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Xianxia Encompassing the World! (Xianxia Rec Discussion and Idea thread)

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BurnNote said:
Where is that from?
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Cultivation Chat Group.

Haven't read the manhua, just the WN, but I remembered the MC wanting guard rails for his saber (and eventually getting them later), so I just googled for an image of it figuring the manhua had probably gotten that far. That looks like a sword rather than a saber and I don't think he was ever dressed like that, so I'm assuming that image is of his imagination when he first had the thought.
 
Behemoth. said:
I've come to realize every xianxia is a HFY story in disguise
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Not really? Most Xianxia MCs are human in name only by the end of the story.

With skeletons made of dragon bones, phoenix blood flowing through their veins, and souls that are essentially supercomputers constructed based on alien blueprints…

That's not really a human anymore imo.
 
That's not really the case. That's just them using their powers for themselves. In fact the fact problem is somehow only humans can do that. You don't see monkeys running around getting phenoix bloodlines. Not to mention I can name several xianxia where humans are literally the chosen ones. Or they inherited the will of pangu. Or they are the only ones who can reach the highest levels like in RI. Or where all other creatures are meant to be eaten by them like in perfect world. Or outside of time where several hundred races exist but humans have unified existence a disproportionate amount of times. Things like bloodlines are all additional. The core of the being remains human and other creatures treat them as human. It's really just another power up. Now this is because xianxia is made for humans by humans but it tends to stand out in thos setting a lot especially when there is conflict with any other races
 
A part of me is against calling xianxia a 'transhumanist anarcho-libertarian dystopia' since that puts modern ideas into a genre based on ancient cultures and worldviews.
 
To be fair, my Beware of Chicken fanfic is turning into a seed for a whole solarpunk terraforming/tech uplifting narrative and my wandering world building mind made up an explanation why that's the case.
 
Yama951 said:
A part of me is against calling xianxia a 'transhumanist anarcho-libertarian dystopia' since that puts modern ideas into a genre based on ancient cultures and worldviews.
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Do you really think the typical xianxia had more than a patina of ancient culture or worldview? By that token, you couldn't judge noire novels because they have a wiff of plato.

Xianxia is a modern, living genre. Of course modern ideas apply.
 
To a very real degree, xianxia is modern chinese people looking at ancient china's culture and worldview and seeing their own reflection in the mirror, more so than it actually is based on that ancient culture and worldview. It doesn't have to be that way, but it is far smore often than not.
 
Yama951 said:
A part of me is against calling xianxia a 'transhumanist anarcho-libertarian dystopia' since that puts modern ideas into a genre based on ancient cultures and worldviews.
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I'd say that's becausetypical extruded xianxia product is more 'transhumanist fascist dystopia' complete with a lot of belief in the Triumph of the Will, cults of personality, belief in ubermen and racism against jewsfoxgirls.

If you look at Umbero Eco's Ur Fascism there are a lot of matches with the stereotypical Xianxia society.
 
Behemoth. said:
That's not really the case. That's just them using their powers for themselves. In fact the fact problem is somehow only humans can do that. You don't see monkeys running around getting phenoix bloodlines. Not to mention I can name several xianxia where humans are literally the chosen ones. Or they inherited the will of pangu. Or they are the only ones who can reach the highest levels like in RI. Or where all other creatures are meant to be eaten by them like in perfect world. Or outside of time where several hundred races exist but humans have unified existence a disproportionate amount of times. Things like bloodlines are all additional. The core of the being remains human and other creatures treat them as human. It's really just another power up. Now this is because xianxia is made for humans by humans but it tends to stand out in thos setting a lot especially when there is conflict with any other races
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WRT RI, I'm pretty sure that Humans being the only ones to reach the highest peaks is Heavenly Court propaganda though :V .
 
The Grey Mage said:
That's not really a human anymore imo.
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Don't forget about how some of them become the very Laws themselves, part of the cosmos, or even a world or universe. And the higher they climb, the more indifferent they become. Of course, that is because of a variety of reasons and not just disconnect from humanity, but still.

There are also a lot of 'Demon' protagonists as of the last few years, meaning beasts, and cultivators following the demonic way, which sets them against humanity at some point and it's all down (or up depending on how you look at it) from there.

SITB said:
I'm pretty sure that Humans being the only ones to reach the highest peaks is Heavenly Court propaganda though
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Also depends on which Heavenly Court we're talking about. There's the classic mythological Heavenly Court, the Honghuang/Primordial Demon Heavenly Court ruled by Di Jun and Tai Yi, then there's the Heavenly Court of the Jade Emperor (former servant boy of Dao Ancestor Hongjun), then there are also the Human Heavenly Courts like the ones in the Perfect World Chen Dong Trilogy, ruled by the human protagonists, but supplemented with other allied races.
 
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Xon said:
Specifically the hyper-capitalism frequently seen in Xianxia-style settings is often part of the social commentary on modern society!
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Yeah. As much as a lot of Xianxia is mass produced dreg for the lowest common demominator (being the pulp fiction of today), it still reflects the worldview of the authors, and so it will say something even if it's unintentionally. And intentionally to be fair, but the constraints of writing thousands of words a day kind of limit how much thought you can put in, and how complex an idea you can convey.

Plus, seeing what resonates with people. If the idea of might makes right, hyper hierarchical society didn't feel relevant to the readers, it would be a lot less frequent just by evolutionary selection. That's one of the biggest influences picked up in western genres, which often don't have much xianxia related things otherwise.
 
TriGayatri said:
It is ironic when author claim that ascension is letting go of earthly things
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I've more often seen it go the other way.


"You have to let go of earthly things to advance."

"Nuh uh, I'm a protagonist and that means I know better than everyone else. I'm gonna cling on to everything and it's going to be awesome and have absolutely no consequences!"
 
Nah. Antagonist and side characters does it too.
As well as ancestors
Many failed and have their stash looted by protagonist
 
TriGayatri said:
Nah. Antagonist and side characters does it too.
As well as ancestors
Many failed and have their stash looted by protagonist
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But they dont do it correctly like the protagonist does :). They leave artifacts and treasures that are "beneath them" and do not pull up the furniture, and steal the the nails. The protagonist however steals even the grains of rice, the leftover wheat, and occasionally even entire stacks of corpses to serve as lootboxes for later.
 
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