Sword Laughs at the Red Dust

Sword Laughs at the Red Dust is a long martial-arts novel serialized by Mo Nianqiu on Jinjiang Literature City from late 2009, about 1.2 million characters in five volumes and 128 chapters, completed in 2023. The story is set in the martial world of the thirteenth year of the Kangxi reign, opening with the swordsman Ren Piaoping's return to the martial world: eight years earlier, the woman he loved, Ouyang Xiaodie, married Zhao Hongyun, young master of the Zhentian Gang; now Ouyang Xiaodie has been abducted and is missing, drawing him back into the martial world. Soon after, the Ouyang Liancheng massacre occurs, and the case brings to light a plot by descendants of the Great Xia dynasty to restore their kingdom; descendants of Chen Youliang intend to rebuild the Great Han; and multiple forces—Korea, Japan, and the Qing court—secretly contend over the lethal weapon "Meteor Rocket," modeled on the Ming dynasty's "divine machine arrows." At the same time, a rare martial-arts manual left to the world by the eccentric Han Xiaozi, the Nine Heavens Mystic Art, and an arcane military treatise, Nine Tripods Under Heaven, also become targets of contention among the factions. The novel interweaves sect strife, martial-arts contests, mystery investigation, and court intrigue: in pursuing the truth, Ren Piaoping forms bonds with Chang Xiaoyu, Diyi Gaofeng, Yan Yuntian, Liu Rujun, and others, and is also caught in tangled relations among the twin sisters Ouyang Xiaodie and Ouyang Shangqing and women such as Yan Wushuang, Tang Ling, and Xiao Jin. As Kangxi cuts the feudal lords, Wu Sangui rebels against the Qing, and the realm falls into turmoil, the mystery of Ren Piaoping's origins is gradually revealed, and he must choose between personal love and duty to country. The book takes as its theme the line "The cold sword silently hears the gentleman's intent, proudly viewing the world and laughing at the red dust," using the martial-world ensemble to explore the spirit of chivalry and life's choices.