''The Legend of Sword and Fairy'' (), also known as ''Sword and Fairy'' () or ''Chinese Paladin'', is a

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

video game series This is a list of video game franchises, organized alphabetically. All entries include multiple video games, not counting ports or altered re-releases. 0–9 *''1080° Snowboarding'' *''1942'' *'' 3D Ultra Minigolf'' *'' 3-D Ultra Pinball'' *'' ...

and

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...

centered on a series of nine

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...

/''

xianxia ''Xianxia'' ( zh, t=, s=仙侠, p=xiānxiá, l=immortal heroes, first=t) is a genre of Chinese fantasy heavily inspired by Chinese mythology and influenced by philosophies of Taoism, Chan Buddhism, Confucianism, Chinese martial arts, traditiona ...

''-themed

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

computer game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, mo ...

s created by Yao Zhuangxian. The eponymous first game in the series is released for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

CLI CLI may refer to: Computing * Call Level Interface, an SQL database management API * Command-line interface, of a computer program * Command-line interpreter or command language interpreter; see List of command-line interpreters * CLI (x86 instruc ...

in 1995 by the "Crazy Boyz" team (狂徒創作群) of the

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese game developing and

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

company

Softstar Entertainment Softstar Entertainment Inc. (), abbreviated as Softstar (), is a Taiwanese video game developer and publisher based in Zhonghe District, New Taipei, with Mainland subsidiary branches in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xiamen. Softstar is famous among ...

(大宇資訊). It is one of the so-called "Twin Swords of Softstar" (大宇雙劍) along with the sister ''

Xuan-Yuan Sword ''Xuan-Yuan Sword'' (, literally "Sword of the Xuan-Yuan") is a long-running historical fantasy role-playing video game series developed for personal computers by the DOMO Studio (DOMO小組/多魔小組) of the Taiwanese game developer Softstar ...

'' series, and has been widely regarded as one of the (if not ''the'') most iconic Chinese RPG series ever made. The original ''Sword and Fairy'' game became both a commercial and critical success across

Greater China In ethnogeography, "Greater China" is a loosely-defined term that refers to the region sharing cultural and economic ties with the Chinese people, often used by international enterprises or organisations in unofficial usage. The notion contains ...

, dominating the "Favourite Singleplayer PC Game" list for ten years, and multiple

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

s and

sidequel A spinoff or spin-off is any narrative work derived from an already existing work that focuses on different aspects from the original work. History One of the earliest spin-offs of the modern media era, if not the first, happened in 1941 when t ...

s (nearly all developed by Softstar's

Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

subsidiaries) have been spawned due to its unprecedented popularity. The game franchise itself has since branched into other

video game genre A video game genre is an informal classification of a video game based on how it is played rather than Computer graphics, visual or narrative elements. This is independent of setting (fiction), setting, unlike works of fiction that are expressed ...

s such as

online game An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile devices, a ...

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

business simulation Business simulation or corporate simulation is business simulations used for training, education or analysis. It can be scenario-based or numeric-based. Most business simulations are used for business acumen training and development. Learning ...

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

and digital card games. Additionally, there are numerous

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

s such as

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

stage production Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicat ...

audio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

s and

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s adapted from the main games, as well as associated

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted ...

artbook Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that engage with and transform the form of a book. Some are mass-produced with multiple editions, some are published in small editions, while others are produced as one-of-a-kind ob ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a Table (furniture), table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, Tabletop role-playing game, tabletop role-playing games, or ti ...

s, digital skins and

collectible A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

merchandises such as

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other t ...

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...

s and

plush doll A stuffed toy is a toy with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, lovies and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys ...

Titles

Video games

Main series

* ''

The Legend of Sword and Fairy ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy'' (), also known as ''Sword and Fairy'' () or ''Chinese Paladin'', is a Chinese language fantasy video game series and media franchise centered on a series of nine Chinese mythology/'' xianxia''-themed adventure ...

'' (1995) —

-based, later re-released for

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...

in 1997 and for

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

in 1999 ** '' New Legend of Sword and Fairy'' (2001) — CGI-rerendered remake of the Windows 95 version ** ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy Remake'' (planned) * '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2'' (2003) * '' Chinese Paladin 3'' (2003) * '' Chinese Paladin 3 Gaiden: Wenqing Pian'' (2004) * '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4'' (2007) ** ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4 Remake'' (upcoming) * '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5'' (2011) * '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5 Prequel'' (2013) * '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 6'' (2015) * ''

The Legend of Sword and Fairy 7 ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 7''), also known as ''Sword and Fairy 7'' or ''Chinese Paladin 7'', is a ''xianxia''/''shenmo''-themed fantasy action-adventure role-playing video game developed by Softstar Entertainment (Beijing) and China Mobile ...

'' (2021) — 3D

action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action ...

based on the

Unreal Engine 4 Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is the fourth version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. UE4 began development in 2003 and was released in March 2014, with the first game using UE4 being released in April 2014. UE4 introduced support for Physically ...

** ''Sword and Fairy: Together Forever'' (2022) — English/

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

- localized version released on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

** ''Dreamlike World'' (2023) — Standalone DLC

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

, which completes the plot gap between the original ending and post-credit scene

Spin-off games

* ''Paladin's Inn'' (2001) —

Business simulation Business simulation or corporate simulation is business simulations used for training, education or analysis. It can be scenario-based or numeric-based. Most business simulations are used for business acumen training and development. Learning ...

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

* ''Chinese Paladin Online'' (2009) —

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

* ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5: Flourishing Sword in the Red Maple Leaves'' (2012) —

Action RPG An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a video game genre that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing game genres. Definition Action role-playing games emphasize real-time combat whe ...

* ''New Legend of Sword and Fairy: Online'' (2013) —

* ''Paladin's Inn SNS'' (2013) — Business simulation

browser game A browser game is a video game that is played on the internet using a web browser. They are sometimes referred to more specifically by their format, such as Flash games or HTML5 games. They are generally free-to-play and can be either single-pl ...

* ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy'' (2014) —

Gachapon , also called , is a kind of vending machine-dispensed capsule toy manufactured and sold by Bandai. It originated in the 1960s and is popular in Japan. The word , a Bandai trademark, is onomatopoeic from two sounds, ''gasha'' (or ''gacha'') f ...

mobile game * ''New The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3D Remake'' (2015) — Mobile game * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy Online'' (2015) — Mobile game * ''Xianjian Inn'' (2015) — Mobile game * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5 Prequel Mobile'' (2015) — MMORPG mobile game * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3D Turn-based'' (2016) — Mobile game * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy: Mirror of Illusion'' (2017) — ARPG mobile game for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and Android devices * ''Legend of Sword VR'' (TBA) —

Virtual reality game A virtual reality game or VR game is a video game played on virtual reality (VR) hardware. Most VR games are based on player Immersion (virtual reality), immersion, typically through a virtual reality headset, head-mounted display unit or headset ...

* ''Paladin's Inn 2'' or ''Sword and Fairy Inn 2'' (2022) —

Role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

business simulation game Business simulation games, also known as tycoon games or economic simulation games,< ...

* ''Sword and Fairy World'' (TBA, in

beta-testing Software testing is the act of checking whether software satisfies expectations. Software testing can provide objective, independent information about the quality of software and the risk of its failure to a user or sponsor. Software testing ...

) —

Open-world In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda'' (1986), ''Grand ...

massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

Other media

Tabletop games

* ''Chinese Paladin: Xiao Yao You'' (2012) —

Card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

Novels

* ''Xianjian Qixia Zhuan / The Legend of Sword and Fairy'' — A series of novels written by Guan Pingchao based on each of the main games

Comicbooks

* ''Shui Ling Jie'' (水灵劫) — prequel to ''

'' and

to '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3 Gaiden'' * ''Yi Xiang Feng'' (忆相逢) — sidequel to '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2'' * ''Qing He'' (青荷) — spin-off

origin story In fiction, an origin story is an account or backstory revealing how a character or group of people become a protagonist or antagonist. In American comic books, it also refers to how characters gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances ...

to '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5'' * ''Zhao Hong Zhuang'' (照红妆) —

to '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 6'' * ''Shaonian Hengdaozhong'' (少年衡道众) — prequel to ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 6'' * ''Hengdaozhong Qianzhuan'' (衡道众前传) — prequel to ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 6'' * ''Suo Yao'' (锁妖) — sidequel to '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3'' * ''Yan Gui Lai'' (燕归来) — sequel to '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5 Prequel'' * ''Xi Jiang Yue'' (西江月) — sequel to '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4'' * ''Meng Qian Nian'' (梦千年) — sequel to ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4'' * ''Xi Feng'' (昔风) — prequel/origin story to ''

Television series

* '' Chinese Paladin'' (仙剑奇侠传, 2005) — starring

Hu Ge Hu Ge ( zh, c=胡歌, born 20 September 1982), also known as Hugh Hu or Hugo Hu, is a Chinese actor and singer. He rose to fame for his role as Li Xiaoyao in '' Chinese Paladin'' (2005), and has since starred in a succession of popular televi ...

Liu Yifei Liu Yifei (; born August 25, 1987) is a Chinese-born American actress. She has appeared multiple times on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list and was named one of the New Four Dan actresses of China by Tencent Entertainment in 2009. She is k ...

Ady An Ady An Yi-xuan (; born on 29 September 1980), is a Taiwanese actress and singer. She is known for TV dramas ''The Outsiders'' (2004), '' Chinese Paladin'' (2005), and ''Autumn's Concerto'' (2009). Career An was born into a wealthy family in ...

and

Esther Liu Esther Liu (born 8 August 1988) is a Taiwanese actress, singer and television host. Liu began her career at the age of 14 as part of the girl group Sweety with Joanne Tseng. In 2003, Liu made her acting debut in the television series ''Westsi ...

, adaptation of '' Sword and Fairy 1'' by Tangren * '' Chinese Paladin 3'' (仙剑奇侠传三, 2009) — starring

Yang Mi Yang Mi ( zh, s= 杨幂, t=, p=, born 12 September 1986), also known as Mini Yang, is a Chinese actress and singer. She began her career as a child actress in '' Tang Ming Huang'' (1990) and transitioned to adult roles in the 2000s, gaining recogni ...

Cecilia Liu Liu Shishi ( zh, c=刘诗诗, p=Liú Shīshī; born 10 March 1987), also known as Cecilia Liu, is a Chinese actress best known for portraying Long Kui in the fantasy action drama '' Chinese Paladin 3'' (2009) and Ruoxi in the Chinese time-trav ...

Tiffany Tang Tang Yan ( zh, c=唐嫣, p=Táng Yān, born 6 December 1983), also known as Tiffany Tang, is a Chinese actress and singer. She is known for her roles in the television series '' Chinese Paladin 3'' (2009), '' My Daughters'' (2011), '' Perfect Coupl ...

and

Wallace Huo Wallace Huo Chien-hwa (, born 26 December 1979) is a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese actor and singer. After gaining popularity for the Taiwanese idol drama ''At Dolphin Bay'' (2003), he shifted his career to mainland China and became known for his rol ...

, adaptation of '' Sword and Fairy 3'' by Tangren * '' Chinese Paladin 5'' (仙剑云之凡, 2016) — starring Elvis Han,

Guli Nazha Guli may refer to: Places * Guli, Bangladesh, a village * Guli, Ingushetia, village * Guli, West Azerbaijan, a village * Guli Surkh, a town in north-western Tajikistan * Guli, Guangxi, a town in south-eastern China, birthplace of Dong Xi (writer ...

Joe Cheng Joseph Cheng, () (born 19 June 1982) is a Taiwanese model, actor and singer. Although he started his career as a model, Cheng is well known for his role as Jiang Zhishu in Taiwanese drama serial version of Japanese manga ''Itazura Na Kiss'', ''I ...

and Yang Caiqi, adaptation of '' Sword and Fairy 5'' by Tangren

Web streaming series

* ''Xianjian Inn'' (仙剑客栈, 2015) — starring

Leo Wu Wu Lei (, born December 26, 1999), also known as Leo Wu, is a Chinese actor. He started appearing in commercials at the age of three. In 2007, he made his acting debut as Nezha in the series ''The Legend and the Hero''. He is known for his sup ...

, Sun Xuening, Xu Yue, Tong Keke and

Kingdom Yuen Kingdom Yuen King-dan (苑瓊丹; born 11 September 1963) is a Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a te ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

adapted from the spin-off business simulation game by

Youku Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video streaming service and former video sharing website based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Youku has its headquart ...

* ''Immortal Sword Storm'' (仙剑风云, 2022) — starring Benny Chan and Raquel Xu, web film by

iQiyi iQIYI (, pronounced in English as ), formerly Qiyi (), is a Chinese subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Baidu. Headquartered in Beijing, iQIYI primarily produces and distributes films and television series. i ...

* ''Sword and Fairy 4'' (仙剑四, 2024) — starring Chen Zheyuan,

Ju Jingyi Ju Jingyi (; born 18 June 1994) is a Chinese singer, dancer, and actress. She is best known as a former member of the Chinese idol girl group SNH48. As a member of SNH48, during the annual General Elections, she was elected as No.4 (2014), No ...

, adapted from '' Sword and Fairy 4'' by

* ''Sword and Fairy'' (祈今朝, 2024) — starring

Xu Kai Xu Kai (, born 5 March 1995), also known by his nickname "Soso", is a Chinese actor and model. He is known for his roles in television series ''Story of Yanxi Palace'', ''The Legends (TV series), The Legends'', ''Arsenal Military Academy, Arsenal ...

, Esther Yu, adapted from '' Sword and Fairy 6'' by

Tencent Video Tencent Video ( zh, s=腾讯视频, p=Téngxùn Shìpín, also called WeTV outside of China) is a Chinese video streaming website owned by Tencent, launched in April 2011. As of October 2022, Tencent Video has 120 million paid subscribers, maki ...

/ WeTV * ''Paladin Legend'' (又见逍遥, 2024), also billed as ''Sword and Fairy'' (仙剑) — starring He Yu, Yang Yutong and Xu Hao,

original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

by Tencent Penguin Pictures, re-adaptation of '' Sword and Fairy 1''

streamed Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downloadin ...

on Tencent Video/WeTV * ''Yiru: A Sword and Fairy Story'' (仙剑奇侠传二外传·忆如传, in production) — Web film adaptation of the comic ''Yi Xiang Feng'' by

Softstar Softstar Entertainment Inc. (), abbreviated as Softstar (), is a Taiwanese video game developer and publisher based in Zhonghe District, New Taipei, with Mainland subsidiary branches in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xiamen. Softstar is famous among ...

and CMGE

Stage play

* ''Legend of Sword'' (2015) * ''Legend of Sword III'' (2016)

Development history

Crazy Boys era (1995–2003)

's Crazy Boys Production Group (狂徒製作群) was formed in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

under game designer Yao Zhuangxian in 1993. The team was tasked with developing another fantasy RPG game after the success of the first two ''

'' games, and released ''

'' for

in July 1995, then known as ''Chinese Paladin'' or simply as "PAL" due to its

file directory In computing, a directory is a file system cataloging structure that contains references to other computer files, and possibly other directories. On many computers, directories are known as folders or drawers, analogous to a workbench or the t ...

name. In the first month following the game's release in Taiwan, ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy'' sold over 100,000 copies, and sales reached 350,000 copies a month after the game's release in

. The game's overall sales totaled about two million copies, but as many as 20 million copies may be in circulation due to

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

(mainly in the form of illegally copied

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

s and

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products, such as video game co ...

CDs). It won the "Best Role Playing Game" award from the magazine ''CEM STAR'' and the Golden Bag Game Award (遊戯類金袋奖) from ''KING TITLE'', was also on the top of the Best PC Game List of the ''New Gaming Era'' (新遊戯時代) magazine for 14 consecutive months until October 1996, and topped the "My Favourite Singleplayer PC Game" voter list in the ''PopSoft'' (大众软件) magazine for ten years. The game was re-released for

in August 1997, and for

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...

as the "98 Affection Edition" (98柔情版) in October 1997. It was translated into

and released for

in March 1999, but failed to achieve the same success as it did in

. In July 2001, a re-rendered edition using ''Xuan Yuan Sword 3''s 2D

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

named ''New Legend of Sword and Fairy'' was released for

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

. At the same time, Softstar was also working on a sequel by Crazy Boys, but many members of the Crazy Boys including project leader Tsieh Chung-hui (謝崇輝) left the company halfway into development. Yao Zhuangxian, who was running Softstar's Shanghai subsidiary at the time, was urgently called back to Taiwan to salvage the project within a very tight deadline. The sequel game, '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2'', was completed by the combined effort of the remaining Crazy Boys and Softstar's DOMO Team (who were mainly responsible for the ''Xuan Yuan Sword'' series) and released in January 2003, but the Crazy Boys Team ceased to exist afterwards.

Softstar Shanghai era (2003–2007)

Softstar's subsidiary at

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, which had then only worked on the ''Han Dynasty and Rome'' (汉朝与罗马)

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, tur ...

game, was also pitching a second game for ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy'' series, but Yao Zhuangxian's idea was to have a story unrelated to the first game. When ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2'' was given to the Crazy Boys to develop, Softstar Shanghai's project was also greenlighted, and '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3'', the first of the series to use 3D character rendering was released in July 2004. After the game achieved good market reception, Softstar Shanghai then started planning the fourth game of the series. However, to raise funding, Softstar soon released a

game named '' Wenqing Pian'' in August 2004 using the same indigenous GameBox engine. '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4'', the fourth main title of the series and the first to use full 3D rendering (thanks to the use of

RenderWare RenderWare is a video game engine developed by British game developer Criterion Software. Overview Released in 1993, RenderWare was a 3D API and graphics rendering engine used in video games, Active Worlds, and some VRML browsers. RenderWar ...

engine), was released in August 2007. The game was a critical success and widely regarded as the best of the series after

the first game ''The First Game'' is a painting by Arnold Friberg, and was commissioned in 1968 by Chevrolet Motor Division as one of four paintings to commemorate the then-upcoming centennial celebration of college football in the United States. It depicts ...

, but Softstar soon disbanded the Shanghai subsidiary, whose

intellectual properties Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

and business services were all handed over to Softstar Beijing. Some members of Softstar Shanghai went on to establish another company, Aurogon Shanghai (上海烛龙), who created the ''

GuJian ''GuJian'' ( zh, s=古剑奇谭琴心剑魄今何在, t=古劍奇譚琴心劍魄今何在, p=Gǔjiàn Qítán Qínxīn Jiànpò Jīn Hézài, l=The tale of ancient swords: the story of a guqin and an ancient sword) is a 3D role-playing video ...

'' series. Softstar Shanghai would be re-established in 2015, but it has since only been involved in developing

s until it was restructured in 2024.

Softstar Beijing era (2007–2024)

After the disbanding of Softstar Shanghai, Softstar's

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

subsidiary, which at that time were mainly responsible for the

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit refers to a film, television series, music release, video game or other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release, but eventually became a surprise success. A sleeper hit may have ...

spin-off

business simulation game Business simulation games, also known as tycoon games or economic simulation games,< ...

''Paladin's Inn'' and the '' Richman'' digital board game series, took up the mantle and started developing '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5'' in 2009, releasing it in July 2011. The game is the first in the series to have

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-sc ...

for the dialogues (''Sword and Fairy 4'' also has voice acting but not with its initial release; the voices were added years later), but it was criticized for the lack of innovative plot, stiff character rendering and poor

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

s. The reception was somewhat improved with the release of two DLC

s three months later, named ''Evening Rain'' (暮雨今夕) and ''Dreamlike Past'' (前塵若夢). At the same time, ''Chinese Paladin Online'', an

jointly developed with Softstar Taipei, was released across Greater China, but the game was poorly received due to dispute with the Mainland service provider 9You (久游网) and the large amount of early gameplay bugs the players encountered. In January 2013, '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5 Prequel'' was released, made with the same RenderWare 3.7 engine as its predecessor, and was a much better critical success. '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 6'' was released in July 2015. Although many praised the intricate

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the connected story elements of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 ...

s and excellent

, the game was panned by game reviewers for having obsolete graphics (despite the

Unity 3D Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a MacOS, Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a ...

engine) and combat design, as well as severe

optimization Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criteria, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfiel ...

issue, with one

benchmark Benchmark may refer to: Business and economics * Benchmarking, evaluating performance within organizations * Benchmark price * Benchmark (crude oil), oil-specific practices Science and technology * Experimental benchmarking, the act of defining a ...

even struggling to maintain consistent

frame rate Frame rate, most commonly expressed in frame/s, or FPS, is typically the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (Film frame, frames) are captured or displayed. This definition applies to film and video cameras, computer animation, and moti ...

s with a then-top-of-the-line Core i7 5960X and quad-linked GTX Titan X setup, causing the fans to mockingly nickname the game "Titanfall". The optimization problem was eventually fixed with a

software patch Software consists of computer programs that instruct the execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital computers in the mid-20th cen ...

. The game is also the first of the series to receive

language localization Language localisation (or language localization) is the process of adapting a product's translation to a specific country or region. It is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation (for specific countries ...

, and the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

version was released on

as ''Chinese Paladin: Sword and Fairy 6'' in late 2017 and on

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

in April 2019, although its reviews had been rather mixed, and the translation quality was criticized as being very bad. On April 25, 2017, Softstar announced that it was teaming up with

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

to develop a new game, and Softstar Beijing formally announced the development of ''

'' on May 23. Yao Zhuangxian also revealed plans to introduce ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 6'' to the

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

platform, as well as expressing intention to

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

early games of the series. On April 25, 2018, Softstar revealed the new game would be using the

and feature ray-tracing and

deep learning super sampling Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) is a suite of Real-time computing, real-time deep learning image enhancement and Image scaling, upscaling technologies developed by Nvidia that are available in a number of video games. The goal of these technol ...

(DLSS) with development support from

Nvidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

. A playable demo was released on January 15, 2021, and the game was formally released on October 15. with the Steam version released a week later on October 22. In May 2022, Game Source Entertainment (GSE) and EastAsiaSoft announced the game will be released for PS4 and

PS5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...

under the name '' Sword and Fairy: Together Forever'', and the

version was released on August 4. On Valentines Day February 14, 2023, the first DLC expansion pack of ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 7'', named ''Dreamlike World'' (人间如梦), was released on Steam and CubeGame.

CMGE era (2024–present)

In April 2018, Softstar Entertainment announced that the

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

-based game operating company China Mobile Games & Entertainment Group (CMGE) will purchase its Beijing subsidiary. In May, CMGE purchased 51% of Softstar Beijing at the share price of 213 million yuan. In August 5, 2021, CMGE purchased the remaining 49% share at the price of

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. It is divided into 100 cents. Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong an ...

641.84 million, thus owning the entirety of the ''Sword and Fairy''

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

within

. In May 2023, shortly after the release of the ''Dreamlike World'' DLC and the

beta test The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...

ing announcement of the ''Sword and Fairy World'' (仙剑世界)

open-world In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda'' (1986), ''Grand ...

, rumors started circulating around the Internet and

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

that Softstar Beijing is being disbanded by CMGE and there will no longer be any more single-player games for the franchise. CMGE then addressed the rumors saying that there had been some "personnel adjustments" within the company, but the progress of the current development projects would not be affected. , Softstar Beijing's official website (now renamed Soft Starlight) is still operational. On September 11, 2024, Softstar announced that it had sold all remaining intellectual property shares of the ''Sword and Fairy'' franchise to SuperNova Overseas Limited, a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of CMGE, for a total of nearly NT$200 million (about 44.3 million yuan), thus making CMGE the whole owner of the franchise worldwide. During a ''Sword and Fairy World'' fans' gathering on December 8, Yao Zhuangxian revealed that the company is now in the process of deciding whether the next project be a remake of the first game of the franchise or a completely new instalment, stating that remaking the first game "would certainly be the easier option" but story scripts of potential new instalments have been in drafting since the beginning of the 2024. On December 18, an official

promotional video In video production, a promotional video is marketing or advertising: Arts, media and entertainment * Promotional recording, an audio or video recording distributed to publicize a recording * Trailer (promotion), a commercial advertisement for a ...

was released for ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4 Remake'', with announcement that it will be made with

Unreal Engine 5 Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) is the latest version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. It was revealed in May 2020 and officially released in April 2022. Unreal Engine 5 includes multiple upgrades and new features, including Nanite, a system that ...

by the restructured Shanghai subsidiary UP Software (a

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, ph ...

of "Shanghai Softstar").

Characters

World setting

Three Races

After the creation giant

Pangu Pangu or Pan Gu (also sometimes spelled Peng Gu and P’an-ku) ( zh, t=盤古, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology and in Taoism. According to legend, Pangu separated heaven and earth, and his body later became ge ...

(盤古) exhausted himself separating the primordial

cosmic egg ''Cosmic Egg'' is the second studio album by Australian rock band Wolfmother, released on 23 October 2009. It is the first album by the second lineup of the band, featuring vocalist, songwriter and lead guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and ...

into

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

and

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, his body jewels separated to give rise to the

Three Sovereigns According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors () were a series of sage Chinese emperors, and the first Emperor of China, Emperors of China. Today, they are considered culture heroe ...

: * Pangu's

essence Essence () has various meanings and uses for different thinkers and in different contexts. It is used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property (philosophy), property or set of properties or attributes that make an entity the ...

becoming

Fuxi Fuxi or Fu Hsi ( zh, c=伏羲) is a culture hero in Chinese mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking, as well as the Cangjie syste ...

(伏羲), who fused his own essence with the fruits of the Divine Tree to create

Deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

. Deities are immortal, powerful and thus arrogant, but are also costly to create as the Divine Tree is extremely slow to bear fruits. If the deities bear offsprings among themselves, the parents will perish after their essence are siphoned by the child. Because of this, Fuxi strictly forbids

procreation Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: asexual and sexual. In asexual reprod ...

among deities, as it would cause their population to dwindle. * Pangu's

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

becoming

Shennong Shennong ( zh, c=神農, p=Shénnóng), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born , was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. H ...

(神農), who created the Nine Springs that channel energy across the universe and used his own energy to nurture and vitalise all types of

sentient Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations. It may not necessarily imply higher cognitive functions such as awareness, reasoning, or complex thought processes. Some writers define sentience exclusively as the capacity for ''v ...

lifeforms, thus creating the

Beast Beast most often refers to: * Animal, a multicellular, eukaryotic organism in the biological kingdom Animalia * The Beast (Revelation), one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation * Monster, a type of creature found in fiction, folklo ...

-kinds. Beasts are tough, prolific and diverse, but they lack

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

and easily succumb to

instinct Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing innate (inborn) elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a very short to me ...

ual impulses and violence. * Pangu's spirit becoming

Nüwa Nüwa, also read Nügua, is a mother goddess, culture hero, and/or member of the Three Sovereigns of Chinese mythology. She is a goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. She is credited with creating humani ...

(女媧), who moulded

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

into shapes and infused them with shares of her own spirit to create

Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

ity. Humans are far more fragile physically than deities and beasts, and are less prolific than beasts, but are gifted with

sapience Wisdom, also known as sapience, is the ability to apply knowledge, experience, and good judgment to navigate life’s complexities. It is often associated with insight, discernment, and ethics in decision-making. Throughout history, wisdom ha ...

passion Passion, the Passion or the Passions may refer to: Emotion * Passion (emotion), a very strong feeling about a person or thing * Passions (philosophy), emotional states as used in philosophical discussions * Stoic passions, various forms of emotio ...

and

creativity Creativity is the ability to form novel and valuable Idea, ideas or works using one's imagination. Products of creativity may be intangible (e.g. an idea, scientific theory, Literature, literary work, musical composition, or joke), or a physica ...

. Pangu's heart remained suspended between Heaven and Earth, forming the link between the two realm. It fused with the energy flow of the universe and gave rise to the Divine Tree, providing it with sustenance. Deities live in the

ethereal Ethereal may refer to: * Ethereal (horse), a horse that won Australia's Caulfield Cup as well as Melbourne Cup in 2001 * Ethereal (musician), American rapper and record producer * Ethereal wave, or simply ethereal, a subgenre of dark wave music * W ...

Heaven above, leaving the humans and beasts to co-inhabit the physical Earth below. As they prosper in numbers, humans and beasts eventually clashed competing over land and resources. After Shennong died of unknown causes, an intelligent beast leader

Chiyou Chiyou () is a mythological being that appears in Chinese mythology. He was a tribal leader of the Nine Li tribe () in ancient China. He is best known as a king who lost against the future Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Empero ...

(蚩尤) appeared and waged war upon the humans, leading his physically and numerically superior beast armies to many victories. Seeing her creations outnumbered and in peril, Nüwa faked Fuxi's decree and recruited the deity warriors to intervene and aid the humans, turning the tide against Chiyou. Before being slain in battle, Chiyou slashed open a

portal Portal may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), a series of video games developed by Valve ** ''Portal'' (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series ** '' Portal 2'', the 2011 sequel ** '' Portal Stori ...

into another realm, allowing some of his loyalist warriors to escape annihilation. These surviving beast armies eventually thrived in that realm and became

Demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

-kinds, while those left on Earth became various feral monsters. Fuxi, as the Emperor of Heaven, exploited the victories over Chiyou to create a reign of supremacy over the humans as slaves, but the humans eventually started to defy and rise against the corrupt and oppressive deity rule. Frustrated over the human rebellions, Fuxi order Nüwa to exterminate humanity, but Nüwa instead chose to leave Heaven in defence of the humans on Earth. This enraged Fuxi, who had Nüwa's Sovereign title removed from the records of pantheon and had her name replaced with Xuan Yuan (軒轅), a deity general who led the charge against Chiyou. When Fuxi unleashed calamities upon Earth, Nüwa exhausted herself mending the broken sky, sacrificing her life to save the humans she created and loved. She left behind a single lineage of female

demigod A demigod is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the "divine spark" (divine illumination). An immortality, immor ...

descendants, whose

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

s do not enter transmigration after death and instead are retained inside a Supreme Spirit Pearl (聖靈珠) that can be used to command all Five Elements. Although each generation of Nüwa's descendants had also protected humanity against apocalypse, usually at the cost of their lives, the legacy of Nüwa as the guardian

mother goddess A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, ...

has ironically been largely forgotten by humans, except in some

Miao Miao may refer to: * Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China * Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages * Miao (Unicode ...

legends. The deities, demons and humans eventually came to a truce, and a pact was made that no realm should intrude into the affairs of another, and anyone who declares war first would become the

public enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

of all. Shennong's Nine Springs (神農九泉) were also divided among the Three Races — the deities own Zhaodan Spring (照膽泉) and Chunzi Spring (春滋泉), the demons owns Yanbo Spring (炎波泉), and the much more vibrant human world have Hansui Spring (寒髓泉), Rehai Spring (熱海泉), Wugou Spring (無垢泉), Wuhun Spring (霧魂泉), Duzhang Spring (毒瘴泉) and Longtan Spring (龍潭泉).

Six Realms

The Heaven that deities inhabit is an ethereal dimension that resides above all other realms, and time is also slower there, allowing great longevity. Only deities inhabit this realm, making it the Deity Realm (神界). Both

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

and powerful force fields prevent other beings from ascending and entering it, and all who made it to the Heaven's gates are vetted by warrior deities that guard the entrance. The Demon Realm (魔界), also known as the ''Lands of Nine Nether'' (九幽之地), is a dark, harsh and warring

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

where might makes right. Having access to only one of the Nine Springs, the demons fight in factions over territory and resources, and seven major tribes reign supreme, namely the

Yaksha The Yakshas (, , ) in Mythology are a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Bud ...

(夜叉),

Rakshasa Rākshasa (, , ; ; "preservers") are a race of usually malevolent beings prominently featured in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Folk Islam. They reside on Earth but possess supernatural powers, which they usually use for evil acts such as ...

(羅剎),

Asura Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the wor ...

(修羅),

Garuda Garuda (; ; Vedic Sanskrit: , ) is a Hindu deity who is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. This divine creature is mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain faiths. Garuda is also the half-brother of the D ...

(迦樓羅),

Gandharva A ''gandharva'' () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they ...

(乾達婆), Dragonoids (龍眾) and

Kinnara A kinnara (Sanskrit: Kiṃnara) is a creature from Hindu and Buddhist mythology. They are described as part human and part bird, and have a strong association with music and love. Believed to come from the Himalayas, they often watch ove ...

(緊那羅). Later on an eighth group named Heavenly Demons (天魔), consisting of deity rebels who exiled themselves out of Heaven, established themselves in the realm of the demons, completing the Eight Demonic Tribes (魔界八部眾). The material world that humanity and feral beasts inhabit are far more expanse and resourceful, but are also bound by the rules of

physical law Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. The term ''law'' has diverse usage in many cases (approximate, accurate, broad, or narrow) ...

s. As a result, the realm of humanity and beasts has diverse regions that accumulate significant amount of both ethereal and foul energy, and are subjected to seasons and cycles of fertility and natural disasters. Creatures inhabiting this realm, humans and beasts alike, feed on natural biomass and energy to survive, and some can even nurture power far beyond their innate physicality depending on one's own aptitude, talent and luck. However, since the passing of Chiyou, the beasts no longer have the intelligence and organisation needed to challenge the humans, allowing the humans to hunt and catch them at will. This human-dominated world is therefore referred to as the Human Realm (人界). There is an alternate realm parallel to the human world, where the soul of deceased humans and beasts enter as

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

s awaiting transmigration. This is the Ghost Realm (鬼界), which access to the Hansui Spring and was initially governed by deities appointed by Fuxi, until the truce of the Three Races severed any further business with Heaven. The entrance to this realm is located at Fengdu, which leads to its capital

Youdu Youdu () in Chinese mythology is the capital of Hell, or Diyu. Among the various other geographic features believed of Diyu, the capital city has been thought to be named Youdu. It is generally conceived as being similar to a typical Chinese capi ...

(幽都), ruled by

Yanluo Wang In Chinese culture and religion, Yanluo Wang (simplified Chinese: 阎罗王; traditional Chinese: 閻羅王; pinyin: ''Yánluó Wáng'') is the god of death and the ruler of Diyu, overseeing the "Ten Kings of Hell" in its capital of Youdu. Th ...

and his court of Underworld bureaucrats. Outside Youdu there are lawless lands beyond the control of even Yanluo Wang, and some of the ghosts gang up to autonomously rule their own clans. Additionally, some rare talented humans have managed to achieve

longevity Longevity may refer to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is defined Statistics, statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth ...

eternal youth Eternal youth is the concept of human physical immortality free of ageing. The youth referred to is usually meant to be in contrast to the depredations of aging, rather than a specific age of the human lifespan. Eternal youth is common in mytho ...

and even

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...

through

self-cultivation Self-cultivation or personal cultivation () is the development of one's mind or capacities through one's own efforts. Self-cultivation is the cultivation, integration, and coordination of mind and body. Although self-cultivation may be practice ...

and spiritual training, and thus become

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

s. Vast majority of these immortal humans still live on Earth, usually dwelling in remote wilderness that accrete significant amount of clean '' qi'' known as

grotto-heavens Grotto-heavens () or Dongtian are a type of sacred Taoist site. Grotto-heavens are usually caves, grottoes, mountain hollows, or other underground spaces. In the Tang dynasty, immortals were thought to have lived in certain immortal cave-heav ...

, and are commonly called "Earthly saints" (地仙). A very small proportion of saints have obtained transcendence and left their mortal body behind, migrating to an ethereal realm halfway between Heaven and Earth known as the Saint Realm (仙界). The process that these transcendent immortals, known as the "Heavenly saints" (天仙), leave the mortal realm is called "feathering flight" (羽化飛升). Similarly, gifted or fortunate beasts, plants and even

inanimate objects can also gain enlightenment and long life, assuming

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...

shape. Those that have absorbed more ethereal energy typically become more human-like

fairies A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

and sprites, and those taking more foul energy often looked more hideous and become mythic monsters. Monsters also tend to gather together in isolated pockets of shady places on Earth, and sometimes warping in and out of a hidden dimension. These zones where monsters inhabit, collectively called the Monster Realm (妖界), are closely related to the realm of humans, but most humans or beast can neither see it or access it These six realms are separated by powerful field barriers, and only in certain places at specific time under the right conditions can portals be opened, allowing practitioners with substantial

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

al powers and skills to travel between the different realms. The portal junction between the Deity, Demon and Human Realms, in particular, is known as the God-Demon Well (神魔之井), which is heavily guarded from all sides by the Three Races to prevent incursion into each realm.

Five Elements

The Five Elements refers to natural elements that are essentially for the magics of the series, namely: *

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

, symbolized by

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

, suppresses earth, *

Water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

, symbolized by

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

, suppresses fire, *

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

, symbolized by

purple Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is ...

, suppresses water, *

Wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

, symbolized by

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

, suppresses thunder, and *

, symbolized by

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

, suppresses wind. After Nüwa repaired the broken sky, five of the rocks she didn't use ended up absorbing each of the elements, which turned the rocks into the Five Spirit Pearls (五灵珠). These Spirit Pearls each can grant the owner vitality and great power in combat, but only Nüwa's direct descendants can use them to their full effects and manipulate nature, even from a different realm.

Immortality cultivation

There are humans who admire the longivity of deities and aspire to escape the cyclical

kama ''Kama'' (Sanskrit: काम, ) is the concept of pleasure, enjoyment and desire in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. It can also refer to "desire, wish, longing" in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh literature.Monier Williamsका� ...

of the mortal world. Some subscribe to selfless

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

, hoping to accumulate enough

merit Merit may refer to: Religion * Merit (Buddhism) * Merit (Christianity) Companies and brands * Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes * Merit Energy Company, an international energy company * Merit Motion Pictures, an independent documentar ...

to please the gods and receive divine promotion; some practise ''

fulu () are Asemic writing, asemic Daoist, Taoist magic symbols and incantations, translatable into English as 'talismanic script', which are written or painted on talismans by Taoist practitioners. These practitioners are called , an informal gr ...

'' and attempt to gain control of

supernatural power Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanings since the an ...

s; some resort to

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

and try to obtain magical

elixir An elixir is a sweet liquid used for medical purposes, to be taken orally and intended to cure one's illness. When used as a dosage form, pharmaceutical preparation, an elixir contains at least one active ingredient designed to be taken orall ...

s and

pill Pill or The Pill may refer to: Drugs * Pill (pharmacy), referring to anything small for a specific dose of medicine * "The Pill", a general nickname for the combined oral contraceptive pill Film and television * ''The Pill'' (film), a 2011 fil ...

s through ''

waidan , translated as 'external alchemy' or 'external elixir', is the early branch of Chinese alchemy that focuses upon compounding elixirs of immortality by heating minerals, metals, and other natural substances in a luted crucible. The later bran ...

'' experiments; while some prefer to train in ''

neidan Neidan, or internal alchemy (), is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. Also known as Jindan ...

'' cultivation and

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

to achieve supreme physical and spiritual purity. Regardless of methodology, all practitioners aim to cheat mortality and become transcendent half-deities known as

s. The training sites chosen by immortality cultivators tend to have great ''

fengshui Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...

'' and located far away from the distractions of the secular society, often in

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s and

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s, where the practitioners can easily access clean energy from nature. Some practitioners organize into

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

s for self-protection, to facilitate group training and share knowledge, and to pass on their cultivation arts to young generations of practitioners. Some of the larger, well-established sects have even constructed magnificent palace-like

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

s. During the late

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, various sects also organised into a larger confederation named League of Saints (仙盟) to better represent themselves to the secular ''

jianghu ''Jianghu'' () is a Chinese term that generally refers to the social environment in which many Chinese ''wuxia'', '' xianxia'', and ''gong'an'' stories are set. The term is used flexibly, and can be used to describe a fictionalized version of ru ...

'' and coordinate countermeasures against supernatural crises, particular concerning incursions by demons and monsters.

Kunlun Mountains

The extensive

Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin. Located in Western China, the Kun ...

in the

Western Regions The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in Ancient Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of the Yumen Pass, most often the Tarim Basin in prese ...

is located directly below the Saint Realm, and are considered the best place for cultivation due to the energy accumulation around its numerous

alpine lake An alpine lake is a high-altitude lake in a mountainous area, usually near or above the tree line, with extended periods of ice#On lakes, ice cover. These lakes are commonly glacial lakes formed from glacial activity (either current or in the pas ...

s. A total of eight cultivation sects have existed within the Kunlun Mountains, named after the Eight Palaces of the Saint Realm, namely Kunlun (崑崙), Qionghua (瓊華), Biyu (碧玉), Zicui (紫翠), Langfeng (閬風), Tianyong (天墉), Xuanpu (懸圃) and Yuying (玉英). Out of the eight sects, only Kunlun Sect and Qionghua Sect, who focused on fusing magics into

swordsmanship Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to an ...

, have had any fame outside of the Kunlun Mountains. Qionghua Sect, in particular, had gain prominence during the

Six Dynasties Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD, between the end of the Eastern Han dynasty and the beginning of the Sui ...

and attempted to elevate their entire temple into the Saint Realm. However, their cultivation method involved invading the Monster Realm to abduct supernatural creatures and steal dark energy by looting purple crystals, in order to fuel their twin Yihe (羲和劍) and Wangshu Swords (望舒劍) that can breach the force field shielding the Saint Realm. In order to do that, Qionghua Sect had two chosen disciples, one male and one female, form symbiosis with each of the swords, allowing the swords to siphon energy from the hosts. However, after one such invasion into the realm of Huangming clan (幻瞑界) turned ugly, which resulted in the Qionghua leader being slain by the '' Mengmo'' queen Chanyou (嬋幽) after a bloody duel, many surviving members grew disillusioned of their cause and deserted the sect, among them Suyu (夙玉), the host of Wangshu Sword. This resulted in the host of Yihe Sword, Xuanxiao (玄霄), losing control of his '' qi'' and gong berserk, forcing the sect masters to seal him inside an ice cave. 19 years later, Xuanxiao broke out of his seal with help from Suyu's son Yun Tianhe (雲天河), and took control of the sect. He seized the Wangshu Sword for himself and reinvaded the Monster Realm, successfully gathering sufficient dark energy. He then activated the Twin Swords and levitated the Qionghua temples towards the sky, attempting to forcefully settle the entire sect into the Saint Realm. This practice of abomination not only caused a few more moral members of the sect to denounce their cause and rebel, but also angered the deities.

Jiutian Xuannü Jiutian Xuannü is the goddess of war, sex, and longevity in Chinese mythology.. The swordswoman Yuenü is a reincarnation of Jiutian Xuannü. Etymology This goddess was initially known as .. The name has been variously translated as the "Dark L ...

(九天玄女), the deity whom the Qionghua Sect worshipped, had their airborne temple destroyed by skyfire, and condemned the entire sect's souls to eternal imprisonment in the

maelstrom Maelstrom may refer to: * Maelstrom (whirlpool), a powerful whirlpool ** originally the Moskstraumen in English Amusement rides * Maelstrom (ride), a former log flume dark ride attraction in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort ...

under the East Sea. The remnants of Qionghua Sect temple then crashed towards Earth before exploding mid-air (plot of '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4''). Kunlun Sect, on the other hand, underwent an mundane but steady growth, and maintained a friendly relationship with their compatriots in Shushan and the secular ''jianghu''. During the

, Kunlun Sect managed to become an crucial member of the League of Saints. They were almost wiped out by a demon cult named Jingtian Cult (淨天教) during the mid-Tang dynasty, but recovered over the following decades and remained a chief organization within the League. Due to their remote location, they were removed from generations of political turmoils in the secular world, and arguably lasted longer than all other cultivation sects, with their influence still present dynasties later.

Shu Mountains

Pangu's Heart (盤古之心), which was suspended between Heaven and Earth, became petrified and accreted rock and dirt from the surrounding, forming a floating

mountain chain A mountain chain is a row of high mountain summits, a linear sequence of interconnected or related mountains,Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, p 87. . or a contiguous ridge of mountains within a larger mo ...

within the great mountain ranges of western Bashu called the Shu Mountains or ''Shushan'' (蜀山). One of the mountains at the center of Shu Mountain, known as the Lishu Mountain (里蜀山), happened to be the portal location to the God-Demon Well, as well as the entrance to the largest pocket of the Monster Realm. The uniquely supernatural atmosphere around the Shu Mountains did not go unnoticed by

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

fangshi ''Fangshi'' () were Chinese technical specialists who flourished from the third century BCE to the fifth century CE. English translations of include alchemist, astrologer, diviner, exorcist, geomancer, doctor, magician, monk, mystic, necrom ...

'' who sought to cultivate immortality, and all sorts of practitioners had decided to settle there permanently, gradually forming hundreds of small groups and sects that eventually fused into dozens of larger sects collectively called the Shushan League (蜀山盟). One such practitioner, who went by the title "Taiqing ''

Zhenren ''Zhenren'' ( zh, c=真人, p=zhēnrén, w=chen-jen, l=true/ upright/ genuine person or 'person of truth') is a Chinese term that first appeared in the '' Zhuangzi'' meaning "a Taoist spiritual master" in those writings, as in one who has mastered ...

''" (太清真人), chanced upon a powerful mythical sword that fell from the sky, which he named Zhenyao Sword (鎮妖劍, "monster-suppressing sword"), and used it to defeat many monsters prowling around Shu Mountains. After Taiqing successfully cultivated immortality and left the mortal realm, his disciples styled themselves the Xianjian Sect (仙劍派, "Immortal Sword Sect"). Although being the largest sect of the Shushan League, their cultivation philosophy of emphasizing

training and monster-hunting was considered risky and inefficient for immortality cultivation, as ''

'' cultivation and

cooking was then the favoured mainstream methodology. During the

Southern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...

, the

Emperor Wu of Liang Emperor Wu of Liang () (464 – 12 June 549), personal name Xiao Yan (蕭衍), courtesy name Shuda (叔達), childhood name Lian'er (練兒), was the founding Emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Liang dynasty, during the Northern and Souther ...

built a

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

in Shu Mountains to propagate his

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

faith. When the Shushan League rejected Buddhism and modified the pagoda, the infuriated Emperor Wu denounced them as

false religion Pseudoreligion or pseudotheology is a pejorative term which is a combination of the Greek prefix "pseudo", meaning false, and "religion." The term is sometimes avoided in religious scholarship as it is seen as polemic, but it is used colloquially ...

s and send troops to lay siege to the Shushan sects. Most of the sects that had focused on

and ''

'' casting were powerless against the military onslaught, and were practically wiped out. The Xianjian Sect, however, put up a strong fight and repelled the soldiers, taking in the survivors and establishing themselves as the orthodoxy of future Shushan practitioners. Sometime during the next few hundred years, the Shushan Xianjian Sect acquired the Three Divine Artefacts (三神器) of High Antiquity, namely Fuxi's Sword (伏羲劍), Shennong's

Cauldron A cauldron (or caldron) is a large cookware and bakeware, pot (kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire, with a lid and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger and/or integral handles or feet. There is a rich history of cauldron lore in r ...

(神農鼎) and Nüwa's Bloodstone (女媧血玉). To safeguard these artefacts, the leaders of the sects placed them inside a powerful magical array, and relocated the pagoda directly over the God-Demon Well to imprison all the maleficent monsters they captured and trapped, renaming it the Suoyao Pagoda ("monster-lockup pagoda"). During the early

, the Suoyao Pagoda was heavily damaged due to the demon lord Chonglou (重樓) raiding the tower looking for the Zhenyao Sword (which was actually the lost celestial sword of his respected deity rival Feipeng), causing large number of monsters escaping. The pagoda was repaired by the sacrifice of a Nüwa descendant Zixuan (紫萱), but not before most of the sect's masters died fighting (plot of '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3''). The Xianjian Sect recovered under the leadership of Zixuan's lover Xu Changqing (徐長卿) and reached a

silver age The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent interpretatio romana, Roman interpretation. Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to pr ...

of prosperity, with numerous masters successfully achieving immortality over the following decades. However, 50 years later, the then-leader of the Xianjian Sect, Dugu Yuyun (獨孤宇雲), mistook Zhao Ling'er (趙靈兒, Zixuan's granddaughter and a Nüwa descendant, who was also the

crown princess A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown princ ...

Nanzhao Nanzhao ( zh, t=南詔, s=南诏, p=Nánzhào), also spelled Nanchao, , Yi language: ꂷꏂꌅ, ''Mashynzy'') was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southwestern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuri ...

) for a snake monster and locked her inside the Suoyao Pagoda. This led to Zhao's husband Li Xiaoyao (李逍遙), a newly inducted

lay Lay or LAY may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada * Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France * Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community * Lay Dam, Alaba ...

disciple of Xianjian Sect, to forcefully break into the pagoda to rescue his love. The Suoyao Pagoda eventually crumbled due to Li's daring jailbreak, releasing all the monster captives and exposing the opening into the God-Demon Well (plot of ''

''). However, as the monster escapees saw Li as their indebted savior, most of them retreated into the Monster Realm peacefully and never encroached into the human world again. 18 years after the collapse of the Suoyao Pagoda, Shu Mountains came under attack from Jingtian Cult, who sought to steal the Divine Artefacts and break the seal upon the God-Demon Well to enable an invasion from the Demon Realm. The crisis was postponed by the sacrifice of a master Gangzhan (罡斬), who expended all his '' qi'' to strike and injure the master villain from the Demon Realm (plot of '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5 Prequel''). Xianjian Sect then launched an counterattack on the cult headquarters and routed the enemy. However, Jingtian Cult rose again 20 years later and wrecked havoc upon the ''jianghu'', and managed to siege the Shu Mountains and open the God-Demon Well this time. After the invasion was eventually thwarted, the seven masters of Xianjian Sect decided to sink the floating Shu Mountains onto the God-Demon Well to permanently seal the portal (plot of '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5''). The Shushan Xianjian Sect then isolated itself to the outside world in order to guard the seal for centuries to come, and their glorious past legends gradually became forgotten and dismissed as fallacious rural myth.

Mount Emei

Immortality cultivation in Bashu's

Mount Emei Mount Emei (; zh, c=峨眉山, p=Éméi shān, O2-mei2 shan1), alternatively Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of th ...

was established relatively late, as the mountain had been traditionally seen as a sacred mountain for Buddhist pilgrimage. During the mid-Tang dynasty, a young woman named Jiang Wan'er (姜婉兒) settled in Mount Emei and eventually established a ''

daoguan A Daoist temple (), also called a () or (), is a place where the Dao is observed and cultivated. It is a place of worship in Taoism. Taoism is a religion that originated in China, with the belief in immortality, which urges people to become im ...

'' there. Jiang herself was actually the daughter of a disgraced Shushan disciple Jiang Qing (姜清) with his forbidden love Yue Rouxia (月柔霞), who was the daughter of a demon lord. She was born and spent the first 18 years of her life inside the Suoyao Pagoda, only escaping when Li Xiaoyao's daring breakout to save his wife collapsed the pagoda. As a human-demon hybrid, Jiang combined the magical arts from both races, and adopted the title "Qingrou ''Zhenren''" (清柔真人) in memory of her late parents. She took in orphaned and homeless girls she rescued as disciples, establishing the Xianxia Sect (仙霞派). Due to Jiang's paternal history with Xianjian Sect, Xianxia Sect maintained a fairly friendly relationship with their Shushan compatriots. Eight years after the collapse of the Suoyao Pagoda, a demon flagbearer named Kong Lin (孔麟) attempted to revive the demon lord that was sealed under Shushan. The five female disciples of Qingrou ''Zhenren'', known famously as the "Five Wonders of Xianxia" (仙霞五奇), were dispatched to help dealing with the crisis. However, all except one of the five were killed by Kong Lin, leaving only the fourth disciple Shen Qishuang (沈欺霜) as the sole survivor (plot of '' The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2''). When Qingrou ''Zhenren'' left the mortal realm, Shen Qishuang took up the difficult mantle to revitalize the sect, styling herself as "Yuxia ''Zhenren''" (餘霞真人). She succeeded in that task over the next decades, not only managed to achieve

and

for herself (making her a certified

), but also to make Xianxia Sect a renowned leader among the League of Saints. Xianxia Sect was also instrumental in thwarting the scheme of rogue deity Ao Xu to trigger an inter-realm war (plot of ''

'').

Mount Luojia

Mount Luojia (落袈山) is one of the tallest mountains at the southwestern bank of

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

's East Lake, and was home to two neighboring cultivation sects whose founders were lifelong close friends but their successors had become bitter adversaries over the following centuries. On the

foothill Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

s of Mount Luojia sat the Mingshu Sect (明庶門), who specialized in ''

fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

-driving'' (御靈術), a magical art of domesticating mythical beasts using symbiotic contract and shared cultivation. Mingshu Sect was once a prominent sect during its early days, mainly due to it s founder Yue Xilou (月西樓) famously taming a

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

and attaining sainthood, but the sect remained small due to their intense focus on spiritual talents and thus the high entrance hurdle of induction, sometimes compromising on gatekeeping potential acolyte's moral standards. At sometime during the centuries after Yue's passing, overambitious Mingshu practitioners resorted to enslaving their fairies instead, causing the fairies to revoke their bonds and flee with animosity, and the sect had trouble recruiting fairies ever since because most feral beasts also heard of the news and avoided any contacts with Mingshu practitioners. Mingshu Sect then went into a long decline, and eventually the only people remained in the sect were Yue's own descendants and their immediate families. During the late

, the 30th Headmaster of Mingshu, Yue Hanshan (月寒山), lost all his powers unsuccessfully trying to resuscitate his son/heir and daughter-in-law, who were mortally wounded by snake monsters when helping to rescue a thunder fairy egg, leaving him (now old and depowered) and an underage orphan granddaughter Yue Qingshu (月清疏) as the only remaining members of Mingshu Sect. At the top of the opposite side of Mount Luojia sat the much larger Tianshi Sect (天師門), who focused on fusing magic into martial arts much like the Shushan sects. Tianshi Sect's founder Zhang Donglin (張東臨) was a close friend to Mingshu's founder, but he died teaming with and shielding Yue to subdue a tiger monsterm and his disciples blamed Yue for their master's death. This, coupled with the arrogant ego Mingshu disciples often displayed (as they considered themselves more spiritually gifted), soured the relationship between the two sects. Unlike the highly selective Mingshu Sect, Tianshi Sect were much more welcoming in recruiting disciples, and were far more engaged with other secular groups in ''jianghu''. The vantaged location of their magnificent temple palace also allowed them to deploy a protective force field that helped the nearby villages repel hostile feral monsters. As a result, while Mingshu Sect went into a quiet decline, Tianshi Sect expanded their size and influence significantly, and eventually became a leader among the League of Saints during the reign of Mengzhang (孟章). 15 years after the death of Yue Hanshan's son, the newly come-of-age Yue Qingshu chanced upon a mysterious fruit rich in spiritual energy, and was mesmerized into taking a light bite before deciding to take it home for safekeeping and study. She also rescued a boy abducted by an eagle named Ziqiu (子秋), who turned out to a "divine child" that Tianshi Sect kept locked up in a tower. When a demon woman sneaked in at night seemingly to abduct Ziqiu, the mysterious fruit transformed into a young man to fight off the assailant. The young man then revealed himself as Xiuwu (修吾), a wounded deity warrior who was stranded on Earth, and explained that he was now bonded in a magical symbiosis with Qingshu (due to her earlier bite) in order to recuperate his strength. To legally stay close to Qingshu, Xiuwu joined the Mingshu Sect, and the pair worked together and uncovered that Mengzhang had been receiving divinity) via Ziqiu, who served as an involuntary vessel for Ao Xu (敖胥), the deity that Tianshi Sect worshipped and Xiuwu's boss in Heaven. However, Ao Xu turned out to be a rogue deity who manipulated Mengzhang as a pawn to collaborated with a ''

fanzhen ''Fanzhen'' (), also called ''fangzhen'' (), was a system of decentralized governance in Medieval China that involved strategic military districts and commanderies along the empire's borderland areas administered through highly autonomous ...

'' general in

Liaodong The Liaodong or Liaotung Peninsula ( zh, s=辽东半岛, t=遼東半島, p=Liáodōng Bàndǎo) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located ...

, in order to stop the flow of Nine Springs and trigger a inter-realm conflict between the deities, demons and humans, so Ao Xu could realize his ambition to unleash a

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

upon the demons and resubjugate the humans. With help from the Heavenly Demons, Qingshu and Xiu Wu eventually uncover Ao Xu's conspiracy and defeated Ao Xu in the Heavens, but at the sacrifice of Xiu Wu's physical form (plot of ''

''). After rejecting the offer by

to promote her into sainthood, Qingshu inherited Mingshu Sect from her aging grandfather and adopted Ziqiu as her younger brother, and the sect finally started showing signs of recuperation for the first time in centuries.

Mount Penglai

Mount Penglai Penglai ( zh, t=蓬萊仙島, l=Penglai Immortal Island) is a legendary land of Chinese mythology. It is known in Japanese mythology as Hōrai and Bồng Lai in Vietnam. McCullough, Helen. ''Classical Japanese Prose'', p. 570. Stanford Univ. P ...

is located on an island in East Sea and had long been considered one of the

. The cultivation sect established there were very modest and low-key when dealing with the secular world, and were not as well-known as the other sects. Nevertheless, they remained a key member of the League of Saints during the Tang dynasty.

Xianling Island

A small Island within the

Hangzhou Bay Hangzhou Bay is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea on the middle eastern coast of Mainland China, bordered by the province of Zhejiang to the west and south, and the municipality of Shanghai to north. The bay extends westwards to its ...

, the Xianling Island (仙靈島) was once home to a small all-female cultivation sect named Water Moon Palace (水月宮). The master of the sect, Lady Lingyue (靈月宮主) was a good friend to Lin Qing'er (林青兒, Zixuan's daughter), a Nüwa descendant and the Queen of

. When Queen Lin was framed by Black Miao's Moon Cult leader and jailed by her royal husband, Lady Lingyue offered refuge to Lin's young daughter and her guardian servant Madam Jiang (姜氏), who were fleeing from the

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

. She gave the young

princess a new Han alias Zhao Ling'er, and took her in as a disciple to guide her magical training. Years later, Lady Lingyue attained sainthood and her mortal form disintegrated, and the sect members buried her remaining possessions in an empty tomb in commemoration. The sect management was also taken over by Madam Jiang. However, 10 years after Zhao Ling'er's exile, a trio of Black Miao warriors tracked down Xianling Island. They tricked Li Xiaoyao, a young

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

waiter Waiting staff (British English, BrE), waiters () / waitresses (), or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a Bar (establishment), bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food an ...

Yuhang Yuhang is a suburban districtof Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. On April 9, 2021, Linping District was established, consisting of the former Yuhang subdistricts of Linping, Donghu, Nanyuan, Xingqiao, Yunhe, Qiaosi, Chongxian and the Town of ...

who was desperate to heal his suddenly ill aunt, to infiltrate the island and sabotage the illusional

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...

protecting the palace. The trio then attacked the island and massacred the palace, taking Zhao as a captive. After Li saved Zhao and defeated her captor, they returned to the island, and the dying Madam Jiang asked Li to accompany Zhao back to the Miao countries to find her mother before succumbing to injuries. The pair then buried the deceased and left (plot of ''

''). The island and palace was later resided by Li's aunt and his daughter Li Yiru (李憶如), but the cultivation sect had ceased to exist since the massacre.

Themes

Since ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2'', Softstar has given each game of the series an official central

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

for

and character development. * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy'' — Destiny (宿命) * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2'' — Forgiveness (宽恕) * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3'' — Rebirth (轮回) ** ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3 Gaiden'' — Love (问情) * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4'' — Pilgrimage (寻仙) * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5'' — Wish (心愿) ** ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5 Prequel'' — Bond (牵绊) * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 6'' — Commitment (一生一念、一念一人) * ''The Legend of Sword and Fairy 7'' — Together (相守)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legend of Sword and Fairy, The Role-playing video games Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1995 Video games adapted into television shows Video games based on Chinese mythology

Titles

Video games

Main series

Spin-off games

Other media

Tabletop games

Novels

Comicbooks

Television series

Web streaming series

Stage play

Development history

Crazy Boys era (1995–2003)

Softstar Shanghai era (2003–2007)

Softstar Beijing era (2007–2024)

CMGE era (2024–present)

Characters

World setting

Three Races

Six Realms

Five Elements

Immortality cultivation

Kunlun Mountains

Shu Mountains

Mount Emei

Mount Luojia

Mount Penglai

Xianling Island

Themes

See also

References