[Webnovel] The Founder of Diabolism (魔道祖师)

I got too curious.

Seeing a flood of The Founder of Diabolism (let me call it MDZS for the rest of the post) tweets on my Twitter timeline piqued my curiosity. I didn’t understand what it was and even after poking around the internet, it looked like something I wouldn’t be interested (ha!) so I ignored it. But since I was drowning in feels after reading Grabbing your hand, dragging you away novel, I needed a filler. So I somehow found my way to MDZS again.

The Founder of Diabolism in a nutshell:

From Novel Updates page:

As the grandmaster who founded demonic cultivation, Wei WuXian roamed the world in his wanton ways, hated by millions for the chaos he created. In the end, he was backstabbed by his dearest shidi and killed by powerful clans that combined to overpower him.

 

He incarnates into the body of a lunatic who was abandoned by his clan and is later, unwillingly, taken away by a famous cultivator among the sects—Lan WangJi, his archenemy.

 

This marks the start of a thrilling yet hilarious journey of attacking monsters, solving mysteries, and raising children. From the mutual flirtation along the way, Wei WuXian slowly realizes that Lan WangJi, a seemingly haughty and indifferent poker-face, holds more feelings for Wei WuXian than he is letting on…

May contain spoilers so proceed with caution!

Initially, I only wanted to watch the anime. After 3 episodes, the anime veered to a flashback that ran through the entire season. At the time, my main concern was how would Wei Wuxian (WWX) live in the Cloud Recesses under the pretense of a lunatic. Also, how was he going to treat Lan WangJi (LWJ) when they’re like fire and water in his previous life. And their journey to find the mystery of the hand that appeared in Mo Village was intriguing. Seeing that the anime was not going to give the answers to my questions and satisfy my quench for more LWJ and WWX moments, I turned to the novel.

However, the novel gave me frustrations on a different matter. The storyline alternated between the present timeline (reincarnated WWX) and WWX’s previous life. Mind you, the backstories were not just ‘flashbacks’. They were different story arcs! That took me a while to get used to. 😣

So I read somewhere that WWX was the uke and LWJ was the seme and I just couldn’t believe it. Actually, that was another reason why I wanted to read the novel. I wanted to know how did that happen. With looks as beautiful and as fragile as LWJ, I couldn’t picture him as the top. He was so much more of a bottom in my eyes. Then again, WWX was not the receiving type as well. But, according to the spoilers, he really was. A naughty, active uke and a reserved seme? Interesting. 😍

Their romance was a slow burn. And yes, I was burning from frustration like seriously, when are you going to confess to each other?! Oh, wait, WWX has to realize his feelings for LWJ first even if he has already gone as far as imagining a domestic life with his seme already. Their moments could be quite short and subtle but enough to show the progress in their relationship. Things like WWX always thinking and talking about LWJ, whether in real life or when he was in the memory of other ghosts.

LWJ though. Talk about dedication. 😳 It’s cheesy to say (I’m gonna say it anyway), but his love for WWX never faltered. Even for a second. Even if everyone saw WWX as a villain. Even if people interpreted his actions as antagonizing the Yiling Patriarch. For him, he was only protecting WWX even if it means he was going to be an enemy in WWX’s eyes. So I guess, this reincarnation, was not just good for WWX but for LWJ too. This would allow him to do things that he couldn’t do before. Say, saving and protecting him for the other people’s blames. And maybe express his feelings too? 😏

I lived for drunk LWJ moments. He was so adorable and possessive which you wouldn’t expect to the usual reserved him. He was like a kid that you couldn’t help but mess with. He wasn’t the talkative drunk. But his actions were definitely loud and clear. They screamed ‘no one touches my Wei Ying!!! Especially you Wen Ning!’ Hello moe gap www.

Speaking of Wen Ning, I couldn’t wait to read the part how he became the Ghost General or even how did he become the ‘General’. He looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly so how did he turn into a killing machine, feared by many? And even after he turned as a ferocious ghost, he is still the cinnamon roll that he is when WWX first met him.

The translated chapter is until chapter 75. I stopped at around chapter 69. I temporarily put this on hold because of the weird reasoning that I have. You see, I wanted to read everything MXTX had written. MDZS was the 2nd novel. So my train of thought was, before completing MDZS, I have to finish the 1st novel. So I paused reading this to jump to the 1st novel. Since I’m almost done with the Extras of the 1st, I’m going to continue reading this soon.

Update:

Nie Huaisang – WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT. It’s all Wei WuXian’s conjecture but there’s got to be an explanation of why he kept on pushing the discussion in the right direction during the 2nd siege.

My favorite chapters in the entire novel are LWJ’s third drunken adventure leading up to the confession scene. The chapters before that are all heartbreaking especially the reveal about WWX’s core.  But the drunk LWJ scene makes up for it. Loved the part where WWX was agonizing because he knew he needed to stay away from LWJ after what WWX did but at the same time, he also didn’t want to. Not now when he already had a taste of LWJ’s body (MTL’s words, not mine :P).

Then, of course, the priceless Jin Guangyao (JGY) and Lan XiChen (LXC) reaction about how dense WWX could be. That rare moment when LXC showed an angry (frustration, dissatisfied?? I’m not sure since I don’t trust MTL 100% even if the translation seemed legit lol) expression but his reaction is also understandable. He watched his beloved younger brother on the sidelines and had seen him suffer and grieve for thirteen years. Then you’ll learn that the person your brother was pining for didn’t even know about it and took his feelings lightly.

WWX’s confession though. It’s a big LMAO. Oh, and I’m talking about him announcing publicly how much he wanted to sleep with LWJ and in front of LXC (the brother), his nephew (JL), and his enemy no less (JGY). And the part where LWJ cried and laughed is priceless too. LWJ deserved all the happiness in the world.

I’ve read both the NSFW chapter 111 and the revised version and I honestly liked both. I loved the NSFW for obvious reasons. Meanwhile, the revised version gave closure to the last remaining secrets. Like Lan SiZhui’s roots and Wenny bear’s future. After all, Wen Ning deserved to enjoy his time on Earth even if he wasn’t human anymore. He’d suffered from humiliation in his human life and then he was a puppet in the last thirteen years. He deserved a break and what better way to spend it than with his remaining relative.

I also liked that WWX’s secret admirer, the one who kissed him until his knees gave in, was revealed. It was real fun because it felt like despite knowing LWJ all these years, there were sides that still surprised WWX.

Like in the Scum Villain, I also loved the ending line of Founder of Diabolism. It was said that after all these years, WWX finally found something interesting and he wouldn’t have to look anywhere anymore. That was so sweet. And that was so spot on too since the first time WWX and LWJ crossed paths, WWX had been so taken in with LWJ. Whether to annoy him, pester him, etc., WWX always sees to it that LWJ noticed him. LWJ had too, whether he liked it or not.

And who wouldn’t love how WWX acted like a spoiled wife, clinging to LWJ when he’s usually very independent. Only with LWJ could WWX act clingy. Their Yunmeng mini-date (not the one from the extra but the one after the 2nd siege) had me grinning the entire time I was reading that part.

I couldn’t help but wonder though, where did LWJ get his fierceness in bed? Wasn’t he supposed to be a pure and righteous person? Or he also collected some coughporncough on those thirteen years as a reminder of WWX and from there he learned things? Fanfics like BingHe?

I initially thought that Jin Ling shouldn’t have been in the last encounter with Jin Guangyao. But the more I think about it, the more I realized that he really should be in there. Yes, it shattered his sheltered naive outlook. But he needed to know the truth and he needed to see all sides. And I loved how he answered the righteous sects when they told him that he shouldn’t cry. He answered that he felt like crying so why not. He may still be the tsundere but he got that much-needed eye-opening experience.

Jiang Cheng. Sigh. I finally see where’s he’s coming. I know that he hated WWX because he caused YanLi’s death. But I think the biggest shock for him was because WWX chose the Wens, the people who caused his family’s and sect’s death, over YunmengJiang. Over him, his brother from another mother. I thought that was the biggest blow.

You know what, the biggest villain here is not Jin Guangyao, but his father Jin Guangshan (JGS). JGS was a horrible person. He was the biggest trash, a poor excuse of a man, bedding just about every girl and then throwing them away. I wonder why he didn’t even get a disease with all of his whoring ways. He caused misfortunes for messing up his children’s life. Look at what happened to JGY’s twisted personality and to his mother. Also, Mo Xuanyu and his mother’s life. And all the other illegitimate child he had.

Next, JGS was always on the safe side. He was adamant to get into the  Sunshot Campaign until he could no longer have an excuse to not join the war. When they finally succeeded, he wanted to eliminate WWX because he got too powerful. Also, he feared that with the upstart Jiang Cheng and WWX behind him, YunmengJiang would be too powerful and they would overshine LanlingJin sect.

The extras are cute! I’m pretty sure I’ve melted in a puddle of goo a million times just by reading Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian flirt. My favorite’s got to be their Lotus Pier date. It’s fluff from start to finish. LWJ pulling all those sweet lines with a straight face will be the death of WWX and me lol. There’s a part of their date where WWX taught LWJ how to play the Ring Toss game. When LWJ repeated the line, ‘Whatever encircled is mine’, I just knew he’d toss one to WWX. And he didn’t fail me! I’m so proud of you Han Guang-Jun, you always lived up to the expectations www.

There are also extras where they solve ghost cases. I loved them but as always, the ghosts here never failed to creep me out. And I’m reading in the middle of the day! The first case about a gate crasher was interesting with an unusual fierce corpse. Also, it feels like watching the parents (LWJxWWX) teaching their kid (Lan SiZhui) through experience. Www

The second case, the Hook-handed case, was fun too! Baby disciples! It’s nice to see Jin Ling having friends, who treated him as one (I know Lan JingYi teases him a lot, but I see it as insulting your friends, not really insulting people if that makes sense). It’s a delicate time for JL so having LSZ and LJY around him is comforting to see. Plus! I love WWX teaching the disciples! If LWJ is more on theories (reading books first, all the snooze-galore lectures), WWX leans on the practical use and experience. That’s why one of my favorite arcs in the series is the Yi City arc. Because teacher WWX with the baby disciples trailing behind is <3.

Time for links!

Okay, so if you’re like me, thirsty for more MDZS (more MXTX), you can read the raws on JJWXC site. BUT you don’t have an account. Worry not. Anonfail on Twitter created a guide to the site. Here’s the link.

Raws:

http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=2368172 (free until ch24)

Translations:

https://exiledrebelsscanlations.com/grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation/

If you’re very very thirsty, here’s the spoiler thread on NU. Meanwhile here’s the directory for a more organized view.