating his responses! Hope you guys enjoyed this interview! If you're a reader of STH, what do you like most about Splitting the Heavens? If you're new to this novel, let us know what you think of it if you decide to give it a try!