Chapter 589: Swords of Shushan

Chapter 589: Swords of Shushan

Chapter 589: Swords of Shushan

The movie "Swords of Shu Mountain" is actually a traditional, standard story about the growth of a young hero.

The structure of this type of story is often very simple, and generally it is an "ordinary beginning" that shows the ordinary life and personality traits of the boy.

[Introduction of conflict] to break the calm and stimulate the boy's motivation to grow.

A growth process that goes through hardships and gradually transforms amidst setbacks.

Meet partners and face difficulties and challenges together [Teamwork].

[Spiritual guidance] influenced and taught by elders or role models.

And finally achieve victory, realize self-worth and grow sublimely [climax ending].

"Swords of Shu Mountains" is just like this. The short opening scene of old friends reuniting and living in seclusion in Emei Mountain is exactly the stage of "ordinary beginnings".

In this plot, Tsui Hark shows the protagonist Zhou Qingyun's reckless, conceited and proud young side through his rash behavior of taking action because of Li Ning's talkativeness.

At the same time, through the scene where he learns martial arts from Li Ning in the mountains, Zhou Qingyun's strengths of being studious and hardworking are shown, enhancing the complexity of the male protagonist's character.

Of course, it is impossible for the movie to just keep showing the hero practicing martial arts in the mountains, so the [conflict introduction] stage soon begins.

At this time, the villain of the whole film appeared - "Multi-armed King Kong" Mao Tai.

This man was an old enemy of Li Ning, Zhou Chun and others, and was originally the leader of the Black Wind Village in the south.

Later, due to a conflict with Li and Zhou, Mao Tai's village was destroyed and he himself fled with serious injuries.

However, this escape allowed him to encounter the immortal, and he followed his master to live in seclusion in the mountains of the southwest, where he cultivated some powerful martial arts and magic.

Now Mao Tai has come out of seclusion, just on the orders of his master, and is preparing to go to Chengdu.

However, when passing by Mount Emei, he accidentally heard news about his old enemy in the village where Zhou Chun and others had previously lived.

Thus, the first conflict in the story naturally arose. As the villain, Mao Tai first ambushed Zhou Chun, who went down the mountain to buy supplies, near Mount Emei and injured him. Then he had a small fight with Li Ning, Zhou Qingyun and others.

In this battle plot of [conflict introduction], "Multi-armed King Kong" Mao Tai initially demonstrated his strength of "combining magic and martial arts".

Not only does he possess a protective aura that makes him invulnerable to swords and spears and has a special effect of a golden bell cover, he also masters the Vajra Palm Technique.

When this palm technique is used, it can produce a millstone-sized diamond palm print, which can be used for grabbing or slapping. It is extremely powerful, and even the hard bluestone is like tofu in his palm. Li Ning and others are naturally no match for him.

In the end, the protagonists were defeated by Mao Tai, who had already embarked on the path of spiritual practice. The first battle between the good and evil factions ended with Zhou Qingyun and his companions' tragic defeat.

Fortunately, the environment of Mount Emei is complex, with high mountains and dense forests. Zhou Qingyun and others took advantage of their familiarity with the terrain and successfully got rid of Mao Tai.

Fortunately, they met Yu Yingnan (played by Zhao Jinmai), a good friend of Li Yingqiong who she met in the mountains, and were treated by Master Guanghui of Jietuo Temple in Qianshan. Only then did they escape death.

However, Zhou Qingyun's father, Zhou Chun, suffered the most serious injuries after fighting the enemy twice. At the same time, the poison mixed in the Mao Tai Palm Technique also invaded his body and lungs.

Although the poison was not fatal, it was extremely tricky, and Zhou Chun's injuries could not be healed, forcing him to stay bedridden.

And now it’s time to transition.

On the one hand, Mao Tai searched for Li Ning and others in Mount Emei in vain, so he went to Chengdu to complete the task assigned by his master.

On the other hand, Li Ning, Zhou Qingyun and others also received guidance from Master Guanghui and learned that Zhou Chun was poisoned by the Golden Evil Poison.

There happened to be a Bi Bo Temple near Chengdu, where Master Guanghui's senior sister was practicing. She had a magical wine called "Zhu Ye Qing" in her hands, which might be effective for Zhou Chun's condition.

So Li Ning immediately decided to go to Chengdu to get the magical wine "Zhuyeqing" for his brother.

Originally, he planned to take only his daughter with him and leave Zhou Qingyun behind.

However, Zhou Chun entrusted his son to his good friend, and handed his family heirloom "Qingyu Sword" to Zhou Qingyun, admonishing him to be careful when traveling outside and not to forget his chivalrous heart.

In this way, Li Ning brought Zhou Qingyun and Li Yingqiong to Chengdu Prefecture.

However, the city is vast and Bibo Temple is not a well-known tourist attraction, so Li Ning and his two companions found it difficult to find it in a short time.

Fortunately, Li Ning was an old hand among the three. While imparting his experience in wandering the world to the two juniors, he also approached the local Beggars' Gang in Chengdu and used their power to obtain intelligence.

But even the Beggars' Sect did not know where the Bi Bo Temple was.

However, they did learn that a lot of strange and dangerous people had gathered in Chengdu Prefecture recently and had all moved into the famous Ciyu Temple outside the city.

And Mao Tai, who had previously had conflicts with them, was naturally also among this group of evil people.

As for why these people gathered here, even the people in the Beggars' Sect didn't know.

After learning the news, Li Ning guessed that these evil villains gathered together to plot something shameful, and his chivalrous heart naturally would not allow him to turn a blind eye.

The three of them continued to inquire about the news about Bi Bo Temple, and with the help of the Beggars' Sect, they targeted a young villain who had previously studied in Ciyu Temple and was now doing evil in the city.

Then the second exciting battle in the movie took place. The three men ambushed in a house and just stopped the evil young man who wanted to commit adultery.

The battle did not last long, and was mainly fought between Zhou Qingyun and the evil young man.

One of them used his family's sword skills, while the other used a folding fan, hidden weapon and lightness skills to fight the enemy.

Although their martial arts skills are nothing compared to those of masters like Mao Tai, Zhou Chun and Li Ning who have their own special effects, the realistic and thrilling battle plot still makes many people feel excited, and it also further establishes Zhou Qingyun's image as a young swordsman.

In the end, Zhou Qingyun and others successfully captured the evil young man and extracted a lot of useful information from him.

It turned out that the Ciyu Temple was a national temple worshipped by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty court. As the Yuan court had been in trouble recently and wars broke out everywhere, the abbot of the Ciyu Temple recruited many unorthodox masters from all sides and prepared to arrange for these masters to join the Yuan court in order to maintain the court's rule.

As for Mao Tai, he was also recruited and is now staying in Ciyu Temple.

Then the scene changed, and relying on the advantage of the enemy being in the open and our own being in the dark as well as the intelligence they had collected, Li Ning and his two companions ambushed Mao Tai.

This is also the second more exciting large-scale fighting scene in "Swords of Shu Mountain".

In the battle, Mao Tai still used the same method to fight the enemy, still relying on the protection of the golden bell and the might of the Vajra palm. He was just like his nickname "Eight-armed Vajra", sending golden palm prints flying all over the sky, giving Li Ning and Zhou Qingyun a great sense of oppression, and also making the audience's heartbeats stagnate. However, Wang Hao saw some shadows of Yan Zhendong in the movie "Huang Feihong: Top Gun" directed by Xu Ke in Mao Tai.

The only difference is that Mao Tai is stronger than Yan Zhendong, and his Golden Bell Qi may really be able to block musket bullets, but the template of the entire character is still very consistent.

After the second fight with the indestructible Mao Tai, Zhou Qingyun and others were still defeated and suffered serious injuries just like last time.

Fortunately, although Yu Yingnan did not come to rescue them this time, they accidentally broke into a maze while escaping, and the maze happened to be the Bi Bo Temple they had been looking for for a long time.

However, the nunnery did not contain the Master Guanghui's senior sister that they were looking for. Instead, there was an old man who was in charge of looking after the place and cleaning.

With the help of Master Guanghui's reputation, they successfully stayed in Bibo Temple.

The subsequent plot is a very common routine. Zhou Qingyun and others are recuperating in the Bi Bo Temple. The old man in the temple seems ordinary, but he is actually a hidden senior master. Under his guidance, Zhou Qingyun's swordsmanship level has greatly improved, and he has completely mastered the family inherited Bi Xue Dan Xin sword technique.

At the same time, during this training process, Zhou Qingyun also summed up his past experiences and realized that when he and others ambushed before, it was because of his recklessness and impulsiveness that led to the second failure.

Having learned from previous lessons, Zhou Qingyun finally completed the necessary growth of a young protagonist. Zhou Qingyun, Li Ning and Li Yingqiong, who had recovered to their best condition, attacked Mao Tai again.

This time, not only did Zhou Qingyun's martial arts improve, but his personality also became much more stable. He was no longer isolated from the team, but formed a tacit cooperation with the other two companions.

Especially Li Yingqiong, the two young men actually used a series of moves and fought back and forth with the powerful Mao Tai.

After a hard battle, Zhou Qingyun finally made a breakthrough. A cold green light rose from his sword and he threw it into the air. The family heirloom "Qingyu Sword" turned into a thunderbolt and pierced through Mao Tai's diamond-like protective aura, finally killing this powerful enemy.

At the end of the story, the injured Zhou Qingyun and the other two were lying in the woods, enjoying the rare peace after the battle.

However, Mao Tai's death angered an evil monk in Ciyu Temple.

This person cast a spell and a large cloud of blood-red flames turned into a huge strange hand that grabbed Zhou Qingyun and others.

The situation was extremely critical for a moment, but in the next second.

"Ride the sword and the wind to the nine states,

Free and unfettered in the world in a single thought;

The golden cup is filled with wine from all rivers and seas.

Drink the sun and swallow the moon. Don’t be idle. ”

Along with a poetic cry resounding through the woods, a pure green sword light as bright as the sun in the sky, spanning the sky, easily cutting off the demon's big hand, and then suddenly shrinking into a line, like a thunderbolt, and instantly disappearing into the air.

When he looked again, Zhou Qingyun and the other two who were lying on the ground had disappeared.

The sword energy is across the sky, moving freely and swiftly, like a dragon that can only be seen from the head but not the tail. This is the true style of a sword immortal.

Compared with this sword light, what Zhou Qingyun did just now could only be called sword throwing, sword throwing, and sword hurling, but it was far from being a flying sword.

When the audience saw this scene, many people stood up, applauded and cheered.

After so many years, they finally saw this scene on the big screen again.

There are very few domestic fantasy films, and those that are authentic, have both chivalry and fairy spirit, and carry a strong traditional flavor are even rarer.

That is to say, Xu Ke’s previous "The Legend of Zu" still has some of this flavor, but that was made more than 10 years ago.

China's movie special effects technology is obviously developing rapidly, with great progress in both scenes and investment. However, in the past decade or so, there has not been even a decent fantasy film. All that has been produced are just romance films that are not even as good as science fiction films.

After all, there are Wang Hao and the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" in science fiction movies, but few people are involved in fantasy themes.

This is clearly a traditional film theme unique to China, and a romance that is unique to the Chinese people.

If you say it is unpopular, just look at novel websites like Qidian and Xingyue. There are countless novels on the theme of fantasy and chivalrous. It can be said that it is the theme with the largest traffic and the most great writers.

It turns out that there was no success in the film industry, which is really a pity.

And now they finally saw on the big screen the scene they had imagined when reading fantasy novels.

Ride the sword with the wind to eliminate demons between heaven and earth!
Although this sword only appeared for a brief moment at the end of the movie, it was enough to inspire endless imagination.

So even though the story of "Swords of Shushan" is very simple and old-fashioned in the eyes of many people, the special effects and the ending scene alone are enough to make people feel that it is worth the price of the ticket.

Not to mention that "Swords of Shu Mountain" is not only outstanding in terms of special effects. The fighting scenes between Zhou Qingyun and others are also far more exciting than ordinary martial arts fights.

The film’s visual texture and costume and prop art style are also full of traditional Chinese elements and classical atmosphere.

It is better than those movies that are obviously Chinese in theme, but with Japanese-style costumes and Western-style buildings on the screen.

It can be said that it gives the audience a completely different visual enjoyment, activating the Chinese aesthetic concepts passed down by their Chinese ancestors in their genes.

In a box high up in the screening room, Wang Hao and the top leader nodded in unison after watching the movie, and they were both quite satisfied with “Swords of Shu Mountain”.

In the opinion of the big boss, the style of this movie is different from the Galaxy Group's flagship "Galaxy Cinematic Universe", and its production level is equally excellent, fully demonstrating that Wang Hao and his company's film industrialization system is indeed extremely effective and can be applied to the shooting and production of various film themes, rather than just science fiction films.

In addition, the Chinese aesthetics of "Swords of Shu Mountain" is completely different from that of other fantasy films, and it also happens to fit in with the current trend of retro aesthetics in the domestic cultural field.

If the film can be released overseas, it will be able to spread China's traditional culture and classical literary style. It can also be regarded as a part of the cultural overseas strategy advocated by the cultural department and can be regarded as part of the political achievement.

In Wang Hao's opinion, although the movie "Swords of Shushan" is not that amazing and it is not a groundbreaking work, but as the opening work of the "Shushan Cinematic Universe", it has successfully completed its mission.

First, it successfully introduced some characters in the movie universe, and then it set a tone for the art style of the entire movie series. At the same time, the stunning sword at the end of the movie also lifted a corner of the curtain of the world of swordsmen, aroused the interest of the audience, and paved the way for subsequent movies in the same series. This is enough.

The current focus of Galaxy Group is still the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe]. The reason why the [Shushan Cinematic Universe] was launched at the same time is more of an attempt and exploration of another style, while cultivating talents at the same time. In this case, steady and cautious is the best strategy.

Galaxy Pictures is not considering the idea of ​​being as eager for quick success as DC, hoping to create a successful movie universe with just a few movies.

Therefore, he is very satisfied that "Swords of Shushan" has reached its current level of completion, with new wine in the bottle without making people hate it. At the same time, he also has a certain recognition of Xu Ke's personal ability.

(End of this chapter)