Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novels, Romance
Pages: 489
Series: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (LN) #5
Rating:

Synopsis:

THE END OF AN EPIC TALE–AND WHAT COMES AFTER

Foes, allies, and one reassembled fierce corpse converge on the Guanyin Temple for a climactic showdown. With decades-long schemes finally unveiled, and dark secrets unearthed, the events of this rain-battered night will decide not just the fate of the entire cultivation world–but also that of a love story two lifetimes in the making.

Also included are eight short stories that focus on the future and the past. From magical incense burners to tense banquets, to lotus-pod hunting and nighttime expeditions with the juniors, these stories span from dawn to dusk and so much more!

It took me a while to get into MXTX’s Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, but by book five I was definitely all in with the main pairing, and feeling a lot of affection for various characters — even Jiang Cheng, who is a brash idiot, but has a lot of love in his heart nonetheless. This book finishes off the main story and then has a bunch of extras.

So, first the main story. It felt like… there was a lot of build-up for not a lot of payoff, plot-wise? It gave time for Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian’s pining to really build itself up, and I can see that it brings all the threads together, but the ending is a lot of talking and it kind of feels like it peters out, despite the confrontations, hostage situations, etc. The fact that it wasn’t all aimed squarely at Wei Wuxian made his and Lan Wangji’s involvement feel a touch… coincidental rather than necessary? It would’ve worked out differently without them, of course — it’s not like they’re superfluous — but… it felt like it was building up to something huge, and what happened felt largely like an explosion of intense interpersonal nonsense between powerful people and… I dunno, I’d been expecting more somehow?

In any case, the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji finally reaches where it needed to go, and that part is lovely.

The extras mostly expand on that, showing us Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s married life. There are some details that I side-eye heavily (Bichen, for one thing, and self-lubrication, for another, along with Wei Wuxian’s tendency to go “no no no” when he means yes) but the emotional notes are lovely.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)