There’s one word that I want to use to describe this novel: Sobering.
In The Smiling Proud Wanderer by Jing Yong, we follow the adventures of the main protagonist, Linghu Chong, as he goes from a happy-go-lucky martial arts practitioner to facing the real world where he has to deal with the nasty world of politics and power struggles. Along the way, he has to make many difficult decisions, as he faces conflicts between loyalty, righteousness, and his own self-benefit.
While this book is commonly viewed as a wuxia novel, I consider this work to be a political novel as well. Unlike the rest of Jin Yong’s novels where an explicit time frame is mentioned, this novel does not mention a specific dynasty. This is most likely a conscious decision by Jin Yong, who in the afterward noted that the events in this novel can apply to any dynasty.
The book starts by introducing Lin Pingzhi, a son of the head of the Fuwei Security Service Agency. His family owns the Bixie Swordplay Manual, which makes them a target. One day, the agency gets massacred and his family gets captured by the Mt. Qingcheng Sect, which leads to Lin thinking of ways to avenge his family.
Meanwhile, Linghu Chong saves the nun Yilin from the bandit Tian Boguang. Soon after, Lin Pingzhi gets accepted to be a disciple of Linghu Chong’s master, Yue Buqun, where they soon return to the home base of their sect, Mt. Hua. For reasons that will be made clear when you read it, Linghu Chong gets punished by his master to isolate himself on a section of the mountain, where he later learns skills that were carved into a cave that he finds, as well as learning a technique called Dugu Nine Swords from a very old member of the sect, Feng Qingyang.
One day, Yue Buqun calls on the members of his sect to go on adventure, which causes a series of events that leads to Linghu Chong facing the complexities of the jianghu, the world of martial arts.
Warning: Major spoilers ahead.
As the story progresses, Linghu Chong becomes more aware of the complex world of politics. He realizes that the leader of the Mt. Song Sect, Zuo Lengchan, wants to get the other sects in the Five Mountain Sword School Alliance to submit to him. He eventually realizes his own master that took care of him all these years turns out to be a power-hungry schemer who aims to overthrow Zuo and be the leader of the Five Mountain Sword School Alliance.
Overall, there is an overarching theme of the gray morality of people. Linghu Chong is portrayed as a bit of an alcoholic and gambler who uses coarse language and doesn’t mind associating with people that have a bad reputation, but deep down Linghu Chong has a strong sense of honor to do what is right and is very caring towards the people around him. In contrast, his master is portrayed as a gentleman who carefully selects his words to seem like a morally upright individual, when in fact he is willing to betray everyone around him, even his family, to gain power and get what he wants.
Speaking of Linghu Chong’s relationship with his former master, an important topic of discussion in this novel is loyalty. The code of jianghu dictates that students should do what their master wishes them to do, but we see how the case of Linghu Chong tests the bounds of this “rule.” Even while his master Yue Buqun started doubting him, and even kicked him out, Linghu Chong always tried to remain loyal towards him. In fact, towards the end of the novel, Yue tried to kill him, but even then Linghu Chong tried his best to remain in self-defense rather than being on the offense and killing his former master.
Truth be told, it was a bit hard to read towards the end when Linghu Chong vowed to remain loyal when his own master was literally trying to kill him.
While Linghu Chong has to deal with his former master, he also starts being tangled in the affairs of the Sun Moon Holy Cult, a sect that is known to be evil among the more “orthodox” schools of the jianghu, after he falls in love with Ren Yingying, the daughter of the former leader of the cult, Ren Woxing. He starts realizing that not everyone in the Sun Moon Holy Cult were as evil as they were rumored to be,
Things aren’t as simple for the organizations in the novel as well. The “orthodox” schools in the Five Mountain Sword School Alliance turned out to contain quite a few evil individuals, while the Sun Moon Holy Cult has some pretty good individuals. Jin Yong was really trying to hammer the point that often in politics, it’s rare to come across an organization that is entirely good or bad. We live in a world where many people think that their side, their party, their organization, etc. must be the good guys, while the other side must be the bad guys, when in fact both sides can contain rotten apples. Check out this related tweet I found.
At this point, one might think that as long as a decent person rises to the head of an organization, then everything will be alright. However, the novel seems to suggest this is not the answer as well, as power can lead to moral corruption, judging from the case of Ren Woxing. When Ren Woxing found out that Dongfang Bubai, the man who ousted him from power, started implementing all sorts of rituals and customs into the Sun Moon Holy Cult, he found it ridiculous at first. However, after Ren regained his position, he started going on an ego trip and decided to keep the rituals and customs that Dongfang Bubai introduced prior.
How does Linghu Chong deal with all the complicated political intrigue he had to see and experience? By the end of the novel, we see that he has been fed up with all of this and decided to distance himself from the politics in the jianghu. Instead he chooses to spend his days with his wife, Ren Yingying. This is not unlike many of the thinkers in Chinese history who’ve attained great positions in government, but decided to give it up to live in the mountains or their hometowns where they can be free from the complex web of politics.
In essence, the message from this novel seems to be rather than dealing with the nasty game of politics, it is better just to not play the game at all and instead become a smiling, proud wanderer.