General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng (凤舞九天)

The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng (凤舞九天) is a Chinese costume wuxia television series adapted from Gu Long's novel series The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng (陆小凤传奇), starring Gong Jun (龚俊) as the wandering swordsman-detective Lu Xiaofeng, produced by Linmon Pictures and Tencent Video, and scheduled for exclusive streaming on Tencent Video in 2027.¹^•² The Chinese title translates roughly as "The Phoenix Dances Across the Nine Heavens."

Key fact	Detail
Adapted from	Gu Long's novel 凤舞九天, the sixth book of the 陆小凤传奇 series, published in 1978³
Production	Linmon Pictures (柠萌影视), its subsidiary Qingningmeng, and Tencent Video; exclusive Tencent Video broadcast⁴
Lead creative team	Screenwriter Ren Zhuangliu (任庄柳), director Zhou Jingtao (周靖韬), chief producers Qi Shuai (齐帅) and Fang Yanzhi (方晏之)⁴
Format	40 episodes, twelve unit mystery cases within an overarching conspiracy⁵^•⁶
Filming	Began March 6, 2026 in Alxa; wrapped July 27, 2026 after 141 days⁷^•⁸
Cast	Gong Jun as Lu Xiaofeng; Zheng Yecheng as Ximen Chuixue; Quan Yilun as Hua Manlou; with Riley Wang (Wang Yilun), Chen Qiao'en, He Zhonghua and others²
Release	Planned 2027, Tencent Video exclusive²

Spoilers

Premise

The drama is set in a jianghu plagued by unsolved cases. Wuwang Pavilion (无妄阁), the power that sits at the head of the martial world, commissions Lu Xiaofeng to investigate a series of extraordinary mysteries, staking a divine medicine that can cure blindness.⁷ Lu Xiaofeng accepts in order to cure his best friend Hua Manlou (花满楼), a blind detective.⁷

His investigations carry him through a chain of locations, from exotic flower gu poison (poison made from venomous creatures in Chinese folklore) in Shuzhou to the Silver Hook gambling house in Xuezhou, ghostly apparitions in Lingzhou, a drifting whale-sea case in Quzhou, a hermit's island in Lingzhou, and a sinister inn in the sands of Liangzhou; each case is stranger than the last, and the number of victims rises with each stop.⁷ The series is structured as twelve unit cases threaded onto a main plotline in which Lu Xiaofeng, working with his circle of friends, exposes a hidden conspiracy that threatens the entire martial world.⁶^•⁹ Promotional material describes the cases as twelve "Chinese-style Cthulhu" mysteries.²

Cast and characters

Gong Jun leads as Lu Xiaofeng, the quick-witted hero known for his mustache, nicknamed "four eyebrows," and for his signature technique the Lingxi Finger (灵犀一指).¹^•² Around him the series assembles the classic circle from the novels: Zheng Yecheng (郑业成) plays the sword god Ximen Chuixue (西门吹雪), Quan Yilun (全伊伦) plays the blind detective Hua Manlou, and the cast also includes Riley Wang (王以纶), Chang Long (昌隆), Li Qing (李卿), Chen Qiao'en (陈乔恩), He Zhonghua (何中华), Qiu Xinzhi and others in leading and special appearances.²^•¹⁰ In the story Lu Xiaofeng joins forces with the sharp-sensed Hua Manlou, the sword god Ximen Chuixue, the master thief Sikong Zhaxing, the mechanism expert Zhu Ting, and the leader of the Wan Gui Sheng cult, Yu Luocha, to crack the cases and defend the peace of the jianghu.¹¹

Source novel

The series takes its title from 凤舞九天, the sixth installment of Gu Long's Lu Xiaofeng series, published in 1978. A textual study on the Gulong wuxia forum infers from the writing style that Gu Long's own portion was probably composed around 1973, matching the style of the five preceding books, and argues that the title 凤舞九天 was likely not Gu Long's own choice, with 隐形的人 (The Invisible Man) better fitting the book as the author intended.³ The circulating editions, including the Taiwan Fengyun and Hong Kong Tiandi editions and mainland Chinese editions, all present a complete story under the 凤舞九天 title.³

Production

Linmon Pictures announced in a company notice that filming officially began on March 6, 2026, in Alxa, Inner Mongolia, with the series produced by Linmon, its subsidiary Qingningmeng, and Tencent Video.⁴^•⁷ The project had been registered with 40 episodes and a planned first-quarter 2026 start.⁵

Filming spanned winter and summer. The production shot for 141 days across desert locations in Alxa and the Hengdian studios, using real desert, snowfield, and mountain-forest scenery to build the jianghu atmosphere, before wrapping on July 27, 2026.⁸^•²^•⁹ Director Zhou Jingtao previously worked on the costume drama A Journey to Love (一念关山) and is described as experienced in martial-arts action and ensemble storytelling; screenwriter Ren Zhuangliu previously wrote Story of Kunning Palace (宁安如梦).⁸ Stills released during filming emphasized the characters' signature looks and a substantial share of fight scenes.⁹

A first trailer was released at Tencent's June 2026 conference through the Linmon Pictures channel, and the series entered post-production after the wrap.¹⁰^•¹² Gong Jun, speaking in a brand livestream in May 2026 while filming was about half done, called the script unusually solid and described his Lu Xiaofeng as "the smartest man under heaven," with each unit blending detective work, comedy, plot twists, and emotional beats.¹³

Context among wuxia adaptations

The announcement drew debate among fans of the earlier screen versions of the character, with younger viewers focused on the leads' screen appeal while longtime wuxia fans compared the new version against the portrayals of Alex Man (万梓良) and Julian Cheung (张智霖).¹⁴ The same commentary places the series in a wider wave of Jin Yong, Gu Long, Liang Yusheng, and Wen Rui'an adaptations in development, and notes that xianxia and costume-romance dramas have largely displaced straight wuxia as the mainstream of costume programming in recent years, with recent wuxia remakes often falling short of expectations in both heat and reputation.¹⁴ Coverage of the wrap also noted that the discussion revived interest in the older adaptations and 4K-restored versions of the source material.¹⁵

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026