Breaking Through the Cocoon, Becoming a Butterfly

Desolate Era #6

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, Novels

278 pages, Kindle Edition

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]

Finally an epic clash. It's been so long since I enjoyed a good battle.

[D · Rating 3 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: 3/5 stars
- Development: 3/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 3/5 stars
- Writing stile: 3/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 2/5 stars
- Scaryness: 2/5 stars
- Smartness: 2/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 3/5 stars
- Plot twists: 4/5 stars
- Pace: 4/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 3/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Ending: 3/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Holes: 3/5 negative stars
- Self contained (Y/N): ○
- Cliffhanger (Y/N): ○
- Adult (Y/N): ○
- Mystery (Y/N): ○
- Treasure Hunting (Y/N): ○
- Violence level: Kamikaze actions
- Tech level: Tribal, irrelevant
- Religion level: None
- Main genre: Xianxia
- Subgenre: Anime, ki battle
- Point of view: Third person main character, with interludes
- Aftertaste: had better
- Quote: “I once swore that I would rely on the sword in my hand to make my name resonate throughout the boundless lands of the Grand Xia Dynasty! Unfortunately…I won’t be able to accomplish it. However…my son will accomplish it.”
World
- Originality: 3/5 stars
- Variety: 2/5 stars
- Consistency: 3/5 stars
- Impact on the story: 2/5 stars
- Maps: -/5 stars
- Real world (Y/N): ○
- Fantasy based on real world (Y/N): ○
- Journey (Y/N): ○
- Main scenario: inside a bewildering formation
Characters
- Total amount: ~ 20
- Points of view: 1 main, ~4 interludes
- Main characters: Ji Ning
- Secondary: ~20
- Ordinary: ~30 cannon fooder
- Overall quality: 2/5 stars
- Main: 3/5 stars
- Secondary: 2/5 stars
- Consistency: 2/5 stars
- Connection: 2/5 stars
- Dialogs: 3/5 Stars
- Interactions: 3/5 Stars
- Romance ( Y/ N): ○
- Underworld Crew (Y/N): ○
- Training (Y/N): √
- Notable best characters: Ji Yuchian
- Notable worse characters: The Cannon fooder
Setting
- Historical importance: 4/5 Stars
- Historical deep: 2/5 Stars
- Historical score: 3/5 Stars
- Geopolitical importance: 4/5 Stars
- Geopolitical variety: 3/5 Stars
- Geopolitical score: 3/5 Stars
- Tension: 4/5 Stars
- Atmosphere: 3/5 Stars
- Setting overall score: 4/5 Stars
- Supernatural (Vampires, werewolves) (Y/N): ○
- Superpowers (√/○): √
- Non-human races (Y/N): √
- Virtual Reality (Y/N): ○
- Monsters (Y/N): √
- Historical relevant period: Between the creation of the universe and the world
Rules
- Devised system: 4/5 stars
- System complexity: 3/5 stars
- System explanation: 2/5 stars
- Impact on storyline: 5/5 stars
- Rulebreaker (Y/N): √
- Type of Rule: Ki refination, Fiendgod progression, Divine abilities, superhuman skills
Xianxia
- Battle phase: 2/5 stars
- Skill innovation: 4/5 stars
- Treasure hunting phase: 2/5 stars
- Cultivation phase: 1/5 stars
Series Storyline
- Impact of this book in storyline: 5/5 stars
- Originality: 4/5 stars
- Development: 3/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 4/5 stars
- Writing stile: 3/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 2/5 stars
- Scaryness: 2/5 stars
- Smartness: 2/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 3/5 stars
- Plot twists: 4/5 stars
- Pace: 4/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 2/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Holes: 3/5 negative stars
End of the Arc
- Best book in the arc: Zifu Disciple
- Best character in the arc: Ji Yuchian
- Best moment in the arc: Serpentwing's attack in the city
- What went great: A xianxia with a great skillset system, that allows for the characters increase in power without going up in the Ki Refination stages.
- Worst book in the arc: Breaking Through the Cocoon, Becoming a Butterfly
- Worst character in the arc: The other Zifu Disciples that just stood watching the battles in Breaking Through the Cocoon, Becoming a Butterfly
- Worst moment in the arc: In a battle to decide the survival of a Clan, and the survival of everyone involved, every great and powerful warrior simple let the strongest of each side battle and stand watching and hoping for the best
- What went wrong: Inability to scale battles, random characters with knowledge of formations created by itens that spent the last millions of years in a secret armory, very weak tactical expertise
- Worth to read: 4/5 stars
▶◀
So, the first arc is over, this last book kind of spoiled it, I really hope things go back to better tracks in the next.

[Mnoraznan · Rating 5 out of 5]

engrossing read.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Kisssun · Rating 4 out of 5]

جبل اوكهورن ؟!
تنهد الصعداء 😮‍💨.
التدافع اللعين الذي حدث في هذا المجلد لا يطاق ههه

[Andrew Dato · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I were to think about how this series is structured, this book would be the end of act 1 of the story. If your reading this series this is the book that is the end of first part of the series in my eyes. After many books of training and build up, there is an epic clash and intense fight. By the end the main character leaves to start the next act of the story.

Now this was a fun read but I continue to have major problems with our main character of the story that makes me continue to rate this series a 3 stars. The action is great and engrossing and the plot is decent but it’s not mind blowing. What drags this down is Ning is to overpowered and flawless. His biggest flaw is that he is way to blood thirsty but that’s still not good enough. In this book alone the main character level ups multiple times with very little struggle and defeats people who are suppose to be stronger then him. My main issue is that I feel his story is to clean and easy which causes him to just feel overpowered and not relatable. If that’s your thing you will enjoy this power fantasy but at the moment he just is so flawless that it seems unfair. And watching something that is unfair isn’t fun at some points.

Overall a fun read, main character is to powerful. .

[Saurabh Modi · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read: 5 stars
Second read: 4 stars

Definitely more interesting that previous volumes but because most of what it offers is escalation of conflict and battle scenes, plus the fact that the larger story hasn’t kicked in, it’s an ok read for me. Hopefully the next few volumes will improve this.