Douluo Dalu

Description

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Tang Sect, the most famous martial arts sect of all. By stealing its most secret teachings to fulfill his dreams, Tang San committed an unforgivable crime. With his ambition attained, he hands his legacy to the sect and throws himself from the fearsome “Hell’s Peak”.

But he could have never imagined that this would reincarnate him in another world, one without magic, martial arts, and grudges. A land where only the mystical souls of battle lay.

The continent of Douluo.

How will Tang San survive in this unknown environment? With a new road to follow, a new legend begins…

Associated Names
One entry per line
Combat Continent
DD
Lands of Battle
Soul Land
Đấu La Đại Lục
斗罗大陆
Related Series
Skyfire Avenue (Shared Universe)
Mad God (Shared Universe)
Shen Yin Wang Zuo (Shared Universe)
Child of Light (Shared Universe)
Unrivaled Tang Sect (Sequel)
Magic Chef of Ice and Fire (Shared Universe)
Heavenly Jewel Change (Shared Universe)
Jiu Shen (Shared Universe)
The Kind Death God (Shared Universe)
The Legend of the Dragon King (Sequel)
Zither Emperor (Shared Universe)
The Twelve Zodiac Guardian Gods (Shared Universe)
Only I Shall Be Immortal (Shared Universe)
Space Speed Xing Hen (Shared Universe)
Ultimate Fighting (Sequel)
Douluo Dalu 5 – Rebirth Of Tang San (Sequel)
Recommendations
Shen Yin Wang Zuo (15)
The Legend of the Dragon King (8)
Unrivaled Tang Sect (8)
Heavenly Jewel Change (7)
Zither Emperor (3)
Magic Chef of Ice and Fire (3)
Recommendation Lists
  1. china
  2. Probably read when im bored (some of it)
  3. Wow there's a manhua version (ML)
  4. Donghua Adaptations
  5. An actual attempt at ranking

Latest Release

Date Group Release
05/03/20 Blue Silver Translations c336 (end)
05/03/20 Blue Silver Translations c335
05/03/20 Blue Silver Translations c334
04/01/20 Blue Silver Translations c333
04/01/20 Blue Silver Translations c332
04/01/20 Blue Silver Translations c331
08/27/18 Wuxia Dream c336
08/27/18 Wuxia Dream c335
08/27/18 Wuxia Dream c334
08/27/18 Wuxia Dream c333
08/27/18 Wuxia Dream c332
08/27/18 Wuxia Dream c331
08/27/18 Wuxia Dream c330
10/28/18 Blue Silver Translations c330
08/27/18 Wuxia Dream c329
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107 Reviews sorted by


rdawv
rdawv rated it
March 22, 2016
Status: --
A premier example of a xuanhuan novel: a fantasy story infused with Chinese elements. Much of the setting are typical of a Chinese novel, but there are elements of ‘foreign’ influences like angel wings and Romanized names. Written by the veteran TJSS, you can see many of the elements that appear in his other works: great fights, humorous dialogue, emotional writing, very long winded narrative; all around an interesting premise of a world of spirit summons and martial arts.

Douluo Dalu’s key strength is in its characters. In too many stories... more>> the supporting cast are often relegated into the background, demoted as cheerleaders or forgotten entirely. In Douluo Dalu, the supporting characters are important. Each friend has role and they all work together as a team which is constantly emphasized by the author, all given their notable characteristics and dialogue to make them stand out from each other. The love interest of the main character is perhaps one of the better ones in this genre, as she is not just a pretty face. Indeed, she grows to be the focal point of the MC’s life and her destiny becomes the story’s plot later on.

The translation is top notch and the translator can be an example for the community.

Once the reader gets past the verbose style of writing, he or she can discover a story that has action, camaraderie, romance, struggle and tragedy. A very good first choice for someone who wants to start reading Chinese novels. For seasoned readers, it remains a well written story that has the usual elements of the genre. <<less
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stuffings
stuffings rated it
July 9, 2016
Status: c229
This is one of the best LN I have ever read i'll tell you why listed below.-----
-the chapters are long. *Claps* Have to gives hands to the translators.
-A lot of unique characters. --≫ makes the LN great
-the MC is not alone. Supported by his friends, teachers, and family.
-The NL gets better and better.
-the MC is not s*upid and makes his decisions well.
-the MC is not fast to anger, well-developed in character and mind.
-follows the listed genre well, as well as the tags
-I... more>> love the romance. The romance does not only include himself, but his friends as well. The romance is very loyal so I like it.
-gets my emotions. It does contain a bit of comedic factor as well as more.

For more explanation of reason why I like this LN, read more below. There is a little of the MC's character info at the bottom:

I originally read the manhua and was instantly hooked. Because of the updates of the manhua became steadily slow, I moved to the light novel and enjoyed it even more (also because there are more to the LN than the manhua itself). I LOVE the LN a whole lot better then the manhua, because you can see the whole idea and understand more in the LN rather than the manhua since it's few words and pictures.
Spoiler

Although it is aggravating but at least okay, the manhua is different. The beginning of the manhua is very similar, it goes towards a different direction but still follows the same concept.

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With all the series of events, the story gets more interesting as the he finds new emotions and character. He goes through hardships and fights them together with his close friends and rises in status (meaning strength, quality, and his mind). If you like LN with MC's having a good mind control and thought, I recommend this novel. For genre reference, the LN follows the listed genre/tags in NovelUpdates really well.

Romance is rather "cute" in the beginning, but becomes more mature as the LN continues. I'm rather a fan of romance, and I can't express on how well-developed it goes as the story continues. Although it starts really slow, but as a lover of romance, I can tell to you this that the romance is not as slow as Coiling Dragon [aka Panlong] or Stellar Transformation (I recommend those novels :o). It actually starts to develop really fast as you read more. The novel hints a lot of romance, so one can tell. It gives a lot of heart warming factors, in case, for me.

Spoiler

The MC was reborn in a another world and still contained his memories, so he was smart and a well-designed character from the beginning. He wasn't good with social life and ended up being close to a girl who becomes a major factor to his strength, if not, his life and story.

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This LN stresses a good meaning of the genre "tragedy". Although I'm not a fan, this novel gives a lot of emotions, and I recommend it those who do like it at the very least. To me, although I think that the tragedy part is very saddening, it is a huge factor to the LN. I would honestly say that the series would not be as well-developed without it. It stresses the phrase "I must be stronger for whom I love" type of thing and also brings dramatic/romantic factor.

Spoiler

The MC's father fell in love with a women who becomes targeted by a strong empire that wanted to obtain her to become stronger. The MC coincidentally follows the same path as his father.

[collapse]

The LN does have -time skip-, but it is a short time skip. Stays a time period mainly of his youth and young adult life.

In GENERAL, the whole character analysis, whether they are "good or bad", they do not lose or win simply (as in "oh, so freaking easy"). It is followed through many hard works, not by "I'm naturally strong, I don't need to train". All characters are very loyal and is mostly reasonable, not random. Every single character that is given a name has an importance in the novel.

For a little bit of the MC's info (follows the very beginning of the LN) :

Spoiler

The MC is a superior genius in the clan-type called the "Tang Sect". It's a sect that is specialized in hidden weapons as well as poison. The MC commits su*cide as he leaves his last creation and legacy to the sect, as he is to be punished for breaking the sect rules. After his "death", he is reborn into another world and still contains his memories and techniques from his "previous life". This becomes an enormous factor to his strength. The MC never was good with communication but is acknowledged as he gains friends, and teachers.

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Amplify
Amplify
July 23, 2016
Status: c229
I cannot rightly give Douluo Dalu a rating, as I cannot figure out exactly how I feel about it.

Time for a bit of "The good, the bad, and the ugly.",
tl;dr version:
Good - Development of the main characters, the teamwork, the first half of the novel, the power system.
Bad - Tang San and his ridiculous level of perfection, Tang sans's 30+ (and growing) list of regularly used trump cards, the incredibly long winded descriptions of most things (but especially attacking moves), the way the female MCs tend... more>> to treat the male MCs.
Ugly - Tang San's 'rival' from around c190.

The good:
The main gang of characters all well fleshed out nicely, usually any character that isn't the main one fades into the background and simply exists to support the MC. Not here thankfully, the main gang are all well described and elaborated upon.

Teamwork. Possibly the best novel there is for well thought out, detailed teamwork between the MC and any other characters, throughout the entire novel.

The first 100 to 150 chapters, especially the tournaments. At one point, Douluo Dalu was the best novel I was reading by far, I would refresh the Google drive page for the series dozens of times per day, simply hoping for the next part to come up. I'd honestly re-read some chapters 3 to 5 times as I'd felt they where just that damned enjoyable.

The pretty unique power system, getting a new ability every 10 levels from absorbing one from a slain monster is pretty interesting and I can't say I've really seen anything like it before or after, it also means everyone has X number of well defined abilities, with few exceptions. This means that instead of characters having just a few abilities that are still useful at their current level with the older abilities getting ignored now, old abilities grow stronger too along with the user and never get abandoned.

The bad:
The main character Tang San. Now hang on for a moment before you roast me for this; the problem is he's gotten a bit too impossibly perfect and it's only going to get worse as you go on. The man is a walking Batman-Jesus of a Marty Stu, and the author loves to remind us every other chapter that he's pure as jade, untainted by a single speck of dust and literally perfect in every conceivable way to absurd levels.

Don't get me wrong I like OP MCs, and I like characters that achieve perfection, but Tang San takes it to ridiculous extremes, even moreso than characters like Meng Hao and in ways that should sometimes literally be impossible. It's so bad that sometimes the story itself is purposely twisted in such a way that Tang San can be even more perfect in literally all respects, not just in cultivation - the one single flaw I can think of is he hasn't learned to swim yet and his cheat items take care of that.

Tang San's dozens of trump cards, combined with every other situation needing most or all of them to successfully surmount, plus the author's love of his handy thesaurus, is starting to grate on my nerves a lot. In the early days, Tang San only had a couple of trump cards so it didn't take him long to use them and beat the opponent of the day. Now that we're into the 200s and he has so many special abilities and tricks up his sleeve? It can almost take entire chapters for Tang San to go through each and every ability and combo ability and hidden skill and domain and whatever else, as it will take typically 2 to 5 paragraphs per ability to describe as he slowly squeezes out every drop of power to barely pass today's challenge.

Fights where Tang San simply wins without cramming an entire thesaurus down your throat are now depressingly uncommon, as whatever today's challenge is, is usually 20+ ranks above his level as the norm.

The love interests. All right it was acceptable at first, but more recently they've been taking it to obnoxious levels. What am I talking about here? The male main characters go to almost extreme lengths to woo, please and protect their female counterpart girlfriends / fiancees, okay sure, we're told the girls care incredibly deeply about their lovers, about how they sit by their bedside if they're injured, and how would do anything for them. That being said, the moment one of the guys want to hug or touch their fiancee, or their prior s*xual history / knowledge gets brought up at all, what the guys get without fail is a frosty death glare most commonly associated with the words "You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

Basically with the probable exception of Xiao Wu (can't tell currently because story reasons), all the girls in the novel are... what's the word I'm looking for here? Oh right yes, they're c*nts, that's what they are. I'd struggle to think of more than one of two female characters I don't strongly dislike for reasons like that or others.

The ugly:
Around c190, we get a reveal for what is 99.9% for sure going to be Tang San's arch rival, pulled straight out of the depths of the author's ass. There were no hints leading up to this reveal, the justifications for what they're able to do pretty much violate several established rules, records and whatever else, all because the author realised he has f*cked up a bit making Tang San so ridiculously powerful and wanted an opponent for him who isn't 50+ years his senior. Their very existence rubs me the wrong way in almost every conceivable aspect, and if they ever appear in the story again it will be too damned soon.

Conclusion:
I genuinely can't figure out any sort of rating I'd want to give Douluo Dalu, all things considered. If you're willing to overlook the bad, you should have a good time reading this. If the flawed parts start to grate on your nerves however then you're going to have a bit of a bad time.
Do I recommend it? Sure I guess, but I'd recommend other novels first; novels like Transcending the Nine Heavens, Coiling Dragon, Warlock of the Magus World, ISSTH, etc, before I would this one. <<less
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Sytohden
Sytohden rated it
March 20, 2018
Status: c336
Stopped reading to wait for the painfully slow translation to finish. Decent book but by far the award for slowest translation of all time goes to bluesilver translations. In the same period of time this novel has been being translated we've seen coiling dragon, I shall seal the heavens, stellar transformation, warlock of magus world, coming up on desolate era and a plethora of other novels completely translated. Some of these other novels with 4 to 5 times as many chapters. Anyone looking to pick this novel up should probably wait till 2019 for the final 30 chapters to be finished since the translators seem to be keen on milking this project for as long as humanly possible, (see below). Sorry if I'm a bit salty I've just been... more>> waiting on this train since 2015. I really don't appreciate links mid novel to other novels I don't want to read and can't just skip with a simple click forcing me to go back to the chapter list to get to the next chapter, plus stuipd april fools joke chapters (4 years of them now), plus a lack of any type of dark read function, plus a terrible window in window webpage forcing you to simply read elsewhere if you want to read on an android or other small screen device (Have you ever navigated your webpage at all?). Others have completed the translation before the primary translator and even have better webpages leaving little reason to wait on bluesilver any longer for this subpar novel. :) Update: I have realized through perusing tjss other works that tjss is quite possibly the worst, laziest, cheapest webnovelist of all time and although his stories are good his writing is horrible. Tjss makes frequent mistakes such as forgetting the names of skills, characters, and what he wrote in previous chapters continuosly throughout his writing process making his stories impossibly difficult to edit and translate which means that any tjss story will have a slow translation. My new opinion on tjss is that although he has made over 20 million usd on his webnovels he is a total tr*sh writer and needs to seriously up his game by either sacrificing a bit of his money for a couple good editors or getting a doctor to proscribe him some adderall to help with his intermittent memory loss and lack of focus. Either that or he really just needs to stop writing webnovels and switch over to regular novels as his publishers will make sure he doesn't make such unbearable mistakes in order to save their own asses.

Update: Regretting giving this 4/5 since it was more deserving of 3/5 and novelupdates is obviously ret*rded since they don't allow you to fully edit or delete your reviews (wonder if they will ever update this antiquated piece of garbage). See Hamsta's review below. Beautifully written (other than the whole xian wu instead of xiao wu, 4 times really?), read it in a cinema sins sort of soliloquy and you'll get a grin or laugh especially if you've actually read most of the novel. Also tjss is just really tr*sh I'm totally swearing off his novels for good due to too much disappointment. If you're looking for stories that share a similar universe and are consistently good turn to ergen or IET both better authors by far although they both have their issues at least they aren't total garbage writers with mc's you hope will die at some point. <<less
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Hamsta
Hamsta rated it
March 17, 2018
Status: c336
Well deserving of a solid 3/5. Too many flaws in storytelling, trying to act cool for the sake of acting cool, & predictability. Recommended read if you have free time & nothing better to read. It's actually complete & not terrible.

1) Sorely in need of revision/editors. Author relies too heavily on asspulled situations/solutions to cover the flaws in storytelling.

Spoilers:

I'm not surprised MC was only an outer disciple with his inability to follow simple principles. Tang San is a disgrace to the Tang Sect.

... more>>
Spoiler

A) MC is supposedly hidden weapon/poison master. Fails at poison until ~100+ chapters in. Author remedies this by asspulling a cultivation/herb treasure trove for MC to loot. Miraculously the title duolo (Dugu) protecting the cultivation/herb treasure trove is a complete moron & can't recognize most of the herbs there.... yet somehow another title duolo can recognize several of the herbs several chapters later just by the effects they had without even seeing the plants themselves. Wat. (To be fair the other duolo is from Spirit Hall which has more resources but the sheer ignorance of Dugu doesn't make much sense except to give MC a reason to loot the herbs without Dugu mu*dering him on the spot.)

B) MC's stated multiple time to be ruthless in preventing potential future problems, the Tang Sect motto: "pull out weeds by the roots"....in practice almost never does this. In fact he almost does the complete opposite by almost killing the door guard of his first academy. (s*upid moron didn't have the strength to pull them roots at the time), luckily Grandmaster stops him. The closest he's come to actually following the Tang Sect motto with Blue Sunshine sect doesn't count, he s*upidly talked about the missing leader IN FRONT OF A TOURNAMENT AUDIENCE.

C) Tang San & love interest make a duo team..... Everyone and their mother already knows their name & faces. Yet Grandmaster decides to force them to compete in 7 vs 7 team battles slap a mask on them, & even uses the school's name for their competition name yet suddenly nobody knows who they are even though they kept the same tournament name & are using the same abilities... Anyone with half a brain should be able to figure out the identities of all 7 just on those pieces of info alone.

D) MC had been told to only use his second spirit when his life is in danger. Proceeds to show it off in a crowded tournament setting. Likewise his hidden weapons are displayed constantly to his enemies. I don't think the author understands what the "hidden" part of hidden weapons is suppose to mean. Hell 180+ chapters in & Oscar is the only one to properly use hidden weapons (since his targets all die.)

E) Hidden weapons don't need copywrite protection since it takes a minimum of 10 years of training to assemble.... Orangutan Blacksmith proceeds to flawlessly disassemble and reassemble a hidden weapon "10x faster than Tang San" on first try. Tang San should've been going crazy at this revelation but he doesn't bat an eye.

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2) Characters lack common sense at the worst times just to push plot forward.
Heavy spoilers ahead, read at own risk:

Spoiler

A) Xian Wu's sudden clumsiness.
Xian Wu's true nature can be detected by Title Duolo level characters yet isn't detected by the various Title Duolo's that kept appearing early on (such as Tang San's father, Dugu, Bone/Sword who kept on eye on Rongrong, Chrysanthemum Duolo, somehow all of them missed Xian Wu even though she had no anti-detection cover until Tang San gives her the love flower & Chrysanthemum even held the flower yet didn't detect her. Of course Xian Wu clumsily drops the aura covering love flower at worst time allowing Spirit Pontiff to immediately detect her as a spirit beast. This makes no sense since she's a close combat/agility Spirit master.... Why the hell would she even fumble for no reason like that?

B) Spirit Pontiff's tactical ret*rdation:
Supposedly the Spirit Pontiff rose to power with her cunning/overwhelming power to win over the others in Spirit Hall. Yet she's a complete moron. Instead of holding the entire MC team captive for harboring a spirit beast she inexplicably lets them go. Supposedly this was just to keep Grandmaster safe but that doesn't mean she couldn't just take them all for interogation & let Grandmaster go later. She also sends the Tang San assassination squad with orders to not release spirit rings for some ridiculous reason which gets several hundred spirit masters killed. Later on she also has 7k+ spirit masters die because of her tactical ret*rdation which she's happy about....

C) Grandmaster's tactical ret*rdation:
Stated above, has team cover up even though anyone with half a brain can already figure out who they are. Has supernatural ability to see the physical state of others & extremely broad treatment/combat knowledge (evidenced in training regiment of MC's team somehow new MC's physical limits even though MC practices a completely unique Tang Sect cultivation tech, also in the recuperative medication used, & knowledge of things that even Title Duolo's aren't sure about) yet keeps leaving MC to face mortal danger constantly (especially during tournament arc where he has two assassination attempts on his life.....)

D) Tang San:....... This is going to be way too long listing all the problems with his character. Basically everything but the biggest is his inability to follow simple principles/orders given to him by his Tang Sect/Father/common sense. This alone leads to most of the problems Tang San faces (and even the actual death of Xian Wu & near death of himself which ironically could've been avoided if he simply followed the Tang Sect way).

[collapse]

3) Ending was rather weak. That combined with the flaws listed above leaves you with a feeling of "this author can't really write." <<less
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Daoist LastWish
Daoist LastWish rated it
April 2, 2017
Status: c280
It is the first translated Chinese LN I ever read. It got me hooked to the world of Wuxia/Xianxia novels. I am now dropping it, because it has become really insipid, uninspired and boring, also why I gave it just two stars.

Initially the novel was interesting and fun to read, but now it has devolved into Main Character Worship, and that's just boring.

... more>>
Spoiler

Strengths:
* The world building was great, at least initially. The concept of spirit rings and spirit masters and hunting monsters for spirit rings was new and cool.
* The writing and fights were good initially.
* It is not a (I your father/No, I your grandfather) type of crap-shoot which novels like Emperor's Domination are.
* MC is not a mass mu*dering psychotic nut case.

Weakness
* Plotting is very weak.
* The whole novel devolves into MC worship, it almost feels like the author's is taking every chance to put his MC on a pedestal and worshiping it.
* The writing becomes bland and boring later on.
* The MC is so OP, he has already defeated the main Villain TWICE, and there are still 40 more chapters to go! There is zero interest left in reading the novel now, so why will I read the rest of 40 chapters?

[collapse]

Recommendation:
If you like repetitive novels like BTTH, WQDK, ED etc., then this is a much better novel, you might want to read it. It is better written, the MC is not a psychotic mass mu*derer, and his enemies are not idiots either.

If you want to read a well written, fun, interesting novel, then this is not it. You should give Death Sutra, ISSTH, Ze Tian Ji, and A Will Eternal a try instead. <<less
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Flores520
Flores520 rated it
November 19, 2016
Status: c247
While I hate a lot of it (specially the plot), it truly is a masterpiece. Here is why:
1) All the characters, even the villains, have incredible depth to their personality and manner of thinking. Each one is unique (even the unimportant ones), and the MC along with his companion and teachers even more so.
2) The character in the story tend to stick out till the end of the story which is rare for even the more famous authors.
3) The story is not solely about the MC,... more>> the other primary character posses a background and story behind them. Think one piece. This stories are also very interesting.
4) The MC is op, but not without reason, each factor of his strength is thoroughly explained and earned through his hardworking. Furthermore, there are other characters which are as, or more op than him.
5) The cultivation and power system as well as the society which surrounds its, is utterly amazing. It is both creative and fascinating and it is througly explained to the smallest detail. It is probably the best power system of all CN. It truly is enjoyable.
6) The writing and char dialogue are really good. The are at another level Compared to the majority of authors. (Still lower than Er Gen's level, and lacks IET talent for cliffhangers). In addition to a good quality translation.
7) No Harem (not really a plus for me, or minus, but it is to ALOT of people)
8) The last and and probably the most important aspect: the combat. Oh God the combat. It is otherworldly and interesting. I often skip combat when reading fantasy and Xianxia novels since they are boring most of the time. But in this series it is a big no-no. The combat is probably the best I seen. It is comprehensive, detailed, and interesting.
DO NOT SKIP IT!, TRUST ME.

CON:
This is a huge con. The plot sucks. It's not bad, but it definitely sucks. The antagonist is too hateful and annoying. There is way TOO much tragedy in the story. Specially in the middle. And the novel will leave you with a pretty shifty feeling

Conclusion.
Read it, it will change your world when it comes to novel reading. But other than that, hate the plot with all you got. <<less
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flyingnimbus
flyingnimbus rated it
January 27, 2019
Status: c336
Started off strong, interesting setting, and fun cast. Unfortunately, the author cares more about making his main character look good than the actual story quality. I've dropped this story 4 different times, before powering through all the distasteful portions to reach the end.

The main issue with this story is not only that the MC is too strong, it's that he becomes strong in ways that are either straight ass-pulls or contradict how the world is introduced. The author bends over backwards to make his MC untouchable, then reminds us of... more>> how amazing he is at every opportunity. We learn from Grandmaster (the MC's teacher) that no one is perfect, everyone is bound to have weaknesses, but teams of fighters can cover for each other to make a perfect team.

Low and behold:
Spoiler

The MC's initial weaknesses were a lack of direct damage and lack of elemental (primarily fire and ice) resistance. That makes sense as a grass/plant type. He asks his teacher, should I dedicate my next rings to patching up these weaknesses? Grandmaster says no, that if he does that, he would be sacrificing the opportunity to improve his strengths. So what do you know, before he even needs to fight the fire and ice schools, he comes across 2 one of a kind herbs that strengthen his body, make him immune to fire, ice, and most poisons, and improve his spirit power. He doesn't have to give up anything and gets everything he needs. His spirit starts as the weakest blade of grass but evolves after leveling up enough into a top tier spirit. I love Magikarp power characters, but doing it this way sucks. What is even the point of setting up rules that the MC doesn't need to follow?

[collapse]

Where there was once the potential of developing the 7 devils as complementary pieces, growing together and covering for each other's shortcomings, we instead get a one man show. Tang San has to always be the soul of the team, the star that shines brightest. He surpasses each of his genius teammates in their own best attribute, they always depend on him, rarely the other way around. A semi-related issue is how everyone says that control type spirit masters always have the advantage over other types. That can be fine, but it doesn't seem likely when of the 3 top schools, the none of the hereditary spirits are control type.

My last criticism of the story is that no matter what the MC does (good decision or bad), he is always rewarded for it. He never really has to sacrifice for long. And for all the talk of his maturity, his most obvious flaw is his need to win at every turn, yet this is never punished - when the going gets tough, he is just like any other shounen male MC.
Spoiler

Check out all this BS:

  1. Early on in his enrollment test at Shrek, when he throws everything at the testing teacher. And fares unreasonably well. What for? This wasn't a life or death fight, he was just throwing a temper tantrum bc his gf got hurt.
  2. When he tries to absorb the spider, it is well beyond his max capacity, and instead of being harmed, he gets a priceless spirit bone.
  3. He shows his hammer in the school tournament arc even though he's been repeatedly instructed only to do so if his life was in danger. This puts a target on his and his friends' backs yet he's never blamed for this, nor does he suffer consequences.
  4. He trains in Slaughter city and should emerge leaking mu*derous intent everywhere, but this is easily resolved by going to an aunt that was never mentioned before to learn social skills, all of which happens off-screen.
  5. Even the pinnacle sacrifice of the story, that he would give up everything to resurrect Xiao Wu, is cheapened by how temporary it weakens him and that it just gives him the opportunity to upgrade his weakest rings.
    [collapse]
Overall, this is a decent read, especially in the beginning, but would not recommend reading all the way to the end. It's a shame because if the author wasn't in such a hurry to give his Gary Stu everything, it had the potential to be excellent. <<less
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Nostacholy
Nostacholy rated it
December 10, 2017
Status: --
Oh boy, I'm gonna get bashed for this, but this novel, despite all the praise about the faithful love and unique cultivation system, is downright generic to the core. It's like the author has a checklist of what fans love to read and then proceed to add it to the plot in order to write "Complete" on the list. Let's see.

Transmigration? Checked, I mean who doesn't like transmigrators who bring otherworld knowledge and skills to a world that's so pathetically stagnant and s*upid that its inhabitants will be stupified.

OP character... more>> that is so OP he then becomes God. Checked, oh god, it;s like the author can't bear the thought of his characters live and die like normal people.

Villains for the sake of plot, or MC. Checked. Villains exist to glorify the MC's majesty dick.. Ehem.. Awesomely broken abilities.

Deux ex machina. Checked. MC and his entourage have amazing luck in their path of cultivation.

The list can go on but I would need to reread the novel again to stir up my muddled memory after wading through 100ish chapters of MC worshiping.

I admit the beginning was addictive. It was the first CN novel I read and was captivated. The cultivation method, the character, the plot were great at first. Then it slowly downgraded itself into the MC worshiping. Everything about MC is just so goddamned perfect that it annoys me so much. It's to the point I imagine a different where MC and his friend would be killed in a battle and then the story resets itself to the beginning so that I can enjoy it again. <<less
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dysry
dysry rated it
February 28, 2016
Status: --
Spoiler

The MC, Tang San, reincarnated with memories of his past life as a hidden weapons maker/master and uses it in his current world where people rely primarily on their own inate battle spirits. Born with one of the poorer spirits – river grass – he uses his knowledge and experience first to keep up with and upgrade his talented peers, before running into several treasures and cheats.

Once he becomes strong enough, he begins to participate in various power struggles between kingdoms, the Spirit Hall and various clans, while forming his own sect based on hidden weapons from his previous life, eventually becoming a great influence on the continent, before eventually attaining god/divine status and ascending.

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The plot for DLDL is actually pretty standard, but not a bad one to work with. The MC being able to work in a team, value friendships and see women as more than a booty call/part of collection. He is OP and his past life and MC luck give him unfair advantages, but that’s a given due to the genre. While his need to cooperate with others and form alliances limits his MC arrogance to some extent.

However, judging from the comments, the main appeal is that this doesn’t have the harem tag, and the MC remains as pure as jade (or something) for the one woman he truly loves, while all his friends pair off as couples.

Though the battles are also worth a mention, since it’s based on spirit tools and abilities, allowing the author to be rather creative in these situations, though at times it seems somewhat silly.

Of course there are several weaknesses, though I’ve been following it for so long I’ve forgotten a lot of it.

Spoiler

1. TS was never truly weak/defenceless, so he becomes OP fairly quickly, leading him to mostly engage in battles with people way overleveled and much older so it feels like adults picking on children.

2. Too much detail on the female character when young that the author feels the need to point out (several times) how fast people in this world mature (if it makes you feel uncomfortable, just don’t go there).

3. Fairly recent development (around ch200) we all know TS loves XW but to get engaged to her while her mind isn’t there is just a little weird... I also suspect the whole loss of soul thing is not only to showcase their love but to give TS the opportunity to play act as a traditional hero while his usually fiesty girlfriend becomes docile and dependant, otherwise he’s usually quite whipped.

4. The actual writing and plot are a little lacking. Partially because of the first reason so there’s little to anticipate and some of it is hard to believe, but also because the story itself is a little dry and obnoxious.

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LAFORGUS
LAFORGUS rated it
August 26, 2020
Status: Completed
TLDR: Good read for Teens (like Naruto, Bleach, etc.) Overrated due to the manhua Good for started Xianxia readers.

Long Review:

For many this would be or was their first novel, for those people who like Shounen Mangas, friendship hand-holding buddies, easy and understandable (s*upid) plot, easy cultivation, The OP MC is a given for many Xianxias but on this novel is not very enjoyable. Still, this novel would be a Master Piece!

Those 4/5 Star rating you see, are from people who fall under these categories. But for seasoned novel readers... Ohh... more>> boy... where do I Start!!!!

Spoiler

Debunking this novel's Hype/Myths

#1 Transmigration: This thing about trans migrations serves no other purpose than to add a s*upid tag about a genre that is getting attention recently, on most novels it serves no purpose, and the MC quickly forget about it, most of the time fall into incoherence of personality due to the Genre the Author want to create, EX: and Transmigrated Adult, turned into a boy-scout kid that see no evil, do no evil and is embarrassed of opposite s*x. On this Novel, IT MEANS NOTHING!

#2 Friendship: Haaa! The Author's Trap, people who read this novel loves the interaction of MC's friends, but in a Xianxia where novels need word count, is dangerous. On this case, MC runs around with 3 friends, and on top of that everyone has a girl, when they start talking about random things that the author per se, should be narrating, you will spend chapter of banters over and over. at start could be refreshing and funny, but same thing repeats over and over. There will be a time you will enjoy more the MC traveling alone.

#3 Romance: Heh Same as friendship, another world count tool, the romanced I set early on giving the MC and his 3 friends a couple, and on top of it they all travel alone, so you wont see any mystery or any other thing, people could claim that is romance development, but that is world count, since they never are open to another LI options. Once MC decides he will marry the bunny girl and will stay forever and ever with her, Author decides to show other LIs, THAT IS BULLSHIT! for a MC who has the mentality of a 8Y/O Kid it won't work, since it was Sealed that he wont look any other female EVER! Multiple Love Partners seems to no exist on this universe, (i never get author why they want to depict other world with same Moral rule-set as earth, so much for transmigration...) When MC and his friends and the girls are together the Banter stats it's get annoying as hell, same refreshing at start, but boring and repetitive later (Transition from Tsundere to Lover). ps: I HATE Xiao wu... Fite me!

#4 Plot: is there any? this seems like a MC's Carousel to Undeserving Greatness, The other guys become irrelevant later on, and Author just drag them around for world count purposes, enemies are brain dead, specially the MC's Main Rival which is a girl and Falls for him. The she left him out and make bets and $#^*@%^*@%^* (@%@ Ridiculous! After 300 chapters, you just want all this to be over. The Author made the mistake to show early on the novel the strongest Cultivator on the novel "Tittle Duo Luo" Lv 90-95 (Max was supposed to be 99)

By the time is Chapter 280 MC is stronger than all of those Characters you thought were cool, since only the MC improve it's power, his friends are just fan-service to keep the Word Count Farm Running, it is not like Saitn Seiya where each of the Bronze Saint defeat a Strong enemy, here they are useless! like the rest of strong character you knew since the beginning, is the reason why other ppl say on their review that this Novel is a self m*sturbation of the Author with its MC. So on this Novel, Besides MC, His friend, and the Asspull Late Game Antagonist, No one else increase His/her Level.

#5 Enemies: Move along Nothing to see here! As stated before, All enemies are shown with their power even the strongest ones, since the beginning, so Author had no other choice than to ass-pull a Deus EX Villain (the girl who falls for MC) and makes her a lv 100 just... from nowhere! with some excuse as "I saw you back there when you were weak and do nothing because I had my pride"

#6 Ending: it was ok.. same as Naruto... Bleach..... a Novel for Kids, Teens, etc.... As an 40 Y/o man I have my complains.

Resume:

This one is a good read, Skimming in strongly suggested after halfway the chapters, There are other Sequels but my review is 100% for this book.

The Manhua is a lot better.

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ln_
ln_ rated it
June 20, 2016
Status: c201
One of the best novels ever. The MC is great, the back story is awesome, the romance is quite good, the side-characters have some character. A must read for anyone reading on NU.

There is nothing but praise for the translator. A purely volunteer group that does not accept donations. Amaazing group.
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Demonic Reader lv 451F
Demonic Reader lv 451F rated it
June 9, 2016
Status: Completed
One of the best novel. One of the best translated version. Unlike another top 25 novels (which I give 4/5 max), this one deserve 5/5 in any aspect.

Good original, good translation, clear plot, no overt babbling, reasons behind every MC and protagonists' developments.

Good MC, his lover, friends, family and main supporting characters. All have background and reason of WHY they have to do this and that. Even the main antagonists have reason of the why. Which, in the end, I don't want them "to be defeated" at all.... more>>

Not only MC has his role, his other friends as well too. They are developing along with MC. TEAMWORK is the main theme, not just MC.

Ha! MC's Father is the great warlord of the greatest clan before become blacksmith, his grandfather is [[i_told_you_not]] king, his mother is the common grass, his lover is small rabbit. Which novel has characters like this?

BTW, I diely like to check their children's DNA!

What I love most is - family & family's love, true love, team mate, friendship. Best of all - reasons to be the antagonist! Yes, I love the main antagonists. Not one dimension, but real people. Any one who's in her shoe would do the same - destroy the sects, destroy the clans, destroy the world, destroy everything, even you know that it. is. wrong.

Romantic is slowly developed but very fascinating. Especially the scene which MC combs the lil' rabbit girl's hair under the moon light.

Vivid.

In fact, this novel develops around love theme!
Sweet love between the duo, which has to fight together, hand in hand, so fierce that even death can not break us apart!
Love and understanding between each pairs of supporters push the story.

Spoiler

Misery love is the causes of all trouble of the story

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The above 2 paragraphs rarely (non?) exist in another xianxia novels. The novel is not long. Though the translation's rather slow - but you can read the the translated version by GG, the great sensei. Quality is not as human, but 80-90%, because the author uses the simple-to-read-and-translated-word, and sentence, but when combined to be the story : magnificent! SEVEN MAGNIFICENT!

BTW, I love Shrek (the movie) so much that see it over 10 times. The theme song is also my ring phone. Do you love Shrek?

Hahahaha... right, Shrek. This novel is also about the Shrek's students who together fight their way to become gods.

Last: I feel deeply sorry for readers who halfway quit this milestone novel, or give it 2-3 stars. You miss something great. This novel is the first one that forces me to mtl read until the end chaper. No regret at all.

Only fly in this novel. It's slowly translated!! Cliff hanger to the extreme. <<less
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Pavilion
Pavilion rated it
April 16, 2020
Status: Completed
Honestly it's a pretty good book, well written and has some interesting unique elements to it. It's just that.. It's a children's book. It's so childish, a person who killed your entire family cries as hes dying beneath your blade; what do you do? In this book it always turns out he "might of been crazy for some reason" then you both cry together and you forgive him. It's this same troupe over and over again. Mad thing is there was definitely good enough execution and hype building for a... more>> sweet revenge to release the readers boiling feelings- instead they just turned the stove off and let the feelings slowly go cold. This is unhealthy.

Don't get me wrong, if I was 13 I would of probably loved this book. It's just that I'm not.

2, 5 / 5 stars <<less
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Netherlicht
Netherlicht rated it
October 5, 2016
Status: v13
No doubt good, can be very longwinded, simple explanations made more intricate for the sake of making it sound smarter is.

Now I wouldn't complain normally but the author uses a lot of explanations that are completely unnecessary even if you take a break with each volume. The author explains things twice, thrice a fourth time. You start skimming text because god it's so boring, WE GET IT HE USES A LOT OF SKILLS SIMUSTANIUSLY

Don't let this make you hesitant to read it, while it gets annoying in the long... more>> run it's completely understandable in the beginning for it to be detailed

The characters are really enjoyable (If a bit vulgar) but the main character is as pure as a snowflake and the romance of the plot (Hasn't developed yet but it's in the right direction) It paces slowly but that isn't at all a bad thing, making it long and sweet (ifyouknowwhatImean)

If you enjoy reading about someone badass doing badass things mostly in a calm and cool manner, never surrendering in the face of death, then 'Teng San' is your bro. Bro! Teng San is a busy bee, always working never letting up, knowing his limitations and sometimes testing them.

Story progresses in small time skips, now the first time skip is long but well planned (so even if I hate time skips) I could understand the author's position and that it's a well-calculated place to skip time. Story doesn't deviate from the main character for long and that's a big + as I hate a 1/4 of a volume being about other characters (Looking at you Overlord)

Overall the story is a school-life/adventure story thus far, I can't speak for future volumes as there is talk currently about maybe deviating from that path.

You feel like even if you're stuck in a segment of the story setting you don't like it's taking you by the hand whispering in your ear 'Lemme show you something' and showing you that the grass is greener on the other side, you never feel stuck (Hopefully my explanation isn't too silly and is at least a little understandable)

As said definetly worth a read. DO IT <<less
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Routa
Routa rated it
June 9, 2016
Status: c219
The keypoint that makes me give this novel 5* is Character Development I mean seriously guys, this novel not solely depends on Main Character like many other novel. This novel about comradery about MC and his friends, all of them have they own background story (maybe except 1 that fatty dont have that much background story :P) and all of them getting stronger together to fight with the world. (Dont want to give spoiler about the story or whatsoever so I just said they fight the world)

Aside of character... more>> deveopment, there is also romance that also above other novel, most novel after MC and his wife love each other the female lose the role and she just follow the MC "THE END". This novel romance tho, the tragedy about MC and Heroine, and what MC do for the Heroine was epic.

Just from that 2 this novel already above many other novel, and im not yet explaining how the author really good on describing the battle (i think this also depends on the translator and editor who works on translating this novel so also many thank to bagelson and co @bluesilvertrans)

There is only 1 downside, the Translation is not as fast as 1 years ago TT^TT about 1 chapter per 1 or 2 days. Bagelson hire more translator on bluesilvertrans please :P

For those who said this novel is slow few chapter just talking about battle. YOU ARE WRONG!! Actually the author speed on releasing chapter is very fast for example Douluo Dalu III, in half year its already 300 chapter.

I really want to read all TJSS flagship on right set of time. Douluo Dalu > Douluo Dalu II (Peerless Tang Sect/Unrivaled Tang-Clan) > Douluo Dalu : Legend of the Divine Realm > Douluo Dalu III (The Legend of the Dragon King)

But Douluo Dalu I not finish yet, Douluo Dalu II translation also slow : (, no one translating Legend of the Divine Realm T^T, but Douluo Dalu III (release 2016) already started getting translated.

All things mess up o.O <<less
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rumly111
rumly111 rated it
July 1, 2021
Status: Completed
It was really painful to finish reading this story. The last 10 volumes I thought "when will this story finally end?", I had to force myself just to find out how will it end.

It wasn't all that bad at the beginning. I liked the interaction and teasing among the young people.

But the story lacks something to hook me. And there are no plot twists that could amaze me, like in other wuxia/xinxia novels. In the later part only one chapter was intriguing for me "Underground god chase".

I also disliked the... more>> protagonist's attitude "it's a man's duty to protect the girl". Also I didn't like the fact that becoming truly strong is basically impossible without the help of gods. Was it the author's metaphor that people should accept their fate?

Read it if you want to know about this author's writing style. But if you want something better, maybe try "Against the gods", the fights are more interesting, and at least the protagonist gets a lot of girls :) <<less
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Sipouwa
Sipouwa rated it
December 29, 2016
Status: c260
Edited at completion:

Novel that got me into reading more novels after finishing the chapters existing at that time. Good romance that develops somewhat reasonably instead of just girls randomly falling in love after losing to MC in a fight etc. I also like the cultivation system in this one although I may be biased since this was after all my first webnovel. Definitely worth reading especially if you like martial arts cultivation with romance. Only bad thing is translations with a need of an editor at least in the earlier... more>> chapters. Even if it is still easily understandable, sometimes the dialogue seems just really bad even for someone like me with english as second language. Incorrect order for words and sometimes forgetting personal pronouns makes it harder to just focus on the story. <<less
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Roxasfleur
Roxasfleur rated it
May 5, 2017
Status: c280
This novel is very good. At first it's interesting, then it got pretty boring in the middle because of the tragedy, but it finally got back to interesting nearing the end.

I feel that this novel has many better qualities than the others. I simply love the characters and power system in this novel. Though there's enemy, it's not the very OP kind where the MC really lost greatly (beside one instance, but don't count it). The enemy also got background stories which is also no less deep than the MC... more>> and his companions. The characters are also truly characters because they played an important role in the story till the end. The power system is fascinating and easy to remember with not too many levels and so on. The other thing I love about it is that this is NOT a harem. The love story is very tragic, and heartwarming. It's not only the mc's love stories, but also his parents, and his companions. It's been too long since I've read a story that's not a harem.

Overall, this is one of the best xianxia novel. I'm glad I stick around this long because the story is just THAT great and the translations are realllllly well done (good grammar and wording). For those who dropped this story, it's your loss, guys! <<less
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dramamonster
dramamonster rated it
February 25, 2021
Status: Completed
I liked the drama, so I read the novel. Most of the novel is 4.5 stars, the last story arc is 3.0 stars. Tang San is a hidden weapons genius from Tang Sect who is reborn into the Douluo Continent where Spirit Masters rule. With rare twin spirits, an openly useless grass spirit and a hidden secret powerful hammer spirit, poor and humble Tang San slowly ascends the ranks and trains as a Spirit Master. Along the way, he befriends some very loyal and powerful friends, and founds a new... more>> Tang Sect in this new world.

MAJOR SPOILERS/PLOT SUMMARY:

Spoiler

Tang San's spirit power is awakened at age 6. He attends Nuoding primary academy and meets his female best friend, Xiao Wu. They graduate 6 years later and attend Shrek Academy at age 12. During the 2 years at Shrek Academy, the Shrek Seven Devils become friends, train like crazy, and battle continuously in riveting spirit arena battles. After the last arena battle/graduation, Xiao Wu and Tang San are rescued and the Shrek Seven Devils continue their paths of cultivation largely separate for the next 5 years. During this time, Tang San cultivates for 2 years to learn the hammer, fights for 2 years in Slaughter City, and studies for 1 year at Moon Pavilion. Xiao Wu is hurt, Tang San roams the continent for a while and founds the Tang Sect. As adults, the Shrek Seven Devils reassemble, and cultivate for 4 years at Sea God Island, while the evil Spirit Hall begins its conquest of the continent. 2 years later, Tang San becomes the Sea God, and his friends are all top ranked spirit masters. His enemies become Gods and there is a war. It's a happy ending.

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Negatives: A few inappropriate comments about 6- and 12-year-old girls' body parts. Generally, cultivation requires the killing of sentient spirit beasts. Tang San refers to Xiao Wu as his "lover", but they're not intimate yet - the correct translation should be his "loved one" or his "beloved". I thought this was a historical chinese fantasy world, but the Spirit Hall has pontiffs, bishops, silver armoured knights, and
Spoiler

seraphim angelic

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powers and there are people with blonde, blue, purple, red hair, like some sort of European papal fantasy world, so I was a bit confused.

MAJOR SPOILER complaints, mostly about the last story arc:

Spoiler

I didn't like the introduction of divinity. For most of the story, everyone is trying to level up as spirit masters (there are 99 levels). Then out of the blue, there are Gods (a weird mix of Asura, Rakshasa, Sea, Angel, and more), the story shifts to a race for divinity, and anyone under level 100 is an ant waiting to be squished. When Tang San was level 40, it was a big deal, but somehow by the end, level 89 spirit masters are slaughtered like nothing.

With the introduction of Gods, the battles became super duper long, wordy and overwrought. The moves become even more complicated and they're flying all over the place like it's nothing. After many boring chapters I had to skip most of the Godly battles to try and finish the novel.

The whole plotline with Bibi Dong, Hu Lie Na, Qian Ren Xue (and their becoming Gods) felt overdone and unecessary. Bibi Dong is crazy because her love life was ruined. Her disciple, Hu Lie Na, and her daughter, Qian Ren Xue both (!!) have unrequited love for Tang San because he's a decent man, and that messes up their battles with him. They weren't good villains. The number of times Tang San left them alive was annoying.

After having to skip through so many chapters of boring Godly battles, the happily ever after is only 1 quick chapter? After so many chapters of sacrificing-everything-for-love and listening to the young couples tease each other, I would have liked at least another chapter for their weddings and happily ever after (without having to read a sequel).

Some readers didn't like the females in the Shrek Seven Devils. I quite liked them. Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhu Qing, and Ning Rongrong cultivated and went through life-and-death battles with their beloved/team over many years. I think there's so, so much emphasis on cultivating and battling that there simply isn't room for any complicated courting/romance in this story.

The spirit beast ages were too exaggerated and unreal. The humans live to be around 100 years old, but they're slaughtering 10, 000, 100, 000, 1, 000, 000 year old spirit beasts all over the story to level up, when even the author says it's super hard for spirit beasts to cultivate and live that long.

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Positives: Thrilling battle scenes, comprehensive power system, continued use and evolution of earlier powers, loyal and strong friends, teamwork, very hardworking cast, lots of powerful seniors, humble/good/faithful male lead, excellent translation (especially all the battle techniques), and male lead's cool-headed and genius battlefield tactics.

The best story arcs were the Shrek Academy arena battles arcs, and the Sea God trials arc, because the Shrek Seven Devils are together and fighting as a team. The worst story arc by far was the last one. <<less
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