Legend of the Great Sage大圣传

Dropped at 1640, idk why but reading became boring and Im starting to have 2nd thoughts everytime I want to continue.

Fist of all the good parts: the character development is really good. S tier for cultivation novels. Same goes for the leveling system. Character interaction are well written.
Now the neutral: story is pretty slow in progression. Which I personally like, but it's not everyone's cub of tee.
Now the bad: sadly the author doesn't properly know how to produce the outcome he wants naturally. So he just uses plot devices all the time. It is understandable to a certain degree that mc has Plot Armour as, well, without him the story ends.
But here almost all characters have it. Which also would be acceptable if he wouldn't make it so blazingly obvious. Anyone who has read some novels can predict which characters are important the first time they appear and what they gonna do on the next 200 chapters.
Evertime a character would die reasonably, as long as they have an unfinished story development, they just don't. Either some BS is gonna happen or mc or whoever suddenly decide to not kill them. Even if that very obviosly goes against there previous actions and personality. Sadly this takes out most of the tension as it makes the novel very predictable. Without this this novel would be A+.
Cliches themselves aren't a problem but if they become an optical to an interesting story development by braking cohesion then they can really ruined a novel.

So it sadly only is a B-.
Still a good read but really behind it's potential.

The chaotic world

i think the 9th transformation is human tranformation or it is the MC himself

3.5/5

This novel is similar to Eternal Sacred King novel that the mc wants to becomes a demon and slaughtering everywhere to become stronger,

I'm around chapter 987, I was wondering, is there any story development with haitang? Or is she always left out?

Everything was fine till author brought the concept of faith. From that point he ruined both the story and character of mc.
Tell me if it gets better after.

This read like a chinese mythology fable with lots of idioms and references to classic works. Story setting also follow ancient chinese dynasty type of social interaction which conflict with our modern western mindeset and common sense due to cultural difference.
It might've a good read if i'm interested in these type of genre and world setting but sadly its not for me.

I'm at ch1150 rn.
Its better than most xianxia at the beginning(~500ch), but like most stories in this genre the quality decreases as the story goes on. Author has a good talent for writing, there are multiple gem chapters in here. Plot is the average cultivation plot.
A great part of this novel is the side characters. Some of them are very fleshed out and written really well, seeing their characters grow is a good experience.
Another plus is the references to buddhism and chinese literature (that the translator actually explains in T/Ns). There's some actual knowledge in there, you can tell the research was done when making these techniques.
(A wrote a small complaint at the bottom, let me know if you agree with me)

MC is.... unique? but also very bland.
- Transmigrator from earth (but doesn't really affect the story)
- Typical protag 'personality' (protect friends w/ life, wicked vengeful to enemies). However, the twist on his personality is that he's kind of a brute? He likes chugging alcohol, is lustful, inhales food at banquets while people stare at him weirdly, stuff like that.

In my reading so far, there are three negatives that stood out. Granted, these are just negatives to me, some ppl might not have a problem.
1. The FMC: I like Xiao An a lot, especially .BUT! Their relationship always seemed... off to me. At least in the beginning of the story, it gave off heavy grooming vibes. Granted, the author always says that their relationship 'surpasses man and woman,' but those honestly seemed more like excuses to me. It got better as Xiao An grew up, but imo the best chapters of the novel were the ones where she was stuck cultivating in the buddhist temple.
2. Gu Yanying: Throughout the entire book, I had no idea what the author wanted to do with this character. She gets way to many accolades/praises from the author (at times I've even wondered if this was his wish-fulfillment character). Stuff like 'anyone that sees her jade skin falls in love at first sight.' or 'over half of the ruyi commandery is this woman's pursuer.' Her character is developed, but with no direction.
3. MC's relationships: MC has a lot of relationships with a lot of women, but 99% of them are as shallow as can be. The women will get introduced as characters, but over the course of time just turn into outlets for his lust. Honestly sad and heartbreaking, especially when the characters themselves realize this, but just continue to do it anyway.

Now for my the complaint: The MC should have been the one to cultivate White Bones and Great Beauty!!!!! Not Xiao An! And here's why:
- It's so much more fleshed out, explained, and interesting than his '9 transformations.' Author actually knows his buddhism, and you can tell he put a lot more thought into developing this technique. Compared to White Bones Great Beauty, the 9 transformations are just too bland and unoriginal in comparison.
- Author could have made the balance of anti-buddha/buddha much earlier, so the MC would still have his emotions like the current Xiao An. This is the same concept of balancing demonic/divine in the 9 transformations.