One Word to Heaven

One Word to Heaven is a long xianxia web novel by Hei Xian, serialized on Qidian.com from August 1, 2016 to its conclusion on April 1, 2018. It runs about 4.24 million characters across more than 1,900 chapters. The protagonist, Xu Yan, was adopted as a child by an old Taoist and raised in the Chengyun Temple of Linshan Town, where he mastered the art of the flying stone and keeps company with a small black pig. Able to see underworld officials and all manner of ghosts since childhood, he keeps quiet about it, playing the fool and hiding his eerie gift behind a goofy grin. To prolong his master's life, he goes up Old Grave Mountain in search of a ginseng spirit, drawing himself into a string of supernatural incidents; from there he is swept through stronghold feuds, Jianghu grudges, and the mystery of his own origins, crossing the sixteen nations of Tiannan and braving the legendary Fengdu before formally setting out on the path of cultivation. The novel opens its worldview with the poetic declaration that "heaven has nine tiers and earth eight reaches," tracing the protagonist's two lifetimes of cultivation and reincarnation, three unconsummated loves, and his quest across the seven realms and beyond the six paths. Blending Jianghu chivalry with tales of the strange and supernatural, the work dwells on human nature and the contest between good and evil, with densely planted foreshadowing and tightly interlocking plot. It is one of Hei Xian's representative works.