So, I am MTL reading this, just so you know. The first half of the story is super cute, hilarious and I really loved it. The second half I am in is a little too plot heavy for me but the mystery is intriguing enough. The relationship is sweet and sincere. Both of them are very devoted though there's some denial going on at first which results in all the hilarity.

The ending may not be to some people's liking. But I really liked it. I am new to danmei and... more>> don't like unbalanced/overly aggressive kind dynamics. For me the couple have to be very equal, fairly independent and more or less mature and competent and this story has that. <<less

I give this a 5 because MC is just so adorable. He's a little mink who is too cute and simple minded to handle human scheming. In order to show sincerity, he shares his snacks. When he accepts ML as his friend, he gives him a handful of pine nuts, and when they fight, he reconciles by giving him his last pine nut. Such a sweetie.

There is a lot of comedy in the first portion of the novel, followed by more action and mystery in the second half. MC and... more>> ML are very open with each other and resolve conflicts in a timely manner. Both are equally strong, and grow together as their relationship progresses. MC becomes more trusting and willing to share his struggles with ML, while ML learns to love and be loved.

The action at the end was a bit hard to follow, but everything is resolved in the end. Sadly, one of the side couples gets a bad ending, but everyone else ended up well and there was closure. <<less

It's only ch4 but the translation quality is excellent, and the set up of characters is already intriguing. It's already obvious there's more to Meng Xueli than meets the eye and I'm excited to find out more about him and his Ji Xiao. Can't wait for more updates!

At a glance:
At the beginning, the vibe of the story feels like it's going to be an easy going story. The author even said it in the note a few times. But it's definitely not! There's conspiracy brewing in the dark! And it involves

World building is nice. Everything is slowly being explained and set up in the appropriate pace.

It's definitely interesting enough for me to MTLed the rest of the ch and had my brain wrecked trying to understand it.

Translation:

The translator used a lot of pinyin (with translation at footnotes) in the first few chapters to explain name meanings and cultivation stages. Might be hard to remember for some as they sound foreign.

There's also quite a bit of idioms and poems or something? There's just tons of footnotes with explanation lol. But I don't read most of them and is still able to understand quite well. So, there's that.

The downside:
1. Abrupt pov change, sometimes. No indicator such as paragraph or line break at all. It's not just pov change from A to B, it's a different scene as well. So, the sudden change can be confusing.

Anyway, idk if it's the translator's style or they just followed the author's style, but this has happened a few times and always left me confused. In fact, I've a few times even thought the paragraphs' order were messed up!

2. Along with sentences that's connected to a paragraph but actually doesn't fit in (?) if that makes sense. Like, p.1 is talking about, "A is this and that" then suddenly added, "oh, yea there's also this" which is loosely connected, but they way it's added is just weird.

Characters:
Characters are fleshed out for most of them. There's some minor antagonists that's just searching for aggro, but the rest is okay, so far.

I especially like how ML's shixiong and shidi appears like troublemaker to most and wastes away their talent, but in truth, they're just searching for their own path and happiness.

MC and ML is also interesting. They're all about the contrast!

More about MC, ML, and the relationship:

Short excerpts from the novel which I reallyyyy love, and helps understand what the MC and ML thinks of each other, kinda:

I'm not going deep into this but it was an alright read. The romance felt kind of shallow to me to be honest. I dont know if there needed to be more interactions or deeper feelings or more time to develop said feelings or what. It was there, but it didn't seem important enough to the characters themselves so I wasnt really feeling it. Usually wuxia novels have the deepest romantic feelings like "I'd wait thousands of years for you" "I love you more than I love this world" "I'd... more>> die and kill for you" "I'd go against the heavens for you" that type of deep feeling so I guess I was used to that and hadn't been expecting the romance here to feel so bare minimum. The whole reason I read this was because I was in the mood for a deep romance, so that's my bad I guess for coming with expectations.

As for the plot, it was ok. Theres alot of filler stuff that makes no difference. The side characters get alot of screentime later, so much so that you won't see the main couple for chapters on end. The plot itself couldve been expanded more, or rather they shouldve stretched out the mystery behind ML death. It was like they introduced the mystery, then put off solving it for the longest time, until suddenly they did solve it. Like there was no tangible step by step solving process, no Easter eggs, no clues, it was put on hold and then it was solved. There was a little twist at the end that basically everyone could see coming to an extent. Maybe not exactly what happened but the conclusion was obvious. It was just out on hold until the author wanted to address it.

Now that I'm thinking about it, this book felt like intermission or a waiting period. Just waiting for the author to go "ok now it's time for the mystery to be solved or for this to happen" I think there should have been more build up not in the form of more chapters but making use of the chapters they had. There was alot they couldve done. It just felt very much like reading filler, which made it boring.

But still, it was an ok read. Not bad by an means. That's why I gave it a 3 star. It just wasnt that good either. <<less