Jiang Chao Ge and the Spirit Weapon 魂兵之戈 is a fantasy, action adventure genre BL novel written in 2014 by Shui Qian Cheng 水千丞, who also wrote the 188 series of BL novels. It is also the third novel in this genre from this author I’ve read after Dragon Blood 龍血 (also called Foster Father 養父) written in 2012, and The Return of Cambrian Period 寒武再臨 written in 2013.
These novels are all action adventure stories involving a group of people travelling together out of necessity with the same goal. The first two novels I’ve already read are related as the 4 main characters in Dragon Blood also appeared as quite important side characters in The Return of Cambrian Period. If you want to compare, think Around the World in 80 Days with more characters travelling together in fantasy plotlines, and obviously with BL element. However Jiang Chao Ge and the Spirit Weapon is a totally new story involving parallel universe and ancient Chinese mythical creatures from the ancient Chinese text, The Classic of Mountains and Seas 山海經. Although there’s the similarity in the comedic moments of a grown man morphing into a child in all three novels, Shen Changze 沈長澤 in Dragon Blood and The Return of Cambrian Period when he is injured in order to heal quickly in a small body; in Jiang Chao Ge and the Spirit Weapon, due to Jiang Chaoge 江朝戈 being not trained in awakening the spirit beast, he only has enough power to wake up a small spirit child instead of a grown man in Zhixuan 炙玄, LOL…
I am not too familiar with a lot of the Chinese mythical creatures, but I do know a few common ones, like the Chinese dragon, fenghuang, and qilin. Therefore it was quite a struggle at first, especially when some of these creatures have names in very rarely used Chinese word characters, so I kept looking up dictionary while trying to keep up with the storylines! I now feel quite accomplished learning all these new Chinese words, LOL…
Another thing I did was to start jotting down names of the creatures on a notepad with association to their weapons and masters/mistresses when I was quite early in the story because I started to get confused by all these associations and relationship of characters, LOL. So glad I did that as at the moment, I am just reaching about halfway into the novel, and I don’t need to search back through the novel when I forgot who is who and with what weapon, I just glance at the notepad and problem solved, haha…
Now, I decided to put the rough notes I did here into table-form so they are easier to read. As I am still reading the novel, the notes are incomplete at the moment, I will add more as I read because some characters have not appeared yet… However just a warning, these notes contain spoilers, so avoid reading them if you don’t want to be spoilt.
Update June 24, 2021: There’s already a comic/manhua online of this novel, so if you want to know what all those ancient beasts looked like, head over to the manhua page for their rendition of the beasts. However only the earlier chapters are free to read, you have to pay for the remaining chapters.
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Spoilers below
Four Auspicious Beasts 四靈獸
| 魂兵使 Spirit Master | 魂兵器 Type of Spirit Weapon | 獸魂 Spirit Beast/Creature | 上古異獸 Type of Beast/Creature | 級別 Rank of Spirit | 魂器 Other Spirit Tools [Spirit Beast] | 大巫祖 靈慧之魄 Consciousness of Sorcerer |
| 江朝戈 Jiāng Cháogē | 刀 dāo (machete) | 炙玄 Zhìxuán (loves to drink) | 麒麟 qílín | 神級 top | *破魂劍 pòhún jiàn (sword) [兕 Sì] *納物袋 nàwù dài (half-spirit container) *專屬魂器 exclusive personal spirit tool [舉父 jǔfù] *人面鴞 *玄級匕首 bǐshǒu (3rd rank dagger)[肥遺 féiyí] | 共工 |
| 雲息 Yún Xī (魂器師、魂導士 spirit weapon maker, healer – introvert, OCD) | 七弦瑤琴／古琴 gǔqín (Chinese seven-stringed zither) | 飲川 Yǐnchuān (loves to read) | 白澤 báizé | 神級 top | 鴆鳥 zhènniǎo (ancient poisonous bird) | 帝江 |
| 大國師 Dà Guóshī (Imperial preceptor) | 杖 (cane) | 焯煙 Zhuōyān | 燭陰 zhúyīn | 神級 top | ||
| 嘲飛 Cháofēi | 畢方 bìfāng | 神級 top | 天吳? 應龍? |
Jiang Chaoge’s other travelling companions
| 魂兵使 Spirit Master | Type of Spirit Weapon | Spirit Beast/Creature | Type of Beast/Creature | Rank of Spirit | 魂器 Other Spirit Tools [Spirit Beast] |
| 虞人殊 Yúrén Shū (三皇子 Third Prince) | 鐧 jiān (swordbreaker) | 天戎 Tiānróng | 猙 zhēng | 天級 2nd | 顓頊之手骨 |
| 龍薌 Lóng Xiāng (red-hair, foreigner) | 戟 jǐ (polearm) | 醉幽 Zuìyōu (loves to flirt) | 九尾狐 jiǔwěi hú (nine-tail fox) | 天級 2nd | |
| 阮千宿 Ruǎn Qiānxiù | 鴛鴦鉞 yuè (tomahawks) | 征塵 Zhēngchén | 孰湖 shúhú | 玄級 3rd | also see entry under Four Sacred Beasts |
| 寺斯 Sìsī (ADHD) | 弓 gōng (bow & arrow) | 裂羽 Lièyǔ | 鼓 gǔ (燭陰之子 son of zhúyīn – half human, memory loss) | 天級 2nd | 鴟鳥 Chīniǎo (ancient owl) |
Four Sacred Beasts 四神獸 (mostly allies)
| Spirit Master | Type of Spirit Weapon | Spirit Beast/Creature | Type of Beast/Creature | 級別 Rank of Spirit | 魂器 Other Spirit Tools [Spirit Beast] | 大巫祖 靈慧之魄 Consciousness of Sorcerer |
| 柳清明 Liǔ Qīngmíng (瞎子 blind) | 劍 jiàn (sword) | 壬王 Rénwáng | 白虎 báihǔ (white tiger) | 神級 top | 勾陳? | |
| 喬彥 Qiáo Yàn | 盾 dùn (shield) | 重溟 Zhòngmíng (loves to sleep) | 玄武 xuánwǔ (black tortoise) | 神級 top | 天吳? 應龍? | |
| 阮千宿 Ruǎn Qiānxiù | 傘 sǎn (umbrella) | 紅淵 Hóngyuān (androgynous) | 朱雀 zhūquè (vermilion bird) | 神級 top | see entry under JCG’s other travelling companions | 后土 |
| 劉擎 Liú Qíng | 三節棍 sānjié gùn (three-section staff) | 銜雲 Xiányún | 青龍 qīnglóng (azure dragon) | 神級 top | 蠱雕 gǔdiāo | 祝融 |
Four Fierce Beasts 四兇獸 (enemies)
| Spirit Master | Type of Spirit Weapon | Spirit Beast/Creature | Type of Beast/Creature | 級別 Rank of Spirit | 大巫祖 靈慧之魄 Consciousness of Sorcerer |
| 天女 Tiānnǚ | 七節鞭 biān (seven-section whip) | 嘯血 Xiàoxuè (loves to kill) | 渾沌 hùndùn | 神級 top | 陸吾 |
| 虞人奎 Yúrén Kuí (二皇子 Second Prince) | 槍 (Chinese spear/lance) | 夙寒 Sùhán (sex addict) | 窮奇 qióngqí | 神級 top | 相繇 |
| no name yet | ? | 焚念 Fénniàn (glutton) | 饕餮 tāotiè | 神級 top | 刑天 |
| no name yet | ? | 遊釋 Yóushì (loves jewels) | 檮杌 táowù | 神級 top | 白矖 |
Jiang Chaoge’s other enemies
| Spirit Master | Type of Spirit Weapon | Spirit Beast/Creature | Type of Beast/Creature | Rank of Spirit |
| 沈言隨 Shěn Yánsuí （冥胤會左將軍） | 爪 zhǎo (claw) | 鷹極 Yīngjí | 肥遺 féiyí | 天级 2nd |
| 黎先石 (虞人奎舅舅 2nd Prince’s uncle) | 斧 fǔ (axe) | 驚霆 Jīngtíng | 蜚 fēi | 天级 2nd |
Corner Café 
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