Way of the Devil

Description

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Demons, devils, ghosts and monsters

Plunge the weak mortals in horrors;

Arms of gods and blades of devils,

Shroud the world in untold evils.

Lu Sheng was an ordinary civil servant in the modern world. After waking from a drunken stupor one day, he found himself trapped in a dangerous world where demons, ghosts and supernatural monsters terrorize the land.

In this world, ordinary mortals live in dark fear and helplessness, without any means to fight against the supernatural.

As Lu Sheng struggles desperately for survival, he stumbles upon a game mod he had designed for a mobile phone app in his previous life. It unexpectedly becomes his special ability, which enables him to instantly level up any skill he learns, albeit at a cost.

Thus, Lu Sheng begins his journey, striving for power beyond the reach of a mortal as he treads the way…of the Devil…

Associated Names
One entry per line
Cực Đạo Thiên Ma
Extreme Dao Heavenly Demon
ยอดวิถีแห่งปีศาจ
极道天魔
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Carefree Path of Dreams (4)
Mystical Journey (4)
Warlock of the Magus World (3)
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (2)
Library of Heaven’s Path (2)
Lord of the Mysteries (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. all of my 5/5 novels
  2. Novels i Have Read
  3. Novels That I Have Read Over The Years
  4. Cultivation
  5. Stories I adore

Latest Release

Date Group Release
11/25/17 Webnovel c104
11/24/17 Webnovel c103
11/23/17 Webnovel c102
11/20/17 Webnovel c101
11/19/17 Webnovel c100
11/18/17 Webnovel c99
11/17/17 Webnovel c98
11/15/17 Webnovel c97
11/13/17 Webnovel c96
11/12/17 Webnovel c95
11/11/17 Webnovel c94
11/10/17 Webnovel c93
11/08/17 Webnovel c92
11/07/17 Webnovel c91
11/05/17 Webnovel c90
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68 Reviews sorted by


kkgoh
kkgoh rated it
September 14, 2020
Status: c85
Interesting premise with a supernatural cultivation world, but as what most reviewers said, it's pretty uninspired writing. Lots of comments made so I'll just add a few deal-killers that I spotted.

(1) Plot development is all over the place
It's always an AND-THEN-THIS-HAPPENED plot.
Author/MC is constantly given clues for next task at Site A/B/C/D/E. MC goes to Site A/B/C/D/E. MC forgets/ignores about the clue and continues doing his own thing until sh*t happens. Then MC goes, "Hey...I remember I got this clue earlier...". Rinse and repeat every minor/major arc.

Here's... more>> a typical example.

Spoiler

Chapter 1-30 MC spends half of those chapters training by himself (a common boring problem pointed out by other reviewers). Yup, that's how s*upid it is.
MC finds out a little bit more about his world, but doesn't bother exploring it further besides training. Sh*t has to happen to him before he deigns to investigate but usually forgets about it later.
MC saved his paternal sister from being r*ped, then a few chapters later MC ignores her and allows her to be turned into an idiot. Ugh. After the danger has passed, MC vows to make his family strong.

Chapter 35-50+ MC proceeds to the next bigger city, but is lulled into a sense of safety, and so forgets about his lofty goals and starts d*cking around with mundane affairs (become a court official rather than entering the true world of cultivators by looking for the Crimson Whale Sect). Seriously???
Even when clues are literally handed to him (it's in a f*cking note sometimes!), he continues training on his own for months to years while not realizing he is OP already.
Author clearly forget about the sect, then suddenly remembers it and so randomly starts MC's next mission.

[collapse]

(2) Pedophilia and sexual/aesthetic preferences are a huge red flag
Not sure why this wasn't really flagged earlier by reviewers.
I should've guessed from the beginning when MC had a 12 year old maid Xiao Qiao hanging around him. Then it got way worse when there are constantly situations of the MC having s*xual tension with his maid, from long descriptions of his maid's body to random s*xual situations. Ugh.

Then there was this really weird thing about how current society preferences found long-legged women as a turnoff, and one of MC love interests had long legs and was therefore shunned by society. Huh??
So doesn't that mean all the "beautiful" women (acknowledged by EVERYONE in society) that author described in the ENTIRE novel are short-legged stumpy midgets?? WTF...

(3) Broken cultivation mechanics

Completely nonsensical cultivation methods. MC is constantly missing the latter half of his training manuals. Somehow his System helps him make up for it by "extrapolating" the next levels, which as some reviewers have already pointed out is INCREDIBLY s*upid.
It gets worse when he repeatedly starts jelly-bellying (mix and match) his martial arts as a form of nonsensical advancement. And it works, just because author says so, even though it makes no sense at all.
The names are even more epically s*upid.
Black Tiger Fury + Something Crane Skill = Black Tiger Something Crane Skill.
Ugh. <<less
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riida
riida rated it
February 5, 2020
Status: c438
Unusual ghost/undead setting. MC attitude is pretty good: confidently and aggressively smash monster with brute power.

What's not good is that his disposition is fluctuating, mostly chaotic neutral and uncaring, sometimes kinda good and caring, sometimes evil and abusing innocent people for power. That just throws you off.

Then there's this really annoying enemy structure of a sect having a bigger sect behind it and that having a bigger one again and so on. So every time he levels up he's back to exactly the same power balance again and again.
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Ixcez
Ixcez rated it
June 9, 2018
Status: c225
A very different take compared to the normal martial arts chinese novel.

In the case of this one it focus at first more on a world filled with demons and ghosts that the general population and martial artists for that matter are mostly unable to handle. While the goverment/police covers up the incidents from the general population.

So how does the MC go about solving this conundrum?

By going HULK SMASH! Can't kill the ghost? Then need more muscle! Problem with not staying dead? Then hit then some more! They are to fast... more>> for the eyes? Then strengthen your abs take a punch and grab em!

Basically the whole setting is that at least at first MC has no special powers so instead he focuses on strength, toughness and qi to battle the supernatural.

It is a very interesting concept and the author does a good job with the supernatural happenings up to the fights.

My biggest and almost only issue with the novel is the fights. Everything up to here is fine but once they start they are basically only the usual OP MC who swings his saber once or twice and the ghosts are split in two and dies. There is never really any suspense since the author will spend 2-10 chapters on the build up to the fight with the ghosts but then it quickly devolves into MC swing saber ghost dead. This is especially easy for the MC since all the ghosts only fights him in melee like any normal close combat martial artist.

The MC is also always completly unafraid and pretty much jumps at the ghosts while they try to run away, eventually the ghosts just devolves into the generic CN enemies that the MC insults and then pretty much kills instantly with no difficulty.

So what started as a very fresh take on this genre sadly turned into the generic genre after about 100-150 chapters.

While it is still one of the better one's in the genre it is sad to see it become generic so quickly and in my opinion lose it's identity in the masses. <<less
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Darkzeta
Darkzeta rated it
June 1, 2018
Status: c225
5 Star Fan Here.

why?

  • Cuz it's HULK vs Supernatural Horrors! RAWWRRR! Who doesn't like the idea of someone like the Incredible Hulk bashing down ghosts and monsters? That's pretty much what this is about.
  • World building is detailed enough to scare the bejeebus out of me if I had to visit that world. eeek!
  • MC is kind of OP, cuz he doesn't start off the bat super duper HULK. He builds up to it. And you can easily read and feel his fear as he strives to get stronger to face this horror filled world.
  • Support characters are not super detailed, but given enough 'life' that you recognize them.
  • Oh. Alot of people die to supernatural horrors.
  • Don't read this story series all by yourself in the middle of the night in a creaky weird and moaning house.... just DON'T.
  • Read this story series in the sun while you're outside enjoying a nice breeze.
Overall I liked it. Was superbly entertained by it. Easily binged it to 225. Remenber: It's HULK vs Supernatural Horrors! HULK.... uhhh... Lu Sheng is STRONGEST one there is!! RAWWWRRR!!!
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Hantosh
Hantosh rated it
January 14, 2018
Status: c312
Plot:
MC transmigrates into the body of a playboy noble son in an ancient chinese world setting. Discovers the world is ruled by supernatural powers that regular martial arts cannot contend against, and embarks upon a path to survival for him and his family.

Great premise, average execution. To get a feel for the series, imagine if at the end of every X-Files episode, the MC hulks out and punches the monster of the week in the face to death.

MC's cheat power basically lacks depth, he instantly learns/merges any martial arts... more>> he comes across. This exponentially scales like Re:Monster and he basically turns into a demonic Hulk. MC's personality degrades from interesting to standard psychopath chinese WN MC pretty quick and never recovers. The unique horror-wuxia vibe is ruined when he leaves the starter country and it turns out, there ARE martial arts that can contend against the supernatural.

Recommendation:
The beginning arcs are somewhat fresh and new, worth a try. Too many Chinese WN cliches starting showing up later on (side characters don't matter, organization building doesn't matter, location change every arc in lieu of meaningful world building, etc). Leaving the starter country was the last straw. By that point the story "formula" had become apparent, removing any hope of change, so I dropped it. <<less
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ShadyShadow
ShadyShadow rated it
May 10, 2020
Status: c720
Good World-building, good battle scenes, fleshed out characters, good pacing, interesting cultivation paths; what more could one want?
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Sneezing rambler
Sneezing rambler rated it
December 8, 2019
Status: c1213
I really liked this novel. The character of Lu Sheng in particular pleased me a lot. I find him similar to Leylin in how he bids his time and trains before absolutely stompong his enemies. He is like the Hulk when he starts fighting but apart from that he is very agreeable.
Spoiler

The way he came to view life at a certain point in the novel realizing that he needs strength to protect himself and his loved ones caused him to go all out. And when he lost them and started wanderong from world to world and assimilating his other selves and living their lives also brings about a nice change in him. At the end when he feels he is strong enough he repays everything.

[collapse]

Also I am a sucker for the comedy inserted by the author in the way he brings about the church of Lu Sheng.
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IMakeCopperMirrors
IMakeCopperMirrors rated it
September 3, 2019
Status: c600
Rating: 6/10

Spoiler

It is very much in the style of WMW (see my review for that). But the cheat is just dumber and intrinsically flawed.

The downside is that the author build the plot on the go and is inconsistent with many important things:

    • cultivation system... how much did he changed his mind about it- probably a few dozens of times;
    • personality of the MC (not very much of a spoiler here:) At first he is very indignant when he finds out a powerful clan must kill 100 people yearly to keep their power (be they criminals or not) and swears to change the ways of this so cruel unfair world. The next moment when some demons attack the village and everybody is trying to run for their lives, he forbids his family's servants to leave and kills a few without blinking an eye roaring they are his families propriety.
      Later in the story he basically doesn't give a flyig f*ck about others people's lives and just cares about cultivation. He goes killing random masters so he can absorb their weapons be they demons or humans like him even if thet didn't do anything to him and are fighting for humanity.

      yeah... He also falls in love with a girl when he is already stronger than her by a lot; thenforgets about her and loses all feelings for her telling her he lives already in another world from her. And THEN he forcefully imp**gnates her after getting a technique that allows him to...

    • Later on, he questions someone why people can'tunderstand the preciousnessof life. A few chapters later then proceeds two annihilate an entire planet because he had some beef with the beeing that ruled over that planet among others.
    • He also like is first very cold and indifferent to his love interest, to the point he wouldn't mind slapping her dead because he is now too strong and lonely for a mortal. But after a few further powerups when the plot pushes for the damsel in distress trope he suddenly would do anything to save her and the remaining clan members he literally didn'tgive a f*ck about for hundreds of chapters.
[collapse]
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KingLycan
KingLycan rated it
January 14, 2018
Status: c141
I have been following this novel for quite some time now, and I have to say it has always exceeded my expectations.

MC and his growth is shown properly I have to thank both author and Translator for that.

MC knows when to stay low key and when he should show himself. He knows his flaws and isn't over smart or over confident.

There are some coincidences but mostly, there are for certain reasons and causes for those action. It has a certain flow to its story and isn't like few novel's where... more>> a single enemy death or greed brings a whole clan of enemy for MC.

I have to say this is one of the best work out there and I Personally strongly recommend this for you guys. It's getting more and more interesting as it is progressing. <<less
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False_life
False_life rated it
December 25, 2021
Status: c651
If you're looking for a novel whose character is evil, ruthless, and does everything he can to get what he wants, this is not the novel.

The character cares about his family, the sect, and helps all of whom show him a little kindness.

He is not an apathetic character as the description says since he helps everyone even if it hurts his benefits.

He is not an evil character since he only kills the bad guys who have done bad things so if they say he is bad then all the characters... more>> who are protagonists and kill to defend their family and friends are all bad.

From what I've read, he doesn't deserve to be labeled an evil protagonist.

In my opinion, the novel that has an evil protagonist and that deserves that label is Glory of Netheril and Master of Gu. <<less
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Lazy Dude
Lazy Dude rated it
May 19, 2021
Status: c38
at chapter 38 author is already showing signs of alzheimer's disease... he forgot that the cheat app should MAX LEVEL the skill or technique INSTANTLY.

now the MC just levels it ONE AT A TIME.

*smh

not a good start. we may have an author who ruins his own lore at some point, just to insert danger or sense of urgency. i'll read a few more and if I read the same pattern again---i will submit a new review and lower the rating even more.

we don't need these kinds of bullcrap.
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Dg2
Dg2 rated it
February 24, 2021
Status: c732
This is a rare CN novel that is enjoyable and is more unique. Sadly, that is only for the beginning 300 chapters. Afterwards the author thought removing all cultivation/training would be a great idea if he can add MORE battle scenes.

During the coarse of the latter part of the novel, our MC will fly though the cultivation ranks with no effort. Random tiers will be added on a whim that were never mentioned before hand. For example, the confusion realm. This realm is in-between grandmaster level and void rank. With... more>> both being foreshadowed since the beginning. However, the author saw his pacing is tr*sh and instead of lengthening the arcs, he adds a whole new cultivation tier to slow his rise to power. This is annoying cause the world arcs are hashed up into segments where the start is fleshed out, but suddenly in the latter half, our MC kills everyone in a single chapter with a time-skip telling us how OP he gotten.

Besides this, we also got our MC being a hypocrite down to the core. He hates it when people backstab him, but he does the exact same thing, but he mind-controls people on top of that. This further removes any sign of tension and is plain lazy writing.

The final thing I dislike is how he wants to cultivate and train his martial arts. He mentions how he will not use his cheat system, but at the first sign of trouble he caves in and powers up to godly levels. Rinse and repeat this and the whole story can be written in a single paragraph.

And apparently the author says he's one of the four void heavenly devils and he can't die. But the original people who cultivated the exact same techniques as him, are considered weaker and will die from the slightest scratch.

Before I forget, every time we are introduced to the next cultivation rank, these people are so OP that they will one shot our MC no matter what. But when our MC goes to their level, he isn't able to do the same and once again we are introduce to a made up cultivation tier which consists of invincible aholes and guess what, they can will one shot our MC.

Rate 3.8/5 <<less
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EFermi
EFermi rated it
December 14, 2020
Status: c760
It start off incredibly, astonishingly good. It has all the elements of chinese fantasy in right proportions, accentuating mysterious and horror-ish aspects, and that's just so good!.. But then, about when the MC leaves the kingdom with his famiy, it starts devolving into a typical, cliched, boring chinese cultivation novel with dimentional travel, planet-scale powers, "I need to protect my family" and the stuff. I mean, it started off like 4.5-5 out of 5 and downgraded itself to 2.5-3. Wha happun?! Did the author make the protagonist too strong too... more>> fast and had no other choice? IDK, but if you, like myself, loved the initial few hundred chapter but got "WTF is this $hіt" feeling from later, try Lord of the Mysteries or Warlock of the Magus World if haven't yet - they do things right 90% of the time and know how to treat a leveled-up protagonist to proportionally strong enemies without making it ridiculous and feeling forced by plotline. <<less
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dosithee
dosithee rated it
April 1, 2020
Status: c682
The best of the best. 2nd best? Mystical Journey. 3dr? Advent of the Archmage.

Your welcome.

Really. Rather than rinse and repeat, this author uses tons of varying plots and characters.

Ok, characters arent amazing. But action is non-stop and story will keep your attention. MC is most bad ass of all stories I've read and isn't you usual dumb arrogant MC. That's right! He's badass without being arrogant!

Good stuff.
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eternal_reader_lobo
eternal_reader_lobo rated it
September 17, 2019
Status: Completed
This was really good, the pace an progression is something rarely found an MC is really smart (like MC's in WMW an WW) it's almost like he could have got that strong without he's cheat and u don't see him offending young masters an face slapping left right and centre.

The cheat is also very controlled cos most cheat users would have already been world like monsters in the first 100 chp

All in all I really liked this, although it got a little confusing at the end this is still a... more>> good read

Keep in mind this main character is extremely ruthless during later chapters

<<less
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Kezmark
Kezmark rated it
September 14, 2019
Status: c311
The main problem with this novel is that it commits the biggest sin in writing, that being that it is boring.

Now to start with, the initial premise and world building is actually fairly nice, its interesting and it did grab me. There's even some degree of tension in the early fights, and there's a fair few good points about it, with some decent characters an situations.

Now the cheat, its just what the name implies, the most basic form of upgrade your sh*t with minimal work in little time kind of... more>> thing. Its boring and uninspired and most of the problems for this novel stem from it and its implementation/use.

Here's the thing, the last time the main character actually has a fight where he's in any sort of danger was somewhere in the early 100 chapters and I'm at 311. The main character is overly paranoid and a coward, all he does is eat up resources to upgrade his shit, its not even satisfying when he upgrades as he upgrades multiple levels at a time of each skill making the actual number of levels irrelevant and the sense of growth nonexistent. He is more or less at all points stronger then his enemies and continually upgrades his shit, with no real goal or realistic reason. Eat resources/upgrade for a ton of chapters, then fight something way below your level for 1 chapter whilst acting all smug, then hide again and upgrade to start the cycle again.

He acts as if he's several magnitudes weaker then he actually is, to fool his enemies and everyone that would be scared of him and blablabla, its all bullshit. This guy is probably stronger then most if not all noble clan heads at one point and yet he still pretends like he's barely at even average foot soldier level and we actually have fights with him against people he could destroy 150 chapters earlier with no sweat, there is 0 tension as he has to pretend to be much weaker and even concede fights with the most idiotic reasoning. This whole thing leads to nothing.

There's a lot of fights like this over a significant period and it is damn boring, there is nothing to come of it. The novel just seems aimless and the guy goes through several types of bullsh*t cultivations that you don't even need to remember since they'll be irrelevant once he upgrades 20 times after the next fight, hell even the character himself doesn't have a clue how strong he is most times. Even when sh*t hits the fan and you expect things to actually be tense with big enemies around, it ends up the same, as he spends 50 chapters prior to this upgrading like a lunatic with nothing else happening, going through dozens of level ups over multiple skills, and the author likes to make you read all that irrelevant sh*t since it pads up his word count. He just shows up and stomps the baddies then decides to piss off instead of helping the country and all the people he's been crying about for the first 200 or so chapters of this shit, even though he proved he could easily solve the issue currently going down.

You could skip dozens of chapters and you'd miss nothing. No tension, no plot, no nothing. <<less
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cjk33
cjk33 rated it
May 30, 2018
Status: c170
OK let me start off by saying I like some if not most of this story. The "deep blue" is interesting and the use's held a lot of good ideas. But that's where it ends so much potential and the MC and the author forget or not bother to remember simple and important facts, like the "yin yang" skill the MC gets it in the 30-50 chapter and only gets yang skills to improve it for 100 chapters he forget it's "yin yang" and only improves once he face death... more>> by his "yang". He then get three "yin" skills and moved on. Really 3 skills. 3 and he has got every and any yang skill in his sect.

It's this cheep story telling that made me hate this story. Parts that are obviously important are just left to be forgotten or throw into a corner to come back later to be a bad thing. <<less
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cpzombie
cpzombie rated it
July 13, 2022
Status: c772
It's a world-hopping xianxia where he always starts off relatively weak, then within a few chapters he spams his cheat and then is the strongest in the world. It gets pretty repetitive, and he almost always hides his strength even when there's no reason to. Some parts are great, but the main problem with the novel is the padding (like many xianxia). He also pretty much just ignores women, despite occasionally saying otherwise.

However, I definitely would've kept reading if it was translated. The main draw of the novel is the... more>> comedy imo, the MC is a hypocritical dickhead and it's hilarious. For the most part he's a good guy, and he helps out everyone that's nice to him... but he's also really aggressive and likes to solve everything with muscles, and he never sees himself in the wrong. If he makes a mistake and accidentally hurts someone, it's obviously their fault and they deserved it. If he steals from people, it's their fault for being wealthier than he is, etc. <<less
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KISKU
KISKU
December 6, 2021
Status: c744
It was all great with unique world and power and good setting enough to give it 5 star but after the author introduce the other world and how he's reincarnating here and there from their all become mediocre, it's like author had smoked something different in later half of the novel and the characters gotten forgotten...
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Fab
Fab rated it
April 16, 2021
Status: c772
I really love this novel. And I would have loved to see the ending. It's sad that they stopped the translation, but I can't do anything about it.

I started reading way of the devil when I was in high school. Back when I had troubles dealing with school and all sort of stressful situations. And I quickly became a fan of the MC who despite facing all kind of unfortunate and impossible situations, still found the strength to rise and face the world. Like when he first encountered the supernatural.... more>> He was fearful. He was scared for his life, but he still chose to fight. And that's where his story really started.

He was basically in a do or die situation each and every single time. Okay, maybe not all the time, but that's how he perceived it in his mind. He took every single situation seriously and never slacked off. Which is the reason why he managed to survive.
And this mentality slowly changed him into a more serious and mature version of himself.

As the story keeps on going, you really get to see how he adapts himself to the impossible world that he has fallen into. Growing more powerful each day, but also turning into a completely different version of himself.

And I guess that is the main reason why I love this novel. Lu Sheng has never given up or despaired despite knowing what was waiting for him in the future. God knows how many would have given up by the time the void underworld beings started to show up. Hell, a lot would have despaired way before those overpowered beings appeared. Especially with a lacking and demanding system like Deep Blue. Just the anomalies and the vein powered supernatural would have been enough.

But the MC was different. He kept going. Regardless of the challenge or the obstacle. No matter what happened, his thoughts were always along the lines of 'I won't die here, I know there's a way out of this' and 'I won't let you stand above myself'.

That is the kind of mentality that makes him unique. And also his ability to back it up. People may have different opinions regarding Lu Sheng with his ruthless and burtal methods, but in my mind, he will always remain the best MC out there. I have nothing but praises for this guy. Frankly, despite having a cheat, I don't know anyone who would have survived in his world better.

That aside, the story was fun and entertaining. I was still fairly new to cultivation novels when I started it, but even now, I don't recall having read any of those cliché young master tropes in this novel. My only grippe was the power level that was blown out of proportions towards the later part of the story, but it doesn't really bother me because the MC could still keep up (and also because I wanted the story to keep going XD).

Anyway, I am not really good at english so I cannot find the right words to express myself and shower this novel with all the praises it deserves. So I will say this instead, I have read this novel for around three years now, and I do not regret a single second of my time when I just sat there in my room and engrossed myself in the story. It inspired me to rise to the challenges of my own life. And it may not be up to everybody's tastes, some may even hate it for how it turned into a complete cultivation novel. But it will always remain as the unrivalled number 1 in my heart.

So thank you to the author for writing this amazing story, and thank you to the translators for the work you have done. And even the moderators for posting this here. <<less
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