Life-Bound Artifacts and Flying Swords

The core logic of life-bound artifacts and flying swords: in Cdrama, giving one is rarely "handing over a piece of gear". It is a materialised contract of relationship — giving something worn close or bound to your life means handing over part of your own safety. Seizing a life-bound weapon is not looting equipment; it is a direct attack on the character's lifeline.

Translation practice has stabilised. Flying Sword is a literal rendering the community fully accepts; it conveys the visual logic of a sword that flies and strikes at range. Life-bound is the harder word, because its lethal linkage is often flattened into "personal sword" or "signature weapon", losing the core meaning of a life binding. The recommendation is to keep life-bound on first use and add one line of explanation.

Notice how this fits into the jianghu / xianxia grammar: there is no armour, no loot table, no weapon durability. A weapon's power, its loyalty, and its damage are inseparable from the cultivator's own level and state. In this system the weapon is not a tool; it is a channel, sometimes a partner, sometimes a prisoner.

Evidence level: B (translation convention citable; specific narrative cases verifiable). Related entries: dantian, cultivation.