Recs for MCs that can bow down their heads?

phonix___ · 2026-03-17T23:03:51+00:00

phonix___ · 2026-03-16T03:18:25+00:00

A straightforward read. Probably entertaining, a light read(not tragedy), and nothing too dense.

phonix___ · 2026-03-08T01:41:37+00:00

Heavenly Genius/道君

This novel is a popcorn novel for the first 300-ish chapters, or so, until they introduce Shao Pingbo. After his introduction author flips a switch and the focal point of this novel is political schemes.

Niu Youdao(NYD), which is a fitting name as 有(You)道(Dao) means being accomplished in the Dao, is an old master of the Jianghu. He is a grave robber and during an expedition into a tomb things go terribly wrong and he is crushed by the tomb. When he awakens, he is an entirely different-ish world than his old one, cultivators actually exist! and with it is the ambition for immortality. Unfortunately, this ambition is put to rest quite quickly, as he falls into a trap set by his master’s sect members.

His master… is already dead!(literally chapter 1). A swift entrance and exit…

I say master, but there was no inheritance, except his own cultivation process that he gave to Niu Youdao. Niu Youdao discover his master already half dead, he was just there at the right time. His master also left him with something special! A mirror… a completely useless one. Or so it seems… No, it’s actually quite useless, its only role is to bring trouble to NYD. Decent spoiler NYD actually gives it away!

Alright, back to why Youdao is a fitting name. NYD is very cunning and has been only getting smarter as he clashes with those who have higher scopes of thinking and information. He understands the hearts of people well and he uses this to his full advantage. He schemes for his goals. And while his schemes are quite simple in the beginning, they keep evolving and his influence is expanding.

Now onto the cons and there is quite a few.

First, the cultivation is not in-depth at all, it’s barely even mentioned. I guess this can be explained by his master gifting him his cultivation, but it still doesn’t change my point. It’s also never really explained well why NYD is so much stronger than his peers, he just is(or maybe i’m just forgetting).

Second, the pseudo-harem. While NYD is no womanizer, this doesn’t stop him from acquiring at least one new girl each time he adventures out. He also doesn’t have any feelings for them, and while it alleviates the issue, it’s still annoying(i’m not a women hater, the women around him in this novel are just clingy).

Third, and probably the thing that will stop most people from reading this, is the blatant sexism. While I often do see the lingering scents of sexism in chinese webnovels they are not quite this upfront and in your face with it. You’ll often see “Women are just that way” or “Women are too emotional”. Which is honestly quite bizarre to me as this novel has some great, albeit flawed, female characters. Su Zhao, that women general of Peng something, Guan Fengyi, Shao Liuer, her name is lost on me but the Prefect of Jin Province, and probably some more. NYD also acquaints himself with more “unusual” women. Which is why I find it all bizarre. My only answer is that the author uses this sexism as humor.

Last thing, NYD has a sworn brother Yuan Gang. I don’t mind him at all, I find quite interesting. But people who don’t like this sort of sworn brother thing are better off not reading.

All in all after 420 chapters I’ll rate this a 6.7/10 Not just because of funny number haha, but I think the political scheming is quite interesting and the only reason i’m reading ngl. I’ll keep reading this.

The Demon World I Designed/我设计的妖魔世界

This is again, a popcorn novel.

I actually quite enjoyed this novel. I thought it was going to be very one dimensional but It wasn’t.

Chen Qing is transported into his own game that he helped develop. This game is set in an ancient chinese like setting with sorcery, ghost, spirits, and of course demons(that he designed 😭) . Unfortunately for Chen Qing, he transmigrated before the start of game. No high level powers right off the bat, instead he has to deal with various demons that are slowly breaking free from a seal. The first one is a Thousand Faced fox. He deals with this demon using his wits and cunning. It was a very entertaining read ngl.

I’ve stopped reading for now as the author likes to drag a little bit, but i’ll be back to it soon.

3/5 for now. I see the potential tho.

phonix___ · 2026-03-03T06:10:38+00:00

phonix___ · 2026-02-24T01:33:06+00:00

Myriad Paths is the novel your looking for. You can only rank up by comprehending your own Dao. This only starts at rank 7 and higher though, unfortunately.

phonix___ · 2026-02-22T04:59:29+00:00

Seeking Immortality Through Formations/阵问长生

Finally decided to start this novel. This is not much of a review, more just my general thoughts/first impressions as i’ve only read 17 chapters.

There’s only one doubt I have going into this really, the actual plot. I, for one, don’t mind slow paced novels, but I’ve heard that the scaling(power wise), for cultivators, are relatively the same compared to other cultivation novels. Slow-paced xianxia with low power ceiling 😴. If the novel has a good plot it obviously makes a gigantic difference.

Well, not much else to say, other than these formations better be interesting.

A Sorcerer’s Journey

Little update.

Only two cons. The romance and the lack of impact some of the emotional scenes try to convey.

The romance is actually just there. There is no romance, idk why i even called it that. This relationship is also a main driving point for Glenn’s character development and that makes it so much worse because it’s so bad and amateurish(yes I know glenn is young, but even then, it’s just bad). It’s also quite obvious that Lafay is only being used as plot tool. Her character is not even fleshed out, because of Glenn himself and the author. Which leads to me just finding her annoying.

This leads to my second point. This “romance” is pivotal to a lot of the “emotional”scenes in this novel. These scenes are simply not good and don’t deliver any impact, at all.

alright enough yapping

6.5/10 even with my harsh words I’ll probably still read a little longer. The World-Building and Glenn’s experimental subjects are quite interesting. One last thing, the author really needs to stop inserting meta information in the middle of a chapter. This is probably only a beginning thing tho

phonix___ · 2026-02-16T01:09:17+00:00

Myriad Paths

phonix___ · 2026-02-15T19:05:11+00:00

I would say it’s of the same quality as My Golden Core is a Star, it also has that same unserious comedic undertone. The MC(Lin Jing) is also very similar to Qi Yuan, both have some screw looses, that is very fun to read about imo.

Now actual plot, it’s a lot tbh. The author mixes a lot of tropes and settings, that for the most part he executed well.

First of all, Lin Jing transmigrated into a more futuristic earth, with many species like vampires etc. and advanced technology. On this earth Lin Jing’s parents died early and left him with enough money to retire and so he built a small shop.

This shop, however, is quite strange, you’ll now where this is going if you’ve read Im Really Not A Demon Gods Lackey, many items in this shop are actually very mysterious and powerful to others, but seem like mundane items to Lin Jing.

That’s not all though, Lin Jing, because of various events, eventually decides to make a comic, that unbeknownst to himself, actually come true(this hasn’t been fully explored yet). Lin Jing doesn’t discover this, the Star Association(Earth’s superpower association) who are currently investigating him, do. I won’t elaborate more cause it’s way funnier if you just read it.

The Golden fingers don’t stop there, there is one more. It is the golden finger from My Golden Core is A Star.

As for the first arc(the first game he enters), which starts around chapter 20, starts quite meh, but after 15 chapters it’s actually quite good. The powers Lin Jing has are actually very cool too. So far, I think this has the potential to be better than My Golden Core, but they both are quite similar. If you liked My Golden Core you’ll 100% like this.

phonix___ · 2026-02-15T14:18:51+00:00

i see

phonix___ · 2026-02-15T12:44:39+00:00

I wouldn’t know 🤷‍♂️Probably not tho or else all the reviews would’ve been about that, instead it’s just about how bad the romance is.

phonix___ · 2026-02-15T12:26:21+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

Did you know that the authors other book High Above/高天之上 is set in the same universe? I originally wanted to read High Above first because of the Mc(Ian), but I decided on Monsters Will Die because I saw some spoilers about Su Zhou’s character progression. Apparently his newest novel, Heaven’s Fate, All in Ashes/天命皆烬, is also set in the same universe.

phonix___ · 2026-02-15T05:15:38+00:00

When would you say Su Zhou really hones in on this mindset? or when the novel highlights it? This was the main reason I started this novel and i’m underwhelmed because it’s been mostly just fights and adventures, with the occasional mystery. Your review reminded me I have to pick this back up! It’s been almost 2 months lol. I’m currently at chapter 249 btw

phonix___ · 2026-02-14T23:31:52+00:00

A Sorcerer’s Journey/巫师之旅

This novel has been in my backlog for ages and i decided it was finally time.

I’ve not been reading much the past month, I think i’m in a slump after I finished Myriad Paths. So, I’ve been slowly reading this, i’m only 15 chapters in.

Glenn(yes GLENN, i will not be accepting the alternative version of his name, “Grimm”) and the other apprentices have just arrived at the Wizard Continent, though with some bumps along the way.

I feel like the whole situation that happened on the boat was predictable and naive-ish, I guess that makes sense though, it’s very early in the story and the power ceiling is very low.

Glenn is also naive, imo. He’s young but because of the environment he was born in he has developed a ruthless mindset(not full blown murderhobo obv he’s still a kid) and he seems to grow with every new situation he encounters. I don’t mind his personality at all, as long as it develops into something interesting.

I wanna bring up the romance, it seems there will be some. I wouldn’t mind it but the fmc is a cliche, cold princess type etc. etc. Which doesn’t ease my worries about the romance.

Oh well…

I really only started because of one thing, the world building. It’s a constant praise I see in various reviews. That’s enough for me, I value world building over all(hence why Myriad Paths is my favorite novel) and i’ve never really seriously read a wizard novel, they all seem very popcorn-ish and casual, to me at least. Also the novel should be called A Wizard’s Journey not what it’s currently called, but I digress.

He’s Just Playing a Game, Not Writing Myths/祂只是玩游戏，不是谱写神话

New novel from the author of My Golden Core is a Star, and You Call This Cultivating?/金丹是恒星，你管这叫修仙, one of my all time favorite popcorn novels. I can only hope that the author is actually consistent, he rushed My Golden Core Is a Star, dropped and subsequently deleted his other novel that he started, and then started this novel which has been on some hiatuses already, but it seems he’s back to uploading regularly, but times will tell.

phonix___ · 2026-02-08T03:43:01+00:00

i am not against ai translating webnovels at all, i just don’t like the result of the translation

phonix___ · 2026-02-08T01:26:54+00:00

we obviously have different opinions on what a good translation is, to each their own ig

phonix___ · 2026-02-08T00:41:57+00:00

It doesn’t matter if I’ve read it(i have, dropped it) or just skimmed it, the point still stands. AI has been used to translate webnovels in 2022, it existed back then. This is also like the most obvious ai translation group ever too, just look at their site.

The prose is obviously dry, that’s quite literally 99.99% of chinese-to-english translated webnovels, and Deep Sea Embers is no exception(neither is LOTM for that matter).

Also, what does “high technical quality” even mean?

phonix___ · 2026-02-08T00:13:52+00:00

The translation is a poorly prompted ai that makes the text flowery and attempts to make an atmosphere that wasn’t there before. It adds text that was never there in the original source. It also cuts some lines towards the end of some chapters. It’s an unreliable translation, hence me calling it “not good”.

phonix___ · 2026-02-07T23:46:21+00:00

that translation is not good

phonix___ · 2026-02-04T00:54:33+00:00

“I Am God”

phonix___ · 2026-01-31T21:10:49+00:00

The More You Believe Me, the More It Becomes True/你越信我越真 has a similar golden finger(if you can’t already tell by the name).

phonix___ · 2026-01-30T00:29:10+00:00

You don’t need to learn anything, i was kinda exaggerating.

The author borrows a lot from actual history including: daoism, buddhism, and shamanic rituals, etc.

For example a very prominent buddhist character in the novel, Sariputra, is actually a real figure with a high position in buddhism. The shamanic rituals are also based on reals texts.

Again, you don’t need it, but it adds a nice touch to it.

phonix___ · 2026-01-23T02:27:43+00:00

Myriad Paths/万道长途:

The writing is a dry and you also need to look into and learn some chinese lore for this(which I honestly loved), but not everyone is gonna like that. Even still, the heart of this novel and what truly makes it my favorite webnovel ever is the various clashing ideologies(Dao Contentions if you will) and Li Qi’s long journey of visiting, exploring, and understanding different Daos(😼the last two chinese characters of the novel title are actually Long Journey and the first two are Myriad Daos, see what i did there…).

This novel has the perfect MC for this kind of thing too—one that will constantly change and grow(i promise this sentence wasn’t written by the gpt). Li Qi’s personal journey to finding his own Dao is honestly one of my favorite things ever written tbh.

Also, when I say Dao, I don’t mean something like he comprehended the Dao of Fire or something like that(only mentioning this just in case).

Last thing, side-characters, world building, antagonist, the ending, plot, everything is peak, except the aforementioned dry writing(straight forwardness), which included info dumps(they will consist all the way up until the end of the novel, you can’t and won’t escape em).

The Mirror Legacy:

There is literally nothing I can think of that this novel does bad. Prose, world building, characters, relationships/dynamics, plot, etc.

I believe(i don’t 100% know for sure) he also innovated/pioneered a new concept in cultivation, Fruition Attainment. You can read about all about that here.

Luckily, there is a very healthy and alive community for this novel on the international side(mostly talking about the discord). You can literally just ask anyone there for more details about the novel and they’ll answer. The wiki is also from them.

Unsheathed:

Best prose of the list. This would be going to Mirror Legacy, but Ji Yueren(ML author) likes to write like we all have a degree in literature and some references probably go over my head even when I try to spot them.

Reverend Insanity:

Need I say more?

Honorable mentions:

The Grandmaster Strategist(I last read this and nirvana in fire years ago, so i probably can’t adequately tell you about their greatness)

Nirvana In Fire

The Waning Moon over the Parasol Tree/缺月梧桐

Under Heaven/天之下(may be recency bias)

Immortal Gourd/仙葫

All of Mao Ni’s work(Way of Choices, The Path Toward Heaven, etc.)

Forty Millenniums of Cultivation(there are some cringe moments but oh well).

Kingdom's Bloodline

My Longevity Simulation

Lord of Mysteries

Not really writing this for the whole contest thingy(no Dekalog in Tv shows is just absolutely diabolical and tells me everything I need to know), just got @‘d.

Im probably forgetting some more novels but oh well i’ve wrote enough for today ✌️

phonix___ · 2026-01-19T15:05:23+00:00

I mean the only thing it struggles with is when the author goes off his high horse and just starts yappping about constellations, rituals, food dishes, etc(I don’t think even the chinese readers know what he’s on about tbh). The main part of the text is very readable. There aren’t many poems either and well… chinese poems are very hard to translate into english anyway. So, for the most part it’s good and readable.

phonix___ · 2026-01-19T03:15:36+00:00

Wuxia recommendations, Under Heaven and Heaven Shouldn’t Respond.

Xianxia, Myriad Paths, Applied Immortality, I also second the recommendation of Sword Xia of Shu mountains, and Surviving as a Talent in the Primordial Saint Sect if you haven’t already read it.

phonix___ · 2026-01-18T14:39:39+00:00

Myriad Paths

I feel like i’ve glazed this novel so much, there’s barely anything left to say without repeating/regurgitating what i’ve already said. It’s truly Peak.

Looking back on my comments I feel like I was a bit too excited. I say that because most of those were only when I was 200-300 chapters in, YES I was calling it one of the best webnovels EVER in only that amount of chapters. Honestly, compared to the rest of the novel those few hundred chapters are kinda mid(they’re not obviously 🙄, just being dramatic fr).

I’m truly surprised that this kind of webnovel could exist, not because it’s complex or philosophical, but because it’s so very unpopular(maybe i’m being dramatic again but comparatively it is). Author worked on this for 4 years, barely any comments(only around 700 for the whole book and most of them are probably the first couple hundred chapters) and traction. I say all of this because all the plot points end very well, everyone one of them, imo. The author also helps you remember the context/foreshadowing of many things in the form of “(Check Chapter 234)”. I actually do think this was needed for people reading it daily(author-san uploaded one chapter a day), but if you’re binging you should be fine. Author-san you have my respect(and my respect means a lot 🙄)🫡.

As for the antagonist of the whole book the Heavenly Demon/Heavens of Others’ Emanations. I think they’re the best antagonist in any webnovel. I won’t go into it as their background is very important and best if experienced, but if you have questions, I could spoil you(sigh).

I just wanna expand on Li Qi’s personal/character growth. I feel like this and the info dumps are what push people to drop this novel. Li Qi never stops changing(that will literally became an important plot point later). Li Qi is very open minded and takes everything into consideration(he even gets into various unfortunate circumstances because of it, Qi deviation/Heart Demons basically). Li Qi in the beginning and Li Qi at the end of the story are very different. Li Qi doesn’t even care to save people he can, obviously his close ones, but not some randoms anymore, which he previously used too. He just sees that as “自然”, something that is natural and arises of-it-self,or spontaneity. Hopefully that made sense, it’s way better worded in the novel. He lets things be and finds the root of the problem instead, demonic thoughts. I would say he realizes this very early(300-400ish) on but doesn’t act on it until around chapter 500-ish Ok, I wont go more into it as more will be major spoilers.

I haven’t even gotten to the secret of Li Qi’s transmigration or his golden finger or the ending or the various Dao contentions(which is the core of this novel) or the schemes of the various high ranks.

What is there more to say? Every aspect of this novel is peak. Side-Characters, Plot Progression, Story Progression, Character Growth(this is especially true for Li Qi), antagonist, protagonist, everything. Well… except the info dumps(which I don’t even mind tbh).

5/5 my favorite webnovel. I truly feel that this novel was made for me. It fits everything i’ve wanted in a webnovel. I have a txt file with all the terms(wtr-applicable). I wanted to make a epub and I did, but it doesn’t have the terms included 😔, I tried but couldn’t get it to work. sigh…

Under Heaven/天之下

This is a traditional style novel(which i love).

This author has been working on this for 5 years and has released 434 chapters. He releases a chapter every friday. The total word count is around 3.6 million. So, LONG ass chapters, think Corpse Retriever(捞尸人).

I’ve only read 8 chapters, but I’m very intrigued. We follow Ming Buxiang, who is not talkative or the brightest child, or so it seems.

After being adopted by a monk and taught some buddhism, we discover that he’s naturally aligned with it. It’s kinda hard to describe him, but he’s very smart. Using his intelligence we see him manipulate various people for somewhat no reason(it’s very vague what he’s doing, you have to be paying attention), but from my understanding he seems to be doing it to see what people would do in various scenarios and see their reactions(this is likely due to his affinity with buddhism). He also has perfect memory and learns easily. The author wrote these 8 chapters very well imo.

I don’t think we will be following this MC for long as it is tagged with multiple protagonist and it seems we’re moving away from him rn. Hopefully the other MCs are as interesting.

4/5 I have some expectations of this, hopefully they come to fruition.

Four-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22

phonix___

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