Reach Heaven Via Feng Shui Engineering, Drug Trade And Tax Evasion

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

What to expect: Complex motivations and characters with varied perspectives Looking at various xianxia tropes through a different lens Rebelling against the Heavens, and what it means to be a cultivator Complex xianxia world that isn't built on "might makes right" Civics of a xianxia empire dealing with living weapons A lot of problem solving and mind games Complex and detailed magic system Engineering, politics and economics of sect building. What not to expect: Isekai, blue boxes, etc Misery porn (protagonist laughs in the face of problems) Romance

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: melmonella

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 2,097
Views: 867,092

Chapters(135 total)

What readers say about Reach Heaven Via Feng Shui Engineering, Drug Trade And Tax Evasion

“Anytime someone asks me for a web novel recommendation, this is on my list. It's light, and funny, but also deep and serious when it needs to be. The plotlines are amazing, and I love how cunning the main character is. It's also well written, the pacing is…”
ArinintimeRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Philosophy: A twist on the wuxia genre giving us a beautiful critique on modern society highlighting both the good and bad, all through the lenses of both the Dao and feminism through humanism and libertarianism. The philosophical elements are intertwined w…”
BrokenAtlasRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

ArinintimeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Anytime someone asks me for a web novel recommendation, this is on my list. It's light, and funny, but also deep and serious when it needs to be. The plotlines are amazing, and I love how cunning the main character is. It's also well written, the pacing is nice, and there aren't any mistakes in the writing I could see.
BrokenAtlasRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Philosophy: A twist on the wuxia genre giving us a beautiful critique on modern society highlighting both the good and bad, all through the lenses of both the Dao and feminism through humanism and libertarianism. The philosophical elements are intertwined with the setting story and characters naturally and add rather than distract.While I may not agree with the philosophy I can't help but root for those who breathe it.Style: witty, fun, slice of life at times and extreme tension at others. The story breathes, is distinctive, and has great energy.Characters: depth, they leave an impression and are generally likeable.I don't find myself drowning in characters which is always nice.
BurnerpowerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is an excellent addition to the catalog of Xianxia that exists on this site. While it follows many of the tropes of Xianxia, it never does so thoughtlessly. Many of them are given careful examination and the world building is thoughtfully executed. Even problems that would be simply solved without much thought are given detailed consideration. The best example of this is much of the engineering in the story. The ways in which their solutions are eventually reached are often not immediately foolproof, and attentive readers might be able to guess at a problem before it occurs in the story. That doesn't stop the characters from trying, though, and they continue to iterate to make their situation better. Dealing with the problems as they occur.
The characters in the story are all good, but the standout character by far is Qian Shanyi. Unlike many protagonists of her kind, she doesn't have special bloodline powers, or amazing talent. Instead, she has a bit of cleverness, dedication, and a willingness to throw everything away to take an opportunity when it presents itself. She's also a little unhinged, but in a good way.
The main supporting character thus far Wang Yonghao is also interesting. He's a bit more of a bog-standard protagonist type, but unlike many of their ilk, he hates it. The tension between the struggles of his life and his desire to just be left alone drive a lot of the plot. Overthrowing the heavens is not for him, but if they won't leave him alone, he just might have to anyway.
The grammar of the story is solid. I can't remember anything out of place while reading, and the prose is good. Definitely more well edited than most fiction I have read on this site.
If you are at all interested in Xianxia or just like clever protagonists overcoming problems in interesting ways, give this story a shot!
DCatRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
An excellent story that would be a great primer for those looking for a Xianxia story with a female lead who isn't some Overpowered Mary Sue nor someone who goes googly eyed when they see Xianxia's version of Edgelord Sasuke.Style and Story 5/5 - I want to start off with this first because of its excellence. It incorporates various subjects, focusing on them, and each helps the character develop or move forward. My favorite part so far would be the debates, as it reminds me of older classical Xianxia stories wherein philosophy and psychology were an integral background of the story. Yet, its not just about deep talks, as there are also comedy, bullying, action, intrigue, crafting, and so much more - each one highlighted and added in their own way.A gripe would be with the Title of the Story. So far, although Feng Shui is there, on account of what our MC did in Wang Wangwang's Inner World, it doesn't really feel that prevalent or important to the story. Qing has more to do with production and deception than she has to do with Feng Shui.Character 5/5 - The best part of the story. The Main Character is a wily feminist who tries her best to chase after her dreams. Although I must say that I dislike the MC's golden thigh,Wang Wangwang is an excellently written, but very basic character. He's lucky, he's an idiot, he's lazy, his morals are stubbornly 'good', and he may be from a family favored by The Heavens.He is being pushed by forces beyond his Ken to situations where he is to cultivate and very much hates it, but he doesn't put in any effort to think on what to do - in fact, he hates thinking so much that his go to solution for any trouble he encounters is to escape.He was born an orphan, but feels like his luck never let him experience the hardship of growing up as such and he is too dense to observe the lives of other orphans around him were. Doesn't know how to cook, how to forage, how to build the tiniest of things, how to lie, how to discern lies and intentions,
EmpireofTrustRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Cultivators, fortuitous meetings, danger, luck and spitting defiance in heavens eye.
All the same key words but put together in a totally different way.
A sassy main character not happy with being anything but a world shaking cultivator, but not being a greedy prick, while enjoying mentally tormenting people for her amusement?
Makes for a magical story rolling out with plenty of adventure.
GlassHalfFullismRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
After getting through the first couple of chapters the story picks up and from what I’ve seen so far it stays good. The addition of the second character really helps.
Grammar and prose are both good, and compared to normal RR fare are very good. There’s first chapter awkwardness but which story doesn’t have that. Each chapter has flowed more smoothly than the last. Following the same rate of growth chapter two hundred should be the greatest work written in the English language.
Some spoilers ahead.
So far as I’ve read there are only two characters that have actually shown up ‘on screen’ and they’re both fun. The main character is a normal cultivator trying to grow her strength and defy the heavens. The second character in their party is someone who’d be a main character in a lesser book; he’s got superhuman luck that keeps trusting him into adventures when he just wants to live a normal life. The cultivation tiers have sensible names that let you easily intuit the differences between them, something I’ve found to be rarity among the genre. Seriously it’s like half the xianxias written try their hardest to be deliberately confusing. Feng Shui and tax evasion is a model to follow.
Give it a go, if you like Xianxias you’ll probably get even more enjoyment than I’ve gotten. And as someone who doesn’t normally go for the genre
HairpinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The author is definitely a fan of the 'amazing cultivation simulator' game.
The main character is a rebel, but not one of the loud and obnoxious ones, rather, she is one of those people who keep practising without a need for attention until they succeed or die trying, even if failure is to be expected. A quiet kind of rebel.
Also: a women who isn't a white lotus simp magnet enjoying a harem life or finding eternal love and protection with the most powerful hero ever immediately.
HobRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Reach Heaven Via Feng Shui Engineering (etc)is the perfect Xianxia story for anyone frustrated with tired old tropes, incel protagonists, and worldbuilding with no consequences. At the same time, it is a story filled with the whimsy and wild creativity that keeps you coming back to those Xianxia stories even when they suck. It was hard to judge just how far it would take those elements when I first wrote my review, but now it's much clearer. The commitment to remembering details that you may have thought the story lost track of dozens of chapters ago; the commitment to interrogating the beliefs of every character (including our protagonist!) to reach some kind of rational truth - it is a trick that perhaps feels less magical when the story has earned your respect and you start expecting it, but nevertheless is a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the genre that doesn't even try. The story tries to answer questions I never thought it'd bother to ask, and does it without crawling up its own ass in the process.Mechanically, the story can sometimes feel awkward. It emulates some of the quirks of (poorly) translated Chinese webnovels, both intentionally as a gag and as a natural consequence of a non-english setting. However a lot of outright grammar mistakes have been fixed by this point, and the newest chapters feel squeaky clean.The characters have grown on me a lot since the first batch of chapters - the story suffers from angling towards a much longer runtime than normal, so people drop in and out of relevance rather quickly. Our core squad is really charismatic, distinct, and amusing once you get to know them. Others not so much - I find myself wishing earlier chapters took a bit more time to let the side characters settle in. Shanyi, the protagonist, is most compelling either entirely on her own or with someone equally as obstinate to bounce off of. Watching her try to make small talk without a sidekick to help her out is like pulling teeth. This too is ch
K.K. ChainmailRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Even though i am a friend of the author i would still say this story is one of the more competently written xianxias that doesnt immidiately revolve around the ever escalating power levels and power fantasies. I really enjoy the cultural trappings of xianxia and they are used to great effect here as well as providing an unique take on some of the power systems tropes present in the genre. Using the mechanics of feng shui and codifying them as part of the magic system is pretty cool and could provide ever more complicated and cool ways to engineer stuff as well as interesting second order effects that will separate this story from the xianxia stories. It is also the first time i have actually seen it done in any xianxia.
Stylistically i would say there is nothing to complain about. Perhaps some would call the prose workman-like and practical while orally onanising themselves with classical literature but i am not one of those people and i actually sometimes prefer it being simple(perhaps because i am not an english native). The only thing i guess i could complain about being the explainations of the feng shui mechanics which i havent quite understood all of them but i consider it quite a minor thing.
When it comes to the story generally i rather like it. The exploration of the feng shui mechanics is neat as well as knowing more about the universe and general direction that the plot insists on taking is fine but i am not a fan of some of the choices made by the author, namely
the luck affecting nature of feng shui which i understand that it holds a purpose but it still bugs me as i just personally just am not a huge fan of such a mechanic in the story. The other thing i am not a fan of is the character of Wang Yonghao. While i have nothing to say on his personality just the existence of this MC like force in the universe with great luck that makes him a magnet for adventure bugs me for the same reason the luck mechanic bugs me.
In the the end those are just personal d
LizardryRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
"To cultivate is to rebel against the Heavens." If you've read many cultivation stories, you've seen this or similar statements repeatedly. And yet somehow this is the only story I've ever seen that treats cultivation as a rebellion, as an organization pulling together to fight against a power that would rule them. To cultivate is to rebel against the heavens, so casually killing another cultivator is slaying an ally against the heavens and must be punished. To cultivate is to rebel against the heavens, so cultivators share the details of tribulations and organize to help each other whenever possible. It's a genius idea that somehow manages to take one of the most common cliches of cultivation stories and turn it into an incredibly original setting.
The characters are also amazing. The main character is your typical cold-hearted schemer, paranoid and always thinking about how to read and manipulate others. Except she's also reflexively and intensely kind. Which is such a cool and original thing to read, a schemer whose schemes leave the world a net better place after each one.
Highly recommended. Packed with good ideas and good writing. Definitely one of my current must-reads, where I’m looking forward to each update.