Xianjian Wenqing (Six Volumes)

Xianjian Wenqing, originally titled Xianlu Yanchen, is a long classical xianxia novel by Guan Pingchao, serialized on Qidian around 2005, totaling about 1.5478 million Chinese characters and now complete. Physical editions were published by Huashan Literature and Art Publishing House (2006–2009, about seven volumes) and by Beijing United Publishing Company (2013); the 2013 edition was organized into six volumes: Dragon Girl's Fate, The Elegant Immortal, Sword Over the Rivers and Lakes, Blood-Colored Gods and Demons, Slaying the Dragon in the Vast Sea, and Eternal Sorrow of Heaven and Man. The story is set during the Taikang era of the Western Jin, after the chaos of the Three Kingdoms and on the eve of the War of the Eight Princes. Since the creation of the world by the Three Sovereigns and the war of the gods, the mortal realm has been divided into six worlds—gods, demons, humans, immortals, monsters, and ghosts; ancient sects such as Mount Shu and Qionghua have faded into legend, while Daoist orders such as Shangqing, Tianshi, and Miaohua rise in the human world. Zhang Xingyan, a youth from the streets, only wants to join a Daoist order "to get a meal," but by chance obtains the ancient art of "refining spirit into emptiness," receives the Fengshen Sword, and carries the jade flute "Shenxue," whose melody "Water Dragon Chant" can make fierce beasts and birds bow. He seeks the Dao at Mount Luofu, becomes a lay hall master of the Shangqing Palace, and meets the dragon princess Ling Yi'er, the flower spirit Kou Xueyi, the peerless princess Sima Yingju (Juying), and the beast-clan girl Qiongrong, rising and falling amid the bustle of the marketplace and the storms of the immortal path, entangled in conflicts with the demon clan, the great battle in the South Sea, the schemes of Dragon Prince Meng Zhang, and the pursuit of the plum-snow immortal spirit and his own destiny. The work does not rely on displays of magical treasures and spells but is distinguished by a storyteller's understated humor, poetic imagery, and worldly human feeling. Yao Zhuangxian, the "father of Xianjian," praised it as "fitting the definition of Eastern classical xianxia," and authors such as Xiao Ding and Jiang Nan have recommended it; it is often named alongside Zhu Xian and Soushen Ji as an early representative of online xianxia.