RegisterLogin
Theme
Search
Series Group
I Just Won’t Play by the Book
Type
Web Novel (CN)
Genre
Tags[ ]
Loading...
Tags List | Request Tag
Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 84 votes)
5    54% (45 votes)
4    13% (11 votes)
3    12% (10 votes)
2    8% (7 votes)
1    13% (11 votes)
Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per line
Artist(s)
One entry per line
N/A
Year
Example: 2012
2020
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
707 Chapters (Completed)
1295 Chapters translated (Webnovel split chapters)
Licensed
Yes
Completely Translated
No
Original Publisher
One entry per line
English Publisher
One entry per line
Release Frequency
Every 16.1 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #19596
Monthly Rank: #26418
All Time Rank: #5086
Reading List
[Graph]
On 924 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #30043
All Time Rank: #10481

Description

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

After the battle, the beautiful senior sister shyly raised her face in front of you and slowly closed her eyes. At this time, you…

[Choice 1: Kiss her lips gently. Reward for completion: Thousand Leaves Wonder (Earth Grade, High Tier)]

[Choice 2: Kiss her on the forehead. Reward: Sword of Yin Yang (Earth Grade, Low Tier)]

[Choice 3: Hug her. Reward: Netherworld Treasure Scales (Black Grade, High Tier)]

[Choice 4: Say it as fast as you can: Senior Sister, what are you doing? Are you trying to seduce me? You’ve only fought with me once and want to be my girlfriend? Are you sure? Ah, do I go too far? But actually, I’ve always treated you as my sister. I’m sorry. Completion reward: Randomly basic attribute points+1]

Eh? The choice this time was too simple. Of course, it was four.

Associated Names
One entry per line
I Determine My Own Destiny (Manhua)
I Just Don’t Play by the Rules
Wang Zhe Da Shixiong (Donghua)
我就是不按套路出牌
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
My Senior Brother is Too Steady (1)
Top Tier Providence, Secretly Cultivate for a Thousand Years (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Cultivation with cheats !
  2. Novels I read daily on hiatus
  3. Villain: Chessy-Peasy
  4. Steady and Cautious
  5. good Harem

Latest Release

Date Group Release
01/23/25 BOTI Translation c105
01/22/25 BOTI Translation c104
01/22/25 BOTI Translation c103
01/21/25 BOTI Translation c102
01/21/25 BOTI Translation c101
01/20/25 BOTI Translation c100
01/20/25 BOTI Translation c99
01/19/25 BOTI Translation c98
01/19/25 BOTI Translation c97
01/18/25 BOTI Translation c96
01/18/25 BOTI Translation c95
01/17/25 BOTI Translation c94
01/17/25 BOTI Translation c93
01/16/25 BOTI Translation c92
01/16/25 BOTI Translation c91
1…3132333435…41
Go to Page...
Go to Page...
Write a Review
11 Reviews sorted by


Incompetence Hunter
Incompetence Hunter rated it
May 22, 2021
Status: c73
This feels like a discount "My Senior Brother is Too Steady".

The MC feels like a discount Li Changshou. The MC neither is as steady nor has Changshou's charm. He depends more on his system than his personal skills and social skills. The comedy is less on point. The world is more serious and edgy but less reasonable. The characters are more cliche and unreasonable. The story has less draw and promise. The author has not escaped from the flaw of the exposition peanut gallery screaming things people should already know.

In... more>> short, this story feels like the author having read "My Senior Brother is Too Steady", got inspired, and wrote a less than perfect story in the same vein.

However, this story is its own story. The conceit is not just a copy of "My Senior Brother is Too Steady". The world is its own world. And the MC is not a copy of Li Changshou. The MC follows the path of least danger, as given by his system. This path leads him on his adventures and makes most of his choices for him. The MC is willing to take risk his life for benefits, and is quite willing to sow karma. Unlike Changshou, he does not always thoroughly and completely resolves his conflicts at the roots.

While I personally do not, some readers might find certain characteristics of the MC more suitable than Changshou. He is less mature, more hot-blooded, more direct and forceful, and more fallible. He is a pretty decent description of a rather cautious, but still sometimes brute 20 year old cultivator.

Spoiler

Suzerain above really didn't like my comparisons, even resorting to telling people to ignore my review (even though the latter half is not comparisons). Because it's "unfair because the tone is completely different". Factual falsehood aside (tones are very similar; story and MC actions are imminently comparable; I've already mentioned and contrasted the differences and noted that the stories should be taken in their own right), he does not understand how compare and contrast works.


Thus, here is a short educational bits for younger people. Half of comparison is in "contrast", which is identifying the differences between two works. I have done this. You compare a work with another to highlight the similarities between the two works, then move on to highlight the differences. The purpose of this exercise is to give people a reference frame to work with.

You can and should, in fact, compare different things with different tones. For example, you can compare the old star wars trilogy with the new Disney one to show that while they share many story elements, one is significantly less tight but more cinematic. You can compare the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC one to explain why one has a much better reception. And you can use these comparisons to judge whether you'll like these works!

Suzerain also claims that "the only similarity is the MCs being cautious". That is patently false.

But apparently, he thinks exposition peanut galleries are good "reactions", and thus my review should be ignored. Speaks volumes about his credibility, if his willingness to undermine my reviews didn't.

[collapse]

The world is less than perfect. It's a mix between cliched Xianxia "dog-eat-dog" world and a parody which takes it way too far. Perhaps the author put some elements of parodies into the world building, but the world still feels like a normal caricature of a unreasonable world which should not function. The peanut gallery that goes around saying "What? How could you not know this senior brother? Let me explain in detail!" is also present. Even though the MC does not really engage in face-slapping, the world is still one where 990 bandits prey on 10 farmers.

The story itself is decent in the sense that it is not filled with cliches at the start. It's also quite good at tying characters and reusing characters previously introduced.

Overall, if compared to "My Senior Brother is Too Steady", I'd have to give it a 3. But since it is its own story, I'd probably give this a 4. <<less
21 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Eliza993
Eliza993 rated it
March 22, 2022
Status: c140
So far, the romance is none existence, I like that, it doesn't destroy the story.

About the harem, those characters like him but he avoids them like dead flags.

Those female characters are very similar to each other, all are prideful, c*cky girl. I hate them all.

I love this story, it's hilarious.

MC truly did not play by the book.
15 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
LurkerIsBack
LurkerIsBack
September 22, 2024
Status: --
To be honest this is good. However, the translation (from Webnovel) is sh!t. The translator is translating from pirated source, he won't pay a dime for the chapters. And guess what? The novel is well protected so all chapters in pirated sources have some lacking parts. Starting from a certain chapter, most chapters will be incomplete. Thus it became unreadable and story doesn't make sense.
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Purps
Purps rated it
April 11, 2022
Status: c92
what can I say? Im a sucker for system novels

its gotten to the point where im so ducking happy that there's a MC that doesn't get such a ducking hard on for any and all women that I binged read its 92 chapters

like the system, specially the last option he always chooses, its the kinda system I like, not the "MC is in danger x999 powerup initiated" and "MC go do something s*upid for x100 coins"

anyway people have their complaints, but hey, free internet novel and its not generic "f*ck... more>> you guy and suck me jade beauty" so I like <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
RedPlays
RedPlays rated it
February 26, 2021
Status: --
A nice novel. It has a distasteful main character but it fits with the story.

The main character was a narcissist, he believed he is the main character. The world granted his wish now he cowers. He is not smart but he is cautious. The translation is decent as well.
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
The Dom
The Dom rated it
February 12, 2024
Status: c226
Like mentioned in another comment, this is discount "My Senior Brother is Too Steady". Not similar but close enough. It follows the trend in the late 2010s and early 2020s of cultivation novels MCs being cautious, like the lazy young master trend popularized by Cale Henituse for example. What makes these stories appealing is the unconventional MCs we get. We are used to have a "hero" type MC like the Japanese isekai got us used to. One who fight for justice and is always eager to help or be in... more>> the limelight. When having one that actually think thoroughly before acting, we get that big brain energy juice as a reward. It also make the MCs seem more realistic, therefore closer to us. That aside let's get on with this novel in particular.

It follows the same setting with the MC getting isekai'd in a world where he has a system. The caveat is that the system gives him choices and depending on that he will get certain rewards. But the system here isn't too restrictive from what I've seen so far. The interpretation of the choices are also up to MC. It's not like a scenario type system where your choice is fixed and it's more like a series of scenes instead of a story. That's about it. The rest is up to the author to give interesting choices and situations for the MC to be embarrassed, scared, amused, etc. I'd say so far that it has been a pretty enjoyable read, I laughed many times because it's obvious that the system and/or the world is trolling him.

Edit at Ch. 226 : I put it on hold. It didn't annoy me enough to drop it but I'll leave it as is for now and read something else. The thing that happens between Ch 224-226 were the icing on the cake for me. Check the spoiler below to know what I mean.

Why give 3 stars then? Well, because of the characters. I'm not talking about the typical young masters, the face-slapping or third rates villains. I am among the few people who actually enjoy these. They are a part of xanxia cultivation novels for me so I won't enjoy a story without the usual crowd of people explaining techniques, the auction arc, etc. What I mean by characters is that...
Spoiler

when the story starts to pick up, we see the author starting a trend. Having very and I mean veeeeery annoying characters stuck to MC. It's fine when it happens once but when in every big arc MC has to be stuck to someone annoying, well it gets annoying for us as well. The lack of agency for the MC is what irks me the most. He won't have a say in anything, just getting used left and right and author will justify it by giving MC weapons. He will say something like "At least I got these weapon so I didn't really suffer a loss". What do you mean? You spent the last 10 chapters complaining about a character, who annoys us as well, and now you are okay? See my point? It's like MC is forced to go against his principles times and times again so it gets redundant. He will complain but do nothing about that. Mind you MC is not weak at all. I don't mind the hidden dragon trope at all but in that case MC should not be bullied. There is another similar novel where MC never leaves his sect and he is strong and no one orders him around. I wished that MC was like that.

[collapse]

So yeah, a good setting and an okay story, just a couple minor inconveniences. <<less
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
i1111991
i1111991 rated it
December 20, 2022
Status: c221
Start really good, then on the middle, author got lazy, our MC suddenly changed from always avoid spotlight, except when forced, to seek spotlight with no reason.
5 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
haanhaan
haanhaan rated it
December 16, 2021
Status: c40
4 stars.

Hope this one have fast pace update like usual chinese novel.

Good story, MC always pick the most harmless way possible to make himself not in another persons mind and avoid "Protagonist" pits xD
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
rakedrawgen
rakedrawgen rated it
February 14, 2026
Status: c230
I usually try to catch up to the translation before reviewing, but I give up with this novel. This story is terrible. I'll admit that I had high expectations for this novel since I liked My Senior Brother is Too Steady and The Eldest Martial Sister Gave Up Treatment. The latter of these novels has a similar choice-based system, and I thought to myself, "Well, this story came out before The Eldest Martial Sister Gave Up Treatment, so I should read its predecessor. And it's had multiple adaptations, so surely... more>> it can't be that bad." Dead wrong.

To summarize my gripes with this novel, it's boring and directionless at best and terribly annoying at its worst. And that was my feeling for around most of what I've read, which corresponds to a 2 star rating for me. But then the story started actively aggravating me that I'm dropping the rating to 1 star. Despite this novel being tagged as a comedy, it's just unfunny. The main humor of this novel is that the MC, Jiang Beiran, will act contrary to character's expectations by denying responsibility, running away from involvement, and choosing the safest option. This is due to his system, in which the lowest reward corresponds to the safest option presented, and the next more dangerous option corresponds to a massive spike in difficulty. For this reason, Jiang Beiran always chooses the safest option to the bewilderment of the other characters who are obviously not privy to his system, as these actions include stuff like walking past altercations in which a normal martial arts MC would generally intervene. And while that might have been humorous at first, it really wears thin the longer the novel goes on, since the author is incapable of writing anything comedic beyond that.

You might be thinking, "Well, how is My Senior Brother is Too Steady better than this novel then if both are about protagonists being overly cautious?" And the answer is simply that My Senior Brother is Too Steady is actually funny. Li Changshou's danger avoidance is not the end of the joke; it's the foundation for the absurd and unexpected situations from which the novel derives comedy. There is an internal logic to Li Changshou's actions. On the other hand, this novel just has Jiang Beiran mindlessly picking what the system presents as the safest option every time. Characters act surprised for a second, that's it. Even if the other characters might not expect his choices, the reader does, so there's little surprise in what he does.

I used the word "mindlessly" earlier with regards to Jiang Beiran picking options, but to be fair, Jiang Beiran does do a lot of rumination about why certain choices are safe or dangerous. And sometimes he gets caught off guard by the safest option being instead something which requires his involvement as opposed to running away. However, all of this thinking doesn't really matter in the end since he will just blindly pick the safest option from the system anyways. At one point, he even says to himself something along the lines of "Why am I thinking so hard? I have the system." This is terrible system slop where Jiang Beiran just brainlessly follows along with whatever the author writes the system to present. There's really no rhyme or reason to his actions, just whatever the system says to do (as the safest option), he does. And what this means is that the story is directionless since Jiang Beiran has very little agency. The plot is being driven by the system, and the system is whatever the author wants to write it as.

So then you might be thinking, "Well, how is The Eldest Martial Sister Gave Up Treatment better than this novel then if both are about this same type of system?" And it's the same deal; The Eldest Martial Sister Gave Up Treatment is actually funny. Even with Bai Lian in that novel picking the safest options, she still ends up in comedic situations and misunderstandings. On the other hand, this novel does not do that, or if it does, these scenes are simply not executed well. So what you end up getting is a meandering slice of life martial arts novel similar to My Master Breaks Through Only at the Last Moment. This novel parodies martial arts tropes and cliches, but it doesn't really do anything interesting with them, it's more just Jiang Beiran going "Holy moly, I can't believe I'm seeing this trope!"

So I can actually stomach a novel being boring for quite a while. But this novel is actually actively bad on top of this. In particular, Jiang Beiran is this type of jerk protagonist who acts cold and berates his peers, and female characters become attracted to him because "he's different than other guys, he was mean to me" type of nonsense, hence the harem tag. He's secretly powerful and skilled in all fields due to his system. He's technically a reincarnated middle schooler when he first transmigrated, but he's somehow media/genre-savvy in multiple areas. He's cunning and ruthless and criticizes other characters for not using their brain enough (god forbid if he actually had to think without the system though). Other people are "tools" for his disposal. This is actual loser fantasy territory. This "I can get women by expressing negative interest in them" misunderstanding type of situation combined with these self-insert qualities. I understand that it's supposed to be a comedic situation in that he is noticed by women despite Jiang Beiran's best attempts to avoid them, but it's really not that funny. It's instead more like the ragebait you would see in TV dramas where there's a female character who's delusional and obsessed with the male lead.

I think this novel is misogynistic. It's not an extremely overt way, but the writing of the female characters alone is so terrible that it's hard not to think that the author hates women. Like they're all written to be stubborn annoyances to Jiang Beiran and are laughably one-dimensional. In the system, women in particular are "trouble" to him given novel tropes, and he talks about taming them to assert dominance. And it's really baffling to me that this novel has a harem tag because of all of this. I cannot imagine reading any of these characters and being like "yeah, she's my waifu".

So yeah, this novel is actually awful the longer I read it. It's so dull and directionless seeing Jiang Beiran get tossed around from one system choice to the other. Most of the side characters are uninteresting, Jiang Beiran is grating with his "tough love", there's very little comedy or action to speak of, etc. Unappealing overall and an extremely missed opportunity. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Lolistalker
Lolistalker rated it
June 26, 2023
Status: c426
Unfortunately, the translation after 200+ chapters is becoming worse and worse but the story itself is quite interesting.

Modern man being reincarnated in the cultivation world but instead of using cheat to become invincible and beat up everyone, he was forced to be a power in the shadow by the system while also doing reform in the mortal world in the open similar to "Release That Witch" although nowhere near as deep, it is still very interesting and rather unique.

I wish we have more Xianxia stories like this which is basically... more>> Cultivation with an interesting twist as I'm already tired of traditional cultivation stories or boring cheat system that made you godly without effort. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Star games
Star games rated it
May 31, 2025
Status: --
A unique choice type system where the greater the rewards the greater the danger, the MC always chooses the simplest option for safety. It's quite different from the average cultivation CN novel, though the style and plot goes off later on in the novel with the MC coming into the open. Overall quite good, not the most interesting webnovel around but still good enough.

The biggest problem is the translation quality which is not great, but still ok.
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leave a Review (Guidelines)
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.

Novel Updates

User Tools

Latest Series

| Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Contact Us