Castle of Black Iron

Description

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

After the Catastrophe, every rule in the world was rewritten.

In the Age of Black Iron, steel, iron, steam engines and fighting force became the crux in which human beings depended on to survive.

A commoner boy by the name Zhang Tie was selected by the gods of fortune and was gifted a small tree which could constantly produce various marvelous fruits. At the same time, Zhang Tie was thrown into the flames of war, a three-hundred-year war between the humans and monsters on the vacant continent. Using crystals to tap into the potentials of the human body, one must cultivate to become stronger.

The thrilling legends of mysterious clans, secrets of Oriental fantasies, numerous treasures and legacies in the underground world — All in the Castle of Black Iron!

Associated Names
One entry per line
Citadel of Black Iron
COBI
黑铁之堡
Related Series
Silver Overlord (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
Galactic Dark Net (3)
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation (2)
Bringing The Farm To Live In Another World (2)
The Ultimate Evolution (2)
Praise the Orc! (2)
Chronicles of Primordial Wars (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Novels i Have Read
  2. Novels that I have read
  3. Best Overall
  4. Harem novels 2
  5. NON-BL II ADVENTURE / NO LOVE INTEREST

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/03/17 Webnovel c39
04/02/17 Webnovel c38
04/01/17 Webnovel c37
04/01/17 Webnovel c36
03/31/17 Webnovel c35
03/30/17 Webnovel c34
03/29/17 Webnovel c33
03/28/17 Webnovel c32
03/27/17 Webnovel c31
03/25/17 Webnovel c30
03/25/17 Webnovel c29
03/24/17 Webnovel c28
03/23/17 Webnovel c27
03/22/17 Webnovel c26
03/21/17 Webnovel c25
Go to Page...
Go to Page...
Write a Review
105 Reviews sorted by


Nitpicking Reader
Nitpicking Reader rated it
January 14, 2019
Status: c258
This novel is CRINGY af.

The nationalism and racism is unbearable to an extent you can't imagine unless you read it.

If you can ignore the over-glorification of chinese and racism that can give you goosebumps this novel is not bad.

The MC is ok, the development is good, the harem was fun (but somehow disappointing), the cheat is basically a tree and whatnot that gives fruits of plot armor (but also acceptable) and let's not forget that this story is slow paced, with many useless repeating of descriptions and things mentionned before.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
celo13
celo13 rated it
September 26, 2018
Status: c429
The story is decent.

It's one of very few Chines webnovels that actually manage to be funny (very rare).

The editing is a crime in progress... it turned a fun read into pain :S
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Bassel
Bassel rated it
June 9, 2018
Status: c535
Great concept ruined by moronic writing.

I have to say, the author of this webnovel is an amateur and this might be an insult to amateurs. The writing is bottom notch. He just sucks to be honest.

plotting is Zero. The writer is so slow over trivial details and tells us the story of every hour of everyday in the most boring way, only to skip over the important details later, which is annoying to any reader.

The author is also trying constantly to sound philosophical and "explore the truth of life" with... more>> his boring paragraphs but he sucks so much at it that I don't know how his Chinese readers never called him out for it..

I won't go on with this so that it doesn't just turn into a rant. But if you want to read this webnovel, you need to have great patience. <<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
ziki
ziki
March 29, 2018
Status: c5
I was intrigued as I read the premise and when I read the story the entire world building captured me as well because it's rather unique setting for this website... BUT OH MY, while world building and everything that narrator brings up is brilliant, every single scene with MC is absolute garbage that a dog pissed on.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Jeebus
Jeebus rated it
February 23, 2018
Status: c277
It's basically a futuristic retelling of Genghis Khan. Everywhere he goes, he has lots of s*x with every woman who will spread her legs for him.

... more>>
Spoiler

Early on in the series, he had a handful of possible pairings, but he just ends up doing all of them and then doing nearly every girl from his school on top of that. But he's not a man-whore, at least he bought all of them lingerie and rings as a parting gift.

[collapse]

Not only does the author stroke the MC's d*ck every chapter, he does the same thing for China as a whole. I'm no stranger to the whole nationalism thing in Chinese WNs, but this one takes it a bit too far.

Also, the MC has a tiny dimension in his mind that makes stuff for him. It's only marginally important and is generally just a vehicle for the author to advance the plot or otherwise add filler. <<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Steamroy
Steamroy rated it
January 12, 2018
Status: c94
The Story is about a 15y old h**ny boy and his 15y old h**ny friends (with an added up IQ of nearly 95 altogether (MC+Friends)) thinking and doing lude stuff for the first 94 Chapters so far. The book also seems to be written by a 15y old h**ny boy (or maybe it´s the translation), but every bu*t is plumb, all breasts are plump and yeah, nearly forgot it, every d**n women is plumb. Sometimes even the Story is written without any deeper meaning, just pretending to be well planed.... more>> Besides that the Story feels super slow paced. Not like Warlock of the Magus World but more like watching your new born son growing up and becoming a lude good for nothing, over the duration of 18 years in realtime.

Spoiler

Imagine you were kidnapped by two guys. The Guys don´t know your name, don´t know where u live and also dont know any of your friends or family members. You could escape using your secret technique, but u can´t use it, because this would expose your secret and therefor would bring doom to your familiy, friends and so on. Therefore.... WOAH STOP!?! How could you bring doom to your familiy if your kidnappers know neither you nor your family? Just one Example of MANY not so well planed semi-interesting plots so far.

[collapse]

You can give this book a try, if ya like the crude writing-style. It´s not that pleasend for me, but it´s just my personal point of view an not an universal truth. If ya don´t like the first 30 Chapters you can stop, because it stays the same until at least CH94. <<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Chachingmel
Chachingmel rated it
January 5, 2018
Status: --
Just wow. Where should I start?

On one hand, I understand that the MC is a teenage boy living in a world destroyed by calamity.

But than I have to scratch my head by how confusing the world actually is. I can't help but raise an eyebrow at how many times the Author mentions m*sturbation and s*x within the first few chapters.

... more>> The plot doesn't even get going until chapter 10 and even then, the special space inside the MC mind is pretty much an after thought of this story.

Take it out and there would be no difference.

I'm not joking.

Then there is the MC who wants to make a name for himself, and from what I've read, all he does is treat every women he comes across as tr*sh, thinks he's above those who m*sturbate which he really isn't, because he stalks his teacher every day and dreams of marrying her even if its against her will.

And than, if that wasn't bad enough, the author wants to shove 'Pro Chinese' down our throats.

I don't see any redeeming properties, that would make me want to read further.

If you can read this, I personally bow to you. <<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
SayMrrp
SayMrrp rated it
September 4, 2017
Status: c262
Good story! There might be a few cliches, but those are tolerable and done nicely.

My biggest issues: The story's kinda pe*verted. Lots of s*xual references. The s*x scenes are not blatant, but you can tell when the MC gets some 'action'. I don't really like the MC's interactions with women, none of them (so far) have been characterized well. They feel like trophies. Cool trophies, but they're still trophies. Also, the author sometimes uses other ways to refer to his 'airplane'. If you can deal with that, then this story is a brilliant one, although the MC is almost too perfect so far. Perfect gentleman to ladies, popular with the dudes (not sexually). No super big setbacks, but he does have some problems. I sense that a big one's coming though.

Spoiler

MC's mysterious family issues are finally coming to light whooo

[collapse]

MC's interactions with people are fairly interesting. I feel that there aren't many side character that are fully fleshed out, but that's to be expected. No one in that low level continent has the oomph to keep up with the MC so far.

Speaking of racism (or ethnicism) there hasn't been any really. The author isn't putting anyone down from what I can tell, he's just praising the Chinese over and over again. I haven't found it to be annoying, but it's there. Just saying.

There's a slow start to this novel. Only recently do I feel that the real story has begun. Don't worry, the start's still interesting.

Even though it's set in an apocalyptic setting, there's no immediate danger. There's a feeling of hope. The world building is quite complex and interesting; I like it.

Spoiler

A holy war is coming in a few years though! MC's preparing.

[collapse]

MC's cheat is fun~ It keeps evolving, but it doesn't do it randomly. I'm waiting for the reveal.

MC's not OP yet, but he can jump levels. He's still pretty darn weak worldwide, but in the area he's fairly capable.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
novelbrah
novelbrah rated it
April 20, 2017
Status: c55
UPDATE: SEPT 2017

Honestly, I have a problem with having high expectations and always being disappointed. I saw where this novel COULD go, instead of seeing where it MIGHT go. Overall a letdown, and I was ready to rate it a 5 early on, then it slowly went further down as I continued reading.

3/5

... more>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Worthy of more than 3.6 but I understand why some voted lower. I like where I THINK this is heading, but the ecchi is annoying. The author also likes explaining things too much and will waste a lot of words to describe MC doing something useless. If you don't usually read other books besides web novels, maybe your ADD will pick up. At times mine did too. While I love when web novel authors take the time to develop characters and the world, this author kind of fails. Even though we get so much "character development", MC's group still feels flat. They don't really have personalities besides "little brother stroking" and women. We get told how poor MC and his family are but it doesn't do much. We are supposed to feel for him, but I just can't find myself able to. These characters aren't relatable. MC is over the top at times. We still don't really know the scope of the world because the author has not explained it well.

In all, it's like a slice of life up to now. Nothing really happens. Boring school life, boring work life combined with farming. The author could have fit the same story of 55 chapters into 30-40 easily. However, we all know that authors get more money by inflating their word count. Anyway, I'd rate this a 4 not because of the current content but for potential. There's a huge world to explore and MC hasn't even started fighting yet. This is like a prologue or prelude. I'll make a final judgement after it gets juicy. <<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
samd0001
samd0001 rated it
February 17, 2023
Status: Completed
I would rate this 4.6. Over 2000 chapters and the author managed to close most of the plot holes. While there is some cheap plot armor, like almost all long wuxia novels, I felt that the author did a great job progressing the plot in fun and interesting ways while keeping power creep under control. The ending is satisfying and does not feel rushed. When the MC finally becomes the strongest, of course the story has to come to an end shortly after. In many wuxia novels of this breadth... more>> and scope, the MC becomes an OP virg*n and has no backbone for girls even though they all want him. Here, refreshingly, there are harem elements but the MC gets the women. The author does a good job keeping the conquests in the story instead of forgetting about them. The MC does have a very chauvinist viewpoint about women. It starts out atrocious and ends up slightly better, but what else do you except from an old Chinese man writing about "the ideal man." Like most wuxia novels, lol, I don't recommend them for most women. And regardless of what the author actually thinks, this novel is set in a brutal fantasy world where the stronger man is always right. Of course you will see caveman mentality. If I have anything bad to say it is that maybe the translation could have been better at times, as I could not help but feel that something was often lost in translation. And it really pisses me off every time I hear about fishes and assinators! And that damn fruit tree that Zheng Tie loves to hug; do we really need a copy paste that fruit cannot be taken away 1 thousand times!? But I still read it all and loved it. This may not be the greatest wuxia novel of all times, but it is certainly worth a read. Especially if you have already read the best novels and are looking for something interesting to read. Black Iron Castle definitely deserves at least 4 stars. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
promet
promet rated it
July 10, 2022
Status: Completed
Actual score 7.5, but I rounded it up, partly because of fools who spit on this novel and made me miss it several years ago.
Before anything else, a short disclaimer on that note — there was plenty of people complaining about how this novel was crap, and had nothing but s*x, s*x, s*x and a protagonist that collected a Chinese equivalent of Jap s*ave harem. They painted an image of a postapocalyptic world and story similar to that crap novel where some guy had a mansion in zombie apocalypse.... more>> Well, fck those people! They made me miss this surprisingly good novel, and they were completely wrong about it (the only thing they got right was the size of the harem lol).

Now, ready your butts because this is going to be a long one.

Now, I will proceed to say a few words about the setting, the plot, the protagonist, the other characters in general, and translation/editing.

The setting. Well, people who hate Chinese nationalism in Chinese novels have a field day on this one — OMg NatiONALisM! Well, nope. The thing is, the planet the action of this novel takes place on is not earth. It's a bigger planet (it's a Pangea continent broken into two and some pieces, more or less, which is one of hints it's not our Earth) with a longer history and different genesis of humanity (it was an interesting part, this one), with apocalypse (which took place almost 900 years before the protagonist was born) ending a modern era that resembled our current Earth. Listen, folks: the Chinese guy who wrote this totally has the right to make the Orient the dominant culture on that planet. He's not flaunting Chinese supremacy, either —if anything, the main character is very open-minded, and not at all just because he has white wives. It's only the "Chinese" people in the novel who are arrogant, but it's merely the same arrogance we, Western white people, had 100 years ago. It's nothing crazy and you all are overreacting. If anything, the story itself started in a place where MC and his family are like Chinese diaspora, so this whole nationalism thing wasn't omnipresent throughout the novel.

Well, one part I found weird was that all whites were "Jews, " and Slavic people equivalent was "Siberians." Because the former is more about religion than just ethnicity (you're a Jew only if your mother is, father's ethnicity doesn't count), I think Semites or downright Caucasians would've been much better. Also, the way Slavs were basically Russians with German influences made me a bit mad as a Slav myself (sorry, Russian friends, but you didn't surprise me with your little 2022 special operation at all, and I prefer not to group my people together with yours in any way).

This part of the setting aside, I quite like the rest. The author has included a lot of scientific theories and interesting bits (eg. alcohol-fueled plane or space-launched kinetic projectiles) that influenced the protagonist's cultivation and abilities as well as plot itself (and the author does know his shiet, though I think I've seen one or two mistakes in that regard). I think it's extremely interesting. Additionally, there were a lot of Indian concepts, especially karma and karmic merit — and the protagonist wasn't a monk at all. I think the cultivation here is extremely refreshing, though the cultivation realms per se were mostly boring, and few were unique.

The plot. This one brings some mixed feelings. For starters, the start is extremely slow. It literally takes up to 100 chapters (actually more like 70-100 I guess) for the novel's real action to start. You have to consider everything before it mere prologue. I almost dropped the novel because of this when I started reading, but I would've made a great mistake had I done that. My advice is: try to stick for 100 or so chapters at the very least.

The slow start aside, I have to greatly praise the pacing of the novel. The author is excellent at alternating between fights and slow-paced parts (so it's basically either MC fighting and risking his life and cultivation, or MC chilling, taking a rest, and developing his relationships). Only once after several hundred chapters did I find myself bored due to a longish sequence of peaceful chapters. Anyway, I repeat: the author is excellent at alternating action and peaceful parts. Undisputed number one among Chinese authors, I would say.

I won't really go into details about the events of the story, but I'll just say that the plot is generally solid. It actually does follow what MC wants from life (so it isn't just dull cultivation until being numba one), at least as much as he can influence the world (and the stronger he is, the more he can do it). The plot progression and the events were far from the best I've read, but it was interesting enough, and there were quite a few twists that actually caught me off guard. There was proper foreshadowing for some, though, so I could've guessed them.

Also, I especially like the ending. Of the last 200 or so chapters, the first 100 was pretty boring, but then there was quite a twist, and it made the rest quite good. As I said, the plot wasn't the boring ImMAculTIVAteUntiLIBecaMeThENuMbahONE, so the ending was much more meaningful and very mature for a Chinese webnovel. Adding the fact that I didn't drop the novel or even take any major break in reading it despite it having 2000 chapters (we all know most Chinese novels go to shiet between chapter 500 and chapter 1000, and rarely only after 1000), I really have to praise this author for doing a good job.

One thing about a certain development (spoiler warning) :

Spoiler

In Chinese webnovels (Great Demon King, for example), we often get the protagonist sent into another world, realm, or continent (or whatever) so that he can power up in a place where power levels are higher and which is more dangerous, and so that his loved ones can be in a crisis that he will resolve upon his return. I thought the similar development in this novel would be the same (to my dismay as I generally hate this trope), but it wasn't that bad. The author actually pulled it off well enough.

[collapse]

The protagonist. I quite like this one because the author really put effort into making him grow as a character. He also did a good job at making an open-minded, likable, and kind yet sufficiently ruthless when needed character, better than most similar protagonist because he didn't just talk the talk, but also proved it in practice (at least to some extent). The protagonist was a bit funny, quite smart (despite many oversights, including some even when he matured —but hey, at least he reflected on his mistakes and corrected at least some of them), and extremely h**ny (yes, guys who hate this novel for it probably didn't exaggerate this point, but they didn't quite notice how it wasn't just carnal desires, but plenty of emotion as well), but at least he could both take responsibility and let go when it was time to let go. Not the best protagonist ever, but quite likable. It's also interesting to see how much of an influence his parents' upbringing had on him, and the general role of his parents in the story.

Oh, one thing I didn't like was that when MC got the power to observe natural laws, he didn't really make much use of it. A big plot hole there, an oversight on the author's part.

The other characters. This novel has a lot of them, and I regret to say they were often superficial. Not exactly 2D characters, but not 3D, either. I appreciate the variety and how many friends the protagonist had (and enemies), but the author didn't flesh out most characters properly (what I feel lacking are little details - hobbies, habits, detailed appearance, and such). What the author did right, however, was the emotional aspect - the characters often behave believably and logically (logically as in driven by their emotions and intentions in a way I find believable). This is especially obvious in case of the harem. There were also some funny running jokes among them, especially the religious ones.

Speaking of harem, there is sadly a big amount of women that are very superficially written. We barely know their appearance, their likes&dislikes, their interests... Well, at least the author bothered to mention those things in case of more important female characters. What I like especially about love interests is that not all of them could accept living with MC as part of a harem (there's one girl who dumped him because she couldn't accept not being the only one, for example), there were some that didn't accept his love and got married to other men (including one that never loved him, one that had a one-night stand with him, and another one that was his lover for some time). It's great because it's much more realistic than all women blindly following the protagonist. There were also some women that lived in separation from him, and I really like it too because it was set up really realistically, and because it was caused by the protagonist's shortcomings, and those women told him about this. It's good because not only were we shown the protagonist's flaws, the author also made it abundantly clear that they were there on purpose and had consequences, even if some were beyond the protagonist's control due to war.

Two more things about love interests. The orgy-like style of romantic relations in this novel is temporary (well, it reappears multiple times, but only as brief episodes, and is less numerous than romantic developments, so to say). The rest is harem, which of course many people may dislike, so be advised (if you haven't realized yet), and related events become more mature just as the protagonist does.

Another thing is about a certain love interest that hates the protagonist because she sees him killing her father. Some may find her hateful, but she's more of a pitiful tragic character. Actually, I quite like what the author has done with her. This sort of drama, when not overly abundant and done well, is good to spice up the novel (and it did in this case), and takes away predictability — we all know most love interests in 99% of harem stories join the harem, but this author makes it more unpredictable, which I can't help but appreciate, because it makes the story much less boring. The ending the author got for her can be seen as both good and bad, but I think it wasn't a bad way to conclude her subplot.

Translation/editing. The translator made a lot of mistakes. An example would be translating what I presume (but can't be bothered to check in the raws) was 主 as owner, whereas it should've been master (as in master of a servant, master of a sect; 主 indeed means owner, but it didn't fit the context at all, not in a single place). There were quite a few such recurring mistakes throughout the whole novel.

But the translator can make mistakes, yet the editor whose role is to correct those mistakes should really brush up his (her) skills. While it wasn't horrible in general, there were some mistakes that frequently made my fingers itch to edit this novel despite being on comfortable holiday (yes, I'm an editor), such as using "defend" instead of "defend against" (for example, defend demons instead of defend against demons, defend attacks instead of defend against attacks). Most of the chapters were edited by the worst editor among those who contributed to the novel (I think there were 4 in total), and I saw two editors I thought were good leave some bad editing (hehe, I found their black history). Perhaps the translator's English was actually so bad the editors ended up missing a lot of things, but not a single one of them got my full approval. Nonetheless, it wasn't bad (I'm just an*l about such things due to being an editor, though many of those mistakes DID change the meaning of the text), with the novel being completely readable. Even the worst editor was barely passable, and there are many Qidian novels with much worse editing.

Overall, I recommend giving it a try for 100-300 chapters. Not all people will enjoy it, but those who like cultivation, combat, and harem should like it. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Cjjapz
Cjjapz rated it
June 4, 2022
Status: Completed
I reread this novel 3x because of how good it was written and I love the adventure of the MC. I DON'T CARE how tr*sh, generic, too much harem, h**ny, sexist or too much plot armor etc like the critics are saying here on NU as long as I ENJOY reading it idgaf. This kind of novel isn't my cup of tea that I usually read I'm trying new generic novels because sometimes they're more hilarious, adventurous and enjoyable than top tier novels out there which has too much drama... more>> or need to use brain to fully digest what you're reading, sometimes I need something like this novel to just read normally or with ease.

h**ny teen MC at the start but then he grew, as long as you don't mind harem and h**ny first half chapters then you're because it's really getting good after.

I don't also mind the nationalism I think the author wanted the novel as centered for Chinese people, author didn't really compared China to other continents so it's fine, didn't degrade them too because I read worst than this which has real nationalism in it (critics here in the comments hurt their ego lol) <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Arcwindz
Arcwindz rated it
August 19, 2021
Status: Completed
COBI happened in a planet like ours but geographically different with 2 major race which are caucasian in the west and chinese in the east, a catastrophe happened and everything revert back to steam engine era because electricity is gone. The MC started from bottom in a sub-continent (not east nor west), got a treasure and cultivate himself up the chain, pretty standard.

There is a bit of kingdom building, but it's just rudimentary with a lot of auto pilot in between the cultivation story. Quite a bit of plot armor,... more>> a bit repetitive, okay side characters, consistent world, good ending. Well, it's okay!

Overall, this novel is an okay read, the author managed to write an interesting story but there is not a lot of special things in it.

It is vulgar, chinese-centric, and will make any feminist (even the good one) mad. It's better on the later chapters but it's way too late since more than half the novel is like this.

So read or not? If you got the time and is okay with vulgarity then yes, this is not a bad story to past the time.

I'd rate this 3 stars, okay <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
PlagueOtaku
PlagueOtaku rated it
May 5, 2021
Status: Completed
First and foremost, Setting are the most important part of the story. To make a story you need to create the setting of you’re story (background, history, daily life). In this story, this world is an apocalyptic times with cultivation. That is the setting of this story, the tougher you’re are in this world the more safer, richer and important you are.

Now this novel is a solid 4 star important general, it does have it “Wtf” moments and “B*lls*it” moments but it’s a solid story full of background information, mysteries,... more>> great and mistreating side characters and a amazing MC.

The Bads.

1. A lot of skill (battle skill) are often forgotten, now it can be explained as it too weak for MC to use. However some of his earliest skill (the CC stun/binding chains) was very OP yet was not use at the more latter stages of the novel, and what’s if it was used it could have saved MC some time and expanded his versatility in his fights.

2. A lot of cut-outs, while reading this story some of more explanation part like what’s he gonna do now and etc. Is often left out, I felt that there could be something to write more for the readers to perfectly understand the coming scenario.

3. Absolutely stale plot twist, the novel is very straight forward ‘MC weak go fight MC strong and MC weak use head MC strong’ the MC is quite stale, although I like not using already used plot points to further it story albeit it was only used once and gradually forgotten. All in all the MC has absolutely got Creator level plot-amor.

4. Plot-armor, now some MC’s does have crazy but this one. This one takes the cake bakery, this man is a godd@men chameleon. He can basically camouflage him self in being, MC who only gotten basic (below average) education managers to outsmart people who are smarter than him, received the best education and nurtured in the best environment. Now if MC has multiple chances to fight and learn then it’s acceptable but MC only fought once and ‘bam’ we got ourselves a Joker (dark knight) level intellect here. What’s more he has never have anything backed fired or ever suffered a loss, it’s a bit cringe when I read how his enemies are gonna deal with him.

5. The lack of “Fillers”, now I like mine balance not too much and not too little. This novel does in justice to the word ‘break time’, there are tones of tones in terms of plot and the speed in which it sh*ted out is ‘grrrrr’ like Author can you make a bit of world reaction and how MC manages to affect the world from his actions. What’s more the happy times where MC wishes (playing with his kids (and I guess grandchildren) and wrestling under the cover with his wives), utter lack of those moments and it a bit infuriating since MC dream is to basically live life in the calm passing manner. And the ending scenarios (where he solve everything) is rushed as hell like ‘Ok’ that’s it, not too mention the ending in and out of it self it like there it’s the end (*Gordon Ramsey’s voice*) piss off now (in a heavy British accent).

The Goods.

1. The beginning is absolutely perfect and the Castle of Black Iron is an amazing item and it use, porpoise is honestly intriguing. It’s like a risk = reward system in which in the beginning is great for a super weak MC. The beginning to mid middle part is great and it’s pace was normal, the mid middle to early late part it felt a bit rushed as if the Author is burning out of ideas to slowly nurture and grow the MC with the world and side characters then late part is just “gotta go fast” in which the part are just rushed up and burned (bland and raw). But the story and pacing is great (expect the later parts)

2. The side characters are great, each side characters has it own personality in which can influenced MC in someway. MC growth in mentality and physically can really attributed from the side characters, which I like that’s how to make an ‘weak to strong MC’. Although I could have wished for more relaxed chapter in which MC interacts with them more casually and maybe a bit of ‘hunting’ for new bed WWE contestants. (Insert Lenny face (too lazy to copy and paste it :p).

Spoiler

a side note, I read some people complaining about how the ‘Author is a virg*in’ or ‘Author never touch a girls had before’ shush. First of all setting people this world has 1 rule that’s its strong eats weak, if you had to chose to hide behind while a tigers chasing you, would you chose the guy with a broken twigs or the dude with a gun (nuff’said). This world is where you can die if you someone more powerful that you considers you ugly, so yeah moral and common sense (of our modern times is different

[collapse]

Its a solid novel 4/5 stars, a bit disappointing but a great read. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
scorpia95
scorpia95
March 3, 2021
Status: --
It's not bad at the beginning, but later on you start to hate the MC for the choices he makes. He has the chance to save so many people, but he never acts on it. He has s*x with girls, makes them fall for him, then just leaves. He has children, but doesn't bother to be there for their birth or the next few years of their life. He'd rather go on missions. Idk... if you're into reading books where the MC doesn't care about anything other than being more... more>> powerful, then you would love this. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
notadev
notadev rated it
March 26, 2020
Status: c610
Okay, so this novel was truly bad enough for me to go ahead and register to write a review so props to the author for that.

Now I honestly have to say if an author has to use plot armor and lucky survival all the time from fights which he simply shouldn't take at all it makes a lot of things hilarious. You can simply imagine it as if you're playing a nice game with levels and you're level 10 but you constantly run around fighting level 20. If a fight... more>> is designed for level 20, do you challenge it as a level 10 which makes you one shot and test if you can get 100 % critical hits or have a skill which has a 1 to 1.000.000.000 success chance and you challenge as long as you hit it? No, you level up before you approach the fight. This is why Warlock of the magus world is truly nice but so many authors fail to apply this simple logic and just treat it as making cheat characters which are c*ckroaches that just don't die.

Anyway here is a specific list of what finally stopped me from reading any further.

Spoiler

Describing this as a patriotic work would honestly be an insult to patriotism in any form or shape. However, this was still acceptable since this is a fictional work and if humans enter a crisis and one race/nationality/ethnicity saves the world from the previous crisis (es) becoming a nobility isn't really that unacceptable of a concept.

He basically can sacrifice anything for his family to the point of it being obsessive. Clan wants him to make children for his new unique bloodline he refuses. However, as soon as his mother is sad because he left for 3 years. BOOM he creates 3 children for her.

saved by powerful cultivator once which makes him his disciple and tells him he's gonna pick him up a year later. At the appointed time obviously he goes on revenge for his first women and enters a state of coma for 3 years which makes him miss the appointed date. Now, what is so much of a problem with the event that almost killed him?

    • he has a tracker from his master which obviously disappears and reappears every time he enters his secret space but this is not discussed at any point so this can only be assumed. Otherwise, obviously he'd lose his tracker and his so-called master should not be able to get in contact with him anymore anyway.
    • after this huge fight and 3-year coma, he reaps a fruit again which could make him an alchemist - which is pretty much his only goal in life except for saving his family from the apocalypse - yet this is the first fruit which doesn't have the "disclaimer this fruit can not be taken out of the secret realm" so naturally he gifts it to his brother. This makes no sense whatsoever since based on his principle of just wanting to ensure a good life for his family even after he died he already ensured that well enough through his special medicine as well as enough wealth for them to idle their lives in comfort in the safe heaven known as the Chinese country.
    • this is all based on the assumption of "if" he ever meets his master again which since he doesn't come after he reappears could mean he missed the appointment and didn't enter his tutelage at that time simply doesn't give a sh*t about him anymore he would learn alchemy from him. However this assumption is simply wishful thinking. However I am sure at some distant point in the future he will meet him and enter his teachings without any problem.
    • he becomes 'demonized' which grants him special abilities which he instantly revokes at the cost of 1 fruits effect. Obviously removing this grants him a new ability and surprise surprise he basically unlocks an upgraded version of the discarded fruit soon after. Also a probably just discarded issue is his "amazing" s*x stamina originates from said discarded fruits aka 7 wolf strength which should ultimately mean his ability to have an or*y like in the beginning with the 81 women from the rose group shouldn't be possible anymore but hey I doubt the author gave that any considerations when he wrote 'I have to be a purebred human and remove the demonic genes out of my system.

Cultivation after Level 10 which is considered top secret aka for even clans as big as his own? Fret not in this world at this point there are only two known of the most powerful level and obviously the first is unattainable yet the second is miraculously an incomplete cheap one which only he and his secret realm can fix. No need to involve the all-powerful master that abandoned him when you can just force the plot to give him an even more powerful solution.

The worst part then is though comes after this. When he decides it is time to become the selfless savior of the human race. Winning his bet with some young masters he becomes the hero of the alliance which leads him to a suicidal mission which from his previous convictions aka can not make my mother said to him running at it full-throttle which obviously results in a trap since the evil forces have spies everywhere and he is captured. Miraculously they want to recruit him though to give him enough time to again unshackle his binds and launch an epic escape. Honestly, this is entire bullsh*t he is an 18-year-old juvenile against a race that eats and breaks human will by forcing them to cannibalism but obviously to get his secrets they just treat him kindly. This was exactly the point in which I truly had to stop reading. If he had been saved by his master or entered his secret realm to hide for some time years to cultivate. I could have accepted it but forcing some escape scenario because of the kindness of a demonic race is a little too much twisting of circumstances for me to enjoy reading any further.

[collapse]

I have honestly been very disappointed because this started as a good read with a character that seemed to have the good treats for a story which isn't full of plot-armor and forced fights which he was simply unable to take at his current strength. However, those qualities declined over the chapters as pride and overconfidence take over.

If you're purely reading for the ecchi since the author starts talking about his d*ck from chapter 1 don't bother since those scenes are nothing special. They are certainly there but they are not worth the annoyance of the steadily declining story.

After some considerations, if you're not planning to marathon the novel like I did the severity of those problems could be viewed differently depending on the novels you are used to. If this had been one of my earlier novels those issues might have not been as irritating to me as they are now after having encountered those kinds of issues in many novels before. So take the review with a grain of salt. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
TheBingeReader
TheBingeReader rated it
August 28, 2019
Status: --
Pretty good read, was quite happy with the story until the chapter 400s where the story just starts to turn into the authors personal harem w*nk fetish story, the predictable good old throwaway, filler, padded word count also rears its ugly head, pity.

Pretty much dumped it at chapter 494, just cant manage any more, esp when you note exactly what everyone else notes with the extreme levels of sexism, elitist nationalism and eventual stuff like r*pe (from the MC, not even a badguy).
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Alioptak
Alioptak rated it
February 17, 2019
Status: c2012
The best book I have ever read. Everything about this book is magic and wow.

Except when it comes to the Chinese nationalism that is present here and there and the sentence about r*pe at the beginning (and at the end too, you'll see), I'm a little pissed off.

That being said, I still think that you will hardly find a novel better than this one. It's engaging, I've had a looot of goosebumps with this book (hundreds of time).
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
IlvFlame
IlvFlame rated it
May 31, 2018
Status: c650
One of the best novels that I have been able to read, the truth is that I agree with the majority at the point that the beginning is somewhat coarse, making many references to s*xual themes, but after that point everything goes uphill, excellent writing, excellent plot, exciting fights and memorable characters (although it is also true that women are more a sexualized object for the character and is one of the few negative points that could be put), to the point that I have read (cap 650) it stays... more>> very well and I hope that the negative criticisms that have fallen on you do not discourage the translators, because personally I hope to read this great novel until the end. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
omgitsaray
omgitsaray rated it
May 28, 2018
Status: c1990
First off, this novel is for guys. The female readers will not like this due to how women are painted in the novel.

This is a highly entertaining novel to me which incorporates a slightly similar situation of having a farm in an alternate dimension. The focus is put on a tree that bears fruit according to the MC's actions. MC will then power-up faster based on consuming those fruits.

It would be a 5 star novel for me if it weren't for the excessive info dumps and the poor translation/editing. Due... more>> to that, the reader will keep encountering Engrish that completely ruins one's immersion into the world. It basically reads like some kids in ESL class edited this. There's completely wrong translations, changing vocabulary, majorly screwed up grammar, and even made-up English words! Here's an example of the editing quality: "Punch always meant the right to say"

But even with such a big problem, this novel was still pretty fun for me so I recommend all the guys give it a try while the girls stay away. I can only continue shaking my head at this great novel that was ruined by incompetent people. <<less
2 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.