The Wandering Maiden's Travel Guide

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Life sure snuck up on me…

I was comfortable. Bored, but comfortable. Days went by, never changing. Lesson after lesson, preparing for something that might never be. Music, literature, martial arts: all the thing a hero should be good at. After all, what is a hero who can’t protect the weak? Who cannot compose a beautiful ballad or write a breath-taking poem?

Me! I’m certainly no hero…

I thought I was going to be an official, or maybe an instructor at the academy. My father, the brains of this operation, had other plans. Sure, I snuck out to find some excitement, but who hasn’t broken the rules once or twice? He decided it was time to find my place in the world, but I’m sure he had his own motivations hidden behind that loving smile of his.

We left home for the first time, and to see a dragon! The Great Dragon, Ruyilong, to be precise. Granter of wishes and reader of fates! So, what did fate have in store for me? Challenges. Struggles. Nothing but trouble. I’d need friends, allies, and mentors; people who could help me succeed when I might otherwise fail. According to my father: I needed some place to be safe.

Now look at me! A cultivator? Me!? It’s almost a joke…

Or maybe it is an opportunity? An opportunity to do all that I missed, seek all that I sought! I could become whoever I want, do whatever I want — I could become a hero! But the life of a hero seems too stressful for me, for someone whose fate is already filled with strife.

No, I think I’ll travel. Once I’ve completed my lessons, I’m going to see the empire! I’ll experience everything there is to do, and see all there is to see. I’ll taste the food, dance the dances, revel in the music, and meet all of the people. I’ll even write it all down. The Wandering Maiden's Travel Guide!

Now wouldn’t that be something?

WMTG updates on:Monday, 8 AM CST, because you deserve to start the week off with something good.Thursday, 4 PM CST, which will be additional chapters as I have them available.Most Thursdays should have something.

Name & Setting Guides:To help all readers, I add a guide at the end of each chapter that will give a brief description of each character and how they are relevant. It will also cover other things that might need it. Some chapters will also have trivia sections that add detail regarding unique components of the world, or how I've used historical things derived from ancient China in the story.

Content Warnings:-First Person Perspective. I love it, some people don't. I use an unreliable narrator for the main character through a first person perspective. All other characters use third person.-Present Tense Prose. Most people are not familiar with present tense prose. Third person is far more common, especially in web novels. There is no reason to feel bad passing by if you think this will be an issue. You may read the first chapter to get an idea of how you will do with these two features.-Multiple Perspectives. I switch perspectives between the main character, Zhou Ran, and Xin Fengxian, a secondary protagonist of sorts rather frequently. Other side characters also carry the perspective from time-to-time.What to Expect:-Historical Authenticity. I strive for historical authenticity. I put a lot of time into researching ancient Chinese history and culture to ensure that my content is as accurate as I can make it, while still taking some liberties where needed.-In-depth Cultivation. I have gone to great lengths to build a very expansive, well-documented cultivation system that will be familiar, yet unique. It will be presented in a manner that lets you learn alongside Zhou Ran, so even people unfamiliar with the genre should feel welcome and comfortable.-War, Romance, and More. WMTG is a very diverse story, with an emphasis on showcasing the world and the changes it endures, plus how the stories of the various characters are shaped by it. You'll get everything. War, intrigue, romance, adventure, drama, and mystery. It'll all be there.-Tropes, and my Defiance. You will find all sorts of common tropes in the story, but also the way I defy them. I put unique spins and twists on them, or just apply them so effectively that they feel fresh despite being commonly listed as the most over-done components of the genre.

WMTG is a sort of labor of love. I've been working on it for a while now, and it is the first story I've published, self- or otherwise, so I am pretty excited about it. I cherish all my readers, and I will always do my best to respond to any questions or comments that you leave, so feel free to do so.

Thank you for givingThe Wandering Maiden's Travel Guidea chance!

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2025
Author: H. R. M. Fairemont

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 205
Views: 31,778

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

ButtopiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is some of the better-structured work I've read. The author's attention to both craft and detail is very well done. The story flows incredibly naturally. I'm always a fan of anyone who takes the time to complete author's notes with character's names and info as well. This is very much worthy anyone's time to give a read-through.
Chele42Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is not my usual lit RPG, but I saw it and thought it might be interesting. I was right, it is very interesting and the author explains things in a way that I can understand what’s going on. I really am enjoying the storyline, and the characters. I’m finding it to be quite well written, very few if any grammatical errors.
I really don’t mind the changing perspectives from one character to another, because I know in the real world there’s always something going on elsewhere that’s going to affect me.
GootsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Really enjoying the characters and political implications in the story so far. The writing flows really well from the characters perspectives and the story is very intriguing. Dialogue feels natural and the characters feel real and unique. Rivals most published fiction works in writing quality so far and I look forward to reading more.
N.P. KnightRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Only a short ways in but I can already see that WMTG is going to take up a huge chunk of my free time, so I can devour as much as the author is will to put out. The writing style is unique and easy to understand, the characters resonate and feel so real, the plot makes sense and is engaging. It ticks all the boxes for me. And especially considering the fact that it's a FMC in a traditional male dominated genre, it just goes to show how talented our storyteller is about getting you invested in the world they created. What more can you possibly ask for?
I'm not as well versed into XianXia as I would like to be and I'm sure that's the case for many readers on this platform, to that end, I want to praise the author on how easy they've made it that even a dumb mech author like me can understand it.
Will this be everyone's cup of tea? No, but nothing ever is. But for those of you out there, who consider the genre their cup of tea, you can't go wrong with this story. I can only hope the author keeps the steam flowing for when I eventually reach the end and am fiending for more.
Salty_ClankerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
They share their writing with me over discord and this isn't her first work, but her latest.
Faire's writing is certainly improving in a variety of aspects. This work so far is not only her longest continued piece but also it's most in depth. They've made considerable effort in keeping with this story.
It's better than your typical fanfiction and I say amateur (in a good way) level of writing. Steadily improving as they continue to become a professional. The vocabulary and grammar is diverse and not repetitive. Plot and characters while not my personal cup of tea, are entertaining enough to have kept me reading and wondering where this story goes. I super appreciate the notes at the bottom because I'm an American and screw me trying to remember Chinese names. (I never got into wu-shu or manwha fiction, so i am less explored in this genre, But i have played the pen and paper RPG Exalted)
My notes to the author, don't give up and this and see it to the end.
TheMightyBlooRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don’t believe Ive seen better fights written out. Very easy to follow and very detailed with the fight scenes.
Story is littered with interesting characters that I want to learn more about and see more of.
The plot currently is a growing and interesting mix of classic adventure and intrigue. Deep enough to keep you wondering where it’ll go, but not so complicated to lose my interest!
Keep going! Love it so far!
WeavervaleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have to say that this is probably one of the best things I've read this year and I'm going to give it a five on everything. Basically, the entire writing style shows whether the author understands what's going on here. The entire grammar structure, story everything works together really well. The grammars of 5 out of five. Absolutely no problems with that. The store is excellent and I've already talked to the author about like how she could possibly make it a little bit better, but as it is it's this is probably better than most of the things that I can see on the shelf at a bookstore.
I don't really have a higher bar for that. In fact, the characters are so strong, especially establishing the scene and what they are and who they are and how they do things that I would say that this is just a good example of how to write this type of story in a way that will draw some with attention and keep it.
Also, I'm a big fan of our protagonist here and her her absolute desire to get out of her house and do something strange. I would highly recommend this. Don't wait to read it.
nmreaderRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The attention to detail and ability to weave a narrative from multiple viewpoints leads to a great read. There are many places where you can get lost in the world, feel the emotion of the characters, and grow impatient for the next chapter.
From someone who doe not read much (if any) Xianxia novels, the writer knows how to tell a story for anyone to enjoy.
whatisthisanoveleforantsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I'm not the biggest fan of Xianxia but had seen this talked about in a few spots. There's an elegance to this story that actually inspired me to make an account to comment on it.
I'm not the biggest fan of the first person perspective or present tense, but Fairemomt does a good job at maintaining her prose in a fairly impressive way.
danlern2Royal Road
★★★ 2.5
I'm not great at explaining stuff, but I'll do my best to be constructive.
There are many occasions where the dialogue or story feels halting. A character will say something kind of aimlessly, not in words but in feeling, or the flavor text will be lacking to properly describe the scene leading to a sense of blandness.
The best example i can think of is when han zhiren is being healed, and he's talking with the fox lady. It's hard to determine who he's talking to at first, because it mentions the old man healing him before speaking to somebody we don't yet know is there, and we only know it's the lady after a few sentences.
The next issue is the immaturity of the characters. The main character is actually the most normally written, with a very non-ancient-eastern spirit to her. A free-spirited young woman who doesn't stand on politeness too much. However, she's actually way too normal for a person that's never been let outside her house. She's not anxious of meeting people, she's not scared of leaving her home for the first time, and she knows too much about societal norms she's never been exposed to. She doesn't feel at all like her character-type dictates.
Everyone else seems to follow the typical Chinese novel tropes, but poorly. Supposedly intelligent characters like the prince feel like bumbling fools who wouldn't know an idiom of it slapped him in the face, as it did in the recent chapter I read.
We also had a chapter following the POV of a senior cultivator dude, and his inner monologue is just incredibly...immature. I don't have a better word to describe it, but I don't think it quite fits. The words just don't match his supposed status and the weight of the situation.
Lastly, everything is just incredibly bland. There are multiple POVs and I don't have a reason to care about any of them. Half the words feel like dead space and the plot is disjointed. There shouldn't be 5 character POVs before the plot even happens to the main character! Let the story start