Why my review matters: 7+ years reading novels, I've read most CN on NU. At this stage, very few novels can keep me interested, this is one of them.

It's different from most novels, MC has brains, straightforward romance, other characters are not just shells.

Novel is slow, true - but each chapter is interesting - you mustn't skim it. Only the beginning feels a bit werid/idiotic - but improves real fast.

If you machine translate MW, ATG etc., I can understand, but this novel is something I won't recommend you MTL, as... more>> u need to understand it properly - not just grasp the general plot.

That's my review at 409, let's see how this goes. <<less

Honestly shocked by some of the other low reviews - Aspiring to the Immortal Path (AIP) is one of the best "traditional" cultivation light novels I've read. This is partly due to the excellent translation that's been provided. The main reason that AIP (as of chapter 373) is so well written is because it resolves many of the classical cultivation light novel problems.

The classical problems with cultivation light novels are:

a) one dimensional villains (young masters/1000+ years old elders with the mentality of a 15 year old)

b) poorly written side... more>> characters (all accomplished women are jade beauties who fall in love with main character (MC) because he's powerful, followers that are discarded after 1 arc, etc)

c) unrealistic and irrational MC (MCs who fight 2 cultivation levels higher than their own without em)., which makes power level meaningless.

AIP isn't a light novel where the MC jumps cultivation realms just by breathing or relies on serendipitous opportunities, he employs schemes and takes risks for his opportunities. The MC actually adapts to the cultivation world (becomes more decisive and ruthless) as the plot progresses. Antagonists actually have rationale causes for their actions and know when to hold back. Side character have their own unique personalities, and they're not discarded without cause. Finally, the fights are believable. The two closest comparison with AIP are Divine Throne of Primordial Blood and Reverend Insanity.

My one qualm about AIP happens later in the story:

Spoiler

The MC develops a clone which ends up opening quite a few problematic plot points.

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This is a slow pace one. Actually, I read this novel because of its author. Divine Throne of Primordial Blood was one of my favorite. And Zero Dynasty doesn't fail me this time too.

Although novel is extremely slow pace and too much theories in techniques, it is worth to read. And it also focuses on side characters unlike other cultivation novels. Most importantly there are not much cheat codes except transmigration.

I recommend this novel, because the character growth of the MC is top notch for the genre. You start off reading about a kid on the run, then him becoming a student servant so he can go to immortal school, from there you see him repay debts and defeat his pursuers all while trying to stand out at the school. After many adventures and struggles, you see him rise to the top of his class, officially joining the sect and making a name for himself.

There’s romance, no harem, plenty of... more>> action, and a lot of planning and schemes. I will say however, there’s a lot of plot armor, especially later. I really enjoyed the slice of life stuff, as it’s a breath of fresh air compared to the typical immortal hiding in a cave. All the characters grow and while some characters get abandoned, it’s more of a gradual process than the typical xianxia.

What I didn’t like and why I’m stopping at 500ish. I don’t like the two bodies plotline at all. Favorite characters from the first 300 chapters disappear completely. The plot shifts to areas outside the school/sect too much. The MC seems to have that issue of too many abilities and artifacts. The romance is pretty bad.

And the biggest reason would be the MC never loses or has a major setback. It’s a bit too ridiculous at this point. <<less

I have read a lot of chinese xianxia and let me tell you now that this is a quality piece.

The translation is excellent, and up to par to proper english novels, no issues whatsoever with grammar and just writing quality in general.

The story itself is excellent, everything that happens makes sense and you don't feel like stuff just springs up out of nowhere, when something crazy happens it feels like it's a natural progression and expectation from the world that was built beforehand.

Character interaction is done properly, there are few... more>> novels I can compare when it comes to how characters outside of the protagonist have their own motivations, aspirations, their own thought processes and ambitions. Their personalities are distinct and human. And the same goes for the protagonist, he's not just mindless cultivation machines that pursues a goal singleminded. He lives his life, acts when he should act and knows when things are outside of his control.

The world itself is very enjoyable, it's not the same old rehashed qi cultivation, foundation establishment, golden core progression, the author has built a cultivation society from the scratch up, progression feels natural, every level has a purpose which if not properly excavated affects you long term. And you feel this with the way the protagonist experiences each stage properly.

Outside of that you can tell that the Author put great thought and love into everything, they created this as a work of love and not just as a piece to make money with. This is writing whose goal is to become a piece of your heart.

I've read thousands of novels Chinese and otherwise, this is one I would put at the top. <<less

This novels first 140 chapters are pretty great. The mind games are great, and the cultivation system is interesting. Sadly, as the story progresses, the cultivation system loses a lot of its personality, and it certainly doesn't help that the author has a really bad word vomit habit that doesn't really go away. Its not so much that the cultivation system is uninteresting, its the way its utilized that makes it tedious.

I think the key problem, however, is that the novel loses the protagonist having to navigate interesting sets of... more>> rules to find success. The arc when hes a gardener and the arc during his first year as a student, he has to learn the rules of the world/location hes in and find creative ways to exploit them. This never really goes away in the story, but it becomes less central to the narrative over time in favor of typical xianxia world conventions.

The novels slow pace causes these flaws to snowball, and points out some other flaws in the story that weren't really apparent until its strengths as a story weakened. For example, the character interactions, as well as the dialogue in general, are pretty mediocre. This isn't the result of the translation either, the translator does a great job, and has a good track record in general. The problem lies with the characters not really having much in terms of interesting personalities or motives, with dialogue not being a particular strong point of the story. For a slow paced story, you either need to have good dialogue/character interactions or a strong payoff to justify the pacing (ideally both). Aspiring to the Immortal Path never really had that interesting of characters or dialogue, and the payoff after the first big arc isn't particularly satisfying, so the story just starts feeling really bland.

I'm holding this story to a higher standard than I'd hold most Xianxia, but thats because it feels like wasted potential in a lot of ways. It has an interesting premise, with some strong mind games and strategy elements, but ultimately fails to execute on it after a while. Thats not to say that what comes after the first main arc is particularly bad or anything, it just comes off as a particularly slow paced version of your typical xianxia fair, with some unique twists. <<less

So far, the MC has been one of the smartest one I've seen. Very calculating and enjoying.

I hope the other review is wrong and the novel continues to be great, but I've entered good start, bad later parts novels too many times sigh.

A very refreshing start with a real smart MC. The world was also interesting but after a while, it started to go downhill, especially when the MC sometimes does such random moves that makes a perfect situation 1000% more troublesome. These IQ fluctuating moments are way too glaring when u compare to the earlier parts, not sure if I can continue reading, but if u can accept this flaw, you'll enjoy the novel.

It about modern day guy living in a teen kid body in different universe. There a lot list how they level up. I, myself will not remember it. They way they are taught about fighting style. I'm lost. I'm only read for adventure and see he become famous. As girl it hard for me to understand maybe easy for guys.

smart mc! Could be good novel if not for the fact that the author likes dragging so much and info dumping, reading MC talks full page in one session gives me headache

40 chapters and MC still not even joining a sect nor becoming proper cultivatior, the cultivation and the plot move realllllllyyy slowwwww

for example of how worse the info dumping is you could try read chapter 33 (dont worry it doesnt have spoiler), if you think its good then this novel is for you!