Zither Emperor

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

Nine harmonic zither chords shook the universe, who dared to not acknowledge the lord?

The curtains on a grand era of Rainbow Magic was raised.

He, the Zither Emperor, brought about heaven-shaking reform to the continent.

An ancient soul, pure and of strong heart, was born as the once in a generation Zither genius quietly by the ocean under clear blue skies.

This individual, a mere pure-hearted youth, gradually ascended to regency as the Zither Emperor of legends, demonstrating an unprecedented strength in musical magic and overcoming the conventional standards of society.

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Indigo, and Violet; the colors of the Rainbow served as the ranking system of martial arts and magic.

Because of his profound skill, what was once a useless disregarded vocation became a legendary talent deeply intertwined with his immortal legacy. The legacy of an unparalleled genius who shone so brightly, no one could ignore his brilliance.

Even the acclaimed near-invincible dragon, in front of the Zither Emperor, cannot lift its bowed prideful head, because it was addressing a god. The pioneer of musical magic, responsible for reforming the previous Rainbow ranking system and entering the unknown level of Rainbow Magic, had become the standard measure for all martial arts and magic. Dragons were no longer the unequalled creatures of old.

A godly master of sound, a matchless spiritual mage, he raised this tr*sh vocation to become the most legendary craft on the continent. However, this was all fiction, right?

An ancient soul, pure and of strong heart, was born as the once in a generation Zither genius quietly by the ocean under clear blue skies. This individual, a mere pure-hearted youth, gradually ascended to regency as the Zither Emperor of legends, demonstrating an unprecedented strength in musical magic and overcoming the conventional standards of society. Was he only the Zither Emperor, though?

Associated Names
One entry per line
Emperor of Qin
Qin Di
琴帝
Related Series
Shen Yin Wang Zuo (Shared Universe)
Child of Light (Shared Universe)
Douluo Dalu (Shared Universe)
Magic Chef of Ice and Fire (Shared Universe)
Heavenly Jewel Change (Shared Universe)
Jiu Shen (Shared Universe)
The Legend of the Dragon King (Shared Universe)
Douluo Dalu: Legend of the Divine Realm (Shared Universe)
Only I Shall Be Immortal (Shared Universe)
Ultimate Fighting (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
Douluo Dalu (2)
Child of Light (1)
Unrivaled Tang Sect (1)
Heavenly Jewel Change (1)
Shen Yin Wang Zuo (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Douluo Dalu Universo
  2. Music Themed
  3. Nosebleeds from heaven - 1
  4. Harem novels
  5. Thing i Will probably Read

Latest Release

Date Group Release
03/14/17 Radiant Translations v6c153-154
03/06/17 Radiant Translations v6c152
03/04/17 Radiant Translations v6c151
02/27/17 Radiant Translations v6c150
02/26/17 Radiant Translations v6c149
02/26/17 Radiant Translations v6c148
02/20/17 Radiant Translations v6c147
02/20/17 Radiant Translations v6c146
02/18/17 Radiant Translations v6c145
02/13/17 Radiant Translations v6c144
02/12/17 Radiant Translations v6c143
02/10/17 Radiant Translations v6c142
02/05/17 Radiant Translations v6c141
02/04/17 Radiant Translations v6c140
01/31/17 Radiant Translations v6c139
Go to Page...
Go to Page...
Write a Review
16 Reviews sorted by


JerryHatrick
JerryHatrick rated it
May 18, 2016
Status: v1c5 part1
Dropped at 5.1
Authors seem to love setting up a strong character, then doing something ret*rded to weaken them. Such a shame. I have a hankering for music and acting stories and this started out pretty promising.

In fact. The more I think about it, the more this annoys me. Usually, it's stories where things just seem to go right and everything just falls into the MC's lap. This time, it's a series of coincidences that just so happen to take everything away from the MC. I dare not read 5.2... more>> for fear that on top of all of this, he will become a s*ave. <<less
39 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Little Dragon
Little Dragon rated it
April 9, 2016
Status: --
I believe this story has amazing potential. It is unique and unlike other stories it not focus on “I grow stronger, I kill, I grow stronger, I take some pill, I take stronger.” The story focus so far has been the zither and hopefully it remains so. You can tell as you read that the author took his time to understand the zither. All and all I look forward to future updates.
26 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
thissisnate
thissisnate rated it
January 23, 2017
Status: v5c133
First off. HOLY HELL PEOPLE WHY IS THIS NOVEL'S SCORE SO LOW. Realistically this novel should trend at a 4.3. This really makes me question the average NUFian's maturity/amount of sophistry that they expect while reading. It really feels like a lot of the bad scores were given because the MC was duped in the beginning and he uses a musical instrument causing readers to drop because "NO OP MC? NO IMMEDIATE POWER TRIP? DROPPED."

Serious review time:
This is a classic TJSS novel which means 10/10 on world building. It... more>> is a fantasy world filled with dragons, elves, beastmen, and behemoths (no clear description but I imagine them like the ape titan from Attack on titans) that more closely aligns itself with western (fantasy) influences than eastern. It has a pretty interesting system set up where each person cultivates as a mage (which is divided into light, fire, dark, spatial, summon, water, and divine instruments) or as a martial artist (so far you only see assassins or some kind of warrior mounted on a dragon). The MC dual cultivates in divine instrument magic and eastern martial arts. He fuses the two into a formidable art that is reminiscent of the fight scene in Kung Fu Hustle of the blind musicians. Honestly, the MC is very different from your average CN xianxia MC (at least up to the chapter 133 where he starts to become more generic). He is naive due to essentially growing up in a bamboo forest sheltered from the world to learn the zither in a pure unadultered manner. After about 40 chapter, he begins to smarten up and dominate. Some may not like it because there won't be as much intense physical action for the first 50 chapter but rather a type more magical music battle that affects the soul. However, around chapter 60 he starts busting out moves more reminiscent of doulou dalu. Tl;dr great unpredictable plot with great world building. Don't let a 12 year old's rating fool you into thinking character building is a sh*t plot <<less
25 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
onesky
onesky rated it
September 15, 2016
Status: v3c77
I dont get why ppl give up on such good novel....

It's kind of new for me with music cultivation. And if you read some 'people' said the bad taste is ch 5.1 you are wrong...

It's true that chapter leave a bad taste but you know, it was a bit realistic for me when we im fed up with plot that always show our MC is lucky....

You should read till the current chap for better understanding that this novel isn't worth 1 star only
22 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Old Chicken
Old Chicken rated it
March 3, 2017
Status: Completed
Having read this novel in Chinese, I'm not sure if the translations do it justice. However, the reviews don't.

The cultivation system is very interesting. After all, who uses a f*cking zither to fight.
Though the MC seems to be very naive at the start, his character eventually develops.
The setting is really good, with mythical creatures such as Giants, behemoths, fairies, dwarves, not being limited to dragons only.

The romance is really touching, but slow. However, it is really one of the best. I'm not sure if it's the same in... more>> English, but in mandarin, the means of MC's expression of love is very poetic. MC's ability to play zithers is what makes this part unique.

Spoiler

The MC has five love interests, but each is developed well. To counter the previous review, the seemingly narcissistic roommate of the MC is actually a girl. But the MC never finds out until about half way through the story, she had to leave the MC. This is because she was ens*aved by a necromancer ever since she was 10, who was supposed to use her as a sacrifice to breakthrough.


She didn't want to love the MC because she thought she would never see him again. She was cold at the start, but as time progressed, she fell in love. But the MC never knew until she left. Luckily, this romance ended up happily. She actually dies along the way due to the necromancer, but the MC sacrifices his eyesight and taste to revive her.
And yeah, she was also the one who stole his ring with the five zithers at the very start :/

The other romances were good too. Particularly the last one, but it's really tragic

[collapse]

However, the other characters were relatively one-dimensional. At least compared to TJSS's other novels. The MC also got really OP towards the end.

The ending is unique in the xianxia genre. Though it was a good ending, it was pretty sad and tragic though.

Spoiler

The final boss was MC's final love interest. They were never meant to be. MC had to kill her : (

[collapse]
<<less
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
TheHungryScrub
TheHungryScrub rated it
August 20, 2016
Status: --
Hmm I'm going to be that 'person' and will say that the low rating were probably due to prejudice of the fifth chapter. Which is also ironic since I'm also prejudicing on other haha.

Anyway this will be a premature scrubby review and if anyone is familiar with tjss work this is another of his usual work.

So far to me It more similar to Shen Yin Wang Zuo and Douluo dalu in term of setting and maybe character but in a lesser version.

The setting is your basic big kingdom here, big... more>> kingdom there (north. south, etc). It fantasy like with magic/sword user and some variation of them (so far v3 whole chapter 17 subch65). So expect magical beast and the usual trope.

What different is our MC using zither as both his tool of offense and utility. For me it refreshing to see something other than sword in any other fantasy story.

To keep short since it still early phase of the story and nothing much to review.

Side-Character are decent. They are different and has personality but some of them fall flat to me. Also there can many names to remember and some of them come and go.

MC is like a more naive/innocent version of the MC of Shen ying weng zuo. Although he is naive he is developed throughout and learn a bit here and there. So if you hate your MC naive flaw with a passion then this is not for you.

Plot armor/item luck-
At the moment no crazy plot armor and even the coincidence one of the reviewer say was not even a coincidence since it something you can foreshadow due to character and setting. I guess you can call it a nerf plot device. There are item MC obtain but it isn't a big deterrence from what MC already have (in term of skill I mean)

Fight-
The battle scene are usually this author strong point so it good and can be confusing if you don't much of the terms.

Story-
Again at the moment not much plot and more of building up one. There are mystery with some character that haven't unravel yet but they are hinting.

Overall 3.5/5
I like the character and setting. Oh also because I know what to expect from this author since I have read his other work. So read if you also a fan of the author or if you looking for something fantasy like, MC with unique weapon, or killing time waiting for your novel to update.

Oh one thing I hate about this author and his other work is the chapter indicator. For those that are new, One chapter of his is subdivide into usually 3-5 part chapter. So whenever you see how many chapter there are, like 17 chapter? which is right now at the moment... it mean it has 64 or 65 chapter total subdivide chapter. So sometime I forget to get through one chapter event of the title, it usually mean 5 chapter before getting the juice of it haha.

p.s will change in future if any major stuff happen. <<less
9 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
rdawv
rdawv rated it
June 2, 2016
Status: v1c7 part3
Takes a long time to get going, and when it does, the MC might not be everyone's cup of tea. To put it simply, he comes off as incredibly naive and innocent. His background was that his mentors placed great importance in his innate talent and in order not to dilute it or influenced by the unnecessary, the MC was trained in a secluded manner. He was not taught any common sense or worldly matters and is almost child-like in his manners and curiosity. It's like sending your young kid... more>> on his first errand, and because of his lack of knowledge combined with his grown age he either offends or charms the people he comes across ('pectoral muscles').

You will need some degree of patience in reading this one because of the MC. If you're tired of stories with self-assured, smug MCs then you'll find a different kind in this one. <<less
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Nighris
Nighris rated it
July 13, 2017
Status: Completed
This author's works are very unique and interesting. I feel that all of them are worth reading because of how well he writes.

But... this series made me stayed away from all of his work no matter how interesting the synopsis is if I ever see his name as author..

Feels wise, this novel made me cried a lot....

... more>> But as Someone without insane level of patriotism, this novel becomes the worst novel and the one that triggered me the most out of all series I have read.....

And another "but". I would recommend this if you wants something sad that makes you cry <<less
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
kalp456
kalp456 rated it
February 8, 2017
Status: v1c15
I will be dropping this novel because it is a shitty one. As such, the review is only about the setting and early "personalities" of the main characters.

First of all, the setting. Typical for a TJSS novel, it is filled with quite the interesting world filled with Buddhism (ranking rainbow = akin to chakra) and other such elements. Although unoriginal and somewhat cliche, it can still be called interesting with how it is mixed, like most xianxia/xuanhuan out there. The redeeming factor, though is the weapon of the protagonist, which... more>> is the zither. It should have been quite interesting to read the novel as MC travels but I just can't do it due to reasons that will be told later. (6/10)

Second, the plot and premise. Currently, there is no plot since this is only about 1.45% of the whole book. It is understandable. However, the setting and description hints us that it'll just be the typical "from weak to strong ala age progression" type of story. Well, I guess the potential is there, like how TTNH gave us interesting battles but I doubt TJSS has that skill. (4/10)

Third, the characters. Now, this is the part where I am truly disappointed. Seeing how the characters of Douluo Dalu were handled for the first to second hundred chapters or so, I had quite the expectation. But it seems that was a wrong move. What can you detest more compared to a main character that doesn't have personality? And wow, just wow. What a s*upid excuse did the author did to have personality-less MC? Cultivation shit. Totally s*upid. Author said that MC is apparently a genius among geniuses, so how come he does not question anything? And the author even had the gall to explain why the MC was not affected by his killing of people, like wat? When you were cultivating, you did not ask what will happen to the people you will "kill" since apparently, he doesn't really know, he did not ask, so much for a genius among geniuses, huh. And oh, what was that? Just because violet guy won't affect the cultivation of your (grand) child, you won't properly investigate the origins of the child? So much for being powerful people. Yeah, let's just be lazy since who cares if the child actually has a hidden past or something. He's just a child after all. Let's just forget about the violent-whatever his eyes (forgot??) were giving off when the Qian magi first discovered him.
Now that we mention it, what exactly is the second next infuriating thing after having a no personality MC? A ruthless, arrogant, narcissist best friend of a personality MC, of course. Why? So that he will just influence the poor guy, not truly deciding his morality, just being thrown in the real world without preparation because, you know, that's just how the world works. You just have to accept it and become like the ruthless ones out there (I saw the title of the next major chapter "Price of Kindness").

By the way, what exactly is the reason for the existence of the parents and grandfathers again? Nothing. Just some plot devices out there. And right! How could I forget! No-personality device, too! They are, after all, the reason why the MC has no real personality. I mean, it should have been the first time he will travel and they won't even send them off from their home city. And the reason? Yeah, it was excused as "because of cultivation". In other words, another plot device in order for the MC to have a ruthless character, sooner rather than later (and more ruthless, btw). (1/10)

Next is writing style/presentation. Basically shit. I mean, why the heck do you need to freaking info-dump everything, even using the conversation of people to do it??? Those are just so unnatural! You already plan for them to travel but you just have to infodump the power levels and zither styles in shitty ways. SO annoying! (2/10)

Lastly, enjoyment. It was frustrating, annoying, and uncomfortable. A mix of negative feelings. Won't recommend. (3/10)

Total: 6+4+1+2+3 = 16/50 = 3.2/10 = 1.6/5
= 1/5 (see my review of "Genius Black Belly Miss" or something for explanation) <<less
5 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Somerandomedude
Somerandomedude rated it
May 11, 2018
Status: Completed
Hello everyone I actually read the whole novel so I believe I can give a accurate review of the novel as a whole. Overall the story is pretty good. The main character started out as a naive teenager who later grew up to be a resilient leader. However, the major downside to the story is the actual ending which is just horrible. You can read the spoilers if you want to know what happened at the end but all I got to say is that the ending was so bad... more>> I took 2 stars off.
Spoiler

Alright so give a brief summary 10000 years ago 2 continents smashed together which created a portal which linked the world the MC is in to another world called the abyss. The demons from the abyss almost destroyed the entire continent but they got punished back by the combine effort of the people from the 2 continents and the portal was sealed by the Eastern dragon God. Anyway so the final arc of the story was the MC deciding to attack the abyss this time and wipe them out so they can't be a threat anymore even tho the seal can technically last for a million years. Anyways so the MC basically kill off all the abyssal demon lords and demons. Just which u were about to think it was a boring ending MC suddenly attacked one of his harem members claiming that she is the abyssal demon king from 1000 years ago who lead the attack. So it was pretty bs because if the MC knew about it why did he not try to take her out before the big battler against the abyss demons. Anyways the girl (abyss demon king) turns out to regain her powers and she is God relm. So she then kicks everyone's ass and subdues everyone along with the MC. She then tells the MC she doesn't want to be the abyss demon king anymore and she doesn't want to cause any harm and she just wants to be with the main character that she really loved him. MC was like screw that your my enemy. The girl wants to have s*x with the MC and have his kids but MC rejects. So the girl then use Mc's kids to threaten him. MC relent and has s*x with her and manage to shoot a soul attack through his ejaculation and kills her. I'm not even joking MC defeats the big bad guy idk if u can even call her that by shooting seman into her. Yea pretty ret*rded ending and MC never reach the highest cultivation relm in the story. How the story should of ended was during the big battle with the abyss demons the girl does a surprise attack and kills half the human army. MC was force to retreat out of the abyss and use the seal to buy some time. MC breaks through to the god relm and have a big battle with the girl and end up winning. That would of been a great plot twist and good ending instead we got this crappy ending

[collapse]
<<less
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
lpnp
lpnp rated it
January 5, 2017
Status: v5c126
I ignored this novel for a long time, because the rating is somewhat low and I usually don't like naive Mcs. In this case however, I didn't mind, mainly due to the fact that the people around the protagonist don't really exploit him despite his innocence/lack of common knowledge. Sure, there is the one incident early on ... more>>
Spoiler

his storage ring with powerful zithers gets stolen

[collapse]
(which probably contributed largely to the overall low rating) but that's about it. I actually found reading a chinese novel with a more kindhearted and innocent protagonist to be rather refreshing. Additionally tjss usually does a decent job at letting the Mc's mentality mature throughout his novels.

The pacing feels a bit slow and the entire atmosphere leans toward tjss more lighthearted works. Overall, not tjss best work, but imo still one of his better novels. <<less
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Callista Soo
Callista Soo rated it
July 12, 2016
Status: v2c49
I really like this novel. Although the MC is a bit naive but even still he is quite perceptive, kind and resolute. Plus you can count on this kind of guy, not arrogant yet not yielding. He seems to have gathered quite the entourage, sura the mysterious and dark assassin, a beautiful but sorrowful girl with amazing potential and skill in music, a man beast or some other kind of human Zi who is very strong and 'worldly' plus the MC's powerful grandfather's and parents. Definitely recommend to read!!!!?
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Kittybear
Kittybear rated it
June 30, 2016
Status: --
I think that this story has potential to become a pretty decent story. If it proceeds far enough, I believe it will even become a fantastic read. However, most of the potential, in my opinion, is because of the obvious foreboding of how the MC and his friends will become the strongest existences in the future.

Honestly, I chose to read this because I wanted something that focused on some sort of music based cultivation. I came across this and thought "Perfect. It has a zither and martial arts!" I had... more>> higher expectations at first, but then the author just dumped a pile of sh*t on the MC later on.
Spoiler

At one point, the MC gets his most valuable treasures, that are priceless artifacts, stolen by some beggar on the street because he was so naive. Granted, he still received help to get to his destination and met a potential love interest because of this. Hell, it even hints that the MC will eventually meet the beggar again and get his stuff back, but still! That is so infuriating because the MC is just that naive and innocent. Later, we even find out that his father was following him and "protecting" him, but he still just let the beggar go! He later explained it was to teach his son independence and that shit. BS! Your just going to let all those precious artifacts go just to teach your son this one lesson?! NO! At least just let the beggar go a little ways and then get the stuff back! I almost dropped this series just for that.

[collapse]

This isn't your typical "MC never receives any set backs" stories. In the very beginning, he gets a huge set back that will no doubt drive away many readers, but the potential shows later makes it worth it to go on. Granted, in my opinion, I find that a lot of potential comes from the mc's friends rather then himself, which is why I'm not really calling this one to have the potential to be a legendary read, but it still has the potential to be a good read at least. However, this is potential I'm talking about, potential that will come to fruition many, many chapters in the future so, those of you looking for an instant good read, just leave this one be for a couple years and then come back. If you have time to invest right now and the patience for more chapters, put a bookmark on this one. <<less
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Tonyseve
Tonyseve
December 12, 2022
Status: 1/3 of the story
This novel really started well, it had it flaws of course but the oroginality of it made me want to continue it.

I think it had gone pretty well till we know more about the plot and then it just started to go to shit. Author just decided to use plot armor everywhere to force development between certains characters or to ground it to a halt.

... more>>
Spoiler

the one thing I hated was li haiyang development she was a really interesting character but once she was cured and MC come back she basically force herself on him and don t take no for an answer, dont try to understand MC and it s problem and dont apologize when she makes an error so yeah I kinda hate her. On the other side we have sura who endure everything and don t reveal herself no matter what. I wont go into details but even his friends get somehow transformed into subordinates and we lose all the colors that made the story interesting.

[collapse]

Well basically the author just killed the story by transforming MC who was naïve but smart an Caring into someone who is manipulated by the plot the author wants to force.

It could have been an awesome story about music and zither and maybe some romance but not much but no the author decided otherwise and made it a story about how zither is strong MC is charmant bla bla bla, girls not interesting fawning at MC and getting their shares of it even though they dont deserve it and seing the truly deserving ones suffer because they cant be with him and have to see him with other girls so in the end it has gone from a potential 5 star story to a less than 1 star story.

Well that it it was my 1st review so it might no be wholly accurate but I ve read a lot of them and this one is the one who made the most and so disapointed hence my review <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
AtnShadid
AtnShadid rated it
September 12, 2020
Status: 33-1
The novel is bad from all aspects. Ignoring that the fact MC is naive (well it makes sense as it's accounted for), which makes the novel annoying, females interactions are straight up bullshit.
... more>>
Spoiler

Okay, 300 year old female elf fell in love with him? Kay. Ice cold beauty falls in love with him? Kay. Roommate acting like a male but still being 'jealous' when he interacts with other females? Kay. #P**sySlayer69
Also let us not forget that s*upid BS of Sura being the one who stole his ring and returning it so much later in their 'friendship'.
Helping females for no reason other than feeling for them? Okay.

[collapse]
Also power rankings are straight up bullshit. They use names and colors which is fine, but why the f*ck do different sects have different colors etc. That's a huge nop.

Maybe I'm being biased or I simply read way too many novels that nothing is good in my eyes anymore, BUT this is EXTREMELY MEDIOCRE at best. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
karthikkong
karthikkong rated it
February 20, 2020
Status: Completed
This novel is simply amazing. The USP of this novel is that novel is short and yet it is effective which is like most of the other novels by this author.
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leave a Review (Guidelines)
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.