Martial arts novelists are probably knights... If there are no knights, then novels cannot be called martial arts novels. The one that is closer to martial arts novels is "Water Margin", but we do not read it as martial arts novels because it does not write stories about the martial arts stories or martial arts ecology. Only when writing about martial arts and martial arts can we be called martial arts novels.

Among the fifteen-dimensional works of Lao Jin, the concepts of the Chinese heroes are different in each. If we sort them according to the time of creation, we will see an interesting phenomenon: the concepts of martial arts in Jin’s works are self-organized and constantly changing.

Let’s talk about the Book of Changes first. This is Lao Jin’s martial arts debut. It should be said that the concept of “hero” in this book inherits the concept of chivalrous by Liang Yusheng, the pioneer of the new martial arts,: sword and courage, both civil and military, and chivalrous deeds such as seeing injustice. This is also the standard definition of heroes in traditional Chinese martial arts works.

"Shooting": It was not until this time that Lao Jin's creative style changed drastically, and he truly formed his own Jin's martial arts routine, and finally established the martial arts concept of "for the country and the people, the greatest heroes". This has a profound impact and was even widely accepted by readers, becoming one of the most important criteria for judging heroes. Later, Yuan Chengzhi, Xiao Feng, Zhang Wuji, Chen Jinnan and others could all be classified into this category. At this point, Lao Jin formed his first complete concept of heroes: Confucian heroes. The characteristics of Confucian heroes are socially-oriented, everywhere He was willing to sacrifice himself for his family, country and the country and the people. Jin Yong also allowed Confucian heroes to enter history to a certain extent, and participated in the process of defending the country and resisting aggression. For example, Chen Jialuo's anti-Qing and restoring the Ming Dynasty; Yuan Chengzhi was Yuan Chonghuan's son, who transported military salaries for Li Zicheng; Xiao Feng became the king of the Southern Court of the Liao Kingdom, etc. It should be pointed out that most of Lao Jin's works were entangled in the invasion and anti-aggression struggle between the Han people and other ethnic minorities, one was because there were stories to write in these periods, and the other was that there were inevitably differences between the barbarians and the Xia in the books.

"God": Jin Yong's style has changed again here. If Guo Jing is the image of a traditional Confucian hero, then Yang Guo is a Taoist hero: a wild and unruly image, a pursuit of freedom of personality, is not bound by tradition, and does everything willfully. Linghu Chong can also be included in this list. However, Yang Guo's personality later regressed to the realm of a Confucian hero, which is inevitably regretful.

Let’s talk about “Xia”. Shi Potian is a person with no name, no surname, no knowledge, no desires and no desires, and the standard image of “Buddha”. This transitions to the realm of Buddhist heroes. The Buddhist hero does not have the consciousness of chivalrousness in his heart, and does not do chivalrous things for the word chivalrousness, but his actions do not deviate from the moral standards of chivalrousness. In this book, we cannot see Shi Potian talking about national justice and for the country and the people, but his actions still allow us to see the spirit of chivalrousness. Di Yun can also be classified as such.

Lao Jin's ultimate transcendence and rebellion against the concept of heroes was in "The Deer". In "The Deer", there was also a hero, Chen Jinnan. But what did this hero do? Although he was busy, traveling around the world and persistently rebelling against the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, he ended up being mediocre and accomplishing nothing. Here, martial arts has lost its original meaning: to wipe out all the unfair things in the world and save the people of the world. The one who can truly play this role is no longer the heroes of the martial arts world, but the ruling class and state institutions that live above the temple. There is a passage in the book that roughly means this. Kangxi said, "You kill corrupt officials in martial arts and save the people, but even if you kill ten thousand corrupt officials, is it worth my edict that will never be added?

Can the task of rescuing the people be solved by knights? Here, Jin Yong has denied the meaning of knights. What can truly save people is not the individual behavior of one or two knights, but an enlightened government and a good political system. Therefore, the real hero is not Guo Jing, not Chen Jinnan, but Kangxi.

At this point, the story of martial arts has been written, the definition of hero has been dissolved, and the meaning of hero has been rejected. Orthodox martial arts novels have reached their peak and cannot be surpassed. Perhaps, Jin Yong was the one who had denied martial arts, and he could no longer surpass himself. In fact, Jin Yong is unable to surpass anyone, and Jin Yong's concept of "hero" cannot be surpassed. Anyone who wrote about heroes after Jin Yong was all circled within Jin Yong's concept of "hero". Because Jin Yong's martial arts realm has been separated from "hero", others are still tirelessly writing "hero", and it is not at the same level as Jin Yong's ideological realm, so how can they surpass it?
Chapter completed!