The thing that struck me the most with this novel is the protagonist. None of those shounen crap nor drama/emo phase from a young male lead growing up. MC is an ancient being, millions of years old, he has sent off countless loved ones, experienced numerous trying tribulations and has stood on various peaks of the worlds. He is weary now and on his last leg of his journey to kill to the ends of the world(its hinted at a lot but readers still don't know what it actually means), which is where the novel begins.
Consequently, this is also where it differs the most from other Xianxia novels. Most novels focus on the start till the peak of the cultivation journey. ED on the other hand depicts what comes after reaching the peak and the final moments thereafter hence it has a totally alien concept and narration. No challenges and whatnot because “been there, done that eras ago”.
Now enough of the protagonist. What to expect?
Repetitive. Won't deny, till 2300 chapters, you'll be seeing the same plot outline. Then again, which Xianxia isn't?
Battles are of epic proportions, i might even say author overdid it just because MC literally overkills everything. Though technically it is justified seeing as how MC is a friggin ancient existence fighting against weaklings. The “cannon fodder” fight scenes are kinda mediocre, maybe even draggy or boring but "boss" battles deserves a resounding applause, pretty well narrated, it literally sucks you in.
The entire cultivation system is also one to look forward to. It is different than most other novels where you’d have a unified progression. In ED, different worlds have various systems in place and each has their own mysteries and secrets, this includes techniques, cultivation, weapons & items, heavenly artefacts etc. The main attraction is how one’s Grand Dao evolves, yes, that’s right, evolution, very neat and interesting concept put out by the author. Only in ED can you find evolution synonymous with path of cultivation.
MC is pretty much overpowered. As mentioned before, he is eras old. He has led & fought in several heaven shattering wars, slaughtered numerous other eternal existences, explored many mythical realms and horde numberless legendary items. There is no journey to growing up theme. Again, he is an ancient being! And he acts like one.
Protagonist with a unique and realistic personality. He has multiple facets to his character, author did a great job on making a 3 dimensional character. To the common cultivator, he seems like a nobody. To competing opponents and enemies he seems like a rampant and arrogant youngster oblivious to the path of the Grand Dao. To his few surviving ancient subordinates, allies and friends, they see him as a strong leader and immensely powerful being, an unsung hero who had sheltered the worlds against the darkness. To his new allies and descendants of his subordinates, he is a mysterious individual, their beacon of hope and benefactor. To his "disciples" he is the grandfather figure who will guide and encourage you forward on the path of the Grand Dao but won't force you to be the best, he understands that they all have different paths and limits. To his lovers, he is a passionate man but ultimately fate does not allow him to pause his steps for them. To other ancient existences, he has a love hate relationship with them but they ultimately believe he has the best shot at surmounting the heavens and get an answer. He is ruthless but is disinclined to manage you if you know your limits. You’ll have to read quite deep into the novel to see his many sides and it’s the highlight of the novel.
Quite a number of flashbacks and history of his past. Lots of it scattered throughout the story. Not a fan of it but its different in ED. More often then not i'm dying to know more of MC's past but author intentionally held back quite a lot, good choice there as it’ll be revealed to be connected to future plots.
Foreshadowing and unseen plots. Expect tons of these. And you'll only manage to connect the dots like 500-1000 chapters later. Bad thing is if you're not patient enough to read far, you'd see them as plot holes. But once it hits you, everything makes sense and falls in place. I would say brilliant writing and good planning here though it is kinda opportunistic at times. Solid storyboard overall. That said, story doesn’t amount to much in terms of plot twists and such.
I highly recommend ED to any xianxia readers. However, you’ll need patience and perseverance throughout the entire novel, don’t drop it ever or you’ll be missing out a lot of the good stuff. Unlike ISSTH where you can just skip volumes to escape the boring chapters, in ED doing so means you’d be missing the clues and hints scattered throughout the novel.
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