I dropped the novel after the first volume, since it wasn't what I was expecting or wanted, plus it was kinda slow and therefor boring and I continued by watching the anime version (all 3 seasons).

Even though it has the word "cultivation" in the title I was deeply disappointed that this did not have any of the common cultivation story elements, sure pills and artifacts exists somewhere in the background, but there are no breakthroughs, no levelling, no learning of new skills/powers, no gathering of new companions/partners, no alchemy, in fact in the whole 3 seasons of the anime you only ever see a recovery pill being consumed once, there is no cultivation happening at all.

But it's not like it has to have those things, I was just expecting them to be there and instead we got a ghost detective story for half of it and a flashback extravaganza for the rest, but unlike japanese anime this actually has an ending and a pretty good/satisfying one at that, so I guess that's where the high ratings come from.

The main difference vs the novel was that they completely reordered the events of the story, for ex. stuff that was in the 3rd season was in the 1st vol of the novel and vice versa, but in the end that didn't really matter, it still worked out.

I didn't read all of it so I'm not gonna rate it, but I would rate the anime at a 6.9

The romance was cringy, forced and completely immature. For me it felt unrealistic even in a fantasy setup. At most it could have worked if the characters were in kindergarten.
Luckily, the so called romance was pretty sparse and the plot was amazingly good. But still I couldn't finish it because of the ridiculous love scenes, also the drunk scenes were way over the top.

I might be a little biased. Love the manhua.
Love the donghua. So why wouldn't I love the original source? The live action isn't too shabby either. Plus it has extras!

The MCs summed up:
Wei WuXian: 🤡🤣😏
Lan WangJi: 🗿

MDZS is the kind of story that will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. One moment you'll be laughing out loud at the MC's shameless actions, the next you'll find yourself crying because he, the person who acts like a clown most of the time, is also the same one who carries so much pain and regret in his heart.

This is a long novel, but trust me you'll breeze through it. There's a reason why this novel is considered by many as a BL classic.

The main character, Wei WuXian, is the great patriarch, the man, the myth, the legend, and above all, the world's ✨most shameless troll✨. He gets a second chance in life and decides to appear as brainless and shameless as possible so people won't figure out his real identity. It works.

As the story progresses, we get to know his character on a deeper level. He's loyal to a fault, tries his best to uphold justice, sacrifices so much of himself for the people he loves, and yet the world still labels him as a demon. He's not an entirely good person, true, but he does regret his mistakes and ultimately paid for them.

Lan WangJi, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of him. As a wise man once said, "If LWJ had no manners, then manners wouldn't exist in this world." He's perfect from head to toe, excels in everything but passes out after one glass of alcohol, owns a rabbit farm, and is so completely and utterly in love with WWX that I teared up a little bit whenever he would show his love through actions, instead of words.

They may be polar opposites, but they found home in each other. It took a while for them to finally get there, but the wait was worth it. Good things take time, after all.



The novel switches between past and present quite a lot, which is good to explain each character's back stories, why certain things happened, etc. My only complaint is that sometimes when the plot starts to thicken, the author's like bam! here's an info dump about this and that. All the excitement I'd felt just went down the drain after that.

Aside from that, I have no other major issue with this novel. All the characters are wonderfully fleshed out and the different plotlines are tied together at the end. I had a blast reading this and I'd like to thank the Exiled Rebel Translations team from the bottom of my heart for translating MDZS into English.

If you're reading other people's reviews right now and contemplating whether to read this story or not: Do it. You won't regret it. Be prepared to lose sleep over it.

If you still can't get enough of the characters even after you've finished the novel, do yourself a favor and go read the fanfictions at AO3 (Archive Of Our Own). Click this link. Thank me later.

The MDZS fandom is positively thriving and there are more than 30k fics. What a time to be alive.

**

Quick rant about Xiao XingChen:


... Last updated on April 6th, 2021, 9:38pm

So I looked at the anime for a couple of episode and then I read the full novel and it was amazing! I loved it so much, cried like a baby in so many parts but I loved, loved the ending! The world building and the characters and unreliable narrator are just perfect. I love the mysteries and how time flows. It was a really amazing story.

I watched the anime first since I heard the names and story could get confusing and boy am I glad I did. It really piques your interest, and although it is told in a different order, it is still very faithful to the novel (except for the BL aspects...so far haha). It allowed me to get really clear imagery of who was who and what was happening. And after you have got all of that down--strap yourself in, because you're in for a helluva ride.

Story was top notch. The author would foreshadow and have many things working in the background so that when it was finally revealed, it was like a splash of cold water and everything made sense. There were barely any loopholes, and you could see how much effort was put into the planning and pacing of the story. I had no idea what cultivation was when I started, but I could write an essay on it right now lmao.

This novel is more plot heavy compared to the romance. Only slight caveat for me was aspects of the romance. Their relationship was hella cute, and I super shipped them at the end. But some parts were pretty farfetched like Also it's really clear on the uke/seme distinction and the whole seme must protect the uke thing. I'm usually not a huge fan, but it worked out that it really fit with the MC's character.

Character development was amazing. Each person stuck to their beliefs despite the consequences. I really admired that, especially the main character. Wei Wuxian was extremely like-able, and I could see why Lan WangJi couldn't keep his eyes off him. I found it hilarious each time WeiWuxian would say twenty words to Lan WangJi's one lmao. Not even. Mn isn't even a word haha. But even small interactions such as that really gave you insight on the characters and their relationships. I have cried, laughed, and really felt like I knew these characters. I'm sad that it's over but overwhelmingly glad I decided to read this. Definitely recommended. Time to go read the manhua lmao.

... Last updated on November 11th, 2019, 8:33pm

Best yaoi fiction novel ... Love it 😍😍😍

So this was my first taste of a Chinese webnovel and anything Wuxia-related, and I must say... I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would!

I will preface this by saying that I watched the donghua (anime) first, which I think helped with giving context to the world and some of the cultural aspects I wasn't familiar with.

I normally don't read novels much, but I've now read the entirety of MDZS plus all the currently translated extras. It's an amazing experience -- a unique (at least to me) protagonist, great relationship dynamics, a strong cast of secondary characters and even the minor characters whose stories you learn are intriguing!

That said, some of it does drag on a bit, and the names get kind of confusing at times (most characters have at least to names, some even have three), but other than that it's really easy to follow even if you're not knowledgeable about ancient Chinese culture or the Wuxia side of things. The author does a good job at explaining how all the cultivation powers work and the world building is also handled well.

Also, there's no romance or BL for the majority of the novel, but it's worth it once the story gets to that point! WangXian is an amazing pairing, and I love both halves of them a lot. There's also quite a bit of foreshadowing, and once you get answers to certain things, it makes you go "Ohhh damn that's what that was!". It was cleverly planned out, and it shows.

Wei WuXian is a protagonist done properly. He's not stupid but not improbably smart, he sticks firmly to what he believes in, has a lot of flaws despite his confidence and strength, and at the end of the day just wants to find ways to help people. And Lan WangJi's serious stoic yet gentle and loving nature complements Wei WuXian's wild and carefree personality. Both characters have depth to them beyond what they initially appear to be, and I appreciate that a lot. The secondary characters, such as Jiang Cheng and Nie HuaiSang (lol), are also well-developed and aren't one-dimensional.

All in all, it's a very compelling read. If you like well-written characters, intriguing mysteries and incredibly slow yet rewarding romances, I highly recommend this. Watching the donghua first will give you a taste, so if you're unsure about diving into such a long story, give that a go instead. And if you like it, definitely check out the novel! I promise the BL aspects are totally worth the wait. Also, the extras have more BL and sexual content in them than the main story does, but they should probably be read after finishing the novel itself.

I was searching for some japanese paintings on pinterest and kept seeing beautiful drawings and anime screenshots of long hair characters. So out of extreme curiosity I tried to find the source. And what a pleasant pleasant surprise I got!! It was all images from the series "The grandmaster of demonic cultivation"!! I watched the anime (donghua-15 episodes) first and the characters and the story was overwhelmingly addictive, total eye-candy if you like watching male characters with long hair (like me >///<😉 and fantastic! Unsatistifed with only a part of the story that's animated in the donghua till now (more coming up july 2019 yey yey!!) and wanting to know more and more of the story, I searched some more and found the novel finally!! Bless the godly team at exiled rebel scanlations for bringing this story for english readers! _/\_

A little bit about the story- The story is set in ancient China and is about the cultivation world in those times, cultivation here meaning people developing skills to fight against evil spirits, ghosts, demons that cause havoc in the world. Amongst the cultivators is a promising, jolly and mischievous young boy, the protagonist of this story, who excels at many cultivation techniques. The story chronicles of the days he spends in an educational institution along with his "brother"/friend (actually the son of the family that has adopted the protagonist), the mini missions they have to participate in where they show off their skills in exercising evil, oppression of the different cultivation groups big and small but a single group that causes a lot of despair and grief in the protagonists life and home. This is followed by a storm of events that causes one blow after the other for this protagonist that causes the whole of the cultivation world to turn against him. Thus the story showcases his struggles against all as he helps exorcising evil with his methods. Mixed in all these events are little tender and fluffy moments showing how the protagonist had been unconsciously attracted to a particular boy since he was young and how they both are there for each other in their difficult times. Their loves for each other progresses very slowly but every little scene between the two is absolutely adorable to read. There isn't anything explicit till the very end of the full story.

There is a lot of action and some gore involved in few chapters as the story deals with the protagonist fighting against evils spirits, demons, etc. Also the story switched back and forth between the past and present of the protagonist's life so, but I think you can get a hang of reading it after a few chapters. The character personalities, their background stories and their development throughout the story are very well written. The story pacing is good, not a moment when you get bored reading anything. The struggle the protagonist has to go through in the story is sever making one feel heartbreak while reading many chapters. But then there are really adorable moments of flirting between the protagonist and his love interest that really make your heart jump with joy and sometimes outside your body (hehe just kidding 😛).

I can;t tell any details of the story anymore in order to not spoil anything, but I'll just say, it was an absolute delight to have stumbled upon this awesome story and I'll recommend it to anyone who would like to read a good story of good fighting evil. Please just read it, it definitely won't disappoint you 🙂)