Zhendan (Three Volumes)

Zhendan is Feng Ge's long fantasy series in an Eastern mode, following his Kunlun and Canghai, published by Changjiang Publishing House in 2012 in three volumes: The Hermit of Immortals, Child of the Stars, and The Dragon's Scale. The title comes from the Buddhist scriptures' name for ancient China, "Zhendan," and in the novel it is a fantasy realm running parallel to the mortal world, where Daoists, demon disciples, and alien races coexist. The story begins with Fang Fei, a boy in the modern city. After his parents die in a car accident, he goes to live with a great-aunt he has never met, in an old house out of place with its surroundings: a dragon bursts from an old painting, an old bicycle and a cave beneath an old locust tree hold secrets, a girl in ancient dress named Yan Mei suddenly appears, and a "hidden book" brings demon disciples hunting him. Fang Fei is thus drawn into the world of Zhendan; as a "Ferryman" he boards a smoking sky-chariot, is separated from Yan Mei in an accident, wanders into the Shandu forest, befriends the Jian Zhen family, stumbles into the Eight Non Academies, and trains alongside youths such as Yu Xiaoxiao. The series builds its world from the Four Great Dao Seeds (Azure Dragon of the East, Vermilion Bird of the South, White Tiger of the West, Black Tortoise of the North), the Nine Wars of the Daoists, and the prophecy of the "Five-Nine Gathering"; through Fang Fei's growth from a dull boy into a true Daoist, it writes of courage, choice, and self-knowledge, and of a youth's struggle under the hand of fate. The three volumes build steadily, the third, The Dragon's Scale, closing with the demon conflict in the academy and the Kuixing Award. Zhendan is also seen as Feng Ge's attempt to transplant wuxia technique into a fantasy frame.