Tier: C++ / Would I read it again: Nope. / Do I recommend it: If you don't mind the plot holes every chapter, yeah.... more>>

It is a nice novel with one major mistake...being a plothole galore. At first it was fine but after some point, it feels like an insult to your intellect with obvious mistakes.

(and on a random note, the mermaid arc, that part made me cry so bad like it had no business being that sad. So far, the only danmeis that have made me cry were Till Death Do Us Part and Nan Chan, but this random single arc hit me just as hard. It was infuriating how well-written and deeply thought-out that arc was compared to the rest of the story. I honestly wish the author would write an entire novel dedicated to those three characters alone!) <<less

Tier: C++ / Would I read it again: Yup, it's part of my guilty pleasure book list :D / Do I recommend it: I picked this up when I needed something light and funny to ease my stress, and it delivered on that perfectly. Don't expect much from it tho.... more>>

You know that feeling when you love something so much that its flaws disappoint you even more because you want it to succeed? Yeah, that's exactly how I feel about this novel. On the downside: there are a lot of logical inconsistencies and plot holes throughout. It had GREAT potential, yet it never fully realized it. The areas it needed to delve into, it never did. And the useless superfluous details it needed to rid of, the story went in with great detail instead. All of the leads have distinct and fun characters that make you want to learn more, yet it never explored those! It's almost infuriating how many unanswered questions I have about so many things. The pace was also weird, the first half of the story was pretty good but the latter...uhh... let's say left much to be desired. I 100% agree with the comments saying that a "certain" trope marking the second half was so unnecessary, that was the only time I actually considered dropping it.

And yet... I still enjoyed it so damn much. If I were to sum up my overall positive feelings, ahem: 

"I came for the giggle and left with the ROFLMAOLOLASDFADA—10/10."

I'm not kidding—I laughed until I nearly choked more times than I can count. One scene (New Version Chapter 86, to be exact) had me wheezing so hard I thought I might pass out. This novel, despite its shortcomings, achieved what so many others fail at: modern lingo, humor, and—most importantly—that s*upidly perfect deadpan salted-fish comedy, all executed flawlessly. I know not many would agree with that statement, but I, for one, find most novels with the same character type always do this comedy way too over-the-top—so exaggerated they feel like an eye hazard from how much I have to roll them at the cringe. This MC has the perfect silly-s*upid-serious balance for me. I was super stressed from my studies and work and picked this novel because of the comedy tag... and not only did it successfully work wonders for my morale, it also became part of my "guilty pleasure" reading list.

Oh, and also... godf*ckingdamnit... I thought I was impervious to Second Male Lead Syndrome until this novel... I. AM. NOT. OKAY! That one extra physically hurt me! When every other character in this novel is C++, the sect leader is A-tier. He's a cut above everyone else in every conceivable way. Author, I'm begging you—write a standalone story with my precious baby Yueshui as the lead and give him the absolute happiest ending EVER recorded in literary history! <<less

Tier: C+ / Would I read it again: Nope. / Do I recommend it: If you don't have anything else left to read and want a short fluff.... more>>

Short and sweet romance with a comedic twist. Nothing extraordinary but also don't have anything bad about it.  <<less

Tier: C+ / Would I read it again: No. / Do I recommend it: Only if you want to witness something with great potential dwindling into an off-brand soap opera.... more>>

I have one word to summarize my experience: Disappointment.

 How could a story that started so beautifully turn into something so ridiculous? It seriously needs to be investigated. My personal theory is that after the first third of the novel, the original author got bored, handed it over to her cousin, and said, "Here, finish it however you want." The story begins with an incredibly entertaining, shameless, and witty MC and perfect romantic potential, but the rest undermines all of that. For the first time, I witnessed a danmei story turning into an Indian soap opera/telenovela. Especially the last 50 episodes of the story are completely and utterly nonsensical. MC loses his sense of reasoning, becomes overly sensitive, ridiculously overpowered, and turns into an angsty teenager whose actions and thoughts are constantly at odds. The plot accelerates at an absurd pace, full of plot holes. Honestly, given their behaviors, even calling the relationship between him and the ML a "romance" would be a stretch. <<less

Tier: C+ / Would I read it again: Not the whole thing but only the, ahem, "certain" chapters. / Do I recommend it:  Yep, especially if you enjoy the author's writing style and chaotic plot. (Oh and also delightful historical details and poems.)... more>>

TL;DR: Yet another chaos spawn from Huai Shang, but nowhere near as good as The Sword Named No Way Out. Still, if you enjoy her style, give it a go—just expect some plot holes and logic issues.

Also, I have to give an honorable mention to the translator, Armaria. The first 24 chapters by them were simply amazing.

Aside from the long review I left on the book’s page, I do have one major gripe with the story: why on earth do the MC and ML wait until the last second to join the fight when they’re trying to save each other?? Some of the fight scenes straight-up reminded me of those bad action movies where 10 guys surround the hero, but they just wait their turn to fight and get their asses handed to them one by one.  OOH, oh, oh, also lemme just say that their intimate scene is *woofbarkrggh* <<less

Tier: C+ / Would I read it again: Nope. / Do I recommend it: Nope.... more>>

Fish puns are fun but..yeah that's about it :D Rest is meh. <<less

Tier: C+ / Would I read it again: Nope. I dropped it @chp.112 cause the rest is only available as MTL. There’s no way I’m going through that and torturing myself for this novel. / Do I recommend it: If you like the MC’s character type, you’ll probably enjoy it. But if you’re like me, you’ll agonize the entire time, forcing yourself to finish it just because you hate dropping novels and fail in the end anyway :')... more>>

Wow, this must be the peak of shameless MC performance... but that’s about it. Everything else in the story, aside from the MC’s character (which, aside from being shameless, feels pretty superficial), feels stuck in an interphase. Sounds weird, I know, but let me try to explain. The side characters all sound fun and interesting, but they never go beyond that. They always stay somewhat in the background and do nothing but act according to the plot—not according to their characteristics or backgrounds. In the end, they’re nothing more than props. The world they live in feels intriguing, with human, demon, and devil cultivators mixed together across different regions... but again, there’s never enough depth or context beyond what’s needed to keep the MC’s annoying antics going. That’s why I’m calling it stuck in an interphase; there is a premise with nice qualities, but they never deliver. It stands right on the in-between line of being an interesting read and being one of those danmeis. I know a lot of people would love this story (if you don't have high expectations), and it’s not that bad... but it definitely wasn’t for me. Because, besides the MC, there isn't anything really going for it, and I find his character type quite annoying. So, a lot of the time, I was rolling my eyes instead of laughing at his antics. I think, in general, I might not be the target audience for this; perhaps I would’ve enjoyed it more during my teens.

That said, I do also have more "technical" negative comments to make, first one is the translation. It’s super inconsistent, suddenly, after 85 chapters, "Cardinal Sect" becomes "Four Square Sect," then switches back to Cardinal. Some chapters (like 44-45) make zero sense and read like random terms and lines were just thrown in there, only for the translation to switch back to being decent again. 

Second, the writing is mediocre at best. There’s an absurd amount of filler content. The story is packed with unnecessary details that serve no purpose other than increasing the word count. Pages upon pages of telling and not showing. I understand that when writing, it’s tempting to include every single thing you’ve imagined, and that’s where the difference between an amateur and a practiced writer becomes apparent. When done well, seamlessly woven into the narrative, it can work wonders. But when it’s done like it is in this novel—haphazardly thrown in—it only clutters the story and bores the reader. <<less

Tier: C+ / Would I read it again: I actually might. / Do I recommend it: Yes! Its filled with deviously well-done s*xual tension scenes, and my fujoshi-ass got addicted to it.... more>>

First things first, plot-wise it is extremely poor. There are a lot—I mean A LOT—of logical inconsistencies and plot holes everywhere. On top of that, many of their interactions feel repetitive, with even the descriptions being almost exactly the same. The writing style while exquisite and rich, but has a different feel to it and reads more like a wattpad story rather than a danmei webnovel (this might be a translation issue though). And the last 20 chapters did nothing but unnecessarily lengthen and dull the story. This must be the first time I’ve encountered an ending that felt prolonged instead of rushed. Yet, despite all that, I still read it. You wanna know why?

The tension. That scrumptiously delicious tension.

In terms of edging quality (you know, that ceaseless tease) Meatbun has always been the master. Now, after reading this, I think Xiu Sheng easily takes second place. You know how there are slowburn romances filled with scenes steeped in desire, keeping you waiting in sweet agony? Then there is this novel—a f*cking incinerator of lust that burns right through you, leaves you squirming and wanting to reach into the story to push that shou down on the bed. It’s filled to the brim with black-belly-gong tropes, and a shou who is one of the biggest teases ever graced danmei. This is the horniest shounen-ai I've ever read and I've absolutely devoured every piece and crumb with gusto!

To summarize: despite all its flaws, the dynamic between the duo and the constant undercurrent of s*xual tension make this novel worth reading, in my opinion. There are many areas where I think the author needs to improve, but this story was promising enough to make me curious to check out their newer works. <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: Nah, I was bored out of my mind 2/3 of it and skipped through the pages for the rest. / Do I recommend it: Nope, has nothing special to offer.... more>>

Super classic tropes, really there is nothing special about it. It's not bad but wouldn't call it good either. <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: Nah. / Do I recommend it: If you want to read something dark, it is acceptable.... more>>

Overall, it's an amateur story. The narrative lacks full realization of many good ideas, resulting in numerous plot holes and an "artificial" feel; particularly towards the end, the story becomes increasingly disjointed. If you're looking for a dark novel, it is readable. And I have to give it to the author: there is one thing they did well, and it is maintaining the ruthless aspects of ML's character without softening them. Especially in non-con scenes, unlike most, it doesn't romanticize or gloss over the details; instead, it handles them with an unsettling quality without being overly visceral. <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: No. / Do I recommend it: Not really.... more>>

Aight, I'll start with the positives because I have a lot to say in terms of negatives. It was a fun, light-hearted story that had intriguing parts here and there. 

That's it. Those are the positives :')

And here are my negatives *cough* My rant starts here, proceed with caution *cough*

First things first: I am beyond bored of the transmigration plot at this point, and most importantly, I'm bored of this type of "SVSSS-like" stories (you know how there's Souls-like and Metroid-like games? Same thing goes for these transmigration-shizun stories). It's my fault for picking this despite knowing the tags, but seriously I can't help it because:

1)The translated wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan novels are 80% transmigration—you can't escape

2)Call me mad—cause doing the same thing over and over yet expecting different results is the definition of it—but I'm dedicated to finding something original eventually.

So sadly, this story doesn't go beyond being one of those SVSS-likes in terms of its plot.

Second: I don't understand—the novel keeps telling us the MC has a bad temper and the ML (in his original world) is an a**hole, but neither of those is shown? Not a single behavior of the MC is hot-headed or ill-behaved :s I know most danmei novels have biased relationship dynamics, but if anyone on this earth was assaulted by a man for f*cking three days, even the most well-behaved person wouldn't want to see their assaulter's face, let alone the "ill-tempered" one who'd want to commit unmentionable tortures. Meanwhile, our MC is like, "Oh, it's no biggie, no worries"... Where's his repeatedly mentioned temper??

Same goes for He Zhang (modern-times guy with ML's face). The MC scolds him horribly, then when the MC has career troubles, this guy just returns the "favor" in kind. I don't think this is being an a**hole—it's petty, sure, but if you tell someone "You'll end up in a director's bed to get jobs" (citing their lack of talent), you better be ready to get that same energy back one day.

Third: Yet another abrupt and rushed ending with drastic changes... The first 2 arcs actually show the MC's slow change decently, but then he goes from 0 to 100 in accepting his feelings. Yes, there are "signs," but they're so subtle they might as well not exist. For the ML, the first 2 arcs have him actively influencing the plot, but later he morphs from "somewhat unique wannabe-blackbelly" to "dollar-store Binghe."

And lastly, for 100+ chapters, the MC acts aloof and expressionless according to book. After his 5-star upgrade, he acts increasingly OOC around side characters... and nobody notices? There was that one scene where he was smirking, and it felt weird, but not a single martial sibling pointed it out.

Phew... Okay, sorry for the long rant, but I had to... <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: Not likely. / Do I recommend it: If you don't mind the in*est tag, just because of the "hear me out" factor I would recommend :D... more>>

This should be one of the biggest "but, hear me out" stories out there... If you don't mind the in*est tag, go ahead. "No moral principles can compare to making you happy." line from ML kind of sums up their dynamic. <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: Nope. / Do I recommend it: Yes, but only if you have nothing else to read. Don't misunderstand, It's not a good novel, but it's special kind of bad that makes it fun.... more>>

Story was funny enough to make me go throught MTL hell :') Never again tho. On a completely unrelated note, I never thought I'd live to read the phrase "wild horse with a prolapsed an*s running around" in a story—let alone twice. <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: No. / Do I recommend it: Nah.... more>>

The story is decent, filled with almost all the classic danmei tropes you can find under the historical tag. But there is one aspect where this novel stands out compared to the rest of my C-tier reads: the portrayal of the ML’s pe*verted nature. There are a few references to animal cruelty and fleeting thoughts about his violent tendencies, albeit being disturbing, they play a significant role in maintaining the realism of his blackbelly character. It’s so refreshing to see an evil-natured character presented with an actual sadistic tendency.

However, it’s not done well enough to elevate the novel beyond its overall mediocrity because that evil side, sadly, fades as the chapters go on; eventually evolving into the typical "half-ass black lotus gong". <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: No. / Do I recommend it: Not really.... more>>

If someone told me this was a fanfiction of SVSSS, I wouldn't hesitate to believe it. Unfortunately, the story doesn't offer anything original, and the ML's excessively obsessive behavior, which might be amusing at first, eventually becomes absurd and uncomfortable. I think the only positive comment I can give about this novel is that the humor and comedic tone at least make it somewhat readable. <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: No. It's cute but once is enough. / Do I recommend it: Yes! If you want fluff with a dash of angst.... more>>

This is the epitome of short&sweet with a bit of tears. I highly recommend it as a breather between heavier novels. <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: NOPE. / Do I recommend it: Only if you are a completion-freak about the novels in the shared universe. Otherwise, just skip it and go read The Emperor’s Strategy, that one’s the best.... more>>

Well, Yu Xiao Lanshan’s usual humor is somewhat present, and the secret guards provide some much-needed comedic relief, but the MC and ML duo leaves soooo much to be desired. I read The Emperor’s Strategy first, and since that one was genuinely good, I dove into this one with high hopes... Only to have them utterly crushed :') There’s a—humongous—difference in quality between her more recent novels and this one. What you’ll find here is a shou with typical female lead characteristics, a gong who’s an insufferable, misogynistic prick, and an incredibly toxic relationship framed as "cute," where consent is practically non-existent. It’s a story from 2013, and as a seasoned yaoi reader, I’m no stranger to red flags and gaslighting—that’s not why I gave it a low rating. The real issues are:   

1- Amateur Writing: This is one of the author’s earlier works, and it shows. While I usually love her deadpan comedy style, here it’s so repetitive that it becomes boring. And not only the comedy, the plot structure suffers from the same problem as well.

2- Poor Aging: This novel hasn’t aged well. It has every bad quality of good ol' toxic bl, and...ugh...not a single good one to make it readworthy.

The only reason I managed to push through and finish it was because of the occasional mentions of other characters. All throughout the novel, I was basically begging, “Please, ma’am, can I have some more details about Chu Yuan and Baiyue?”

If you’re like me and wanted to read this because it’s set in the same universe as The Emperor’s Strategy, here’s some good news: all the books in the series are stand-alone. You don’t have to force yourself through this one. Honestly, I don’t think it’s worth it at all. <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: Nope. / Do I recommend it: Nah.... more>>

Nothing special. If you want a light-read, it's short and sweet enough.  <<less

Tier: C / Would I read it again: No. / Do I recommend it: Nope, whole story is one big "meh".... more>>

Sigh... Okay peeps, here is the tl;dr version: This was the most lukewarm thing I've ever read.

And here is the "it's 3am, I've just finished reading it and I'm so disappointed" version:

This story might feature epic events and characters who are supposedly over a thousand years old, but their behaviors don't reflect the epic nature or wisdom you'd expect from cultivators of such an age. Honestly, I’ve developed an aversion—or even a phobia—toward the “supposedly-uber-powerful, yet acting like a newborn fawn” archetype thanks to novels like this. Based on the description, I was expecting a story about a MC’s quest for revenge after living over 1000 years, but while reading, the only thing I felt was… well, to be honest, I would have felt more excitement watching paint dry.

Now, let’s talk about the plot. It’s not the most illogical, plot-hole-ridden story I’ve read, but focus, my god, focus was a major issue. The fact that important details—like the MC’s actions before reincarnation and during his qi-deviation—are brushed over in a single sentence near the end is incredibly disappointing. On top of that, when things go wrong, suddenly the plot shifts in the MC's favor, and it’s all explained away in a ridiculously simple, almost childlike manner (plot armor much?). Then, the same plot-armored moves are repeated by the ML over and over. And oh, don’t even get me started on the ML, who is supposedly insanely powerful but continuously shows weaknesses that don’t fit his character at all.

But honestly, the most disappointing part was the romantic subplot. After all the negatives, I was hoping to find something that would at least warm my heart, but alas... Initially, the subtle signs of affection between the characters felt sweet and natural, to the point where I was even willing to overlook the illogical aspect of thousand-something-year-old cultivators who’ve never kissed anyone before, blushing and biting their lips over a mere hand touch. But by the end, their romance escalated so ridiculously fast—from blushing to “let’s become dao companions”—that I honestly thought I’d skipped a few chapters. <<less

Tier: C- / Would I read it again: Nope. / Do I recommend it: If you don't mind plot-holes in your easy-to-digest fluff, sure go for it.... more>>

Short version: (insert brainrot music) I have a high school fluff, I have a sh*t tons of xianxia trope and bits from various novels... Uh *angry.merging.noises* this-novel!

Long version: This must be the most "patchwork" novel I've ever read. I can easily list at least four books where certain characters, plot and tropes were borrowed. In terms of originality—aside from the hilarious scene where the ML took "pee to show your dominance" a bit too literally—everything else felt like a reheated serving of classic mix of danmei clichés sans the logic. BUT, despite being illogical and overall a superficial story there is this one thing I have to admit... *inhale*unholymotheroffluff*exhale* I think I now have three cavities and a case of diabetes, all thanks to main cp! <<less

Tier: C- / Would I read it again: Yes. / Do I recommend it: YES! Even if you don't like smut, just go and read the first few chapters for shits n giggles if for nothing else!... more>>

First two chapters, I laughed my ass off . Smut was nice, comedic undertone was even better. <<less

Tier: C- / Would I read it again: Nope. / Do I recommend it: If you don't have anything else left to read and want a short smut.... more>>

Short and sweet, with some, ahem, "intense" smut scenes compared to the lighthearted tone of the rest of the story. <<less

Tier: C- / Would I read it again: Nope. / Do I recommend it: Nope. If you want xianxia there are betters, if you want romance there are way more betters.... more>>

Tl;dr: The only good thing about this novel is the translation. And that says a lot. I want to both thank the translator for their wonderful job and congratulate their willpower for enduring all those endless meme and "insertmeme.jpg" lines. I don’t like writing harsh reviews, but honestly, you could just open Wattpad, pick any story with a "high school girl x college mafia boy" pairing, and you’d end up with this story—just in a different font. Hell, you might even get better logic, plot, and writing too.

Long-ass version: This is a high school rom-com masquerading as a xianxia. Instead of calling it "transmigration" where the MC knows the ML from a book, it’s a "descending from heaven" and he knows him from Book of Fate-something.  It wants to be a modern story, acts like a modern story, but because it's set in an ancient cultivation world, the whole thing feels half-assed and unbalanced. On top of that, the writing style is painfully poor, with constant "insertmeme.jpg" lines and—most likely self-insert—wanna-be-quirky inner dialogues from the MC.

There’s no way for me to connect or immerse myself in a story where a 1,700 year old phoenix demoted to descend to earth and experience calamity, is trapped in the body of a 15 year old boy... actually acts like a genuine 15 year old boy. It doesn't matter how much author repeats that "he's just a 1700 years old chick, only baby etc..."that logic just doesn't work for me. Not a single action of his is aligns with his background.

And I won’t even deign to comment on the ML. Let me just summarize it for you, and you’ll get the gist immediately: a two-faced gong with mu*der tendencies who acts nice to others but shows his butthurt, sad-sob-backstory mu*der face only to the MC—because that’s just how plot works, duh—yet, for some reason, he suddenly stops wanting to hurt him. Because, DUH, that’s how romance works. (Spoiler alert: Yes, it's because of mommy issues. And yes, he also has a secret hidden power backstory.)

I would say it gets better as the story progresses, but it's still not enough to save it from its mediocrity. If you're looking for a comedy with modern narration and dialogue, there are better options. If you're after a xianxia story, again, there are far better choices. And if you're looking for a romance, 8 out of 10 stories you find would be better than this one. <<less

Tier: C- / Would I read it again: Nah. Well, maybe if I need to remind myself what an absolute legend of a shou looks like :'D Do I recommend it: YES! Cute, fun and most importantly—POWER BOTTOM AHOY!... more>>

My dear fujoshis, unite, because you’re about to dine well with this one! This super short and fluffy story comes with a delicious, delicious power dynamic (hehehe). I absolutely mean it when I say, I need their dynamic in a longer version! Dumb/crybaby gong and aggressive/power bottom shou is such an underrated theme. Forget all those cookie-cutter-black-belly tropes—this is THE good stuff, I’m telling you! At just five chapters, it already puts other sassy power bottoms to shame. You bet your ass he knows the right way to offer a sacrifice; my man hauled his gong over his shoulder, tossed him onto the bad and had him cryinging “Three times a day is too much… you’re going to suck me dry…wuwuwwu.” ABSOLUTE LEGEND! When I say I want a power bottom, THIS is exactly what I’m talking about! *evil cackles away* <<less

Tier: C- / Would I read it again? Only if I’m desperate for a dragon-story fix. / Do I recommend it: Nah.... more>>

I have a weak spot—a weak spot for dragon novels. And to be completely frank, this story has nothing to offer to you except having uh...dragons and jiaos and a bunch of other beasts.

Plot-holes are abound, story itself is not much and MC is required a certain "taste" in character to enjoy his antics. So, if you want an okayish web-novel with a bunch of beasts and an extremely tsundere MC, go ahead. Just be warned, that's ALL it has to offer. And oh, surprise last-minute mpreg jump-scare—it offers that too! (Seriously though, if you're like me and despise mpreg, no need to worry much; it's in the very last chapter of the extras. Barely affects the main story.) <<less