As of writing this, I’ve read book one in the series.
In this world, knowledge is power. And power is everything.
Lu Jie woke up in a world filled with scheming sects, arrogant young masters, and the mad chase for the immortal heavens. He wanted none of it. But his plan to escape the sect is interrupted by an old Alchemist’s pills that heal him within moments—a magical cure.
These medicines ignite the flame of curiosity to learn true magic in him, rekindling his love of discovery. Lu Jie sets out to study the immutable truths hidden within the world, and soon finds an all-new path of cultivation that could take him to the very top.
The path of science.
This was a fun read from the outset. The opening reminded me of Beware of Chicken, with an Earth-based soul getting transported into the body of a cultivator that died while exchanging pointers. Both initially think “I want out” of the fun “You dare!” sect life, but Lu Jie doesn’t quite manage the escape that Jin Rou (from Beware of Chicken) manages.
Instead, he turns to alchemy and begins the fun process of applying modern scientific principles to pill refining. This leads him to his quest to discover the Laws of Cultivation, which I shall speak no more of to not spoil anything. But… without spoiling things, I can confirm that the final segment of book one is an absolute whirlwind of characters jumping in understanding, revelations, breakthroughs, and it was very well written.
The main character was great to follow, and had a depth to their characterisation I really appreciated… and also can’t talk about as it is in the heavy spoiler territory. The spirit companion angles were also a joy to read, for they had their own goals and motivations, and they added the cute and wholesome facet to the cut-throat sect lifestyle to balance things out.
Progression, while limited to alchemy for the first part of the book, quickly extends to other areas, cultivation included of course. Unlike some other cultivation novels where navel-gazing can last for pages or even chapters, internal realisations and discussions are handled well. And by that… I mean concisely. You can still feel the serial format of the book coming through, but it’s missing the extreme filler you can sometimes get when chapters need to be pumped out. I appreciated this.
So all in all, I had a good time. If you want a cultivation novel, or alchemy, or cute spirit companions, definitely give this a shot.
