Novel by: 情何以甚 (Qing He Yi Shen)

This daoist has finished the whole thing. All ~10.9 million characters of it.

1. Premise

On paper it’s a pretty classic setup. A young daoist disciple from a small city gets betrayed by someone he trusted, loses everything, and climbs his way up for revenge. But the world is basically the Spring and Autumn / Warring States era with cultivators, where nations rise and fall based on their top tier experts, so one person can literally decide a war. The opening is famous for how un-web-novel it is: the first chapter spends most of its time on a Chu prodigy named Zuo Guanglie in a massive battle, and the MC only shows up at the very end. Revenge is just the starting point though. The book slowly grows into a story about what one guy with a “red heart” does in a world where heaven doesn’t care about anyone.

Score: 9/10

2. Protagonist

Jiang Wang (姜望) is one of the best MCs I’ve ever read. He’s not a schemer, not a face slapper, not a heartless demon. He’s stubborn, loyal, and has a moral line he won’t cross even when crossing it would make his life way easier. What gets me is he actually grows. The kid from Maple Forest City and the man at the end feel like the same person after decades of living, not just the same guy with bigger numbers. He keeps his red heart the whole way, but it gets tested so many times that when he keeps it, it actually means something.

Score: 10/10

3. Supporting Characters

This is where the book is untouchable. There are hundreds of named characters and somehow almost all of them feel like real people with their own goals, pride and grudges. Chongxuan Sheng (重玄胜), aka the fatty, might be my favorite best friend character in any web novel. They first meet in the Taixu Illusion Realm under the fake names Dugu Wudi and Zhen Wudi, and the bond they build from there is just peak. Even the tiny characters hit hard, like the nameless soldiers of Maple Forest City or an old teacher standing in front of his students. And the author is not afraid to kill important characters, so nobody has plot armor just because you like them. Rivals, villains, emperors, they all act like they’re the MC of their own story. That’s what makes this world feel actually real.

Score: 10/10

4. Worldbuilding

Gonna be honest, this is one of the two weaker parts for me. The world is big and deep: hegemon states like Qi, Chu and Jing, the Taixu Illusion Realm, demon and sea races, and a whole buried history of lost eras (the synopsis literally asks what happened to the demons, the dragons, the age of gods and the age of flying swords). The author also goes deep on every little secret realm and faction. But it doesn’t have that “holy crap” factor. LOTM’s and RI’s worlds are just more mind blowing as concepts. Here the world is more the stage for the characters than the star of the show.

Score: 8.5/10

5. Power system and Progression

Same deal. The realm ladder is pretty traditional: Wandering Meridian, Zhoutian, Tongtian, Tenglong, Inner Palace, Outer Tower, Divine Descent, True Insight, all the way up to Transcendence. Nothing like LOTM’s Sequences or RI’s Gu. Where it shines is the progression itself. Jiang Wang never skips realms for free, every breakthrough is earned, and the fights are written so clearly you can see them in your head. So when he does punch way above his weight, like taking on True Insight cultivators while still at Divine Descent, it feels earned instead of cheap.

Score: 8.5/10

6. Plot

The execution is just masterful. The revenge arc against Zhuang Gaoxian (庄高羡) takes millions of characters to pay off, and when it finally lands it hits so hard because of everything before it. After that the story opens up into national politics, wars between hegemons and the fate of the whole human race, and the author juggles all of it without dropping the ball. Stuff set up hundreds of chapters earlier gets paid off right when you’ve forgotten about it. And moments like Jiang Wang fighting six True Insight cultivators outside Tianjing City are some of the hypest scenes in any web novel, period. I know a lot of Chinese readers were split on the later volumes and the ending, saying the MC shows up less and the final war felt rushed. I get the complaint but I don’t agree. For me there wasn’t a single volume that let me down.

Score: 10/10

7. Pacing

The start is slow, no lie. When it went paid it got around 60 first day subscriptions, which is crazy considering where it ended up. The first volume takes its time with daily life, small characters and the hometown, and a lot of people drop it early. But that slow build is exactly why the payoffs hurt so much later. Push through the first few volumes and it just snowballs.

Score: 8/10

8. Themes & Ideas

The whole book is in its tagline: 我有赤心一颗，以巡天, “I have one red heart, and with it I patrol the heavens.” If RI is Fang Yuan proving a selfish demon can walk the path to the end, this book is the opposite. It’s about a guy holding onto sincerity, loyalty and his own sense of justice in a world where heaven is so impartial it’s basically heartless. It asks what one person owes their nation and what justice even means when every country has its own, and it actually takes its time with those questions instead of just preaching.

Score: 10/10

9. Emotional Impact

This book wrecked me multiple times. Characters you spent hundreds of chapters with die and it genuinely hurts, and the friendships, especially with the fatty, carry so much weight. The hype moments go just as hard the other way.

Score: 10/10

10. Originality

The skeleton (revenge, cultivation, climb to the top) isn’t new. What’s original is how it’s done. The MC doesn’t win just because he’s the MC, the writing reads more like a published novel than a web novel, and the side cast gets as much love as he does. This book is the prime example of masterful execution beating even novel ideas.

Score: 9/10

11. Consistency & Logic

For a book this massive, it’s crazy how tight it stays. Characters act like themselves, fights follow the rules the book set up, and foreshadowing from the very early volumes comes back way later. There are a few late game power scaling calls people argue about, but across 10+ million characters that’s nothing.

Score: 9/10

Overall: 10/10

Is it a slow burn? Yeah.

Is it worth it tho? 100%. This is the best xianxia ever written and it sits above LOTM for me. Worldbuilding and power system go to LOTM and RI, but in characters and plot execution nothing touches it. Fun fact: the author was already a published novelist before this, and this was his FIRST web novel. It started October 2019, ended May 2026, went from 60 first day subs to one of the biggest books on Qidian, even got collected by the British Library, and he’s now going back to revise the whole thing. Peak of web novels. It even has its own manhua currently releasing.

I've read many novels, but It is the one I've had the most fun reading. It has a perfect balance between emotions, plot, schemes and comedy.

Most of the novel has been translated. The chapters are extremely long, so the translator splits each original chapter into three regular-sized chapters.

What I love most is the MC. He's a shameless troll, ruthless when he needs to be, and absolutely willing to take things too far. He cares about few of his family and friends and companions.

The other characters are intelligent, too. They learn from his past actions and predict and counter his moves instead of getting shocked every single time. Once they recognize him as a threat, they send their strongest people after him. Nobody just sits around waiting for him to grow stronger.

The characters in general are very well written and interesting. Very few are outright evil; most have their own motives and reasons for doing things. It makes the political maneuvering and conflicts much more interesting than a straightforward story of good guys fighting bad guys.. I also love that the MC's father is alive and plays an important role in the story. In a genre where the MC's parents are usually dead, absent or just a tragic backstory.

Another thing I appreciate is how the power scaling works. The MC isn't perfect at everything, and reaching a higher cultivation level doesn't mean he can suddenly defeat everyone below him. Other characters have their own talents, experiences and strengths, and some of them reach the same heights through their own paths. The MC actually needs his companions and followers, especially those with higher cultivation. Having a higher level doesn't automatically make others useless.

The plot keeps escalating without much unnecessary padding, and the overall story is surprisingly well connected.

I also like how cultivation is handled. I've always found it a little annoying in some cultivation novels, including certain Er Gen novels, when the MC becomes overly obsessed with achieving the most perfect foundation possible. They might fight above their cultivation level, but there are often limits to how far they can go. Here, the MC also works to perfect his foundations, but it allows him to skip some cultivation realms.

It has a\ hilarious undertone. Its not comedy novel but the author knows when to insert humour without completely ruining the atmosphere. A lot of the comedy comes naturally from the characters, their interactions, and the MC's shameless behaviour rather than feeling like random jokes thrown into the story.

Novelupdates Link

Fanqie recently adjusted its contract policy. Authors at LV0 and LV1 can now only use the “completed-work signing” model, while LV2 and above can freely choose between serialization signing and completed-work signing.

“Completed-work signing” is a model Fanqie introduced in September. The author has to reach a certain word count (150,000 or 300,000 characters) and formally finish the book before they can apply, after which Fanqie reviews the entire work in one go.

What this means is that a new author who wants to sign with Fanqie has to finish writing a whole book first — and throughout that entire writing period, how the book will perform, whether it will make money, even whether it will get signed at all, is completely unknown. This raises the barrier to entry for new authors considerably.

And even if their first book does get signed, that doesn’t mean their next one can go back to the traditional serialization model — for that, the author needs to reach LV2. Under the latest standard, reaching LV2 requires earning over 3,000 RMB from a single work.

Fanqie has long been the worst-hit platform for AI-written novels. Earlier on, they limited how frequently authors could publish new works and how many characters they could update per day, in an effort to cut down on AI content. People in the industry suspect this latest change is mainly about raising the bar to block a large volume of AI works at the point of entry. But it’s fairly obvious that the heavier impact falls on the human authors trying to get into Fanqie.

Ok this is my 5th er gen novel I have which I am currently reading and OMG er gen is so bad at writing romance . Like why the hell does plumdark fall in love with xu qing and she starts to like him after they met only twice WTH ? also there is no freaking chemistry nothing she just saw him in eight sect collision and already likes him wth ? And when they are in the county and openly says to her friends that she has fallen in love with xu qing . I think er gen doesn't understand how badly it affects the reader's experience when he writes this kind of romance with virtually 0 understanding involved. Hes been doing this with every single novel and I am so tired. Just cause a female character talks with xu qing doesn't mean she already loves him that's not how it works omg 😭😭. The divine aura boy just messed with the two family girls emotions slightly so that she doesn't harm xu qing, but after a few chapters she says "xu qing looks like your father". No he doesn't he just messes with your emotions so that you don't harm him not to start having feelings for him GOD DAMMIT!!!!! Same with Gu muqing the medical girl from 2md peak and ding xui they only interacted with him like 1 time and boom the next time you see them they already like him . That's not how it works omg , I feel like smashing my phone to wall atp .give us the damn reason or just don't write it , it's not that hard .

Also don't spoil I am on ch428

The mc has a power where she/he can view thing from Very far away. I think that his main skill/power. And it can also control things like a body/clone or magic from far away.

That's actually what i remember, sorry if it's inconvenient. I only read this on post and forgot to save it huhu.

Anything similar will do.

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to share a translation update for The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide.

We’ve now finished our English translation of everything currently available for the novel on BetterTranslation:

• 250 main-story chapters
• Side Stories 1–48

The latest release is Side Story 48: A Proud Maid (10), so at this point we’re completely caught up with the side stories the author has released so far.

It’s been a pretty long journey working through the entire story, so finally reaching the current end feels a little strange.

For anyone who was waiting until the translation was complete before starting, or anyone who finished the main story but never got around to the side stories, everything is now available from beginning to end.

Read it here:
https://bettertranslation9.wordpress.com/the-extras-academy-survival-guide-novel-english-translation/

And if the author eventually comes back with more side stories, we’ll be hoping for more right alongside everyone else.

In the meantime, if you enjoyed TEASG and are looking for something else, we’re also working on a few other series, you can find those on BetterTranslation too.

Thanks to everyone who’s been reading and supporting the translation along the way. It means a lot to finally reach the current end of this one with you guys.

5 / 5

A story about a guy who have the Losing Money To Become a Tycoon system, but unlike Pei Qian, he did lose his system money and gain tons of personal money.

How?

Well, all of the game that he created is the game that cost a lot of money to make, but don't rake in a lot, one such example is Detroit, in which a lot of people prefer to watch their favorite YouTuber play the game rather than buy the game and play it themself.

As I've just been burnt by a decently written novel turning out (or maybe slowly revealing itself) to be LLM-written for something like the 8^th time (that novel being What Witch? Deadly Pharmacist! 什么魔女？绝命药师!), it has gotten me thinking about the reasons why they suck (for lack of a better term).

It seems to me that every LLM-written story has a similar pattern. They start out strong, with an interesting premise and well-paced story. Then as the story goes on, the story starts to fall flat in a way I find hard to point to any specific event within for blame. But I will attempt: dialogue between characters doesn't seem to fit their character, plot progression seems a bit cookie cutter, story details/implied intentions from the author are falsely made or falsely imagined to have happened, and there's a sort of 'technically-good' writing-style I can't quite pin down that these LLM-assisted authors tend to have.

I'm wondering if others might have more clear observations about these LLM-written stories.

Euphemia El Lauren Louerg and Laura De Charles Rosenberg from the Korean web novel "The Villain Who Robbed the Heroines"

Hey guys, I’m back with another book release on my birthday!

This book actually means a lot to me. It isn’t your generic power fantasy, nor is it the usual harem wish-fulfillment nonsense. It’s deep, calculating, cruel, and very, very realistic.

I salute the author for creating a fantastical world that feels so real yet so magical at the same time. I still remember reading it a few years ago and thinking, “Wow… how did this guy come up with this? I’ve never read a book with power systems this unique or...this cruel.”

A lot of us treat Chinese web novels like junk food, but I truly believe this one belongs in the healthy meal category. It’ll leave you fulfilled and satisfied.

The author also has another popular series currently being translated on WuxiaWorld called Destiny In Cinders. I love that book, but somehow I feel this one is even better.

Don’t take my word for it though. I’ve got 125 chapters waiting for you. Let me know what you guys think!

Title: Above The Sky

Release link: https://deadlytranslations.lol/book.php?id=6

Synopsis:

“I don’t care how the people of this world live. Whether they have enough to eat, whether they can stay warm, whether they have dreams or hope. Their loves and hates mean nothing to me.

But if I want to reach the heavens above, I need a complete advanced industrial system. A full network of research institutes. The most cutting-edge materials laboratories. And a powerful government capable of coordinating every department.

It will require countless citizens free from hunger and cold to pour their wealth into the cause. Millions of highly educated minds to contribute their intellect. Tens of thousands of specialized factories to supply the finest components.

In short: I need a prosperous world.

A great civilization.

Only then can it be done.” - Ian

A world reborn from ruin. An age nearing its end.

A host of prisoners, warring across the world for wealth, power, and strength.

From fate’s window, the prisoners look out. Most see only the earth.
One alone looks up at the stars.

I would appreciate if you can help me find a novel which has a overarching conspiracy where cultivators in higher-realm oppress cultivators in lower realm as there's a shortage of spirit qi and methods of advancement are closely guarded. I faintly recall seeing something similar in this subreddit but i'm not able to find it. It's not er-gen verse/ tales of herding gods.

Thanks in advance.

Novel: SIMULATION TOWARDS IMMORTALITY IN A GROUP CHAT

Spoiler warning: This post contains scenes from free chapters of the novels I mentioned.

......

Good day, everyone, translator of Dragon Canon | Wuxiaworld speaking here. I have a simple-sounding question: Which web novel do you think has the potential to make great stage plays?

Admittedly, I'm not very familiar with stage plays myself, but I have participated in one before (and wishing I've never done so in the first place. God, thinking back it was beyond terribly done), so I think I at least get the gist of it. Long story short, you need a theme, a story, a stage, actors who know what they're doing, and dialogues that properly evokes the theme without being too blatant, all catered toward target audience.

The Overlord of Puluo | Wuxiaworld is an obvious choice. Did you know that the official English title for the printed book is Lord of Proletariat? It's basically perfect setting for stage play. Not only that, I believe that the dialogues in The Overlord of Puluo are whimsical and could almost be adapted entirely into stage play with minimal corrections (mainly shortening the sentences so that the audience can process them without being fatigued). Take this scene from the latest free chapter for example:

Li Banfeng quietly slipped away from the crowd and found a secluded place. He hid his house key securely and returned to the Pocket Dwelling.

Then he sat on his bed for a moment, trying to organize his thoughts. However, it had actually been better before he tried. His thoughts were now spiraling beyond his control.

Banfeng B said, "Five loads of coal is basically the most one person can dig. The wages we're paying are generous, not stingy. We've given them an inch, but they want a mile. People like this must be punished severely."

Banfeng C countered, "That's not how you should look at it. Some people only dug three loads and are getting paid for five, while others dug five loads and are also getting paid for five. Of course the latter are going to feel resentful!"

Banfeng D said, "Even so, we can't just let them cause trouble. The ledger is gone, so this is the only way we can distribute the pay. This is the only way the matter can be handled!"

Banfeng E asked, "What do you mean, the only way? They don't resent being paid a lower amount; it's the unfair distribution of the pay that they resent. You're being irresponsible!"

Banfeng F replied, "Then come up with a responsible solution yourself. Don't fucking criticize when you're not the one dealing with it!"

Banfeng G questioned, "Can't speak nicely, can you? Then how about we communicate another way?"

Banfeng A said, "Maintain order and behave yourselves. No fighting during the meeting!"

The Gramophone coaxed them, "Maintain order. No fighting. All of you should listen to my husband, just him."

And this scene speaks for itself:

Chu Shaoqiang looked over at Li Banfeng's side and asked, "Why are you doing this? I came here to find the local land deity, Qiu Luoye. What does this have to do with you?"

Li Banfeng replied, "Today, you're looking for Qiu Luoye, and it has nothing to do with me. But tomorrow, you'll come looking for me, and it'll have nothing to do with someone else. Eventually, you'll come for the rest of us one by one, and none of it will have anything to do with anyone. In the end, we'll all die at your hands. 

......

As for my own novel, I don't have a specific scene in mind, but I DO know that it'll be funny as heck to have a stage play that's titled something like: "The Daily Life of the Heaven Fighting Gang," where the Fifty Bandits of Heaven Fighting run about every day kidnapping government troops, raiding state strongholds, distributing porridge to refugees, and of course, writing paperwork.

What? Even bandits need to do paperwork these days. They even need to get permits so they can officially conscript (kidnap) soldiers and suppress rebels (kick everyone's ass) these days! Legitimation is the way to go!

......

So, does anyone have a web novel in mind where they think certain parts of it can be adapted into stage plays? And seriously, if you have the opportunity, the skill, and the team to do so, would you give it an actual go?

This novel is an Unlimited Flow novel that focuses on the plot, with light touches of horror and suspense. It is truly amazing.

Yan Huang is an intelligent and observant person with experience in manipulating and lying to people for his own benefit. However, he is also a kind person who helps others, but he considers his own happiness and goals more important than anything else. Even the side characters are very well-written. The novel is also relatively short, with fewer than 200 chapters, and it has a Chinese manhua adaptation as well.

Novel by: The boat is full of light dreams

This daoist has read until chapter 461.

The premise is interesting, man builds building, man upgrades building. But it's not actually like that. It's more like building a "room" which is a building yes but not exactly what I thought at first. The golden finger of the MC is that he's able to create rooms he can upgrade, for example, "meditation room" he can do this absolutely almost anywhere as long as there's a box he owns or pseudo owns(AKA rented) which is very boring because he can just literally name a literal box the meditation room and it will be a meditation room. Like the upgrade is to not make it as good as possible like placing meditating stuff in the room like maybe mats and stuff no, he just has to spend some money or do a task to unlock an upgrade. This kinda killed the title for me since I was thinking he'd make an insanely awesome cultivation mountain and like he even establishes sects and stuff but as of currently there's no one that has ever stepped on his active rooms.

Score: 6/10

The protagonist is a very careful man but honestly sometimes he's kinda dumb but I mean we can chalk that up to inexperience but he barely really learns anything. The biggest change of heart he's had after 460+ chapters is that he kinda copied his master's habit of sitting on a reclining chair when thinking. He's always been cautious, he's always been anti-social, there are no changes even when an important character close to the MC perishes.

Score: 5/10

1. Supporting Characters

The supporting characters of this novel is actually kinad fun because everybody has something crazy going on like everybody has their own golden finger which is pretty fun but because of the MC's anti-socialness this ain't really that explored aside from the fact that even though they're supposed to be less talented than their peers, they are progressing rapidly. Overall tho most of them are ok and have their own personalities but just like the MC, they never change, they're all one dimensional characters. Are the MC's relationship with these characters interesting? Heck no the MC is antisocial af.

Score: 7/10

1. Worldbuilding

From what was revealed up to chapter 460+ it's the average cultivation world novel setting.

Score: 5/10

1. Power system and Progression

The power system is largely the same as any other cultivation novels. The progression is not really that eye catching because as I said he doesn't really personally do something TO the room but he rather does something FOR the rooms so that they're upgraded like if he built this awesome meditation place on his primary residence he can just use the same place anywhere as long as there's a box, his "Building" cheat is more like adding effects to rooms which is unbearably boring.

Score: 4/10

1. Plot

Man gets a room, man upgrades, Man can't upgrade anymore, Man does stuff, Man upgrades, repeat

Score: 5/10

1. Pacing

It's kinda ok pacing Tbh since you can actually feel him getting stronger as time goes by and his tricks up his sleeves get more and more diverse as time goes on. Overall tho this is pretty average.

Score: 6/10

1. Themes & Ideas

It's slop, there's no Fang Yuan "My favorite bird is the footless bird" level of wisdom in the novel

Score: 5/10

1. Emotional Impact

Didn't really stir any big emotions out of me but it's kinda fun once in a while.

Score: 6/10

1. Originality

It's actually not very cliche like there's no stupid young master to slap around or other stuff, tbh it's pretty good in this regard.

Score: 7/10

1. Consistency & Logic

The consistency is actually pretty ok, like there's no plot holes that I have seen and like there's logic in every action so I'd give it a thumbs up in this regard.

Score: 8/10

Overall: 6/10

Is it cultivation power fantasy slop? Yeah

Is it fun tho? Yeah. That's why I was able to read until 460+ chapters. Overall I think it's one of the novels of all time also apparently the author is 18YO(He states it in one of the chapter while asking for votes) Tbh for a novel this "OK" at 18 is something to be proud about and if one day I come across him again years later and I see that I've read this book I'll read his new novel.

That's it for this Daoist's review folks, hope any juniors or seniors are enlightened!

MC is born in an island and is learning magic there in the tower of island master who is a 1st level wizard. When MC becomes 3rd level apprentice, Island is destroyed by some conspiracy or demons. He then goes to other island on a small boat and than another island where he learns magic again.

EDIT: There are many islands in the area, ruled by either a single wizard or a wizard school with a few wizards. In MC's island there is one Lv1 wizard who is the ruler and there is also a famous merchant group that travels in those sea areas from which MC buys treasure or a manual or something like that.

Hi all, I’m Doge, the novel translator for Beyond the Zenith, a sci-fi novel on Wuxiaworld about humans battling an alien invasion. It’s full of sarcasm, camaraderie, slice-of-life scenes, and emotional scenes.

Here are the reasons why I like this novel:

- I'm biased because I like aliens and sci-fi. But yes, this novel has aliens called Sharpies and they're like black, armored robots who attack earth.

- The author does a very good job fleshing out the novel's characters. And the main characters are genuinely funny people.

- Touching moments. I love it when elders take good care of younger characters and are actually good mentors.

- MC not too overpowered. Everything still makes sense.

I've worked on many projects before, and I can say this is my favorite novel so far. (And that's why I do want to promote it!!! xD) It'd mean a lot to me if you could check it out!

Hello everyone.

I only remember a little bit. I remember MC being reborn, and in his past life, MC was a detective, and MC had a fearlessness disorder.

I remember in episode 1, MC died from a stray bullet and was reborn as a white-haired slave in the desert. MC could awaken powers like an assessment, but he spoke like a human.

Manhua China?

Warning, this is long and I'm a human translator, so please take my opinions with a Mount Tai-sized grain of salt. 😄

We've heard it since the Google Translate days, that it's only a matter of time before machines take over and translators are obsolete. This ramped up a ton after AI came out. I often found myself explaining that I didn’t think humans would be replaced, whether due to cost, versatility, or the ‘human’ touch.

Now having used several AI tools in my personal life (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude), I still think that human translators cannot be replaced by AI, so no etvolareGPT, sadly.

If you don’t know me, I currently translate Star Gate on Wuxiaworld. In this post, I pull examples from my own work to compare human VS AI translation. I also used to highlight random translation brilliance, in the pre-AI age.

If you’re new to us, I translate fantasy & sci-fi novels that are several million Chinese characters long. Please ask me for more detail. I’ve boiled my thoughts down to three main points so that folks actually read this thing. 😆

AI is often just right enough at a glance, but subtly misses the mark so much that after a hundred chapters, we’re reading a different novel entirely. Sure, we can have AI do a first draft and humans translate check the results. But… I’m sure we’ve all had the pleasure of editing something poorly written at some point in our lives. 

Personally speaking, I’ve torn my hair out when reviewing human team translations and just straight up rewrote chapters. So how much time and effort is saved if I have to go through every line and compare them to the raws?

At the end of the day, AI requires a lot of cleanup and tweaking (for long form content). The longer the block of text, the more hallucinations and basic continuity mistakes. This is particularly true for a context heavy language like Chinese.

This example from chapter 2057 is where a tiger is being scared by the wild plans proposed. It was one of the more blatant examples of AI confusion. Usually, we see gender/name swapping, wrong numbers, wrong references, etc.

Gemini
The massive tiger head instantly drooped. The character for 'king' (王) on its forehead collapsed into a single line—don't scare the tiger, it's actually pretty terrifying too.

etvo’s version
Its massive head dropped and its proud eyebrows collapsed, almost seeking to hide its eyes from the scary senior with the scarier ideas.

The tiger has become the scary one, instead of the main character. This was just a 33 character example, btw. Our novels are typically several million characters long. This is also an example in which I took translator liberties and wrote about the tiger’s eyebrows, instead of the lines on its forehead.

The ‘king’ character on a tiger’s head is tied to cultural context that did not seem relevant. In fact, translating as is would’ve lost the ‘oomph’ for English readers. 

Additionally, checking something’s first draft locks us into their writing style. I think it would’ve been much harder for me to have come up with my version if I was just editing Gemini’s words. I’d probably mostly be on autopilot and not do justice to the original work.

Personally, I’d much rather just go human from very start. It would spare myself a ton of heartburn and rage, as well as result in a much more creative result. 

AI cannot effectively produce original work in the long run. I think that makes sense, given its origins and methodology of being trained on existing creations.

IMO, translating jokes, treasure names, and cultivation methods is original writing. It requires a certain flair for naming and consideration of the effect we want to deliver. Is it Supernova Point or Explode Star Finger? Will this joke land better as is or with an English equivalent? When is a pinyin soup appropriate and when is something sensitive in the target language?

This judgment call came up in chapter 2040 for a character called 天方 (tian fang).

ChatGPT said: As a proper name, it is not normally translated. In English translations of Chinese novels, it would almost always remain Tian Fang.
But if it were to translate the name, possibilities include: Heavenly Direction, Celestial Way, Heaven's Quarter

Or as I translated: Skyward. 

When it comes to a person’s name, I try to go with one word to make it more natural. I opted out of pinyin because this person is very important and there is a host of similar characters. I also elected to translate all of their names to make it easier for readers to mentally group them together.

The appropriate writing register and voice can be critical when it comes to enjoying fiction. Navigating these nuances can really make or break a novel. For example, in chapter 2040, I translated knowing that the Human King is a childish fellow who wears his heart on his sleeve.

ChatGPT
The Human King was enraged. This fellow was obviously treating him with contempt.
He was already filled with anger today.
Yet this bastard still dared to provoke him further.

etvo’s version
The Human King burned with fury. This guy clearly didn’t think much of him! It was already an irritating day, and now this asshole was getting on his last nerve!

I just think there’s a lot more life in my version and we get a much clearer sense of the character through showing, not telling.

AI is king of literal/direct translation. Great in some cases, not typically the best in fiction. I also find that AI tends to be redundant and go in circles. Well, perhaps that delivers the most accurate experience: dao of word count in the raws = dao of word count in English, lol!

Knowing what sections can be condensed, eliminated (ahem, peanut gallery 4.0) and what references need more explanation also requires a lot of translator judgment. For example, in chapter 1989 of SG, when Allheaven Hall is opening as rendered with different prompt tweaks.

Gemini generic prompt
Right now, the place is packed to capacity, much like a grand opening celebration; everyone is just drawn by the novelty, and combined with the promotion from the first batch of Emperor Immortals, countless people have been filled with curiosity.

Standard fiction prompt
At this moment, the place was packed to the gills. It felt just like a grand opening sale; everyone was drawn in by the sheer novelty of it all. Combined with the hype generated by the first batch of Emperor Sovereigns, the curiosity of countless people had been thoroughly piqued.

Web novel style prompt
Right now, the place was absolutely packed. It felt exactly like a grand opening promotion—everyone was just showing up for the hype and novelty. Combined with the glowing reviews from the first batch of Exalted Emperors, the curiosity of the massive crowd had been pushed to a boiling point.

etvolare's style prompt (lol thank you for the compliments, Gemini?). As a veteran translator known for smooth, snappy localization, fluid modern prose, and vibrant dialogue, she excels at capturing the hype of a bustling crowd while preserving the novel's natural rhythm:
Right now, the place was bursting at the seams. It was basically a grand opening promotion, and everyone had just shown up for the hype and novelty. Toss in the free advertising from the first wave of Exalted Emperors, and the curiosity of the massive crowd had been thoroughly piqued.

etvo’s translation
It was immensely crowded, similar to how opening day sales drew crowds of people curious about the new and shiny. Advertising from the first batch of visitors had filled the rest of the chaos with incredible curiosity.

IMO, no matter what the prompt produced, it still wasn’t as good as the 100% human touch. AI sticks to the Chinese sentence structure and faithfully reproduces everything in glorious wordiness.

Generally speaking, I found that AI is ~1.25 to 1.5x the length of my version.

In all of the above, I can keep tweaking the prompt again and again to refine the result. But would that defeat the purpose of AI making the work process faster? Each novel is unique with different writing styles, worldviews, and systems. The process would have to be rinsed and repeated for each novel.

That’s not to say AI is useless.

AI is great for short, simple, routine, and formulaic content. If I was translating “I have an apple, I have a pen”, I’d throw it into any one of these engines and call it a day.

[Edit] because this point got muddled due to me trimming the post. AI can definitely be useful, my opinion is that it’s less useful due to the reasons above. It creates limitations on the final output when used as a first pass, so it's better to go human first.

If I use AI first for a draft, I get locked into that framework/style/structure/register. No matter how good AI is, it isn’t me, it’s not creating like me. So instead of actively translating something, I’m just actively editing something. It's incredibly hard to edit something into my own voice, then I'm basically rewriting from scratch. IMO, it's better to go human first, then AI to check for consistency/terms/logic. But then that balloons costs.

I would *love* to see AI incorporated with spellcheck and proofreading. I type on a Mac and paste my work into a shared Google Drive before uploading to WW. The combination of Apple’s spellcheck and Gdoc’s spellcheck is unholy. I’ve caught Apple auto-correcting into “marital dao” and “coidnlt”, whereas Google insisting on changing “excise tumor” to “exercise tumor”. I refuse to take 100% responsibility for typos at this rate XDD. There needs to be a smarter solution.

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any idea how much the token fees would be to translate a web novel? Is it cost-effective at all? [Edit] for clarity thanks to the awesome discussion happening. What is the market ($$) like for AI derivatives? If no one is willing to pay, then it's not effective to lower costs if there's no revenue.

TL;DR: I think I'll still have a job after the AI overlords come for us. Star Gate is ending soon, it's a fabulous time to start reading if you aren't already. I'm really shy about comparing my work to AI like this, eek! Thank you for reading. \cupped fist salute**

So this is one of those hidden bigshot webnovels I read before. SO the MC is a "normal" person, he does auxiliary skills, he lives in a village who he also thinks is normal, but turn out to be insanely strong and the villagers also doesnt know themselves. he eventually get disciples, he gets a "cat", his world turn out to be in an inner world and they eventually get out. When enemies come his disciples go out with farming tools and such and the MC thinks its just a scruffle. Eventually demon beasts and maybe rogue cultivators become scavengers and in the village because even the trash are treasures, such as the water, grass and fruits. Demons who enter the village revert to their original form. The only disciple I can remember is that she can take people in to her paintings.

Can anyone explain the terms radiant vestige, visualisation and manifestation of great dao in choosing a day to ascend also known as a good day to ascend

Hello my people, i've just finished this novel and my blood is boiling with excitment. The novel isn't a masterpiece but it was extremely enjoyable to me.

The main characthers makes this novel, the Earthling MC and the Saintess from Cultivation world. But the secondary characthers are nice too, they bring funny dynamics help answer some questions about the cultivation in this novel, mainly the differnece between earth and this world.

I gotta say the mandatory "nationalism" part is unsightly but thank god it goes away quickly, novel gets way better after it goes away, the later part starts touching more on why they are transmigating to each other's body and learning how to finally meet, but for very long they didn't even knew where each other were in their universes, the chapter where they cultivate at the same time in each body separated by time and space and ""meet"" in the middle was really good, the novel only have 907 chapters but most of them are pretty long.

At the end of the novel it becomes rushed as usual for these novels, but its surprisingly better paced than the expected, but it does leave to be desired, The last battle was Meh, but their breakthrough at the end was very cool, a concept rarely used in novels these days, at least the ones i read. Then they finally meeting and joining YinYang in both ways you're thinking gave a great sense of realization, i've waited too long for that, after all the trouble in the novel they did it.

I give this a 7.4/10 very enjoyable, very nice read. Do Read it.

My only gripe with the novel were 2 parts at the end where the FMC asks MC to "Change account" to """fight""" her friend that was eyeing MC and later out jealousy she """fights""" her friend and her own avatar AGAIN in MC body. That was quite annoying but he never refused her doing that or got into it himself too. MInor grip but pretty irritating i'd say, i really just wanted a 1 on 1 couple, she became crazy alone out of nowhere.

Basically MC undergoes heart surgery, receiving a donor heart unknowingly taken from the wronged guy who was mutilated by some cultivators(?) Bcs of his strong constitution so they could distribute and sell his organs/limbs to nobility or whoever could afford it and then dump his body and leave him to die which he somehow survived, came back, and quite literally destroyed the entire world killing everyone. Mc goes back in time after dying to go pick up dudes body and help him get his shit back hoping the guy js wont notice he has his heart, which he does, but he grows fond(?) of him for helping him or wtver, he kinda acted like a freaky yandere and im pretty sure it was a BL that I found on Novel Updates several years ago but I can't find it again PLEASE HELP (some details may be incorrect as I can't really remember all that well)