Xian Ni is my favorite xianxia series out there so this review would sound biased but believe me this series is really good! Definitely worth a read!

For the first time readers the starting 100-150 chapters might seem bad. I can understand that as those chapters focus on MC's transction from a naive child to a ruthless cultivator. Later on you realize the importance of those chapters when the series take a dark tone. The starting chapters are light hearted and yet tell the dark side of world.

At start MC is hesitant to kill even after learning that the world follows the law of jungle. Er Gen smartly wrote the transction between a naive child to a ruthless cultivator. You could actually feel the hesitancy MC shows as he steps on the dark side. Later on he becomes totally ruthless but the starting of series provide the reasons.

The cultivation levels are impressive as well. Unlike other novels cultivation levels in Xian Ni are unique. Each cultivation level give different powers. Cultivation isn't as easy as storing massive amount of energy/qi to power-up. You have to sever your spirit, transform soul, seek Dao, etc...

The best part is that author doesn’t waste many chapters on training after the first 200 chapters! Other xianxia are of 60% training but Xian Ni is full of adventures! Those adventures are unique and author gives strong foreshadowing of future troubles.

Some would say that it's a revenge story. Believe me this is not the usual stupid revenge tale. Xian Ni is 2K+ chapters but the revenge part hardly last for 100 chapters and even im those chapters more than 50% of them are focused on adventures. In other tales you always root for MC but in Xian Ni you would actually feel sad for the bad guys. The revenge arc was full of bittersweet moments. Really impressive.

Er Gen is a genius when it comes to creating unique abilities. Wang Lin's fights never bore you. The best part is that author doesn’t waste chapters for character shilling unlike other popular novels.

World building is impressive as well. There are different types of cultivators and there are many planets. Even the current planet in which Wang Lin is residing in is full of mystery. There are star systems which would be explored in future chapters.

The most unique part of the series is that Wang Lin's life is full of tragedy unlike other xianxia. Sure MC is lucky in cultivation but he's hardly happy. The storyline is grim and even the death of minor characters would make you sad.

You should definitely give this series its well deserved chance. Believe me this is the most unique xianxia out there.

I will give this story some credit as I will agree that the plot seems nonexistent in the early chapters. It does not seem like there is anything related. Then suddenly everything starts to click into place. You understand why the "ghost" in the bead says he will turn him evil. There is such a strong revenge plot which turns into a blood feud between two families.

This is a rare treat and when I first started to read it. It was ok, good to pass some time and the possibility of some fight scenes. Then I could not stop reading. Chapter after chapter. This is not your typical MC who is smart and cunning as to only get his revenge when he knows victory is certain. Consumed by blind rage and hatred, he would willingly rush to death fighting stronger opponents if there was even a small chance of causing harm to the other party. Revenge filled blood lust.....gotta love that.

I would recommend everyone to give it a read. If you can get past the opening with less action you will have your action and fight scenes every chance there is.

WARNING: Translations have slowed down quite a bit. You will be looking at 2-3 per week at best. During breaks you may have a month without. Careful those of us who get addicted easily.

i'm not sure why people think the story is confusing.
the author is trying to look at the darker side of cultivation in this series and a lot of really bad things happen either to or because of the mc. the tone of the story is both darker than the usual xianxai and harsher.
the mc is fairly likable at the beginning until the old man comes into the story. then he starts listening to the literal devil on his shoulder and he becomes suspicious of everyone and isolated.
i keep really wanting to like the mc, but then he does something horrible again and i just don't. the writer is good enough to make me want to like him, despite his flaws, but not good enough to make it actually happen.
i like this story but overall i prefer the writers other work, i shall seal the heavens, which has more humor and a much more likable mc. still, i'll probably stick it out either until the end, or until void gets tired of translating, whichever comes first.

after reading a chapter from the beginning to 2088
This character is very OP, only when the initial chapter is very weak and boring but once in chapter 250 ++ to be interesting and also filled with murder.



and also I like the genre romancenya despite her love story filled with twists and turns and tragedy, but after reading through, I'm very satisfied because this story a happy ending..



I do not there are many important word because I like this story!! hehehe

man initially I never thought this is gonna be good. unexpectedly this came out to be awesome.

Start of any wuxia or xianxia novel is alwys slow, so bear with it and then you will see it's real worth.

I picked this up Friday and read 137 chapters over two days....I could hardly stop reading. The plot is all over the place, but it does focus on the MC, Wang Lin. Everything in this story is about him, and a very confusing class system. It helps that this is not my first Chinese web novel, and that I understand the author is basically making this up as he goes.

The story is about his growth and evolution as a martial art practitioner, but most of the martial arts are spiritual arts but this still has some great fight sequences.

If you like the genre, you might love the story, but if this is your first Chinese web novel, then take some notes and understand it runs on and on, it is not a short story.

More later after I write all the confusing class names down.

update 12/17/2016

OK up to 197 now and after reading a bunch of other campy Chinese web novels, I realized just how good this is. It is gritty, harsh, fast passed, violent, tragic, and a real thriller. The story gets less and less confusing and Wang Lin is a real super hero, who is out for revenge. The only thing I can compare this to is "I shall seal the heavens" which coincidentally is by the same author.

... Last updated on December 17th, 2015, 12:50pm

Read this to nearly 300 chapter and then gave up. A bit interesting at the beginning but later it became rather tiring to read. All the rest of the characters just feels too dull and undeveloped. Almost as if they're just stage props to use once and then forgotten. Even if they reappear once the have full filled their use they'll fade again.

Don't know why but even though i wanted to like this a lot the story is just all over the place and the explanation oh the explanations. I felt like i was forcing myself to keep reading. The battle parts were great but i feel like this novel could have been lost the 1500 chapters of boring explanations.

... Last updated on July 7th, 2015, 2:54pm

I feel that somewhere beneath all the excessive fluff, this novel could have some potential. That potential however, is buried in a very slow moving plot that is all over the place. And I mean literary, it's takes a new direction every 5 chapters or so after the initial arc. Basically it goes like this, first we have training arcs that takes 1-20 chapters, then the plot goes haywire and in a completely different direction again, rinse and repeat. Not to mention thousands of characters that enters the story for a chapter or two, then disappears without a trace or any explanation. The training system is all over the place, and likewise messy and often boring.

This is why printed novels have editors!

I imagine that this could have been a very interesting novel, if the author had a decent editor that cut out 50-75% of the useless, excessive and boring parts. Still, the action filled chapters and the battle system is highly entertaining, too bad they are overshadowed by the messy plot and boring training arcs that makes up 90% of the translated story so far.

Verdict? Slightly better than average! And if you can skim/skip through the seemingly endless fluff and annoying plot that goes in 10 directions at once and which the author often doesn't even bother to explain, you can find a pretty decent world, (a few, and I mean really few) decent characters and a somewhat interesting story beneath all that.

... Last updated on May 21st, 2015, 2:02pm

It could have been better if not for the fact that the author introduces several characters that are irrelevant to the progression of the story or are not heard from again. Also, with a couple of time skips one after another, the love and enmity the MC has for other characters loses its luster. The story so far seems to be focused on seclusion for training.
Also, like someone mentioned before, the MC is told by one of his elders in his sect to sever families ties to make a breakthrough to the next level. The MC did not want to sever his ties with his family, but spends several years in seclusion to cultivate. Then, after once again seeing his parents he leaves them and mentions to himself that he might not see them again because he will be training.