Flying Sword Inquiry

Feijian Wendao (The Flying Sword’s Way) is a classic xianxia novel by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi, serialized on Qidian from September 2017 to its completion in 2019, totaling about two million Chinese characters. The story unfolds in a world of fox spirits, river gods, water monsters, and great demons, as well as those who seek immortality: cultivators open their dharma eyes to discern demons and ghosts, refine a flying sword to slay enemies a thousand li away, and use clairvoyance and clairaudience to survey the four directions. The protagonist, Qin Yun, is the second son of the Qin household in Guangling Commandery, Jiangzhou. At thirteen he receives the mantle of a sword immortal; at fifteen he leaves home to cultivate; at twenty-one he returns. Back home, he finds his elder brother Qin An barely breathing, traces the clues to the hidden hand Chu Yong, storms his underground lair alone, and destroys him. This in turn provokes the great water-god demon of Guangling Commandery, drawing demonic servants into mischief; with the help of Yi Xiao, a disciple of the Shenxiao Sect, and others, Qin Yun protects the city’s people. Thereafter he breaks through the Xiantian, Jindan, and further realms, takes the “Misty Rain Flying Sword” as his natal sword, hones his sword intent, ventures into immortal caves, enters the Jingyang Grotto, explores the ancient Heavenly Dragon Palace, and fights demons alongside Hong Jiu and others. He also creates his own sword-immortal methods for the primordial spirit, becomes a disciple of the Lingbao Dao Ancestor, listens to the Dao in the Biyou Palace for three thousand years to awaken his sword, and finally, amid the upheavals of the three realms, grows into a sword immortal at the pinnacle of the three realms. The plot is brisk and tightly paced, taking the “way of the sword” as its backbone and telling the coming-of-age legend of a youth who roams the world with his sword and sweeps away evil.