Ji Clan of Swallow Mountain

Desolate Era #1

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi, 我吃西红柿

Fate had never been kind to Ji Ning. Wracked by illnesses and infirm his entire life on Earth, Ning knew early on that he would die as a teenager. What he didn’t know was that there really was such a thing as life after death, and that the universe was a far larger place than he thought.

A lucky twist of fate (one of the few in Ning’s life) meant that Ning was reborn into a world of Immortals and monsters, of Ki Refiners and powerful Fiendgods, a world where Dynasties lasted for millions of years. A world which is both greater…and yet also smaller…than he ever could imagine. He would have the opportunity to join them, and in this life, Ning swore to himself, he would never let himself be weak again!

The Era he was born into was a Desolate one, but Ning would make it his era.

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novel, Asian Literature, Fiction, Gods, China, Novels

Unknown Binding

About the author

Associated Names:
* Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi
* I Eat Tomatoes (English)
* 我吃西红柿 (Chinese)
* หว่อชือซีหงสื้อ (Thai)

Reviews

[Lazybee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written book.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a review for the whole story, although it's separated into 45 books here on Goodreads.

If you aren't a fan of translated novels or repetitive storylines you may want to give this a pass, and if you're looking for strong female characters you won't find them here.

Overall, however, I very much enjoyed this novel; the translation was surprisingly good, and the book definitely scratched that itch of magic martial artists who ends up becoming god-like in power. I spent the last couple of weeks doing pretty much nothing except reading this, which is about the best recommendation I can give!

[Michael Mc Donnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fairly mediocre. On the one hand it was solidly written and translated. The prose flowed well and there were no obvious errors. Sadly the story itself was extremely dull. It did have some novel elements but overall there was absolutely no tension. The main characters life is pretty much perfect, he's got a loving family, gets countless benefits simply by existing, is an unmatched genius,etc. etc. This is basically "Let me tell you about my cool RPG character!" but in novel form. It also has problems with scale e.g. everything is in the trillions, there are trillions of world, there are trillions of clans, the empire has lasted for trillions years. The scale is so vast it renders it both meaningless and actively annoying.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get through the first 40 chapters. It's worth it.

5 stars, a genre favorite. If you don't love xianxia, then this is probably a 3 star.

Finished 45/45 books :)

I had originally given this book a 1-star review because I quit after ~20 chapters. However, after reading through it again, I liked it a lot.

Characters: 3/5 and 2/5, some are liked and some are okay
The mc is okay as a character. He keeps powering up, but he cares enough about just enough other things that I don't get bored reading him. Most of the side characters are bland, but this is XIANXIA lol. You don't come here for deep side characters, and I don't come here for deep side characters. As long as the young masters are slappable, everything is perfect. In this case, there isn't much face-slapping, but there is so much 'surprise, the mc is really strong now' that I didn't feel the lack of awesomeness. There are a few stand-out side characters such as our boy Ninedust which barely makes this scrape by with a 3/5 in the character department.

World: 4/5 really liked it
This was phenomenal for a xianxia. Everything increases in scale in a perfectly linear manner. I dislike it when authors introduce unnecessary complexity into their systems. In terms of the universes, everything is nice and linear. Power scaling is also linear. There isn't much "half-step" nonsense. There are many different areas in which cultivators can improve, such as ki energy, body-refining "immortal" energy, heartforce, and most importantly, understanding into various daos, which are graded. Very cool, and every advancement feels tangible.

Story: 5/5 favorited because of consistency.
This is consistently interesting. I kept reading for 90% of the novel without turning to YouTube or Reddit. That's over 60 hours of reading (I think. I didn't really time it.) The last 10% is hit and miss, but I never quit. This is only the third xianxia I have finished despite starting every acclaimed webnovel under the sun (seriously, check my goodreads lol). This is consistently good and that's the only thing that matters for xianxia. Unlike that scammer Er Gen, who changes the tone of his book every half-a-million words, this I Eat Tomatoes guy is great, and keeps things feeling the same till the end.

Give it a go.

Don't bother reading my first review below, since none of that matters as long as you get through the first 40 chapters. You do have to READ CLOSELY for the first 40 chapters though since that's where a lot of world-building-dumping happens. Very lame, but it's worth it.


--------- Original Review from 04/27/2021 below: ----------

Desolate Era: an exploration of training and logistics.

I'm 20 chapters in, and I'm so bored I would rather do homework. 1/5 did not like.

Characters: 1.5/5 I almost disliked them
World: 2/5 It's fine
Story: 1/5 really disliked

Characters:
The main character is the only person with some amount of depth. He gets all his awesomeness by being born with it and through the power of "working hard"

World:
Fine

Story:
The entire story is just training and logistics. I'm serious. The story barely tries to set up any semblance of story, saying that there will be a competition in 12 years, and then goes and gives us 17 chapters of training montages, running us through the techniques and the 'wisdom' that the mc acquires such as "I need to be able to dodge." It is the most mind numbing book ever. We get to watch chapter after chapter of the main character hitting wooden poles, sitting cross legged, and fighting nameless trash monsters. Unbelievable. There is also a bit where he goes to buy a sword, which is equally boring. Even the upcoming competition will probably be boring, since we literally have no good side characters except for maybe the parents of the mc.

[Jeff Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahh, Desolate Era. Ji Ning is awesome. Plagued by an incurable illness, he dies on Earth at 18. Once his soul reaches the netherworld he has a chance encounter and has some luck. Plot happens, things don't go according to plan, he reincarnates on another Mortal world. Here starts his journey to reach the peaks of the universe. His goal? To be carefree and unrestrained. "What did it mean to be carefree and unrestrained? It meant to be able to protect those that you loved. It meant being free from the threats of others. It meant having your destiny in your own hands!" Thus starts his journey, to gain the strength needed to achieve his goal. Only ultimate strength will let one be carefree and unrestrained.

Super awesome series, definitely, definitely recommend.

[Siegfried · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting book.
This one is a bit slow, but still pretty well writen.
The series as a whole is pretty good, even if a bit repetitive.
But most LN are, so I give it a pass for being at least interesting and well done.
The world building is very good, always expanding.
At the same time, some things would make you keep coming back for more.
A good read

[Aditya Prasad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read, it stays as a page-turner consistently throughout the chapters. While it is a bit tropey, this is tropes done right. There is a marked absence of comedy and romance but we have a great protagonist with interesting characters and challenges. Decent world building.

I highly recommend this.

[Vishnu Gt · Rating 5 out of 5]

World Building - 10/10
Overpowered MC - 9000/10

It has a total of 45 books, and you will only want more at the end of this series

[adityatej · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi, better known by his English moniker "I Eat Tomatoes," is one of the doyens of the wuxia/xianxia webnovel field, up there with names like Er Gen, Cuttlefish, Cocooned Cow, and Gu Zhen Ren. The sheer length and volume of his corpus of work will astound most, being responsible for Desolate Era, Coiling Dragon, Stellar Transformations, Lord Xue Ying, and Swallowed Star(there's like two more that I cannot recall the names of). This review stands in for the entire series.

Desolate Era is probably the most well-known of IET's works, on par with Coiling Dragon. This is a solid work that stands out from a lot of other similar publications for its consistency. Apart from falling into the almost unavoidable narrative rushing near the end of the plot, it remains remarkably consistent throughout the book in terms of quality and scaling. If you enjoyed the beginning it is most likely you will enjoy the entire thing, because there is no real pivot or point in the story where the author just starts changing up everything. Ji Ning is a typical main character, somewhat remarkable in his composure and lack of stupid harem tendencies, making him someone who is not annoying to read about at any time. IET's works focus a great deal on reaching enlightenment and insights into the Dao, which for me personally really makes or breaks that line between a mid work and an enjoyable one.

Pitfalls are mostly two: first comes IET'S tendency to grossly exaggerate numbers and measurements near the end of his novels. It makes logical sense, but I would highly recommend not breaking your head about the sizes of various characters, weapons, planets, and whatnot. It obviously isn't realistic, but as someone who enjoys keeping a mental image of what I'm reading, I didn't think too much about how Ning is 504,000 metres tall during fights. Second, one of the unique points of the novel and the reason why I'm re-reading it 3 years later is the concept of karmic merit and sin - which physically manifests as either karmic radiance or karmic sin-flame upon various entities in the Three Realms. This concept is kind of entirely ditched after a certain point (post the Youngflame Clan arc, as the discerning reader will recollect), which is a shame because it was kind of cool. It makes a small re-entry near the end where Ning's achievement of the Omega Sword Dao and eventual Autarchy blesses him with the karmic merit of the Chaosverse, but this is again very minor.

[Ashanti Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge fan of progression fantasy and cultivation stories, Desolate Era #1 has been a very pleasant surprise. It scratches the same itch that series like Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor and even darker outliers like Shadow Slave do, with a wide, ambitious world and a clear sense that things will eventually span planes, factions, and cosmic powers.

The opening is strong and familiar in a good way: reincarnated protagonist, a harsh world, family stakes, and early glimpses of a much bigger cultivation system. It reminded me a lot of the early stretch of Fate Destroying Emperor in how it balances personal motivation with the promise of large‑scale myth and politics. The clans, realms, and hints of primordial and celestial beings all feel like the foundation for a long, epic journey rather than a quick power‑trip.

The main weakness for me so far is the combat description, specifically the sword fights. The book is clearly detailed, but I sometimes struggle to visualize what is actually happening once the swords start moving at speeds “beyond human capability.” For whatever reason, the way the swings, stances, and intents are described does not always click in my head, even though I usually have no problem following sword fights in other cultivation and progression series. It is not enough to ruin the experience, but it is noticeable.

Overall, though, this is a very promising start. In a time when a lot of cultivation stories feel like copy‑pasted slop, Desolate Era #1 genuinely feels like a gem: classic in its tropes, but confident, big in scope, and satisfying in its progression. I’m definitely continuing the series.

[Darnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

The beginning of this is strange. We start with a young man from Earth being reincarnated into a fantasy world with a major advantage - so far, so typical. But he's reincarnated into a loving family with powerful, wealthy parents and... nothing really happens. They care for him and give him every possible advantage and he trains a lot, without the slightest hint of tension or struggle.

If this had been my first xianxia novel, I might have been puzzled, but I think I understand the appeal. Readers are supposed to be impressed and amazed that the protagonist is so powerful, even though the narrative actually points out all the ridiculous advantages he has. It makes me think of the scene where Tyrion makes Jon realize he's the bully, fighting people who didn't have his advantages, but here Tyrion would say, "The fact that you've been advantaged from birth makes you better than other people, and a really cool guy."

[Andrew Dato · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know if I’ll write a review for every one of these books but this is my first review of the Desolate Era series. Finishing book 1, this felt more like chapter 1 then book 1.

The book starts by setting up a really interesting world and concept, despite just being a sent to another world trope. The world is interesting and I feel there is a lot to work with from here. In addition the main character Ning felt very much like a over powered Gary Sue. He is perfect at everything he does and so far does not seem to have any flaws. Besides that the magic system seems interesting.

Interesting introduction, I’m tentative to find out what happens next before forming a full opinion on this series.

[Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of entire series.

One of the best progression fantasies, I've ever read. Just brilliant. It suffers from awkward and stilted dialogue and prose because of the translation, but once you get past that style...certainly one the most fun books I've read.

It's a bit longer than Coiling Dragon (which I'd recommend everyone to read first before getting to this) and the progression elements are done brilliantly. The action is near non stop and pacing never drops as we keep shifting gears.

Highly recommended.

[Murphies_law · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather pompous story

DNF at 16%

The author really loves superlatives. Everything is in millions and trillions, millions ob subjects, trillions of people and worlds, an empire that existed for trillions of years..

The protagonist is born as heir to a mighty family and his competitor makes at once up a contrived plan that will only bear fruits in 16 plus years..

Of course the protagonist is super special and gets every boon possible...

[Yablon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a neat start to a xianxia with the inevitable "cheat" that helps the protagonist advance faster coming about by freak coincidence rather than just luck.
However the reincarnation setup quickly fades into the background and it turns into a pretty typical story of a powerful hero growing up and developing.

[Mnoraznan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction into a new martial series.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Jonah Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit hard to get into but a good story once you do.

[Danae · Rating 3 out of 5]

typical xanxia book - lots of techniques and treasures and stuff. I wonder where this leads to. the first book was a bit too easy on the MC.

[Josue Villar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

[Sergiusz Golec · Rating 3 out of 5]

From one side: It is hard to worry about the hero if you know there are 45-46 books in the same stream. He'll survive anyway. Hurray. No any strong emotions here.
From the other side: That series is addictive, and storyline twists made me want to read +1 book, ... and +1. Until I realized - Oh, that's the last one.

Yes. That series is not the best of its kind.
Yes. Female characters are usually less powerful. And there are a lot or repetitions / Cliché.
Yes. The author has math problems at times. (And it's better to avoid focusing on them.)

Also, some parts - took too long (in my opinion). Still. I consider the book(s) addictive.
I wanted to know how the author solves this or that challenge. Or if I skip the chapter or two, would I be able to connect the dots and figure out the story in between? Or I'd need to re-read it?
Also. I imagine the book(s) as a potential extension for the "Dragon Ball". Or just a storyline for the combat & puzzle game.

Anyway, If you like reading about Dao, you like plot twists & attention hangers, or you want to find out why people read it - you may like the book(s).

[Mayank Agarwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical Chinese web novel with the Wuxia/Xianxia elements, this one is one of the better ones.

The review is for all the 45 books. This is one of the better-translated web novels, did feel this is the case with most of the books by this author, also his books seem to get published on paper, get adopted to anime and manga.

I had read another book by the same author Coiling Dragon, felt this one is not as good, this may be because Coiling Dragon was my first book of this genre and holds a special place, also since then I have been binge reading a ton of books from the genre so might have got a bit bored and having explored the genre so much I do feel if you have read a few of them you have read them all.

The book has Epic world-making, and I am a fan of the weak character becoming overpowering, another thing I liked was the non-harem world. We have plenty of fun adventures making for a light read but it does get repetitive as the series progresses with the story arcs feeling the same, mind you it does comprise of 45 books.

[Wolfgarr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can not say i was all that impressed by the way this author wrote his book. Why is that? Well the Author took the bigger hammer approach... Repeat repeat repeat repeat.. As if the reader was a 3 year old who has to be told 100 times the same thing over and over again.

The story itself is not that unique or original. I would have given this book a better rating if the author had not taken the bigger hammer approach in his writing.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desolate Era is the second xianxia series I've read by IET—the first being the Coiling Dragon series—and I can see why this is so popular. The xianxia genre suffers from the same problem as fanfiction: there're only a few half-decent gems hidden among the mountains upon mountains of absolute junk. Like Coiling Dragon, this is only relatively half-decent at best, and I certainly wouldn't be recommending it to anyone anytime soon.

[Saurabh Modi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly quick read. The first book is ok, doing a bunch of setup for the future novels to build upon.

[Rachel Kamata]

Desolate Era
Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi
Desolate Era is a translated Chinese novel(s)
Desolate Era is a lengthy, but intriguing story. The protagonist Ji Ning is born again in the Three Realms after dying on earth. The realms are dominated by warriors with different insights into the universe knows as “Dow(s).” In his new life as the son of a village head in the mountains, he works to grow stronger and contests against the intellectual chaotic beasts in the area. After leaving his home and traveling the Three Realms, Ning finds the love of his life, only to see her perish at the hands of invaders during war. Her death prompts him to seek greater heights in hopes of finding her soul and seeing her again. However, his journey to find someone with the capabilities to do so was longer than he knew. Leaving the three realms Ning continues to grow in age, strength, and wonder as to when his search will end.
The length and depth to Desolate Era makes it stand out. As Ning grows, he learns more about the world around him and his place in it. While reading, the reader establishes a threshold by which everything is compared to. Long stories stereotypically have characters break out of that threshold continually, leading to overpowered and plot lacking stories. However, Desolate Era convincingly and smoothly moves between different environments as the story progresses while still connecting and comparing it to Nings starting point. Conflicts in the 1007 th chapter are as detailed and developed as ones in the 50th. The length of this novel allows for strong feasible character development sometimes missing in short novels, and one will be hard pressed to run of of text to read.
(Note that: The original story was written in volumes with different chapters, each being shorter than what would be considered a typical novel in the U.S, resulting in more of them. It was read as one giant compilation.)

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Metric system - Those are my personal opinions, you may discord, my final rating of the book is not necessarily linked to this system and may diverge from it.
Book Storyline
- Originality: 4/5 stars
- Development: 3/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 4/5 stars
- Writing stile: 3/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 1/5 stars
- Scaryness: 1/5 stars
- Smartness: 3/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 3/5 stars
- Plot twists: 1/5 stars
- Pace: 3/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 3/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Ending: /5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Holes: 2/5 negative stars
- Impact on series storyline: /5 stars
- Self contained (Y/N): N
- Adult (Y/N): N
- Violence level: Killing to train
- Tech level: Tribal, Xianxia
- Religion level: some buddhism
- Main genre: Xianxia
- Subgenre: Training
- Point of view: Main Character
- Aftertaste: Good enough
- Quote: ��Children are totally pure, but later on, the vagaries of life cause them to change…if you were to have helped adults, you might’ve helped some kind people, but it is hard to say who is kind and who is evil. If you had helped evil people, it would’ve reduced your karmic merit.”
World
- Originality: 4/5 stars
- Variety: 2/5 stars
- Consistency: 4/5 stars
- Impact on the story: 1/5 stars
- Maps: 1/5 stars
- Real world (Y/N): N
- Fantasy based on real world (Y/N): N
- Journey (Y/N): N
- Main scenario: Village
Characters Quantity
- Total amount: ~10
- Points of view: 1
- Main characters: 1
- Secondary: 2
- Ordinary: 7
Characters Quality
- Overall: 4/5 stars
- Main: 4/5 stars
- Secondary: 4/5 stars
- Consistency: 4/5 stars
- Connection: 4/5 stars
- Underworld Crew (Y/N): N
- Training (Y/N): Y
- Notable best characters: Uncle Black
- Notable worse characters: ---
Rules
- Devised system: 3/5 stars
- System complexity: 4/5 stars
- System explanation: 3/5 stars
- Impact on storyline: 5/5 stars
- Rulebreaker (Y/N): N
- Type of Rule: Cultivation
Xianxia
- Battle phase: 2/5 stars
- Skill innovation: 3/5 stars
- Treasure hunting phase: 1/5 stars
- Cultivation phase: 4/5 stars
▶◀
A nice xianxia, albeit a little slow, this first book had no real battles, only training. I was told it gets really good at the second half of the second book.
I have some badmouthing over the Main Character keeping his name after reincarnation. Too much coincidence for my taste.