The last thing powerful cultivator Gong Wei remembers before his death is bleeding out beneath his archenemy Xu Shuangce's infamous blade--the sword known as No Way Out. The weapon should have annihilated his soul forever, so when Gong Wei awakens sixteen years later in the body of a beautiful but witless young male disciple, no one is more surprised than he is.

Determined to hide his true identity lest Xu Shuangce return to finish the job, the mischievous Gong Wei attaches himself to two young cultivators traveling to investigate a string of horrific deaths in the nearby city of Linjiang. Yet what he finds there is even more shocking: The mysterious murderer appears to be impersonating none other than Gong Wei himself. And the closer Gong Wei comes to uncovering the killer's identity, the more questions arise about the events surrounding his death--and what truly happened between him and Xu Shuangce sixteen years ago.

The Sword Named No Way Out: Jian Ming Bu Nai He has a story by Huai Shang and art by Bakuten. English translation is done by Foxghost with an adaptation by Nikki Zielinski. Published by Seven Seas Entertainment (November 3, 2026).

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Part mystery, part romance, part supernatural thriller and part comedy, Huai Shang's The Sword Named No Way Out: Jian Ming Bu Nai He has many highs and lows.

The story begins with the soul of a powerful cultivator who was cruelly struck down in (I was going to say “his prime, but we are repeatedly told that the cultivators are many years older than they look) a tragic moment, and has suddenly found himself reborn into the lowest of the novices in the sect controlled by his murderer.

Gong Wei's new life begins with a different mystery, however. A malevolent spirit is causing people to die horrific deaths and Gong Wei in the body of young yin-aligned Xiang Xiaoyuan, called a “charm imp” but we can see that's probably just a label for his intellectual disability, along with two young cultivators must solve the mystery. They do, but that leads into another mystery…and another…each one getting closer, maybe to the events of sixteen years ago.

Highpoints of this book are when the first mystery has been resolved, at least temporarily, we take a foray into the many scandalous fanfictions written about the main characters. These novellas and operas, we are told are popular with the townspeople, and available in every bookstore. The section is mortifying, very silly and leaves as much of a wake in the story as the malevolent spirit's actions does.

Everything here is connected. It all works when Xiang Xiaoyuan is playing the fool and comedy is the main point of the story. It's a little less great when events become portentous and the confrontations with Xu Shuangce are mostly just him glowering grimly while everyone else flings themselves around. The only point off is Gong Wei in Xiang Xiaoyuan is explicitly said to be a teen, while Xu Shuangce is explicitly an adult, which I found very uncomfortable.

On the positive side, illustrations by Bakuten are some of the best I have seen in a light novel, illustrating the scene, with characters who look as they are described in the story. I'd call this an uneven, but occasionally very funny, entertaining story that would make a great live-action series.