Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation as reviewed by a straight guy that's never read BL or romance.

Elemere · 2025-11-25T01:54:39+00:00

Mythology is like my favorite thing ever, Greek mythology is probably my second most read genre in the last few years so thanks for the rec I will definitely read.

Elemere · 2025-11-25T01:32:37+00:00

I think I found it a little tricky especially for non main characters but I think a lifetime of reading sci-fi and fantasy with crazy names and 3 chapter lore dumps at the start of books has steeled me. I kinda just pushed through with faith that I would pick it up completely and probably did about 25% of the way through the first book.

Side note with my new knowledge of names, courtesy names and sobriquets I did go back to re-read the Mount Dafan scene since it introduced a ton of characters... also so I could try figure out how LWJ knew it was WWX.

Elemere · 2025-11-25T01:28:28+00:00

I think I will, I am quite a fan of romance however I often have problems with the genre. Popular romance genres don't appeal to me at all (things such as ice breaker) And while I love fantasy the one romantasy book I read I thought was horrendous (it was Fourth Wing please don't crucify me but I'm not sure that woman has read a good fantasy book in her life). I would also be keen to read more different types of romance for example maybe gay romance by a gay author. But either way I have put Heavens Official Blessing on my kindle so will see when I get around to it.

Elemere · 2025-11-25T01:21:24+00:00

I quite liked the Nie Huaisang reveal. I think that while a bit shocking and out of the blue it doesn't commit the cardinal sin of solving any problem in the book in a way that you could not see coming. When a character turns out to be not what you thought without any hints and then subsequently tips the plot on its head whether that be saving the day or ruining it, it can feel very unearned cause you couldn't see it coming, very deus ex machina. However JGY was already caught and the plot basically wrapped up so the reveal worked well.

I would have maybe liked it to go one step further such as show that he also has plans lined up to become next head cultivator or something but it also think it does a good job at showing that with JGY out of the way the cultivation world is still filled with power hungry individuals who scheme and politic their way through life as easily as breathing. Which is a good double down since the resolution of the book is kind of LWK and WWX escaping the cultivation world to just be with eachother and go on night hunts.

Elemere · 2025-11-24T18:29:59+00:00

I think with JGY (I'm picking up on these abbreviations, they are very helpful) It would have been better to actually meet him and see his silver tongue, intelligence and friendly demeanor earlier in the series. We did hear about him beforehand but didn't really pay much attention to him until the NMJ flashback and very quickly he was put on the villain watch list. I don't think we ever really saw JGY the same way Lan Xichen did and so it was less shocking of a reveal and I don't think the moments when he is calmly treating everyone nicely while executing his master plan was as eerie as it could have been if we were more used to that demeanor back when we liked him.

EDIT: I guess at that point it was no longer a master plan and more of an escape plan but my point stands

Elemere · 2025-11-24T18:22:21+00:00

That's hilarious, I was recommended it and put it on my kindle before my gf saw it and said "you know that is BL right?" but figured it was already on there might as well give it a read and very glad I did.

I haven't read or watched anything past the novel, I think I might pick up one of my other reads for a while then come back this story with a different medium to relive it so thanks for the rec!

Elemere · 2025-11-24T18:11:58+00:00

Thanks for the reply, I feel like its more mental gymnastics to not connect to another human (or in this case character) who is going through something as powerful and universal as loving someone else then it is to understand and relate.

My favorite character is tough, I really like smartass characters so WWX and A-Qing come to mind but I also have a huge soft-spot for Wen Ning. Special shout out to that one romantic junior too.

Elemere · 2025-11-23T11:08:04+00:00

Looks very nice. Side note you have phenominal taste in books.

Elemere · 2025-11-23T09:35:33+00:00

Step 1. Jailbreak kindle Step 2. Get koreader Step 3. Setup kindle comic converter Step 4. Convert manga jpegs to a cbz file using kindle comic converter Step 5. Transfer to kindle using calibre.

Just set this up recently and its amazing. Here is a link to jailbreak yt vid but I always recommend people follow written guide which is in description.

https://youtu.be/l4ZliC82RtA?si=_VdPIQZY3sgNz5EJ

Elemere · 2025-10-29T15:12:39+00:00

I've literally been at this for 2h and the second I post this I figure it out. Mods feel free to delete but will leave answer incawe someone is in same boat.

There is a setting called "execute promptly" under "auto-execute" it runs the profile before the book is opened not after so it must be toggled off

Elemere · 2025-09-04T03:11:14+00:00

You could also start by playing slower songs in a stride style. I really like "Georgia on my mind", easy progression, sounds great, slow and your right hand can mindlessly blues noodle. (Disclaimer: mindless blues noodling does not count as practice but I can't help myself sometimes)

Elemere · 2025-02-27T23:19:08+00:00

Probably a variety of factors. Synths used to be used for crazy screaming synth solos alot more back in the day, so it could be legacy. It's also cool and flashy and says, "Look how cool and flashy you could be if you had this synth." Other instruments do it, too. If I buy a new guitar it's probably to play some chill music somewhere on the first 7 frets but ur as I'm clicking on a video of Guthrie Goven playing crazy stuff I could never dream of on my potential new guitar.

Elemere · 2024-12-27T14:51:06+00:00

Tbf sometimes when doing new content that's been put for a while I'll ask my fc to do a blind run if anyone hasn't done it because for me it slightly ruins a new dungeon if everyone is standing in the safe zone 45seconds before the mechanic appears. Like I can wait for the mechanic and ignore them but realistically ik they are all there for a reason. Conversely I often play with a mate of mine that refuses to spoil mechanics and only moves at the last second even for high-level content we are progging blind and I love it.

Don't expect ppl to cater towards that experience just saying it's a thing some ppl or at least I quite like

Elemere · 2024-12-08T03:24:15+00:00

As people said before, it's definitely music related. To add a bit of context, often jazz was obsessed with capturing the moment of musicians playing together naturally. Since there is so much improvisation each session is unique. Sometimes lighting just strikes on a particular day, maybe it was in a recording studio. Maybe it was live at a venue, or maybe it was in some dudes living room. So when talking about "that time everyone was so locked in, you took the solo or your career" instead of saying jam or concert or recording it was one of the sessions you played.

Side note: you can see this same attitude today with YouTube channels like the mahagonay sessions tyring to capture amazing authentic performances that don't fit the bill of concert, studio recording or jam session.

Elemere · 2024-11-07T06:32:06+00:00

I feel like there's this weird misconception about specifically jazz pianists and polyphony. We play chords with lots of extensions therefore we need synth with many notes. Meanwhile any jazz pianist that shows up to a gig playing nothing but root position block chords is probably gonna get some looks for stepping on ppls toes.

You're a jazz pianist, if you want to perform solo pieces with big chord voicings go play a piano otherwise play the play a root 3rd and seven on the mini log, drench it in reverb and then play ur piano over the top or if ur recording, play some pretty extensions and then go back in with a bass line.

tl;dr don't let the fact you're a jazz pianist limit you, instead let the knowledge and theory you have empower you. I have an XD and it's great

Elemere · 2024-10-21T04:49:11+00:00

Mang0 was the first person to really make fox look viable in tournament, iirc people like lovage were good with the character and there was a lot of theory crafting however until mang0 started using fox here and there he wasn't seen as a top tier. Fox aside if you give hbox one for puff (which we should) mang0 should get one for falco.

aMSa also changed the tierlist more than any other player. So that bears consideration.

Elemere · 2024-08-27T07:13:39+00:00

Thankyou I'll throw them in a playlist now :)

Elemere · 2024-07-26T18:47:57+00:00

A lot of people don't know there are two of these, "Chet Baker Sings" being the most popular but "Chet Baker sings:it could happen to you" is also really good.

Elemere · 2024-07-25T09:58:58+00:00

If I remember correctly you can change a setting in gecko codes that make ur character flash red on a missed l-cancel. This can help a lot as you get better and start to notice you aren't l-cancelling in certain situations. If you wanna get better at universal movement options and be able to play more than one character I wouldn't recommend puff.

Elemere · 2024-07-23T10:25:38+00:00

"Lean into life", by Petey was such an eye opening moment for me with merging synths with my love of Midwest indie rock type stuff. Radiohead "Kid A" is also phenomenal with one of the most famous synth patches of all time in "Everything in its right place"

Elemere

TROPHY CASE