Compared with popular works such as "Tianlong Eight Parts", "Legend of the Archery Hero", "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu" and so on, Jin Yong's "Liancheng Tips" is much less popular, not a martial arts fan, probably do not know that there is such a martial arts novel. The fundamental reason is that the stories in "The Secret of the City" are too depressing and dark, so that many readers are discouraged.
Jin Yong made a very bold attempt in "The Secret of The City", he thoroughly exposed and criticized the dark side of human nature. This novel is very different from Jin Yong's other novels, except for a few people who are good people, the others are almost all bad people, evil people, and villains, which can be called a "bad people's base camp".
The protagonist of "Lian Cheng Zhi" Di Yun, originally a country boy, with a difficult mind, honest and thick, but just because he followed his master into the city, his fate was completely changed, he was persecuted by the father and son of Wan Zhenshan, went to prison, was worn pipa bone, and then wandered into the rivers and lakes, mistakenly entered the blood knife gate, and died in the Snow Valley.
Along the way, he had seen too many bad people, from Wan Zhenshan to Ling Huisi to Hua Tiegan to the Blood Knife Old Ancestor, everyone was a complete evil person. What made Di Yun even more unexpected was that the master Qi Longhair, who had raised him to teach him martial arts, was also a bad guy.
In the novel, Jin Yong spent a considerable amount of pen and ink to create two villains with distinct characteristics. One is the novel's number one villain, the Blood Knife Ancestor. This person is the fourth generation leader of the Blood Knife Gate, who is extremely skilled in martial arts, killing people like hemp and killing people. Although the Blood Knife Ancestor was a bad person, he was so bad that he was "bright and righteous", and he could even be called a "gentleman" among the wicked.
The opposite of the Blood Knife Ancestor is Hua Tiegan, who is the evil man among the "gentlemen". Hua Tiegan was originally one of the most famous Nansiqi in the jianghu, a leader of the southern martial arts, and was deeply supported by the jianghu people. However, in the Battle of the Snow Valley on the Tibetan Side, when Hua Tiegan witnessed the death of his three brothers in the treacherous plan of the Blood Knife Ancestor, he actually knelt down to the Blood Knife Ancestor and surrendered to the Blood Knife Ancestor in order to survive. Compared with the badness of the Blood Knife Ancestor's "bright and righteous", the darkness in Hua Tiegan's heart is even more heinous.
In Jin Yong's works, "Lian Cheng" and "Chivalrous Journey" are two opposite novels, they are like mirrors facing each other. The rivers and lakes in these two books are very similar, both are bad people in charge, and good people are difficult to be. Looking at the past from Di Yun's eyes, the rivers and lakes are full of bad people, his eyes are like a mirror of demons, seeing so thoroughly, seeing so deeply and hatefully; and looking at the past from the eyes of Shi Shaotian, the protagonist of "Chivalrous Journey", the rivers and lakes are full of good people, his eyes are like a kaleidoscope, no matter what the reality is, for him, it is beautiful.
Many people are reluctant to watch "Lian Cheng Ti" because the story of "Lian Cheng Ti" is too depressing. More people are still willing to read romantic martial arts novels such as "The Legend of the Eagle Hero" and "The Condor Hero", although there are also bad people in it, but there are more good people in the end, although there are also sinister rivers and lakes, but there is also a beautiful love.
After I got tired of watching Jin Yong's other works, I had a strong interest in the novel "Lian Cheng Tiao", and I read it several times, and each time I read it, I had a different thought. Fortunately, in the history of martial arts novels, there is an alternative work like "Lian Cheng Tiao", and its significance is extraordinary.