The Thunder Spell - Hanson Chan - Bog

This is a novel based on a religious feud between the Taoists and the Buddhists in the Mongol period of China. The story of Hua Hu, Book 1 & 2, in English editions are the complete translations of the Chinese versions of Hua Hu, Book 1 & 2, which were previously published in 2006. In real history, "Hua Hu" or "Lao Tzu's Hua Hu Jing" was the name for a once very popular Taoist scripture, which circulated in ancient China. And, originally, it was written by a Taoist named Wang Fou in 305 A.D., its main contents were a narration of Lao Tzu's West Journey after he had finished Tao Te Ching and exited on an ox through the gate that later became part of the Great Wall. However, the book quickly became valuable as well as controversial due to an alleged conviction inside the text that Lao Tzu's westward journey eventually went to India and enlisted Sakyamuni (the founder of Buddhism) as his disciple. This sparked off a long debate over the issue between Taoists and Buddhists on whether it was fact or fiction. For the next nine hundred years, the center issue kept intensifying yet remained unsettled. Meanwhile the Taoist scripture Lao Tzu's Hua Hu Jing circulated and popular from the fourth to the thirteenth centuries in China. And, its contents also kept enlarging. Then, during the early part of the Mongol period, it suddenly suffered a series of banning and burning officially by the decree of the emperor in three occasions...... Why was it banned and burned and how was that happened becomes the main story of Hanson Chan's two novels of martial arts on this particular subject.