山海行戏

A wanderer’s guide

Your journey begins in the city. Try a craft, explore the streets, then venture into the mountains.

Explore

Click the ground or use WASD to move. On a phone, tap your destination.

Gather & recruit

Click trees, rocks, and herbs for supplies. Bring food to recruit wandering followers.

Lead your band

Click enemies to attack. Right-click, or hold on touch screens, for rally commands. Escape recalls your band.

Make a life

Fish, farm, and paint in the city. Open Items to use your equipment, and Followers to arm your followers.

Rest & return

At home, closing the tab parks your life. In the field, your body sleeps for a minute. Return to continue your journey.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas

The Shan Hai Jing (山海經) is an ancient Chinese text of geography and myth, compiled by many hands over centuries, roughly between the 4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE. Its authorship is unknown. It is organized into books of Mountains (山經) covering five great regions, and books of Seas and Lands (海經, 荒經) beyond them — each entry naming a place, and often the plants, minerals, and strange creatures or spirits found there.

山海行 turns a slice of that catalogue into a place you can walk through. Below are the creatures from the text that appear in the game, with their classical lore and where you'll meet them.

燭龍 Zhulong

The Torch Dragon: a vast dragon of Zhongshan whose open eyes bring day and whose shut eyes bring night, whose breath makes winter and summer. In-game: a mythic beast that dims the world when it wakes, found near Kunlun.

鯤 Kun

A fish of unknowable size in the northern sea, which transforms into the giant bird Peng. In-game: a mythic sea beast, found only in deep water off Donghai.

九尾狐 Nine-Tailed Fox

A nine-tailed fox of Qingqiu, said to cry like an infant and, in later legend, to charm and devour. In-game: the mythic ruler of the fox realm, and the ordinary fox-spirits that roam its roads.

應龍 Yinglong

The Winged Dragon, who helped the Yellow Emperor defeat Chiyou by holding back the waters, and who brings rain. In-game: a mythic dragon holding its own flooded basin.

相柳 Xiangliu

A nine-headed serpent minister of the flood-god Gonggong, whose touch poisoned the earth it slithered over. In-game: a legendary beast whose bite carries lingering poison.

饕餮 Taotie

A gluttonous face with no body, famed on ancient bronzes, devouring endlessly and never satisfied. In-game: a legendary beast that devours what it strikes.

畢方 Bifang

A one-legged bird associated with strange fires, said to appear where flame breaks out. In-game: a legendary bird that fights with fire.

檮杌 Taowu

One of the "Four Perils," a stubborn, tiger-bodied beast standing for irredeemable evil in old chronicles. In-game: a legendary beast that wears foes down through sheer attrition.

窮奇 Qiongqi

Another of the Four Perils: a winged tiger that was said, perversely, to reward the wicked and punish the honest. In-game: a legendary beast with that same contrary streak.

玄武 Xuanwu

The Black Tortoise (paired with a snake), guardian of the north among the Four Symbols. In-game: an island-sized tortoise that, once bested, guards its home for the clan that broke it.

精衛 Jingwei

A daughter of the Fiery Emperor, drowned in the eastern sea and reborn as a bird who forever carries twigs and stones to fill it in. In-game: a rare shorebird that carries resources.

白猿 White Ape

A great white ape of the foothills, known in old tales for its speed and cunning. In-game: a rare beast that leaps to close distance.

旋龜 Xuangui

A "spinning turtle" of the coasts with a bird's head and a viper's tail, whose call sounds like a chopped block, said to ward off flooding. In-game: a rare, armored turtle of the shore.

鹿蜀 Luzhu

A horse-bodied, tiger-striped creature with a dragon's tail, said to grant many children to whoever wears its pattern. In-game: a rare forest beast.

并封 Bingfeng

A boar-shaped creature with a head at each end, described in the Classic's western regions. In-game: a rare twin-headed beast of the plains.

犰狳 Qiuyu

A hedgehog-like creature said to feign death when threatened. In-game: a rare beast that does the same.

蠱雕 Gudiao

A hooked-beaked bird of prey, part leopard, said to have a cry that could summon others to hunt. In-game: a rare flying beast that lures its foes.

白澤 Baize

A wise beast, said to speak with a human voice and know and name every spirit under heaven — it once counseled the Yellow Emperor. In-game: a peaceful legendary beast that shares knowledge and never fights.

Highest climbers

The best level each wanderer has ever reached, over every life.

Make yourself at home

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