Previously, I thought that liking this kind of martial arts might just be a childhood attachment.

Because I happened to watch such stories during that stage, I was still moved even after growing up.

But I happened to have never watched "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" and never played the game either.

So why am I still occasionally attracted by this plot?

Is it because this type of setting itself is appealing?

Or is it like a fantasy of certain aspects of life?

In order to figure out this question, I rewatched the story of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" these past few days, and I felt two very strong impressions.

One is the roughness that I overlooked when reading the plot summary, the lack of meticulousness in character development and story polishing, which makes it feel artificial. Initially, I would carefully listen to the dialogue or analyze the story. It becomes difficult to tolerate that kind of cheap roughness.

This feeling reminds me of the experience of reading Jin Yong's novels.

When I was a child, I found Jin Yong's TV dramas very enjoyable, but I only started reading Jin Yong's books after I went to college. When I first read the novel "The Return of the Condor Heroes," which was deeply etched in my childhood memories, I found the writing to be too rough and couldn't continue reading it.

I believe that if a person has read the exquisite poetic and picturesque writing of "The Peach Blossom Fan" in the realm of family, country, love, and beauty, and then reads martial arts novels, they will consider martial arts as mere popular literature.

However, the setting of the world that martial arts novels fantasize about still attracts me.

This kind of fantasy is the ultimate romance in Eastern culture, transcending mortal life and ascending to immortality.

This is Li Bai and Zhuangzi, and I understand it a little now.

The great roc rises with the wind for a day, soaring ninety thousand li.

These poems are ingrained in me, so when such a plot of a novel appears, this romance naturally attracts me.

Gatherings and partings, the world's ups and downs, fishing and woodcutting on the river, countless lights of households, these are all traditional imagery.

Coupled with the fantasies that occur during a specific period of childhood, especially around the age of ten when boys imagine the world, they all contribute to the creation of such stories.

So, these kinds of stories still attract me in terms of plot, just like certain dishes. Once a fixed taste has been formed, I will continue to like it. However, I can distinguish between the good and the bad.

Every time I finish writing such an article, I always ask myself again, is it really like this?