The Five-Flower Sword of Immortal Heroes (Part Two)

海上剑痴Beijing Mingtianyuanhang Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd. · ChinaJul 2024

3.4

Word count: 72K words
Chapters: 15

Summary

In the Southern Song dynasty, the treacherous minister Qin Hui gathers a network of cronies, persecutes loyal officials, and throws the populace into turmoil. The immortal hero Gongsun Dafniang forges the Five Flower Swords; Qiu Ran Gong, Nie Yinniang, Hongxian Nü, Huangshan Ke, and Kongkong Er each take one sword and descend the mountain to take disciples. The immortals separately teach swordplay to a common girl, a scholar, a righteous man, and a courtesan; together they smash the Qin mansion's Crouching Tiger Camp soldiers who terrorize the people, slay Qin's partisans, attempt to assassinate Qin Hui, and rescue the injured commoners. Yet unexpectedly, Kongkong Er mistakenly entrusts the Lotus Sword to the bandit Yanzi Fei. Yanzi Fei colludes with robbers, murders and plunders, and stops at nothing. Gongsun Dafniang herself descends to the mortal world to eliminate him…

Editor's review

This is the second half of Xianxia Wuhua Jian (Five Flower Swords of Immortal Heroes), continuing the threads of immortals bestowing swords and heroes resisting traitors. The author, Haishang Jianchi (The Sea-Swordsman), blends the historical backdrop of Qin Hui's Southern Song dictatorship with sword-immortal legend. Gongsun Dafniang, Qiu Ran Gong, Nie Yinniang, Hongxian Nü, Huangshan Ke, and Kongkong Er all take the stage in turn, and the recipients of the swords include common girls, scholars, righteous men, and courtesans, weaving marketplace atmosphere with xianxia imagination in a lively read. The most notable turn in the second half is the misteaching of the Lotus Sword: Kongkong Er passes the sword to the bandit Yanzi Fei, and the heroic undertaking backfires; the plot shifts from eliminating traitors to cleaning house, and the tension rises markedly. The language retains the chapter-by-chapter narration and storyteller's voice of old-school wuxia fiction, friendly to readers familiar with classical vernacular. Read it as a popular specimen of the traditional sword-immortal genre, observing how xianxia intervenes in human injustice and how improper transmission of teaching breeds new calamities. Suited to segmented reading before bed or on the commute; no need to finish in one sitting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers of popular fiction who enjoy traditional sword-immortal and swordswoman-versus-traitor themes
Readers interested in the Southern Song Qin Hui backdrop and folk tales of resisting traitors
Literary enthusiasts who want to understand the old-school chapter-by-chapter wuxia narrative style
Readers comfortable with classical vernacular and storyteller's voice who are willing to read slowly

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer modern fast-paced web novels with strong reversals
Readers unused to old chapter-style vernacular and a large cast of characters
Readers expecting strict historical accuracy rather than xianxia dramatization

Reading tips

Read the first volume or a recap first to clarify which sword belongs to which owner before entering the second half.
When you reach the point where Kongkong Er teaches Yanzi Fei, look back at the earlier sword-bestial scenes and compare the difference in the masters' choices.
View the xianxia duels and the conflict with the Qin mansion's Crouching Tiger Camp separately, and note how the author handles the boundary between good and evil.
One or two chapters a day is enough; the chapter-by-chapter rhythm suits digesting characters and threads in segments.

About the publisher

Beijing Mingtianyuanhang Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd. China · Founded in 2009

Mingtianyuanhang (Beijing Mingtianyuanhang Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd.) focuses on the humanities, social sciences and classical texts, while also covering popular science, Eastern philosophy and science fiction. Among its 97 titles in the library are Ming and Qing prose and fiction such as Zhang Dai's Dream Seeking by West Lake and Liu E's The Travels of Lao Can, alongside Song Yingxing's The Exploitation of the Works of Nature, Liu An's Huainanzi and Sun Yirang's Mozi Jian Gu, as well as Wei Zheng's Qunshu Zhiyao, the collected literary works of Li Jieren and a collection of Jules Verne's classics, showing a catalogue that pairs collated ancient texts with foreign classics. Its authors include the above-named figures, and most titles are issued as e-books. Owing to limited public information, its overall publishing scale and plans remain to be further understood.

版权信息
第十七回盗印信双侠警贪官寄书函一人传密报
第十八回秦相府夫妻行刺刘公岛师弟重逢
第十九回抱不平打死乌天霸施绝技惊走燕子飞
第二十回柳叶村燕于飞采花松针岭虬髯公祭剑
第二十一回剑击剑棋逢敌手好杀奸血溅僧头
第二十二回柳员外击鼓鸣冤方知县悬金缉犯
第二十三回三岔道上血案重重九折岩前人头累累
第二十四回众差罗拜虬髯叟群侠难擒燕子飞
第二十五回燕子飞毒打珊珊女虬髯公怒责空空儿
第二十六回空空儿寒宵盗剑珊珊女月夜飞刀
第二十七回弄巧反拙故剑飞还削铁成泥宝刀失色
第二十八回缚情丝空使美人计触剑锋几寒侠士心
第二十九回收宝剑十侠下仙山吐霜丸大娘开杀戒
第三十回十仙侠收徒归大道五花剑传世演奇书

FAQ

Can I understand this second volume without having read the first?

You can still follow the main plot, but the origin of the Five Flower Swords and how each sword's owner descended the mountain to take disciples are concentrated in the first volume; jumping straight into the second half can make the character relationships feel abrupt. It is best to read the first volume first, or at least understand the setup of Gongsun Dafniang forging the swords and the five heroes each carrying one sword to take disciples, before reading the second half.

Why is the episode of Yanzi Fei mistakenly receiving the Lotus Sword important?

It is the key turning point of the second half. Previously the immortals' swords were mostly used to eliminate traitors and save the people, but after the Lotus Sword falls into a bandit's hands, Yanzi Fei colludes with robbers, murders and plunders, and the heroic undertaking backfires; the story turns from fighting Qin mansion partisans to cleaning house, and it also leads to Gongsun Dafniang herself descending to eliminate him.

What is distinctive about the recipients of the immortals' teaching?

According to the source material, the immortals separately pass swordplay to a common girl, a scholar, a righteous man, and a courtesan; the recipients are not limited to traditional martial artists but cover various walks of marketplace life. This arrangement gives the fight against traitors a flavor of folk mutual aid and lets people of different stations each carry a strand of the heroic story.

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About the author

海上剑痴 Author

Haishang Jianchi is an author about whom limited public information is available; their real name, nationality, and dates of birth and death are not clearly recorded. Only two works can be confirmed: Xianxia Wuhua Jian (Part One) and Xianxia Wuhua Jian (Part Two). Judging from the titles and their common classification, these two works are long-form xianxia (immortal-chivalry) fiction, built around sword heroes, cultivation, and feuds of the jianghu, with the story presented in two volumes. The pen name carries the flavor of old-school martial arts and supernatural fiction, and the writing leans toward the narrative appeal of traditional chapter-based storytelling, emphasizing characters' fortunes and plot development rather than modern-style worldbuilding. Because so little verifiable information exists, the author's life and full body of work cannot be described in detail; readers interested in the author and the writing may begin with these two volumes of Xianxia Wuhua Jian and explore the imagination and aspirations of its sword-hero world.