Jade Dynasty — Xiao Ding's novel Zhu Xian
At a glance8 volumes · completed
Jade Dynasty adapts Zhu Xian (诛仙), Xiao Ding's (萧鼎) novel published online from 2003 to 2007 on the Huanjian Shumeng site and then in 8 volumes. It tells the fate of Zhang Xiaofan, an ordinary boy who survives the massacre of his village, Caomiao, becomes a disciple of the Qingyun Sect and ends up torn between the righteous path and the demonic path. It is one of the founding novels of modern xianxia.
Origins and publication
Xiao Ding wrote Zhu Xian in the early 2000s, when Chinese online literature was still in its infancy. His ambition was to extend the legacy of Jin Yong and Gu Long by adding cultivation, artefacts and immortal sects. The novel revolves around one question: what is the righteous path? Its signature line, borrowed from the Tao Te Ching, "Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat the ten thousand beings as straw dogs", sums up its disillusioned view of sect morality.
The novel was published in China by Zhaohua and then Huashan Literature and Art, and in Taiwan. A revised version came out in 2009, and Xiao Ding published a sequel, Zhu Xian II, in 2012. Sina called it "the wuxia bible after Jin Yong".
How it differs from the donghua
Yuntu Animation's donghua, launched in August 2022, is very faithful to the novel's plot and melancholy tone. It covers Zhang Xiaofan's childhood, the Seven Peaks tournament and the meeting with Bi Yao. The more introspective novel spends more time on the hero's doubts, on the family of his master Tian Buyi on Dazhu Peak, and on the heart-wrenching love triangle with Lu Xueqi and Bi Yao. The animation makes artefact battles, barely sketched in the text, far more spectacular.
Reception and success
Zhu Xian is one of the first big hits of Chinese online literature and paved the way for hundreds of xianxia novels. It was adapted into an online game as early as 2007, then into a drama, a film and a donghua. For many Chinese readers born in the 1980s and 1990s, it is the novel that introduced them to the genre.
Trivia
- The title Zhu Xian means "slaying the immortals", after a legendary sword in the novel.
- The Zhu Xian online game, released in 2007, was one of the most popular Chinese MMORPGs of its time.
- Bi Yao, the heroine from the Ghost King Sect, is one of the most beloved female characters in xianxia.
- The novel's ending has long divided readers, who still argue over the fate of Zhang Xiaofan and his loves.
My take
Zhu Xian has aged in style but not at heart. It is a sad novel about a simple boy crushed by forces beyond him, and it keeps a sincerity many recent web novels have lost. The pacing is sometimes uneven and some passages feel dated. But Bi Yao's story remains one of the most poignant in the genre.
Who is it for?Readers who want to understand the roots of xianxia, and anyone who loves tragic stories.
— Spidermas, for Donghua Fan
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The authorXiao Ding 萧鼎The pioneer of online xianxia