I Shall Seal the Heavens

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“What I want, the Heavens shall not lack!”

“What I don’t want, had better not exist under the Heavens!”

This is a story that originates between the Eighth and Ninth Mountains, the world in which the strong prey upon the weak.

“My Name is Meng Hao! The Ninth Generation Demon Sealer, I shall seal the Heavens!”

Associated Names
One entry per line
Cennetleri Mühürlemeliyim
Demon Sealer
ISSTH
Ngã Dục Phong Thiên
Wo Yu Feng Tian
ผนึกสวรรค์ สยบมาร สะท้านเทพ
我欲封天
Related Series
Renegade Immortal (Shared Universe)
Pursuit of the Truth (Shared Universe)
Against Heaven (Shared Universe)
A Will Eternal (Shared Universe)
A World Worth Protecting (Shared Universe)
Outside of Time (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
A Will Eternal (76)
World of Cultivation (48)
Renegade Immortal (40)
Transcending the Nine Heavens (29)
The Desolate Era (24)
Coiling Dragon (18)
Recommendation Lists
  1. china
  2. Best Novels I Read in years (Must read for you)
  3. My Gem Collection
  4. want read
  5. Collection

Latest Release

Date Group Release
08/05/15 Wuxiaworld c100
08/04/15 Wuxiaworld c99
08/04/15 Wuxiaworld c97
08/03/15 Wuxiaworld c96
08/02/15 Wuxiaworld c95
08/01/15 Wuxiaworld c93
07/31/15 Wuxiaworld c91
07/30/15 Wuxiaworld c89
07/29/15 Wuxiaworld c87
07/28/15 Wuxiaworld c85
07/27/15 Wuxiaworld c83
07/26/15 Wuxiaworld c82
07/25/15 Wuxiaworld c81
07/24/15 Wuxiaworld c79
07/23/15 Wuxiaworld c77
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Amnesiac
Amnesiac rated it
March 20, 2017
Status: v4c519
This review contains spoilers - you have been warned.

... more>>
Spoiler

Let's get this out of the way: "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is a good Xianxia novel. One of Er Gen's many strengths as an author is his prose, which, though at times repetitive, is eloquent in a sense that cannot be compared to his contemporaries. Irrespective of its significance to the plot, each chapter in "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is well written in its own right. In describing new locales, rare artifacts stumbled across in the depths of an ancient and mysterious ruin, or even one of Meng Hao's foundation shaking epiphanies, Er Gen is succinct and articulate. Much of the writing lacks density by design, making it an unequivocally relaxing undertaking to read sit down and start reading. Furthermore, "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is largely bereft of the vacuous padding that many Xianxia novels receive. The story frequently skips large chunks of time when necessary. And while this aspect of the story's composition may have resulted in a work that lacks cohesion and structure in the hands of a lesser author, in this case, it only adds to the feeling that the audience is experiencing a cultivator's journey through life. There is an inherently immersive progression to the world and characters, a feeling that the world is changing and evolving along with Meng Hao, and that, though the readers discover Planet South Heaven through the eyes of a protagonist, it isn't necessarily beholden to his whim. For instance, the incident that prompts Meng Hao to leave for the Southern Domain is when Patriarch Reliance (who turns out to be a giant turtle) decides to up and leave, taking the entire state of Zhao along with him, just because he doesn't want to be the protagonist's dao protector. Plot developments, while often predictable to those who've read enough Xianxia, can still surprise you either by being intriguing, downright silly, or, at the best of times, eliciting raw emotion.

One piece of criticism that is often levied at the novel is that there is a lack of variety in cultivation. This fault, while often articulated, continues to astound me. I can only conclude that individuals who find the story's variety in cultivation deficient either haven't read very much of the story or were lobotomized as children. One of "I Shall Seal the Heaven's" principle strengths is evident in the manner that cultivation is handled. The protagonist begins his journey by pouring over a Qi Condensation manual in every moment of his spare time, all the while holding onto the errant hope that he will one day manage to become an outer disciple of the Reliance Sect. While a member of the outer sect, he relies on pills and demonic cores to increase his cultivation base but begins to realize that such methods will eventually prove ineffective. While many of his minor breakthroughs are instigated by pill consumption, he is oftentimes only able to break bottlenecks through introspection, meditation, diligent cultivation, and ultimately, enlightenment. However, the topics upon that spark this enlightenment are so varied and his realizations are so profound and philosophically complex that these segments never grow dull or uninteresting.


However, the story still has flaws. One of the most glaring (and oft-articulated) issues here is with Meng Hao's character. While he begins the story as a scholar with nary a violent thought in his mind - a naive mortal with aspirations that amount to little more than crossing the sea and gazing upon foreign lands, the second stage of his character arc is far more interesting than the wonderbread generic protagonist that he eventually develops into. Meng Hao begins the story as a simple scholar, but after becoming a cultivator and a part of the reliance sect, he quickly begins to understand the rules of the cultivation world - thrown into a land where the law of the jungle is the sole governing force, the audience watches as the childish, small minded protagonist first introduced begins to develop. Meng Hao's moral struggle and attempts to reconcile the teachings of Confucius with the "might makes right" attitude ubiquitous to the cultivation world along with the young scholar's reliance on wit rather than strength make the first novel the most engrossing portion of "I Shall Seal the Heavens" that I have read thus far.

However, Meng Hao needed to develop for the story to continue, and as he "grows" through his travels, he begins to drift closer and closer to the rightly reviled archetypal badass, morally ambiguous (but not really) protagonist paradigm that is all too common within Xianxia. Some of Meng Hao's original wit and charm still remains, and his character progression is well defined. The audience develops a profound understanding of why the protagonist acts the way he does simply by being privy to his experiences and inner thoughts, but as the story continues onwards, Er Gen begins to rely more on character tropes, the most obtrusive and plot convenient being Meng Hao's clear moral code. Characters that act according to a set doctrine without variation are innately boring, and each time Meng Hao is described as "a cultivator who repays kindness with kindness and enmity with enmity" my heart sinks a little, for each repetition of this epithet sounds the knell for the character that carried the story through the first novel.

Fortunately, many of the story's secondary characters remain interesting as the plot progresses. They, like Meng Hao's path on the road to immortal ascension, remain unpredictable and interesting.

In Summation, while "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is better written, more ideologically complex, and more plot intensive than the majority of modern Xianxia novels, it is by no means free from the faults and tropes that plague the genre. However, the story is demonstrably its own tale, and, many of the things that manage to bog down lesser tales - most principally a one-note protagonist, and various plot conveniences - are relatively inconsequential in this epic narrative. If you have not read "I Shall Seal the Heavens, " for what it's worth, I would proffer that Meng Hao's story is about as worthwhile a read as any Xianxia novel that can be read online today. It's not the Citizen Kane of Chinese Novels and it doesn't have to be. A solid read that does what it sets out to doesn't have to be subversive or revolutionary to be good and well worth your time. So, If you're a fan of Xianxia and aren't bothered to death by the issues inherent to the genre, then you'll probably enjoy this one, and if you can't read stories that aren't genre-defying works of art without involuntarily lodging an icepick in the cerebral cortex of the nearest civilian out of sheer hatred for humanity and all that that it has engendered, I recommend that you try "I Shall Seal the Heavens" out anyways - you might like it.

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knightandstars
knightandstars
September 28, 2016
Status: --
It was alright and interesting in the beginning until around chapter 300. Fights began to be incomprehensible and nonsensical, just a bunch of bull. The characters were interesting at first, especially the interactions in chapter 200 which were hilarious. All downhill from that point on though.
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kidopitz27
kidopitz27
September 9, 2016
Status: --
1st half is good where he duped the tortoise after that it's like this -

Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! Pills! I can add more "Pills" but I just stopped because... more>> you get what I mean. This is the only novel that I read that eating pills will not hinder your cultivation foundation he just eat and eat and eat.

Also I like the MC at first a Confucian scholar that got kidnapped and practically a pacifist then when he became strong and OP he just throw his morals and values that he learned from being a scholar to the dumpster. <<less
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Cowtail
Cowtail rated it
June 5, 2016
Status: c706
I've read a lot of web novels and this is my favorite out of all of them. There are so many subtle and obvious plot elements with a spectacular deep and ever-evolving main character that it's above and beyond anything I've read so far. There's humor, romance, skill building, killing, and Meng Hao's a badass. ISSTH has better pacing than the others, and is without all that immediate gratification and mindless killing and endless tourney-style events.
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Felix3D
Felix3D rated it
June 3, 2016
Status: c701
ISSTH is everything I want from a novel.

1) It goes beyond traditional Xianxia tropes and elevates the Genre
2) There is agency in every character, there is a clear personality and motivations of each faction
3) The escalation is not only organic, but the type of conflict evolves over time
4) The Novel itself evolves as time goes on
5) It is something a literary analysis/book report would actually give the analyzer something meaningful after it's done.

It is not perfect. The first book is very slow. The translation is not... more>> the best during that time, which makes it feel so slow, as if you follow the work, you'll realize that this novel is heavily influenced by Poetry. There are so many allusions, contextual in jokes, and more that really require knowledge of not only chinese, but chinese classical literature and culture to get.

Deathblade, the translator, does a masterful job of translating it, but there is still clear improvement on his part and the authors as the volumes go on.

This leaves the First book to be the weakest.

I don't like the second book much either.

But every detail is important - often one-off mentions come back hundreds of chapters later to mean something serious, or as a particularly interesting, funny, or engaging pieces of (dramatic and comedic) irony.

There are pacing issues. There are

5 stars doesn't mean "perfect" in my ratings/reviews.

It means that this novel is worth your time. That the author achieved what he set out to do very well. That this novel is one to reread for more than the fist-in-your-face catharsis moments. That even if you don't enjoy your self as much through chapter 200, by the time you hit chapter 400 you'll be thinking it was worthwhile.

There are definite pacing issues. Moral issues. Excessive author indulgence issues. If you abhor r*pe humor, there is a character that will really tick you off. If you hate Excalibur... the same. You could probably skip everything and go straight to the third book, to be honest if you're ok with learning as you go.

But read it. It's definitely worth a try, even if you don't usually like chinese novels or Xianxia/Xuanhuan. <<less
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alexn
alexn rated it
December 10, 2015
Status: --
I have read this novel to 102-103 or so. To tell the truth - this is the worst novel ever, to me at least. My journey to novel world started with mushoku tensei then TDG, ATG, MGA and I saw ISSTH also have high rank so I gave it a try. I saw genres were similar to ATG so I thought this should be good as well.
Lets start with genres of this novel: no romance at all. MC cant love anyone bisides himself and his cultivation. You will read... more>> pointless tons of words but there will not be any romance, people say here this is slow novel but I can guess even later MC simply cant behave even 10% like in ATG (in romance way at least).
Forget about romance - this is only my opinion so lets move on.
Battle system: completely different from what we can see in ATG and MGA. ah, need a spoiler I guess.
Spoiler

To put it in two words: in ATG (for example) MC raises his cultivation-becomes strong-eat pills\other small things-"upgrades himself"-fights with weapon using his own body and weapon and some energy\magic techniques. Thats ok, you cultivate and make yourself strong... but ISSTH MC cant do even that small. He rises his levels for whats sake? 1-50 chapters you could see only that cultivation levels means nothing, only precius items\weapons and all battles feels like warehouse1 versus warehouse2 -_-

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Now about MC
Spoiler

If you wonder, is there piece of shit? yes, its MC ISSTH. Why im so radical? I hope I can explain. Every person on same level as MC is stronger than him, even people who below his lvl also in some way stronger than him. why you ask? Answer lies in that "pressure" thing that radiates according to levels. I even forgot how many times MC feels and fear this pressure thing and it even make him feel incredible pain. But he himself cant properly wield this pressure and inflict pain to his enemies, very often his enemies dont give a f*ck about his level\pressure and attack him. Feels like MC starts as cripple from the start and then remains cripple among normal humans. Im not even close to forget my precious time I wasted on this novel, so lets contibue.
You can say that what I wrote is wrong, MC is intelligent and strong and all of his enemies till chapter 102-103 were killed by his hands or fled away and so on and he is jewel MC, and noone from ATG and MGA, TDG and so on cant compete with him... Aaaaaand that is not quite so. I dont even know what makes people up there write good about this (japanese-like) MC being genious and shine above other novels.
Meng Hao has no backbone and has no clear goal, and, of course, has no close person in his life. accept this fact my dear menghao lovers. I hope I can explain this too.
Ok, he was dragged in reliance sect and when he got manual he almost abandoned his goal to be rich and was hyped to become immortal. DAMN! HE WAS ABANDONED BY HIS PARENTS! OK EVEN IF HIS UNCLE TOLD HIM THAT THY DIED - HE DIDNT EVEN ASK HOW? AND ALL WHAT ON HIS MIND WAS - TO BE RICH. FAMILY MYSTERY? 0 f*ckS WAS GIVEN. Is it me, or MC dont understant what family\close relations means? How this character supposed to make romance? Then his goal was to survive and become immortal with all of its perks (flying etc). Loner from the start will be loner till the end. When turtle with his zhao state fled - again 0 f*cks was given, his goal didnt change, he didnt want to chase turtle (if you suddenly forgot - his family remains are there (uncle etc)), instead he turned around and went to nearest state to proceed in being immortal and so on. Deus ex machina happens too many times and it became so boring, that I want to puke. He dont have determination and stable and unwavering emotional background, maybe thats why we dont see any romance at the start (only female character so far (100ch) is cold as ice and dont give a f*ck about meng hao, almost, give and take - isnt proper relationship - there is no romace detected) and I doubt that all sect have only one female, who can behave nice around our dear MC... Being this character from the start and then make romance happen in future im doubt this, and my point is - MC incapable to love, his background was made very poorly. I dont accept sudden jump and suddenly if he appears to have love feelings from this zero point without any experience - dont make me laugh! Logically thinking: whats the point of being immortal? if you cant share immortal and neverending happiness with the one you love. To seal the heavens? Ok you have sealed it, now what? meng hao from the start was put in this trouble of being ignorant and selfish, and alone...
OK, forget about my speculation about MC character. Thats not only bad point.
When he was taken by that girl to the sect, they literally "shoot up into the sky", but qi condensation people cant fly, they can only glide -_-. Ah thats insignificant, so lets move on.
Some of this novel events are hard to imagine, for example fighting while eating, or running while eating, or flag transforms into mist with lightning or HOW THE f*ck HUNDRED FLYING SWORDS CAN LOSE TO RANDOM SHIT? If you still dont understand my hint - try to remember and imagine main antagonist of Fate Zero and his flying warehouse of weapons being lose to some f*cking finger attack? and to add to that 2 swors that can penetrate whatewer qi condensation user wields -_-.
Ok im tired, I wasted too much time and words so say simple thing - this novel doesnt deserve 5\5 and tag "romance" as well as praises as "best MC ever". I registered here only to express my babyrage about this novel and my wasted time on it.

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weirdfishes
weirdfishes rated it
July 31, 2017
Status: --
The score I gave is actually a bit biased for 2 reasons:

  1. My first xianxia (actually first chinese ln as a whole)
  2. I liked the story as a whole.
If I'm not biased i'd actually give it 3/3.5 because many of its glaring inconsistencies&annoyances.

  • Pros:
  1. Pretty expansive universe (if you liked that feeling when the world "suddenly" expand like the first revelation of the dark continent from HunterXHunter for example, you'll like this.)
  2. Great companion (the parrot& meat jelly are so well written that will keep you amused when they started joining the MC.)
  3. MC is pretty shameless and likes to con people (pretty hilarious although some of his 'conning' ended being just plain cringe, not many times though so don't worry.)
  4. Lots of the comedic scene throughout the story managed to hit the nail.
  5. MC's realitionship with his foster father are pretty touching for me.
  6. Story-wise I actually enjoyed the 33 heavens descension through the end. Although the war scene itself are pretty taxating to read and pretty dragging. I also really liked the story& twist with Allheaven (although the battle itself are pretty boring).
  7. It has quite a satisfying ending with 3 extra stories chapter explaining some events. Despite a few loose end here and there, I'm satisfied with the ending.
  • Neutral:
  1. Astronomically large number starting around the second half of the story.
  2. Not really any harem since MC will choose only one girl, BUT:
    Spoiler

    he'll end up with 2 girl due to circumstances, The personality of the 2 heroine are quite opposite and people who likes the other usually hates the other one. Now I still won't call it a harem since his realitionship with the 2nd heroine are actually pretty well done, and MC is actually declining any other girl except these 2.

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  3. Everything is due to "fate" or "destiny"
    Spoiler

    not as straightforward as it sounds, since all of the "destiny" source are actually main part of the story, you'll see through the last 2 books.

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  • Cons:
Author tends to forget things or hype a certain ability only to simply shruggs it off because he can't pace MC's power level with his abilites through the story, i'll just list some:
Spoiler

a. MC is a grandmaster in alchemy which could make a pill that could wipe an entire sect, yet after achieving this status the only time MC utilizee his ability in a great war are at Black Lands and Western Desert arcs, in any great war after that point author just completely "forgot" it and MC never use his abilty in alchemy to wipe enemy troops anymore (most likely author are just too lazy to make an interesting skirmish with pill after this point of the story, since war arc are also one of the weakest point of the author.)

b. Again author completely forgot what he wrote. When MC went on mental journey through M&S realm he saw Lord Li's legacy on patriarch reliance back, and we see MC's surprised expression and the turtle reaction too in this part of the story, yet later when MC got this legacy info from Patriach Fang's clone, MC still needs to connect the dot and he's still surprised as if it's his first time knowing it.

b. Last three sentences of blood immortal ability, now like most of his old ability MC just got stronger and don't need these "weak" abilites anymore. But this last 3 sentences are quite a waste that we never see them to be used, first he got to the point where he could utilize up to 6 sentences by damaging his life force, then after powering up a little he could utilize 6 sentences normally, at this point author should've made MC able to use up to 9 sentences, yet again he simply "forgot" that MC could and he still only use 6 sentences, after that MC powers up again in which he didn't need this ability anymore at this point it's fine to not use this ability anymore just why didn't he used it fully before MC jumps to this realm. *Sigh*

c. Core qi, before MC reached core formation stage author really made a big deal of core qi, yet after MC achieved his, we only see it so much then everything just moves on, just hoping that his core qi would actually be developed continually in later stage (nascent soul, so on) since it's pretty hyped up with other character just to see it forgotten from the story in the end.

d. Another hyped up plot just to be forgotten in the end, the Immortal mu*dering Sword. When its origin starting to get revealed by the bat, we clearly see how author tried to explore this sword more being it part of the ancient war and all. But then MC rarely used it. Even after its refined by Greed MC just forgot about it again, until he's in coma for a thousand year with his bag of holding punctured just so author could erase it from the story.

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  1. Chase scene and power up are pretty slow and obnoxious to read, author tend to drag these 2 type of scenes just to get his minimum words/chapter.
  2. War scene are one of the author weak points. He usually fails to portray an epic colossal battle, although there are some of my favorite moments (Lord Fifth and his armies arrival in Black Lands-Western Desert last battle for example.)
  3. MC's demon sealing hexes feels pretty underplayed, each separate hexes are pretty unique and powerful, we get to see the 8th hex to get its special sealing ability in the end, and 7th hex to be used a lot, however it's pretty dissappointing the other hexes never really get the same "upgrade" like the 8th hex individually. I think this also due to the author fails to pace when the MC got the hexes.
  4. Some abilty sizes are just logically imposible to imagine, I mean 300m long dragon in a small meeting room?
  5. Romance with the main heroine are pretty bad. I'm fine with her personalty which is simple, cold, not intelligent (at first) and whatnot. But author just failed big time on her interaction with MC. The last of her romantic scene which I enjoyed was their first reunion at Black Sieve's Blessed Land. After that (starting from their 2nd reunion at Black Sieve) everything just feels artificial and forced. On the other hand MC's realitionship with the 2nd heroine are much better, she got more interaction to with MC compared to the main heroine, hence why I prefered the 2nd heroine. I'm not hating on the main heroine or anything, it's just that author failed to wrote an enjoyable interaction with the MC for her.
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Soren59
Soren59 rated it
February 1, 2017
Status: c1248
Very very good novel. Don't be put off by the slow start, it's one of those novels that only really comes into its own if you have the patience to get past the first couple hundred chapters. If you don't, well it's probably not for you then.

Both the writing are absolutely top quality, and the author knows how to play your emotions like a piano when he wants to. I don't consider myself a particularly emotional person but I remember 2 scenes where I was practically bawling.

Er Gen doesn't just... more>> know how to write tearjerk scenes, he's great with comedy too. It might not be obvious at first but there are some great characters which only show up later in the novel, and I can't remember how many times I've laughed my ass off (Praise Lord Fifth!).

Don't think that means it's all drama and no action, there's definitely plenty of that as well for those who enjoy it. It packs everything together.

The reason I gave it 4/5 and not 5/5:

Spoiler

is because the MC, Meng Hao, can sometimes be insufferably obnoxious. One of his defining traits is that he craves money. I don't have any issue with selfish/greedy MCs in general, what I do have issue with is the way he goes about it. He develops a hobby of getting people to owe him money when he beats them, and even goes as far as to create a unique skill which forces people to owe him money. If he only used that on "bad guys" I wouldn't complain. The problem is he uses it on EVERYONE. At one point he literally uses it on every "genius" of his generation in his realm (there are a total of 9 realms in his native world), turning everyone who could have been a potential friend into an enemy for in order to satisfy his obsessive desire to make them owe him money.

And the crux of why this frustrates me is, he doesn't even need to do that to make a fortune, because guess what he's a master alchemist. He could make 100 x as much money by just selling pills without making everyone around him despise him.

This is my only real criticism of the novel, and if that kind of character doesn't bother you then you can treat my review as being 5/5. After all, I'm still eagerly reading it despite that.

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Either way I still absolutely recommend ISSTH as long as you have the patience to get through the slow start. <<less
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Em_Rez
Em_Rez rated it
December 24, 2016
Status: c550
I think this is an okay/decent novel (at least so far). The first 100 chapters imo were really really good (I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this) but then it kind of got repetitive and ran into some problems with combat and overloading the MC with abilities.

As I said, I think that the first 100 chapters were really really good. It had a very clever MC that gets out of some tough situations with fast intellect and thinking on his toes (for example, gifting the... more>> pill he had received to Xu Xing so that he wouldn't get lynched) and I thought it was pretty awesome and great that he set up his own store and everything (this was a while back back in Zhou sect. With so many chapters it kind of gets hard to remember everything, lol). Also, the twist that happens was really awesome too and really pulled the rug from underneath me. Also, the combat was pretty cool and the fight with Wang Tenfei was sick as crud.

After that, however, although the story is still decent, I think it greatly decreases in quality and gets repetitive (this is only up to around 550, so maybe it gets way better from there, and also I know that a lot of people will disagree with me when I say this).

First, I'll talk about what I liked (after chap 100). There are some pretty epic moments, I'll give it that. The novel is pretty funny as well, and Lord Fifth and the meat jelly are pretty awesome characters. Sometimes you're really drawn into the novel (although oftentimes I wasn't, often keeping on reading in the hopes that it gets to Fang clan stuff, which I'm really curious about (as I heard some spoilers about it)). The novel may forget some characters, but it mostly remembers them, and it's nowhere like IET novels where characters are forgotten left and right. It has a pretty good immersive world, and the author does a good job in creating really sick fantastical environments and creating creating stuff in the world around the characters. The story is kind of beautifully poetic in some parts, which kind of works (although it pales in comparison to something like Ze Tian Ji). Also, the current arc with the apocalypse of the western lands was pretty awesome and I felt engaged and excited reading it for the first time in a while.

Now, I'll get to the stuff I didn't like and my pet peeves (after chap 100).

First of all, the combat became boring and just annoying to read. Basically, fights are just two people standing across from each other throwing whatever they have at each other until one guy has a stronger thingy. There's no strategy, no nothing, and it's just really boring. For example, I remember reading this one fight a while back with I forget whose name which was supposed to be sort of a boss fight, but literally they just take turns throwing their legacies/abilities/items at each other until one guy is defeated. (this improves later on in the western lands part though)

Secondly, I really hate all the repetitive stuff with the "beautiful snow-white skin" girls that the MC always meets every arc. Here's how it always plays out: 1. MC meets dao child peerless beauty "snow-white skin" girl who's at first opposed to him. 2. Some stuff happens and the two end up having to work together. 3. The girl falls for him but he rejects her. 4. The girl is later mentioned in passing as having a "complicated expression" when someone mentions meng hao. It's really dumb and I wish the author would just write an ordinary female character that isn't a tsundere peerless beauty that later falls for him. Like it's so dumb, whenever I see the obligatory "peerless beauty" each arc I know she isn't going to die because of hot girl plot armor and it's just so dull. For example, that one girl that went into the bridge competition thingy with Meng Hao is a perfect example: she's at first against him as kind of an enemy, Meng Hao fails to kill her b/c hot girl plot armor, they are forced to work together in the bridge competition thing, then she later has a "complicated expression" when Meng Hao is mentioned.

Thirdly, there are way too many legacies/abilities the MC receives. It gets worse the more the story goes on, as the author is not hesitant at all to stack ability after ability onto the MC. The MC often uses some of them once and then never again, and it's hard for the reader to keep track of even half of them, and it's even hard for the author, as many of them are mentioned once then forgotten. For example, the legacies Meng Hao got from the frigid snowclan thingy are like used three times and then pretty much never again. The freezing ability thing he got from the bridge world place is used once directly coming out of it and then never again. The dragon legacy that I thought was super important that Meng Hao first receives in the beginning is not mentioned very often after a while. The powerful items he gets from the Ji clan guy he [spoilers] kills[/spoilers] are never used at least to my knowledge. There are almost certainly tons others that I've already forgotten about, but you get the idea. Although I will give credit where credit is due, the wooden swords are still important.

Fourthly, the story kind of feels like pokemon, if you know what I mean (not in the way you're thinking). In the pokemon games, you start out in a town with like a level 5 pokemon or whatever and miraculously, all the enemy trainers in your town has around the same level pokemon. Then you, move on to the next town when your pokemon is level 20 or something, and miraculously, all the enemy trainers again have like level 18 pokemon. So on and so forth. It feels fake, and you can't help but thinking like wow: what are the chances that these people that are challenging him are the perfect power level for him to barely win over them and gain more power? And sure, you can make the argument that before, people didn't really bother with him because he was weaker, but it's like miraculously more powerful people are there where they weren't before that were "in seclusion" or something, and it works up a gradual ladder. Like for example, you rarely ever saw Nascent soul cultivators in the beginning and they were "lofty" when he was in the southern lands or whatever, but like later on they're a dime a dozen. I know this is a problem that pretty much all authors in this kind of story suffer with, so I won't give Er Gen too much grief, and actually didn't mind it too much.

Finally, I feel like the author keeps on backtracking on the MC's power. Like, they show the MC fighting evenly with people of the late nascent stage, for example, and then he undergoes a huge powerup where he gets a super powerful pure core or whatever, and then the author's like "now he can contend with people of the late nascent stage" and I'm like wtf, wasn't he just able to do that? Was this huge powerup that was hyped like crazy worth nothing? It feels like the author was like "shoot, I made him too strong before, hopefully the audience doesn't notice, " and gives the MC a really minimal powerup for how much effort he had to go through to achieve it.

Finally, here's some pet peeves of mine (so don't take this personally, just some little things that I find kind of annoying) :
1. I don't like the dumb "all eyes were on Meng Hao" stuff that the author keeps on doing. I get it, everyone's looking at Meng Hao. The author repetitively, repetitively, says: "this image was branded in their minds, and they would never forget it." After you say that literally 3 times every chapter for 30 chapters the phrase kind of loses effect, and it feels kind of contrived.
2. I hate the "light coughing" that Meng Hao does when people are like talking about how awesome/notorious this mysterious masked guy is, not knowing that Meng Hao's the person they are talking about. Like I get it Mr Awesome, you're all iNcOnSpIcUoUs badass over here. You don't have to "lightly cough" literally every time, just keep your face neutral... Idk, maybe this is a s*upid complaint, but this is my review, so yeah.

Anyway, to wrap this up, I think it's decent. The first 100 chapters were my favorite part (fight me about this), and there is a lull up until recently when it started to pick up (around 500). It suffers from some issues, but overall is definitely worth the read. I wouldn't read this first if it's your first xianxia however, as it has SO MUCH STUFF in it that may be confusing to reader that is new to the genre. <<less
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Katra1212
Katra1212 rated it
October 23, 2016
Status: c1027
Don't let the serous and dark prologue fool you. The story will progress to become one of the most moving story you'll ever read. You will experience all elements of surprise and emotion. Man, this novel FEELS!

Spoiler

I laughed- cried at the Father Arc! So blissfully painful.

[collapse]

Beware: Meng Hao's bashful smile was one of the most dreaded expression to watch our for. Especially when he's holding a promissory notes. Lol.
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Dark_Messiah
Dark_Messiah rated it
December 4, 2017
Status: afterword
I have mixed feelings about this novel. So this novel can be split into 2 parts. Before and after the war.

So, let's start with the first part, before the war. This is the best part of the novel. The story is great, the sructure of said story is great, the plot is followed, and Meng Hao makes steady progress in his cultivation.

Now for the second part, after the war. I was seriously tempted to rate the novel as 1 star after reading through this until the end, and here is... more>> why. Meng Hao's cultivation gets screwed over, along with steady progression. Plots get anandoned leading to never finished plotholes (wooden time swords, mirror background etc.). Author starts utilising time skips far more then before. All the well estabilished characters just get forgotten for countless chapters, then they either get killed off at the end only to be reincanated and forgotten or leave to parts unknown long before that. The story feels rushed as if the author had enough and just wanted to rush to the end. And the ending... whooo boy... he actually ended the whole thing on a cliffhanger...

In the end after calming myself i'll give this 3 stars, because the part that was good was bigger then the part that wasn't. <<less
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Short_Biscuit
Short_Biscuit rated it
October 21, 2017
Status: afterword
So, I've finally completed ISSTH. This massive webnovel was a monstrosity, and I can clearly state that I have a love-hate relationship with it.

Translator:

Right at the outset, I want to point out that one of the many reasons for ISSTH's massive popularity is its translator. Deathblade is one of the most dedicated and thorough translators I've ever seen. Not only are all his chapters rigorously proofread and corrected, there have been several instances where mistakes in interpretation in later chapters have all been corrected in the earlier chapters, leading to... more>> a quality of writing that brings you closer to the original Chinese novel than any other Xianxia novel I've ever read. In addition, the footnotes are also some of the most detailed and thorough explanations I've ever seen, ranging from notes that explain the correct pronunciation of characters' names, to notes that explain aspects of Chinese culture and mythology that are difficult to translate, to even notes that link back to previous chapters whenever a reference is made to previous incidents. On top of this, Deathblade has managed to keep translating at an average of almost 3 chapters a day, a speed and dedication unheard of among other translators. Irrespective of any of the pros and cons of the story, I recommend reading this just to witness the amazing skills of a translator who truly cares about his readers' experiences.

Setting:

On to the story itself. Unlike a lot of the Xianxia I've read, ISSTH has taken a path that is much closer to the original concept of the Chinese mythology. Rather than a webnovel, it feels far more like you are reading one of there traditional mythological epics. It clearly focuses on the mythological aspects of the immortals as enshrined in ancient Chinese culture. However, it also tends to get lost in the abstract nature of a lot of the mythos, ending up in situations or scenarios that do not make sense or are impossible to visualize.

Characters:

The greatest strength of ISSTH is, without a doubt, the characterization. The main character Meng Hao, as well as each of the various immortals he meets along his path to cultivation, are all driven by different and interesting goals and dreams. In addition, none of these characters ever remain static, as each of their personalities and even their objectives change as they progress through the story, slowly becoming vastly more complex characters than you could have imagined. Meng Hao himself starts off as nothing more than a lowly mortal orphaned scholar, struggling to make ends meet, with dreams of joining the Imperial palace and paying off his debts. As he gains strength as an immortal, that obsession with paying his debts becomes so large as to become the main aspect of his personality, turning him into a cunning, greedy money-hoarder. Unlike other Xianxia where the main characters are driven by the desire for power, immortality or strength to protect someone, Meng Hao very simply wants to survive, and make enough money to live comfortably. This in itself is unique among MCs, and makes him a very enjoyable character to follow as he grows up. A common joke among the reading community is that the story had been wrongly named, as a better fitting name would be "I Shall Steal The Heavens".

Aside from Meng Hao himself, we see a number of side characters throughout the 1600 chapters of the story. They include such characters as ever-hungry Fatty, the quiet beauty Xu Qing, the rage-driven Wang Tengfei, the over-protective Fang Yu, the masochistic Sun Hai, and the mysterious Shui Dongliu. Every character has a unique interaction with Meng Hao, with different reasons that they are drawn to him, and unique ways in which Meng Hao treats them. Among the best characters are undoubtedly the ridiculously pe*verted Lord Fifth and the ever-talkative Lord Third, both of whom have hilarious interactions that never get old. The strength of this characterization is best at the beginning of the story though.

However, as we get to the later chapters, it becomes increasingly dark and lonely, and the story begins to revolve entirely around Meng Hao and his own personal growth. The characters around Meng Hao become less relevant, and even Lord Fifth and Lord Third, who are perpetually by his side, no longer appear and make contributions.

Story:

Apart from the characters, the plot of ISSTH is the next best thing to introduce. Er Gen has created a beautifully intricate world complete with its own rich history and setting. Each character that is introduced fits into the story perfectly, and at several points we can see foreshadowing of future events hundreds of chapters before the event actually occurs.

The story begins in a small country on the planet of South Heaven, but rapidly grows into a storm that encompasses the entirety of the planet. Soon, even the planet itself is no longer big enough to contain our hero, and we see him going into the stars in an epic voyage of discovery and adventure. Along the way, we see each of the side characters as their pasts are revealed and they open up to the hero about their own adventures and the hardships they have all individually faced.

The sheer grandness and scope of ISSTH perhaps set it apart from a lot of the other Xianxia out there. It possesses a sense of ambition and adventure that quickly grips the reader and forces them to keep reading to find out more. The scale of this adventure often leads to slightly slower chapters the author slows to a crawl to set up the necessary world-building that is necessary in the later chapters. However, none of the chapters can ever be called a filler, as every single sub-story ends up fitting into the grander scale of things by the end.

Another beautiful aspect of the story is how the universe of ISSTH seamlessly fits into the same universe as Er Gen's other novels, Beseech the Devil and Renegade Immortal. As you progress through the story, you start to see more links between the novels, and even a few cameos, until finally you can see the entire legacies left behind by the protagonists from these other stories. While the universes connect in such a grand scale, at the same time, ISSTH is a completely independent story, and does not require any knowledge of those other two stories to understand what's going on here.

Plot Armour:

I feel that plot armour deserves a whole new section for this story. The scale of the plot armour in ISSTH is through the roof. Not only is the main character himself protected by plot armour, but so are his enemies. First of all, there is no longer a concept of a final strike. No matter how much damage any character receives, all characters have an infinite number of plot armour artifacts or skills that allow them to escape death and keep fighting. No fight ever ends unless it is convenient for the author. Although none of the fights ever drag on at a snail's pace, with enough happening at every single moment, yet every single fight can and will keep on going until the author has milked it for all it's got. It eventually becomes so severe that it becomes common for any fight between high-powered individuals that does not involve the main character to drag on for months or even years, with neither side able to suitably damage the other.

Apart from the plot-armour for the fights, the main character also has the uncanny plot-armour of supreme luck. He continuously finds himself in fights and situations that would have been completely impossible for him to survive if it weren't for the incredible world-breaking power-up that he luckily found just five minutes prior. In fact, the enemies that he finds himself fighting are all perfectly scaled so that they are always exactly at the correct level to give him a challenge. And this brings us to the fights.

Fighting:

The fighting in ISSTH is varied and multifaceted. We often see the various immortals using various strategies to fight. In fact, they use so many strategies that they sometimes stop making sense. In the beginning chapters, most of the fights are balanced and well thought out, with fights involving flying swords and elemental spells. However, as the story progresses, the level of abstraction of the abilities and skills gradually stop making sense, becoming abilities that are almost impossible to visualize. At one point, the hero masters an ability that allows him to summon mountains, and summons hundreds of mountains to simultaneously strike an enemy, something that physically makes no sense. At other points, he uses the same skill to create an image of a holy mountain, or a bridge the size of a planet, and somehow uses these images to block incoming attacks and strike back with just pressure.

In addition, the story revolves around him finding the legacy techniques of 8 Demon Sealers before him, each of which has a unique overpowered effect, such as restricting the motion of a character, severing the karma of a target, or even affecting reality and time. And yet, he uses the actual effect of these overpowered abilities no more than a handful of times, where it is convenient for the story. At all other times, the main character uses all of the seals collected upto this point simultaneously, and somehow they only deal a minor amount of damage instead of exhibiting their individual effects.

Another point to note, related to the plot-armour, is the obvious lack of restraints or limits for any character. In other xianxia novels, it is common to see something like the essence or core power, which the character possesses in small amounts, and which can be used for a final super-powerful attack in exchange for permanently harming the cultivation base of the user. However, there is no such limiting concept in this novel. Each character can unleash an unlimited amount of things similar to this essence, that drastically power them up for short periods of time, but at none of the side-effects or disadvantages. At one point, the main character learns a series of three powerful punches, called the "Life-Extermination Fist", the "Self-Immolation Fist" and the "God Slaying Fist", all of which are supposed to bring out ultimate power at the cost of dealing damage to the user, and yet, for no reason at all, they're completely benign to the main character.

Cultivation:

The cultivation system is once again at the heart of this story. There are many different cultivation stages, each of which brings the cultivator to a new level of power, but involves a similar level of hardship and tribulation to cross. However, this cultivation system is one of the most badly explained systems in the entire novel. The first few cultivation stages are fairly normal, just being simple increases in spiritual power gained by collecting spiritual power. However, we then start to see situations that start to defy logic in terms of the requirements for cultivation, where cultivators have to split apart their soul or battle lightning tribulation in order to proceed.

There is also a mysterious obsession about reaching the peak of any cultivation stage. Somehow, people at the peak of a stage are an entire order of magnitude of power above someone who is almost at the peak, but not quite. This is somehow such an important difference that at one point in the story, a whole new pseudo-cultivation stage called the Imperial Lord level is created just to differentiate between them and other cultivators at that level.

Spoiler

At the point at which the cultivator becomes an immortal, they start creating numerous "souls". However, the number of souls is limited to 33, because there are only 33 "heavens" in the sky above their realm. However, we later find out that this makes no sense, as the "heavens" above their realm are just a number of arbitary landmasses, and can increase or decrease in number depending on various events, and as such should have no connection at all to the cultivation of the immortals.
In addition, there is a complete lack of information about progression once a cultivator reaches the Immortal stage. There is some information about how each cultivator unlocks a certain number of "souls" and "immortal meridians" at the moment of becoming an Immortal, this unlocked number is then fixed at that constant value and can no longer be changed. Hence, it should technically be impossible for any progression in strength once someone has reached the Immortal stage.

[collapse]

We also see the gradual accumulation of power creep. The enemies are always at exactly the level of power for the main character to suitably be able to challenge them. Every time the main character powers up, we suddenly see ten new enemies of the same level coming to challenge him. While this provides for constant tension in the story, the background and setting of the story starts to break down as we start to consider what such an accumulation of powerful characters would mean if such characters had existed at earlier points in the story.

Romance:

While the concept of romance exists within the story, it is really not Er Gen's strong point. Characters often fall in love at the drop of a hat, for the smallest conceivable actions. This leads to several different women falling in love with the main character simultaneously, while the main character himself believes in a monogamous relationship. This easily leads to an overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction among the readers, as we see women who fall in love with him but are doomed to never have their affection returned, and end up dying alone.

The two main romantic interests in the story both fall in love with the main character for unexplainable reasons. The first love interest is the very one who kidnaps the main character and forces him into s*avery at the cultivation school, while the second one is perpetually hostile to him from the moment she meets him. At no point in the story can we point to any action taken by either the main character or the two women that indicates a shift in their feelings, and yet they suddenly find themselves completely smitten. While the feelings of love in the story feel "pure", they are like the imagined love stories of adolescent boys who dream of women falling in love with them as they blaze through their heroic actions. In fact, except at a single instance where the main love interest makes a significant sacrifice for the hero, she is nothing more than a trophy wife who contributes nothing to the story.

Overall, it may seem like I've pointed out more negatives than positives for this story. However, I want to stress that the positives far outweigh the negatives. The sheer strength of the plot as well as the amazing characters all ensure than you'll never be bored as you make your way through the story. <<less
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mechafanboy
mechafanboy rated it
June 15, 2017
Status: Completed
Been binge reading this one for a while since it looks pretty close to completion.

I think this novel excels in characterization, the main characters that appear on a regular basis all have very easy to remember personalities and are in general quite likeable. Unfortunately, as with all Xianxia novels, having any of them appear on a regular basis is next to impossible (and some are even red herrings who appear one every........ 2-3 hundred chapters.) That said, the characters who are developed are developed very very well.

The usual power curve... more>> for xianxia novels apply, but tends to be kind of silly in this one, especially when the level of escalation and how the author slots in several more levels between established levels is handled. They're basically done as is, where is and randomly just give additional levels to a demarcation that is already basically pointless, why? because the next realm is "infinitely stronger" at any given time. The novel rectifies this by adding more levels between the MC and his sparring partner, but for the most part, it feels very forced.

That said, the overall plot and the tying together of various plot elements as well as reveals is honestly pretty good. There's a LOT of hidden references and plot points that are laid out early on in the novel and some of them can take 800 chapters or so before they're fully realized. That said, the ball also seems to be dropped on a fair number of minor plot points, specifically when it comes to magical items/legacies and the various subplots around them, most of them stop playing a role within 100 chapters or so, with some of the lengthier ones perhaps surviving for 500 chapters. Edit: the plot finally explodes properly around the last 15% of the novel or so and heavily references everything prior. I'm still not entirely sure if that means every prior plot point will get raised (seems doubtful at this point), but I'll say that most of the more interesting questions are answered by that point.

I think the overall novel is decent, but I think it's missing a lot of polish that would make it better. That said, I also think this is a very normal issue with xianxia web novels. Like one of the other reviewers said, it feels rushed because it IS rushed, trying to type out a chapter a day leads to a less cohesive plot overall.

Minor spoiler warning: This seems to be the 5th in a series of novels written by the same person, there's no prior information strictly REQUIRED to understand what's going on, but the very last segment of the novel seems to imply that a lot of references to the other novels will show up in increasing quantity.

Minor revision as of the end. There's still a lot left unexplained by the end of the novel and this is very much of those novels where "the journey is much much greater than the ending" applies. Personally, given everything that's left unexplained, I think it's worth about 2 stars rather than the initial 4 that I gave. Primarily because with how the last arc was handled and how little anything mattered in the end, I can't give it more than that. It built up a brilliant world and used up maybe. 0.1% of it in the ending. *shakes head* to say I am truly disappointed would be a lie because the signs have been there all along with how each successive arc uses less and less materials from the past. At the same time, I personally feel it's a sign of poor writing to write up a whole bunch of good characters and leave them by the wayside for no discernible reason. <<less
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DarkD
DarkD rated it
June 10, 2017
Status: c1550
I would say this is a great author who rushed the hell out of this series. That shouldn't really come as a surprise though because this is a Chinese author and they pretty much consider anything less than a chapter a day to be slow.

The main reason I say it's rushed is because there are a lot of moments where the author builds up to something beautifully but then completely fails to write a good payoff. Good payoffs are basically those inspired moments in fiction that you literally have you... more>> stopping to admire how amazing they are.

Not to say this author doesn't ever have great payoffs, but he doesn't have them as much as he could. He has a lot of missed opportunities.

Overall though, the novel is beautifully written. Many of the characters are utterly charming and extremely fun.

The overarching story is also extremely interesting. However, the author is another chinese author obsessed with writing about characters with revenge fetishes. He will wonder the world looking for people to piss off and get revenge on. If you cross Meng Hao once, he'll kill you. In the world of a wuxia author, there's no such thing as "innocents". Men, woman, children. All must be tormented to death in a wuxia novel. It's like the author thought "this story won't be complete unless the protagonist tortures an innocent child to death to get revenge on their ancestors."

My biggest complaint is the author's obsession with that bad synopsis up above. I avoided this series for so long because it sounded so cheesy to me. And the author keeps repeating it like it's his favorite part. Maybe it sounds better in Chinese, but it sounds awful in English.

In fact, the title doesn't even make sense until the last couple hundred chapters of the story. In the first 3/4ths of the story, he does say he wants to seal the heavens but is never really clear on why. As far as I can tell, even the protagonist doesn't understand why he's so set on sealing the heavens. <<less
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Primordial Heaven
Primordial Heaven rated it
December 10, 2020
Status: --
It's just something about Er Gens novels that seems to be.. "missing." I can't ever fully enjoy them, and am always left with a feeling of... disgust and antipathy towards the novel. This novel should have only featured one world, South Heaven. The rest of the novel is tr*sh and a slog fest. I couldn't bring myself to keep reading it, so I spoiled myself and skimmed through the later chapters, just for closure. The highest liked review already tells all it's faults. It just feels... empty. Forced. And now... more>> I'm left with a bitter, sour feeling. <<less
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Riptide01
Riptide01 rated it
December 4, 2018
Status: c461
One word. Mediocre. Compared to the author's other novels and the competing cultivation novels out there, this is too cliche. Predictable plot, predictable character development, flat side characters and weak jokes. Honestly, I'm surprised I got over 400 chapters. Don't waste your time, move on to something else.
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dahlys
dahlys rated it
August 20, 2018
Status: Completed
ISSTH had a really promising plot setup, but poor execution and bad writing left me disappointed by the end of the story. Over a hundred mysteries that were hinted at time and time again were never resolved, especially the secrets of South Heaven, the Ji Clan, and Mountain Sea Realm. The Violet Fate Sect and South Heaven War arcs are really good but the other arcs are boring. The author builds up tension and then fails to deliver. We thus end up with a "weekly antagonist" cycle. The only things... more>> that kept me reading were the emotional scenes that sometimes made me tear up, the laugh out loud interaction between Ultimate Vexation and Lord Fifth, and the slight hope that at least the biggest mysteries get resolved (but in the end they are not resolved or the answer is downright pathetic). The final arc "I watch blue seas become lush fields" is a waste of time, the story should have ended with the final battle of the previous arc "The demon sovereign returns" or "My mountain sea realm".

I read the original version in Chinese and the writing is absolutely PAINFUL to read. Er Gen uses the same words and phrases over and over again, often multiple times in one chapter. 20+ instances of "suddenly" in one chapter, seriously? Ouch. I started ISSTH because I liked Er Gen's previous novel Renegade Immortal, but I feel that the quality of the writing has actually worsened.

Character development in ISSTH is nonexistent and character personalities tend to be cliched. The MC Meng Hao is a hypocrite, he thinks of himself as a good guy but ironically
Spoiler

he is the worst money grubbing thief ever, scamming people, forcing people to owe him money and torturing them if they refuse.

[collapse]
Chu Yuyan is not the female lead, but has so much more personality and presence, too bad she never gets what she wants since I was supporting her all the way. And that's all the characters I can remember as the rest might as well be Passerby A and B.

All in all, I am disappointed in ISSTH since I was setup for a good ride but left hanging in the air. <<less
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keklel
keklel rated it
August 19, 2018
Status: c1400
UPDATED REVIEW:

Okay so ISSTH turned out to be actually worse than Renegade Immortal.

  1. I actually preferred the treasure in Renegade Immortal compared to the magical mirror. The magical mirror was not utilized to maximum effect by Meng Hao. The treasure in RI allowed Wang Lin to escape death numerous times and also allowed him to power up whereas the mirror only gives him the ability to duplicate items (at exorbitant prices). Thus Meng Hao had to rely on a string of ridiculous coincidences as well as being favored by numerous parties for no apparent reason other than protagonist aura.
  2. Meng Hao is much less memorable compared to Wang Lin. Wang Lin was defined by his ruthlessness whereas Meng Hao is neither defined by greed nor ruthlessness. He is just bland. The author wants to make him out to be some kind of super intelligent greedy merchant type, but fails. Intelligence is not a personality trait and the author fails to paint a picture of a super greedy person. Meng Hao is just your typical Xianxia protag. All in all quite disappointing.
  3. The romance has gone down many tiers. Xu Qing is the blandest wooden doll that exists in all of fiction, way much less memorable than Duan Muwan. There is literally zero reason for them to fall in love. I much preferred the non-romance between Wang Lin and Duan Muwan. Actually Chu Yuyan almost comes close to Duan Muwan, but unfortunately the MC doesn't care about her at all so she gets left out of the story. Very disappointing.
  4. I preferred the cultivation scenes in Renegade Immortal. Cultivating in the extreme environment at the bottom of the ocean and acquiring the Ji Realm was much more interesting than going to random ruins and collecting treasures just to increase cultivation base. There's nothing unique about the power ups. His physical body getting stronger is only interesting so many times, and he doesn't even have the strongest physical body. Where are the unique powers? Probably the best cultivation scene in ISSTH was cultivating at the bottom of what was the Western Desert, unfortunately the powers he gained there was not made use of at all in the rest of the novel. Instead numerous consumables are given to Meng Hao by random strangers he happened to meet in a ruin somewhere, which can only be used once. And also the powers he acquired earlier on are completely forgotten later.
  5. The war between the 33 heavens and the Mountain and Sea Realm ruined the story. What used to be awe-inspiring Paragons become nothing more than footsoldiers in this overly long and drawn out war. It's literally the same sh*t every chapter. Meng Hao uses the same abilities on some powerful antagonist and they use some abilities to attack him and so on. Nothing interesting really happens. It lasted for like 100 chapters. I gave up reading halfway through, it was so mind-numbing.
  6. One thing that really reduced the enjoyment of the story is how OP Wang Lin's clone is made out to be in this story. I can't really stomach a story where some minor character from an earlier novel is so much more powerful than the current protagonist that it's ridiculous.
Renegade Immortal was not perfect but it had good arcs, I liked the arc where the MC met Duan Muwan for the first time and cultivated at the bottom of the sea. There wasn't anything remotely similar in ISSTH. It just feels like a downgrade all round.

I didn't like... more>> Renegade Immortal because of how much time was spent on the revenge arc but the war between the 33 heavens and the mountain and sea realm was just so much worse it's not even comparable. This really is a downgrade.

2/5.

Spoiler

This isn't a masterpiece but is okay for light reading.

With regards to the story, there are way too many lucky coincidences and it doesn't feel like the MC has any real goal in mind. In Way of the Devil, the MC's power comes almost entirely from Deep Blue. In Reincarnator, the MC has a very clear goal in mind. In contrast, Meng Hao gains his power from lots and lots of independent lucky coincidences, and he doesn't have a clear goal in mind. Instead, Meng Hao is driven from moment to moment by the desire to kill whichever minor antagonist has pissed him off most recently. That is basically the plot of the story - Meng Hao goes from place to place, people try to rob him, then he gets revenge on these people. There are way too many lucky coincidences. For example, Shangguan Xiu giving away the information about the Perfect foundation pill and the 10th condensation stage, which apparently NOBODY since ancient times had acquired. How did Shangguan Xiu come across this information? Why did nobody else know about it? Meng Hao somehow being blown by the winds into the Blood Immortal's inheritance and then by a stroke of luck, consuming the Perfect foundation pill just happens to give him the inheritance? None of the sects that investigated the Blood Immortal's legacy for thousands of years figured that out? I can understand the MC being overpowered because of one hax that continually gives him more advantages that accumulate over time, but for him to repeatedly gain rare information and items just by pure luck, often times completely unrelated to his existing items, makes it hard to suspend disbelief. I would have preferred it if MC gained all his advantages from that magic mirror rather than continually coming across impossibly rare information and items just by pure luck.

In terms of characterization it is noticeably worse than Way of the Devil, mainly because Meng Hao is too reckless and often puts everything on the line in order to avenge a petty slight (almost got himself killed because he killed someone for threatening to kill him if he didn't shut down his business). Every time Meng Hao gets into a fight, I just worry that Meng Hao is going to lose x years of cultivation, magical items, pills and spirit stones again and have to seclude himself for months or years to recover from injuries. Lu Sheng (the MC in Way of the Devil) is much more composed and mature in comparison - Lu Sheng would never get into a fight with an opponent that he cannot instantly smash into a pulp, whereas Meng Hao almost always fights people that he doesn't know anything about. He never researches his enemy's background, skills or items beforehand, whereas the people chasing him tend to know most of his tricks, so it always feels like he is disadvantaged in that respect. Most of the fights happen in an ad-hoc manner, e.g he walks around, some guy sees him and decides to rob him, then he fights the guy without knowing anything about him other than his cultivation level. Also, characters in ISSTH that have had thousands of years of cultivation seem to be pretty easily tricked/manipulated by Meng Hao and seem to all have childish temperaments. Nobody seems to be capable of concealing their intentions. Villains are one-dimensional personalities driven entirely by simple motivations like wanting to r*pe girls or steal treasures - this pretty much defines the vast majority of the characters in the story. So in terms of characterization I think it is probably 2nd or even 3rd rate, no better than Great Demon King or Transcending the Nine Heavens. It does not hold a candle to the likes of Daoist Gu.

The romance is terrible, as is usually the case in webnovels, but the romance in Er Gen's novels is especially bad. I think it would have been better if romance was left out altogether, as in Daoist Gu. I don't read novels for romance, so I try to ignore it when I see it, but it just annoys me to see the MC fighting over some woman whom he only loves because of her looks or something s*upid like a comment about a cosmetic pill. The MC really fell in love with Xu Qing over her comments about a cosmetic pill? Come on. This is just as bad as the romance in God of Slaughter / Great Demon King where the women all fell in love with the MC after being r*ped by him.

In terms of action it is much better than Way of the Devil (where all the fight scenes consist of the MC smashing people into a pulp before they can even react). For example the fight with Shangguan Xiu where Meng Hao hid a poison pill inside a severed head that he threw, I thought that was pretty cool. But the skills and items are so vaguely described that they can be used as get-out-of-jail-free cards whenever necessary, so the fights sometimes feel like the author is just making stuff up as he goes along. Often some random elder suddenly comes out of nowhere to break up a fight, and it just feels like a deus ex machina. Overall in terms of quality of the fights it is probably among the better xuanhuan novels.

When considering everything put together (characterization, plot etc) I'd rank it above Grasping Evil, equal to Path to Heaven / God of Slaughter, and below Way of the Devil. Enjoyable but nowhere near a masterpiece.

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Poppy Palais
Poppy Palais rated it
June 3, 2018
Status: Completed
This is really a book of two halves. The first part, up to about chapter 750 is easily 5 stars, with funny and interesting characters and situations. And plenty of good action and a strong story.

And then it turns into, well, a boring and s*upid snorefest. Not only does character development stop, but the existing characters become just names. And new characters are nothing but names, no personalities of any kind.

And the powers on display as the book nears its end are just absurd, so overblown and with so much... more>> death and destruction it's just overwhelmingly mindless. He shrinks the worlds and holds them in his hand? Give me a break!

Just read the first 700 to 800 chapters and then stop and make up your own ending. It's really difficult to believe the author of the first half is the same person that wrote the second half. <<less
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PopescuStefanRadu
PopescuStefanRadu rated it
March 12, 2018
Status: c1552
It was fun when he was undercover in the violet fate sect, the challenges and characters there were fun. After he leaves his planet things get samey and boring. Also, whatever happened to Night? That was a 100% setup for a character that should reappear. Well, it doesn't really matter because the MC will beat more random enemies while caught in a war he knows nothing about. The other characters aren't relevant anymore either so it just becomes a tedious wait for getting some progression with the love interest, Xu... more>> Qing, or for figuring out what is going on. <<less
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