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Xianxia Encompassing the World! (Xianxia Rec Discussion and Idea thread)

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Leingod said:
Yeah, as mentioned most xianxia is simplifying it down a lot by just making it "you get struck by x number of lightning bolts." Some of them do kind of bring up the not-purely-physical aspects through warnings about "Heart Demons" and such, but in practice I've never seen that actually being a thing any MC has had to seriously deal with and been actually threatened by, even though it seems like just about the easiest and most natural way to build tension, character exploration, and narrative payoff for a big breakthrough.
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Actually resolving a Heart Demon is a hard task for many writers. It takes actual character growth and change. Power is easier.

Heck, take Nezha. Flayed alive by storm until not a scrap of flesh and bone was left to bury. Easy to solve by building him a new body.
Take Sun Wukong's impulsive use of violence...thats the part many readers actually like about him, how do you even fix it?
 
Read a western written story on Royalroad recently. Molting the Mortal Coil. It's okay. Something like a 3.5 out of 5.

Guy transmigrates into an orphan (but with an uncle) member of a branch clan of a decently powerful clan. The talent of his new body is decidedly average. The guy's mindset is also decidedly average to begin with. He's no genius or determinator, it even time skips over the first like decade of his training because of how mundanely average he was during it. That's a theme for quite a while, that the MC is fairly "average", the decades go by as he grinds up his cultivation, he isn't running constantly into fortuitous encounters and battles with arrogant young masters (though he does skirt by the periphery of a few of those). This does lead to some disjointedness as the story makes liberal use of timeskips instead of a constant adventure from start to end.

There is a big cliche that happens early though, his clan gets wiped out and he survives, going into hiding. That's a bit of a theme, something happening that evicts him from his current life and him having to runoff and assume a new identity. That first time with the clan was just bad luck, there was nothing he could have done. The next two were kind of dumbass moves on his own part though.

There are two, (and a half I guess?) cheats he gets, as is typical of Xianxia. The half is knowledge from Earth, laws of physics are different in that world so he can't copy everything, but he does use bits and bobs here and there. After his clan gets wiped out turns out the ancestral tomb survived intact. His ancestors seem more badass than the dead family, and he gets some hand me downs. He does also manage to run into a "heavenly treasure" that fuses into his body, giving him just barely enough of a special talent to get accepted into a decent sect. That treasure also seems to attract more treasures, though he doesn't make much use of them until later.

That leads into a bit of a minus, he doesn't always make great use of what is available to him. That's even something he thinks back on later, that he was inefficient, that he was incompetent, that his mindset was bad and he grew complacent, etc. I that's just how it has to be in a more slowgoing cultivation story, he is most definitely not a munchkin.

The other minus is that his cultivation and abilities are a little all over the place. Originally that's because of the lack of methods available to him, and the self admitted complacent meandering (like he picks up a bunch of side professions instead of focusing on one or his main cultivation), and then later it's because he has to hide his identity or something got fucked and he had to restart his cultivation.

Anyways. Story is okay, might be good to eat up some time. Probably not going to be anyone's favourite.
 
That almost sounds like the author tried to over-compensate in an effort to avoid the cliches and the "virtuous cycles"* that fuel the plots of many xianxia.

First, avoid some unparalleled talent or cheat that mimics the same. But that means cultivation can't speed past others... which means the character has to use lots of (honest, no time compression shenanigans) time to advance. Next, avoid stereotypical encounters... which then means giving rewards for "surviving" said encounters is off the table. Can't have the character 'ascend' to a new battlefield to refresh... so there has to be something cutting off any roots they put down and forcing them to leave.


This kind of story could work, I think - but it'd need to be treated more as almost a "slice of life" story, or rely on comedy rather than action. Or some really polished (it sounds like the connections here are not) interludes to make the transitions feel natural. Maybe using references to things that happened in the timeskip that allow the reader to fill in the 'boring' territory. Or perhaps embrace the disjointed nature and write it as a series of shorts about the same character.

Or distraction. So you have a character who's no longer young and had just finished a rather boring decade-long timeskip, say, grinding up their spirit plant-tending skills. Bring the reader in with the character in the middle of writing out the introduction to a text they wrote about their experiences. Mix the actual text (and make that engaging enough) with the character reminiscing about this character or that character they encountered while training, or about amusing events that occurred.



* By "virtuous cycles" I mean the ways in which the author ensures the protagonist stays 'heroic' by forcing them into conflict after conflict (few of which the protagonist actually wants, of course. Perish the thought! It's the world forcing him to be cruel and merciless!) with gradually escalating difficulty.

For example, what you might call "the rage of the arrogant". You get an initiating event that causes a local arrogant young master to feel wronged by the protagonist - showing insufficient respect, traveling with a beauty, etcetera. They demand some form of surrender or humiliation, and get rejected, becoming a mortal foe. Then they attack (usually in an unfair or contemptuous manner) and get thrashed. Then they get an equally-arrogant (but slightly stronger) reinforcements - usually a family servant, protector, relative or some young master friend to 'avenge' them. That fails, but in a way that causes a tier up of reinforcement to trigger... and things repeat.

Eventually a whole family or sect has raged that they must slay (before and after horrible torments) the protagonist at any cost.

Or the variant where what drives each escalation isn't arrogance but an almost irrational paranoia and determination to exterminate any threat in the cradle. Which in turn causes the feared-for outcome, which in turn alarms the next tier... and so on.
 
Leingod said:
Yeah, as mentioned most xianxia is simplifying it down a lot by just making it "you get struck by x number of lightning bolts." Some of them do kind of bring up the not-purely-physical aspects through warnings about "Heart Demons" and such, but in practice I've never seen that actually being a thing any MC has had to seriously deal with and been actually threatened by, even though it seems like just about the easiest and most natural way to build tension, character exploration, and narrative payoff for a big breakthrough.
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40 millenniums of Cultivation
does that, although the circumstances are a bit nonstandard.
 
I recall some stories will have a point where you're developing your own Dao - and then there's a "final examination", as it were, during a tribulation - it's either perfect or you die. Desolate Era and Seeking the Flying Sword Path come to mind.

I also recall a "test of sin" showing up in Desolate Era (and Flying Sword Path does something similar) - killings lots of non-cultivating civilians will enhance your next tribulation to fatal levels, if it doesn't trigger one immediately. It can even be used as a sneaky plot - tricking or forcing a character into killing millions in order to borrow heavenly disapproval to get rid of them.
 
Been a bit since I initially recommended Building the Ultimate Fantasy World.

So the MC gets a fairly significant amount of strength from the system for completing its missions to help raise up the world/other people, so it doesn't matter too much that he's helping people that aren't directly aligned with him. He is very clearly the strongest person in this world. Being the guy pulling all the strings behind the new magic in the world also helps him play at being mysterious, wise, and powerful without necessarily having to plot all that hard, so some of his less intelligent moments from earlier on have kinda faded back in the face of that. What MC says may as well be law now in the world. I do kind of like that in the face of his great power he isn't just lurking in obscurity, people know he's the real deal.

There has been a proper closing of the old era now as well as the world moves into the MC's new era of cultivators. While the old era was mostly wuxia martial artists, as I said before the top tiers definitely did dip into xianxia a bit. The highest level old masters were at a level equivalent to the peak of the first realm of cultivation without any spirit qi. It was a pretty epic scene.

For continuing threatening antagonists, it seems that the novel is already introducing the concept of other worlds. Its something that would make sense and was sort of expected from the beginning given how the system classifies worlds, e.g. main world is a Low Level Martial World, that implies the existence of others. I just didn't expect it this soon. There's an upgrade quest now to raise the world level which requires repelling a minor invasion of a few people from a Mid Level Martial World.

Anyways, definitely still very interested in where this novel goes. 144 chapters right now, I'd say worth a read as it is now, and it still has the potential to go a fair bit. Just really hoping it doesn't peter out somewhere.
 
In my opinion like a lot of new xianxia, especially ones originally written in English, tries to be a bit too clever with the premise or 'subvert the tropes' a bit too much. They might be better written than some of the standard stuff, and have better characters, but sometimes I just want a story where the MC gets a 'cultivation cheat' and there's lot's of escalation.

What are, in your opinion, the best written of the 'standard' type?
 
SCDarkSoul said:
Been a bit since I initially recommended Building the Ultimate Fantasy World.

...

Anyways, definitely still very interested in where this novel goes. 144 chapters right now, I'd say worth a read as it is now, and it still has the potential to go a fair bit. Just really hoping it doesn't peter out somewhere.
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Read the first couple chapters - it felt a bit rough technically, but the starting point reminds me of a xianxia comic where the protagonist was a former famous practitioner, but who had been (supposedly) crippled and unable to walk. He mostly spent his time contemplating the scenery, with a maid assigned to him.

Except he was apparently just biding his time and had healed up some time ago. There was some assassination attempts, a big "many on one" fight, and then a duel with someone who devoured other practitioners' powers in some fashion - which led to the world ascending to the next 'level'.

Yeangst said:
In my opinion like a lot of new xianxia, especially ones originally written in English, tries to be a bit too clever with the premise or 'subvert the tropes' a bit too much. They might be better written than some of the standard stuff, and have better characters, but sometimes I just want a story where the MC gets a 'cultivation cheat' and there's lot's of escalation.

What are, in your opinion, the best written of the 'standard' type?
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Lessee... of the ones I remember...
  • Desolate Era - Standard fare, has some good takes on assorted tropes, protagonist is rather nicer (and more monogamous) than most xianxia protagonists. Don't remember if there's a "cheat", per se. Complete.
  • Seeking the Flying Sword Path - See above. Has some even more interesting takes and justifications for tropes. Don't recall a particular 'cheat'; the protagonist is just a determinator. Complete.
    • same author as Desolate Era, similar storyline in places, feels a bit more refined
  • I Shall Seal the Heavens - Shameless scoundrel-type protagonist. Has some... memorable... secondary characters (Lord Fifth, say, or Ultimate Vexation). Been too long to recall if there was a cheat. Complete.
  • Talisman Emperor - Pretty standard type. Protagonist is ruthless and not monogamous, but didn't seem unbearably so on either front. Has a cheat in the form of a teacher/hidden manor.
  • The Great Ruler - Genius 'fails', goes back to home town, and then moves forward from there in a fairly standard xianxia progression.
  • Dragon Prince Yuan - Prince of a dynasty, got his essence stolen at birth by a scheme, eventually restores himself with ancestral help.
  • Sovereign of the Three Realms - a non-cultivating son of a top-tier cultivator reincarnates into a lower world. A planning/scheming-type protagonist.
 
CircleTheSkies said:
Read the first couple chapters - it felt a bit rough technically, but the starting point reminds me of a xianxia comic where the protagonist was a former famous practitioner, but who had been (supposedly) crippled and unable to walk. He mostly spent his time contemplating the scenery, with a maid assigned to him.

Except he was apparently just biding his time and had healed up some time ago. There was some assassination attempts, a big "many on one" fight, and then a duel with someone who devoured other practitioners' powers in some fashion - which led to the world ascending to the next 'level'.



Lessee... of the ones I remember...
  • Desolate Era - Standard fare, has some good takes on assorted tropes, protagonist is rather nicer (and more monogamous) than most xianxia protagonists. Don't remember if there's a "cheat", per se. Complete.
  • Seeking the Flying Sword Path - See above. Has some even more interesting takes and justifications for tropes. Don't recall a particular 'cheat'; the protagonist is just a determinator. Complete.
    • same author as Desolate Era, similar storyline in places, feels a bit more refined
  • I Shall Seal the Heavens - Shameless scoundrel-type protagonist. Has some... memorable... secondary characters (Lord Fifth, say, or Ultimate Vexation). Been too long to recall if there was a cheat. Complete.
  • Talisman Emperor - Pretty standard type. Protagonist is ruthless and not monogamous, but didn't seem unbearably so on either front. Has a cheat in the form of a teacher/hidden manor.
  • The Great Ruler - Genius 'fails', goes back to home town, and then moves forward from there in a fairly standard xianxia progression.
  • Dragon Prince Yuan - Prince of a dynasty, got his essence stolen at birth by a scheme, eventually restores himself with ancestral help.
  • Sovereign of the Three Realms - a non-cultivating son of a top-tier cultivator reincarnates into a lower world. A planning/scheming-type protagonist.
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Thanks. I've read Desolate Era and I Shall Seal the Heavens, though I quite the former after he won the giant war and left to another universe. I'll check out some of the others
 
CircleTheSkies said:
  • Desolate Era - Standard fare, has some good takes on assorted tropes, protagonist is rather nicer (and more monogamous) than most xianxia protagonists. Don't remember if there's a "cheat", per se. Complete.
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Ish?

Because of his virtuous life on Earth, Ji Ning had the opportunity to be born as a Deva in the Heaven Realm and was imparted with the Nuwa Visualization Technique(which he'd get access to when he turned sixteen in his new life) that helps to cultivate the soul.

But the Seamless Gate launched an attack on the Six Paths of Reincarnation, so Ning ended up reincarnating as a human but with his full memories since birth.

It's not much of a cheat, since Nuwa Visualization Technique wasn't anything super crazy, but he did get a head start on improving his soul. Also, the major powers of the Three Realms had been handing it out to a number of other virtuous reincarnators in the hopes that some of them would become good seeds for their side later on.

  • Seeking the Flying Sword Path - See above. Has some even more interesting takes and justifications for tropes. Don't recall a particular 'cheat'; the protagonist is just a determinator. Complete.
    • same author as Desolate Era, similar storyline in places, feels a bit more refined
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No cheat. He just started the story having found the legacy technique of a Core Formation cultivator, but otherwise Qin Yun cultivated fair and square.

  • I Shall Seal the Heavens - Shameless scoundrel-type protagonist. Has some... memorable... secondary characters (Lord Fifth, say, or Ultimate Vexation). Been too long to recall if there was a cheat. Complete.
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The Copper Mirror itself was a pretty huge cheat with its ability to replicate even unique treasures and items when provided with spirit stones.
 
Yeangst said:
In my opinion like a lot of new xianxia, especially ones originally written in English, tries to be a bit too clever with the premise or 'subvert the tropes' a bit too much. They might be better written than some of the standard stuff, and have better characters, but sometimes I just want a story where the MC gets a 'cultivation cheat' and there's lot's of escalation.

What are, in your opinion, the best written of the 'standard' type?
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40 Milleniums of Cultivation definitely has both "cultivation cheat" and "lots of escalation". It mostly breaks from existing xianxia tropes by being sci-fi (with vague early gestures in the general direction of warhammer, but not an enormous amount of tie-in) and having a less toxic society and interpersonal interactions. So... I wouldn't call it standard, per se, but I think it'll scratch the itch you describe, and it's pretty well-written of the ones that will do that.

Incidentally, it's a bit off-topic, but if what you really want is "hero gets a cheat and then power-ramps", you might also want to look into LitRPG.
 
Oh - I do recommend Tales of Herding Gods. It's light on a good number of the tropes, but probably still qualifies as "standard fare".
 
Sirrocco said:
40 Milleniums of Cultivation definitely has both "cultivation cheat" and "lots of escalation".
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Some of it can be a bit preachy / repetitive tho, especially the "press X to doubt" protagonist part. Another relatively good one is Pocket Hunting Dimension, tho last I checked, its translated chapters are at 90+. Raws is complete tho.

For PHD... you have "reincarnated to future Earth", cheat being so broken that breaking into higher tiers is just a matter of years instead of decades / centuries, and a small harem. Like, just 5, and no more. Society's also not toxic too, and the cultivators actually took MC's success as motivation to better themselves (while trying very hard to not compare their progress to his).
 
kinglugia said:
Some of it can be a bit preachy / repetitive tho, especially the "press X to doubt" protagonist part. Another relatively good one is Pocket Hunting Dimension, tho last I checked, its translated chapters are at 90+. Raws is complete tho.

For PHD... you have "reincarnated to future Earth", cheat being so broken that breaking into higher tiers is just a matter of years instead of decades / centuries, and a small harem. Like, just 5, and no more. Society's also not toxic too, and the cultivators actually took MC's success as motivation to better themselves (while trying very hard to not compare their progress to his).
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I rather like PHD so far - although the "popular with the ladies" (sister, chef, drunkard, eye-girl I think?) and "acts stupidly in minor ways" (planting enemies head-down, hunting tasty ingredients during a survival exam) xianxia tropes are negatives.

It's not particularly high-pressure up to where I read (entering the university), the cheat is reasonably entertaining, and I like how he's being supported/protected by a major figure because that cheat could potentially help the human race thrive if he grows stronger.

I'd put it as a better prospect than Super Gene, which has a similar kind of feel in places.
 
Power levels come from external and internal factors. If you want the MC to become OP without external factors, then make them some outlandishly talented or otherwise unique person, or have them earn their power level before the story starts. If you take an ordinary person and don't give them any statistically uncommon benefits or opportunities, then they'll achieve ordinary amounts of success. If someone wants an MC who is strong enough to affect the world but also at the beginning of their character arc or maybe someone who's more relatable i.e. was an ordinary civilian or an isekai character from our world, then there's nothing inherently wrong with giving the MC "cheats". I find rather than focusing on how high or low the MC's power level is, it's more worthwhile to look at what the author does with it.

kinglugia said:
Another relatively good one is Pocket Hunting Dimension, tho last I checked, its translated chapters are at 90+.
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I'm currently read chapter 224, so... though yeah, I'd recommend it too. A bit conventional, but people are less annoying and rather than looking down on the protagonist other people just don't look high enough. And I'm not sure I'd call the MC's quirks or character interactions exceptional, but it gives the MC and the other characters more than just everyone admiring how badass the MC is.
 
CircleTheSkies said:
I rather like PHD so far - although the "popular with the ladies" (sister, chef, drunkard, eye-girl I think?) and "acts stupidly in minor ways" (planting enemies head-down, hunting tasty ingredients during a survival exam) xianxia tropes are negatives.

It's not particularly high-pressure up to where I read (entering the university), the cheat is reasonably entertaining, and I like how he's being supported/protected by a major figure because that cheat could potentially help the human race thrive if he grows stronger.

I'd put it as a better prospect than Super Gene, which has a similar kind of feel in places.
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I gotta say, though, the fact that he's popular with the ladies but utterly oblivious to the fact feels entertainingly real to me. Like, the women around him are all acting weird and he doesn't understand it, and he doesn't know how to react, so... Cultivation! Yes. Cultivation is simple and straightforward and when he's done he knows it's benefited him. He'll just go cultivate more. Watching him react that way while constantly missing social cues felt very in-character given his stated age and background.

Still, it's true. I'd definitely put that one up as a "fairly traditional xianxia with pretty good writing", and I'd agree that it's better than Super Gene. Super Gene had a bit too much "enemies/adversaries set up the perfect circumstances for the protag to destroy them so that he can profit off of it" and a bit too much of the protag themselves being kind of amoral. Pocket Hunting Dimension has a satisfyingly moral protagonist (even if he's kind of oddball sometimes) and a path to power that feels more plausible, once the initial premise is set.
 
Nervaqus987 said:
It's not much of a cheat, since Nuwa Visualization Technique wasn't anything super crazy, but he did get a head start on improving his soul. Also, the major powers of the Three Realms had been handing it out to a number of other virtuous reincarnators in the hopes that some of them would become good seeds for their side later on.
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If there's a cheat then it's the 3600 beads/Nine Chaos Seals; the Nuwa Visualization Technique is good but nothing special in the great scheme of things.

IET is generally good at not making the protagonist's success revolve around a single overwhelming cheat but rather be a combo of talent, hard work and quite a lot of luck, plus a couple advantages thrown here or there.
 
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lemon10 said:
Do you know what bugs me about Xianxia? Magical oaths.
Their exact specifics vary widley, but its pretty common to have them be functionally unbreakable, not require any cultivation materials, and don't need any prep time.

With anything remotely like this, these oaths should be a massive massive part of the world.
Want to join a sect? Swear a oath to never oppose the sect or they don't let you join (and thus you stay a level 0 peasent forever).
If someone loses a fight? Make the other person take an oath to not seek revenge (or let anyone seek revenge on his behalf. Or (if you are more evil) become your slave and not fight back ever again or you kill them.
Be a powerful cultivator with a question for a significantly weaker one that can't say no? Make them swear an oath that they are telling you everything and aren't trying to trick you.
Buying an expensive item? A simple oath will let you know if the good you are buying is genuine and makes sure you aren't scammed.

However even with the massive utility and power of said oaths its exceedingly unlikely for them to pop up more than a dozen times across a thousand chapter Xianxia novel despite the fact that they should be appearing every few chapters.
I know that this certainly isn't the only area where most Xianxia has setting issues (nor is it anywhere near the biggest one), but the complete lack of people utilizing oaths to any meaningful degree still bugs me.
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I've had the same thought, yes. Like, any setting with that kind of magical oath should end up like the Elves of the The Nightmare Stacks.

Nervaqus987 said:
Lifeblood Oaths in Desolate Era are used pretty regularly in Primordial Chaos by pretty much everyone.

Sects use them to insure the loyalty of members, rando cultivators grouping up for one reason or another use them to make sure that no one backstabs anyone, and people use them when selling techniques to make it so customers can't teach that technique to someone else(unless they paid extra for that).
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Yeah, but honestly, most worlds should be totally controlled via a series of oaths. You gain a momentary advantage, get your peers into a oath or death situation, then leverage that to conqueror the area around you. Everyone born is forced to swear an oath to you as a child, and to their immediate superiors to form a stable chain of hierarchy, with the oaths transferring up or down the chain as needed.

Only way someone could match you and your perfectly loyal armies is to do the same thing. Either it will settle out into a few god-kings, or one god-king will get enough of an advantage that they'll roll over the others.

Basically, easy magic oath should become the basis of all government, with no out allowed outside that framework. Perfect social stratification.



Completely different topic... is anyone else super tired of 'sister not related by blood', who inevitably ends up as a "love interest?" It mainly shows up in reincarnation themed novels, and it's soooo... skevy. It also seem to follow the pattern of 'useless adopted male son gets replaced with awesome reincarnator. Sister tries to push protagonist, but he's now dominating and masculine, and can't help but fall for him after he dominates her.'

It's just... preditory. That's the only way I can call it.
 
TheLastOne said:
Completely different topic... is anyone else super tired of 'sister not related by blood', who inevitably ends up as a "love interest?" It mainly shows up in reincarnation themed novels, and it's soooo... skevy. It also seem to follow the pattern of 'useless adopted male son gets replaced with awesome reincarnator. Sister tries to push protagonist, but he's now dominating and masculine, and can't help but fall for him after he dominates her.'

It's just... preditory. That's the only way I can call it.
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I'll be honest - most "romantic" relationships in xianxia are pretty skeevy. The love interests are 'conquered' (and are happy with it after, of course), end up in a "mutual" coercive sexual encounter (aphrodisiacs, etc) and so on.

And it feels like most xianxia that don't have this are either "virtuous monogamous protagonist" or "has no interest in romance protagonist". Even in "Seeking the Flying Sword Path", where the love interest is met as they mutually work to gank a demon, she's soon enough relegated to a plot motivator (kidnapped) or generally to the background. "Desolate Era" was much the same.

Part of the problem is that nearly always a xianxia protagonist has to be unique, and thus quickly outclasses any companions they have (otherwise, they're not able to shine 'properly' when they perform impossible feats of strength). Enemies can be replaced with new, even more powerful foes. Allies that are less-close can be similarly retired. But the love interest? Much harder to do.


Hmm... I believe "The Great Ruler" has the love interest more or less keeping pace... but I feel like that's the only case that comes to mind.
 
CircleTheSkies said:
Hmm... I believe "The Great Ruler" has the love interest more or less keeping pace... but I feel like that's the only case that comes to mind.
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40 Milleniums of Cultivation managed it pretty well for as long as I personally was reading the thing, and from basically everything I saw, the two of them wind up really very monogamous, in spite of some rather long spans apart from one another. It manages "people other than the protag are allowed to be badass too" pretty well in general, though.
 
I actually like the romantic relationship of History's Strongest Senior Brother. Monogamous, they get along, wifey has her own cheats, and while she lags behind at first because the MC is way too extra cheaty, she apparently gets ahead in some of the untranslated chapters.

It's just too bad you see so little of the relationship since one of them is always out on an adventure. The relationship is nice, the writing of it is practically non-existent.
 
SCDarkSoul said:
I actually like the romantic relationship of History's Strongest Senior Brother. Monogamous, they get along, wifey has her own cheats, and while she lags behind at first because the MC is way too extra cheaty, she apparently gets ahead in some of the untranslated chapters.

It's just too bad you see so little of the relationship since one of them is always out on an adventure. The relationship is nice, the writing of it is practically non-existent.
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Oh, right - I remember that one. It felt like it outgrew it's 'hook' (a really annoyed genre-savvy "young master" dealing with assorted common xianxia protagonist types) at a certain point, but it kept my interest due to the nuances of the cultivation system.

And yeah, the romance there very much had a feel of it being between equals (more or less) - with the protagonist more being ahead due to his more expansive knowledge than anything else. And, like you said, they both came across as constantly busy with their own adventures.

Kind of wish it was still being translated.
 
CircleTheSkies said:
Oh, right - I remember that one. It felt like it outgrew it's 'hook' (a really annoyed genre-savvy "young master" dealing with assorted common xianxia protagonist types) at a certain point, but it kept my interest due to the nuances of the cultivation system.

And yeah, the romance there very much had a feel of it being between equals (more or less) - with the protagonist more being ahead due to his more expansive knowledge than anything else. And, like you said, they both came across as constantly busy with their own adventures.

Kind of wish it was still being translated.
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Yeah, it was the same as the author's previous work, History's Number One Founder. Starts as a parody, but then it runs out of parody characters to use and the MC gets too OP and it starts being played more as a straight xianxia with an OP MC. HSSB later on starts pulling a lot from classical Chinese though with Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West. Or so I'm told anyways, I can't say I've ever read either.

I still love both of them. There's basically zero tension because you know the MC is way too good to ever suffer any big loss, but it's nice simple fun as long as you know full well that everything is going to be a curbstomp.

And yes, as Genesys says it was picked up again.
 
...because this is a place where people occasionally mention their favorites again, I thought I'd drop a line an note that Ave Xia Rem Y is still chugging along at its own pace, and still awesome. It doesn't have nearly as much of the wish fulfillment power fantasy thing, though it still does have some. The protag keeps progressing in his cultivation, and does pick up the occasional fortunate encounter, it's just more gradual than in most xianxia stories. The fantastic thing about it is the characterization, though. The characters are real and flawed and beautiful, and act in reasonable ways that make sense from where they're coming from. The world is very close to a traditional xianxia world, but the edges are a little rounded in just the right places to make it make more sense as a world that might reasonably exist and not immediately collapse under its own weight. The MC's initial virtue isn't ambition, or will, or cunning - it's filial piety. The entire thing is glorious, and I love it. It makes me happy.
 
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