Zanxing

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Corporate sl*ve Yang Zanxing, after five consecutive days of staying up late working overtime, somehow found herself in a web novel she had read last month, a classic male-oriented cultivation fantasy. She became the cannon fodder character who had appeared only for 3000 words before being killed by the male lead for scheming against his childhood sweetheart.

Yang Zanxing was bewildered. What was all this about???

The corporate sl*ve who knew the plot well, let out a deafening scream: My fate is up to me! Not to the heavens!

However…

The shark demon from 40 years ago has returned for revenge. The relics of the fairy in the secret realm and the withered Snake Shaman have reappeared in the mortal world. Furthermore, the legendary divine sword has once again seen the light of day…

Could the Heavenly Lord afford to lose?

Faced with the escalating plot challenges, Zanxing had only one goal — to reach the ending.

— The will of heaven is something that will happen no matter what, no matter how you struggle, the outcome won’t change.

— I am determined to change it.

A tale in which I decide my own life and don’t care about the the original storyline. A two-faced and c*cky martial uncle x a martial niece working hard to get to the ending.

Associated Names
One entry per line
簪星
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Do You Know How to Capture a Villain? (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Wuxia/Xianxia Novels I Like
  2. Good cultivation novels with female protagonists~
  3. Cultivation stories
  4. Decent or good Historical reads
  5. Good cultivation novels with FL protagonist

Latest Release

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03/04/25 Foxaholic c315
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02/06/25 Foxaholic c310
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15 Reviews sorted by


Lisaax33
Lisaax33 rated it
October 18, 2022
Status: Completed
From the same author as "The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage". This is a step away from the usual rebirth, revenge and face slapping books that she usually writes. This is a more lighthearted cultivation based novel in which the MC transmigrates to a novel into a role of a cannon fodder. She does everything she can to change her fate beyond what is destined for the role she took over.

There's only a few chapters translated but I was able to MTL this. The novel starts off... more>> slow, ngl I was like is this really from the author that we know and love because it was a bit bland and inconsistent. BUT SHE HAD ME AT THE FIRST HALF LOL I love this novel. It may seem a bit cliche but it's so well written. It really immerses you into this world and I just couldn't put this novel down. This should have a tragedy tag because the love between the leads (HE tho) and the people you encounter in this novel and their experiences really moves you sigh fate can be cruel. I shed tears reading it. But it does have a comedic undertone as well.

The leads are righteous and brave. The romance is a big aspect of this novel and it starts off kind of subtle at first but then it becomes all encompassing. Their intentions and love remain pure and steadfast for each other. This is a novel I will fondly look back on and think about. I hope a translator picks this up again because this will definitely be very popular! <<less
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xjgg
xjgg rated it
July 29, 2022
Status: c349
it's unexpectedly fun! MC is straightforward, she doesn't deliberately/actively overshadow the og!MC. She just keeps accidentally getting things that were supposed to be og!mc's and got punished for it; so she has to work hard to be strong enough to survive the punishments. ML is a bad tempered, bitter gourd. He has a martial nephew who follows him around and makes the situations chaotic lolll. I usually don't like misunderstandings pre-relationship and other people meddling to matchmake, but I actually quite like this one. The MC who tries to give... more>> back the limelight to og!MC and follows him around, ML who is doomed from the very start because his 9 (?) y.o martial nephew somehow is reasonably experienced in the romance department (and accidentally made some right guesses about mc's (misunderstandings!!!! MC is really more wronged than dou'e lolll) actions and words; causing ML to believe him a biiiit). It's pure chaos I actually laughed several times. <<less
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frostcrystal
frostcrystal rated it
October 6, 2023
Status: Completed
It's always very fun to me to read novels with a very male-oriented plot, but a female protagonist (and vice versa). Zanxing does it very well. The characters felt real, the romance was cute, the FL was clever, the ML was loyal. I also particularly enjoyed the fact that the original novel was a harem and how FL was basically eating popcorn on the side watching, haha.

The early-middle chapter arcs are a little slow, and that's probably where people will drop it if they do. These few arcs can feel... more>> a bit disjointed with FL, ML, and their merry gang touring the continent solving mysteries, basically. I really enjoyed the mid-novel plot twist (although you should really be expecting it by now if you like reading xianxia). Because the author spent so much time building up the characters, it was both touching and heart-wrenching. Meanwhile, the finale was a rather interesting concept, although again, getting there was a bit draggy. It struck a good balance for me on being abstract yet easy to understand; dramatic and world-saving, but avoiding that eternal "there's always a bigger fish" cycle trap.

I also liked the fact that this is a story which had a clear beginning and end. A lot of cultivation novels go on for absolute ages until the author gets tired of writing, but Zanxing seems to have had the story worked out from the beginning, and it's fairly fresh and interesting for the genre. I also really liked how the entanglements of the previous generation are brought to bear on the present one.

Downsides: There is a recurring theme in the novel of having things the FL picks up 'by chance' early on usually become useful later on. I believe the author likely did this on purpose to tie-in to the concept of 'predestination' that the whole book is themed around. However, it can come off as too plot-armorish (in the very end especially), so it can depend on the reader's tolerance to these things.

There are also a few story choices I wanted to note. This was a twist on a harem cultivation novel by having it be from the perspective of a female side character instead of an OP male protagonist, but it did feel like the author went ahead and played the rest of the cultivation tropes straight. I enjoyed it so I won't rain on this choice, but I might have also enjoyed a more parody/satire-type take on the classic tropes.

Spoiler

My favourite twist, by the way, was that FL ends up being the one with a 'harem' of eight husbands, LMAO

[collapse]

In summary, this is the work of an author who specializes in writing emotion, romance, and politics, branching out into action/adventure. In my opinion it's a step down from the intricacy of her previous historical intrigue works, but definitely a step up from most cultivation novels out there. It reads like an experienced author with a fresh but unpolished perspective on a different genre. So if you ever feel like there is a lack of good romance and character interaction in your go-to harem cultivation novels, maybe try this one out. :) P.S. FL's mother is an absolute hoot. I about died laughing when I found out that most of the extras were dedicated to her sexploits. <<less
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SweetShireen
SweetShireen rated it
July 28, 2022
Status: --
I love this author's works so I have high hopes for this. I'm on chapter 40 on MTL right now so the rating might be changed later but so far so good. I like female oriented cultivation novels and hard working protagonists. This novel reminds me of the kdrama Extraordinary You, which is about a side character who tries to fight against "fate" (the plotline of the original story). The novel universe that the MC transmigrates to sees her as a bug in the system, something that should not exist... more>> beyond it's determined role (cannon fodder that dies early) and so it tries to eradicate her. So even if MC gets anything good, she doesn't have the luck of the original ML. Her enemy is fate itself which wants her existence gone and I find that pretty interesting. <<less
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Emme Unofficial
Emme Unofficial rated it
July 10, 2024
Status: Completed
This novel is completely different from the author's other works in terms of setting, background, world building (yes, there's actual world building) and even genre.

To me, this is a normal, fun, action-adventure story, where MC and team go on several adventures together, solve the mysteries of the world, fight villains and uncover hidden truths. It is light-hearted in tone, but it has its own happy as well as sad moments (that will make you sob at times). It's very much like a classical shounen story but with a female MC... more>> instead. The usual face-slapping you find in the author's other prominent novels (except Star General, ig) is absent in this one. This is not a tale of revenge. This is the story of a girl destined to be a cannon fodder trying to go against fate itself.

The MC, Zanxing, is like a typical shounen protagonist - optimistic, kind, hard-working... and lucky (haha). As for the ML, unlike the other 'cold' MLs that are a hallmark of this author, he is more on the arrogant, tsundere side. At chapter 165, he's just realized his feelings. I can't wait to see the romance unfold.

One thing I like about this novel is, the side characters are important and have their own roles to play (though not as big as the MCs' of course). They have their own personalities and motivations, there is group-work involved and everyone gets their chance to shine. It's not two against the whole world.

The story's a little slow at first, as the author takes her time to establish Zanxing's standing in her sect, before the adventures begin. However, it's quite engaging so far and there was never a dull moment. I will update the review once I finish reading the novel.

Edit:

I completed the novel. I was pleased with the ending, especially the twist at the very end, it caught me off guard.

Unlike most cultivation novels which don't revolve on romance, this one has a clear beginning and end. You can easily tell that the author planned every detail from the very beginning. Unlike other action novels, there isn't a huge organization, or something like 'going after the smaller fries first and defeating the final boss at the end'. In that sense, this one subverts most action-story tropes yet remains true to its genre.

If you enjoy action-adventure stories with female MC, light-hearted in nature and with a touch of romance, go for it. It's alright even if you're new to the xianxia genre. This novel is a perfect starting point. <<less
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kaister
kaister rated it
July 1, 2023
Status: c245
Zanxing is your basic modern girl, named Yang Zanxing (hence the title), getting transmigrated to a cultivation novel type of story. She was originally a cannon fodder that antagonized the original ML's love interest and was killed off in the first 7 chapters. She has basic cultivation level and obtain this special item that originally belongs to the novel's original ML that started the change in ML's fortune. So she already caused the original story to changed quite a bit, however surprisingly original ML still followed his trajectory. She original... more>> just want to live and cultivate to be strong enough to live independently away from the main story. However she eventually found out her actions cause drastic changes in the original story including element, characters, and storyline that never existed in the original novel which slowly she to her being the FL. So it's a rather interesting premise

A cultivation/martial art fighting based story is quite a change for the author's previous work. I've read several of the author's previous work starting with Malicious Empress, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Overall, at the moment, it's a decent cultivation novel. And for most part author don't write super drawn out story and do have an ending.

What drew me into this specific author's work is the author ability to establish intrigues and interest. However as I read more of this author's work...I'm noticing more and more flaws. The biggest, to me, is shallow and often unrealistic characters. First of all, all of the author's MC are a bit of a Mary Sue, which in time make certain scenario comes to a rather anti-climatic and unearned solution. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but sometimes it'll bother you so much that it takes you away from the story and make it hard for you to invest in the story but there are so much plot armor that you start to not care about any situation the MC gets into. Malicious Empress was mild enough that I just don't care about. Reborn General is a bit of the latter where MC is just too unrealistic. Zanxing, at the point where I'm at is a mixed bag for me at the moment. Zanxing is not too OP and her plot armor is not too thick... lol...

One negative to me and is rather annoying that I have to address is how shallow and cartoonish the author's made people behave. One particularly grating point is that the MC, Zanxing, is originally supposedly to be a very very pretty girl that's the fiancee of this shallow domineering young of the town the original ML lives in. So if this s*upidly shallow character that doesn't hesitate to flirt with any girl took her as his fiancee solely for her looks, cause she doesn't have a particularly impressive family background (in fact I still know nothing about her family.... only 1 maid and a butler), it means she should be a very very attractive woman. In the beginning when she obtain the special item from a monster, the monster injured half of her face. The injury was described as black streaks on half her face. Note the other half is perfectly fine and it's hinted that her face will heal eventually since this is a cultivation world where magic exists. So as a result, throughout the story she's been constantly called "fugly" directly and indirectly by.... pretty much everyone... including the new ML and I assume love interest. Characters often are quick to point out how ugly and undesirable she is and men actively avoided her... it's rather ridiculous really.

Based on what I've read, it sounds like the FL is simply a beautiful girl with a scar on half of her face. However, every characters acted like she's horribly disfigured. I mean it's grating and annoying. Look, the real world is shallow, I get it. Realistically, the world would be divided into those that care about her scars and those that don't. And between them, those that'll openly express it and those that won't. Sure there will be a few that'll openly attack her for her looks simply based on how she stands out and antagonized some of the character's in the story. However, this world everyone besides a handful of character acted like she's the ugliest person in the world and most don't hesitate to show their disgust. Why the author feel like it's necessary to establish the world like this...I dunno. I just don't know how it's narratively important for me to be constantly reminded how ugly everyone sees her. I just don't.


2nd Edit:

I wrote my first review after 155ch and this second one at 245ch. I'll probably drag myself to finish the rest of the story since I'm almost there... if I don't I'll give final thoughts on the novel.

However, as of now... this novel is not what something I'll actually recommend simply because I felt the author greatly regress compare to their earlier work. I actually wanted to drop it down to 1 or 2 stars simply because it's not getting better

First of all. To address the my earlier grip on the Zanxing's scarred face... the author kinda defended it by saying the original story was based off a cultivation novel with harem which are terrible to female characters.... so I guess it's a social commentary...I dunno. Sure but imagine a person spending 15 seconds telling a joke and then proceed to spend the next 5 minutes explaining the joke. That's basically how I felt. Now if this story is a satirical piece and constant make fun of cultivation novel tropes... then it's a different story. As of now... it's weird.

Now why am I rating it lower after reading it more.

The FL, Zanxing, is not a good compelling main lead. Here's why

  1. She relies on too much plot armor. All her successes from all the challenges she encounter is not because she outwit her opponent or she pulling move she had cultivated herself. She consistently fought above her weight class and defeat them mainly because she's "special"... it's as if the author the trying to say she can't be defeated because she's the protagonist. Why is she not affected by illusion? "Well she's the protagonist... illusion can't affect protagonist... naturally." Why is she not affected by poison? "Well she's the protagonist... these poison can't affect her at all" Look a few plot armors are harmless but a lot her victories just doesn't give me this satisfactory feeling.
  2. She's contradictory. She's a cannon fodder who wanted to dodge her doomed fate by trying to get stronger through cultivation. So her existing is going against the natural order. If she wants to obey the "natural order", she simply have to die like she's supposed to be. When she realized the "novel god" is adjusting the storyline after she "stole the thunder" from the original main character. She has a mark on her hand the getting darker and more detail for every change she main. So what's her solution? She retreated and try not to stand out too much... not to get stronger... trying to push her "good luck" back to the original main character. Look her mere existence is already defying the natural order. So why is she so caught by some kind of "natural retribution" that... she doesn't know whether it'll happen or not... she merely think this random mark that appears on her hand is telling her to stay in line. A lot of her decision and inaction is based off this assumption.
  3. She's not smart. In fact, she's kinda s*upid. Look I don't need genius level protag. I simply need a main character that thinks before they act. And maybe plan ahead. She just never seem to think beyond the surface level on anything and everything. She consistently put herself in dangerous situation and never once I felt she has anything under control. She's weirdly bold when she thinks she's doing that right thing, like saving life or helping other. Like she put other above her life. Then next moment, she's all "oh no, this random mark is the novel god telling me I'll die a horrible death. help I dun wanna die." then next moment she's all "oh yea, i'll totally jump into the fire pit to help you martial uncle. what about my life? yea I don't care about that." followed by "oh no, this mark getting darker, I'm totally getting closer to death. noooooo....i dont wanna dies" and it goes on and on. smh
Not just the FL, but everyone isn't that great of a character. I don't think there's any compelling character at all.

For example, the love interest Gu Baiying loves her because... she's nice to him and felt weirdly obligated to help him. And she likes him because he's good looking and seems to be a cool guy. I dunno. It just doesn't felt like the character organically developed feeling for each other. In fact, I felt her mom's love story is more interesting than his romance with the FL.

Mendong - this kid that doesn't act like a 9-10 years old. Him misreading cue is cute in the beginning and it just started to get annoying. He eventually started becoming a love guru giving terrible love advice to other. I guess it's meant to be cute but it comes off as more obnoxious to me honestly.

Mu Cengxiao (the original MC) and his love interest - they're just boring. These could be interesting secondary characters... like a second couple... but they're just a generic nice guy and good girl. I just couldn't care less about them. He's also a "love interest" of Zanxing but only in the view of everything except for Zanxing and Mu Cengxiao - they're cool with one another but both understands they don't have romantic feeling for one another.

Hongsu and Old man niu - The maid is weirdly obessess with Zanxing getting a "guye" (basically her miss' husband) and constantly calls the two guy Gu Guye and Mu Guye...I dunno it's weird but supposed to be cute I guess. But it accomplish nothing but putting the ML, FL, and "SML" into awkward position. Again I guess she's supposed to be perky, cute and naive... but often just comes off as weird and s*upid. The old man is Zanxing's butler, I guess, and again focused on Zanxing finding a man as the number one priorty.

Again...I just felt the author regressed as a writer and it's kinda sad cause I really like he previous work <<less
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leni1379
leni1379 rated it
November 10, 2024
Status: c258
Story interesting, but I don't like the indecisive of MC and not clearly clarify the rumors and talk, she mostly brush off their remarks, for example when rumors about the relationship between og ML and MC or with other.

And the relationship between FL and ML make me feel like having constipation.

Well, her laziness on cultivation, most of it she spent of her time dazed. (Or maybe the author not described it so in my perspective she rarely practices)

Her brain not too bright. She mostly brush off her instinct or... more>> conclusion she made. <<less
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08phamann
08phamann rated it
November 9, 2024
Status: --
I like female protagonist cultivation novels, but this novel is very bland and boring. The idea of the events of the novel deviating from original plot is interesting, and MC seems to need to keep the story flowing as close to the og novel as possible. But MC herself does not seem very strong, or smart, or likable. The ML, even though he is apparently a genius and strong cultivator, is petty and small minded. So far he has been antagonistic to the MC, and not in an enemies to... more>> lovers kind of way. He is annoying and is not attractive at all. Aside from a few side characters, the sect does not seem like a place to cultivate immortality or become stronger. Most of the people there are caricatures and either decidedly good or bad, nothing in between. There are no repercussions or consequences when bad people do bad things but when MC does something everyone scrutinises her like a hawk. The MC comments that the original author of the novel was a man and seems to hate women as all the women characters he writes are either looking to leech off men, or cold and abstinent (who then eventually enters a harem). I would say the same thing for the author of the novel itself. The author also seems to stereotype women and can't wrote women well. <<less
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Eeria
Eeria rated it
July 6, 2024
Status: Completed
It’s a 4.75

It’s another great book from the same author. It is supposed to be lighter-hearted somehow than her other works and I can see it from the story unfolds in the first fees chapters, however I don’t think the style is suitable and soon enough, the rest of the story follow the author patterns. Now, the story is extremely well written and entertaining. Kept me going and wanting to know more until the end. I will probably reread the story.
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pointoverture
pointoverture rated it
November 19, 2024
Status: c224
i have sooo many mixed feelings on this novel. Some parts are good, some parts I hate, etc. Here's an overview:

Pros:

- good storytelling. MC's travels are interesting and so are the plots she goes through. the adventuring is very enjoyable

... more>> - some pretty nice worldbuilding, especially for the generation before MC's.

- she wants to get stronger and challenge fate

- FL and ML have chemistry and nice development in their relationship.

Cons:

- FMC says that she wants to get stronger and challenge fate... but then demonstrates absolutely none of that.

- instead, because of fate, she decides to give up several important and highly valuable opportunities to gain power like they're nothing. she doesn't even bother to squeeze out its benefits

- the misunderstandings, god. I'm at 200+ chapters and every single f*cking character still thinks that FL has a crush on ogML (which is not true) and FL doesn't even bother to correct it. so painful to get through when you know its all nonsense and SO MANY chapters center around this s*upid misunderstanding. so many unecessary plot points all on something that should've been clarified 100s of chapters ago.

-ML also has this misunderstanding and wants to confess to FL, but oh here she is handing the ogML ANOTHER extremely valuable object to help his cultivation for free

- if you can't tell I'm just so pissed bc I had expectations for her when I started but she's just constantly giving away so many precious artifacts and sh*t she worked her ass off/risked her life to get to the ogML for free. god, it's no wonder that everyone thinks she has a crush on him when she shoves stuff like this in front of his face. <<less
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RubyJane221
RubyJane221 rated it
August 10, 2024
Status: Completed
Love this book so much. This is my first time reading author cultivation novel. It is so good, I devoured in 3 days. As a big fan of the author although my most favourite book is malicious empress but this book is close second. I hope they make a movie about this book
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daniela_r
daniela_r rated it
May 14, 2024
Status: c26
If your sole reason for reading this novel is the author, please think twice. I am a great fan of the author´s other works, and seeing a review saying this novel was a light-hearted reading excited me. My first thought was Yue Xia Die Ying since she went through the same path, from a heavy style to a light one, and was successful in doing so.

But changing writing styles doesn´t mean abandoning everything about the previous one. What I love about Ill-Fated Consort and Malicious Empress are the strategies. The... more>> scheming and plotting, the FL´s intelligence! So now tell me, why does Yang Zanxing not use her head? I made it to chapter 26 and couldn´t stand it. But wait! It´s not just the FL. From my understanding, cultivation isn´t just about physical strength and flashy moves. It´s about the mind! So there´s no excuse for the other characters' behavior. It feels like I´m reading about a bunch of middle-graders.

Another issue I have is the way the FL is handling the chauvinistic setting of the novel. She has done NOTHING about it, even when she could.
Spoiler

Her maid and choachman. She is their master. She had many opportunities to make them understand that she doesn´t want to depend on a man and that her life goal isn´t to get married. But she kept quiet and allowed her maid to babble about her finding a new husband. Because god forbid she doesn't. The FL wouldn´t be OOC either (no one has enough IQ to notice) so, no excuse.

[collapse]

Concluding: comparison is the source of all evil. I´m upset because I read the author´s previous works. Dear reader, maybe you´ll be different. Give it a try. <<less
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Rhea77
Rhea77
August 10, 2023
Status: Completed
Okay where do I even start, the book was really good read, it has around 3-4 arcs for the things described in the description, the mtl was ok-ok readable, the relationship between the ML and FL dosent really get better until the mid book. I finished reading it in a week just the middle arc was kinda boring which I just skipped inbetween chapters, I really love this fl, she's really very admirable, this author definitely knows how to write female leads it's quite enjoyable reading the book
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dancingdream
dancingdream rated it
April 3, 2025
Status: c315
it's super slow, and at times I just skipped some chapter to see how the plot wraps up. But the vast world and character design is fun. Especially QSCK's great skill in building a character's back story. The wufan arc, the painting secret realm, the pagoda arc. So good.

the romance is so so. And I understand its slight comedy, but misunderstandings and rumours were a bit overused.

the MC is not mary sue at all, but she could be so dense at times, probably a plot causal effect due to her... more>> being a transmigrated soul. But as time goes her character develops but her end goals weren't clear. Readers could only assume it from her inner turmoil. Does she want to save the world, and if so, has she let go of herself from her Earth modern vetsion? Questions like these weren't provided easy answers throughout the 300 chapters that I've read.

nobody:

zanxing: tripped, fell down, get s**ked into weird placed where ppl say no one has ever emerged alive and then she emerge alive. (This happen almost in every arc) <<less
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LauraTakarai
LauraTakarai rated it
October 19, 2024
Status: Completed
So, I picked up this novel because of the author. I've been reading her novels lately and got hooked to them. Her style, or what it can be deduced by reading a transaltion, has improved again.

Like she said in her notes, this one is a first attempt to a cultivation genre, and she did great.

Zanxing, our FL, transmigrated to a book as a cannon foder, however, knowing that she was bound to die, decided to change her fate, and the ending of the other characters in the world.

Great character development,... more>> good world building, steady flow and good rhytm for the story.

This novel has all the elements that a Hero's path has to have.

Overall it was a good read. <<less
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