Nine Star Gods

Nine Star Gods is an Eastern fantasy novel by E Shi Lao Wu, a platinum author of Yuewen Group, written after The Profligate Madman. It was serialized on Qidian from October 19, 2011, and completed on June 5, 2012, totaling about 756,000 characters and 260 chapters (including related chapters). The story opens at a desperate moment: the protagonist, Xie Xing, is shot and killed while protecting his college classmate Mo Youqing, and the two transmigrate together to the Nine Gods Continent, where he possesses the body of Xie Xi, a frail soldier ostracized by his family. He wakes to find himself lying among corpses on a battlefield, his army on the verge of annihilation. Using military knowledge from his past life, he sees through the enemy's trap and leads his companions to break out and escape. He then makes a living in this other world, joins a sect, studies star techniques, alchemy, and formations, and gradually uncovers the foreshadowing of his own star-source anomaly and the "Chaos Star Bead." This world cultivates through star source, with realms progressing from Source Gathering, Star Person, Star Soldier, Star General, Star Master, Star Sect, Star King, Star Venerable, Star Emperor, to the legendary Star God. Xie Xing practices the unique Five Star Art, which requires no awakening of a star soul and condenses only five stars, each of whose peak power far exceeds that of the same tier, and which connects to the worldview of the author's previous work The Profligate Madman. After secret realm adventures, battles over star beads, sect conflicts, and vendettas, he finally defeats powerful enemies, solves the secret of why one cannot ascend from the Nine Gods Continent, repairs the shattered continent, and ascends to the immortal realm with his family. In his closing remarks, the author admitted that because subscription results fell short of expectations, he wrapped up the book at about 800,000 characters and could not develop the immortal realm arc, leaving a regret in his career.