• Welcome to another logical chat with your infamous popcorn maker #2 So Yesterday I was reading a XianXia cultivation novel, where a sword cultivator gave MC and her demon friend a ride. It was like 3-4ish am in the morning when my mind's slow cogwheels started working wondering: How does the swords cultivators ride their swords with such perfect balance and not to mention even giving ride to two grown-ass adults without any difficulties? Wait does the sword stretches itself longer to stand on it? Whats the thickness of the swords for a person to stand on it? Even though I have read many cultivation novels where this thing is quite common, I always questioned it myself. What do you think? —Silent popcorn eaters @ I see you
have you never shared a triple ride on a bike ??? It goes that same way, just that you have to stand in it instead of sitting
1. Divine sense used by cultivators to perceive their surroundings 360 degrees. Coupled with high reflexes and perception due to their cultivation, they can outmatch even the best air pilots 2. It does 3. Cultivators can make themselves weightless by practicing qing gong. The swords used by cultivators are also made with the toughest metal that you can only find in xianxia novels. The thickness of the sword is out of the question
Originally, they didn't ride on swords at all; they actually merged their bodies with their sword into a beam of light called "sword light" (劍光) and travel that way. The 1932 wuxia/xianxia novel Sword Xia of the Shu Mountains is an example of such usage. I know Renegade Immortal also features this, where a character "turns into" a beam of sword light and carries some people with him. Though Wuxiaworld mistranslated it and instead has them riding the sword (or it envelops them, I forget which), but the character is actually merging with his sword, and his passengers along with him. Makes me wonder how many other cultivation novels mistranslate that. Not sure when riding a sword, like a surfboard or something, became a thing. Might have been from video games or TV/film, but I dunno. As for you question, maybe the sword expands, or maybe the person is carrying them?
This.....Thank you! So the start was like that...I see now. I wonder if it has changed now or the whole thing started after the said mistranslation, only the avid Chinese speakers can say. This one really helped. I don't think the cultivator would be able to carry 2-3 people at once but the expanding of sword is feasible but very hard to imagine.
We're talking about cultivator here, a Monstrous being, super human strength, Divin Sense, and probably a cakra feet like in Naruto.
according to this post, https://www.zhihu.com/question/63476422#:~:text=最早把御剑飞行,飞到小倩身边。 the words 御剑而行 and 踏剑而去 appeared in books as early as the late qing dynasty. and to answer OP's question, one of the most basic training for cultivators is to manipulate Qi. The typical training methods I've read so far are standing on top of bamboo, standing on the surface of a lake, and using your qi to move pebbles. Once you are able to manipulate qi, you are able to ride anything, not just a sword. Basically, use your qi to grab onto something, and shoot it out.
Which Qing dynasty books are 御剑而行 and 踏剑而去 found in? Certainly the "袖中取出一口小剑，迎风一晃，门板大小，踏剑做歌而去…" line in the top comment is not in 七劍十三俠 or 聊齋. I checked those texts. Not in there. No 御剑而行 or 踏剑而去 either. And the comment you directly linked to is talking about Tsui Hark's 1987 film A Chinese Ghost Story. That comment does not say what you said it says. The word Qing (清) doesn't even appear in that comment, nor does the phrase "踏剑而去". That's in the top comment, though that is actually "踏剑做歌而去". 御剑 (lit. drive sword) can refer to standing/riding on a flying sword, but before that it meant merging into the sword as described above, or using one's qi to direct the sword through the air to attack someone. That's how it's often used in wuxia novels of the 1920s-1960s. That use is also in the Qing dynasty 七劍十三俠. But that is not describing standing/riding on a sword.
I see, thanks for pointing it out. I normally just google the question in Chinese and take the answer form the one that has the most upvotes.
As of I can recall, only swords can fly but cultivators have other means to fly too like paper cranes or something Hahahaha might be
I think whoever described Chinese swords as the Chinese version of magic wands is on point. In sword cultivation stories it's pretty rare for the wielder to use the sword as an actual sword instead of throwing sword intent around.