Black Myth: The Bell Ghost

Trash supporting characters, just kill them off. New supporting actors. Don't be like the previous book, where the supporting characters' cultivation levels skyrocketed, the protagonist struggled to reach a certain level, and then the supporting characters easily leveled up as well. The previous book was excellent because it killed off the main character's older sister and brother-in-law.

The pressure was intense. I thought upgrading swordsmanship would be enough, but then they added whip techniques, a sword-whip fusion, and then a Qi-seeking technique. Basically, they didn't add any points to the fundamental skill. A normal person would add points to swordsmanship and then to the fundamental skill, but the protagonist maxed out swordsmanship, whip techniques, and the Qi-seeking technique before adding points to the fundamental skill.

"Don't Seek Immortal Fate" and "The Great Sage Leaving Heaven" are the best-written, with the early and middle parts comparable to those of top authors. "The Great Sage of the Northern Yin" is just so-so.

Using such precious skill points entirely for mundane martial arts is such a waste... This is a cultivation sect! And skill points are getting harder to obtain; assuming each upgrade is twice as difficult, the 60th upgrade would require the power of an entire universe. I'm so disappointed in the author; the cheat system is awful.

Listen to me, cut this book. Use your precious skill points to improve swordsmanship; the whip is the core flaw. No matter how well you write the rest, it's useless. The green bottle leveling in "Mortal's Journey to Immortality" is slow, but it's reasonable. The core problem is your overpowered cheat, not the slowness. This book is practically ruined... With your writing skills, this should have at least 9000 monthly votes.

Actually, when I read his book "The Celestial Master: I Have Another World," I knew that this author was going downhill. That book simply benefited from the advantages of the times; it had good anti-piracy measures, and its subject matter attracted a lot of readers in the early stages. Therefore, it became the author's best-performing book, the only one that is considered a must-read.

Having read up to chapter 194, well, the pacing in the beginning was too slow. Even at chapter 130, it's still full of menial tasks – isn't that ridiculous? There's practically no main plot later on. There are plenty of characters, but none are developed. Most importantly, the author's depiction of sects is unrealistic. Any organization must have order; a sect couldn't exist without order.

The author has a slightly twisted side. Not only is the protagonist portrayed as ugly, but he also establishes himself as a noble figure who doesn't rely on power, doesn't form associations or parties, isn't attracted to women, and acts in isolation. The problem is, a single tree cannot make a forest, and a single thread cannot make a line. It's impossible for one person to become great and powerful alone; it's utterly foolish.

I've been reading this book with the author for almost a year now. The author's writing is far superior to many others. However, why is it that while the early plot is incredibly exciting, it quickly becomes disjointed and feels like a jumbled mess, written haphazardly and arbitrarily, and then completely collapses later on?

I wonder if any fellow cultivators can relate to this 😒?