Sen emerged triumphant, but victory is a doubled-edged sword… Sen defeated an elder of the Soaring Skies Sect and saved the mortals in the Silver Crane. What should have been a moment to bask in success came crashing down around him when he inadvertently exposed a demonic cultivator cabal. Realizing that a moving target is harder to strike, Sen flees into the wilds with Lifen and Lo Meifeng in tow. There, he’ll learn that not all enemies want to take your life and not every threat can be met with the edge of a blade. Sen must delve deeper inside himself and push his cultivation harder than ever before or risk losing something more precious than his life… He’ll lose his soul.
Raised in Western New York, Eric Dontigney has lived in New Mexico, Florida, Wisconsin, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. He currently resides near Dayton, OH. He is a fan of photo-realism paintings, coffee and well-made food. He has a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy.
This is third in an action Xianxia cultivator story with plot and character elements that build over time. Read in order.
You know what to expect in terms of tone and action. Sen is on the run with his two companions from the cabal of demonic cultivators he exposed at the end of the previous book for most of the book. He makes cultivation discoveries, hidden treasure discoveries, has epiphanies, and encounters a divine turtle that sets him on a new cultivation path. This is all good stuff.
I was a little surprised with the companion developments in this one. Lifen hit the right notes for a romantic interest (including them having sex regularly), but she's also nowhere near an equal for Sen and that disparity shows in ways that it should. Lo Meifing is more of an equal, but there's clearly no spark there, so I'm happy for that friendship development. Well, except for the . Also, Falling Leaf catches up (near the end) and that was all kinds of awesome.
I don't have anything else to say, really. This was outstanding. A great adventure with a likeable hero trying to navigate tricky moral waters while dealing with the Xianxia setting. Five stars.
A note about the series: I originally picked this up on Royal Road and have since joined the author's Patreon; where he has just completed book nine. Plus, I'm still subscribed to the RR feed where it's still in book eight. Yes, that is, in fact, a triple blast of Sen while I read these books. That's how happy I am to spend time with Sen and his friends.
A note about the anger: We still don't know that .
A note about Chaste: Sen and Lifen are clearly doing it. Sometimes smugly. There is a scene of intentionally showing off their closeness with some dishabille involved, but I still consider this kind of chaste. It's on the edge, with their shenanigans only lightly curtained over, but it still qualifies on my personal scale.
It leans *hard* on the tropes—hidden masters, heaven’s blessings, secret arts—but does so in a unique way.
Secret elder spirit beast showing up at odd moments? Check. MC having surprising levels of power for his cultivation? Check. Meeting someone from his past unexpectedly? Check.
This was a pleasure to read. I am very much looking forward to the next.
Way to much Author armor going on in this book. All these ravs reviews and all of them are glossing over a couple big things. One how is the demonic cult sect tracking them down, do they have unlimited people to toss at him? NUMBER TWO, if they are so hated around the continent, why haven't the other sects picked up allllll these demonic cultivators running around? NUMBER THREE, Sen is dragging some barely cultivator woman around, who has never left her town. He cannot protect her when a multi-prong attack happens, She should be very gone after one attack.
Last but not least, ADAM, you need a better pop filter for your mic. I can head background noise.
I'm loving this series. One of the elements that hit hardest is the in-depth and believable cultivation mechanics. When Sen was imprisoned and left with nothing but inner cultivation, I was fascinated by his process.
While finishing this book wasn't technically an all-nighter, that was only because I passed out. I can't wait for the next installment.
Ugh, Sen is.... unbelievable. Way to OP. Even people far his senior are astonished by him. Seriously, it gets ridiculous. He does struggle at times, but still. He seems...a bit nicer this book? Not as selfish as he was. The plot is kinda all over the place in this one though. It seriously keeps skipping around.
I put down Diefiance of the Fall to get my hands on this book. The storytelling is enrapturing, and you can not put it down until it is done. Pray for me, people. I just found his page on the web with more of his work. The weekend is done, lol!
The amount of demonic cultivators hunting an somehow finding them are preposterous. A lot of dramma and heavy plot armor. Good luck with trying to move an untrained city girl through the woods for a longer time in real life.. #rofl#
I truly hated that the protagonist decided to attack one side arbitrarily when he encountered the sect war and found him to be once again way too full of himself.
I was a little worried starting this book as I realised I had almost entirely forgotten what happened in the last book. Even the two women Sen is travelling with escaped my memory and I realised this wasn't going to be an issue I could push past. This meant that I was going to have to reread the last book to refresh my memory and a big reason why I couldn't remember anything was because I initially found the last book disappointing.
However, I loved the first book so much I decided to take the plunge and revisit book 2, only to find I enjoyed it much more on this read. It's still a far reduced book to the first novel, but I now see that for what it is. The second book was an author struggling to transition his story from where it started to where it needed to go. Having not reread the first book this time round I could appreciate the story it was trying to transition into rather than get hung up on the story it was leaving behind. I stand by the opinion that it is a weaker novel than the first and that it struggled with the transition, but with that transition over I was far more prepared for this book and I'm so glad I took the time to catch myself up as otherwise I would have missed out on this masterpiece.
Right from the start, it was clear that this book had two things that were lacking in book 2; focused direction and balance. The first comes from Sen and his companions having clear and driving motivations compelling their actions. The second is that in this book, the author remembers the kind of story he is trying to tell and Sen can start making more meaningful steps on his progression than he did in the last novel. Because of this, there is now a nice balance of progression, action, magic exploration, world building, character growth and plot progression. This balance made for a more natural rhythm for the narrative and the story hooked me and flew by as a result.
Most importantly, it felt like Sen is once more on the path to fulfil his incredible potential in a way that feels natural and rewarding, and that made this book an easy 5 stars for me. It's rare that a series that stumbles so hard with the second book bounces back so strong, so I can't tell you how excited I am to continue with this series now. I doubt I'll need another refresher before book 4, but I might just reread the whole series just for the fun of it anyway.
I was really enjoying the story till this book. Sadly Sen decided to go full scumbag with his treatment of Lifen. Yes she was an extra character and fairly useless but throughout the whole thing he seemed to have a connection and genuine affection for her, till she got brainwashed. Through his own choices and actions they get captured and she is turned. Instead of immediately going for help to rescue her, he just kinda writes her off as something he will get to eventually! Then to make matters worse, the first hot woman he sees he start rationalizing that he doesn’t really owe Lifen anything since they weren’t actually in love, well she might have been but he wasn’t, and so it’s perfectly fine! Also in complete counter to what he said with Lo Meifeng you know this new cultivator is older than Sen but suddenly that’s ok because he thinks she’s hot…
Sen went counter to so many ideals and principles that he has maintained the entire time and when he went full scumbag over Lifen I am just done with this series. Sadly plot armor won’t let Sen die as the MC but you can hope.
A decent albeit a tedious read. It's a meandering slice of life'esque read, which (as at v7 in RR) doesn't seem to have an end goal.
The writing is good, but annoyingly dialogue heavy. Like nothing can happen with at least half a chapter of filler dialogues. And then we have the inner monologues to pile on it. Was ok initially, but gets more and more tedious that I was skipping entire paragraphs of conversation to get to the point.
The MC is pretty much unlikeable too. Cynical, suspicious and prone to anger induced violence. Though fundamentally good at heart, he's one of those better kept at arms length, making him a difficult character to read/follow. Well written and realistic given his background, but still unlikeable.
Book 3 was probably the best, taut and action packed despite having the above flaws.
I'll give it a few more chapters, but I'm unlikely to continue.
An utterly fabluous story, engaging & entertaining from beginning to end
This is one of my top 5 cultivator stories that I've read and I've read soooo many. The MC is OP, but in a quite interesting and thoughtful way. He doesnt try to crush all his issues with violence, but considers before taking action. Yet when the time comes to throw down, he is ruthless and relentless.
I love that the story remains true to its roots in that the MC continues to be a wandering cultivator, continuing to learn as well as doing some teaching as he goes from place to place, interacting with people. Some are good but many are in need of chastisement. I look forward to the development of the relationship between the MC and Falling Leaf. There may also be some comic relief with the new lazy guy on the team.
Fantastic! There are not many series where each volume delivers so consistently.
I love how human many parts of this book are. While Sen certainly follows the usual cultivation tropes, it's times like when he worries about training Lifen because of the resentment it might foster or her variable response to him at the end of the day based on how successful the training went that makes everything feel really human. These are the sort of genuine interpersonal relationships you don't tend to find in other books in this genre.
My only complaint lies in the many month-long wait until the next one.
I really enjoy this series. That said, this book kind of caused me to lose interest in the last quarter of the book. Up until this point the main character has been a prodigy who was trained by the most powerful people in the world. Everywhere he goes he causes normal people to be amazed. For the first time since he left his master's, he has reunited with him. And here we come to the problem. For whatever reason the author chose to go down the direction of his masters who are the most powerful people in the world, also being amazed and in awe of him. This is where I lost my ability to be immersed in the story.
Then, I read the bloopers! I was actually laughing so much my cheeks hurt. It made the best ending after the passing annoyance that means I’ll have to wait till later for fourth book to come out. I usually don’t touch novels unless they’re at minimum a trilogy. This book however has had me invested in Sen since the beginning. It’s worth the wait. I waited for book three and couldn’t put it down. Just read the series. It’s worth it and definitely read the bloopers! lol what’s worse than a tribulation? You’ll find out soon!
This was a street orphan urchin who was just trying to hide from some bullies who accidentally used cultivation and a wondering cultivator found him. So he and his buddy and wife trains him and the kid works harder than anyone else they have trained and he endures himself to them. They are some of the most powerful people on the planet. But he just thinks he is adequate to go exploring. At the end of this book he’s headed to the main capitol to find a book. Great Stuff
An excellent book, fast-paced enjoyable. Likable characters, including the MC’s minder. Plenty of world building, different locations and various different characters along the way. you can’t hope but like and root for the MC in this book he is trying to find his way and we readers along with him, great to see some character growth in him. I am happy with the developments of the story so far and I am. Eagerly awaiting the next book in the series, keep them coming.
I will readily admit, I am not really into cultivation story arcs. Mostly they bore me, or lose my interest. But this series is quite different! I have gotten so sucked in and invested that I have read books 2 and 3 back to back in 2 days, reading late into the night........just so I can see what happens next. Ex story line, absorbing world and magic system, and a MC you actually like and rapidly come to care about. Already have book 4 - and will no doubt finish it shortly!!!!!
What an incredible series! Dontigney's writing and storyline is amazing and I find myself wanting more soon as the book ends. I wish I could read ALL the books in the series now but I know when it comes to the end I'd still want more of Sen, Master Feng... Uncle Koh, Auntie Caihong and more importantly Falling Leaf. It was a shock about Lifeng, but it made sense. November can't come soon enough for the next book!
This book was everything I expected from this series and I'm so glad for that. No part of it felt like a slug to read and the interactions made me laugh so many times. I especially enjoyed the main character's development as a person. He evaluates himself, his values and actions, and tries to be better. Not ashamed to say I learnt some important lessons from him. Definitely looking forward to the next book.
What a great book. I am so very happy to have come across this book. It's so sad that I have to wait for the next book.
This was, for me, an epic series that just seemed to get better. No suspending your disbelief or gritting your teeth to get through another chapter with the hope that the author would find their previous form; no this was a series that just kept getting better.
Really enjoying the adventures of Lu Sen! I literally shouted “Nooooooooo!” when I it was over because I didn’t want it to end. I’ve read a lot of cultivation/progression series recently and this one is steadily moving up my best of the best list with each installment. Off to put the book 4 release date on my calendar!
I love this series. Well written with a great story and a unique look on the cultivation genre MC. The MC is smart, kind and powerful. The supporting characters are awesome and unique in their own way. Each book in this series gets better and better. I can’t wait for the next.
Enjoyed following the continued adventures of Sen as he grows and learns more about how to interact with the world as a cultivator. Lots of action and good character development. Excited for the next entry. I appreciate the brief summary of the prior book at the beginning!
I very much enjoyed the story. I am looking forward to the sequel which is slated for a mid-november release. The audiobook is out now though if I had to be brutally honest I would say that the narrator delivers a above average performance. If it sounds the warm it's because it is.
Wow the journey continues. I enjoyed the story telling of this 3rd book. I thought one of the characters would become a MC but was not meant to be, but was removed in a thoughtful way without killing off the character. Now hopefully the 4th book won't take to long to be published.
The action in this one steps up a lot as the power levels rise, and we see more of the consequences if meeting judgements gale. This series is one of those surprises that are a joy to find, and one of my favourite finds for a while that definitely deserves more recognition.
Trolling around the bowels or Royal road and R/progfantasy and litrpg, you occasionally stumble upon a hidden gem. A western take on Eastern cultivation done right. Holding true to a lot of the main tropes that make xianxia so fun and addicting, while maintaining an interesting world and a believable person who has a hopeful outlook on life that is tempered as he explores this world of wonder. Do yourself a favor and give this series a shot.
Such a good series, and this book just adds to that. We tend to forget all the little things about society that we take for granted. Li Sen doesn't have that fall back, and it makes for great twists and humor. Eric is a true student of the cradle and wonderful in his character growth and challenges. I'm going to keep reading until the end of this path.
Book one was great... Book two was ok but a bit too focused. Book 3...not so good. It was an awful mix of hurry up and wait with a chicken running around with his head cutoff. Oh and the protagonist is just given power after power after power. It's disappointing.