It was very close to the end, but I have been losing even more interest and I prefer to give better readings a chance.
Well, another novel with which I end up angry. The plot is very good. I loved how we are discovering the real plot that runs parallel to the original book. The secondary characters are adorable and I always enjoy the daily adventures between disciples of a sect. Furthermore, I like it when in transmigration novels the protagonist doesn't occupy the life of a real person. In this case, he is reborn as a character doomed to disappear before the plot begins and that allows him to always act as himself.
My interest started to sour when you discover that the Male Lead has an obsession with the protagonist when he is a minor. Their entire relationship is based on grooming! You know the Male Lead is a dark character and I LOVE THIS KIND OF CHARACTERS, but there is no complexity to his personality or even a slowly developing interest. He becomes obsessed with his shidi and over the years we see his interest become more abusive, crossing all the red lines of consent all the way to rape.
It can be worst? Yes. When the protagonist finally understands how dangerous the Male Lead is and what intentions he has towards him, it finally seems that the real plot will begin and he will try to stop him. Honestly, even though you know they are the main couple you are still wishing for the protagonist to defeat the Male Lead. However, the book takes a turn to discover an enemy in the shadows.
And that's all. The protagonist forgets everything that the Male Lead has done to him and the others. Now he is going to protect him, because he is good (he is a murder!!!! A manipulative bastard!!!! A pederast rapist!!!!!) and he is in love with him (you don't love him!!!!! You feel this way because you have been trapped in a slow grooming process for years!!!!).
I don't care that the plot is interesting, I can't stand the direction of this novel. And don't get me wrong: I LOVE morally ambiguous and evil characters, I LOVE complicated relationships, but this novel is poorly written and the two main characters have become flatter and simpler as the chapters progressed.
This is now one of my favorite cnovels. I wanted to give another half-star, but I had to control myself, 'cause let's face it-- I did a lot of hand-waving throughout the second half of the book. Like "hmmm, that seems a bit farfetched. EH, WELL!" and "they're going to let it go just like that? OKAY, WHATEVER." There are some things that happened that just seemed a bit too convenient... so the question becomes how much do you care about perfectly executed plotlines? Ideally, I'd like that, but I can definitely hand-wave it away if I'm enjoying the story enough, and in this case, I ENJOYED IT PLENTY ENOUGH. There WAS one particular important glaring plot point that was resolved in a manner that I could not hand-wave away and had to subtract another half-star for, but I won't spoil it for anyone-- I think you'll know it when you get to it.
This was a very... warm and cozy novel. In actuality, it's a murder mystery and "political thriller" (politics in the cultivation world sure are annoying and similar to rl) with intricate world-building and lots of early set-up for later happenings, but there are many moments where you get to spend the day with the protagonist as he works in the greenhouse, feeds his shixiong's pet turtle, leisurely flies on his sword over ravines to get to neighboring peaks, cultivates in an ice cave, hangs out with the giant snake that lives nearby, you get the drift-- by the end, I felt like I'D lived on this mountain and explored its trails and passages and regularly traveled along the range myself over the course of a lifetime. I am normally an impatient reader, but some of my favorite moments in this book are the quieter moments shared between the MC and ML. I also like the found family thing that they've got going with their fellow peak disciples. Even though the ML seems cold and untouchable and is often self-isolated, like so many other cnovel love interests, he actually remains friends with his shixiongs, and there are some humorous bro moments throughout.
I do have to warn for some dub-con and slight borderline non-con, but they weren't bad enough to ruin the experience.
If you can, read the book in the original Chinese or in Vietnamese, or wait for a better English translation to come along. The current MTL/edited MTL doesn't do it justice.
Increíblemente, el mundo está muy bien elaborado. Me gustaron mucho todos los plots, me mantuvieron muy entretenida. Me atrevería incluso a decir que si no hubiera ocurrido lo del r4p3, hubiese sido un 5 estrellas.
No hay justificación para una vi*laci*n.
Ni aunque en la historia esté explícitamente que el personaje es un yandere. Esa es una línea para mi.
Y fue el motivo de la baja de calificación, lastimosamente.
Quite a good and entertaining read. I would like to say that the plot is thought out, all questions are answered and extras are too cute.
The story is well paced, mid length read. The characters are quite nice to watch, and many side characters had things explained and gained their own ending. I like that.
There was a mystery with some dark undertone though the whole book. But I like it. I’ve expected much worse looking at the trigger warnings, but actually, ML was quite good and thoughtful of MC wishes, always. Yes, he was blackened at some moment of time, but still, not much.
There is a comedy undertone, which added a charm to the novel and whole drama.
The ending was fun and unexpected. Also, extras are needed, so read it too.
I enjoyed the book. Can freely recommend to give it a go, as the read is very worthy.
After reading the title and description, I thought this would be a comedy BL cultivation novel similar to The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System and Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me.
I was wrong. I was very wrong.
This book was more about angst and mystery due to all of the misunderstandings between main characters and what happened in the past.
However, if you like yandere, black-bellied male leads like The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System and Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me, you'll probably like this book.
There is no explicit smut scenes in this novel but... there are a few bestiality scenes (snakes x man). If you're okay with that, please continue to read this. It has a happy ending if you're still worried. Plot wise is nothing new~ pretty short, just nice for two days read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I usually enjoy cultivation stories, and this one is no exception except for all of the dubious things that happened with the romance. I wasn't planning to start it based on some of the Novel Updates reviews, but I read the first few chapters out of curiosity and found myself drawn in by the cultivation setting.
At the time of my reading, the last 6 chapters of the main story weren't translated, so I read the translations for most of the story and switched to the MTL for the last couple chapters. Big mistake. There was a lot of explanations I missed in the last couple chapters because I wasn't able to follow along with the MTL.
The MC is Wen Jing, a modern day person who transmigrated into the cultivation series he was reading. Not much time is spent on the modern setting other than to establish that WJ was a very avid reader of the online novel and knew everything in the story by heart. He transmigrates into a character called Lu Jing who was adopted by his grandfather for nefarious purposes, and the ML, along with his shixiong and shidi, are the ones to save WJ from getting his body possessed by his grandfather. Jun Yanzhi, the ML, is part of a cultivation sect that WJ joins not too long after, and the two of them have a shixiong-shidi relationship after WJ is accepted under the same peak master.
There are the typical misunderstandings found in a transmigration story, such as WJ believing that JYZ is straight and looking forward to finally finding out which of the female protagonists he ends up with. There's also a system in WJ's head that provides some guidance to him, but I'm honestly a bit confused about the existence of the system as it was extremely unhelpful for the most part. It felt like it was either offline or undergoing maintenance half the time it made an appearance in the story.
I liked the story and the mystery aspect to it. I wasn't sure who was causing all of the cultivators to go feral, but it was fun to follow along with WJ as he investigated the identity of the demonic cultivator. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't really understand the MTL chapters I read, so I have no clue who You Si is and why he did the things he did to help both sides, or if there's any significance to JYZ being a python, or whose spirit WJ's pet tortoise housed, among other things. So I took one star away because either the plot wasn't fully explained or I didn't understand it (I think it was a combination of both tbh).
The other star I deducted was for all the squicky scenes... it was disturbing that the ML had to keep repeating to himself to wait until WJ was 17, even if his feelings were eventually reciprocated. It was disturbing that ML would use his breath to knock out WJ and do things to him in his sleep. It was disturbing that WJ is comfortable sleeping with a python next to him in bed (I can't stand snakes so this sounds like the worst thing). And all this isn't even the worst of it... not going to go into all of the details but I really wish the author had skipped some of these scenes and kept their relationship pure until both were of a consensual adult age.
Overall a decent cultivation story. I haven't read many of them lately so it was nice to get back into a world with martial sects and the different stages of cultivation.
It wasn't the most unique premise but overall, I enjoyed it. It's definitely funny in the beginning when the ML has already decided he likes the MC but the MC is too blinded by hero worship and the ML has to hold back because he doesn't want to break his image. I did like that everything was explained at the end and yet it also felt like it was wrapped up a bit too perfectly. I also like that he wasn't having to follow a role or was constricted by an ever present system.
Summary: MC has been reading a webnovel about a very moral and upright cultivator and he's eager to read the last chapter when he dies and transmigrates into the story as a cannon fodder with a glitchy system. He avoids his bad fate by getting rescued by the moral protagonist/ML and he manages to enter into a sect and become his shidi. His hero worship melts the ML's heart, he makes friends with a python and turtle and he's trying to figure out who is the demonic cultivator behind all the attacks on the sects.
This novel really surprised me. On the surface, it's a typical xianxia setup, cultivation, sect drama, mysterious senior brother, but it quickly dives into much darker, more emotional territory. The story deals with heavy themes like trauma, manipulation, and power imbalances, and it doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortable parts.
The relationship at the center, between the protagonist and his senior brother, is intense and complicated. It’s not your standard “admiring shidi” story. There’s real tension in how their bond evolves, and it raises some tough questions about loyalty, trust, and emotional dependency.
It’s definitely not a fluffy read, and some parts are pretty disturbing, but they feel purposeful rather than gratuitous. If you're into emotionally layered storytelling and can handle the darker side of the genre, this one’s worth checking out.
Noooo, I'm hoping the book would be longer to slowly describe the rise of MC and ML but no, it ended. T^T it's a pretty good storyline with plots and twists, although some is foreseeable while some is like kinda forced to give a shock factor.
Really liked reading this book and couldn't put it down. However, there are some TW (which I don't mind) but I wished there were more fluff and smut....
There was not enough in the plot to keep me reading to the end. It is a short novel and I struggle. I left about 20 unread chapters. Two many miscommunications and trying to unravel the past activities made this short story too complicated and not entertaining for me.