The title of this book is the name of a special weapon
literally meaning 'Cicada Wing Sword'; it is also an onomatopoetic term for Zenist Sword.
It starts with the death of the respectable Mr. Bai who was murdered. The criminal suspect
is a young man, Su Siaohun, who has no bad record. Both the government and the gangs want
to arrest him. With the help of his friends the murderers were revealed. They were Pang
Longlian and Leng Minghui, who believed that the martial arts circle would be in turmoil
if Mr. Bai died, so they would have the opportunity to rule the circle. Su
fled to a remote land and married Jhong Yushuang. When he came back he killed Pang
Longlian. He also assisted the emperor in catching foreign spies in the palace, helped the
exiled king regain his throne, and defeated the ambitious Ling Minghui at the northern
border.
When he came back to this homeland, he was invited to a
mysterious martial arts contest called Hengshan Boji, which was held every twenty years.
Many famous characters of the martial arts attended this contest, including those from
foreign countries. Some of the masters wanted to become the leader of the martial arts
circle and some wanted to overthrow the Ming Dynasty, so the contest became more than a
simple wugong competition. PaTiantly Su Siaohun persuaded them to cease-fire.
In addition to battles and conspiracies, there are romances
taking place between the martial arts masters and mistresses, such as Su Siaohun and Jhong
Yushuang, Leng Mo and Jhong Mengshuang. The development of these love affairs is not
smooth, but all have happy endings.
The weapons introduced in this story, such as chanyi dao
employed by Tang Yusian, Tian cansi by Su Siaohun, and hongyu shuangjian by Jhong Yushuang
are all remarkable. There are not only weapons invented by the writer but also wusyue,
martial arts philosophies, such as "the flxsible weapon overcomes the rigid
one", "a sword has its spirit which can be combined with its master's
spirit", the Buddhist teaching of tolerance is also cited.
Although this story is quite long, loose ends are tied and
the characters are not stereotypes. Without an air of unreality which ordinary
knight-errant novels have, the heroes, the beauties, and the devious guys combine together
to make this story entertaining. Obviously this story is one of the best by the author Ci
Ru. |
