Going It Alone in the Jianghu

Going It Alone in the Jianghu is an early novel by Butterfly Blue serialized on Qidian Chinese Network. About 1.55 million characters long, it was published in print by New World Press in 2012 in four volumes: The Birth of Boss Xiao, The Sky Kill Appears, The Price of Death, and Rebirth in the Void. The story takes place in a highly realistic martial-arts online game called "Jianghu": Ye Kai, a college freshman who has never played games, is dragged by his roommates Zhao Xuri, Chen Xueliang, and Sun Peng to the internet cafe across from their dorm, stumbles into registering for the game, and begins his jianghu career as "Feng Xiaoxiao" in the starter village. A complete novice, Feng Xiaoxiao triggers a hidden quest by chance and unexpectedly gains a rather impressive martial foundation: his throwing knives are precise and fierce, and his lightness skill "Swift Across the World" lets him run faster than anyone. But he is in no hurry to compete for supremacy; he merely wants to open a small teahouse, toss a little throwing knife, and be a contented small proprietor with no grand ambitions. The jianghu, however, never lets anyone be. Martial arts tournaments, guild disputes, and the open and covert struggles between Feiyun Manor and the Iron Banner League keep sweeping him into the eye of the storm. Written in a light, bantering tone, the story captures the passion and jianghu spirit of the online game world; beyond the protagonist, supporting characters such as One Sword to the Sky, Flowing Moon, Sword Without Trace, the Carefree Scholar, Liu Ruoxu, and Treasure Bowl each have their own personality, together forming a group portrait of people making their way in the jianghu through effort and luck.