Imitable Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, irreplaceable Exiled Immortal.
By Heavenly Dao Xiao Hua, this article was written solely in tribute to the two great gods, Wang Yu and Little Duan Tan Hua!
I was delighted to hear that both "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" and "Exiled Immortal" had begun their Immortal Realm Arcs. As a reader of both books, I naturally felt some anticipation and some slight unease toward their continuations. After all, literary history has seen far too many cases of drawing legs on a snake. Fortunately, the Immortal Realms of both Mortal and Exiled Immortal had only begun for a few chapters. Wang Yu might have been suppressing before raising, abruptly shifting his brush so that Han Li was nowhere to be seen for now; Little Duan Tan Hua, meanwhile, still had Xiao Hua fleeing through his sweeping rhapsodic prose and richly layered side portrayals. Their synopses and prefaces offered glimpses of their threads, but limited by words, I could not elaborate further. This article merely discussed my reading impressions of "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" and "Exiled Immortal" from the perspective of an enthusiast. Before the main text, let me also state that these views represented only myself. If you disliked them, please do not flame me.
"Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" was a phenomenon-level work among cultivation novels. Before it, one could continue the excellence of Xiao Qian's "Journey to the West" and "Path to the Sky"; after it, it could stand against "Shrouding the Heavens" and "Perfect World." It deserved its status as a cultivation-fiction classic. And precisely because of this novel, Wang Yu leapt in one bound into the ranks of Qidian's platinum authors. He was also praised by a hundred alliances on the strength of a single unfinished book.
The author of "Exiled Immortal," Little Duan Tan Hua, was far less famous than Wang Yu. His fanbase, subscriptions, influence, and everything else fell far short of Wang Yu's. The reason I placed Little Duan Tan Hua's "Exiled Immortal" alongside Wang Yu's "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" was that, from the current perspective, Tan Hua might be benefiting from Wang Yu's glory. But in the long run, "Exiled Immortal" would absolutely become a renowned work of cultivation fiction; for now, it was merely a lost pearl lying in the wild.
I. Story outlines of Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality and Exiled Immortal
1. The story outlines of "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" and "Exiled Immortal" differed. "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" told the story of Han Li, who rose from an ordinary mortal through cultivation and ascended to the Immortal Realm. It could be called Han Li's personal history of struggle.
2. "Exiled Immortal" was a majestic epic of cultivation. It contained not only the turbulent martial-world storms and upheavals of the mortal world, but also the surging winds and clouds of the Four Great Continents in the Cultivation World, the unpredictable clouds and treacherous waves of the primordial Immortal Realm, and even the hidden hands and schemes of the Primordial Divine Realm from hundreds of millions of years ago. Its main storyline followed Xiao Hua's cultivation from a mortal into the Primeval God of the Primordial Divine Realm. Its supporting threads included the Great Star Domain Investiture of Gods, in which the ancient Dao, demons, and Buddhists joined forces to destroy the Witch Clan; and the medieval Confucian cultivators, Buddhist cultivators, Demon Race, and dragons joining forces to destroy the Dao.
If "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" was a standalone volume, then "Exiled Immortal" resembled Wen Ruian's "Who Is the Hero"—it was a series. In other words, Wang Yu spent seven years writing "Demon Heaven" and "Gateway to the Mysterious Realm," while Little Duan Tan Hua had only written the first three volumes of "Exiled Immortal." In a word, "Exiled Immortal" contained the material of at least six or more "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" novels. Little Duan Tan Hua spent seven years merely finishing True Person Xiao's adventures in the Cultivation World, equivalent to three "Mortal" books. Now there was the newly launched Immortal Realm, the Primordial Divine Realm still being conceived, Earth's Sole Cultivator, Ye Jian of the Mysterious Origin Space, and the story of Ming, the Witch Clan's new king. Little Duan Tan Hua would spend nearly more than twenty years creating a grand series. In cultivation fiction, this would be unprecedented.
II. The cultivation systems of Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality and Exiled Immortal
1. The cultivation system of "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality," with its pill Dao, formation Dao, talisman Dao, weapons, and many other elements, was far less intricate than that of "Exiled Immortal." After all, Han Li cultivated immortality and followed Dao cultivation.
2. Xiao Hua's ultimate result in cultivation was becoming a Primeval God. Thus, in "Exiled Immortal," Xiao Hua's bloodline, corresponding to demonic cultivation; meridians, corresponding to Dragon Cultivation; soul, corresponding to witch cultivation; Nascent Soul, corresponding to the Primordial Spirit and Nascent Soul of Dao cultivation; liver, corresponding to Confucian Cultivation; skeleton, for body tempering; karma, corresponding to the Great Dao of karma; Heavenly Dao, corresponding to the Heavenly Dao starry sky; and demonic stone statue, corresponding to the Lord of the Underworld—his many avatars were all cultivating. A single book mixed together the cultivation methods of witches, demons, Confucians, Daoists, Buddhists, and more. Such a grand system and complex framework were nearly unseen in cultivation fiction.
3. In terms of weapons, "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" also could not compare to "Exiled Immortal." Aside from the Heaven-Palm Bottle, the Five Extremes Mountain of Primordial Union, and Gold-Devouring Beetles, Han Runrun had little else; Xiao Hua possessed the Five Elements Wish-Fulfilling Heaven-Piercing Staff, Sea-Quelling Seal, Sea-Overturning Seal, Soaring Dragon Scissors, Heaven and Earth Pagoda, Xuanyuan Sword, Immortal Execution Sword Diagram, Myriad Extinction Heavenly Dipper, Pangu Axe, Spirit Execution Yuan Guang, and more. In movement techniques, Xiao Hua had Light Escape and could Become a Saint Against the Light. Behind his head lay a space capable of forming numerous high-level realms akin to the Immortal Realm, such as the Immortal Realm, Demon Marsh, Buddha Kingdom, and Dragon Domain.
III. Stylistic traits of Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality and Exiled Immortal
1. Strictly speaking, Wang Yu's cultural grounding was inferior to Little Duan Tan Hua's. Compared to the works of so-called great webnovel gods, Little Duan Tan Hua absolutely had the potential to become one himself. Yet what he lacked most were certain qualities Wang Yu possessed, such as outstanding command of storytelling. Wang Yu's prose was concise and crisp, never dragging mud and water. In controlling story pacing, anything that could be omitted was absolutely not wasted nonsense: "It was none other than Han Li," "It was merely Shi Mu." These were among the most iconic traits of Wang Yu's writing.
2. Little Duan Tan Hua, who came from an engineering background, had a rigorous personality, but his writing inevitably became somewhat long-winded. His grasp of story pacing fell far behind Wang Yu's. Moreover, Tan Hua's prose was full of pits and foreshadowing at every turn. If you lacked patience, could not settle your mind, or were not attentive enough, then Tan Hua's writing might be a form of torture for the impatient. Tan Hua, known as "Director Duan," often gave readers "parallel montage" and "cross-cutting montage" within his prose, then threw in a cinematic "last-minute rescue." Multiple clues became tangled together, leaving you utterly unable to remain calm.
In a word, Wang Yu's style resembled minimalist figure painting: with only a few strokes, the spirit and bearing of the figure leapt abruptly from the page. Little Duan Tan Hua's style, on the other hand, was meticulous brushwork—rigorous and weighty, yet somewhat stagnant and stiff. For readers without patience in the internet age, it might be a kind of torment.
IV. The readerships of Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality and Exiled Immortal
As everyone knew, for a webnovel to succeed, it had to win the support of most people. Looking across today's webnovel readers, they were almost all relatively young. Such readers tended to be martial and hot-blooded, yearning more for decisive slaughter and the courage to act and take responsibility. Compared with Xiao Hua of "Exiled Immortal," Han Li of "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" suited more readers. Meanwhile, Tan Hua's portrayal of Xiao Hua as an indiscriminate good guy was not liked by some readers. In truth, "Exiled Immortal" had always been niche since its appearance. Those who read it needed profound cultural foundations and rich life experience; they needed calmness, patience, and attentiveness before they could discover the labyrinth Tan Hua had laid for them within "Exiled Immortal." That labyrinth might be a knot of time and light, the Ruins of Shenzhou, the Four Great Continents, a knot of time and light, or the Heavenly Prison.
V. The Immortal Realms of Mortal and Exiled Immortal
In fact, at present, "Mortal" and "Exiled Immortal" had, through an extraordinary coincidence, simultaneously opened the gates of the Immortal Realm for their respective fans. Whether it was Mortal's flashback technique, which made the current setting seem somewhat plain, or Exiled Immortal's extended exposition, which displayed the grandeur and mystery of the Immortal Realm, both authors were sketching their own lines for their own dreams of the Immortal Realm. Yet because Mortal's descriptions of the mortal world had essentially completed Han Li's story, although many anticipated stories remained in the new realm ahead, its overall branching paths had gradually converged, and the ending was almost in sight. That truly left one with a touch of regret. Exiled Immortal, however, because of its immense layout from the start, the development of its many side plots once regarded as foot-binding cloth, and its display of fresh cultivation systems, instead felt to readers like the approach to the Immortal Realm that best suited their expectations. And because its layout was so vast, with too many unresolved mysteries requiring later stories and content to enrich and explain one by one, it became difficult to guess the ultimate ending and the links in between.
In truth, at the age when we first encountered immortal-hero fiction, these two authors used their respective methods and charms to let us appreciate works of different styles and artistic conceptions. That alone was enough to make us deeply gratified. The future was still long, and there might be no shortage of fresh stories. But if there were a story that could accompany one through an entire lifetime, perhaps it would be all the more precious. May the "Immortal Realm" possess boundless immortal aura.
In conclusion, if I had to summarize the traits of "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" and "Exiled Immortal" in one sentence, I would say: "Imitable Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, irreplaceable Exiled Immortal." The greatness of "Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" lay in pioneering the "mortal" school. Its success pointed countless webnovel authors toward a new path of creation—you only needed to change the other world, change the cultivation method, and change the protagonist, and you might have a new Mortal! The irreplaceability of "Exiled Immortal" did not mean it could not be copied, but that the cost of copying it was too great. It required not only rigorous planning and an enormous framework, but also more than a decade to weave a dream of cultivation for the protagonist. That dream concerned the author's youth, success, perseverance, and all manner of related things!
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