An absolutely delightful read - witty and dramatic and intriguing all at once. It has that playful-yet-perilous tone that reminds me of The Princess Bride, while subverting most of the western fantasy tropes in favor of Asian ones. It also feels like something written by Terry Pratchett's Chinese twin brother. This is the kind of thing I am talking about:

For practical purposes the lake had no bottom at all, and Master Li turned bright red while he scorched the air with the Sixty Sequential Sacrileges with which he had won the all-China Freestyle Blasphemy Competition in Hangchow three years in a row.

Amazing.