Reviewing after I've read to chapter 236.
The novel has an interesting premise: the MC can cultivate in a different world in his dreams, and can transfer skills and objects between worlds at the cost of depleting his soul energy. In the real world, he starts off as a poor fisherman dealing with an oppressive gang, then as he gains in cultivation, he has to resist more powerful cultivators and sects that want to steal his resources. Due to the time difference in his dreams vs the real world, he amasses more cultivation, power, influence, and knowledge in the other worlds (say thousands of years there vs decades in the real world), and uses his resources there to increase his cultivation in the real world.
Pros:
- there's a true sense of mystery in the real world: we don't learn anything unless the MC does, and as a rogue cultivator, he only slowly gains in knowledge even after his power level is impressive.
- interesting key ability that drives his growth
- he doesn't become OP in the real world very fast, instead has stable growth and there's a realistic sense of risk as he tries to grow without being noticed by cultivation sects
Cons:
- the pacing is slow
- the systems he's cultivating don't really make much sense, are overly intricate, and the author spends way too much time going over their details instead of moving the plot forward
- it's not unusual to have chapters that are nothing but info-dump on details that don't really matter and are confusing
- the MC has no motivations or interests beyond becoming a stronger cultivator
- the characters, including the MC, lack depth
- the MC has no real meaningful relationships with other people
It's a fun enough read-- to experience his growth in strength and knowledge of the cultivation world in the real world-- that I am continuing to read it. But it's so slow moving that I stack up chapters and read them like 20 in a go, so that I can see some development. I think also the tendency of the author to spend chapter info-dumping rather than moving the plot forward is increasing over time.