Defying Fate

Defying Fate is an urban supernatural powers novel by web author Xia Xie, serialized on Qidian from February 15, 2016, and completed on September 27 of the same year. It runs 443 chapters, about 1.28 million Chinese characters, and is the author's ninth complete VIP work. The story takes place in a world called "Eternal Planet": here, confrontations reminiscent of superhero organizations versus mutant factions play out, and familiar skills and heroes from League of Legends and DOTA are woven in; even readers who have never played either game can follow the plot without difficulty. The protagonist, Cui Ming, has a drifting background: he spent his childhood in an acrobatic troupe, was sent to an orphanage at nine, and after fifteen was arrested and imprisoned for fraud. After his release, he joins an expedition team, becomes a cultivator by chance, and then joins a private detective agency as a "League Hunter." As the stage expands, he encounters more powerful figures and alien races, gradually uncovers the secrets behind the world, and ultimately embarks on his own legendary path. The work continues Xia Xie's signature style, with the emphasis not on the scale of fight scenes but on calculation, maneuvering, and reversals of situation between characters: the author describes its theme as "contest, maneuvering, valor or strategy," asking whether good and evil can be distinguished and what makes a true strongman. Both protagonist and antagonists are quite clever, each acting with their own bottom lines and styles, and the story advances through layer upon layer of schemes within schemes, offering both exhilaration and room for thought.