Since Ann Hui’s 1987 adaptation of The Book and the Sword, no female director has tackled the genre of wuxia for a major film (unless you count Kung Fu Panda 2). Li Fangfang, who first won the prestigious Golden Eagle Award for a script she wrote in high school, is not afraid to try.

Earlier this year, director Li Fangfang (Forever Young, Heaven Eternal Earth Everlasting) and the guiding light to my soul announced the two projects she’s currently working on – ancient drama Sage 士 and wuxia Sword 剑来 (rough English translation of titles by me). Although, given how it took six years for her last film took to screen, it might be many years before we see either film.

Based on the book of the same name by Feng Huo Xi Zhu Hou 烽火戏诸侯, Sword is set in a world of philosphical battle, where the four main groups – the Confucians, the Taoists, the Buddhists, and the yao 妖 – fight with each other to build their visions of utopian societies. Swords are but tools used to build realms based on one’s ideological pursuit, and kingdoms rise and fall based on the guiding principles of the rulers.