Transcending the Nine Heavens

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Chu Yang, the Ninth Master of the Nine Tribulations Sword, sacrificed almost everything he had for the sake of improving his martial arts, including the love of his life. After spending three years locating the fifth fragment of the Nine Tribulations Sword, he was ambushed by all sides at that very place. Mortally injured with no means of escape, Chu Yang executed a sacrificial technique by plunging the Nine Tribulations Sword into his very own heart. “With the blood of my heart, ten thousand tribulations will collapse!”

After witnessing the death of all his ambushers, Chu Yang’s vision began to darken. At a distance, moments before his death, he saw the mastermind who had plotted his downfall — Mo Tian Ji. With that, his eyes finally closed.

However, with a start, Chu Yang once again awoke to find that he had returned to when he was sixteen years of age! Furthermore, the Sword Spirit of the Nine Tribulations Sword now resided within his Dantian, the energy center of his body! From that very moment, Chu Yang would then begin to right all of his past regrets, and carve his very own legend by fulfilling his destiny as the final Master of the Nine Tribulations Sword, and defeating the Heavenly Devils beyond the realm of the Nine Heavens Continent.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Ao Shi Jiu Chong Tian
Dokuz Semayı Aşmak
Ngạo Thế Cửu Trọng Thiên
TTNH
傲世九重天
Related Series
Otherworldly Evil Monarch (Shared Universe)
Realms In The Firmament (Shared Universe)
I Am Supreme (Shared Universe)
Legend of Ling Tian (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
The Human Emperor (13)
Otherworldly Evil Monarch (11)
Tales of Demons and Gods (10)
I am the Monarch (10)
World of Cultivation (8)
Realms In The Firmament (8)
Recommendation Lists
  1. My favorite novels
  2. Wow there's a manhua version (ML)
  3. An actual attempt at ranking
  4. Novels That I Have Read Over The Years
  5. Op Mc / simulation systems

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/25/23 subudai11 c1510
04/11/23 subudai11 c1509
04/09/23 subudai11 c1508
04/08/23 subudai11 c1507
04/01/23 subudai11 c1506
03/31/23 subudai11 c1505
03/30/23 subudai11 c1504
03/29/23 subudai11 c1503
03/28/23 subudai11 c1502
03/27/23 subudai11 c1501
03/26/23 subudai11 c1500
03/25/23 subudai11 c1499
03/24/23 subudai11 c1498
03/23/23 subudai11 c1497
03/22/23 subudai11 c1496
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149 Reviews sorted by


iamnotahater
iamnotahater rated it
July 5, 2018
Status: v1c0
Awful it's barely got any sort of cultivation and everything falls into his lap. I like all powerful characters or for a better word cheat ones but the way the author wrote it is garbage deus ex machina everywhere and somehow despite being this sword god his cultivation sucks the author keeps telling him how fast it it is but I literally dropped it after some Tan Tan eat a level 9 core and all of sudden jumped past his level like WTF. This sh*t is garbage.

That is without even... more>> getting into the pedo shit. Avoid. I only started reading because of the rating but it's clear there is a bunch of trolling going on. <<less
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mechafanboy
mechafanboy rated it
June 8, 2017
Status: c352
Now this is an author who knows a lot about the genre that they're entering and knows how to take full advantage of it.

Chinese novels have a tendency to be loooonnnngggg and drraaaawwwnnnnn out. The author knows this and makes sure to foreshadow things well in advance (to varying degrees of success mind, some plot points have been obvious for a while and just hasn't been activated, and some really do just come out of left field when a seemingly innocuous sentence several chapters ago comes into play.), sometimes over... more>> a 100 chapters in advance, which is very impressive in my point of view, most novels try to innovate on the fly and it comes off looking shoddy as the foreshadowing -> execution comes out in a matter of 2-3 chapters, rather than from another volume/10's of chapters earlier. This creates a stronger sense of unity, and overall structure to the plot that is lacking from... basically 90% of the novels on novelupdates.

Interestingly, for a novel that revolves around the idea of fighting and cultivation of power like most xianxia novels, the personal power level of the main character is rarely ever used, and even more rarely at a point where the MC is unarguably superior to the enemy. In fact, I think in the 350+ chapters I've read, the MC has personally fought about... 3 times? in total? It's a really interesting breath of fresh air to read about a xianxia world rather than MC beats up x enemy. In other words, whilst a lot of the story revolves around the main character, a fair amount of it involves the world around the main character and the supporting cast.

That said, there's no novel without it's fair share of action, and the novel takes (pardon the pun) a novel approach towards this by setting up multiple complex webs of battles of wits. Individually, each clash doesn't seem particularly profound, but the explanations and the character analysis that is done after the fact tends to be pretty interesting to read, and definately isn't a typical xianxia approach. It's really different to run into an MC who consistently uses his wiles rather than plot armor (though there is a lot of that as well.) to get out of issues.

The humor level is pretty consistent, there's a fair amount of vulgarity to the jokes, and more than a few idioms which are... questionable, especially as a person who feels strongly about equality between sexes, but the fact that it's consistently there and done in such a manner that even the forced joked are able to put a smile on my face after enough repeated attempts makes it so the more serious moments in the story don't seem too far out of the norm.... Again, it's slightly difficult to think that the protagonist is in danger if you've just read that he spend most of the prior chapter reading kid's storybooks.....

Now, again, there's still questionable content in the novel itself such as jokes about being a pe*ophile (... although it's definately justified in this case considering there's a segment about a 9 year old girl literally giving someone a hardon and her commenting on it......) although that leads to my next point-ish. sorta. There's a fair amount of romance here, and I personally think the romances flow a lot smoother than in most novels. Except given that the MC literally only has eyes for one lady (and at least as of c350, hasn't wavered a single milimeter) which means a lot of heartache.... Regardless though, I enjoy the romances brought up though I think the author treats the people in the relationship rather harshly.

The overall content though shines through really well. This is an excellent read assuming you allow it to entertain you. <<less
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stealthguy
stealthguy rated it
August 17, 2016
Status: c200
Honestly this novel is great, the MC is cool, the world is fairly easy to understand and the girls are beautiful but I feel that its missing something that will make it a master class. I like how the MC carries about himself and how he deals with his problems and for once I like the bad guy to some extent. I personally would've preferred if this novel wasn't a harem but I can live with it. So all in all its a great novel and i'd recommend it to... more>> everyone. <<less
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jgoodgion
jgoodgion rated it
July 11, 2016
Status: c214
This novel is one I struggle to keep reading. It has an interesting premise and very promising characters. The beginning was strong with some cultivation techniques that are, if not original, at least different from the norm. However, there are some massive negative that are, to me, crippling. 1) The humor is juvenile at the best of times. The jokes revolve mainly around bowel moments and the supposed martial arts master beating each other up over petty squabbles that serve no other purpose but to extend the page.

2) The main... more>> character is supposed to be vastly superior to all his surrounding foes in intellect and cunning, and yet he repeatedly decides to indulge in personal flights of fancy that are detrimental to his supposed reason for existence. It makes no damn sense and it drags me out of the flow of the story.

3) This isn't really the worst, but it doesn't really help. The novel is kind of in a limbo right now. There hasn't been any real meaningful development for a while now and I feel as though the author is struggling to find direction.

Those are the only real issues I have without giving any spoilers. All in all I will probably keep reading. But I may end up dropping it. Only time will tell, <<less
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08phamann
08phamann rated it
June 20, 2021
Status: c177
The first 300 chapters are definitely worth 5 stars.

Everything after that is worth 2-3 stars. It's readable, but the quality, plot, character development and general writing style declined significantly.

Plus the blatant sexism towards women is a big issue for me. So many occasions are we introduced to women in the Jiang Hu who seem mysterious and powerful, but then the author says, but these are just women, they belong to their husbands blah blah they are all soft hearted. THe most OP character until chap 1100 is a woman and... more>> when people witness her OP moves and realise that she is a woman, they literally think, "oh its a woman she will be soft hearted and go easy." wtf?

Also, MC loves Mo Qing Wu from his past life. But in this life he meets her when she is 10? A little kid. She basically turns into a brain dead fangirl and fully devotes herself to him before she even hit puberty and it's disgusting and disturbing. <<less
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Theo77
Theo77 rated it
March 9, 2021
Status: c1080
The novel is really interesting and all... But I really hate the cultivation system.. how tf can the MC brothers cultivate from 2nd/3rd emperor realm to 5th/6th saint realm in 6 months.. There's a big difference btw (emperors, monarch and saints) and (martial master, revered artist and martial king) breakthroughs.. it makes no sense!!!!

Normal cultivation takes 100 of years even with supreme medicines. but now im reading about a 12 year old supreme martial artist... The cultivation is so messed up and I think everybody close to the... more>> MC has an innate body... What an awesome coincidence... sometimes classic novels like Martial world and the legend of Futian are really the best <<less
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GrisiaSun
GrisiaSun rated it
June 5, 2018
Status: c341
Urgh who uploaded this picture as cover?

I would never have picked it up if not for recommendations from other reviewers based on that cover itself.

Tried to upload the 1st volume of the original novel cover which is so much more inspirational. Here's to hoping it gets approved!

... more>> Moving on to the story...

  • Smart ML with OP support for gradual growth, checked
  • Capable rival who's not dumb or purely evil for evil's sake, checked
  • Non-brainless FL that's not just eyecandy, checked
  • Comedic sidekicks with great brotherhood and messing about, checked
  • World building paced with stories, checked
Finally, a well-balanced Xuanhuan novel that's not pure arrogance, bloodshed, comedy or romance but all of those together in a good pace leaving you itchy for more.

I'm still in the middle of reading but already have a feeling this is going to be the best CN I've read. The only thing I see that can spoil it now is a lackluster ending which I pray is not the case.

Ps: Please recommend any similar novels that have the points I've listed above (raws that are completed at least) <<less
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Xanax
Xanax rated it
June 4, 2018
Status: c1000
Novel is split into two parts. The first one before he ascends the Nine Heavens. The second one after he ascends the Nine Heavens.

A positive point about this novel is the idea of brotherhood. Integral to the plot of the story is the idea of the Blade, with each of the Nine members of the Blade being integral to the functioning of the Blade as a whole. As the MC gets more OP, the brothers he has gets more OP with him, which is fantastic as it helps avoid the... more>> Overpowered MC problem common in Chinese novel by splitting the OP level among the Nine brothers (hence he seems less OP and more normal). It also helps that the other brothers are interesting and have their own personality, which allows us to see the world from the perspective aside from the MC. The focus on side characters and what I would call "everyone gets OP together" type of writing makes it enjoyable for me as it allows me to root for different characters other then the MC.

A negative point about the book comes from the later section of the book, after they ascended the Nine Heavens. Turns out the villains in the later part of the book are horribly caricatured Japanese demons, with Japanese names and ridiculous Japanese phrases. It is such a turn-off. A blatant attempt to pander to Chinese nationalism. I am by no means someone who requires every novel to be PC, but the nationalism that is here.... my f*cking god. I could not read the novel after this point, with every chapter being about ridiculous Japanese demons getting f*cked by Chinese heroes. Like.... stop, it is cringey and a shitty way to sell your book.

The book is also too damn long. It is f*cking 2000 chapters and has 2 million words. Oh my f*cking god, 2 million words. No novel can sustain 2 million words without filler and other bullcrap. This novel could have been two or three separate novels. The quality of writing suffers as well, which is unavoidable. Read this as a daily affair, as a quick way to waste time on commune. Don't read it like me, spending one whole week binge reading 1000+ chapters. It f*cking gets tedious.

Ok way to waste time, offends Japanese people. <<less
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Bubbletehh
Bubbletehh rated it
March 9, 2017
Status: Completed
Great novel.
Spoiler

The only thing that irked me was that some characters tend to be forgotten in the novel. The author also has a tendency to make it seem as though people of a certain cultivation are "rare" or "hard to find" or "can be counted on 1 hand" but ofc our MC runs into hundreds if not thousands of them.

The story itself is good, typical weak to strong although I think he was given so many power ups and lucky chances it'd be impossible for that to not be the case. Which again reminds me of how when he broke through to supreme I think it stated that taking heaven and earth treasures makes it harder to break through. Well MC here and his friends break through with only those treasures. I'm not joking they literally do just break through with treasures and the occasional "enlightenment". Its actually quite s*upid how he's being thrown treasure left and right and never really breaks through by cultivating over time (like ISSTH).

There are quite a few references to OEM in this which is nice since he was one of the best MC's

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Morbidxin
Morbidxin
May 18, 2016
Status: c191
As for me its a masterpiece, I feel it well written by the author and I absolutely applaud the translator for his hard work and dedication. He translated it smoothly that we can enjoy this novel. A feel its passion, I would rate it the same as issth but the slower translation than issth made it lose points.
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realdemonright
realdemonright rated it
February 1, 2016
Status: --
This novel is AMAZING. Even though the story hasn't developed much and we are only at the beginning of the first arc. I just love it. The way it's written, the translation, the MC, his friends, the plot, the politics just everything about it is amazing. It's a better version of Tales of Demons and Gods. The MC is a decent guy who uses his brains. He isn't a brutal mu*derer/arrogant like Yun Che. Even Nie Li couldn't compare to him. He is a much better and a likable MC.... more>> He is a bit OP, but he knows his strengths and weakness so he won't start a fight he can't win. He is not arrogant like Nie Li (E.g Nie Li's behaviour towards founder of glory city Ye Yan, I hated that). You can feel the respect Chu Yang has for his master/seniors. He respects other people for their strengths. Also, the whole story is not focused on the Chu Yang (MC). We know the side characters story too. The romance has yet to properly start but, there are hints there and then. I can't wait for it start.
Spoiler

It's a harem. But knowing the MC's personality, he will deeply care for the four girls in the harem. He is in love with his girlfriend from his previous life and his aim is to meet up with her and make sure she lives a good life. It's not going to be the harem like in ATG, where you feel as if Yun Che doesn't love the girls, but only likes them for their looks, you know it doesn't feel like its a proper romance. But I am sure this won't be like that.

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I really wish the translation was faster. It's on par with ISSTH, CD, ST, True Martial World and Douluo Dalu. I would recommend that you save up the chapters as you go, preferably five since the plot is slow and the chapters are short. But for this novel, you can ignore that because each chapter is amazing. I would recommend this to anyone. Easily a five-star novel. <<less
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Macaron
Macaron rated it
September 25, 2021
Status: v1c44
3.2/5

Alright, so this novel is NOT as good as most of the 5 stars make them out to be, nor is it as bad as the 1/2 stars say it is. If I were to rate this novel.... meh?

Starting from this novel's strengths:

... more>> - Easy to digest.

- pretty good story.

- Tan Tan.

- Understandable objectives or wants that are appropriate for the main character to have at that point in the story.

The weaknesses:

- The side characters aren't really characters, but plot devices to push the story forward. What this means is, the author portrays (shows) characters in accordance to what he intends them to be. However, he doesn't really spend time developing them or the story to convey that intent. For example, the MC's master who is constantly described as 'calm' or 'peaceful' isn't really given the time to show such qualities. What the author does instead is force the character into an action, then tell the audience that he did so because he is so 'calm' and 'peaceful'.

- The dialogue is useless or illogical. What I mean by this is, some villains that you are introduced to in the first 30 chapters coincidentally reveal their entire plan, then the MC acts as though all of that is confusing or baffling. Another example is when the sect masters/elders are discussing the internal struggles of the sect, but they for some reason have to explain every single term, as though only one person knows what it is. Imagine you and your friend are talking about a movie you both watched, then your friend feels the need to explain everything to the very last detail as if you didn't know anything. s*upid right?

- The women aren't given any justice. I'm not going to rant about how the novel may be sexist and whatnot. What really bothers me is how poorly written the women are in this novel. The first interaction you get with a female diciple gives the feeling as if the MC is talking to someone with a learning disability or a handicap. She doesn't seem able to understand anything that is going on around her, then the main character easily fools her with blatant excuses right off the bat. It's as if she's blindfolded and drugged to the high heavens, so she believes everything she is told. And it isn't only one instance of this. Future female characters suffer from the same kind of disability.

- Instances of where the MC may seem 'smart' are just dumb excuses that the author then proceeds to compliment to high heaven. If you didn't understand that, it follows this pattern: Main character doesn't like this person/there is an obstacle in the way. The main character proceeds to make an impulsive decision and loosely covers it up. The main character gets pressed for this issue, and makes a 'he started it' or 'it was for him' excuse to thwart the blame. The side characters are then bamboozled by this excuse. The author says that the 'MC was super smart' and 'not many could have done it' every 6 lines. Level up.

There are some other minor problems or strengths of this novel, but these are the most obvious ones. Do I recommend it? No. Should what I say stop you from reading it? No. Just keep these in mind as you're reading. <<less
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Scripture
Scripture rated it
November 16, 2020
Status: c1440
Reading this for quite some time and I guess its time for a review. So here it comes. Honestly one of the novels I didn't have much expectations of. But I couldn't have been more wrong. 20 chapters in and I didn't want to stop reading I felt like riding a fookin rocket on its way to the moon. But ever since I caught up, I had to switch to a bicycle and forced to savor this masterpiece slowly. I don't even know why I used the word moon maybe... more>> for the lack of words or maybe my vocabulary are, well anyway.

Here is why you need to read this hidden gem:

    • First of all it goes out of the norm. There is no "outer disciples road to the top of his/her sect". We are thrown in a war between kingdoms and the MC has to lead one of em. MCs first scene in Bu Tian Pavilion is worth looking forward to you are going to laugh your lungs out.
    • Talking about laughing your lungs out, the amount of comedy in this novel is enough lighten up your mood whenever you feel down. From the lower heavens up until the upper heavens other than drama this novel never lacks comedy DogAunt.
    • Poems, hands up to Fengling Tianxia as the best author to integrate amazing poems to his novels. Its not just at the start, his consistency and the quality of the poems he chooses are enough to make my lit professor kowtow and take him as his master.
    • The romance is one of the top in all the novels in this site. Its got some classics but overall one of the best. I am one of those who hate long separations but in this novel I didn't really care. In any case they are going to stick together around 1800. If you feel like you don't like reading anymore due to its romance, just hang in there and power through it. I swear its worth it, the romance is one of the best aspects here.
    • Drama at first was 7.5/10 and now its 10/10.
    • heartwarming family. MCs love for his parents are heartwarming. Hugs his mother whenever he sees her and for his sworn... erm father... ahem overall he loves his parents
This is all I'm going to write. I'm not saying this novel doesn't have its flaws, it has lots actually but I chose to look past that and enjoy the masterpiece. <<less
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SolsticeZero
SolsticeZero rated it
June 20, 2020
Status: v8c500
The first 400 chapters were great.
The combination of political intrigue, an action adventure and decently written antagonists, kept me on the edge of my seat for hours. The good relations of the main character with secondary and minor characters were interesting to observe. The humor wasn't as good as I would like, but at least I didn't cringe every time author tried to joke. Add a little poetry to it and it will be a pleasant reading.

But everything changed when the Idiot Ball Trope attacked. Almost all the characters... more>> that the author showed as strategists or intellectuals, began to do things that go against common sense. In addition to this, the excellent "Misunderstanding" tag decides to add fuel to the fire and prevent characters from speaking and discussing important things with each other. A slight misunderstanding leads to a large number of filler chapters, where the conflict is literally bloated out of thin air. Does everything look conflict-free? NOT SO FAST! Something new and unpleasant must be introduced out of the blue. Rule of Drama Trope at its finest!

I honestly don't know why the author decided to make a harem for MC.
Spoiler

This story begins with the fact that Chu Yang before his death realized that the most precious and important thing in his life was Mo Qing Wu, whom he lost. Repentance and the desire to see her in the next life lead to his reincarnation.

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And even if he wanted to please the audience by introducing elements of a harem, he could have done it smartly.
Spoiler

But no. We simply poison the characters with an aphrodisiac and the job is done.

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It is not worth spending their time on 2500+ chapters of this novel.

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Zeeksi
Zeeksi rated it
February 15, 2020
Status: c788
I read Otherworldly Evil Monarch before reading this, OEM is much better in my opinion.

The MC in this, he's too ultimate for what he went through honestly.

Yes he has been rebirthed but he didn't live for very long in his previous life, he got to the upper heavens then died shortly after as a Revered Martial Artist which is basically worth nothing 400 chapters in. How is he able to cause all these plots, lead several nations, clans, sects and other things by the nose in his ultimate plot of... more>> whatever? He didn't have a need for those skills in his previous life.

The plot does have a bit of a direction but it's just something that ends up happening regardless of what MC tries to do. He rebirthed for his love, he is basically successful in re-establishing their relationship (even if it's basically grooming her (which I'm fine with as he would've ended up with her anyways)) really early. He needs to get the various bits of the sword which just happens during the plot regardless of MC intentions. He needs to go to upper heaven...

There's a lot going on but it all just feels meandering in a way, compared to OEM, it doesn't feel like there's much going on overall.

I honestly like the focus on the brotherhood and all the well known people of the generation but I do not like it as much as the harem development in OEM that ends up driving a lot of plot points. So if you want to read something about developing 'sworn brothers' relationship and those brothers getting with females and their problems, this is for you. If you want the MC to have and deal with girls, read OEM.

One of the biggest annoying factors I have with this is the harem... The MC honestly pisses me off thoroughly with his monogomy. It pissed me off in OEM too but he got over it rather quickly. Here he has atleast 1 other woman that he knows loves him a lot, but he intentionally distances himself to the hurt of both of them.

OEM has a harem, this doesn't. This just has a few separate relationships that develop at similar times but only one is acknowledged partially, then all the others feel miserable for no good reason.

Cultivation and fights in this are honestly... non-existent? The fights are usually just a couple of sword moves by MC finished with the usual line and it's over. Cultivation is even worse, take medicine to go up levels, fight to solidify the level and make a foundation, fight someone stronger to level up with a strong foundation. That's cultivation in this novel.

MC is off fighting with people 3-4 realms higher than him pretty quickly so you end up just ignoring stated cultivation levels when MC is involved.

At the start, the constant plots and all that are rather interesting, seeing how everything plays out and what MC is going to do. I got pretty pissed off with Diwu guy when he talked with MC during those 2 hours, it's like MC had his brain turn off for that fight and it felt like the author intentionally gave Diwu the win in that situation.

Eventually it becomes a case of, unless the MC knows them or they've been friendly before, they're going to plot against the MC and MC will know it instantly and have counter measures already in place, it's fun for awhile but it's constant. If you like it, then great but sometimes it's nice to just have straight forward things.

My honest opinion is that, this novel just drags on too much.
OEM kept things fresh with the poems, the new girls, the factions we learn and oppose early that are consistent, the harem. <<less
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Sairen
Sairen rated it
December 31, 2018
Status: c396
I'm just pasting what the review I made on webnovel site.

Translation quality : 2 stars - its chunked together have to re-read some stuff just painful to read en-mass.

Stability of updates: N/A - Not caught up don't know.

... more>> Story development: 4.2 stars - When its good its great but when its not it is really really bad.

Character Design: 3 - Some characters are just amazing but then others are bad. Author likes to make characters who are smart straight up ret*rded for a bit for plot development.

World Background: 4.5 - I'm quite interested in the world that is being set up unfortunately I might not see it.

I was very excited coming into this one had heard good reviews but im super disappointed. The first 100 or so chapters was fine but then it turned into 1 long and overextended arc. This is not a joke im currently at chapter 396 (where I have decided to drop this completely or take a break) and its still the Technically 2nd arc? However the first arc I don't consider different its all related to the same thing its dragging on.

There were a few times I felt like dropping but for the most part it wasn't a strong dropping feeling just more like a "uugh get on with it already" feeling but since chapter like 340 or 350 up until this chapter 396 its been brutal. Just **** chapters for padding word count and dragging it out longer perhaps the 2nd worst writing iv seen in a novel (MGA being the 1st) just in these last 50 chapters. However chapters 360-366 really take the cake the WORST trope in these novels (not morality wise but they are just **** and its lazy writing) forced upon us that just completely goes against what this novel has been showing us to be since the start. Truly disappointed I might pick it back up in the future but for now im just infuriatied at this author for pretty much ruining what could have been a great novel with these last 50 chapters (and I assume another 30-40 before this arc finishes).

Spoiler

Still in the lower 3 heavens or whatever at 396 and just looking ahead at chapter titles I think there's another 30-50............

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OpCrystal
OpCrystal rated it
November 7, 2018
Status: c657
This is gonna be a long one just an fyi

So first off I’m going to go ahead and say that I am an avid reader of these types of novels: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, martial arts, xianxia, xuanhuan, wuxia, magic, rpg, the whole shebang. I like these novels specifically because of the cultivation systems, techniques, skills, physique refining, magic spells, arts, that kind of shit. The stronger they are the better, the more unique they are, the better, the more detailed and comprehensive they are the better! It’s neat to think... more>> about all these things that can’t appear in reality, to mix and match skills from different books, and to theorycraft the strongest skillset from all the ones I’ve read, to think about what kind of effects it would have on my life if I had one or more of those skills. That sort of thing. And somehow I don’t give two shits about any of that reading this book.

Most novels on here use their cultivation/ magic systems as a crutch for bad storytelling; if it’s interesting enough people will read it to see how strong and skilled the MC can get, while the story is just a side dish. This aint that. I only really have two gripes with this book, the first is that the translation speed is all over the place, sometimes super slow, then sometimes faster, then back again. Thats on the translator and not on the author however. The second one, and the only one on the author, is that the comedic relief is a bit too much. It’s too silly and doesn’t know when to stop.

Starting good, first and foremost is that I love the ‘villains’. All of them. Not a single one of them felt like a cookie cutter ‘this is a bad guy woo~’ type deal. All of them had backstories, and personalities, and ambitions. F*ck most of them coulda been an MC themselves! They all felt like real people. In fact, not just them, ALL the characters feel that way, even random side characters you see for a few paragraphs.

This is especially nice for us as english readers reading a Chinese novel. To illustrate where I’m going with this, take the two names Bob and Bill, they are fairly similar to each other, but rarely would we as native speakers mix the two up. Now take names like Zi Ling and Zhu Ping, they also seem quite similar reading it in pinyin, but they are not names we use in the English language, so mixing them up is significantly easier. It can be a hassle, for me at least, to remember all these foreign sounding names, especially for the side characters. Coming across something like ‘Zi Ling challenged Zhu Ping to a fight’, I might wonder which person is which, if I even remember either of them. If instead it read ‘Zi Ling arrogantly only sent a servent to announce his challenge against the Zhu Clan’s Young Master Ping’, it becomes much easier, Zi Ling is the arrogant a**hole, and Zhu Ping is some bigshot young master. Each character in this book has their own feel to them. They are all unique in some way, all distinguishable from each other. (None of the names are from the book btw, just made them up)

Sometimes though, the way the author does it can be annoying, going back to the comedic relief. Two of Chu Yangs good brothers, for example, howl like coyotes basically all the time, and one of them screams ‘Dog Aunt’ all the time. Its a nonsensical thing and it definitely adds to their personality but it gets real old real fast. Chu Yang’s Junior Brother also is described as an extremely ugly person quite often, with a voice that sounds like ‘a starving wolf howling while having it’s way with a duck, who is screeching as the wolf chokes it’. Paints a picture, yea? But he is one of the most annoying characters as he genuinely believes he is the most handsome man in the world, and isn’t shy about his opinion. The character is weird and strange in many more ways, quite frankly he’s painted like a buffoon. At one point I sincerely wanted him to simply die and be gone. But you know what? The author then has the audacity to give him a super good backstory that starts to explain a lot of that and makes me feel for the guy! He has the audacity to develop the character in such a good way! Where do I put all my hatred for the guy huh?!

Joking aside I can’t stress how much I like basically all the characters. Trying to be as non spoilery as possible, at one point one of the long time antagonists of one of the protagonists was literally stabbed in the heart. Now keep in mind both us as the reader, and the protagonist them self has felt nothing but distain and scorn for this person. But by the end of this fight, they get stabbed in the heart and the antagonist ends up suddenly understanding something. Something he immediately gives to the protagonist in the small time before he dies, they simply don’t want their technique to die with them. During the whole fight both the protagonist and we the readers are slowly seeing this person in a new light and even begin to respect them after the heart-to-heart chat (i’m not sorry for the pun). I was genuinely really sad when they died, sh*t I’m still sad about it. And I used to really dislike the person just a few chapters back! Side note that was really f*cking annoying to keep ambiguous.

The second part of the whole comedic relief fiasco, though, is the misunderstandings. It’s bad. Take a rom-com halmark movie and make into a japanese harem novel type bad. Fair warning, pretty massive spoilers ahead, couldn’t really say it ambiguously so I’mma just pop in a spoiler tag.

Spoiler

Chu Yang has a kid with Emperor Tie Bu Tian, who is a woman pretending to be a man because her family has no male heirs to be Emperor. Chu Yang does not know that she is woman, nor that she has his child, or that she loves him. Tie Bu Tian thinks Chu Yang is in love with Wu Qian Qian, which is not true even though Wu Qian Qian loves Chu Yang. So both women suffer unrequited loves in silence.

Tie Bu Tian and Chu Yang’s mother are both disciples of the same Master, and earlier CY’s dad met CY and become sworn brothers with him, not realizing that he is his new brother’s father. CY does realise who his dad is though. The mother also went to go beat up ‘King of Hell Chu’ for ‘abandoning’ the wife and kid he didn’t know about, but beat up one of CY’s brothers in mistake. They didn’t even put two and two together that ‘Sworn brother Chu Yang’ is the same person as ‘King of Hell Chu, father of Tie Bu Tian’s baby’ until she gave birth. At that point the baby looked so similar to CY, that CY’s mother finally realised everything shortly after. Tie Bu Tian still doesn’t want Chu Yang to know about his kid though, and asks his parents not to tell him so that he wont feel he has to take responsibility even though he loves Wu Qian Qian (which he doesn’t).

From the chapter I’m at, Chu Yang still hasn’t really met his parents. Nor does he know about Tie Bu Tian being a woman, her feelings for him, or the fact he has a child. Nor does Tie Bu Tian realize that Chu Yang doesn’t love Wu Qian Qian. And neither women knows that Chu Yang real true love is Mo Qing Wu.

f*ck, you see what I mean?

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Enough griping though, lastly we’re onto the plot. The entire plot basically reolves around huge astromical political maneuvering, to the scale of the entire world. His reincarnation is well explained and while it does make him strong, not everything goes to plan. The ramifications of his rebirth are well thought out, and he doesn’t get to go around winning at life “cuz I know deh futuree” type deal. He sometimes fails, and has to plan around his failures. The planning and maneuvering in this book are really quite good in my opinion, nothing really felt contrived, there weren’t really any plots that should have ended sooner but didn’t. Nor were there any ‘masterful’ plans a three year old could draw with crayons. It’s all done quite nicely.

A large problem with strength type society in these novels is that political power usually isn’t worth sh*t when your enemy can flatten mountains. This book takes that into account though and somehow still manages to make politics work. Sure, bigger fist is still a thing, but plots, intrigue, and schemes are this novels bread and butter while personal strength is just the fuel that makes the schemes work. For example, if you plot a man’s death and pin the blame on another, but don’t have the strength to kill the man, the whole plans moot! But if you do have the strength and the plan works, you can maneuver people stronger than you to follow your will without them even knowing!

Finishing up I just wanna say 10/10 characters, 10/10 plots, would reccoment to basically anyone, even people not fans of the genre. Just watch out for the comedic stress comedic relief. <<less
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NavyDragon92
NavyDragon92 rated it
August 23, 2018
Status: c558
(Rating will change as I continue reading this Novel)

I've decided to drop this novel for a while as it seems the character I found unpleasant whenever he showed up is going to have a larger role.

Current Rating 3.0

... more>> I'll be honest I think I came with my expectations to high from all the reviews that were showering this novel with praises but was left to be disappointed at certain times. I'll start with the negatives.

Negatives:

The biggest gripe for me was that the romance/harem aspect that led me to read this novel was one of the many reasons but one of the more important reasons but I was instead met with frustration.
Spoiler

Due to the fact the main love interest is rather unpleasant and frustrates me due to her age and how the author is trying to make her grow up way to fast just for the simple purpose of her maintaining the title of "Main Love interest". This was also probably my main reason for feeling frustrated due to the M.C. Giving the cold shoulder to another potential love interest and at times made me feel what was the point of having her fall in love with M.C. And not just let her be a close friend instead but I guess the author decided to take a more annoying route. As this new potential love interest is basically in the same situation the main love interest was in the previous life and ultimately it made me sympathize with her character rather than the loli that the main love interest is right now.

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Another thing that bothers me is one of the characters that appears early on as his personality is probably meant for comedy but I just find it rather annoying every time he appears which isn't that common right now which is the only positive thing.
Spoiler

seems this character is gonna be coming into the picture which is something I'm absolutely dreading. Btw this character is Tan Tan I just find him so annoying his narcissistic personality was funny for like a couple chapters but now it's just aggravating every time he appears and it makes me lose interest on wanting to read the novel.

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My last issue with this novel is that the pacing sometimes slows down and the author over explains unimportant details and not just that but the writer has a tendency to cause multiple misunderstandings and when you're stuck with having to read these boring chapters you're left to have to bare with this. On a side note I also have to add how sometimes the author tries to imply how the M.C. Is so perfect for example when he states things like "How could Chu Yang possibly be like those ordinary people/martial artists" but this novel isn't the only one where i've seen this before but it can still annoy me because who wouldn't be this "perfect" with plot armor, countless lucky chances, and a side-kick for a sword.

Positives:

I'll keep this short and sweet cause the majority of the reasons have been already stated but I can also confirm that the story is quite interesting, has complex villains (Instead of the usual cookie cutter villains), the brotherhood is also quite enjoyable as just them messing around is fun/enjoyable, and finally the comedy is very good as there have been times where I've genuinely laughed for a good while.

tl;dr: Interesting story with great characters with the exception of a couple. Although the romance has been praised it's more of a hit or miss depending on the person but a plus is that the author doesn't use the disgusting form of having villains try to r*pe M.C.'s love interests so far. Also be prepared for the occasional slow-down in the plot. <<less
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IIFLINGAII
IIFLINGAII rated it
March 15, 2018
Status: c351
MY FIRST REVIEW EVER !!

Before reading this novel, I was used to fast-paced one's where by the time you reach a certain threshold (let's say 200-300) the plot would have advanced, and the story would take you to another plane where the MC struggles with new enemies, ad new allies to his team etc...

Cultivating and becoming more powerful was the main focus in all of my previous reads, this one is more inclined to scheming and politics, but still, I gave it a try.

But boy oh boy more than 300... more>> chapters focus on ONE thing and one thing only, THE FREAKIN' WAR, OMG that build up, the back and forth between the two enemies, it was dragged soooooo much that I couldn't even care what the outcome would be, and that's what killed it for me. <<less
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TheQwertyOne
TheQwertyOne rated it
September 23, 2017
Status: c346
This book is not bad in the beginning but start deteriorating fast towards the "end" of "Lower Heavens Arc".

Everything feels too orchestrated and rail-drawn; long speeches of Diwu are unnecessary long; everyone around MC has not only own agenda, but an agenda beneath agenda under another agenda - which is tiring to read because it isn't MC who uncovers it; it's author who plainly states agendas using characters dialogues when MC is absent. MC here is a typical chinese dunce hero. The "Jon Snow you don't know anything" type.

SPOILERS DON'T... more>> WORK AFTER EDITING!!!
Spoiler

Here was a spoiler, detailing my distaste with author's use of "poison cured by s*x" cliche.

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