Phantom Spirit

Phantom Spirit is a cultivation-themed web novel by Qiyue Hanfeng, serialized online from 2015 and completed in 2022, running to about a thousand-plus chapters and nearly three million characters, with no print edition. The story is set in the fictional cultivation world of Linglong Continent, where "spirit" is the root of all practice: spirit cultivators temper their bodies with spiritual energy, condense spirit shields and flying blades, and form seals to cast spells, with their level of attainment determining social rank. The protagonist, Mo Bai, is an ordinary cultivator from the bottom rungs, with an old scar at the edge of his brow as his most conspicuous mark. The opening has him on an ancient mountain using a translucent spiritual-energy flying blade to kill a pursuer, the "Flying Demon," drawing him into a larger storm. He then goes through life-and-death trials, sect intrigues, and emotional entanglements, breaking through to higher levels amid mystery-solving, demon-slaying, treasure-seizing, and spirit battles, gradually uncovering secrets tied to his origins, and finally retiring from the world. Built on a traditional cultivation framework, the book follows Mo Bai's rise against the odds through a world where the strong prey on the weak and spiritual arts abound, interspersed with martial-world grudges and the warmth and coldness of human relations.