Contains books 13–15 of the Painting the Mists series.
Echoes of Divinity, book 13: An ancient ruin. A dreadful curse. A race for the fate of the realm. 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. They are not the only seekers. Darker forces have joined the hunt and are one step ahead of them. To succeed in their quest, their motley group of demons, clergymen, and outcast Daoists will need to learn to work together. Little do they know that the ruins they seek are beyond redemption. The seal is breaking. The city is lost. Only madness awaits them. Pendulum of Fate, Parts 1 and 2, books 14 and 15: To help his allies, he'll make the world his enemy. 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. As a craftsman, Cha Ming has no trouble finding allies. But he and his friends are much better at finding trouble instead. Maybe all the chaos they'll cause is a good thing? Cha Ming's research on rankers and Daoism infringes on the domain of the gods. The last thing he needs is for Mendin's deities to notice him.
