Kunlun

Kunlun is a long wuxia novel by Feng Ge, a leading author of mainland China's New Wuxia movement. It was serialized in the magazine Legend of the Present and Past: Wuxia Edition from 2005 and published in separate volumes by Tuanjie Publishing House in September of the same year. Set against the historical backdrop of the late Song and early Yuan dynasties, the book consists of a prequel, Iron-Blooded Pride (also known as the Kunlun Prequel), and six volumes of the main story: The Heavenly Mechanism Volume, The Pure Yang Volume, The City-Breaking Volume, The Dragon Roaming Volume, The Kalpa Volume, and The Heavenly Way Volume—seven books in total, exceeding one million characters. The prequel tells of Liang Wenjing, father of Liang Xiao: because his appearance closely resembles the assassinated Prince of Huai'an, he is thrust into the role of a stand-in. After several escapes, he finally overcomes his cowardice in the Battle of Hezhou, repels a powerful enemy, and marries the Mongol woman Xiao Yuling. The main story follows Liang Xiao, who wanders alone after his parents are separated. He enters the Heavenly Mechanism Palace and struggles to solve the "Ten Heavenly Calculations," studying the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword and the science of mechanisms. Later, drawn into the struggle over the Pure Yang Iron Box, he meets and loses Liu Yingying, Hua Xiaoshuang, A Xue, and others. Moving between Xiangyang and Yashan, he is torn between the Song and Yuan sides, enduring conflicts of family, love, hatred, and loyalty, until he finally confronts his own choices before Mount Kunlun. The book integrates astronomy, calendrical science, mathematics, mechanical arts, and military strategy into martial arts, with a broad narrative scope, and is regarded as a milestone work of mainland China's New Wuxia.