Hunter of the Illusory World

Hunter of the Illusory World is an urban jianghu novel by Shi Zhangyu (real name Ye Yong), a platinum author of Yuewen Group, which began serialization on Qidian Chinese Network in 2005. The book is about 840,000 characters long, is complete, and has also been published in a traditional Chinese edition by a Taiwanese publisher. The story revolves around Xiao Yu, a young man from Beijing. He was originally just a Beijing idler who resold mobile phones and drifted through life, but a sudden will completely changes his fate: overnight he learns that he is connected to a huge overseas family fortune and is drawn into a real jianghu feud. The will brings not only wealth but also covetousness, scheming, and murderous intent. Xiao Yu is set up and framed by his father's old subordinates and at one point stands at the edge of life and death; with nowhere left to turn, he can only seek refuge with his father's mortal enemy in hopes of a slim chance of survival. From Beijing to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and then Japan, Xiao Yu struggles along in a jianghu where multiple forces intertwine. With extraordinary courage, keen judgment, and the decisiveness to act, he gains a foothold in one open and hidden struggle after another, gradually making a name for himself, and also meets companions who share life and death and feelings he cannot let go of. The jianghu in this book is not the romantic imagination of gratified vengeance but a real mire of interests, loyalty, betrayal, and calculation—one step forward is a godfather, one step back is a grave. The work continues Shi Zhangyu's consistent narrative style: crisp and humorous language, tight pacing, and skill in writing characters' calculation and growth through the details of human relations, creating a protagonist who gradually transforms from a low-level hoodlum into a formidable figure.