Fàngkāi Nàge Nǚwū

Fàngkāi Nàge Nǚwū, known in English as Release That Witch, began as a web novel serialized on the Qidian Chinese Network starting in 2016. Written by the author Er Mu, the series emerged from the popular Chinese 'isekai' subgenre, blending traditional web novel tropes with elements of engineering, industrialization, and medieval fantasy. The narrative follows a modern-day engineer who is transported to an alternate world where he uses his scientific knowledge to modernize a kingdom while protecting persecuted witches, who are depicted as the primary source of magical technology rather than mere mythological figures.

The series gained significant traction for its departure from purely combat-focused storytelling, emphasizing logistics, socio-political reform, and the practical application of physics in a fantasy setting. The design and character illustrations that accompanied its digital and later print iterations were received as instrumental in grounding the complex world-building. Critics and readers noted that the author’s focus on the systematic transformation of a feudal society provided a refreshing contrast to contemporary web fiction, ultimately securing its status as one of the most prominent industrial-focused progression fantasy works in the Chinese literary market.