Young traveler tormented by doubt and past regret. The Liangzhou Melody series follows him from Jade Gate Pass through Liangzhou and on to Chang'an as he finds inner peace.
Lian Daozi is the protagonist of the Liangzhou Melody quest series - the third quest series of Chapter 3, A Lonely Moon Over Chang'an. He is a young, troubled traveller met on the border of Jade Gate Pass, found hanging upside-down tied to a tree, and pulled into the series proper by a chance encounter with a girl who bumps into him in exactly that state. From that opening setpiece the series follows the pair across the Hexi corridor, through Liangzhou, and on toward Chang'an.
He is not a martial figure of consequence - no sect affiliation, no boss role, no political weight. His significance is interior. Torn between his past and the hardships of his present, his mind shifts continuously between dreams and reality, and the latter half of the nine-quest series tracks how he finds the strength to keep moving despite his accumulated regrets. The series climaxes with For Home And Away as its ninth and final quest.
