An Elder's Revolution - The Art of Sect Politics

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Honored by countless victories grasped and foes vanquished, Sect Elder Liu Wei is one of the most prominent figures of the Lunar Peaks Sect.

Known for his strict treatment of those below him and the harsh punishments he hands out to those who cross him, his name invokes both fear and awe to the sect's countless members, disciples and subordinates.

As a breakthrough leads him to ascend to the same level of cultivation as the sect's patriarch, he is well-positioned to further extend his power within the sect. Only, what should have been his greatest moment of triumph is instead one doubt and uncertainty: For the first time in his well over four-hundred year long journey of cultivaton, he has hit a complete roadblock, denying him any further steps on the way to immortality.

Without a family, any close friends or a particularly deep loyalty towards his sect, this leaves Liu Wei without a purpose to dedicate his efforts towards, even as the flame of ambition keeps burning in his chest. He now has no choice but to deeply contemplate what he wishes to do with the vast power he has spent his unfathomably long life accumulating.

As his contemplations lead him to rediscover a long discarded sense of compassion, a new goal beginns to form: bring as much justice and fairness into this ancient system of opression as his abilities afford him to.

Liu Wei shall walk on a path of defiance.

Quick overview of what you can expect from this story:

This is a story about Liu Wei, but it will be told from many perspectives. Giving the perspectives of several important side-characters room to breathe is my way of dealing with a main-character who is several centuries old and thus rather knowledgeable about the world and difficult to surprise. All of these characters have their own little stories and sub-plots that will be explored as the main story moves on.

As the title says, this novel will focus on sect politics. This includes detailed explorations of schemes, power-dynamics and the like. Action will be rather sparse, especially in the beginning. Most conflicts will need time to build up before ultimately erupting into violence. They will though, and when they do I hope the action will feel gratifying and consequential.

This story features power-progression in the form of cultivation. This includes the MC whowilleventually regain his ability to cultivate, if you're concerned about that. This progression is featured prominently as a motivation for many characters, but will not be the focus of the story itself. The MC is already at a very high level of cultivation and will thus take a long time to progress further.

The world-building is one of the things I love most about writing, as such you can expect it to be detailed and extensive. The supernatural elements and cultivation system(s) are built from the ground up with their own internal logic in a way that I hope makes sense. I try to stay rather grounded with them - we won't be encountering anyone throwing cities or splitting mountains for a long time (if ever).

Questions of morality and ethics are central to the plot of this novel and will thus be explored in adequate detail in the form of both internal reflection and debates. Of course this isn't a philosophic essay, so these sections will mostly remain relatively short.

The tone of this story is usually rather serious, but there are occasionaly slight satirical elements as it seeks to subvert expectations regarding common Xianxia tropes.

Updates three times a week,Wed/Fri/Sun.

Enjoy!

[participant in the Royal Road November 2024 Writathon challenge]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Candis

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 2,219
Views: 905,656

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

Gonetobed17Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have to say this is a really interesting story and I enjoy the plot the author has chosen. It’s definitely been thought out before writing and the world building has been well done. Characters have strong foundations and look primed to be flushed out more as the story continues. Would definitely give it a read and really looking forward to the story continuing.
drandreasRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A good mix of cultivation and politics. Some info dumping has happened from time to time but I don't mind it too much in the webnovel format. Not a whole lot has happened yet but there is potential for a good long story here. Looking forward to more. Keep it up!
ChicotheguyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Great story, I love the well done politick-ing, as well as the change of pace to see a story that focus deeply on empathy and solidarity.
One of the constructive critiscims I could give the author is that it feels to me that the MC transformation from mean bastard to wise old man was too quick, too fast, but at the same time I understand that it is a necessity as a writter to write this way and not have an unlikable protagonist, as well as to set the plot in motion.
I would like, however, to see more of his past have an influence on his plans, more of the centuries he spent having an effect on him. Makes it more meaninfull to see him change. Maybe talking about how those who knew him feel about his abrupt change.
Krs88Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
An excellent story about a sect elder trying to improve his sect, after a bottleneck (temporarily) stopped his previous path.
It´s great if you like the political day to day things a sect-elder would do it seems almost "slice-of-life"-ish that way, and the character descriptions and motivations are great. There is also a bit of "Kingdom-building" going on with the Elder trying to improve a part of the sec that is basically a moneysink.
ARR62Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This story is well crafted. The world building is modelled after ancient China but it isn't ancient China. Sect's, pillar families, mortals all described well. The cultivation system is thoroughly explained and although there's no mention of dual cultivating, it's well done.
The characters are fascinating. From the Elder cultivators down, those we meet are wholly 3D and interesting. Whatbi like most about the main characters is that I can't predict their actions nearly as much as I usually can.
I actually detest stories that dwell on sect machinations but this story continues to beat that away with its ability to draw those into a larger context and engage my speculation on outcomes beyond the sect itself. At this point in the story, I've read up to the latest chapter as 11/11/24, I've no idea which elder, coalition, or family will be victorious or fail, and whether that's a momentary or final victory/defeat. It keeps me wanting more, which I love.
My only negative is grammar. The author admits they're not a native English speaker and it shows. While not a huge problem, and certainly tons better than some cultivation novels I've read through KU, there are times when I've no idea what the author meant. Be it word choice or sentence structure, I'm left baffled.
That aside, this is a highly enjoyable and engrossing story.
askeriRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
TLDR: Overall, this is a very feel good story, and I overlook some of the unrealistic elements and pacing issues because I read it as such. Xinxia doesn't usually make me feel good about the world so I like this story.
It's been clear on this site that the audience of Xinxia is attracting fans who nevertheless demand more substance then power tripping fantasies typical of translated Chinese mass created online novels. Xinxia that makes fun of litrpg and xinxia is now a common thing, but there is now a growing genre of more morally based and realistically grounded Xinxia. This novel is one of this new wave, and I've personally really enjoyed the new direction towards Sect Master stories. Despite the plethora of new 'sect master/elder gains morals' stories, I can't stomach most of them, but this is one that finally has managed to pull off the promise of the premise while also having a slightly more grounded story.
I think it's interesting to run through pros and cons with regard to one area of the story: pacing and political drama
Con
- Pace is insanely fast. The sudden change of heart and rapid growth in power takes place at what feels like a breakneck pace even though there are 32 chapters out by now. I love me some political drama, though, but nevertheless it takes up a lot of the space so far in the chapters while the MC's personal growth seems to happen in two extremely fast paced chapters with little room to digest the changes and see the adjustment over time
Pro
- Thankfully, the pacing is just plausible enough that it doesn't completely ruin the story for me, and the political drama is pretty awesome! It wasn't really necessary, so I'm impressed the author has managed to pull it off and the story is much much better off for it. It becomes a real story instead of wish fufilment.
Interesting Decison
- The political drama is a necessary element because the MC is powerful compared to the rest of the sect (thus far, he has seemed like a tenative candidate for stron
TheMightyDonRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Tldr: It is not a bad story it is just not that exiting or interesting. If you want something in the genre of xianxia but with the spectacle turned way down this might be just the story for you.
The story contains few grammatical and spelling errors, but most of the time I hardly noticed. The story only sparsely describes places and people. The side characters are pretty simple but importantly not one note. They are generally not stupid and act in accordance with their motivations, which elevates this story above most xianxia stories.
The premise for the story got me incredibly exited for it. A story of a more traditional powerful selfish elder in a sect, transforming into a benevolent teacher pushing for fair treatment of all disciples really hooked me into the story. The transformation however was incredibly rushed using basically 2 chapters to go from one extreme to the other cheapening the narrative, and breaking my suspension of disbelief.
The style is very straight forward and simple, which while better than being too flowery and purple prose, it does have a negative impact on the overall feel of the story. When the MC teaches disciples it does not feel like an ancient and powerful cultivator imparting great knowledge or insight but more like an above average teacher teaching students. When weaker cultivators interact with the MC they do not have the fear, respect and awe I would expect from someone interacting with a pillar of their sect and someone powerful enough to eradicate 99% of it with barely any effort, instead it feels more like someone acting with their bosses boss. This might generally be more realistic but it does make every interaction a lot less exciting and interesting. In the same vein the characters progressing in their cultivation or fighting does not bring the excitement it normally would in a story like this.
The worst example of this is the scene where the MC obtains enlightenment, when properly set up and earned these scenes are norma
GheldanRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I really enjoyed this. If you are like me and love intrigue and drama then this is the book for you. Bonus points for the MC being an elder who actually teaches. Just chef's kiss.
The story is new in that an "old monster" has a change of heart in a pretty believable way. Reforms are done in small increments, and for the most part villains tend to be smart. I've enjoyed all the characters viewpoints thus far and hope they continue to get fleshed out into real people.
Azure HeavenRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
The sinopsis seemed really interesting. Chapter started with quality content. Characters, setting, plot - all seem okay. But when Elder started talking to disciples politely, it broke the immersion. I understand author wants to make characters more "humane, polite, decent", but this is cultivation world and dialogue should at least be in a style that reminds us of cultivation world, not Western saccharine politeness. You want Elder to respect disciples? Sure, go ahead, but he doesn't have to drop all formalities or change 180 after one incident. It is illogical. Transmigrated characters with IQ reducing halo are better at acting than MC.
But if you are okay with slightly awkward dialogue, plot seems promising. I'm dropping it though
flyingnimbusRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
I was curious about the concept of this story, but it turned out to be a disappointment for two reasons:
First, the combat scenes are lackluster - it’s like reading the results of a simulation rather than watching the fights actually play out. The descriptions make the contests sound more like a turn based strategy game than live combat. Not to mention that they might as well be pro-wrestling matches with how obviously the outcomes have been scripted.
Second, the entire motivation for elder wei makes no sense. Deciding that he will pursue the “right” way of doing things is both logically flawed and deeply conceited. I actually prefer more altruistic characters, but the presentation here comes off more preachy than profound. Also, the speech chapter was excruciating to read; I get the intent, but it ends up both unnecessary and inorganic.
Lastly, I think the council meetings would be better handled with just dialog and body language. We don’t need to get into anyone’s head; let each character’s words and actions define who they are. It’s fine if the various players have inscrutable motivations.