World of Cultivation (Novel) - Reviews

My short opinion of this novel: A very entertaining cultivation novel that gets repetitive after a while. 

It is indeed a well-written and well-planned story, however the novel is way too long for me to get interested in. I myself dropped it at around chapter 210 (after the start of book 3), but i encourage those who've never read a Cultivation novel before or those who are very bored to continue reading after this point. 

World of Cultivation is a very cultivation-heavy novel, with no romance (so far) and hella comedy. The main character's money grubbing zombie personality is a riot, and he continues to surprise all the characters in the story, and even had me rooting for him (even if i knew plot was going to allow it). It is extremely long, and each chapter length felt the same as some story with 1300+ chapters. The only flaws i would name in this novel is 

• length 
• translated version leaves some cultivation-related terms untranslated (such as the names of the stages)
• at some point the novel became a repeat-type story, with MC going through hardships, MC getting powerups, MC getting allies, MC going through more hardship, MC getting more powerups, etc. 
• way too much movesets to remember (although this is the first cultivation novel i've read in which there is so much versatility and techniques)

Pros

• lovable and funny MC
• development of characters other than the MC
• bad ass fight scenes

World setting: a cultivation-focused world with 3 factions - Xiuzhe (human cultivators), Yao (spirits), and Mo (demons). Xiu primarily cultivate the spiritual energy found in the world, Yao cultivate their consciousness, and Mo cultivate their body. Xiu primarily use the sword, and the motto of most sword-wielding xiu is "1 sword beats all". Yao and Mo (sometimes called yaomo) are viewed as evil in the eyes of Xiuzhe, and 3000 years before the events of the story, the Xiuzhe of the time overpowered the yaomo and sealed both factions in an extremely powerful formation in a region called Bloody Sky Metropolis. For 3000 years after that, the Xiuzhe hunt yao and mo for sport in an event called Yao Hunt. 

In the current story, the effects of this formation are decreasing, and many yao and mo are leaving their prison and scaring the shit out of the Xiuzhe, who have severely weakened in power on average compared to 3000 years ago. 

Zuo Mo is a cultivator with average talent, with his only features being a forever-expressionless face and him not remembering anything. The sect leader of a minor sword sect, Wu Kong Sword Sect, found Zuo Mo and decides to raise him in the sect to see what he becomes. At first, Zuo Mo is shunned due to his scary zombie-looking face (he literally cannot make any expressions). Later, it is found that Zuo Mo has some talent in cultivating the five elements, which subsequently helps with spiritual plant farming, increasing his status in the sect.

As the years go by, Zuo Mo realizes that if one wants to cultivate, then they will need to acquire Jingshi (all-round cultivation currency in the world, think of spirit stones in other novels) to increase their wealth and allow them to buy materials to cultivate faster. At some point, Zuo Mo literally becomes a Money-Grubbing Zombie (haha, the title of the first volume), and pretty much all of his actions are motivated by his intense love for money. 

One day, as Zuo Mo is tending to his spiritual plants, an old and powerful evil spirit (yao) named Pu finds his way into Zuo Mo's consciousness. Pu, also called Pu Yao, wishes to torment Zuo Mo for reasons unknown, and puts him through excrutiating torture and training. Zuo Mo's antics with Pu eventually reveal that Zuo Mo's memories have been erased by a powerful figure. This realization causes Zuo Mo's perspective to switch, and he wants to become a strong Money-Grubbing zombie instead of a laid-back one. At this point, Zuo Mo is determined to cultivate to the best of his ability and do anything he can to get as much money as possible, even if that means relying on the hateful Pu Yao.