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I Shall Seal the Heavens
Type
Genre
Tags[ ]
Rating(4.4 / 5.0, 3163 votes)
5 | 69% (2195 votes) |
4 | 13% (404 votes) |
3 | 8% (238 votes) |
2 | 4% (133 votes) |
1 | 6% (192 votes) |
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Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per lineArtist(s)
One entry per lineYear
Example: 2012
2014
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
1613 Chapters + 3 Side Stories / 1 Afterword (Completed)
Licensed
Yes
Completely Translated
Original Publisher
One entry per lineEnglish Publisher
One entry per lineRelease Frequency
Every 662.6 Day(s)Activity Stats [Graph]
Weekly Rank: #2000Monthly Rank: #11561
All Time Rank: #9
Reading List [Graph]
On 19702 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #303
All Time Rank: #32
Description
Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.“What I want, the Heavens shall not lack!”
“What I don’t want, had better not exist under the Heavens!”
This is a story that originates between the Eighth and Ninth Mountains, the world in which the strong prey upon the weak.
“My Name is Meng Hao! The Ninth Generation Demon Sealer, I shall seal the Heavens!”
Associated Names
One entry per lineCennetleri Mühürlemeliyim
Demon Sealer
ISSTH
Ngã Dục Phong Thiên
Wo Yu Feng Tian
ผนึกสวรรค์ สยบมาร สะท้านเทพ
我欲封天
Demon Sealer
ISSTH
Ngã Dục Phong Thiên
Wo Yu Feng Tian
ผนึกสวรรค์ สยบมาร สะท้านเทพ
我欲封天
Related Series
Renegade Immortal (Shared Universe)Pursuit of the Truth (Shared Universe)Against Heaven (Shared Universe)A Will Eternal (Shared Universe)A World Worth Protecting (Shared Universe)Outside of Time (Shared Universe)Recommendations
A Will Eternal (76)World of Cultivation (48)
Renegade Immortal (40)
Transcending the Nine Heavens (29)
The Desolate Era (24)
Coiling Dragon (18)
Recommendation Lists
Latest Release
Date | Group | Release |
---|---|---|
08/05/15 | Wuxiaworld | c100 |
08/04/15 | Wuxiaworld | c99 |
08/04/15 | Wuxiaworld | c97 |
08/03/15 | Wuxiaworld | c96 |
08/02/15 | Wuxiaworld | c95 |
08/01/15 | Wuxiaworld | c93 |
07/31/15 | Wuxiaworld | c91 |
07/30/15 | Wuxiaworld | c89 |
07/29/15 | Wuxiaworld | c87 |
07/28/15 | Wuxiaworld | c85 |
07/27/15 | Wuxiaworld | c83 |
07/26/15 | Wuxiaworld | c82 |
07/25/15 | Wuxiaworld | c81 |
07/24/15 | Wuxiaworld | c79 |
07/23/15 | Wuxiaworld | c77 |
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Let's get this out of the way: "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is a good Xianxia novel. One of Er Gen's many strengths as an author is his prose, which, though at times repetitive, is eloquent in a sense that cannot be compared to his contemporaries. Irrespective of its significance to the plot, each chapter in "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is well written in its own right. In describing new locales, rare artifacts stumbled across in the depths of an ancient and mysterious ruin, or even one of Meng Hao's foundation shaking epiphanies, Er Gen is succinct and articulate. Much of the writing lacks density by design, making it an unequivocally relaxing undertaking to read sit down and start reading. Furthermore, "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is largely bereft of the vacuous padding that many Xianxia novels receive. The story frequently skips large chunks of time when necessary. And while this aspect of the story's composition may have resulted in a work that lacks cohesion and structure in the hands of a lesser author, in this case, it only adds to the feeling that the audience is experiencing a cultivator's journey through life. There is an inherently immersive progression to the world and characters, a feeling that the world is changing and evolving along with Meng Hao, and that, though the readers discover Planet South Heaven through the eyes of a protagonist, it isn't necessarily beholden to his whim. For instance, the incident that prompts Meng Hao to leave for the Southern Domain is when Patriarch Reliance (who turns out to be a giant turtle) decides to up and leave, taking the entire state of Zhao along with him, just because he doesn't want to be the protagonist's dao protector. Plot developments, while often predictable to those who've read enough Xianxia, can still surprise you either by being intriguing, downright silly, or, at the best of times, eliciting raw emotion.
One piece of criticism that is often levied at the novel is that there is a lack of variety in cultivation. This fault, while often articulated, continues to astound me. I can only conclude that individuals who find the story's variety in cultivation deficient either haven't read very much of the story or were lobotomized as children. One of "I Shall Seal the Heaven's" principle strengths is evident in the manner that cultivation is handled. The protagonist begins his journey by pouring over a Qi Condensation manual in every moment of his spare time, all the while holding onto the errant hope that he will one day manage to become an outer disciple of the Reliance Sect. While a member of the outer sect, he relies on pills and demonic cores to increase his cultivation base but begins to realize that such methods will eventually prove ineffective. While many of his minor breakthroughs are instigated by pill consumption, he is oftentimes only able to break bottlenecks through introspection, meditation, diligent cultivation, and ultimately, enlightenment. However, the topics upon that spark this enlightenment are so varied and his realizations are so profound and philosophically complex that these segments never grow dull or uninteresting.
However, the story still has flaws. One of the most glaring (and oft-articulated) issues here is with Meng Hao's character. While he begins the story as a scholar with nary a violent thought in his mind - a naive mortal with aspirations that amount to little more than crossing the sea and gazing upon foreign lands, the second stage of his character arc is far more interesting than the wonderbread generic protagonist that he eventually develops into. Meng Hao begins the story as a simple scholar, but after becoming a cultivator and a part of the reliance sect, he quickly begins to understand the rules of the cultivation world - thrown into a land where the law of the jungle is the sole governing force, the audience watches as the childish, small minded protagonist first introduced begins to develop. Meng Hao's moral struggle and attempts to reconcile the teachings of Confucius with the "might makes right" attitude ubiquitous to the cultivation world along with the young scholar's reliance on wit rather than strength make the first novel the most engrossing portion of "I Shall Seal the Heavens" that I have read thus far.
However, Meng Hao needed to develop for the story to continue, and as he "grows" through his travels, he begins to drift closer and closer to the rightly reviled archetypal badass, morally ambiguous (but not really) protagonist paradigm that is all too common within Xianxia. Some of Meng Hao's original wit and charm still remains, and his character progression is well defined. The audience develops a profound understanding of why the protagonist acts the way he does simply by being privy to his experiences and inner thoughts, but as the story continues onwards, Er Gen begins to rely more on character tropes, the most obtrusive and plot convenient being Meng Hao's clear moral code. Characters that act according to a set doctrine without variation are innately boring, and each time Meng Hao is described as "a cultivator who repays kindness with kindness and enmity with enmity" my heart sinks a little, for each repetition of this epithet sounds the knell for the character that carried the story through the first novel.
Fortunately, many of the story's secondary characters remain interesting as the plot progresses. They, like Meng Hao's path on the road to immortal ascension, remain unpredictable and interesting.
In Summation, while "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is better written, more ideologically complex, and more plot intensive than the majority of modern Xianxia novels, it is by no means free from the faults and tropes that plague the genre. However, the story is demonstrably its own tale, and, many of the things that manage to bog down lesser tales - most principally a one-note protagonist, and various plot conveniences - are relatively inconsequential in this epic narrative. If you have not read "I Shall Seal the Heavens, " for what it's worth, I would proffer that Meng Hao's story is about as worthwhile a read as any Xianxia novel that can be read online today. It's not the Citizen Kane of Chinese Novels and it doesn't have to be. A solid read that does what it sets out to doesn't have to be subversive or revolutionary to be good and well worth your time. So, If you're a fan of Xianxia and aren't bothered to death by the issues inherent to the genre, then you'll probably enjoy this one, and if you can't read stories that aren't genre-defying works of art without involuntarily lodging an icepick in the cerebral cortex of the nearest civilian out of sheer hatred for humanity and all that that it has engendered, I recommend that you try "I Shall Seal the Heavens" out anyways - you might like it.
2) There is agency in every character, there is a clear personality and motivations of each faction
3) The escalation is not only organic, but the type of conflict evolves over time
4) The Novel itself evolves as time goes on
5) It is something a literary analysis/book report would actually give the analyzer something meaningful after it's done. It is not perfect. The first book is very slow. The translation is not the best during that time, which makes it feel so slow, as if you follow the work, you'll realize that this novel is heavily influenced by Poetry. There are so many allusions, contextual in jokes, and more that really require knowledge of not only chinese, but chinese classical literature and culture to get. Deathblade, the translator, does a masterful job of translating it, but there is still clear improvement on his part and the authors as the volumes go on. This leaves the First book to be the weakest. I don't like the second book much either. But every detail is important - often one-off mentions come back hundreds of chapters later to mean something serious, or as a particularly interesting, funny, or engaging pieces of (dramatic and comedic) irony. There are pacing issues. There are 5 stars doesn't mean "perfect" in my ratings/reviews. It means that this novel is worth your time. That the author achieved what he set out to do very well. That this novel is one to reread for more than the fist-in-your-face catharsis moments. That even if you don't enjoy your self as much through chapter 200, by the time you hit chapter 400 you'll be thinking it was worthwhile. There are definite pacing issues. Moral issues. Excessive author indulgence issues. If you abhor r*pe humor, there is a character that will really tick you off. If you hate Excalibur... the same. You could probably skip everything and go straight to the third book, to be honest if you're ok with learning as you go. But read it. It's definitely worth a try, even if you don't usually like chinese novels or Xianxia/Xuanhuan.
Lets start with genres of this novel: no romance at all. MC cant love anyone bisides himself and his cultivation. You will read pointless tons of words but there will not be any romance, people say here this is slow novel but I can guess even later MC simply cant behave even 10% like in ATG (in romance way at least).
Forget about romance - this is only my opinion so lets move on.
Battle system: completely different from what we can see in ATG and MGA. ah, need a spoiler I guess.
To put it in two words: in ATG (for example) MC raises his cultivation-becomes strong-eat pills\other small things-"upgrades himself"-fights with weapon using his own body and weapon and some energy\magic techniques. Thats ok, you cultivate and make yourself strong... but ISSTH MC cant do even that small. He rises his levels for whats sake? 1-50 chapters you could see only that cultivation levels means nothing, only precius items\weapons and all battles feels like warehouse1 versus warehouse2 -_-
If you wonder, is there piece of shit? yes, its MC ISSTH. Why im so radical? I hope I can explain. Every person on same level as MC is stronger than him, even people who below his lvl also in some way stronger than him. why you ask? Answer lies in that "pressure" thing that radiates according to levels. I even forgot how many times MC feels and fear this pressure thing and it even make him feel incredible pain. But he himself cant properly wield this pressure and inflict pain to his enemies, very often his enemies dont give a f*ck about his level\pressure and attack him. Feels like MC starts as cripple from the start and then remains cripple among normal humans. Im not even close to forget my precious time I wasted on this novel, so lets contibue.
You can say that what I wrote is wrong, MC is intelligent and strong and all of his enemies till chapter 102-103 were killed by his hands or fled away and so on and he is jewel MC, and noone from ATG and MGA, TDG and so on cant compete with him... Aaaaaand that is not quite so. I dont even know what makes people up there write good about this (japanese-like) MC being genious and shine above other novels.
Meng Hao has no backbone and has no clear goal, and, of course, has no close person in his life. accept this fact my dear menghao lovers. I hope I can explain this too.
Ok, he was dragged in reliance sect and when he got manual he almost abandoned his goal to be rich and was hyped to become immortal. DAMN! HE WAS ABANDONED BY HIS PARENTS! OK EVEN IF HIS UNCLE TOLD HIM THAT THY DIED - HE DIDNT EVEN ASK HOW? AND ALL WHAT ON HIS MIND WAS - TO BE RICH. FAMILY MYSTERY? 0 f*ckS WAS GIVEN. Is it me, or MC dont understant what family\close relations means? How this character supposed to make romance? Then his goal was to survive and become immortal with all of its perks (flying etc). Loner from the start will be loner till the end. When turtle with his zhao state fled - again 0 f*cks was given, his goal didnt change, he didnt want to chase turtle (if you suddenly forgot - his family remains are there (uncle etc)), instead he turned around and went to nearest state to proceed in being immortal and so on. Deus ex machina happens too many times and it became so boring, that I want to puke. He dont have determination and stable and unwavering emotional background, maybe thats why we dont see any romance at the start (only female character so far (100ch) is cold as ice and dont give a f*ck about meng hao, almost, give and take - isnt proper relationship - there is no romace detected) and I doubt that all sect have only one female, who can behave nice around our dear MC... Being this character from the start and then make romance happen in future im doubt this, and my point is - MC incapable to love, his background was made very poorly. I dont accept sudden jump and suddenly if he appears to have love feelings from this zero point without any experience - dont make me laugh! Logically thinking: whats the point of being immortal? if you cant share immortal and neverending happiness with the one you love. To seal the heavens? Ok you have sealed it, now what? meng hao from the start was put in this trouble of being ignorant and selfish, and alone...
OK, forget about my speculation about MC character. Thats not only bad point.
When he was taken by that girl to the sect, they literally "shoot up into the sky", but qi condensation people cant fly, they can only glide -_-. Ah thats insignificant, so lets move on.
Some of this novel events are hard to imagine, for example fighting while eating, or running while eating, or flag transforms into mist with lightning or HOW THE f*ck HUNDRED FLYING SWORDS CAN LOSE TO RANDOM SHIT? If you still dont understand my hint - try to remember and imagine main antagonist of Fate Zero and his flying warehouse of weapons being lose to some f*cking finger attack? and to add to that 2 swors that can penetrate whatewer qi condensation user wields -_-.
Ok im tired, I wasted too much time and words so say simple thing - this novel doesnt deserve 5\5 and tag "romance" as well as praises as "best MC ever". I registered here only to express my babyrage about this novel and my wasted time on it.
- My first xianxia (actually first chinese ln as a whole)
- I liked the story as a whole.
If I'm not biased i'd actually give it 3/3.5 because many of its glaring inconsistencies&annoyances.he'll end up with 2 girl due to circumstances, The personality of the 2 heroine are quite opposite and people who likes the other usually hates the other one. Now I still won't call it a harem since his realitionship with the 2nd heroine are actually pretty well done, and MC is actually declining any other girl except these 2.
not as straightforward as it sounds, since all of the "destiny" source are actually main part of the story, you'll see through the last 2 books.
- Cons:
Author tends to forget things or hype a certain ability only to simply shruggs it off because he can't pace MC's power level with his abilites through the story, i'll just list some:a. MC is a grandmaster in alchemy which could make a pill that could wipe an entire sect, yet after achieving this status the only time MC utilizee his ability in a great war are at Black Lands and Western Desert arcs, in any great war after that point author just completely "forgot" it and MC never use his abilty in alchemy to wipe enemy troops anymore (most likely author are just too lazy to make an interesting skirmish with pill after this point of the story, since war arc are also one of the weakest point of the author.)
b. Again author completely forgot what he wrote. When MC went on mental journey through M&S realm he saw Lord Li's legacy on patriarch reliance back, and we see MC's surprised expression and the turtle reaction too in this part of the story, yet later when MC got this legacy info from Patriach Fang's clone, MC still needs to connect the dot and he's still surprised as if it's his first time knowing it.
b. Last three sentences of blood immortal ability, now like most of his old ability MC just got stronger and don't need these "weak" abilites anymore. But this last 3 sentences are quite a waste that we never see them to be used, first he got to the point where he could utilize up to 6 sentences by damaging his life force, then after powering up a little he could utilize 6 sentences normally, at this point author should've made MC able to use up to 9 sentences, yet again he simply "forgot" that MC could and he still only use 6 sentences, after that MC powers up again in which he didn't need this ability anymore at this point it's fine to not use this ability anymore just why didn't he used it fully before MC jumps to this realm. *Sigh*
c. Core qi, before MC reached core formation stage author really made a big deal of core qi, yet after MC achieved his, we only see it so much then everything just moves on, just hoping that his core qi would actually be developed continually in later stage (nascent soul, so on) since it's pretty hyped up with other character just to see it forgotten from the story in the end.
d. Another hyped up plot just to be forgotten in the end, the Immortal mu*dering Sword. When its origin starting to get revealed by the bat, we clearly see how author tried to explore this sword more being it part of the ancient war and all. But then MC rarely used it. Even after its refined by Greed MC just forgot about it again, until he's in coma for a thousand year with his bag of holding punctured just so author could erase it from the story.
I laughed- cried at the Father Arc! So blissfully painful.