A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality — Wang Yu's novel

A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality adapts Fanren Xiuxian Zhuan (凡人修仙传), Wang Yu's (忘语) novel serialized on Qidian from 30 March 2007 to 23 September 2013. Across 2,446 chapters it follows Han Li, a village boy with no special talent who joins a small martial school, the Seven Mysteries (七玄门), and survives the ruthless world of cultivators thanks to his caution and a mysterious little green bottle.

Origins and publication

The novel ran against the prodigy heroes of its time. Han Li has no exceptional gift and no written destiny, and his main quality is knowing how to flee, hide and calculate. This realism made such an impression on readers that it gave its name to a subgenre: "fanren liu" (凡人流), the story of the "mortal" who rises through caution. The green bottle, which can speed up the growth of medicinal herbs, has become one of the most famous objects in Chinese online fiction.

The novel was published in 24 volumes by Taibai Wenyi, then reissued in 2025 in a revised 15-volume edition. Wang Yu later wrote a sequel, Fanren Xiuxian zhi Xianjie Pian (凡人修仙之仙界篇), following Han Li into the immortal world.