Ze Tian Ji

Description

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To pick is to choose. This is a story about choices. Three thousand worlds full of gods and demons, with a daoist scroll in your hand, you are able to control the entire universe…

At the beginning of time, a mystical meteor came crashing down from outer space and scattered all over the world. A piece of it landed in the Eastern Continent. There were mysterious totems carved upon the meteor. Through viewing these totems, mankind comprehended the Dao and established the Orthodoxy.

Several thousand years later, the fourteen years old orphan Chen Changsheng left his master to cure his illness and change his fate. He brought a part of a marriage vow with him to the capital, thus beginning the journey of a rising hero…

Associated Names
One entry per line
Fighter of the Destiny (TV series)
Trạch Thiên Ký
Way of Choices
ZTJ
择天记
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
World of Cultivation (9)
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (8)
Transcending the Nine Heavens (5)
Nightfall (4)
Joy of Life (4)
Pivot of the Sky (4)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Novels That I Have Read Over The Years
  2. Novels I have read
  3. The Mt. Tai of Chinese Novels
  4. Light Novel list
  5. Timeless Masterpieces - the Best Novels Ever

Latest Release

Date Group Release
07/17/16 Novel Saga c196
07/10/16 Novel Saga c195
07/06/16 Novel Saga c194
07/02/16 Novel Saga c193
06/29/16 Novel Saga c192
11/27/15 Ze Tian Ji Translation c107
11/27/15 Ze Tian Ji Translation c106 part2
11/26/15 Ze Tian Ji Translation c106 part1
11/26/15 Ze Tian Ji Translation c105 part2
11/26/15 Ze Tian Ji Translation c105 part1
Write a Review
205 Reviews sorted by


bloomsburyhouse
bloomsburyhouse rated it
January 1, 2016
Status: --
His life is plain and clear, like the words of the novel. Strong in mind, and a pure soul. Hidden are the fragments of a poet's yearning; a story told not to be the strongest, but simply a fight to be.
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BlackHat88
BlackHat88 rated it
December 27, 2015
Status: --
The power-up are quite slow to come because MC is crippled so it's not your typical xianxia novel where MC gets a magic treasure, legendary skill or whatever and start killing around.
Despite that he shows exceptional talent in martial arts and when he'll no longer be crippled, he'll probably be a genius. MC is getting caught between the different powers of the capital who uses him in their schemes against each other
MC who doesn't give a sh*t about those factions fights has to find a way to stay... more>> alive while being without status nor power. <<less
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Shio
Shio rated it
November 16, 2015
Status: --
Like its name, Ze Tian Ji was a novel about choice and the way (principle/path) the character choose to pursue. Some pursue their heart, while other choose based on the greater good.

It's not a novel about flaunting one's power, wealth, or beauty. Sure, there's some nice face slapping moment in the novel, and the main character and love interest were all good looking.

Things I like from the novel:

  • It has clear power structure with one solid world. Some novel have never ending power rank. You rose from lv 1 to lv 10, only to find out there's level 20. Then you found out there's power rank 100 and the MC has to travel another 2-3 realm before achieving the level. Thankfully in Ze Tian Ji you won't find such thing. There's only one realm that become the focus, and that means more time for character relation to develop.
  • All character have their own personality and motive behind their action
  • No character was 100% kind or evil, including the villain. Politic exist, and it's not always about the MC. You might hate a character for one moment, but love them to death later.
Things people may dislike:

  • the chapter are often wordy. Beautiful red roses might be written as "roses with crimson blood like petals, its beauty takes away the breath of those who saw it." There's no repetition of young arrogant master, but one event could be written from several character perspective. No obvious repetition, but still wordy.
All in all, very recommended for those who like fleshed out character and solid plot
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SrPyro
SrPyro rated it
November 9, 2015
Status: --
I’ve posted a review before, but I had to do another one. The reviews don’t do justice for this novel. This novel is like a poem. A sad dramatic poem. One that you wish could end well, but deep inside, you know it won’t. You can’t help but sympathise with the character and his powerlessness to change his fate. Talented, but destined to die. With everything necessary to change fate except the way itself.
Spoiler

He can xiuxing. It’s the method to cultivate. However, it seems he can’t advance fast enough to defy his fate and survive his illness.

[collapse]

How can one keep calm in face of all adversities? Simple, one knows that he will die soon anyways. How can one work relentlessly? Simple, one knows it’s the only way he can change his fate and escape death.

This novel is really slow-paced, but is by no means uninteresting. It’s the opposite actually. The feelings get across even better because of the pace. Perfect for a casual read. Beware! Those feels won’t come out unscathed.
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Mskomek
Mskomek rated it
November 7, 2015
Status: --
Excellent story

this story is NOT about a boy kill/beat everybody ruthless or be bullied because weak poor or whatever. Its about a boy who is smart, intelligent and just wanted to be alive

I HİGHLY RECOMMEND THIS NOVEL
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1pi-radiant
1pi-radiant rated it
March 6, 2022
Status: Completed
I have just completed a re-read of this story and been wanting to record the emotion somewhere. For me, this story is a true masterpiece of fictional literature, and believe me I read a lot, and in 3 different languages: English, Japanese, and my native language. My first read of this story was 5 years ago, at that time I was also reading a lot of Chinese novels. But normally I am only trying to find Japanese novel on this site, English translations of Chinese novel are often not able... more>> to keep all the nuance and attitudes while my native language is much closer to Chinese. So I found the translation in my native language and moved from this site since chapter 100. <<less
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amnesic123
amnesic123 rated it
February 17, 2022
Status: c390
Absolute garbage of a novel and an utter waste of time. Nothing ever ever happens and this novel cannot even be considered slow paced it is just excruciatingly painful to read. MC is bland, plot is mediocre at best and everything made worse by soooo much uncessary filler. And I'm not into fast food type novels like AGD but this novel is on whole another level of tr*sh. I have no idea why some people give this 5 star rating they must have so much time to waste.
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avinashvamshi180
avinashvamshi180
September 23, 2021
Status: c100
Ok, it was pretty interesting at the start. But after reading for sometime I realised the MC was unreasonable and petty. His love interest with the female lead (the one who is promised to marry him) is so irritating and annoying. Time and Time again MC says he doesn't have time for bullsh*t and nonsense, yet he drags things because of this involving in a messy situation. He could have simple asked for Sorry for treating him like that and cancelled the marriage promise would have saved him time and... more>> a lot of trouble yet he insists on keeping the marriage albeit for various reasons the author puts in a nice way but I can't help think MC is reasonable.

After going through all that trouble from the female MC and her family after a few hundred chapters they become lovers. Man, all that drama and killings only to this end. It would have been fine, if they went on their own paths. <<less
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koukana
koukana rated it
November 1, 2020
Status: c1183
I just finished reading this over 2 weeks, at the beginning 300 chapters I was convinced this was the perfect novel, the MC was calm collected, not goody goody neither evil, the secondary characters all interesting, and the plot developed itself incredibly well, and the world was also quite rich.

From 300th chapter forward, it seemed the author stopped giving attention to the details, and simply moved the bigger plot, everything starts to feel rushed and underwhelming, the arcs become short and standardized instead of engaging, the mc's choices begin to... more>> not make much sense, at least for me, and the choices of everyone around him also suffer the same fate.

I was prepared to call this novel the best out there, now that I finished I really don't know what to say, it was certainly good, but i'd be lying if I didn't say I almost stopped reading several times from chapters 700 till the end. Only reason I can confidently say made me continue was just to have it done, I wanted to see the ending, which is very underwhelming, but not the worst.

It's worth the read, the earlier chapters certainly make it worth reading, just don't delude yourself into thinking it's a masterpiece like I did. <<less
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Shirojm
Shirojm rated it
August 14, 2020
Status: c520
Simply put this a novel of word padding with some small pieces here and there

Could be good biu way too much word padding and dragging things out

The fights are absolutely awfull because there is no fight, characters moves a figer and the entire chapter is endless bullsh*t saying "character moved a finger"

And never ending amount of useless words for almost every thing but when it is something that should be relevant it is done in a short phrase and followed by a never ending stream of word padding again and... more>> again. No matter how much the author tries to camouflage it as "poetic" and what not, it is pure word padding.

I got tired of reading it

Spoiler

the damned fight on the bridge I skipped a whole chapter and nothing happened

[collapse]
<<less
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Aralunai
Aralunai rated it
July 2, 2020
Status: Completed
I must say this was an excellent read all the way to the end it is full of plot romance and comedy while also actually trying to give a proper description of culture and the people’s cultivation. Filled with many unexpected plot twists it will hook you until the end!
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r0sen4y
r0sen4y rated it
February 29, 2020
Status: Completed
I enjoyed this one. For the first part of the novel the MC has a goal, but no means to accomplish it. For the second part he has means but no goals in particular. The plot is always entertaining and while characters keep their defining traits they do indeed have some development, albeit minimal for some. I didn't love the ending, but hey, there is always the "happily ever after" trope that could've been even worse. If you've grown tired of the tournament, power up, new region cycle this is... more>> a breath of fresh air for you. <<less
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Daoist CtrlF Quotation Mark
Daoist CtrlF Quotation Mark rated it
January 16, 2020
Status: c180
It has everything you could ever ask for! An unlikable love interest, MC making his goals more difficult for petty reasons, mobs of unreasonably livid people upset with MC's relationship with a Mary Sue woman, arrogant animals, nonsensical politics, filler, and tournament filler.
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Uthred
Uthred rated it
February 7, 2019
Status: c1183
A slight preface

Firstly, this is not a slice of life novel. Slice of life refers to a style of narrative where you have arbitrary sections (the aforementioned slices) of a characters life strung together in somewhat random order, often dealing with the mundane and pastoral aspects of life. Way of Choices is absolutely not this, it is a solid, directed, continuous narrative.

Secondly, it's pace is slow and deliberate. This is a stylistic choice and as with any stylistic choice it may appeal or repel the reader.

Beyond that this is the... more>> best written webnovel I've read. Other webnovels tend to become warped due to the nature of the medium i.e. They are written as serials where each chapter tends to have action building towards a cliff only to be resolved in the next chapter and the process repeats. Way of Choices is paced much more like a traditional novel where you have action building across arcs or long stretches with not a lot of narrative "punch". The characters are well realised and fairly detailed. I do think as the series went on the side characters did suffer a bit from a lack of development and the final arc ran into the problem of feeling a little rushed and moving the viewpoint from the personal scale to the global scale. The transition wasnt particularly smooth and as such it read a bit more like a history book rather than a novel. But there are minor nitpicks. It's an interesting story with interesting characters and a solid ending. <<less
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FamilyGuy
FamilyGuy rated it
June 1, 2018
Status: c866
I don't have words to describe how.... Good this novel is...

The writing style is a bit different from what I am used to but it's just soooo good that you can't help but smile and forget yourself in it. It might take a bit of time to get used to but once you start enjoying it, you will, without a doubt, fall in love with it.

This novel is a complete package.
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NikuMeat
NikuMeat rated it
May 5, 2018
Status: c638
In short.. This story is about a fruit.. Yes.. A fruit from Divine Kingdom that cultivate very fast has a most beatiful fiance.. With chineses poem to make it a decent read
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freedom1x
freedom1x rated it
February 16, 2018
Status: c582
Not much to say. Just read it and you will know.

I like that MC has a above genius level of talent. Not arrogant, sometimes s*upid, silly s*upid, but not the harmful kind.

A balanced character. OP in a way, but an attitude that could go a very long way.

... more>> Maybe it is just me, but although the writing style is a bit slow, and some time is used to make an emphasis of some point. Well, it do bother me for some irrelevant facts. But not that much.

All in all. The twist and turns is what makes this one exciting. And all of that compensates for some flaw.

That is only me. My own review. <<less
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Kanzan
Kanzan rated it
January 3, 2018
Status: c730
Ze Tian Ji is the absolute pinnacle of the genre. Every character feels fully developed and realized in a way you don't often, if ever, see in other novels. Even those antagonists that seem to be cruel for the sake of cruelty have connections and depth.

The main character is likable and for the most part reasonable, unlike the young masters wantonly destroying entire clans to the root for a wrong glance in other novels. Though he seems ultra capable on the surface the flaws of his age and upbringing do... more>> shine through on occasion and allow us to relate to our main character.

The backbone of this novel is the supporting cast- the close knit group around Chen Changsheng really feel like a group of friends brought together by circumstance who have developed deeper ties over time, rather than window dressing around our main character.

Overall, you should read this novel, even if the pacing is glacial it's absolutely worth it. <<less
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pomoli
pomoli rated it
October 8, 2017
Status: c645
A gem.

Pro :

  • MC is one of the best, if the best, character I've read in a xianxia WN. He's good natured, humble, mature, and really worthy of admiration.
  • Romance is slow, but awesome, with the female love interest not being a push over, and actually being as great as a character as the MC. Even side romances are good.
  • Many side characters are really well fleshed out, more complex than they appear, be them friends or foes (sometime friends becoming foes, and vice versa).
  • The world building is interesting.
  • The translation is of great quality.
Con:

  • The summary done to remind the situation in some chapters is annoying.
  • Lot of superlatives to define "great" swords or techniques, but that's to be expected in the xianxia genre.
  • Could have been better with a map.
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rshi
rshi rated it
October 2, 2017
Status: c638
This novel is gorgeous. I had been tired of novels written with comic book dialogues with way too much cliche villains and heroes that are s*upid or vicious as the villains themselves (You insult me! I kill your whole family!) and this novel hit the spot of something I was wanting: a good story, well written, a author that actually thinks before writing.

This novel is closer to the term of literature. What matters is how the story is told. And it is beautifully done. No 1000 year old cultivator that... more>> still acts like a spoiled kid. Here is an author that takes the time to write a story that is compelling and well thought. Every character have their distinct philosophy, personality, every one of them have their place is the story, gravitating simultaneously.

I have only words of praises for this novel I found so compelling and profoundly meaningful.

Of course, if reading is not your thing and you find that any line of dialogue going for more than one or two lines, like in most novels out there. Well, of course, this is not for you.

Kudos for the translator that really does a wonderful job :) <<less
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