I remember when I was very young (just transitioning from diapers to regular pants), my favorite movies were martial arts films, and my favorite TV shows were also martial arts dramas. Back then, I always thought that the sword-wielding and knife-holding knights on the screen were so majestic, so handsome, their fights so thrilling, and their flying abilities so impressive.
I believe many boys have had similar experiences during childhood - after watching a martial arts TV series, they would take up wooden sticks as makeshift swords and guns and engage in fierce battles with their friends. Everyone would fantasize about being a kung fu master, the best in the world, capable of effortlessly performing moves like the "Nine Swords of Dugu" or the "Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms" (I recently heard that Mr. Jin is going to upgrade this skill to thirty-six palms?). It's somewhat similar to Shinchan from "Crayon Shin-chan," who would often perform the "Dynamic Superhuman Wave Fist."
Later, I started reading martial arts novels by Jin Yong, Gu Long, Liang Yusheng, and the eccentric Huang Yi, such as "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," "The Return of the Condor Heroes," "Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber," "The Deer and the Cauldron," "Sword of Little Li," "Traces of Heroes," "Storming the Skies," and even online works like "Heroic Ambition" and "So Many Beauties in the World." Gradually, my appreciation for martial arts evolved from simply enjoying the fighting scenes to understanding the culture and spirit behind martial arts.
At this point, watching martial arts movies and TV shows evoked a different kind of sentiment. I no longer just made noises like "hmm haa" or "yi ya oh ya."
Looking at a swordsman carrying a long sword walking towards the sunset in the desert, I felt his silhouette was filled with loneliness and沧桑(cangsang - vicissitudes);
Watching knights laugh heartily into the sky without fear when facing strong enemies, I felt my blood boil and my courage soar;
Seeing lovers unable to be together, or great knights with unmatched martial skills meeting tragic ends, I couldn't help but feel the helplessness of being caught in the江湖(jianghu - martial world).
Thus, when listening to martial arts songs, it was no longer just about whether they sounded good or not. More importantly, it was a feeling, an ambiance. The feeling of the jianghu, the ambiance of martial arts.
Closing my eyes, listening to one martial arts song after another, some gentle, some sorrowful, some invigorating, some tender, I once again envisioned that bloody and stormy jianghu, that world of swift retribution, that realm of chivalrous sentiments, that desolate and helpless jianghu...