"Sword Force, Pearl Shine" is a classic Wuxia (martial arts fantasy) novel by Wang Dulu. It was originally serialized in China from 1939 to 1940. Although it's the third book in a series, it was the first one he wrote, and so I think it's a good place to start (just like Star Wars episode IV is really the first movie). Also like Star Wars, Wang started in the middle before filling in the backstory, then continuing the saga forward in time.
The Crane-Iron Pentalogy has been extremely influential in the Wuxia genre, and gained worldwide popularity and recognition due to Ang Lee's 2001 film adaptation of the fourth book, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
Here is the list of novels comprising the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, in order of story chronology (originally written and published order in bold)
1. Crane Frightens Kunlun (鶴驚崑崙) (3)
2. Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin (寶劍金釵) (2)
3. Sword Force, Pearl Shine (劍氣珠光) (1)
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) (4)
5. Iron Knight, Silver Vase (鐵騎銀瓶) (5)
Even though the original movie was a big success overseas, Western publishers haven't shown interest in publishing the original novels in translated form, so it falls on bilingual fans to fill the gap.
Another blog that has been translating this series is https://tu-shu-guan.blogspot.com/ . It looks like he's finished Crane Frightens Kunlun and is starting in on Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin.
A great introduction to the series can also be found at http://mangabookshelf.com/40761/it-came-from-the-sinosphere-iron-crane/ by Sara K.
For this translation I'm using the 2015 Mainland China (simplified Chinese) edition:
Here are some pictures from a few different editions through the years.
From the original late 1930's newspaper serialization:
I think this is the original collected edition from the late 40's:
Not sure about this one, could be a Taiwan edition?
1988 edition:
2001 edition:
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