Really wanted to like this because author Fengling Tianxia has written several other decent novels, but I couldn't due to the intelligent yet ridiculously illogical main character. Two examples of what I mean:

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Spoiler

1. He is intelligent enough to realise his family (the clan branch family) were secretly supporting him during his exile in the hopes of getting him to sacrifice himself in his revenge against the clan main family, but he decides to go ahead and blows himself and all of them up anyway. Strong hate and ruthless determination displayed: awesome! But then, on the path to reincarnation, he meets and immediately forgives the person who plotted against him and got him crippled after hearing her (sob) story.
2. Okay, that isn't so bad. However, after reincarnating, the MC realises his new family is in a powerful but precarious position and decides to be low key to avoid political troubles from the Emperor. After making this decision, what does he do? He displays such advanced behaviour as a baby that his parents are boasting about him being a genius to visiting guests. The very chapter following this, he once again reiterates the importance of being low key.

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If you don't mind illogical MCs who flip-flop on their previously determined characterisation, this novel might work for you, but I had to drop it once my SOD was ruined, unfortunately. <<less

In backwards societies we have superstitions like "Albinos" are evil, and "Twins are cursed unless you drown one of them at birth."

We have a three year old who is super smart, talks like he is 40, knows strange magics, and can match wits with the savviest of the kingdom. How is the reaction anything other than "Burn the Witch at the Stake!"? Genius toddlers are way to ridiculous.

An absolutely hilarious story, with a protagonist that is multifaceted, and multidimensional. First things first, the protagonist adores his facade as silkpants, and he plays it so well! Every scene encompassing his silkpant behaviour is embellished, and exaggerated to the extreme, so as to be comical in its sheer arrogance, and sadism. It has to be said as a fact, that the entertainment value of Ling Tian's behaviour is far more amusing than Zhang Ye's over 900 chapters of 'facesmacking' in 'I'm Really a Superstar'. The latter story being infamous... more>> throughout the circles for it's ability to leave a reader feeling fulfilled, and content.

Now onto the second point. The world building is astonishingly unique, political, and interpersonal. Every character introduced matters. There are plots within plots. Overarching plots, that birth seemingly insignificant results, yet in the long term express themselves quite hauntingly. Added together with a fully-fleshed out protagonist that isn't simply a self-righteous hypocrite, audience whom by this point in time are Jaded by the usual xianxia righteousness, are finally allowed to breathe in wonderfully fresh, and satisfying air.

Thirdly, the romance. It's calculated. Developing over years. It's not forced either, as there are simple psychological cues involved. This leaves the context, and indeed the relationships that much more realistic. Heaven-shaking beauties matter, but even they can be humiliated, and discarded. How refreshing!

Absolutely would recommend this story to anyone seeking a new venture, especially for those craving something similar, yet a little different, from 'Warlock of the Magus World'. Please do not put off by the first few chapters. The protagonist does not redeem himself! <<less

Horrible!

The first 3 chapters about MC past life doesn't tell anything about how can he be that smart.

Where did his geniusity came from?

... more>> MC want to be "low key" but keep causing troubles here and there. Want to avoid political trouble but showing up a super duper intelligence that even surpass the kingdom's old schemer while being a toddler that should still wet his bed, and show that geniusity to his potential political enemy.

Author need to learn how to make an MC who want to be low key but accidentally become spotlight from Mars.

In the 2nd life, MC somehow become very arrogant, where did his arrogancy came from? <<less

World-Building: 3/5

Main-Character: 2/5

Side-Characters: 1/5

... more>> General Plot: 4/5

Comedy: 4/5

Writing: 5/5

TL;DR: Dropped as of Ch 77, this novel has great writing and is quite funny but suffers from 2D side characters that only exist to worship the MC. This novel also suffers from an MC that never has any real challenge and is pretty much a perfect god at everything.

This story started off extremely good. Here we have your typical reincarnation into another world and although at first this story seems to be your generic copy-cat; it surprisingly stands well on it's own. I've dropped this story at chapter 77 for biased reasons which has to do with the writing of the side characters.

The author's world-building was done quite well, he doesn't try to introduce to much at once while he also doesn't slowly wait to introduce the world as the MC progresses.

The MC Ling Tian is a bit off-putting for me. He's virtually perfect at everything, he's a supreme being that rarely faces any real trouble as nothing ever surprises him. Instead of feeling like a real character he feels more like the author of the story as he bends all things and people to his will.

The main reason for me dropping this story is the side characters that are not only 2D but also suffer from Hero Worship Syndrome. Although some of them may have cool introductions, great fighting skills and tragic backstories; they all inevitably turn into mindless drones that do nothing but worship the MC, love the MC, live for the MC and die for the MC. When I come across a story that has this element, it's almost an instant drop for me. If anything, the relationship between MC and side characters reminds me of the relationship between Griffith (Berserk) and the rest of the Band of the Hawk.

Ex.

MC meets Bobby

Bobby tells MC tragic backstory

MC thinks of some reason to recruit Bobby.

MC gives Bobby some bread.

Bobby changes his name to MC Bobby and begins to fervently worship the MC as his all mighty savior.

The plot was done well. Not much to be said here without spoiling anything; basically the author sets out to tell a story and I would say that he accomplished this.

The comedy was very good, it had me laughing about twice the usual amount compared to the average novels on this website.

The writing itself was the strongest point of this novel. The author is extremely detailed and has real skill at building tension, choice of words and especially writing a more mature feeling Xuanhuan.

Overall, I would recommend that you give this novel a shot. I really was enjoying it at first but I sadly found myself lose interest after seeing how the MC basically had no challenge and because of how plain the side characters are. <<less

If you want a story about Martial arts expert reincarnating, and becoming young master of prominent family, through raw martial powers and cunning plots raising his influence in secret and confronting Martial World, go ahead and read 'Rebirth of The Heavenly Demon' by Jang Young Hun.

This story is like vulgar parody on genre consisting of bragging and silly schemes.

This is strange. 'Transcending the Nine Heavens' by the same author was rated highly by me. Is this work of his so much worse,... more>> or did my tastes change? <<less

I just want to say that I'm disappointed in the first person who gave this a rating of 1 in the first 5 chapters. In my own opinion, this novel is actually a really good one after I read the first 5 chapter. Here's the first 5 chapter summary:

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Spoiler

The MC is betrayed by his family and get his cultivation destroyed, after some time his sister give him a phone to nuke the marriage between the girl that betrayed him and another rich guy. He nuked them and met her in the road to afterlife and she thanks him. Feeling better and understanding the girl, he try to find the girl to be reborn together but he got stuck. After a bunch of things happen, he reincarnated.

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What the hell is this the same autor of so many good novels like OEM wrote this garbage!!!

Its so bad the whole plot started with the MC being trick by his terrible sisters only to end killing himself to kill one of them so the other could profit... and them he forgive them... ok saw worst stuff it decent.

But Them he reincarnates and start training in the womb it take 5 chapters for him to be born and like a tensei japanese novel now we have to deal with a... more>> 3 to 5 year old brat for like 30 chapters!

The problems are many like there is a bunch of people trying to kill or harm the MC but nobody around except our baby MC can notice that and even other little kids of 7 years old want to kill him to WTF.

MC family is extremly s*upid and blind besides the fact that the villains isnted of trying to plot against the grandfather the fillar of the family are trying to harm a 5 year old that would change nothing at all for them. <<less

Very s*upid protag always saying he wants to lay low but his actuon speaks otherwise. He is still in a 5 years old body and speaks with people older than him by 15x like he is equal to them. Take note one of those is like the richest person in their world. Yet he still claims he is laying low.

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Spoiler

Also, his back story does not explain why he is so intelligent. In his back story he was like a genius in cultivation until he was 17 years old, his cultivation isnt that high 5th level or something, then he lost it thru trickery of his cousin. He got depress for 3 years, and just played games to pass his time. Then his sister tells him to blow everyone that did him harm to kingdom come.

So my question is how did he become so confident of himself and why is so intelligent in the next life when he was just a loser in his previous life??

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Don't waste your time with this. I read upto chapter 45 and droped it from there. <<less

This is one of the worst novels I have ever read.

It's like you are reading how the worst human scum is getting the most powerful person. He is so arrogant that he doesn't put anyone into his eyes. Like he is a god or something. And the author seems to support this scum. He even says things like "with me here how can you ever succeed..." He is like the one guy from "histories strongest senior brother" who was a reincarnation of some other guy. Anyone who read it knows... more>> who I mean. (I don't want to spoiler so I had to write it this way.)

Dropped!!! <<less

The start's kinda random, but it's not that important for the rest of the story. Its purpose was to give the MC an angsty background and an excuse for having random information and skills. So far, it hasn't shown any relevance besides the "Look at my previous-world knowledge! Bwahaha! I'm sooooo advanced! I'm a genius with an angsty past!" effect. If the start is meh, just push through and get to the real start. Okay, I do feel that MCs as genius babies and kids are pretty weird, but at... more>> least this one is... ok. He also turns 5 and 15 fairly quickly due to timeskips. Whew.

The story feels like the author's other novels in terms of style and characterization. If you like his others, you probably won't hate this. I feel that, compared to his other novels, there are more politics and scheming here. The MC doesn't really fight that much, but I think he's coming out more in recent chapters (~100).

Romance..... it's a harem. At least MC gets rid of girls he doesn't like quickly. The harem isn't annoying, but I feel that they aren't really interesting. Just flat with a bit of backstory and relevance to the plot. Tools to move the plot, I guess. I'm waiting for the MC to actually get a real wife or girl he really loves and will marry.

I like how the MC isn't the only strong one. Big fish in the small pond, eh? Glad that was avoided. The pond turned out to be far larger, so I can't wait for the MC to explore it and leave the city. I'm glad that not everyone underestimates the MC. Some treat him as equals and are wary of him.

It's an okay novel. Good read, but not something I'll remember 10 years later. I feel that the author's other works are better. The story has potential though, so I'm hoping it'll improve drastically. I'm waiting for the MC to actually get a friend, not a pawn. <<less

Pretty good. The novel is full of plots, schemes, and different powers trying to defeat each other with smatterings of cultivation and martial arts scattered within. Its a plot driven novel, not a cultivation driven novel. Its about a reincarnated/transmigraded dude who has some OP martial art cultivation knowledge and decides to take over the new world he is in.

Some parts of it are weird. The beginning is a struggle to read because there's so many chapters of the MC as a reincarnated/transmigrated 5 year old with all the memories... more>> of his past life. So its basically an OP toddler smacking grown men around and teaching them how to train martial arts. Kind of ridiculous. After a large time skip the novel gets a lot more interesting.

The romance is ok, at least there is romance, unlike some celibate cultivation novels. Sometimes its pretty unbelievable, basically all pretty females are attracted to the MC. Also this random beggar girl the MC picks off the street to be his servant becomes one the most beautiful women in the continent... sure.

Warning, the novel has a lot of chapters dedicated to dudes having drinking parties or poem reciting parties, they are pretty pointless and you can skip them. <<less

This is probably one of the best wuxia I have ever read: the character, while not exactly balanced, does absolutely not feel overpowered (of course, looking closely, his mastery of the 4 arts isn't something he can just explain by a rebirth), it's a lot more about politics and the barely stable situation and deep schemes that keep the reader hooked.

We don't have the general template of "I'm a poor random dude who keeps finding "random" opportunities that allow him to break through the heavens in 1/100th the time other... more>> people do", this guy actually holds the entire world on his chessboard and moves it in the ways he wants it to <<less

From the first thirty-two chapters that I've read, the short part of the story before his reincarnation can pretty much characterize everything. The main character is hopelessly arrogant, believing himself to be infallible much of the time, yet it's proven multiple times that he clearly isn't. Rather, it simply seems like there is no other individual to refute or outplay him (yet). Although we're still pretty earlier in the story, I can say with certainty that this story will be mostly about scheming, with some action thrown in here and... more>> there. If you've read the author's other works (namely Otherworldy Evil Monarch), it's a lot like that.

Now, fair warning, the main character is, as mentioned, arrogant. He is also ruthless, cold, and prone to bursts of violence. However, the story is actually pretty interesting thus far, and the writing is done very well. Even the translation is quite good (especially for Qidian). And to top it all off, the interactions with his new Ling family are actually (surprisingly) funny. It's definitely an enjoyable read, but only if you don't think too deeply about it. <<less

Really good read, one of my favorite novels on the site. MC is smart and ruthless to his enemies but hes also kind and caring to the people he cares about. MC reincarnates with his previous life's memories which creates a super OP MC. He basically slowly takes down the super powers of his world while building his own empire using schemes and tricks.

Chapter 1-3

The MC has his revenge against his family, and manages to kill dozens of innocent people when doing that. He then rationalizes that by being completely hypocritical about it (they don't have enough talent, the weak are prayed by the strong, it's ok to kill ordinary people).

He a sociopath and a psychopath, one more to add in the endless list of edgelords infesting Chinese WN.

... more>> After chapter 3

It's better, the MC seems more bearable, though he's way too arrogant, and actually too showy while pretending to be low key.

Older MC (after time skip)

At least he's a good character now, scheming and hiding his true self. The story has become better and more interesting thanks to that. <<less

I should have trusted my instincts and stopped at chapter 3. It didn't get better, but worse. 413 chapters later, I'm left with a harsh lesson. (If it makes you wanna drop it only a few chapters in, you probably should just drop it)

The entire story is ruined by relationship the author pukes out between MC and a irreconcilable thot makes me never want to try reading any of his stories again.

This MCs s*upid choices/logic and unrealistic behavior marks this one of the worst novels I've ever read.

I usually read a lot more chapter before I even rate a novel but I just can't stand this novel. The MC is so arragont for no reason beside being a dillhole. He reincarnated into a new world with family that love and cherish him but he's so rude and inconsiderate for everyone in his family beside his mom. The way he talks and treat his dad and grandpa who love him is repusling. What make it worst is that in his past life he was never really love or... more>> cherish by anyone so shouldn't he cherish this more now but nope. He wants to be low key but his way of laying low key is one of the worst pile of crap writing I had seen. The way he act with his arragont attitude make me believe his past family had reason to destroy him before he grow strong enough to threaten them. He has zero humbleness. Another big plot armor is the author portray him as an all knowing genius but there was no explanation why that is. He was reborn and suddenly knows everything and anything. The author also dumb everybody else around him so to make the MC seem even smarter. Ohh and apparently looking into someone eyes you can basically tell if they're enemy or not and what they're thinking cause he's just that good. <<less

Decent novel.

Pros

• • Most parts of the Mc

• • Politics and Worldbuilding are well done and interesting

Cons

• • Pacing is screwed near the middle

• • Romance is garbage

• • Power system sucks

Contrary to what most other comments are saying, the MC isn't unbearably arrogant, although It's understandable for people to think so if they haven't read to a certain point. He originally did hold some arrogance due to the fact that he had his supernatural martial arts in a world seemingly bereft of them. Once he learned that people with abilities like his existed he changed to become more wary and cautious.

He still has his confidence, but considering how he's more powerful than 99% of the characters I think it's well founded. Also, the MC does reiterate the idea of keeping his power secret and he does exactly that.

Only one time did he show his high intellect off and it wasn't something earthshaking.

He even ruined his reputation for 10+ years for the sake of laying low.

The politics in this novel are actually done really well.

The biggest forces are the 8 major aristocratic families (the Ling Family belongs to this category), the empires, and the Xiao family.

There are conflicts on every level ranging from internal conflicts within families, internal conflicts within empires, and conflicts between the major powers themselves.

Every power other than his family is an obstacle to MC and his goal, so he has to scheme around everybody else to gain what he wants.

The side characters are overall pretty stale.

Most of them are just followers of the MC who are there to make him look good.

The ones that are interesting aren't given nearly as much screen time. Overall other than the MC and a couple others the cast is lacking.

The pacing was good for the first 350~ chapters.

After that things started to drag for no reason.

Maybe 4 months passed over the next 200 chapters from that point before things started moving at a faster pace.

The power system is done badly.

The author barely explains things.

Terms are thrown around without much context.

At some points it feels like there are 2-3 different power systems at play, not because of different power sets but because of all the terms the author throws out.

The power of the MC himself is also inconsistent.

For example

The romance was the worst part of this novel.

It honestly hurt to read some of the stuff that happened because of how bad it was.

MC has 6 girls in his harem.

The romance between the MC and some of them was worse than the average xianxia romance, which is saying a lot.

At least MC usually saves the lives of women in those before they inexplicably fall in love with him. MC literally makes 3 of the girls fall in love with him simply by doing things like painting or reciting poetry.

Out of the remaining 3 girls though, one of them is worse than any of the others.

Honestly only Ling Chen has an acceptable romance with the MC, as they grew up together.

Even taking away the stories of how they fell in love with MC or their backstories, the girls all have the same personality which makes things boring.

If I was rating this story off of romance alone it would be a 0/5.

Overall the story was alright.

While the messed up pacing and romance dragged the story down, the MC and the politics make up for it. The ending was also kinda refreshing and didn't leave me unsatisfied.

Also