The World of Cultivation

The World of Cultivation is a xianxia cultivation novel by Fang Xiang following Legend of the Master and Card Disciple. It began serialization on Zongheng Chinese Network in July 2010, runs to about 2.86 million characters, and was published in print by New World Press in eight volumes, the first titled The Crystal Maniac. The protagonist, Zuo Mo, is a low-ranking cultivator picked up and brought into the sect by the head of the Wukong Sword Sect; his appearance has been altered and his old memories erased, leaving only a vague dream and a face fixed in a deadpan "zombie" expression. His greatest wish is hardly grand: earn more crystals and live peacefully. Behind a seemingly lazy exterior, he applies himself to the art of spirit plants, becoming a spirit-plant cultivator, and secures his footing in the sect through a mercenary, money-grubbing yet genuinely lovable personality. By chance he learns that an expert once altered his face and erased his consciousness, and his quiet days are shattered; his simple dream is broken to pieces, and he can only set out on a path full of danger and the unknown, cultivating while investigating his origins. The book's most distinctive feature is that it makes cultivation "technological" and "everyday": techniques, runes, artifacts, and war divisions are widely used in daily life; professions such as spirit-plant cultivator, sword cultivator, and rune cultivator are finely divided; paper cranes for transport, floating cities, and artifact trading form a gorgeous and strange fantasy landscape. With layered settings, a passionate growth arc, and many vivid supporting characters, Fang Xiang tells the story of a lowly nobody in a world where the weak are prey, steadily accumulating power and building influence.