Echoterra: Rise of the Verdant King - Chapter 12: Thorns and strategy

Yin Li was born with a pure Yin body. He possessed the body of a male but the fate of a female, his Yin and Yan energies fully inverted. Because of this, his family’s old ancestors claimed he wouldn’t be able to live past twenty years of age.

To prolong his life, his parents fostered a furnace whose energy he could harvest to nurture his own.

As Yin Li looked at the frail and delicately charming boy in front of him, he felt his heart stir with compassion.

The Heavenly Path is carried through reincarnation, life and death are decided by fate.

He couldn’t simply ruin this pitiful child for the sake of his own selfish interests. Instead, he kept the small boy at his side, spoiling him and raising him as his trusted aide.

He truly believed they shared a master and servant’s pure and honest affection, not at all realizing that that wicked boy had been rotten from the start. The delicately charming small boy who was spoiled day and night only ever thought about two things:

1. Why hasn’t master bestowed his favour on me yet?

2. Just how can I climb into master’s bed?

- Description from Novelupdates

Deep below the earth's surface, a mystifying subterranean seascape lurks, an archipelago bathed in inky blackness where suspense and horror hold court. Here lie strange islands and even stranger monsters, far beyond the realms of human imagination. In this domain, mankind is far from dominant; instead, madness and death rule supreme.

Pleading for mercy from the unknown creatures of the deep only leads to a slow, tortured existence. The trapped survivors gradually distort, losing what made them human, both physically and mentally, to the gloom as they remain trapped in this eternal obscurity. Their only hope? A perilous expedition into uncharted sea territories.

Fueled by determination, Charles embark on this daunting voyage aboard his steamship, aiming to reclaim humanity's past glory. Together with his crew, they sought a way out of this hidden sea world, a path back to the sunlit world above, where humans once stood tall.

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I read a few comments from Chinese readers that compared this novel with Lord of Mysteries because of similar elements: Lovecraftian, western fantasy, first industrial revolution, and steampunk. However, I have yet to finish reading Lord of Mysteries to do any actual comparison, but I do think those who have enjoyed that novel would enjoy this as well. Also, the author of LotM, Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, also did a shout-out for this novel, so I guess he approves of it too?

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In the rural northeastern mountainous regions stands a tiny Buddhist temple, named One Finger Temple. It isn’t a large one but it is extremely miraculous.

The temple has rice that emanates an aromatic fragrance.

The temple has sweet and refreshing water that rivals ambrosia.

The temple has Buddhas that grant wishes to the sincere.

The temple isn’t large but it has everything. The temple isn’t large but it has flourishing incense offerings that far exceed all temples. The temple isn’t large but it attracts both citizens and foreigners that line up overnight…

The temple has a bald but handsome monk. Every day, he would bawl, “I want to renounce asceticism! I want to marry a chick that’s not too pretty, have a cute baby, and lead a stable life!”

High school student Mikoshiba Ryouma was summoned to a different world in the middle of a war. Sensing the malice from the one who summoned him (a summoner of the O’ltormea empire), he uses his martial arts to run away, killing important people of the empire during his escape. After the escape, he rescues two twin sisters from the hands of thieves. The sisters who can use magic, swear to serve him as subordinates. Thus, Ryouma begins his journey on the path of the supreme ruler.