Heavenly Lord

Heavenly Lord is a classical xianxia novel by the web author Robot Wally, serialized on Chuangshi Chinese Network from May 2014, totaling about 1.66 million characters. The novel opens by sketching a world where gods, humans, and monsters coexist: "On that side the simple emperor rules by non-action, the great general scatters beans into soldiers, the good official punishes the River Earl; on this side the delicate fox immortal thinks of repaying kindness, the mischievous Monkey King seeks immortality, the world-admiring dragon prince visits Lord Ye." At court there is a Son of Heaven who rules by non-action; on the frontier a great general scatters beans into soldiers; locally a good official punishes the River Earl. Amid mountains and rivers and the jianghu, a fox immortal remembers old kindness, a Monkey King seeks true immortality, and a dragon prince admires the goodness of the human world. Beyond the borders there are also Silla hwarang in women's dress, Japanese yamabushi chanting the Nine Formulas, and travelers from India and the Western Regions coming from afar. The main storyline follows a scion of a great family who, fostered since childhood in a Jiangnan Daoist temple, has a home he cannot return to. Cultivating in the temple under his master, he advances from mortal to Daoist, meeting along the way Confucian scholars, monks, Daoist priests, and ghosts and spirits; in an era when the three teachings of Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism contend for supremacy, he passes through court intrigue, jianghu chivalry, and tales of immortals and monsters, ultimately becoming a "Heavenly Lord" of his generation. The work does not take bitter, vengeful slaughter as its main line; rather it is closer to a long panorama of worldly customs in which the three teachings stand side by side and immortals and mortals mingle, spread out from a cultivator's perspective. Chapter titles often adapt classical poetry and old allusions, and the style is light and delicate—an attempt by the author to turn from urban entertainment themes to classical xianxia.