Reaching the Heavens

Reaching the Heavens is a classical xianxia novel by the web novelist Fengyu Jiuqiu. It began serialization on 17K.com on August 15, 2016, and concluded in April 2018, comprising about 663 chapters and nearly 1.99 million characters. The story is set against the backdrop of the Western Wei during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, opening on a rainy night in the Wei capital Chang'an: seven vagrant beggar children live in a ruined temple, depending on one another and sworn as siblings. Because the fourth eldest causes trouble, the group is forced to scatter, and the sixth eldest, Nan Feng, is entrusted with returning a relic to a sect's mountain gate for someone else, drawing him into the conflicts of the jianghu and the world of cultivation. Nan Feng subsequently studies at the three Daoist schools of Taiqing, Yuqing, and Shangqing, learning Daoist arts such as talismans and star observation, and gradually comes into contact with the undercurrents within the sects. Around the legendary fragmented tortoise-shell scroll of the Heavenly Book, cultivators, great families, and powerful court officials contend, and in the course of pursuing the Heavenly Book and opposing forces that bring disaster to the world, Nan Feng grows from a youth seeking only self-preservation into a cultivator willing to strive for humanity's right to self-determination and to defend fairness and justice. The book takes Daoist naturalness and impartial justice as its conceptual foundation, integrating Daoist culture and dynastic intrigue within a classical xianxia framework, with tightly woven plotting and vivid ensemble characters. In 2019, the book was selected for the "2018 Outstanding Original Online Literature Works" recommendation list jointly released by the National Press and Publication Administration and the China Writers Association, and ranked second on the 2018 China Online Novel Rankings (completed works).