tl;dr
(Re)reading El Gran Maestro de la Cultivación Demoníaca

(Re)reading El Gran Maestro de la Cultivación Demoníaca

I first read MDZS back in December 2020, the Exiled Rebels translation. Because it was December I had very little work at the time and could basically just read and read and only pause to eat, sleep or charge my iPad. It took me 10 days, I think, and I went a little crazy about it. I tell people that no story had affected me so strongly on an emotional level since Tokyo Babylon.

I have not reread it in full since. I keep a copy of the ExR translation on my iCloud drive that I consult often and have reread scenes or chapters. I read the partial fanyiyi translation, and the taming wx translation in part. I have never read the 7S official English translation.

I have not read the Qinghe Nie translation of the unedited “meat” version, largely because I wanted to wait to do it until I had done a full reread to contrast.

I have watched the donghua in full and generally like it, while thinking it is deeply deeply flawed. I tried CQL and did not like it, I quite halfway through. I have listened to the audio drama 2 or 3 times in full (untranslated on MaoerFM… it helps me mark how much my Chinese improves).

I have read a lot of fic (not much wx after the first 3 months though) and meta and inevitably, despite considering myself a fan of the novel first, details become fuzzy and sometimes mixed up. (Interestingly, any time that while listening to the audio drama I’ve wondered “is THIS what happened in the novel?”, I’ve gone to check and yes, the audio drama matches what happened in the novel).

The Spanish translation of MDZS has been complete for awhile and I have all the books. I've been meaning to reread for awhile, and I've wanted to read this version. I checked out volume 1 when it first came out and liked the translation (sorry, I don't really like the 7S translation). For one reason or another I hadn't gotten around to it, but I started this morning.

A lot has changed since I first read this story. This was my first chinese fandom, although I've been into japanese fandoms for years. So certain elements felt familiar and others were very new. Since then I've read more chinese webnovels (danmei and not danmei), read some Jin Yong to familiarze myself with tropes, watched a lot of dramas, and I've very recently finished HSK3. Aside from that, I've also spent a lot of time thinking about this story. Some of my opinions have stayed mostly the same, some have expanded, some have changed. A big change is... when I first read, I was on board with the ship, but now I'm honestly not into wangxian. I love Wei Wuxian, I'm just not into the ship at all anymore. The fandom certainly helped shift some of my opinions on certain things for better or worse.

I loved Jiang Cheng from the start, and I still do, just more so. I liked Nie Huaisang a lot on first read, now I adore him, have spent entirely too much time thinking about him... and let's say my opinion on him differs from a lot of fandom takes I've seen on him (and possibly from MXTX's intentions... let's say I think a lot of the plotholes in the story center around him).

Anyway, it will be interesting. I hope to like it as much as I did 5 years. And then I'll read the Qinghe Nie translation.