Jin Yong (Louis Cha)

I recently got into Jin Yong again. He's probably the greatest novelist of all time. In a very true sense, he's the Eastern version of Tolkien. Jin Yong (or Loius Cha) has written extensively, but his most famous works are the '14 Heavenly Novels'. Amongst these 14 novels are Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (天龙八部), The Return of the Condor Heroes (神鵰俠侣) and The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre (倚天屠龙记). The really extraordinary thing about these novels is that they are all connected. In fact, they all follow a timeline - from the 12th century onwards (天龙八部). Some characters, places and events are actually reminiscent of dynastic China. So it's not surprising that my favorite of the 14 is DGSD, because it's the earliest sequel (Jin Yong doesn't dub them as sequels, as he characterizes each book by its virtues, thematic approaches and characterizations) and the characters in the story have more potent abilities.

My favorite sect in the Jin Yong universe is Xiao Yao Pai (逍遥派) which means 'The Wanderers'. They are depicted very mysteriously but play a significant part in DGSD. My favorite characters are all in 逍遥派, ie. Wu Ya Zi (无崖子) Tian Shan Tong Lao (天山童姥) and Li Qiu Shui (李秋水). The latter 2 characters are females and fellow disciples who fall in a love triangle with their disciple brother (无崖子). In a thread I found on the net, fanatics came to a conclusion that they are undoubtedly the 2 post powerful female characters in the novels. Perhaps the reason why I absolutely love them is their abilities. They have some of the most ancient, 'forgotten' and unique skills in the JY universe. These include:

Xiao Wu Xiang Gong (小无相功)
Bei Ming Shen Gong (北冥神功)
Ba Huang Liu He Wei Wo Du Zun Gong (八荒六合唯我独尊神功)
Tian Shan Liu Yang Zhang (天山六阳掌)
Tian Shan Zhe Mei Shou (天山折梅手)
Ling Bo Wei Bu (凌波微步)

无崖子 was actually crippled by his own disciple but his 2 fellow disciples were still caught in an endless struggle to suade his affection. Ironically, at the end of this particular saga, 无崖子 exposes that the person he truly loved was 李秋水's sister, which was a sudden twist in the novel because the stone statue 无崖子 made that everyone thought was 李秋水 was actually her sister lol.