1. Character growth 2/5

The characters of this series do not develop at all. The MC has been living for a couple of million years, so he is quite unhinged mentally and arrogant to the Nth degree because he's basically the instructor of every major super power in history. He has happened to start the story with his real body this time so he has to build up his body from the beginning. His character does not grow anymore; it is more like we begin to realize the longer we read that he is a bloodthirsty mu*derer hellbent on seeing the world burn. He intentionally instigates other people to attack him so that he can massacre their family/school for fun. Sure they have treasures, but the MC's net worth is probably 900 billion times that of the most rich school in the world so he doesn't covet their treasures to improve his wealth. At the beginning, you will see that he has weaknesses. IE, he lets other people damage his body and he gets hurt. Which seems weird because a normal MC would not do this. However, this MC thinks pain is a reminder that he is alive... and he wants to experience pain to train his true body. Weird. At least the writing is good and sometimes I can feel the sentimentality of someone who has outlived all of his friends in a repeated cycle for a couple of million years.

The other characters are not notable. There will be names you remember, but they are all the same tropes. Prettiest girl. Cold beauty. Sexy beauty. Super talent. The names don't really matter, because you can basically swap the names and it is essentially the same 4 characters with a different name.

2. Plot development 1/5

Yes, there is a plot. Yes it is a super god damn shitty plot that uses the same trope to tell a story. Imagine this scenario:

a) MC intentionally pisses on some random super genius #loldeadguy. Super genius #loldeadguy gets butthurt. Minion 1 jumps in to attack MC. MC eradicates entire Minion 1's school. A bunch of people are shocked. A bunch more people say super genius #loldeadguy is more OP than MC.

b) MC goes on a treasure hunt, encounters Minion 2. MC eradicates entire Minion 2's school. A bunch of people are shocked. A bunch more people say super genius #loldeadguy is more OP than MC. MC now meets super hot girl who now follows him around.

c) MC teaches girl a bunch of stuff. Minion 3 shows up, acts tough. Girl is sad for Minion 3 and super genius #loldeadguy because she knows how OP MC is. MC eradicates entire Minion 3's school. A bunch of people are shocked. A bunch more people say super genius #loldeadguy is more OP than MC. MC now meets new super hot girl who now also follows him around.

d) MC is awesome, super hot genius girl falls for him after following him around. #loldeadguy shows up all butthurt MC is with hot girl. MC then kills super genius #loldeadguy and eradicates his school. Loots the world for shits and giggles. Everyone is shocked. MC decides to go to another dimension where no one knows him so he can start at bottom of totem pole again. (There are probably 9 different dimensions).

e) Repeat step (a) in new dimension. There are 9 dimensions, probably. So this plot doesn't change. At all. You will basically be reading this same plot forever. Each dimension is probably 500 - 600 chapters. So 1500 chapters in, I'm at 3rd dimension and it is the same series of steps that I've already read twice. Different names of characters and treasures, but it is essentially the same thing rehashed. Its basically a 600 chapter spider-man franchise at this point.

3. Memorable characters 1/5

The names may be different but all the characters are the same. None are really memorable.

Overall it isn't great. It is the same short story repackaged with different names every 500 characters. I gave it a 2 because every once in a while, there is some thoughtful writing about life. But this is a terrible book in every sense.

The story premise is that of a shepherd, who was put into the body of a crow for a million years. Over this million years he basically learnt pretty much all the best techniques etc., and used these techniques to cultivate promising young people to the peak level of cultivation so far, celestial emperor. After a million years, he finally regained his body and embarks on a journey of vengeance against the sect that sealed him into the crow in the first place.

Unlike many other xianxia novels, whereby transmigration is only a small part of the novel, the MC's past plays a big role in this novel - he doesn't act like a teen, but like a c*otchety old man. He basically has the worst base at the start of the novel, but his knowledge plays a big part of it.

Good points

1) Foreshadowing is often well done - items which are written into the story previously are often pivotal to the plot

2) The MC's universe is pretty diverse, much is written about the different races.

3) Each arc is well enunciated; the different worlds are written in a way that differentiates them from each other.

Bad points

1) Side characters usually only exist for about an arc; while they are often well developed, they are discarded when moving into another arc, which is pretty annoying.

2) The MC is incredibly arrogant - he's basically your typical xianxia MC on steroids, slaughters everyone in his path.

3) The scale of battles can get pretty ridiculous; in one scene the MC fights more than 50, 000 experts and slaughters most of them..

4) The story gets pretty formulaic.

5) The author likes to elaborate too much, e.g. After introducing a particular term he will go on to about half a chapter of why that particular term was so great, its history etc., and how you must know the MC is extraordinary.

6) The past of the MC allows the author to pull a crapton of Deus Ex Machina

In conclusion, read this if you're interested in a someone different xianxia premise, but note that the characters within follow troper pretty closely, its not groundbreaking.

I'm disappointed. If you read my earlier review below then you'd notice how much I liked the novel. Sadly, the MC turns into one of those female-chasing MCs latter in the novel. You'll also notice that his male followers are very different from the female characters. Of the two starting followers he gained, one is just there to make s*upid moves / make greedy comments while the other one is simply a follower. In the chapters ahead that I've read, he gains another male follower who is pretty much just also just a follower. And he gains that follower with almost no effort. Much like the first two. A far cry from the female followers he has who are all beautiful geniuses.

Anyway, basically, what happens in the future is that he meets random girls and he just keeps asking them to follow him. Why is this disappointing? Because in the translated chapters, he pretty much gives his first female follower a deadline to choose whether to be his sword maid or not. One chance to follow him. Take it or leave it. However, if you decide to "leave it" then know that you won't get this opportunity again in the future.

This isn't the case in the latter chapters. Female characters reject his offer again and again, yet every time they meet, he keeps on asking them to be his follower. There is even one character who keeps trying to kill him again and again but despite this, he still asks.

Another thing is that he basically turns into a lecher / dirty old man in the latter chapters. There is a character who every time he sees, he slaps her ass and says that he'll strip her next time. His excuse is that it's because the girl dresses up like a guy (the girl leads a female clan so she dresses this way in order to show his dominance or something).

Honestly, it would be fine if you could still feel that the main goal of the MC is to beat / destroy / kill the evil spirit in the Grotto but sadly, due to the stuff I mentioned above, it only feels like his goal is to expand his "harem" / female followers.

Lastly... regarding his arrogance, I did state that the MC did indeed have a right to be arrogant. The problem is that 99.99% of the fights which happen in the chapters I read ahead are due to his arrogance. It was pretty much one of the reasons a lot of people dropped PMG. Arrogance is okay. It's normal in almost all the web novels, especially in CN web novels. However, if that is pretty much the reason for most of the conflicts which occur then it simply becomes too much.

Oh... one last thing. Really last this time. The whole "little girl", "counted with my fingers", "apex", etc he keeps saying is fun for a while but like always being overly arrogant, it becomes way too used- and quickly. Not to mention that the things he say just seem to be too childish / juvenile. For me at least.

One word that's perfect to describe ED is FILLER. It is perhaps the most blatant example of author trying to squeeze page/word count I've ever seen in my life. For the first 200~ chapters it's not SO bad, but afterwards it becomes ABSOLUTELY insane. The best example I can give are 600-700 chapters. So little happens here, that you can't wrap the fact that it took 100 chapters to tell it around your head.

I don't mind (for the most part, at least) when authors stuff their chapters with pointless sh*t just to increase word count. That's why basically anyone who enjoys xianxia learns to just skip things at one point. However, I do mind when you can skip 3-4 chapters in a row without missing a damn thing. ED is FILLER on steroids. And it's perhaps the main thing that simply destroys any chance of finding a good, cohesive story.

Because of this insane FILLAGE, the amazing world the author has crafted - with some hella interesting backstory - just becomes a chore to read about. I truly want to give a sh*t about these past Emperors and whatnots, but I simply can't when a single sentence about them is buried underneath 12 paragraphs describing some random item from that time that doesn't freaking matter. If the author toned down with FILLAGE and replaced it with more backstory about this world, I guarantee this would have been one of the most popular WN ever. However, he did not. Not at all.

To me, the quality of the WN novel dropped beyond any redemption when he entered Medicine-whatever world. It absolutely crapped on whatever was happening for the past 500~ chapters, and basically said "f*ck" to everything it was building up to that point. Still, xianxias have tendency to do this, so whatever, I would have stuffed it, but everything becomes so BOOOOOORING. It's basically first 500~ chapters, except without anything that made the first 500~ interesting and actually fun to read despite all the filler shit. Chapters upon chapters go by without ANYTHING happening. Ever since he came into the world, MC has never ONCE fought properly against anyone. It's just pointless chase after skirts, bickering with children like he's a child himself, more chasing after skirts, and threatening to massacre something or someone, but NEVER actually doing it. Sure, he kills a fool or two here and there, but so what? He never kills them himself. I could count on my f*cking fingers just how many characters he's killed with his own hands in the odd 200~ chapters I've read.

Imagine if there's build-up... and then more of build-up... and then more... and more... and the build-up just never ends. That's what ED becomes.

Even if first 500~ chapters was filled with FILLER GALORE, at least things happened. MC progressed. He fought. He cultivated. He was a badass. However, I'm fairly certain I don't even know what his f*cking realm is anymore, because it's never mentioned. He never trains. He just keeps pulling OP items out of his ass and lets them do the work. It's boring, tactless, and quite frankly pointless.

Speaking of MC, ugh... I like arrogant characters as much as the next guy, but holy shit. You can't actively hope Li wins, because he's literally turned into a villain of the entire story. I can already imagine 99% of all existences eventually ganging up on him because he's become insufferable. At least, before leaving Mortal-whatever world, when he'd act arrogant and sh*t on others, he'd beat them with his own two hands. Now? He either lets some OP tree do the work, or just pulls a holier-than-thou OP item from "ancient ancient" times and lets it do all the work.

I won't even bother with mentioning all the skirt chasing. At first, it was just a gimmick, and hell, it was kind of fun seeing him flirt normally with chicks. Now? It's just basic teen wish-fulfillment. Every time he meets a woman, author emphasizes like 91231 f*cking times that he doesn't want to f*ck her. WE GET IT. WE f*ckING GET IT.

Honestly, it's sad. ED has one of the most interesting worlds I've had a chance of reading about in odd 100~ WN novels that I'm reading/read, and it's just wasted. Author often manages to weave in stories from the past into present in an amazing way, then a chapter later shits all over it with pointless side characters. Every 10 chapters or so, you'll find one that seems just so out of place you'll be wondering if you're at the right place.

Another thing that gets beyond annoying towards latter parts is vague dialogue. Oh. My. God. Nothing is ever named. NOTHING. It's always "this" and "that" and "something" and "place". There's just so many "things" and "stuffs" in the last 200 chapters I've read that I honestly don't even give a sh*t anymore. He's already got himself an insane arsenal of OP items that I'm pretty sure he'd become Immortal Emperor if he never leaves his house anymore. He's so beyond ANYONE else within his generation, it's literally POINTLESS to introduce anyone else his age. Just remove cultivators as his opponents, because he can probably beat EVERYONE back to their grave. Have him fight those Immortal Demons or whatever (oh, yeah, what the hell happened with that? it looks like our dear author forgot the reason our MC wanted to get stronger in the first place. Now it's all about cliche being the strongest ever).

I'll qualify ED as a guilty pleasure. It's not a well-written WN. Hell, it's actually pretty horrendous. It has terrible characters, obnoxious FILLAGE, MC is the same in CH1 and CH700 - LITERALLY NOTHING changes about him, everyone else except for him is basically pointless, and the only thing ED has got going for itself is basically the world and the backstory of the world. If it weren't for those two things, I honestly wouldn't give two shits about this. Still, it's fun to read. When Li ACTUALLY FIGHTS, it's pretty amazing. To this day I remember his battle at burial grounds (before he cheated his way through OP items, of course), but it's just pointless now.

"Damn brat, how dare you?!!!"

"Ha, heavens are my b*tch, I'll screw everyone, I'm the mightiest!!!"

"Then fight me you lil' c*nt, I'll show you!"

"Ha, why do that when I have this uber-duber OP item that can do it instead! Ha, die!"

2.5/5. 3/5 'cuz guilty pleasure.

there's a talented girl he wants to recruit as a hand maiden. On first encounter, he talks down to everyone then sexually harasses her. A while later he meets her and does the same. The third time he makes mysterious allusions to her powers/natures and how he might know something that could help her, etc. He doesn't actually get her to join him until several encounters later. If he wanted to recruit her and wasn't an arrogant idiot he'd just walk up to her, show her his martial arts, then concisely say why he's vastly superior to her, how he can help her and why she should join him. Boom he wouldnt' had her in the first encounter.