Guts(the guy below me) has it right. This is one of the best xianxia out there. If only there was some more romance it could be my #1. Unfortunately it seems this author follows the japanese shounen route where the main character is a eunuch. There is some romance but its only developed far a few chapters every 300 chapters. Also in my opinion a harem is a must lol, I take points off for that.
Other than that the story is great, starts out slow, almost dropped it around 150, it was ok but was reading others more interesting and I wasnt liking the goody2shoes eunuch mc, fortunately I didnt drop it and kept going to 200. The story picks up immensely after that, the story takes completely unexpected turns and the author always manages to keep you guessing what the fuck is going to happen next. The cultivation and fighting methods change too with each new rank of cultivation which I find really interesting, I also didnt like the whole flying sword thing at the start. The comedy picks up too, you will laugh you ass off from time to time. This is definitely the most unique novel I have read. To give you a small taste of what I mean, right now where I am, they are fighting with pokemons on steroids, who knows what will happen next. I cant wait to see. P.S. Forgot to mention that the translator is hands down the best novel translator out there. Translations are top notch and worthy of support.

... Last updated on June 29th, 2016, 5:13am

The story starts out seemingly slow and simplistic. However, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a complex plot developing. The ending of book 1 is ridiculously awesome. It really blows your mind.

The beginning of book 2 seems kind of similar to the beginning of book 1, with a somewhat slow pace and random events. However, if book 2 is anything close to book 1, I think all of this plot development will pull together into something totally epic.

I get the feeling that this author has some very complex plans for this MC and this story. He drops clues left and right, and the cool thing is that they he doesn't forget them. Sub-plots seem to fade away, then suddenly explode back out in your face in unexpected ways.

This is not the typical level-grind xianxia story, and the MC is not your typical xianxia lead character. Meng Hao grows and changes in a realistic way, holding on to his pacifist scholar background despite being thrust into a kill or be killed world.

As a side-note, the translation and English level is among the best of any of the current crop of xianxia. While some translators leave complex terms written as pinyin, Deathblade takes the time to translate everything into English, which makes for a much smoother read (and also, everything makes sense).

... Last updated on August 9th, 2015, 8:18pm

The depth of the story stands out among all the other light novels out there. It's funny, awesome, cool, and smart. The English translations are also top notch. To not read this novel if you are a fan of Xianxia's is a sin against humankind.

There is actual foreshadowing of stuff that happens later in the story, showing that there is thought and plot behind the writing. There is an actual point to everything beyond just cultivating, getting stronger, and stomping on the enemies (a common problem among your average Xianxia like MGA).

I don't really think I need to get into explaining the story b/c if you've read the other positive reviews you should have a pretty good idea of what this is about.

Just read it. You'll thank me later.

I have to say that this is definitely one of the best Xianxia's I've come across in a while.

Story: 10/10 (Alluring, interesting, and hilarious at times.)
Main Character: 10/10 (Who doesn't love an underdog who speaks their mind.)
Characters: 10/10 (Especially Lord Fifth haha)
Translation: 10/10 (Deathblade is very reliable and consistent with his updates.)

I just wanna say few common things about reviews here,mainly people that didn't even read half of the whole story claiming they completely understand entire novel and main character.
If you didn't bother to finish story,then just skip rating it,lot of them even point it how it starts good then gets worse at some point and they drop it,truth is it picks up again in next book,it doesn't go on downwards path.

Its probably amongst the best cultivation novels out there,with high quality translation,give it a shot if you have time,its a nice journey.

Slow start, nearly dropped the series at around 100 chapters. Gets better afterwards, and the plot/comedy is pretty good read most times.

That MC though... Granted I haven't read many of the Chinese novels, but this guy's one blackhearted prick. He'll never do anything unless it either benefits himself, he can't run away like a little bitch or if he feels indebted to someone. in 99% of the cases it's either the first or second option. He'll beat and kill people if they got something he wants, and even if he causes calamity to fall upon himself (e.g. killing a vip) he feels wronged and swears to destroy their whole clan/sect. All the time I read this it feels like he's extremely similar to Xiao Yi from "My Disciple Died Yet Again" - novel.

Also, a little gripe I got with gore. It feels like people in ISSTH world will spurt out blood even if one so much as touches another. After 800+ chapters the only way to tell that a character takes serious damage is for the novel to directly tell you it. You won't knowl anything based on how much blood flows; bloodletting is so prevalent that it stops being a sign of getting hurt, but something that happens to both sides in practically every fight. It goes beyond ridiculous, and after a few hundred chapters gore has already lost its purpose, and feels more like a satire than anything serious.

Mature,interesting, profound, comedy gold, and at the end of the day satisfying. The most well written and developed Wuxia i have read so far... once you reach this far you'll agree with every word.

One of the best Novel i read so far ... Everything how MC is handling his enemies and how smart is he ... Meat Jelly, Parrot & Outtie together .. so funny!!! I love them reallyyy ... I recommend anyone to read this novel, you will be soo into it and won't be able to get bored .. i have been reading it for the past week and now i am in chapter 510 and still not bored and want to complete it as fast as i can ... if i wanna compare it with CD ... It will be the first then CD will be the second in my list as CD is a bit boring .. But this Novel is so interesting every chapter will leave u anticipating what's next ... ^_^

I ended up dropping the series half way through book one because of how poorly the main character is written. They have no depth and their sense of values and behaviour switch more or less at random from chapter to chapter. The actual writing is fairly solid for a webnovel. However the plot is formulaic at best and while some of the side characters are entertaining the novel as a whole rests on the main character. Which is why it falls down for me. You can't even like or dislike the main character because in many ways the main character doesn't exist in any kind of coherent sense. Very disappointing but at least I bailed out early.

This is just another xiaxia novel about the fall of a mortal into depravity. I don't know why authors in this genre like to make main characters that keep getting more and more amoral as they grow strong, I certainly don't like wuss and "goody two shoes" characters, but a psychopath that kills everyone who "cross" him, steals and exhorts people just because he can is not my idea of an interesting character either, even torture and kidnap take place and while he doesn't rape his freaking pet loves to Worst still is that the author tries to justify this kind of behaviour, pictures the main char as a balanced person and even goes as far as calling this amoral progression as "becoming mature".

My second gripe with this novel is the reason by which the main character is able to grow strong, all Xiaxia have them, rebirth, an invisible teacher, sudden appearance in a different world and so on, in this one the reason is LUCK, yep, luck, and yeah, I know luck and destiny/fate have a similar meaning in this novel. Still, the main char happens to find all he need on the way and all falls into pieces for him to just happen to get what he needs when he needs. In my opinion, even if the other methods are cliched they are hundred of times better than this convenient crap about luck, oh and how the author likes to use that word again and again as justification.

As for the good, it's hard to say since I read a translation but the writing is not bad, better than other Wuxia and Xiaxia novels I read at least and for the most part there is little repetition of phrases (which I find very annoying), so good job the author, the translator or both, can't tell (The translator at least does an incredible job, using a variety of phrasing and words, which makes for good prose, not just sticking with the cliched styles. You can really see the effort invested in the translation [Edit: unfortunately he seems to be running out of steam in the 4th book and the writing becomes mediocre]). Also, they clever and scheming personality of the MC is well done, you can often see the pieces of the plan falling into place in a logical way which I always find satisfying. Also there are some pretty nice uses of rhetoric which are also very satisfying.

Edit: After finishing the 4th book I can add:
This has become extremely long-winded, the author is becoming increasingly verbose and takes chapters and chapters to describe exhaustively (leaving no room to doubt just how uber the MC is) something that could fit in one chapter, thus making the story unnecessarily long, Ej. I don't need 4 charapters explaining how the MC extorts a person!. The same content could be told in 30-40% of the pages the author used and still use good prose and be descriptive, given this has something like 20.000 pages that amount of superfluousness just kills it.

The luck factor mentioned above gets even worse, the MC seems to be the exception to all rules and past paradigmas, he's unprecedented or something not seen for tens of thousands of years in everything he does and if there ever is something he can't handle some miracle happen, he learns a new ability out of nowhere or a mysterious invincible figure pops-up saves his ass and disappears. By this point he has over 20 secret/heavenly/forbidden/forgotten legacies, one of which would make him world unique, he needs over 20! and it only the 4th volume!

Last and by far the most off-putting is how it's progressively becoming a self-mastubation ode about how great the MC is, how some hate him, some love him but, no one would ever dare! to ignore him, given the MC is the authors creation and thus in many ways a part of him I find this rather pathetic to be honest. Talk about kissing your own ass.

The result of all this is a terribly boring story were except at the start, all miraculously is turned into good fortune for the MC, there is thus no suspense since how can the MC not be awesome, the best ever, invincible, etc, and lest not forget an unparalleled orator and actor. There is nothing more boring than a perfect character (except maybe a perfect char with sh*t personality...). Dropped after v4 If this is the best Xiaxia, I'm guessing this genre is not for me.

By the way, the author should really be more consistent with time and distance, its a senseless mess. Ej: In a dumb effort to make every single crap sound amazing the author screws up time, quantities and distances all the time.

... Last updated on August 31st, 2018, 10:43pm