Legend of Ling Tian

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Ever met someone who started cultivating from his mother’s womb?

He does not care for his image, willing to take all steps necessary to ensure his plans succeed!

Watch Ling Tian, martial arts genius, who crossed from the modern world to the ancient times, bringing with him all his memories from his past self!

A person with high comprehension talent, blessed with the gift of eloquence as well as a burning desire to be the best!

Join us as we follow Ling Tian’s adventures in this new world has appeared in! Watch as he plays with the politics of the court and of the Great Families, and how he finds his allies which will help him to conquer this world!

Associated Names
One entry per line
LLT
凌天传说
Related Series
Transcending the Nine Heavens (Shared Universe)
Otherworldly Evil Monarch (Shared Universe)
Realms In The Firmament (Shared Universe)
I Am Supreme (Same Franchise)
Recommendations
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Transcending the Nine Heavens (2)
Adorable Creature Attacks! Cuteness Overload! (1)
Otoko Darake no Isekai Trip ~BL wa Okotowari~ (1)
Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil (1)
The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Best Novels I Read in years (Must read for you)
  2. Novels that I have read
  3. Already Read
  4. everything little little in to the middle
  5. Intelligent MCs

Latest Release

Date Group Release
08/04/17 Webnovel c11
08/04/17 Webnovel c10
08/04/17 Webnovel c9
08/04/17 Webnovel c8
08/04/17 Webnovel c7
08/04/17 Webnovel c6
08/04/17 Webnovel c5
08/04/17 Webnovel c4
08/04/17 Webnovel c3
08/04/17 Webnovel c2
08/04/17 Webnovel c1
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49 Reviews sorted by


Macho
Macho rated it
September 8, 2020
Status: Completed
It was a great read.

The story revolves around the struggle for hegemony in a new world dominated primarily by Chinese culture and olden mannerisms. It felt real; the people were real; the culture was real - and the world breathed with ease and without plotholes or deus-ex-machinas to further the plot.

The style of writing is very good. It's not as fluffy and non-sensical as most of the 1RMB-net-cafe sh*t being pumped out nowadays. It's quite poetic in its descriptions, yet not as fluffy and annoying as most of the works... more>> written in this kind of style. Maybe one of my favorite aspects of the story is how it's written overall. Everything has descriptions and at no part did I feel like the flow of reading had been cut off.

It's heavily focused on Ling Tian's; the ambitious, overbearing protagonist's adventures with segments of light-heartedness along the way, yet with drama and conflict well suited for the setting of the story.

I liked the romance, the harem, and the interactions in an olden world and how Ling Tian drew references.

The martial arts were really good; they felt like a real, natural thing that wasn't ridden with uncertainties and problems veiled with a simple blanket of mystery.

A few problems I had when reading it were the self-fellatio of the author in terms of Ling Tian's deeds and thoughts. Every scheme and underlying meaning in a sentence, every wordplay, and its effect had to be explicitly explained, which made me feel like I, as a reader, was being looked down upon.

Another thing that irritated me was the sometimes self-righteous and hypocritical behavior. Even if mostly acknowledged in monologue. And I do suppose it's simply a part of the culture of olden China from what I've read these genres for the past years.

The military, nationalism, and brotherhood. I suppose the aforementioned concepts would have a better effect for a Chinese-influenced reader with Eastern values, rather than a Western reader with a whole different perspective towards the world. Which brings me to my distaste towards the things mentioned: the military seemed highly annoying most of the time with the very strange behavior devoid of individual aspirations in a melting pot of unity most of the time, yet I suppose it's not too big of a fault; only a point of annoyance when mixed in with the nationalism.

Nationalism. The MC (author) is very nationalistic, yet when placed in a world devoid of people of different ethnicities - it comes out as somewhat baffling and cringy at times, rather than the typical CN-bullcrap of ignorance.

[Edit: Might as well shortly mention that the nationalism is in the form of 'Han-pride', rather than the more commonly known variation of 'Han-superiority'. He doesn't at any point diss other ethnicities, rather it's just the aforementioned self-fellatio making plays once more in a different form]

The brotherhood aspect is another thing that annoyed me at some points. It's the cultural difference and I know it, but it's a great part of what was left inside my thoughts and memories of my experience reading it, hence I felt it worth mentioning how it seemed somewhat over-the-top, cringy, and hypocritical at times.

I suggest reading it. It's overall a great story with a well-fitting main character for the story. There will be some aspects which will probably annoy you to some extent. It's still really good; even in terms of literature overall. <<less
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Dashj6217
Dashj6217 rated it
March 23, 2018
Status: c5
Spoiler

Dropped this garbage very quick. First the MC is learn people used him in the first life, but did not try to kill them instead as they are even worse than the people who crippled him.

That was not a major problem for me, but his reincarnation was as this what caused me to dropped after reading it. It had me like "oh god" as he was reincarnated into a yellow people world you did not understand I am not racist as it said yellow people and he was excited about it. I hate novels with no creativity as everyone is the same skin tone might as well make them all the same gender to (Male). The author is like most Chinese light novels that play with themselves to the Chinese flag and it anthem thinking that they are the kings gods of the world. That world would be hell as it is like a black reincarnate into a world full of whit people they would think he is a specially specimen one of its kind a half breed between a gorilla and human to form him and lock him in a zoo for studies.

[collapse]
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Anonymousse
Anonymousse rated it
October 30, 2017
Status: --
Lots of inconsistency.

Prev life: MC describe as rare genius of the family with abnormal ability to calculate and set traps, BUT still s*upidly jump into a trap just to save someone who he dislike. Thin line between genius and idiot proved by this. Not to mention he also voluntarily walk into someone scheme just to satisfied his thirst of revenge which end with his death.

Present life: MC suddenly become smarter. Probably bc too much spining his head in soul mode fix his brain.
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Dante777
Dante777 rated it
June 11, 2020
Status: c3
Talk about an absolutely shitty start. 3 chapters in and I have lost all respect for the MC. He is betrayed by one of his sisters, gets crippled and then is setup to be used as a tool by another sister so she can take over after he kills everyone and gets revenge. He could have got his revenge by blowing them all to hell using a remote trigger but, for sh*t writings sake he has to be on site to die with everyone. So in the end he gets... more>> revenge on everyone but, the 2nd sister who used him as a tool to kill everyone just gets off completely free.

What was beyond s*upid was that the MC forgives the first sister who betrayed him and led to him being crippled an expelled from the family. When they are in the afterlife he is laughing and enjoying his revenge when we get some lame ass story about her feeling guilty for what she did. The MC does a 180 and completely forgoes his hate and wishes they can be brother and sister again in the next life so he can protect her....

Yup! That sh*t plot actually happened.

I could give a sh*t if she felt guilty. The only reason I would wish for her to be my sister in the next life would be so I could kill her all over again.

MC is also a hypocrite. He is enraged and wants his revenge because he feels wronged for what his family did to him. Yet, he feels no guilt whatsoever over the fact that he killed numerous innocents when he bombed his 1st sister wedding to get revenge. He tried to act like its their fault for being weak which is just s*upid because if that were the case then he has no justification for his revenge because he is weak and deserved what he got. <<less
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xinan
xinan rated it
November 6, 2019
Status: Completed
The novel starts off good. Towards the middle, it becomes too big and later on it becomes hard to salvage. Alas, it is a good read.

The story starts with a boy who hates the world and reincarnated by illogical means (aren't all the novel the same?) and arrived at a distant alternate Wuxia world (with mid warring Chinese dynasty as the main theme). While it is good, the only illogical is the slow pace of the time inside the novel. There's no time skip but only 2-3 years for all... more>> those war to happens.

As for character development, it is done beautifully, but not without flaws. Some character are just too weird to exist.

Overall, it is a good ride, I wont give it a 5, but it is definitely at 4 (my rating is biased because I like to rate the rating based on the ending, and the ending only deserves a 3) <<less
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Moxmox
Moxmox rated it
October 17, 2019
Status: Completed
Good harem development.

Good world building.

Good drama and streamlined fight scenes.

The cultivation system is confusing, though.
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WaDe
WaDe rated it
September 7, 2019
Status: Completed
Surprisingly satisfying novel undeserving of the low ratings due to Qidian, translation is also of good quality and consistent. The MC is well polished, there are no dumb decisions made or unnecessary skirt chasing. The harem is one of the rarely well done ones, the way the girls join and accompany him feels natural to the flow and progress of the story. Hardly any unnecessary fillers throughout the chapters thus the story has decently fast progression and is action filled. If you didn't know when the chapters end, you'd be... more>> surprised at how fast you reached the finale. <<less
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Rath
Rath rated it
August 20, 2019
Status: --
The novel is not as good as the authors other works, but there is a lot less ranting in this one so it makes up for.

If you can get past some of the minor faults at the beginning of the novel, you should notice it is an enjoyable well made story. A good mix of a serious story and comedy.
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VeryForgetful
VeryForgetful rated it
March 18, 2019
Status: c637
Probably my favorite out of all the chinese novel. I don't know why NU is f*cking up the release number recently but this novel has about ~640 currently translated.

I'm going to review by going through the points of complaint usually seen in chinese novels like this one:

  • The character in this novel are very well fleshed out. From the main characters to the main supporting cast they really feel alive instead of some hollow, disposable character #1546. They all have a personality and a unique trait of some sort. Each of them has a rule that they live by that set up their purpose and makes their character consistent.
  • The villains aren't brainless idiots. They are actually quite smart and cunning rivaling our protagonist to a certain degree depend on which one we're talking about.
  • All the heroine for the protagonist are likable. They all have to go through some big challenges before being able to stay with the MC. A common recurring theme for them is choosing between the one they love and their family.
  • The protagonist is extremely competent maybe too competent sometimes. He is OP but nothing outragous relative to his opponent. His main strength lies in his intelligence is really nicely highlighted through out the novel. The main thing keeping him back is how to keep both his women happy while getting his goal.
  • Martial strength in this novel is quite limited compare to other novel, it doesn't give you extended life span, no wolverine healing factor, no endless stamina, and not being able fight hundreds, thousands of soldier. So instead the story has to be a battle of wit in a lot of part. And since raw strength is nerfed, this is one of the novel where stuffs like technique actually come to play and matter, which makes the fights a bit more creative.
  • The story moves nicely, decently paced, has an actual sense of progression, doesn't feel repetative.
  • Once again the biggest pro of the novel is its characters. Every one of them has clear strength and weakness and through each interaction they have, each action they take shows their personalities and make them feel like living beings. The main cast has a good dynamic with the protagonist that really makes the story more interesting to read.
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k-r-i-s
k-r-i-s rated it
August 30, 2017
Status: c47
It's a bit slow at the start but hopefully, it speeds up a bit.

I do like it. I'm glad he understands being low key is the way to go otherwise his family might get destroyed even if he can't be killed.

I'm glad OP isn't a total perv either. That's been the case with some reincarnation stories and it's kinda off putting. He has goals and he works towards them properly. But I do want him to become pervy in the future in the sense he could at least sleep around... more>> or have multiple wives since this seems like a place where that is fine. Non-pervy characters in their teens just don't make sense. They should at least think about the opposite s*x and act a bit instead of just being aloof like weirdos and I'm a bit worried the author will make him go the way of a weirdo. <<less
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aattss
aattss
August 5, 2017
Status: c94
Well, first, you can skip the first three chapters. They're about some weird revenge su*cide fantasy that fortunately isn't even relevant to the rest of the story, so, uh, yeah...

Next, the character actually was born with his cheats, which I thought would be fascinating because maybe 80% of the story wouldn't be about everyone laughing at the MC for the waste even as there's no tension because it's obvious it's all building up to the MC defeating everyone with his OP cheats... except three chapters later, I'm getting warning signs... more>> towards overused cliche genre conventions. So, I'll be seeing how this turns out.

edit: Tried reading it again.

"All women were like thus, if the man of their dreams was stronger than them, then she would not bother putting in the effort to think, blindly believing in their own beloved to take care of it."

The "all women are <something unironic>" always pisses me off whenever I see it. <<less
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James900
James900 rated it
June 20, 2020
Status: Completed
Alot of haters who haven't finished reading the entire book, but still speaks nonsense like how they know the whole plot.*sigh*

Kudos to the author and the translators for a Job well done!

Thanks for the effort in writing this great novel who accompanied alot of people through the years!

Great novel worth reading with a refreshing ending. 5/5
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MaceTheDon
MaceTheDon rated it
November 5, 2019
Status: Completed
Decent novel, a lot of things didn't make sense throughout, yet it was a rather enjoyable read. The ending is very rushed & not good at all... the shoehorned sacrifice of a completely unimportant character felt so incredibly cheap. The harem was completely unnecessary, filled with all of the same personalities, with perhaps the exception of Li Xue. The epilogue is absolute crap btw.

Ultimately I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but only to those who don't mind reading it as a time waster.
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VvvV1225
VvvV1225 rated it
May 15, 2018
Status: c200
Having read the author other works (OEM, Realm in firmament, TNH), the only thing I can say, they are similar, to each other in some way, with slight difference them.

So if you read the novels mentioned above, you will get bored, however if it's your first time reading the author work, go for it's really a good novel.
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cumb
cumb rated it
March 25, 2022
Status: c28
The plot seems rather unique compared to most novels but it's nothing outstanding as of yet. One thing that I can't keep quiet about is how blatantly the author tries to stretch out the word count. There are clumped sentences in paragraphs where the author repeats the same thing over and over again by restructuring the sentence.

The amount of redundancy I see in certain sentences and even paragraphs is appalling. Things like "looking at his granddaughter scream and shout in excitement excitedly" (forget the double excitement, the author already mentioned... more>> how excited she was in the previous paragraph as well). Ik it may seem small but it happens way too frequently. IDK if this is a translator or author problem but either way it obstructs the reading experience.

Currently, it's just a skimmable novel for me. (At ch. 28) I'll try to get further and will update if this improves.

Update (ch 40) - down to 1 star, the lazy writing isn't just prevalent in the writing style but the plot itself. That whole scene with the grandma and MC was honestly the most ridiculous sh*t I've read in a while. Everything is so damn forced. Don't read this tr*sh.

p.s remember that double excitement example earlier? There happens to be another moment mentioning her excitement in the paragraph after. 0 creativity. From the plot itself to the writing ability. <<less
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Kuzero
Kuzero rated it
March 21, 2022
Status: c200
EDIT: so I read more, up to chapter 200. After chapter 50 or so it becomes a lot better, but it becomes bad in a different ways. Dropped. There are three main problems.

First, everyone is dumb. That's crazy. There is really no intelligence to be found. Some might argue "hey, isn't that common for chinese web novel to have dumb and poorly written characters?", and I would agree, but the usual novel doesn't pretend to be full of scheming and conspiracy. I really feel like facepalming when a character speaks... more>> of a very basic plan, then the author spends a whole chapter of characters praising the plan and how genius is the person who made it.

Seondly, extremely slow pace. There is just nothing happening. Everything is over-explained, over-described, side quests pop up all the time, dragging out the plot and word count needlessly. I feel like nearly nothing happened in over 100 chapter, and for a novel who only has 700 chapters, I have high doubt this novel will have a satisfying development considering the slow pace. Anything that should take 10 - 20 chapters will instead take 50 - 60 chapters by stretching it as much as possible. This novel has 713 chapters, but would be much better if condensed into 300 chapters. Heck, the first 200 chapters can easily be condensed into 50 - 80 chapters. Just remove all the chinese propaganda, wine drinking and repeated sentences and you already lose 25% of the novel, without even going into the over-description and so on.

Thirdly, inconsistency. The author spends so much time over-explaining stuff that he forgets the big picture. So, the MC is a weaper expert, eh? Why did he never think of using that knowledge in the new world...? What, not that kind of novel? I guess. Oh, the MC wants to rule the heaven? Why though? "Because I'm called Ling Tian!". Ah, of course, what a reason. The whole arc that last hundreds of chapter also make no sense, though explaining it would take forever. Add in the people acting out of character for plot convenience, the extremely convenient events and so on, and you get the general idea. Again, for a novel supposedly focusing on political intrigue, this is really bad.

OLD REVIEW

Chapter 31. I'm puzzled. This is both kinda decent and absolute tr*sh at the same time. And by tr*sh I don't mean good junk food; I mean tr*sh.

Here is a short way to know if this novel is for you. You can read it as an alternate synopsis.

Are you tired of arrogant young master? I mean, tired of seeing them die? Tired of always seeing the hard workign protagonist win, instead of the golden spoon young master? You find their arrogance cute, their s*upidity adorable and their brutality gets you wet? Look no more! Legend of Ling Tian is the story of Arrogant Tian, who unlike the average young master gets the benefit of being protected by the author as well as having the mystical power of bullshit. Indeed, when randomly spouting nonsense with absolutely no proof or even reason to think so, said bullsh*t will always prove to be true!

What are you waiting for? Start Reading!

The novel does have good points, but it's fundamentally ruined by the MC and the whole chinese propaganda feeling this novel gives. By chinese propaganda, I first mean that one of the first thing the author spend half a chapter telling us after reincarnating is how the new world is filled with people looking line chinese, how they all speak chinese, how they all write chinese, and how they all have chinese culture. And in general the novel is full of mindless praise to the chinese culture. Still, this is a small problem compared to the MC, but maybe they are linekd.

I could say a lot of thing about this MC but I will only use three words to describe him: arrogant, narrow-minded, prejudiced.

Arrogant. "I'm better than you, because I'm me. Get used to it. If I want to beat you, say thank you. Don't look at me in a way I don't like. Don't smile at me in a way I don't like. Don't be in a 50m radius of me if I randomly need a punching ball. Don't you dare contradict me, lest I beat you up.".

Narrow-minded and prejudiced. "Only my way of thinking is correct. It is impossible for me to be wrong, nor is it possible for alternatives to exist. And if for some reason someone thinks differently from me, they must be a piece of tr*sh not worth sparing a glance to. If that piece of tr*sh somehow manages to do anything, it must be because there is a big conspiracy involved! And yes, you guessed it, since I'm always right, this must be the case! For I, Ling Tian, can NEVER be wrong, and don't let anyone convince you of the contrary! Author is on my side!"

Basically, he is the kind of person when, after receiving some information on a situation, will write a novel of conclusion about it which he firmly believes are right and can't imagine any other way of it happening. Here is kind of a ridiculous (summarized) conversation that happened in chapter 30:

Spoiler

Teacher: Xiao family is a merchant family that has ridiculous amount of money. Their specialty is that they got there with honest means through many generations.

MC: Impossible. No one is honest. Let me think, Xiao you said? They must secretly be hiding an army as big of that of a small empire and secretly plotting the unification of the continent. It's impossible for a big family not to plot for the unification of the continent after all, thus they must be hiding their strength and planning to backstab everyone!

Teacher: What a genius! How did you guess all that? I would never have thought....!? Damn, Xiao family...!

[collapse]

Oh, did I also say that he beat people up at the drop of a hat? After all, he is Ling Tian, the one and only. Peasants should be greatful if he beats them up.

Anyway, he is basically the young master among young master. The one true arrogant young master! Arrogant Young Master all around the multiverse have a photo of him in their room and worship him daily, dreaming to one day be as shameless as he is...

.... Truly, never did I read a novel where I truly believed the MC is just an arrogant young master. Now I did. <<less
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promet
promet rated it
September 15, 2021
Status: Completed
My ranking is 2.5 to be exact, not 3.

It's an okayish novel, but if you read two other from this author, then you've read them all. It's the usual pretending to be a pig to kill a tiger + hidden mastermind style of his. It's not actually bad, but as I said, it's nothing new coming from the author, so it might be boring if you read his other books like me.

The overall setting is cliche, but what is nice is that it's more of a wuxia than xianxia (more... more>> martial arts, less magic and immortality). It's nothing elaborate, but it's not bad, either. There's at least some basic coherent setting.

The plot is also mostly okay (except at the end, where it's boring and big meh, but at least the epilogue is funny).

Characters are somewhat okay, but most secondary characters don't have any particularly prominent personality (at least most main characters do). What is problematic is that around half of the harem falls into the second category... The author is meh at writing romance in general, I can quickly recall only one love interest in another novel that got a great romance with MC from this author, and it's not here.

The protagonist is okay: smart, strong, and ruthless yet with some moral bottom line. However, this, again, is nothing new from the author. He's got that anti-hero trope all over his books.

I liked Ling Jian a bit. For once the protagonist's "bro" was a useful and independent character (if you can call mc's underling an independent character, but he did do things against MC's wishes sometimes, so he did have an independent brain to some small degree at least).

For the harem, I guess the future empress (you'll know who it is if you read far enough) was the only good waifu. The rest is meh, and I have misgivings about some of them.

Spoiler

First, Li Xue. She had a lot of sh*t in her for someone who'd set up MC and all that. While not completely undeserving of the redemption she got, I think MC forgave her too easily, and she had some big attitude for someone who did what she has done. Like, seriously a big attitude. If she had such big beef with MC all the time, then she might as well have gone to find another man. The author made it pretty clear that she chose MC because there was nobody better, and not because she truly loved him (the author first made it clear she did love him, but then it's all that sh*t attitude from her as soon as MC forgave her and she stopped repenting).

The author in general has a tendency to make MC a pushover in front of his harem, which is honestly unpleasant to read after a while.

Second, Shui Family's girl. She is pretty similar to Li Xue in what she's done, and again, the author is being too apologetic all over the place, pretending she's been greatly mistreated whereas she fully deserved everything that MC did to her, and didn't deserve to get turned into a waifu.

Frankly speaking, most of this harem was meh, just like in the author's other novels. I think most of them should've stopped at being love interests to tease the readers. Ling Chen is good, Yu something something is still okay and deserves her spot coz she was the first one MC got attracted to, and and Li Xue could be accepted, but by God I hate her shrewish personality. As for other three, they might as well not have been there.

[collapse]

Overall, it's an average novel, but still much better than your average xianxia (since average is sh*t anyway lol). You can read this if you're bored, and you'll be entertained (hopefully). The good thing about is that the author knew his place, and didn't make it another long novel (it's 700-something chapters). <<less
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Qwerty1123581321
  • Past life, MC has a tragic back story. Later he finds out even his family branch and sister is involved in it. Yet he decides to blow himself up (note what MC did could have been done by any one, like as long as sufficient reward is given to some dying old/sick man. He might do it for his family. If all the strong experts of the ling family died, wouldn't other powers eat up whatever is left? Why would they let the side branch have the pie?
  • MC wants to be low key, but acts extremely flashy. Even the 5 year old girl could find out that MC was a genius.
  • Emperor of sky bearing kingdom, didn't mind annhilating one of the most prominent family (ling family) for a women. No matter how pretty a women, MC was able to find more than 6 of them, with the same level of beauty, that too when the MC is not a harem seeking protagonist
  • By the 18 years of age, MC had reached the peak of cultivation. Now he has eternity to do nothing. After all that, he just left these people to go to earth.
  • MC who had dealt with the previous life, should have understood the evil temptation of having power, which was the root cause of MC suffering in the previous life, yet in this life, ge built an empire. Which is said to be the most darkest place, where power represents everything. Even if his direct descendants acts kindly, what about his grandchildren/their children. There will be a bloody war. I would have preferred, if they would have become a hidden family, controlling the business empire from the dark.
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D0nutz
D0nutz rated it
June 7, 2021
Status: c300
This novel would definitely have a higher rating if the author put in some effort in explaining the cultivation system (more like adding a cultivationsystem). It is just non-existent. There is no lengthy power ups or cultivation processes, just a reincarnated op MC doing op things. Regardless of this flaw that might turn a lot of readers away, this story is an enjoyable read for me.
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Arkanth
Arkanth rated it
April 29, 2021
Status: Completed
This is a dark-comedy Wuxia novel filled with wars and politics, with martial arts being the conduit and not the end, and should be understood as such. The novel has a similar tone to the author's other works and can be very entertaining if you can get past the absurd premise and constant misogyny of the "era".

Let me preface this by saying that this novel, even though it might be classified as a Xianxia, is clearly a Wuxia, where cultivation and martial arts are purely the means to an end... more>> and are used as a backdrop and as a way to classify the strength of the different characters, so claiming it is not a good novel because of its lack of cultivation as many have done is extremely unfair to it.

That being said, the novel is very similar in tone and tropes to the other author's works, with a reincarnated main character making use of his "superior" intelligence and knowledge to become the best at every aspect, an exaltation of poetry and scholarly arts, friendships over wine, politics and a never-ending line of country-toppling beauties falling for the main character at first sight. The main character himself would probably be very familiar to anyone who has read OEM as their personality and actions are almost identical.

The premise in this novel is absurd, with the events leading to his reincarnation being as ridiculous as having a fetus cultivate in his mother's womb. If the main character was the reincarnation of some ancient immortal who could survive on the shards of his soul to cultivate I could accept this somehow, but that is not the case, and if the main character is limited to his physical body, he should also be restricted by its limitations.

If you manage to get past this introduction, the much-needed time jump of five years helps to wrap your mind around it (after all, other novels like Perfect World have even more outrageous main characters), and the actual plot of the novel begins to take place.

As mentioned, the story follows similar tropes to previous works, with countless schemes and ploys which, while forced and sometimes childish, are consistent all throughout the novel, and the main character is ruthless at times and a comedic pe*vert at others, creating somewhat of a contrast in his actions, but nothing we haven't seen before for comedic relief.

The romance in the novel is as one would expect from a harem novel, with princesses from all over the world falling deeply in love with the main character to the point of feeling sick and fainting for no apparent reason, and yet, the author makes a good job of giving each of them a relevant role up to the very end, instead of just turning them into forgotten flower vases in the corner of a room, although the back and forth between the main character and them can get repetitive late in the novel.

The main problem I have with this novel, which would always take me out of the reading, is the constant nationalistic references to the greatness of the Chinese people or the ever-present misogyny which can no longer be only attributed to the "era they are living in" and is very much a reflection of the author's thoughts on the matter, or else the characters would not be mentioning it in virtually every single chapter of the novel in one way or another. If the era is sexist, you show it with patriarchal succession lines or a male predominance in leading positions, instead of having every woman in the novel constantly telling you how inferior they are and how their only purpose in life is to please their husband, cause it gets cringey very quickly. <<less
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