Blood God's Laugh

Blood God's Laugh is a fantasy novel by the author Blood Water Divine Shadow, serialized on Zongheng Chinese and now completed, running to about one million characters; it is the author's first completed work of that length. The story is set in a vast world once inhabited by gods and demons: legend holds that these beings were so immense they could not be measured and possessed limitless power—when they slept, their bodies became land and gave birth to countless creatures; when they woke, they could pluck the stars and swallow the sun and moon for food. The ground people stand on may well bury a dead demon god. To survive on this land, mortals can rely only on cultivation and killing. The power system is clearly tiered: weapons range from iron and gold to spirit implements; martial artists advance level by level from the human rank to the realm rank; mages and demon warriors are graded by mana capacity; and spiritual power can be refined into offensive means. The protagonist, Feng Yang, grows through a series of opportunities and ordeals, obtains the dual-attribute Blood-Drinking Mad Crow Blade, and through a fortuitous encounter lays the foundation of dual cultivation of strength and body. When he learns that his mother was persecuted to death by a member of the Great Yan Empire's imperial family, he vows revenge. Thereafter he is drawn into battle after battle—the Battle of Great Yan City, the defense and siege of Blood Demon City, the Shark Realm of the South Sea—advancing through realms such as the Four Transformations of the Blood Demon and the Nine Descents of the Blood Demon, until at last he sets out on the Road to Heaven, fights the gods and demons in a bloody war, and faces the world-ending battle that closes the path of the demon god. The book is divided into six volumes—Time Reversed, Blood-Stained Southwest, Blood-Calmed Southern Region, Rebirth in the Gu Miao Tribe, the Far North, and the World-Ending Battle—ending with a tragic final showdown, while the epilogue hints at a new beginning.