Rise of Humanity

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In the world birthed by Pangu, the Three Sovereigns lit the spark of humanity that the Five Emperors would later fan into a blazing fire, eternally branding humanity as the leaders of the world….

This was a time where twilight had descended on the reign of the Human Sovereign and the Five Emperors had yet to emerge – humanity was merely one of the myriad races wandering about the vast cosmos.

This was a desolate and barren era. The monsters, devils, heavenly gods, and deities of all races stood aloft; with the demons, heavenly souls, and spirits dancing freely around the world.

The humans were still a feeble and burgeoning race, often taken as livestock and offered as sacrifices to the pantheon of races that ruled the world together from within the great wilderness.

This was not the era of the Foreworld, but the barbaric and untamed era of uncivilization!

Let us rewind back to China’s ancient and classical mythology and recount the legendary tale of how a single figure led humanity out of an epoch of darkness and into a new dawn.

Please sit back, relax and enjoy the (Rise of Humanity) !

Associated Names
One entry per line
Emperor of the Human Way
Nhân Đạo Chí Tôn
人道至尊
Related Series
Tales of Herding Gods (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
A Cheeky Kendo God (2)
Pivot of the Sky (1)
Chronicles of Primordial Wars (1)
Perfect World (1)
Tales of Demons and Gods (1)
The Magus Era (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. quality novel for veteran reader
  2. Good reads
  3. Read list
  4. Everything i have read
  5. Amazing books

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/14/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c27
04/14/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c26
04/14/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c25
04/13/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c24
04/13/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c23
04/13/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c22
04/12/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c21
04/12/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c20
04/12/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c19
04/11/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c18
04/11/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c17
04/11/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c16
04/10/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c15
04/10/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c14
04/09/17 Dreams of Yesteryear c13
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41 Reviews sorted by


Jibber
Jibber rated it
March 2, 2018
Status: v1c140
tldr; keklel's review is just a bunch of lies. The story stands out among other cultivation stories and is worth reading.

I have to write this review because the most liked one is actually just a bunch of lies. I'll go over his points before I give my own feedback on the story. Scroll down if you want to avoid all of the spoilers.

"Everything he does is about trying to uplift humanity"

First of all, he's not trying to uplift humanity. Humanity is dying and the author doesn't try to... more>> sugar coat it.

Spoiler

Humanity is treated as livestock outside of the Great Wilderness. They are bred in small villages to be offered as food to guests. There are traitors within the great clans. People know they're there, but everyone is aware of how screwed they are once the fuse goes off. There are multiple races around them waiting for the cracks to grow. Each civilization has their own politics so it's not black and white. Humans are just at the bottom in the story.

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    • "And then he regards her as the love of his life, for no reason." This is just flat out untrue. Honestly you have /r/niceguy problems if you think there was anything romantic between the short dialogue they shared.
      Spoiler

      He saved the girl's life while traveling to Sword Gate. There are no hints that he has any romantic feelings for her. It is pretty much explicitly implied that he treats her as a younger sister and nothing else.

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    • "Fell into a ravine and found an old spirit who knows some godlike cultivation methods." It is a cultivation technique of the gods, so yes it should be godlike. The second chapter literally explains the backstory that humanity are ancestors of the Fuxi celestial race, the Earthly Sovereign Heavenly Monarch. As for Xin Huo's eccentric personality, the setting of the story is dark. Fights are gruesome. People are getting their flesh chopped off while having the illusion that they are still alive before they collapse into a pile of pulp. The killing/raping suggestions are moments of dark humor that Xin Huo injects into the story. None of it is taken seriously and the MC makes a point to roll his eyes every time. Xin Huo also doesn't give a sh*t about the human race as their bloodline is too diluted from the Fuxi race for him to care.
    • "so he can get revenge on some demon who killed his girl." This guy doesn't even understand the story. There is an interesting subplot to why he wants to kill the demon. There are multiple encounters that span multiple arcs and go into the conspiracies of the great clans. Don't read the spoiler if you want to enjoy the story cause it's just flat out what happens.

      Spoiler

      The girl is used as a host for an old monster spirit that is revived and killed by one of humanities experts before it can recover. This kills the girl. Its obvious that one of the human clans did it. Xin Huo told him once he ran into her again and he knew her before her personality changed. He has no influence in the sect so he'd get silenced it he tried to reveal it. Obviously he needs to kill her before they can elevate her position within Sword Gate and she regains her strength.

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    • "Inane scenes of him sneaking into the female quarters so he can talk to his girl" This is a cliche plot device that are rarely used in the story. There is an urgent reason that he needs to meet with the girl. It just comes down to the MC not knowing that males are banned from the female quarters. Jokes and humor between the two genders is prevalent throughout the story. Really a matter of taste. I don't think it should turn anyone off to the story though.
      Spoiler

      One of the MC's friends proposed to 4 different families on the same day without telling each of them. He came up with this plan because he wanted to learn techniques from each of the families. They couldn't reverse the proposals they all accepted so the guy got his ass whupped.

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    • "MC is greedy and risks the lives of his peers so he can drag back a corpse to sell for money." This guy can't read. There is no effort used to carry the corpse back with his art. Here's the quote from the story in Chapter 13.
      Spoiler

      "Zhong Yue visualized the Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art, his psyche turned into a Jiao Dragon and it held the mantis demon in its mouth while he followed behind Ting Lanyue empty-handed."

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      At this point it's obvious keklel has a mental problem or he's just doing this to spite the translator/host.
    • "MC is arrogant and wants to beat people up". I have no idea where the line he quoted from is. I checked the first 27 chapters and didn't see it. The MC does have moments where he is domineering. It's well used IMO in a way that builds up the hype/tension of the conflict without being annoying. The families he comes into conflict with aren't black and white. Some members he clashes with, others he has a good opinion, some he has no feelings for but still respects their strength/morals. This is all within just one clan, so this isn't a story where MC will slaughter a clan for offending him. There is also a theme of the strong survive in this story. People get stronger by walking through the dead bodies of those around them. Losing your confidence in a fight means death in this story.
Here is my quick evaluation of the story so far (Chapter 140).

Pros:

    • The world and setting is fleshed out. There is a story behind each race within the universe. Everyone has their own objectives that also involves plotting against each other. The MC is travelling to the areas from each race and unlocking the secrets of the ancient past.
    • There is no bullsh*t higher realm (I hope not). The realm of the gods is where the story starts. There is a deep history that the MC uncovers as he encounters the past legacies.
    • The plot progression. The threats to humanity play a key role to the progression. It is not linear. The threats overlap and conflict with each other. They do not just resolve themselves by the MC killing everyone as the problem is still the survival of humanity. The MC's navigates the schemes around him on a knife's edge.
    • The characters are interesting. Everyone has their own personality in the story. The characters have their own motives whether it be for their race, their family, or themselves. People are willing to betray those around them and some will die repaying their debts.
    • The characters can think things through. Information and lack thereof is used in the story as everyone tries to understand what is happening around them. A small piece of information can allow characters to piece together the undercurrents around them. People are not oblivious to the enemies and traitors around them. The characters feel like they are living on the brink of destruction as everyone is sharpened by their environment.
    • The fights are amazing. Fights will usually take 1-3 chapters depending on the enemy and setting. The buildup to the battles are well written and makes you emotionally invested in the fight. I actually enjoy reading the fights in the story unlike every generic cultivation story.
PREFERENCE:

    • The humor is hit or miss. I don't think it would turn anyone off to the story, but that's all up to personal preference.
    • His personality does make the romance almost non-existent so far. Some girls have expressed that they wouldn't mind being in a relationship with him. MC doesn't have any romantic feelings for them given his personality. He's kind of on a one track mind at the moment. I can definitely see how it ends up as a Harem though. We'll have to see how the author makes everyone get together.
    • His techniques and arts take effort to understand. The cultivation system in this story is complicated. After writing this review I realize I should go back and re-read it to understand it better. I personally think it improves the story.
    • The levels of power are slowly introduced in the story. There isn't a chapter where some random NPC fawns over the experts in the world and gushes out information about the cultivation levels. We still don't know the power levels of the leading experts MC has encountered within each race or their power difference to the MC.
    • People die. It never feels like anyone is 100% safe from getting their head chopped off.
CONS:

    • The main character's personality is bland. The emotions the MC shows are more solemn. His duty lies within helping mankind and those around him. His emotions flare when humans are being oppressed or those he cares about are in danger. The MC doesn't offer anything interesting when compared to the other characters. This might be a good thing if you don't immerse yourself in the MC. The story really does shine within it's setting.
    • MC is a bit of a robot. He doesn't really have his own opinions. All he really cares about is saving humanity. Defeat the enemies in front of you and solve the hidden dangers. He's willing to live on the brink to gain strength and that means sealing his emotions. Like when a girl comes to you with her problems because she wants you to listen, but the MC is a normal dense guy that just gives her the answer or does it for her.
    • There is no backstory for the MC. He's the strongest warrior from a tribe nobody pays attention to. That's it up the current translations. It really isn't mentioned anymore than that. It does make the MC's motivations look weaker.
If that didn't convince you to read the story. BIG SPOILER.
Spoiler

HE GOES TO THE f*ckING SUN AND MOON.

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keklel
keklel rated it
May 4, 2017
Status: c27
Read 27 chapters and here are my thoughts:

> Everything he does is about trying to uplift humanity

This really couldn't be further from the truth. So far let's review the things he has done:

    • Found a girl he likes, for no reason. There is no backstory, it's just some random girl he met and they exchanged literally 2 sentences and that's it. And then he regards her as the love of his life, for no reason.
    • Fell into a ravine and found an old spirit who knows some godlike cultivation methods. Moreover this old spirit is also not very wise as it tells him to kill/r*pe every girl he comes across, for no reason.
    • Spent multiple chapters cultivating techniques that the old spirit tells him to cultivate, so he can get revenge on some demon who killed his girl (the one he only exchanged 2 sentences with).
    • Inane scenes of him sneaking into the female quarters so he can talk to his girl then getting caught by female cultivators who want to beat him up for staring at them naked. Wacky hijinks ensue.
    • MC is greedy and risks the lives of his peers so he can drag back a corpse to sell for money.
    • MC is arrogant and wants to beat people up to prove that he's superior (see the line 'To crush the other heroes and stand above, who else is there but me?')
From Arkeus' review I expected something more like Reincarnator. Instead this is very much a typical xianxia story. The MC is a hotheaded teen and has absolutely no idea what maturity is. Constantly acts irresponsibly putting people around him in danger.

tl;dr regular xianxia nothing to see here, move on.
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Arkeus
Arkeus rated it
April 6, 2017
Status: c938
OK, this is a good one. I have not yet completed it because I got distracted and then kept hoping that someone will pick it up. So very, very glad someone did. It's been completed a week or so ago at 1547 chapters.
... more>>
Spoiler

This is really going with the theme of "Humans have lost all their powers after [secret apocalypse] happened, and now the main character, Zhong Yue, will try to reverse what happened". Everything he does is about trying to uplift humanity, and as such there are going to be significant themes of loyalty/brotherhood/etc.

Zhong Yue is an incredibly talented cultivator who constantly does his utmost to pave his own way to go further than anyone ever before, and everything he does not only feel earned, but we also get a lot of examples of other incredibly, incredibly talented cultivators. Some rivals, and some friendly.

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Please give it a try. <<less
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asdf123
asdf123 rated it
February 9, 2018
Status: v1c94
tl;dr keklel is a neanderthal, this story is solid, you will regret not reading it.

The setting is interesting, humans are basically the devolved version of a celestial race that used to rule the known area (not sure how much area yet) but now there is only a single bastion of humanity left in a jungle filled with scattered tribes that can barely survive. There are other species but they treat humans as livestock so there is quite a bit of motivation for the MC to help humanity rise.

The cultivation system... more>> is like a mix of coiling dragon type iet stories and doulou dalu (syncing with spirits to power up until they become gods maybe). There is a lot of dao type stuff and perception is important. We only know as much as the MC does for the cultivation system which isnt much as he is an ignorant kid from a small tribe for quite a few chapters.

The opening arc is excellent so far, he is finding his way, doing insane training, learning about the world and how f*cked humanities situation is.

There are even dark undercurrents from outside and in so there is a bit of desperation mixed in with power up/enlightenment chapters.

The action is solid, it isnt overly wordy and some of the fights are pretty epic which is kind of crazy since he is just a noob atm.

Great start so far, cant wait for the next 100 chapters so I can binge. <<less
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wait321
wait321 rated it
March 9, 2018
Status: c100
The translator said it gets better around chapter 50. Well I read to 100 and it didn’t. It’s remarkable how slow paced and cliche it is. I’d estimate that 40 chapters were spent describing fights, 40 describing abilities he learns, and only 20 furthering the plot. At this rate, the humans won’t start rising until chapter 3000.
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SayMrrp
SayMrrp rated it
May 30, 2018
Status: v1c318
A good book! It might seem bland at first, but it gets interesting. It's not the HYPE HYPE HYPE type of book *cough* ATG *cough* but more like Ze Tian Ji with it's slow beauty??? (Well, ZTJ was beautiful, this is... a bit more harsh?)

The MC has no serious flaws, and harem isn't turning out to be a harem. The probably female lead is both sweet and strong, so that's awesome. MC's 'cheat' isn't too ridiculous. The cheat built the foundation for the MC to become unique, but the... more>> MC's talent and comprehension allowed him to progress. Besides, the 'cheat' is hilarious.

The emotions and loyalty towards humanity is strong in this novel. Seriously. Also, there are lots of Chinese monsters lol, it's stressing my imagination. It's cool though!

This book isn't full of idiots. There might be the occasional one, but most of the time I felt surprised by the strategies used. This book isn't very predictable, and I like it! I'd consider it a hidden gem.

Translations are decent; speed's good. <<less
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evildave
evildave
June 28, 2018
Status: c334
It's entertaining enough. As long as you don't mind the bad math.

I mean, yeah, swords and sorcery. Who cares? Well, if basic arithmetical errors bug you, they will 'add up'.

In one chapter, going between meters and yards isn't so bad. Miles and kilometers, well whatever. Nobody minds the metric system, even in America, so why would a Chinese author bother to use 'feet' and 'inches'? One chapter, it's 10, 000 miles. Next chapter it's a million miles. One chapter it's ten thousand years. Next chapter, it's a million years. For... more>> a 'Yuan Shen', 20 feet is the maximum, and things are described in that scale, then 200 feet is the maximum, and things are described in that scale, then 20 again. So they're not 'little errors', but errors that are way off in orders of magnitude. Does it make sense for a bunch of people to be fighting indoors with 200+ foot tall things 'standing behind them'? Even at 'mach 3' (which MC routinely pushes himself to go that fast), it's gonna take half a month to cover a 'million miles' for a chase. A million miles is about a 564 mile radius circle, so describing a million miles of territory makes sense. But an army marching a million miles? Bleah.

Then it's the odd phrasing. Planets are 'stars' and stars are 'suns'. OK, maybe the world is a dead star, or we're going back to 'wandering star' descriptions of heavenly bodies. At least if the world is a dead star, it would explain the silly scale of distances used throughout, kind of.

Dragons 'whistle'. I could understand a dragon 'shrieking', but I end up picturing them whistling the 'Andy Griffith' tune whenever they appear, instead.

Lots of little bugs and glitches distract from the story. The translator blames the author for it... but c'mon. Neither of them can come up with a table for scale and refer back to it when writing or 'faithfully translating'.

I really like 'Tales of Herding Gods', which is supposed to take place in the same 'world'. Sort of. At least it's somewhat consistently silly, without things randomly stretching and squashing, as you read it. <<less
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Magolyon0220
Magolyon0220 rated it
November 3, 2018
Status: v2c503
This novel exceeded my expectations by far!!! Don't take keklel's comments to heart. He read 27 chapters. I read over 500.

Give this novel a chance, but keep in mind it's very different from standard cultivation novels. Not better nor worse, just different. Very different in some aspects.

It's the first time I'm presented with a "humans vs others" dynamics. That's what this novel is about: The 'weak' humans growing to compete with monsters, demons and what the author calls 'celestial beings' (which are like an alchemy experiment with animals gone wrong)... more>>

The poly twists are insane, almost as crazy as the 'celestial races' featured. And I warn you: this novel is highly addictive

And a funny fact: it's the first cultivation novel I read where the protagonist acctualy gets laid. Where? When? Who? You'll have to read to discover this and a lot of other secrets! <<less
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selweron
selweron rated it
March 3, 2018
Status: c143
Well this novel easily replaces Immortal Mortal - 2 chapters a day and just as exciting :) Obviously what backs up Rise of Humanity is better, not repetetive plot and characters. Not everyone MC meets antagonizes him, and the world is more messed up than you would think with all these races and possibilities. The plot picks up at around 40+ chapter, the further the better :D At c143 I can't freakin wait for more!!! Will definitely stick to this novel daily.
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mja
mja rated it
May 23, 2018
Status: c200
One of the few cultivation novels I truly enjoy no useless harem no shitty arrogant young masters interesting plot line about discovering the fall of the human race the writer keeps you guessing and the writing improves significantly BUT everything I said only applies after the first 50 chapters so be patient.
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TerraEarth
TerraEarth rated it
April 27, 2018
Status: --
This is a great novel amongst its peers in the Chinese webnovel ecosphere. It performs well in areas that all (well, most) readers of this genre expect and crave: A struggle against tremendous odds with good doses of fantasy, mythology and adventure tossed in and sprinkled with undertones of adversity and hardship. Unfortunately it lacks in all the areas that its contemporaries usually lack in: Development of characters outside of the main character, rushed details in cultivation as well as a lack of backstory helping to tie it all together... more>> (actually, I retract that statement. The world-building is a lot better than I expected it to be, in fact it's quite good). Nevertheless, it's an entertaining read and I believe that anyone that enjoys perusing this style of story can enjoy it too. This is one of the few novels I do look forward to reading everyday. <<less
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Ginko
Ginko rated it
April 13, 2018
Status: c128
Cool title but really just poorly written.
Real - Score 2.0 ☆☆

The MC goes from weak to strong, without any clear explanation or real training. <-- This happens frequently. Furthermore, of course he constantly has to do something over-the-top that gets him marked as a target. I won't mention the convenient, "only run into a foe 1 level above you" plot device as usual.

The fight scenes are so boring (later just move titles are spammed)... A positive is that the pace is good, but then again a little disjointed.

It's... more>> "meh."

- Side note - I don't understand why the "arrogant young masters" are so prevalent in this genre of Chinese novels?? Like, is this a real problem in China or something?¿ So many authors give this to their fans to lick up. Like, do the poor really view the upper-class in this light, or this disparity w/ attitude a real thing? - like can someone explain. <<less
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Amaury1514
Amaury1514 rated it
March 9, 2018
Status: c55
All I can say is that I'm disappointed.

I was really looking forward to this because of the whole concept of the humans being the "underdogs", but the s*upidity of the humans in this LN makes me not care if they all get wiped out tbh.

Also the MC is very bland and uninteresting not to mention the side characters.

... more>>
Spoiler

So the first thing I noticed, that Made me think WTF, was how the humans are struggling to survive in the world. So they formed this big community, but they are only allowed to use that community's soul technique thing, which means the MC has to hide his technique. which makes no sense to me. Why would you care about something so basic as a qu gathering technique when your struggling to survive anyway?

theres other instances of stuff that makes no sense, but I'm too lazy to go through them all.

So now to the reason I don't think I can continue this LN.

Ok so there's this girl who you meet early in the LN, and a couple chp after you meet her she gets possessed by this ancient demon. (She's basically sacrificed by her clan) and her and the MC were close. At first I thought this was new and interesting and was kinda excited to see how it would play out, but all my hopes led to nothing but disappointment... So the MC can't say anything to anyone because the girls clan is super powerful which made sense because he was only a weakling so I didn't mind too much. But the chapters I'm on now the MC just had a major battle with the demon so not only does she know that he knows who she is the clan behind her is gonna know that he knows now, but because the MC is so strong the humans are suspicious of him while that just think the girls abnormal strength is how it should be because of her clan. It just makes no sense how the humans can't tell who she is. She literally showed her spider soul thing during the fight. Not to mention how the demons are known to be able to turn into humans so you would think they would have a way to tell if she's real or not, but nope she just walks around with no problems while everyone suspicious of the MC. While he tells NO ONE. It's like they already know that you know of there treachery why would you keep hiding it? Lost a couple brain cells.

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Varno
Varno rated it
February 21, 2018
Status: v1c103
This should be the number one novel on site. I will talk about the pros and cons.

Pros.

Well built magic system. The magic system is dynamic, a rarity in this genre; built by the author, although it shares some similarities with what is expected of the genre it is approached in way that works well in the setting.

... more>> Combat is excellent, kicks, punches, breaking the sound barrier and also-- for the xianxia fan-- psyhic powers to throw sh*t at each other.

The worldbuilding is nice and simple, laid out in such a way that it is easy to picture. While it hasn't been expanded upon yet, from what has been shown insofar I can remember nearly all of it.

The goal is in the title but there is a just-as-important subplot, so if you're into mysteries try it out.

Cons.

Character dept is lacking. They do have personalities but almost everyone's shallow. This isn't to a detrimental degree, yet.

Pseudo harem.

Really, I couldn't find much to complain about. 5/5. <<less
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luckymorris
luckymorris rated it
January 23, 2021
Status: c1183
Firstly, 5 stars is a lot, I would rate it as 4, but considering the current poor rating, i've decided to boost it a bit.

You need to know one thing about this novel, the beggining is absolute garbage, a bit like grasping evil for those who read it. It's really bland, full of tropes, ret*rded developpement and garbage characters. I think it goes for like ~150 chapters.

After that, you have infront of you a xianxia that offers an original cultivation system, side characters that are revelant, an MC that is... more>> not s*upidly OP, but most importantly is that the story was clearly planned before the author wrote it! You have event in chapter ~900 that call back from event in the first 100 chapters, something that is sadly quite rare in xianxia.

I don't feel writing a lengthy review so i'll stop there, it's a very enjoyable xianxia, not the best, but clearly deserve more than the current 3.8 stars. <<less
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Joker
Joker rated it
April 11, 2018
Status: v1c215
I really like this novel. Some reviews about this novel is well in fact unreasonable. I can say they didn't really read the novel wholeheartedly and just thought of giving their reviews right after reading not even a half of the half of the hundreds of translated chapters the novel currently has.

I admit that some chapters could be neglected or some could just act like a filler but the novel consist detailed explanation for his every action. The one who said that the MC proclaimed that he liked a girl... more>> after talking to her for about 2 sentences? That's bullshit. It was never stated that the MC liked her, only good will as he was the one who saved her. Xin hou talked like a pe*verted old man because that's who he is. Hell! My grandpa wouldn't shut up when talking about his past conquest and Xin hou talking like that showed how great of a gentleman the MC is. He never had dirty thoughts about the girls who approached him and he didn't act like some h**ny bastards who's main goal is to be a mating bull, it made me want to make him betrothed with them because he's so dense that he seem so cute. Running is also a way to survive and the MC just ran away from big fellas who were two realms away from him otherwise he would face them head on. I believe people should use common sense instead of being immatures.

All in all the novel is really good. I'm still waiting for some chapters to quench my thirsty soul. <<less
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Stormbreaker
Stormbreaker rated it
April 1, 2018
Status: v1c201
A great story, I won't say how much it's good and why you should read it because a lot of other reviews do it quite well.

However I'm going to explain why it's NOT bad :

Some people are disappointed that after 27 chapters (while the novel is 1400 long) the MC did nothing for the rise of humanity.... Well for me it's a good point : do you expect a nobody struggling to stay in the sect to suddenly wake up and say "I'm going to lead the rise of humanity... more>> !!!" ?

Hell no that would be naïve, s*upid and boring. Here we experience what the MC experience : why would you want to help humanity to begin with, why are you so motivated ? Instead of creating a s*upid reason in 3 chapters like some clan exterminating calamity bullsh*t we just go and experience the world, learn how much humans fell from grace and how precarious is their situation. And only after this can we believe in the MC motivation because you saw what he saw and you felt what he felt.

Now let's talk about the MC : yes at the beginning he isn't very different from your average Jo and that's WHY it's great ! He isn't very different from a typical human at the beginning and we see him grow more and more interesting. The only differences between him and the others are his extremely good comprehension ability and a "master" who give him the strict minimum help considering what he knows and this "master" will bring a lot of troubles to our MC because he is far from an omniscient sage, while he can sometimes save the situation he can f*ck it even further too if you listen to his every words.

So we have a real character growth and an atypical master who will bring a lot of funny moments when the situations are quite heavy.

Here comes the side characters and antagonist : if you just consider people dumb because they appear dumb in the story you can't be anymore wrong, particularly the old ones.... About the first love interest, it's not that there is no backstory or no reason, it's just that they are quickly explained for a good reason :

Spoiler

(basically he saved her when she was going to enter the sect and he got injured because of that, she remembers it and they interacted a lot after that, she's basically MC's only friend while she got a great background) the author don't want you to regret it too much when she dies : you understand MC grief but you aren't too attached to her so it's okay.

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As for his senior (sect master, elders, etc...) you feel like they are dumb because you see them with the same vision as the MC and when the plot thicken you gradually understand that they clearly know how to use their brain but they can't act rashly because the situation is grave and that they don't want to waste any opportunity to improve the situation (I can assure you that some character of the old generation are going to surprise you and you will grow to admire them)

For the antagonists, YES you have the typical cliche villains at the beginning BUT fears not you will forget them very quickly when the real oppenents appear, in the end you will just see them as a bunch of inexperencied people who won't even annoy you, while the real antagonists are getting more numerous and problematic to deal with (because while they use cannon fodder to annoy the MC most of the time they themselves have abilities worth your reading time).

MC is quite popular with the opposite s*x but here too he grows more mature and less oblivious to the situation (and he isn't trying to actively build a harem, he can act friendly with the other girls without the need to go a step further even when he knows that it would be easy) while the girls are developped enough so that you don't need to think for a long time to remember who is whom when you see their names, especially the love interest (s).

So just take your time to read this story, try to not miss the details, do not judge hastily, give it a chance, the more you will read it and the better you will find it, to rise you need to start from the bottom and to steadily climb all the way until the apex !! <<less
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Daoist LastWish
Daoist LastWish rated it
March 30, 2018
Status: v1c458
The world is filled with powerful celestials and monsters, and the only safe place for humanity is Swords Gate. Unfortunately, the last top cultivator of humanity is dying, there is no one to take his place, and there is a dangerous traitor in the Swords Gate...

Upto chapter 200 it has Good writing and plot, well written, well imagined, good fights, clever enemies, and what's more, clever friends! However, right afterwards, the writing has taken a nosedive.

Note: I am around chapter 458 now, and this novel has become unbearably bad. I... more>> have no option but to drop it.

Spoiler

The translator of the novel is right - the novel suddenly gets much better around Chapter 50. Unfortunately, the quality takes a nosedive after chapter 200. I won't say it is as bad as WQDK/ ATG/ BTTH, but it is close.

Good:

The plot of the novel revolves around humanity's struggle for survival as underdogs - always a plus in my opinion! Its only later you find out how much of underdogs they are. The fights are fun, and the MC doesn't always get an easy win. Best of all, there is a mystery - who is the traitor of the Swords Gate? The needle of suspicion falls first on this person, and then on another...

The Bad:

The novel has its share of cliche elements: The fearless hero, the dumb young master, the MC massacring his opponents from other races, MC suddenly acting brashly and killing people, MC getting all the good stuff, all the cultivation hotties having hots for the MC, and so on.

[collapse]

Conclusion: First 200 chapters are are fun to read, way better than the usual Xuanhuan stuff. However, afterwards the quality takes a free fall into the rubbish land. So if you like reading steaming pile of junk like BTTH, ATG, Emperor's Domination, Martial God Asura, then your brain will love this pile of steaming junk.

All Time Recommendations: If you haven't read these novels already - read them!: Ze Tian Ji, Nightfall, I Shall Seal The Heavens, Deathsutra, Pivot of the Sky. <<less
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Ironman96
Ironman96 rated it
January 1, 2021
Status: c1163
What a unique and refreshing cultivation novel, however, it starts off generic and cliched in the beginning where MC stumbles upon a cheat (old grandpa in a lantern) and enters a sect and classic tropes happen here in the sect with senior sisters/brothers, betrayal, demons vs humans, bla bla bla. This is probably where you see a most of the negative reviews as I do agree, its kind of generic for the first couple of hundred chapters, however, holy sh*t does this novel get amazing if you put in the... more>> time. This is one of those novels that keeps getting better with more chapters and does not stagnate. (P.s if you like this novel, you will like authors other novel Tales of Herding Gods which is more comedy-focused with bouts of seriousness whereas this novel is more serious with bouts of hilarious moments, both novels are amazing).

For the first hundred of chapters, we are stuck in MCs world and this novel truly starts to shine once MC leaves his planet. In the beginning, the villains are arrogant young masters and seem pitiful compared to later villains who actually scheme and outsmart MC (yes he gets outsmarted occasionally) and are terrifying beings which makes sense since they are thousands of years old. MC in the beginning is not very smart, but learns how to scheme from others as humans are constantly the underdogs (will become more apparent why in the later chapters) and compared with powerful races that are much stronger than humans, he is forced to scheme. Also I really like the setting, once we are in the universe, the humans have to band together against everyone else and the plot twists are done really well.

Once MC leaves his plant, boom, the MC starts interacting with geniuses across the universes, unique powerful alien races, MC's race mortal enemy, fascinating new worlds, etc. We get MC thrown into dangerous and unknown situations and have him use his wits to escape alive (no cliched huge tournaments or cliched 'secret hidden world that appears once every 500 years' kind of things). MC proceeds to encounter some of the best side characters in the novel and together make this novel a lot better.

Also cultivation is unique and refreshing, there are no levels 1-9 or early, middle, and late cultivation stages, or the typical foundation, nascent soul kind of thing. The author creates his own and they are unique and interesting to learn about. One of the cooler things about fights in this novel is that if you know the enemies technique, you will know how to counter them which is why everyone creates their own techniques while building upon the older ones (this happens in the middle of the story which is why fights in the later parts of the novel are much better than the beginning). This also means the newer generation is typically stronger than the older one, however, there are still super strong old guys who have been living for thousands of years. I like this part because I'm sick of the whole 'ancient techniques are always super powerful compared to modern ones, ' why can't modern/newer techniques be better?

Another thing this novel really nails down is MC character growth. In the beginning, MC is not very confident about himself and rightfully so, because everything he has was given to him by his cheat. As the novel progresses, MC begins to interact with other geniuses and compares himself to them. He realizes that he was able to come from nowhere to beating them not only because of the techniques from the grandpa, but because of his hard work and talent, and once he realizes this, he starts to create his own techniques. He decides to merge the techniques of others and his own and makes brand new ones. He grows more confident of himself and then one of my favorite parts in the novel occurs:

Spoiler

MC kind of stumbles upon an ancient side cultivation pathway that only a few across the universe know about. He knows more about this pathway than others, however, he gathers all the geniuses across the universe (including those who know about the pathway as well as his enemies) and shares everything he knows with them and they then share what they know with him. Even though his enemies and everyone else is getting more out of this, he is getting the little info he didn't know about the pathway and is confident in himself that even if his enemies get stronger, since he started with more knowledge about the pathway, that he will be able to proceed faster and become stronger than everyone else.

[collapse]

If you can put up with the start, this novel will turn into fine, aged wine and is truly worth a read. I hope the translation gets picked up again as this, along with Tales of Herding Gods, is an amazing novel. <<less
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Ishhin
Ishhin rated it
May 16, 2020
Status: c1183
One of the most unique xianxia stories wrt the cultivation system which gets better as story progress.

Don't believe a single line from kelkel's review, guy is a tool for so blatantly throwing random sh*t without any solid proof for his rant.

Also do notice, pretty much all the reviews with lower ratings haven't read more than 150 chapters.

My favourite aspects about the novel -

  • One of the most strong-headed, intelligent and one track minded mc
  • People are saying that MC has no Backstory, in truth, It is the backstory of novel itself which is inherited by MC, which itself is amazingly written and tied into the main story flawlessly. Hell, pretty much another novel itself can be written about the past events before the MC was born.
  • Story is well written with pretty much zero filler and regular xianxia cliche elements which are used to make plot forward.
  • World doesn't revolve around the MC. Even without him, events are happening which matter to story as well his own situation.
  • Side characters are well written, with personalities, intent and Backstory. They may become irrelevant as the story progresses but during their own time, each of them shine in their aspect.
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