Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master/Advent of Immortal Truth (仙工开物)

[Iqbal Salim Haris]

Author:

蛊真人, Gu Zhenren, Gu Zhen Ren | Author of the popular webnovel Reverend Insanity

Associated Names:

仙工开物, Xian Gong Kaiwu, Advent of Immortal Truth, Secrets of the Eternal Puppeteer, The Eternal Marionette Enigma

Status in COO:

2 Volumes / 421 Chapters (Ongoing):

-Volume 1: 327 Chapters (Completed)

-Volume 2: 94 Chapters (Ongoing)

Licensed: No

Completely Translated: No

Original Publisher: Qidian | https://www.qidian.com/book/1039889503/

English Publisher: N/A

Description:

In the heart of the volcano, the remnants left behind by the sages yearned for their successors.

Risking her life, his mother obtained the Immortal Palace Seal, handing it to Ning Zhuo before her passing.

“The Buddha Heart Demon Seal!”

To transcend into either Buddha or the Demon.

With this seal grasped firmly, he could inscribe a heart seal and command the creation of puppets.

While ordinary individuals struggled under the weight of just controlling a few, the burden was exceptionally light for, Ning Zhuo, who effortlessly commanded tens of thousands with a single gesture.

“Mother, I will fulfill your wishes and obtain the Immortal Palace!” He vowed.

Indeed.

Immortal Puppets; capable of spiritual secrets; their work skillful and rational.

A new realm is opened up, and things are in sync with the heavens.

The ancient bell echoes the laws. The moon dances under the clear light.

Embodied with myriad strengths, who in this world dares oppose?

-

These are the factors why wuxiaworld should license it.

Characters:

One of the great merits of the famous Gu Zhen Ren is his character writing, and this quality is more evident than ever in "Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master".

I could use clichéd praise and say that the characters seem alive or something like that, but there's something about the writing that impressed me much more, and that's the pace of development. You don't really know the characters when they're first introduced; often the author cleverly uses the first impression we readers have to fool us.

You go from thinking "this character is intelligent and calm" to "this b*st*rd is a greedy psychopath, I hope he dies" the second time you read about the same character. The same thing happens with the protagonist. Readers can't really deduce his personality until after more than 20 chapters, and that's really good; the development is natural and concise.

Story:

This is definitely not your usual cultivation story. It's not about a weak sect that was once powerful, nor is it about a modern person reincarnated in the body of a despised youth. Here, the story is almost a race between various factions to see who can take possession of an ancient artifact left behind by powerful figures from the distant past. The initial structure of the story reminded me a lot of Fate/Zero; that is, multiple POVs, different factions, each with their own plans, peculiarities, and advantages. I didn't dislike any of Ning Zhuo's potential adversaries; on the contrary, I found them all quite charismatic.

The author, Gu Zhen Ren, will definitely deliver in the future and won't disappoint. I have full confidence in him.

The protagonist:

It's clear that Gu Zhen Ren drew some inspiration from his acclaimed Reverend Insanity to create this protagonist, but don't expect a scrupulous demon. Ning Zhuo is excellent at manipulating people, extremely observant, and not afraid to kill if necessary. At the same time, he is a humble and kind young man, which makes him feel really bad when he has to deceive or exploit someone innocent, but that doesn't stop him from pursuing his plans.

He is passionate about 'mechanics'; he truly enjoys creating new things or learning new concepts that he can later implement. Honestly, he's a breath of fresh air among so many extremely similar protagonists.

What I like about this novel is that, unlike other wuxia novels, the author doesn't try to justify the MC's actions. The MC is just willing to do whatever it takes to live, and he has no real morality/attachment to anything that actually hinders that. It's kind of hilarious, because he's basically the same type of person as Fang Yuan, but tries to keep up a thin facade of decency for himself.

The funny thing is that the MC in this novel isn't even that special in terms of personality/values; he's just more intelligent than his opponent. He's a massive f*cking hypocrite, and doesn't hesitate to manipulate anyone more naive than himself (anyone with any sort of principles other than profit) into doing his bidding or being his scapegoat. Almost every single "villain" is more human than he is, with weaknesses like friends, family, pride, etc.

Translation:

I'll get straight to the point: the translation is poor. It's not unreadable by any means, but it's bad. From one chapter to another, terms are changed, and in several instances, you can tell that the characters' dialogue feels a bit robotic and stiff, and these are known defects of translations that use GPT chat. In some chapters, the reviser forgot to delete the GPT from the middle of the text. I don't think the text is completely translated by GPT; there's probably some work invested here. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that my dream is for a team like WuxiaWorld to take over this work. Those who have read Reverend Insanity through MTL know that the author routinely uses some really specific and complicated terms to translate, which ends up being a bad combination with automatic translators.

Edited November 8 by Iqbal Salim Haris

[freewheeler]

There's already a licensing recommendation thread for that novel here.