Saga of the Swordbreaker is a story of martial cultivation. Naturally, martial arts is the heart of the series. But what is a martial art?
From the layman’s perspective, it is simply a collection of techniques, principles and body mechanics. It shows you how to generate power and transmit it into your opponent, ideally without yourself absorbing the opponent’s attack.
However, at a higher level, a martial art is more than just a method of defeating an enemy. It is a mindset.
Consider Japanese koryu. A koryu is a classical school of ancient martial arts. Unlike modern arts like kendo or Olympic karate, which are focused on sporting competitions, koryu is dedicated to crippling and killing the enemy. More than that, though, a koryu lineage seeks to transmit the strategems and worldview of the founder.
The goal of a koryu school is to transform the student into a mental clone of the founder. The student may have his own ways of applying the art to suit his personality and physiology—a tall person may favour downward strikes, an aggressive personality may prefer striking first—but the learning process seeks to download the founder’s insights into the student’s psyche.
Through practice, the student moulds himself in the image of the art, and of the founder. Should a bulky student discover that his muscles interfere with his ability to perform a certain movement, he is expected to cut weight and streamline his physique. A left-handed student who learns an art that emphasizes the use of the right hand must become adept in the use of his right hand before attaining complete transmission. At the end of the curriculum, a student who has perfectly grasped the principles of the art becomes the living embodiment of the founder’s strategy and psyche.
What you do, you become. When you practice the system created by a 16th-century Japanese grandmaster, then to attain mastery of the system, you become a copy of that 16th-century Japanese grandmaster. You see the world the way he would, you move the way he would, you speak the way he would, you teach the way he would. In so doing, you become a vessel for ancient knowledge, preserving and transmitting it into future generations.
The Chinese internal martial arts express worldviews through movement. More than just preserving how the founders would move, they preserve ideas about the workings of the cosmos. The art of baguazhang, in particular, is heavily influenced by Daoism. The Eight Palms of baguazhang are influenced by the Eight Trigrams of Daoism, and the Sixty-Four Palms of some lineages are reflections of the Sixty-Four Hexagrams. The flowing nature of the art reflects the Daoist philosophy of constant change and adaptation. Qi cultivation is ingrained in both Daoist and baguazhang practice. Instead of crashing into obstacles head-on, the Daoist and the baguazhang practitioner seek to move around them instead. The bagua player has no fixed battle plan. Instead, he simply moves in accordance with the Way, maintaining structural integrity and deflecting incoming forces, thus guiding the enemy into defeating himself. In the same fashion, the Daoist master simply lives life as it comes, adapting to ever-changing times, without holding on to plans or preconceptions.
Wuxia novels are famous for their use of exotic martial methods. With Saga of the Swordbreaker, I go one step further. More than just techniques, the astute reader will discover how a character’s chosen art influences his character.
Protagonist Li Ming’s favoured art is wuxingquan, which is based on the xingyiquan of our world. Xingyiquan is direct, aggressive, linear, seemingly the opposite of baguazhang. And yet it employs many small and subtle circles, smaller than baguazhang; and like bagua, it favours evasion and deflection as its principal means of defense. To his opponent, a xingyi fighter would suddenly disappear—then hit him like a truck.
Li Ming practices the An Family lineage of wuxingquan, which is based on the Kenny Gong style. Among other characteristics, the Kenny Gong lineage is defined by its integration of xingyiquan and baguazhang, and its emphasis on improvisation and free movement, which is reflected in Li Ming’s arsenal—and how he deals with problems.
Deuteragonist Ghazan’s martial art is shifangquan, the fantasy version of real-world bajiquan. Like xingyi, it is direct, aggressive and linear. Also like xingyi, it is based on spear techniques. The key difference between both arts is their martial strategy. A xingyi fighter attempts to avoid where the enemy is strong and strike where he is weak. A baji practitioner blows open the enemy’s defences with powerful moves, then blasts into the opening. And Ghazan prefers to solve his problems by blowing into and through them.
Shifangquan is the Fist of Ten Directions, while bajiquan means the Fist of Eight Extremities. The extra two directions reflects traditional Chinese and Buddhist thinking: the eight cardinal directions, plus up and down. Further, shifangquan evolved in a world filled with beasts taller and shorter than humans. Practitioners had to be able to strike at upwards and downwards angles. This angulation is reflected in Ghazan’s fight scenes… and in the stratagems he employs, even as he leads those around him into thinking he only ever attacks problems head-on.
Series readers can see how these arts shape the characters, and how the characters reflect the essence of the arts. Yet these characters also express their own personalities through the arts.
Xingyiquan is derived from ancient military spear methods, used in war and conquest. Yet Li Ming sees himself as a protector, and applies the art in defence of others. Bajiquan is known today as the art of bodyguards. Ghazan uses it to destroy everyone and everything in his path.
This same logic applies to cultivation methods. Li Ming obeys the wisdom of his ancestors, and the ancient sages who came before them. Ghazan seeks to gain power at all costs, and pursues martial arts as his vehicle for gaining ultimate power. Their approach to cultivation reflects their respective desires.
Where do their roads lead them? Find out in Saga of the Swordbreaker: Invincible Under Heaven!