City of Fantasy

City of Fantasy is Guo Jingming's first novel. It began as a short story of the same title published in the magazine Mengya and was later expanded into a full-length novel with the support of Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House, appearing in January 2003. It is regarded as one of the representative works of post-80s youth fantasy writing. The story unfolds in the fictional Empire of Illusory Snow, where the Fire Clan's City of Flames stands on one side and the Ice Clan's frozen realm on the other. After a generations-long war with the Fire Clan, the Ice Clan's eldest prince, Kasuo, and his younger brother, Yingkongshi, become the clan's only surviving princes. Kasuo dreams all his life of freedom, yet he is forced to ascend the throne and shoulder the duty of rebuilding and protecting the Ice Clan. To free his brother from the throne's bonds, Yingkongshi chooses an extreme path: seizing the crown by eliminating anyone who stands in his way. Unaware of the truth, Kasuo kills his brother by mistake, and the tragedy begins. To bring Yingkongshi and his lost love back to life, Kasuo leads the masters of the City of Illusory Snow into the sacred Mountain of Illusory Snow in search of the Hidden Lotus, which has the power to resurrect the dead. Along the way he battles the mountain's guardian deities and confronts Yuanji, the ruler of the world who manipulates fate itself. With sumptuous imagery, poetic language, and an ending that reverses itself layer upon layer, the novel conjures a fantasy world of ice and snow, cherry blossoms, white hair, and long robes. It tells of the bond between brothers, the price of love and freedom, and the endless cycle of gaining and losing.