The Art of Sword and Blade

For a century, two great martial-world powers have stood opposed: the Jixia Sword Palace, between the sea and Mount Dai, and the White Tiger Saber Temple in the Heluo region. The feud between saber and sword has raged without end. Ten years ago, Ren Jiutian, master of the Nine Heavens Unmatched Forms, led a host of saber-wielders in the Battle of a Thousand Sabers and stormed the Jixia Sword Palace. Just as victory seemed assured, Gao Yutian, the Peerless Sword of the Ages, intervened and turned the tide. Both sides suffered devastating losses, and for ten years they kept a low profile. Unexpectedly, ten years later, the White Tiger Saber Temple sends the monk Nanwu to assassinate Gao Yutian with the Silent Nirvana technique. The protagonist, Gao Shenghan, known as the Jade-Washing Sword, receives a mysterious note in advance and hurries back from Jinling, hoping to stop the saber-and-sword duel on his own. Along the way, he faces obstruction not only from a host of saber-wielders but also from the Jixia Sword Palace. The White Tiger Saber Temple pretends to cooperate while secretly plotting, and although the Jixia Sword Palace publicly appoints him Grand Swordmaster, it too intends to use him as a weapon. Despite Gao Shenghan’s every effort, the two sides continue to attack one another. The White Tiger Saber Temple launches a surprise attack on the Penglai Sword Pavilion and the Laoshan Sword Pool; in response, the Jixia Sword Palace assaults the White Tiger Saber Temple... Can Gao Shenghan stop the duel? Can he and Mo Shanghua, the Golden-Inlaid Saber, become lovers at last? In its fight scenes, this work draws on Jin Yong while borrowing even more from Sima Ling’s approach: it moves beyond the realistic, placing less emphasis on clashing techniques and more on evocative, impressionistic description, making the most of what language can suggest beyond what it explicitly says. The story itself focuses on a tightly woven central plot and creates intense emotional conflicts as its characters face impossible choices against the backdrop of the saber-and-sword duel, highlighting their struggles and the helplessness of their fates.