From the get go we dive straight into the cycle of reincarnation, with Ji Ning gaining some benefit there, but not enough to make him OP like the usual immortal treasure & spirit elder/companion. A gauntlet of escalating conflict is the name of the game here; going from blood feuds, to tribal warfare to huge realm wars. All of which seemingly focuses around Ji Ning, rendering other characters useless.

However as the world gets bigger and focus draws more towards the endless nature of Cultivation & Dao comprehension; quite some interesting... more>> characters are introduced, nonetheless with only a few of those becoming recurring characters. Eventually I grew to enjoy the story more as it went on but alas, I had a few gripes that impeded me from fully enjoying this novel. Such as the glut of repetition to pad out the word count and how the author relies too much on Deus ex Machina, rather than the tools he gave the MC but left mostly forgotten (i.e. Archery). <<less

Well, the novel is not so bad. For once, the romantic relationships of the hero can be entertaining. The scenario is not completely far fetched. But I do not like this type of hero unfortunatly. He is too nice to my taste. And I agree with another comment which says that the author exagerate things too much. When it comes to enternity I can agree with this concept but the character has to be powerful. In this story even his servant live trillions of trillions of years and they are... more>> in the bottom of the cultivation system. It's crazy. Other than that, pretty good novel overall. <<less

i didnt enjoy reading this. Im not a fan of the writing style. I like stories with good pacing and compact writing style.

i stopped reading at book 21- it felt like I already read everything

The 1st half was meh. It was so very average imo, nothing bad rarely were there parts the grabbed me. The 2nd half was legendary - one of my absolute favorites.

3.8/5

Its good but generic. I would say the start is a bit sloppy, then it becomes interesting and eventually falls off with the over exagerating of power ups.

The part that sets it aside from other novels and makes it worth the read is the strong reference of chinese mythology for the plot building.

Classic xianxia. Just as unmemorable as most. As I approached the end of the novel, skipping the text became for frequent as it was just a chore to read. Was enjoyable to read while I was in the moment of reading at the least.

So plain, lack of detail.
*spoil alert*
The biggest flaw in this novel is the LIFEBLOOD OATH.

- Almost problem solve by lifeblood oath, no scheming, no betraying or tactic to solve the problem. Everything is simple, just swear lifeblood oath.

- MC's life is already simple due to lifeblood oath and then MC doesn't have any rival, no one can fight him, no genius in the same generation can fight him. MC is too overwhelming.

- Developing of MC is very crude, lack of detail. In the story, MC comprehends Dao seem very hard but it was described to the reader in just one or two paragraphs, at most 1 chapter. The logic of comprehension is also weak.

- almost no surprising scene. Again, because of the lifeblood oath. There only two surprises in this novel. First, Yu Wei, Second, He failed in Daomerge. I accept these are very good, but then, just only two.

Ok, first I'll start by saying that DE is definitely one of the better xianxia out there. I do not base the score entirely on objective review, rather fromt he reading experience I got, so while it should be a 3/5, I'll give it a 4/5

Firstly, the pros:

-Reasonable & coherent mc: Ji Ning is not a mass mu*derer nor a saint. He is balanced and his actions maje perfect sense for the context he is in.

-Good power system: I really liked how much IET emphasizes the character's pursuit of Dao... more>> with Ji Ning training his sword arts constantly even when he could have relied on treasures left behind by one of his masters, Daoist Threelives, to become powerful. He even creates his own Sword Arts which become a key part of the story.

-Immense world: Some people say it is exaggerated in distances, but it's a xianxia novel. It should be. If the math of time acceleration bothers you, then don't do it. Just think he has cultivated for hundreds of millions of years and treat it normally.

-MC actually loses a lot before reaching top power.

-MC is grateful towards those who helped him.

-The world is as ruthless as it gets, there are even s*aves and mass mu*dering cultivators who do so to refine sin treasures, but the MC remains sane and humane.

Cons:

-Over the top cultivation levels: I mean, it's ok for a greater part of the story, but I personally found the last couple of levels a little too much. At World God theycould already create entire star clusters, and at Dao Lord and Eternal Emperor they had entire galaxies, why bother adding more? It would have been better if he just became one of the top ten in his universe, no need to push him to the omnipotent omniscient stage.

-Romance: His wife died and he wanted to resurrect her. OK. Other novels ike Renegade Immortal have taken that path. But, there is this woman, Su Youji I think was her name, who falls in love with the MC after, and he chooses to completely ignore her. Why?! He clearly also had feelings for her.

Conclusion: 100% recommended if you want a good cultivation story and can ignore some of the author's flaws in favor of a good reading experience. The novel leaves a very good impression if you average its flaws with the experience. <<less

This novel is entertaining enough to read, and there are some good plot twists. The end, as usual for IET, is very disappointing, but his novels all tend to be about the journey anyway. The protagonist is fairly straightforward, and his motivation in the latter half of the novel is very cliche, but the novel succeeds in holding your (my) attention, and that's all that really matters. Critically speaking, this novel is not very good, but it is fun.

One of the greatest wuxia novel I've ever read. From start to finish I have very few petty problems with this none worth mentioning. He only ever fights and kill people that truly deserve it and never leaves his enemies alive to grow stronger. Love the way he acts like a mortal even when he become an immortal. Really love the feel of this novel unlike any other.

Before anything, I would like to first say that this would be my first IET novel that I had finished reading. I admit that I had dropped off his other novels such as CE even though I was halfway through it (I was alternating both TDE and CE at the same time reading but I chose to finish TDE). If I were to give a review as only taking TDE as my only IET novel I had read, I would say that it was pretty nice even though it... more>> had its repetitive stuff and exaggerations which was really all the same, IET gave it a pleasant ending. Now if we were to compare this with other IET novels that I had read, I could already predict the flaw in IET's story which is almost like extracting the plot from one novel and cover it up with different, but same-graded armor. That's it from me. <<less

Of all the (ongoing) chinese novels wuxiaworld translates, desolate era is the only one which I could keep reading for so long! =It is definitely one of the best out there! And the MC has a pretty perfect personality too. Smart, hard working, knowing when to bide his time or to fight, loyal to friends and family etc. (No HAREM)

Prologue: The story is about a genius child who was born to a well off family on earth but due to his medical condition, he sufferred & was destined to... more>> die in his teens. He did not despair & it spurred him to be more productive. He then willed all his wealth to be donated to ill children and ended up accumulating good karma. Due to this karmic luck, he was reincarnated into a cultivation world with intact memories & a benefit (Very useful while he grew in strength).

Main story: It starts with his rebirth and him growing up from a child, then facing various trials and tribulations due to which he seeks strength. The rest is basically where this road takes him and how far he goes.

Personal note: I started reading CD, ATG, TDG, DE etc all around the same time but sort of got bored midway with most of them.

Although I enjoyed reading all of them, I feel that CD and DE are the best ones so far. <<less

The emotions this novel conveys is utterly thought provoking. From philosophical thoughts to ego boosting quotes, this novel provides so much excitement that one can't help feel joy simply reading this. If anyone wants to read a novel relating to the Dao, this novel is on my highest recommendation.

Read the whole series in Chinese.

I cannot in all honesty give this 5 stars for the simple fact that it didnt make me miss sleep to continue reading. I always find myself reading a good/great piece of work several hours past when I would normally go pass out but this book never nailed my bu*t into my computer chair with my eyes glued to the screen.

Is it a solid read? Yes. So far everything has tied together at some point or another though there is one thing kinda left hanging currently but I do feel... more>> it sooner or later will arrive and be relevant to some degree. Is it like Coiling Dragon or Stellar Transformations? Yeah. If you remove names of people, locations, power ranking system and just use generic terms it could be interchanged. The one thing that REALLY stands out different in this book compared to others is

Spoiler

I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO STAB NINELOTUS compared to any other female side character or potential love interest in ALMOST any other book I have ever read.. The only other soulless bit*h that compares would be Catti-brie from R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realm series. B*tches like this need to die. Sorry if anyone liked Catti-brie but I didnt or**sm over Drizzt as hard as most fans apparently cause I felt she totally wronged Wulfgar and deserved to have her uterus become a new hat while still attached.

[collapse]

I really wanted to knife a particular character because said character tried to change the MC for its own (side characters) personal reasons and benefits.

Yup cant think of anything else to say after typing like 5 paragraphs then deleting them for rambling. <<less

Grammar: 3.9/5
Story: 4.2/5
Writing: 2.9/5 (4.5/5 when describing some battles or the Dao)

(Update as of Book 8 Chapter 12: A whole lot of filler. Just too much filler. What the hell.)

(Update as of Book 8 Chapter 7: Starting to notice a decline in the story quality, battle descriptions, and Dao descriptions. Seems the author was running out of things to do and so tried to rapidly rush through the progression of the MC. Hoping that things will get better, but as of now I'm starting to lose interest only because the quality of the story telling hasn't shown any real improvements and has actually started to decline.)

First off, I'm really REALLY enjoying this series. Now that that's out of the way...

Grammatically, I've seen better. It takes a typical story tell approach of the author actually trying to emphasize unimportant aspects through the usage of blatantly repeating things as well as exclamation marks. I've had to mentally remind myself that he's not a professional novelist with a professional editor to slap him across the back of the head to tell him, "No, exclamation marks are only for characters to use". Biggest gripe about his writing, the usage of a few terms the writer or translation group seems to favor (i.e. "... how could he resist/fight back/not be [something or other]", and "... was secretly surprised").

Story wise, it's a typical growth progression story that builds to higher and higher heights while discarding everyone who was "Valued" after they gain a new level in power (Think 'Dragon Ball' series, but without anyone able to progress along with the MC). Bad stuff out of the way, I am really hooked because of the expression of something as intangible as the Dao was done rather well. I can't claim any kind of real knowledge as to what the Dao should be but the essence of the Dao being a potential within everything including emotions or fleeting feelings seems near perfect to me.

I say give it a try, it's a fairly good read so far, just don't go looking for anything original in this work.

It's a great story if not for the many time skips and lost information, romance is quite dramatic and laid out pretty good. And his journey is good paced.

Whomever put comedy as one of the genre on this novel should get his or her head checked, Coz I found 0% comedy on this novel....

The story itself is quite intriguing, thats why I gave it 4 stars... But still, like most xianxia, it lacks the big plot that keeps us engaged...

If you re looking for comedy, I shall seal the heavens is the better novel... Well, in any genre described for this novel.. issth is still the better novel...

If you want fun, you can always read royal road... more>> weed... Although its a different genre altogether, its funny, engaging easy to read and the MC is more down to earth... <<less