Comprehending the Sword

Heaven and earth are the furnace, creation the smith; the sword-heart is his guide, cleaving through delusion. The young Li Qinghe emerges from the Sword Mound of Qingcheng, wielding the blunt-edged sword “Chenxi” and embarking on a solitary journey to comprehend the Dao through the sword. The demonic calamity of the Wei River, Kunlun's hidden valley, Penglai's broken sword, the shadowy prison of Beiming: across thousands of miles of mountains and seas, each becomes a place where he hones his sword and tests his heart. The Diamond Sutra shatters delusion, while the Dao De Jing unites him with nature. Amid flashes of swordlight, he glimpses the state of “abiding nowhere and being no-self.” From honing the edge to returning to the true, from manifesting sword qi to becoming one with the sword, every realm is tempered in blood and fire and nourished by insight. This world faces the calamity of Xiangliu's return, a conflict between Daoism and Buddhism, and a crisis in which the workings of heaven collapse. With a sword in hand, he cuts not through grudges, but through the veils of delusion. Using mountains and seas as his scroll and the sword as his brush, he writes an Eastern xianxia tale of enlightenment through the Dao.