Worst part is, I've read a lot of books before. But none of them interest me any more. I just keep reading chinese novels with thousands of chapters. And when I'm done there's another one right around the corner, ready for me to start doing it all over again. Is this what women were doing when romance novels and knight stories (aka don quixote) were starting to appear initially? Getting lost in fantasy worlds and losing touch with reality?
Anyway recommend me some good ones. I'm reading Reverend Insanity right now and it's hands down the best one I've ever read.
What other ones do you recommend?
Cultivation Chat Group
Scum Villain's Self Saving System
Martial Peak (If you've never read something similar before)
It's hard to explain really. I guess when a story is thousands of chapters long there must be something that keeps you reading.
as ssethtzeentach explained in his 'amazing cultivation simulator' video, cultivation is taking a bunch of chinese rice farmers and after putting them through an extensive kung fu and tai chi program turning them into demigods
Where can I read a good translation?
What's the appeal?
It's just like junk food, garbage but digestible and addictive. Also, most of these novels are Mary Sue self-inserts.
https://www.wuxiaworld.com/page/general-glossary-of-terms
It’s easily consumable, quick reading, comfy power fantasy schlock that /lit loves to pretend to hate.
If you read martial peak, you have read 90% of all cultivation novels.
The only other one is reverend insanity, which is the best one by far, but it has been censored by China communist party and will never be finished and it literally stops on a huge cliff hanger
Still have no idea what "cultivation" means in this context.
Na I used to do the same thing. I stopped at one point but I soon realised they were literally all the same thing. Memes like Dragon Tattooed War God. The one the name I forget where the author made it like an interconnected world where the MC's become like uber Gods outside of reality and make their own world for the new MC's to live in. Against the Gods, read nearly all of it. Battle Through the Heavens, I stopped when he became a literal fricking ocean.
It's a self insert but for guys
Funnily enough since I read them so much as a kid I kind of internalised them into what I write. At least the kind of cultivation meme. Not so much the self insert jerk off fest of one billion slapped young masters. I think the idea that characters should be strong based on their own efforts is cool.
Have you played Amazing Cultivate Simulator, Tale of Immortal, etc?
>Tale of Immortal
Honestly didn't like those very much, Warm Snow was fun though
You will get tired of them eventually. I was a few hundred novels into mtl translations before I gave up.
You will find better luck asking on reddit. r/noveltranslations
Have you read Water Margin? I've heard that is full of power level spikes and magical abilities
Water Margin is an example of Wuxia rather than Xianxia. It doesn't reach the same moronic marysue self-insert peaks the latter genre is known and beloved for
Renegade Immortal, I Shall Seal the Heavens, Martial World. These are the good ones off the top of my head that are completed.
I for some reason could never get into I Shall Seal the Heavens. I think Martial World was my favourite though, great world building and progression.
Yeah that was my favorite too, it’s too bad True Martial World was shit
I love Chinese literature so much bros
I have been reading chinese cultivation novels for years now, most are garbage but there a quite a few gems that end up being produced because of the sheer volume being pumped out all the time
name your gems
reverend insanity is by far the best one unfortunately
I think the that Tales of Demons and Gods and Panlong (Coiling Dragon) are really good xianxia for noobs to the genre.
There are classically high rated ones like I Shall Seal The Heavens, A Will Eternal (you can't really properly read this until you are very familiar with the genre as it has a lot of parody/comedy elements), and Battle Through the Heavens.
Martial World is always strong. Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World is a bit of a different genre, but a good one in it.
My friend really likes Warlock of the Magus World.
Anyways, always glad to have some for wuxia/xianxia fans!
What books for example of Chad Chinaman?
Something like Martial World or I Shall Seal the Heavens are pretty generic entry level xianxia's.
All of them.
If you thought manga kept recycling the same shit, you haven’t seen anything yet.
I've read Feng Shen Ji, it was honestly pretty compelling but I ran out of steam some point after they assaulted heaven and the MC got ANOTHER power up (some green shit)
How does it stack up compared to other Cultivation/xianxia series?
I can't get into it because of those names, one of the reasons i can't watch Thunderbolt while thoroughly enjoying the first three episodes. Any tips for this moron?
There's a version of the subtitles that uses english names for the characters so it's easier to keep them straight. The problem is, I'm not sure which one.
ShamiSubs
I do the same thing and have the same feeling, but with pulps. Just finish one and start the next.
>The Shadow - about 300 novels
>Doc Savage - about 180 novels
Well, I'm set for a while lol
Tales of Herding Gods
Nightfall
Way of Choices
Path Toward Heaven
Just watch Pili
I feel the urge to post THE copypasta
>Meng Hao walked into the McDonald's. The cultivator taking his order gave a derisive snort, but Meng Hao did not really care, because he had repressed his aura down to the Single Patty Realm, and a fool would not be able to tell his true level of burger eating.
>"Give me... a Happy Meal!"
>The cultivator's face flickered before he finally regained his composure and laughed. "You couldn't afford a Happy Meal. Get lost! Don't you see that there are Double Quarter Pounder Realm eaters waiting behind you? Meng Hao slapped his bag of holding and threw 80 billion spirit McDonald's coupons onto the counter, causing an earthquake which demolished half of the restaurant. Everyone dropped their jaws. None could see how this was possible!
>"I'll take that Happy Meal with a side order of fries, " Meng Hao said. He was as calm as the ocean in a painting of an insanely calm ocean. "And let me see your manager!"
>The cashier cultivator coughed up a mouthful of ketchup. He simply could not handle Meng Hao's killing intent, because he was only at the Quarter Pounder with Cheese realm himself. Even though Meng Hao had suppressed his aura, because he had cultivated the Heavenly Burgin' Qi, this was enough to kill people a few levels higher if he truly wanted.
>It was then that another man which a much more fierce aura stepped forward. "You dare make trouble here?"
>"P... Patriarch Hamburglar!"
>Patriarch Hamburglar was 99 cents of the way into the Big Mac Realm, plus tax! Meng Hao was pushed back two feet, knocking over a soda machine. Powerade Mountain Berry Blast geysered outward, killing several onlookers. Of course, Mayor McCheese saw all this happen through the window.
>Meng Hao coughed up a mouthful of blood, snorted, constricted his pupils, and then his expression went calm. He unleashed the aura of 64 patties, condensed down to a 2 patty stack that could fit into his mouth! Mayor McCheese coughed up a mouthful of cheese. His pupils constricted.
>"Is this... Seeking the McRib stage??"
>Meng Hao had the gentle air of a scholar, but it wouldn't stop him from killing several people in a McDonald's. "Burger Devouring Scripture! I'm Lovin' It!"
>With the first keyword of the Burger Devouring Scripture, everyone below the early Quarter Pounder With Cheese stage exploded into purple mist. The light of the immense heavenly burger shone down with the contours of a golden arch as 9 illusory burgers floated around Meng Hao's body, which is probably an important xianxia number that matches the number of lakes in some sacred Chinese province I've never heard of. But that was only a fraction of Meng Hao's power. >He waved his arm, bringing forth thirty more cultivation techniques that hadn't appeared in over 400 chapters!
>"Heavenly Tribulation Fries! Eastern Everburning Egg McMuffin! Fruit Smoothie Guillotine! Soul McCafe Mocha Incarnation!"
>Meng Hao's expression was the same as ever as he slapped his bag of holding, and brought out his karmic ketchup packet, Fry Cook Lord medallion, seventeen different wooden time spatulas, a five-coloured resurrection coupon, the silk burger wrapper, various souls of lightning McNuggets that he may or may not still have, and his mask of the legacy of Ronald McDonald. Oh, and the image of a flying Chicken Snack Wrap dragon appeared. Remember that? It was basically his Main Thing at the start of the novel, but quietly faded into irrelevance. Until now! All of this takes some time to describe, but actually happened in the space of only a few breaths. "What! Impossible!"
>Meng Hao wanted to summon the parrot as well, but it was too overcome with eroticism by the purple fur depicted on a nearby poster of Grimace, and was busy drilling out a glory hole straight through the poster, and the wall it was pinned to, with its strong parrot erection.
>But it was more than enough. The Hamburglar's soul flew out and was absorbed into his mask! He screamed as his body was destroyed completely.
>Meng Hao brushed off his robe and swept up his spirit coupons and everyone's bags of holding which probably didn't have any cool sh*t inside unless I write him into a corner later, and anyways, don't worry about it for now. He surveyed the rubble that was all that remained of the McDonald's.
>"Guess I'll be taking that Happy Meal... to go!"
Chortled well, thanks for sharing.
>>Meng Hao had the gentle air of a scholar, but it wouldn't stop him from killing several people in a McDonald's.
gets me every time
This is amazing
beat me to it
Incredible
After reading 2000 pages of Reverend Insanity this sure got me rolling on the floor
>He was as calm as the ocean in a painting of an insanely calm ocean
Lost
Where can I find them?
webnovel.com has most of them but they charge money after a certain amount of chapters
im reading reverend insanity on novelusb.com / https://novelusb.net/
but the site is getting DDOsed currently so you might need to check it out later
Are those books really that good? If you had to compare them to an author or a classical book which one would it be?
I wouldn't compare them to classical books. The greentext a couple posts before does a good job at making fun of the general genre tropes. The bad ones are mostly as described. The good ones (like Reverend Insanity) don't rely on these tropes and actually have good writing, unexpected twists etc.
What are the good ones other than reverend insanity? I've read a lot of chinkshit and most of it is bad, RI is by far the best in the genre. Please give reccs.
There isn’t one. I have looked and looked, reverend insanity is just on a whole other level.
Way of the Devil
Desolate Era
None of them are good.
Good must be a relative term here.
RI and quality in the same sentence?
Western authors stopped the mary sue heroes already in the 80s. What you think is cool anime shit is actually just the equivalent of the romance light novels 90 IQ white women read.
The whole genre is a cope for loners. Touch some grass and get laid.
What does mary sue have to do with RI? If it is as you say then provide a list of works written before 80s that are similar to RI.
Again what does anime have to do with RI? RI is almost the exact opposite of anime.
You may not like RI for some shitty reasons but there is a very large and significant number of people who found themselves liking it (even to their own surprise). Western authors reject the idea (or they aren't even aware of it) that negative character qualities (by western standards) can actually be interesting and fun to read, more than that they push this idealized western ideal of a character onto their readers that's actually harmful and very disadvantageous in real life.
>Touch some grass and get laid.
so you are coomer, it seems your solution to all and any problems is just get laid man.
Oh, boy! I sure do love reading this cold blooded sociopath who does everything he can do get more power, no matter how many people he has to slay, murder, steal, betray. Only. Power. Matters. Character arc? No. He is COOL and DARKsouled and will never experience any 'arcs'. In my long life of being 20 year old in U.S. the world has mistreated me for not giving me women, money, and fame, so now I can take my imaginary revenge inserting myself as a blank slate character, which is BTW very cool and edgy.
At this point probably several million people read it and found it interesting and enjoyable read, they must all be 20yo americans, poor and angry and mistreated, looking for revenge.
As coomers say, they just need to get laid man! and all their problems will disappear.
Honestly, yes.
The best part about it is the righteous factions doing shady shit and the villain factions getting powerful enough to just say "actually im righteous now" and the righteous have to go along with it. Very realistic.
So what is your favorite read then?
If you don’t answer, you are a pathetic troll
They are basically comic books bro, most of them are forgettable, some of them are bad, and some of them are really good.
But it’s cape shit from China.
There is even one called “super hero vs cultivator”.
Any particularly good translators? I've wanted to start cultivation novels but have no idea where to begin.
Pick a good cultivation method and then spend the next five years establishing your dantian and clearing your meridians. You can fo this in under one year if youre lucky enough to find good pills and elixirs.
What the frick are you talking about?
chink fortune cookie shit
Internal Alchemy for achieving immortality/transcendence but from a Chinese perspective
>fo
Find better translation scrolls.
Skyfarrow. Coiling Dragon, desolate era and martial world are all good intros to the genre and have good translations you should be able to easily find. Reverend insanity is by far the best but you should read some other ones first.
I've only read Reverend Insanity is there anything at that level of quality
Currently reading Nine Star Hegemon Body Art and I am up to date. I’d give it a solid 8/10 but the chapters are very short so every time another 3 chapters are released it takes you 5 minutes to finish them.
The problem with the genre is if they're not following the regular plot (MC goes from a cripple to the ruler of existence) they're just putting a twist on different genre conventions (like Isekai for example). Also some of the novels work better as comics rather than literature. What they do very well on occasion is humor, for example Cultivatior Against Hero Society or All Hail The Sect Leader are both very funny especially if you get all the references. I guess if you're lazy and want to kill some time these novels can serve that purpose. Just don't take them as serious literature. I will check out Reverend Insanity though with all the reccommendations ITT
Beware Reverend Insanity has two (or more) translations floating around. Make sure you download the right one.
https://files.catbox.moe/kpxf0p.epub
I feel you, i became intrigued with their morality and tradition, makes me wonder what else am i missing from their culture?
I recommend everyone ITT read actual chinese literature like Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. It's filled with all kinds of bizarre shit.
>I'm reading Reverend Insanity right now and it's hands down the best one I've ever read.
Yes, you are out of luck, by reading RI first you have ruined the entire genre for yourself.
Anyway, immediately stop reading RI and read Martial World, Divine Throne of primordial blood, Sovereign of Three Realms, Otherworldy Evil Monarch, The Hidden Tower, Human Emperor, End Of Magic Era. After you finished these then go back to reading RI
I really enjoy these because I am autistic and it's soothing for me to read about the character slowly becoming stronger and stronger. That said, I think it's bad for your mind. When I binge the cultivation novels or manhua I feel drunk or like high on weed.
I've seen numerous rave reviews for Reverend Insanity, calling it one of the greatest novels ever etc., better than Moby Dick and Dostoevsky.
The novel is excellent, reading Reverend Insanity makes one realize just how closed minded western authors are, if you think of (western) literary freedom then Reverend Insanity adds totally separate dimension of freedom to it.
Can you explain what you mean with freedom here? Haven't read the novel.
I love reverend insanity, it’s the best cultivation novel.
But uhh, I think you are giving it way too much credit here.
Regarding creative freedom RI goes where almost no western novels go. It's just surprising that with such wide variety of writing styles, variety of subjects that none are off limits, different authors that come from so many different walks of life no one has written anything resembling RI.
Is it wrong to say that RI adds another dimension to creative freedom?
Any concrete example of this creative freedom?
Lead character with the worst negative qualities that western authors literally hate and despise is actually interesting and fun to read? Who would have thought? Definitely not me who was brought up on typical western hero fiction.
What negative qualities? If he isn't ugly bastard tier it's to vanilla for me.
Murderous, selfish, liar, manipulator, controlling, cruel.
Not a coomer, kills women without a second though, average looking lel
So Cao Cao. You really are a moron that hasn't read anything outside of your little bubble aren't you? Hell even the webnovel Overlord has a similar main character.
He's just a skeleton.
You must be blind if you think these things to do not already exist in western literature. Perhaps you should do some googling. The only reason you think RI is unique is because you can not read enough real literature.
Please post some western recs then which have main characters or lead characters comparable to Fang Yuan.
American Psycho
e-girlta
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Wasp Factory
A Clockwork Orange
Macbeth
Heart of Darkness
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Fight Club
The Collector
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Some of these are similar in a way, but these stories still stand on premise of not rewarding evil or questionable behaviour in the end, in the end bad or evil characters lose in one way or another. Also some of these works have leads that are genuinely mentally unstable (paranoia, schizophrenia and so on) or their motivations are based purely on their irrational emotions. Writing a lead like that is a sure way to make readers hate them. In orher words these authors did go the evil protagonist route but still did their best to make the readership hate them.
Everything listed there is also a better piece of literature or entertainment than reverend insanity precisely because of that reason.
You root for the main character Fang Yuan whenever he kills or tortures someone because they are all bad people themselves, they are trying to stop him, or have zero Character development so they are basically mooks.
You know when you didn’t like the main character? When he fed that young girl to that bear, I know you know what I’m talking about. The author knew it too which is why he never does something that truly awful again.
Reverend insanity did not invent “the bad guy wins”
>Everything listed there is also a better piece of literature or entertainment than reverend insanity precisely because of that reason
They would be best if the protagonist was evil abd his antagonists good, but you still wanted the protagonist to win because you think he's more right.
>Everything listed there is also a better piece of literature or entertainment than reverend insanity precisely because of that reason
That is your opinion, it is also held by many western authors and readers alike, it, the opposite opinion does not exist in mainstrean (and even niche) western world and that is way RI is creative in a way western antihero stories are not.
That scene really did not leave a lasting impression on me. I root for FY not because he kills innocents or guilty ones but because he is selfish, he looks after himself and his interests only (and uses whatever means necessary to do so), how many western protagonists are like that? That they care exclusively about their interests and no one elses? In western fantasy this is unheard of, show me a main character who has not died or sacrificised for their country, their town or their villgage or their friend or love interest in some way?
The other reason that I have not mentioned is Fang Yans drive and ambition. Not so much in the past but in current times western ambitious protagonists are almost extinct.
>Reverend insanity did not invent “the bad guy wins”
No, but the main character who is a bad guy and who wins in the end is almost unheard of in the west.
>western lit has never had a selfish main character
This homie for real? Even Odysseus matches this description
>The author knew it too which is why he never does something that truly awful again.
T. didnt read it
You already forgot when she killed the girl for loving him in the north and many others. Filtered
that was an evil woman that just wanted to use him to escape her family traditions, she even tried to deceive and plot against him while she was dying
In a world where might makes right, RI protagonist is not actually evil but adhering to the moral code of the world. You've been reading about a well respected citizen all along.
Kek hes actually done several immoral things even by the standards of that world.
>Heart of Darkness
Kurtz isn't the main character and also doesn't do anything particularly evil that i remember. Fang Yuan kidnaps a teen girl and then feeds her to a bear while reciting Buddhist scriptures about the superficiality of beauty. Compared to that most of your list isn't that out there. Also RI is notable for doing this in a genre fiction setting.
Genre fiction generally suffers from an incredible level of moralhomosexualry. I attribute part of it to the fact that fantasy usually targets children, but also I really think you'd struggle to find a publisher for a lot of chinkshit.
Anyway your list is shit and doesn't really address the other poster's point. There are certainly evil and even sympathetically evil characters in the entire body of western lit, but good fantasy with an evil protaganist simply doesn't exist, at least not in anything I've found in my decades of reading this garbage. If you have a recommendation that fits I'd be happy to hear it. As it stands I think RI is genuinely one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read although there isn't much competition, the genre sucks.
R. Scott Bakker's The Second Apocalypse has main character called Kellhus who will do anything to achieve the Logos. But that fantasy series might be too grim for you.
I read and enjoyed all of Bakker's books, Kelhus isn't the main character and is more of an antagonist. Bakker is a breath of fresh air though, I agree he's based. /sffg/ memes him and RI for a reason.
Imagine how much better Heart of Darkness would have been if it were chock full of power level autism.
…House of Cards on Netflix.
A couple of game a thrones characters
Thomas covenant from the chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Hell even a little Iago from Shakespeare, or The Prince from machievelli
My brother he is just power hungry and isn’t above murder, theft, cruelty or lying to get it.
It isn’t new, I think you might be a zoomer who grew up with nothing but woke crap to read (I’m not hating, I genuinely feel bad for this generation) But this type of edgy anti-hero has been around forever.
Go watch house of cards on netflix
I’m a huge fan of reverend insanity by the way.
I just think it might be better to say “I personally haven’t read anything like reverend insanity before”. Rather than saying it opens new dimensional levels of creative freedom.
I appreciate the discussion
It’s the best cultivation novel. Which is like saying “The Rock” is the best Michael Bay movie.
It’s good, I’m glad I read all 3000+ chapters. But I dont recommend it because it’ll never be finished due to Chinese censorship.
And it ends on a *huge* cliff hanger, honestly it hurts my heart thinking about it.
You read all 3000+ chapters? Is there still no ending? A story that long must be epic.
It gets epic for sure.
Like many have said, it’s a good read
I'm surprised no one mentioned Lord of the Mysteries. It's cultivation but the twist is that it's set in a quasi victorian era with the usual ching chong heavenly fist replaced with occultish/lovecraftian progression system based on consuming parts of divinity and the corresponding madness. The world building is it's biggest strength and it got so popular that, after the trilogy is finished, of which a second part just recently started the release, and everything is established the author will let the community expand the universe further, or so i've heard. It's the best thing you'll get from chinese fantasy webnovels
>I'm surprised no one mentioned Lord of the Mysteries
Its shit
World of cultivation is my favorite because it actually spends a little time on what a world with people running around with magical powers would be like to live in. Know some water magic? You'd be stupid not to make some money by making rain during droughts.Can you manipulate fire really well? You can probably get a job at a blacksmith or a kitchen. It eventually gets to the kind of super powerful characters that xianxia is know for but it starts at the bottom and shows how the average people live first. Expensive shops literally fly in the air by spirit stone powered formations for free advertising and to filter out anyone poor or weak enough to not be able to get up there.
I am reading World of Cultivation and it's quite good but many reviews say it gets much worse after chapter 200
The Demon Lord Only Wants to Follow the Script
Mistakenly Saving the Villain
Married Thrice to Salted Fish
My Disciple Died Yet Again
Show some courage and tell us all what *you* think is a good read then?
You have found it friend.
Reverend insanity is *the* best. I have looked and looked for something to satisfy that itch for awhile now and it just isn’t there.
What the hell is a cultivational novel?
reverend insanity has made me unable to read junk(trash self fulfillment) novels
why does it have to end right when he threatens to kill heavenly court members
China communist censorship.
The guy who writes Soul Land is the head guy who decided what is good and what gets banned. Turns out, if your novel is more popular than soul land, it’s not good for China
And where do you read this novel that would cost over 700 dollars or more to read?
https://novelfull.com/
myboxnovel.com
Memories of the Fall I guess.
Another one bites the dust, Chinks won. China number wan
You really have to turn off your brain to read this stuff don't you?
If you don't train your brain along the eightfold path or at least the middle way you may as well not even have one.
Isn't chinkshit based on taoism not buddhism?
Two sides to every chink.
Buddhists are nearly always villains or supreme hypocrites in these novels. There's always some buddhist guy who cheats the MC and steals his shit
ok so ccp is bankrolling these, good to know
Yes. Leave the brain at the door and have a fun time with slapping one million young masters and power wanking.
I read a mix of classic literature and chinese cultivation novels as well lol
currently reading Faust and Infinite leveling Murim
I've run out of chinkshit to read, most of it is just so trash I can't even enjoy it. Glad I read RI but I think I'm done. I read history now.
I read reverend insanity and after that I lost interest in all other cultivation novels.
Try reading Chinese Fanfiction. I just found a Naruto fanfic where the main character's special power was giving enemy ninja late-stage cancer. The Chinese authors are either 5-times inbred sibling-rapists or unmatched geniuses of comedy and storytelling, there is no middle ground.
Same, but I read all the South Korean ones that more generally are about Murim rather than being specifically about cultivation and immortality. So stuff like
>Return of the Mount Hua Sect
>Fist Demon of Mount Hua
>Legend of the Northern Blade
Though I also do read
>Apotheosis
>The Ultimate of all Ages
Which should be closer to what you're talking about.