So calling it now this whole Demon God thing isn't the main route the story is going to take. If I had to guess I'd say he's probably going to split up with his Origin Soul, who will become the Qingshan the story follows. I mean this novel is called Legend of the Great Sage, not Legend of the Demon God. I'm guessing the only reason he hasn't split yet is because he still has to finish his oath with Qonqi.
It is probably going to depend on time. He merged with the Demon Domain to turn it back into the Qilin Paradise. He obviously has zero interest in ruling over the Demon Domain, or the power boost that came with it. In fact I'm sure as soon as he restores the Qilin Paradise he's doing to do everything in his power to severe this connection, even if it means losing all his cultivation. It is doing to boil down to how quickly he can accomplish this. Remember he has other things he has to do, like freeing the Great Sages. If he's going to be trapped in the Demon Domain for the next hundred or thousand years he isn't just going to put everything else on hold. Also remember once the Origin Soul separates it can practice the Nine Transformation of the Demonic and Divine. Personally I'm interested what practicing all 8 transformations from the first level would look like. EDIT: Sorry I went off on a tangent. The issue with finding a balance between his human self, and demon self, is that it has never been humanity vs demonism. Instead it has always been the divine vs the demonic. Humanity is supposed to be something that exist in-between both extremes. In other words. demonic + divine = human human - demonic = god human - divine = demon
I don't see such a break happening. His entire thing is the 9 transformations of demonic and divine. 1 human, 4 demon, 4 gods. All in balance and synergy. When his clones split apart, they did not try to refine each other but coexisted despite the split. This is just a more blatant sub-soul thing (like exalted). the correct formula is human + demonic + divine = self I fully expect him to eventually detach from the demon domain though. like in water's end
Yeah at this point I don't see a break happening either, at most he might send out his origin soul to pass a message to his friends, but he probably won't sever his connection with it. This whole thing is such a bitter pill to swallow, I hate the idea that Qingshan is now merged with the demon domain and is no longer independent, and I hate that he became a god through borrowed power. Now as for him detaching from the Demon Domain, that is honestly what I hope happens, though it depends how close we are to the end of the novel. If the novel is close to ending, and it could be (current chapters are 1685 and ongoing) then this fusion is probably permanent.
Okay so it is official author's note just said next arc is the last one. Guess this whole Demon Domain thing is going to be like an arranged marriage, we must learn to love it. I just wish the author had slowed down the pacing a little, and hadn't neglected the other characters so much. That was one thing that made LGS different having actual side characters, not just support characters.
Yea, I think the author kinda lost his way towards the end. We had more shonen style power smashing and less character based development. While earlier it was character based development. But it was somewhat necessary due to the whole "never bow your head" thing. As it forces the MC to be a dumb meat head who must smash head first into every obstacle and overcome them via OPness.
You know I feel like every cultivation story I've read has done that, where the closer the story gets to the end the more rushed and random it starts to feel. Now I have read way worse, so I'm not too upset, just sort of disappointed that LGS couldn't completely avoid it. I don't entirely agree with your assessment of Qingshan being a meathead. I mean he diverges a lot from classic cultivator protagonist behavior. Which is referenced a lot in the Human Realm Arc, where the author openly mocks common Xianxia clichés.
It is more that he is being forced into the meathead role by that oath to never bow his head. He is showing some cunning earlier on. but over time his cunning is being choked out by that oath.
Yeah sorry I still can't figure out how Qingshan is acting like a meathead because of the oath. Can you give a specific example of what you'd consider meathead behavior, and what you think he should have done instead. You seem convinced so I'm sure it must be something really obvious I'm just forgetting.
I don't remember their exact names, its been a while since I read it. I just recall that many times I felt irked at him going "I took a vow to never bow my head" as an excuse to not use tactics and just slam into opponents with brute force.
I think that has less to do with his oath and more to do with Li Qingshan just being impulsive, and having a short temper. I mean the oath just means he can't be subservient, not that he can't use tactics. Remember the amount of times he used his clone to out smart his enemies, or when he stole that battleship and used to destroy the barrier protecting green mountain, and green mountain itself? That is some pretty clever DnD player tactics if you ask me.
in the early chapters he was pretty clever. which is why i found it all the more disappointing. maybe the author just got lazy in later chapters honestly it was kinda like dbz. as it transitioned from interesting clever fights to just MAH POWERLEVEL biggatons
Not sure it is really laziness, I think once your characters are strong enough to level mountains with a single attack writing tactics and strategy becomes pretty much impossible. In fact if you're going to read a xianxia you should expect it. You know that is probably why in a lot of cultivation stories when the protagonist ascends to a higher realm their power gets restrained. This kind of makes me want a category that is between xianxia power levels and wuxia power levels.