Chunyang

Chunyang is a classical xianxia epic by Jing Kesou, a master author at Yuewen Group. Serialized on Qidian Chinese Network and completed in June 2013, it runs 337 chapters and about 1.02 million characters. The opening "Prologue: The Bone-Burial Ground" depicts the god of death invading the great xianxia world, taking command of the law of death, creating the Bone-Burial Ground, and advancing step by step—a doomsday vision in which countless cultivators must rush to the outer realms to fight the god. "In the vast land, who is orthodox, who holds Chunyang" becomes the book's central question. The protagonist, Wang Cunye (Wang Shouye), struggles in the underworld of the nether realm until chance allows him to be reborn as a young Daoist in the small Dayan Temple. In a world where Daoist arts flourish and temples abound, Daoists must pass examinations by the Daoist rectifiers and the Daoist Palace and be ordained and registered before they can preside over rituals and receive divine protection; meanwhile court, regional lords, river gods, city gods, the Heavenly Court, and the Daoist lords are entangled in schemes and contests for fortune. Starting with a mysterious turtle shell that predicts fortune and misfortune and a mysterious cultivation method, Wang Cunye goes from surviving a murderous ordeal involving his fiancée and junior sister, to passing the Qingyang Palace examination and being ordained, to subduing the minor deity Bai Susu and maneuvering among the river god and the Marquis of Wei faction—fighting for his life through each stage of human-to-immortal cultivation, ruthless and decisive, refusing to be a sacrificed pawn. His stage then expands from local water offices to the Penglai Daoist Palace, the East Sea debates, and the earthly-immortal expedition, drawing him into the struggle for orthodoxy among the Heavenly Court, the Daoist lords, and the outer-realm god of death. The work is known for its distinctive "cultivation within the system" perspective, treating fortune, merit, and cultivation as calculable, contestable resources; it is a representative work of fortune-based xianxia.