Cun Mang

Cun Mang is an early representative work by I Eat Tomatoes (real name Zhu Hongzhi). Inspired by the legendary imagery of Gu Long's "Little Li's Flying Dagger," it tells the story of a young man with a mastery of the flying dagger who enters the world of cultivation by way of the dagger. The protagonist, Li Yang, was formerly a member of the special-forces unit "Dragon Fang" and was recruited into Bureau 9 of the national Security Bureau for his skill with the flying dagger. Yet his meridians are already fixed, and he can achieve little through traditional internal cultivation, so he turns to the mental-discipline manual The Three Realms of the Star. By chance he obtains a Marrow-Cleansing Pill from the cultivation world capable of remaking his body and cleansing his meridians, and his fate turns. A secret genetic experiment and Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Western Chu, dwelling in his body in spirit form, enter his life one after another; Li Yang makes a pact with Xiang Yu—help Xiang Yu return to the demon realm, and in exchange receive its supreme arts. Yet his peaceful life shatters when his fiancée, Jiang Xue, takes her own life in grief and hatred; to avenge her, Li Yang ventures alone into New York's underground boxing world, moving through the darkness under the code name "Bullet." His path then runs from the modern city to the Kunlun wonderland and the Thunder Flame Hell, through golden-core cultivation, martial tournaments and conflicts across realms, ending with the ultimate technique "Polar Point Cun Mang." The novel sets traditional martial-arts elements in a modern urban backdrop and then expands into a grand structure spanning the human and demon realms; with brisk pacing and a clear progression, it is one of the representative xianxia works on Qidian Chinese Network in the mid-2000s.