Heavenly Soldiers

Heavenly Soldiers is a long fantasy novel by the web writer Ye Meng, completed on Zongheng Chinese Network on November 7, 2012; it runs to about nine hundred chapters and more than 2.6 million characters. The protagonist, Liu Lingfeng, is reborn at the turning point of his fate, carrying the mountain of regrets from his previous life. In that life he repeatedly missed his chances and ended up battered and with nothing; in this one he decides not to wait passively but to act first, using his foreknowledge. The ancient ring his father left him, a huge bagua compass that suddenly appears, and the eight spirit pearls on the compass, each holding a different power, form the foundation of his bid to rewrite his fate. Each of the eight pearls governs one power, and when all eight return to their places, they can settle heaven and earth. Liu Lingfeng works as an artificer, starting with crude weapons like a great axe and a cowhide bow; while strengthening his soul and restoring his body, he maneuvers among the Lin family, Beast Valley, three great clans, and the major sects, casting a net over the whole continent of Shenzhou. The story's main thread is collecting the spirit pearls and forging divine weapons, culminating in "heavenly soldiers" such as the Heavenly Dragon Blade and the Wind-Fire Spirit Bow, as he rises from a despised family outcast to one who commands the power of heaven and earth and holds the fate of the world in his hand. The work follows the popular, satisfying web-novel path: fast pacing, a clear leveling arc, and the pleasures of face-slapping and turning the tables.