Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain Chapter 5 Discussion

TL;DR: The epitome of wish-fulfillment and self-insertion by a very s*upid and very mentally ill author.

Before judging the amount of chapters completed, this post will give specific examples of why it was given this rating.

To start, the positives.

There is an interesting cultivation system, where it seems that unique and unseen methods of gaining strength are present, in contrast to the basic "sitting in a lotus position" cultivation. An example of this is the main character's Bloody Poisonous Acupoint, which is reminiscent of the Gu system.

There seems to be some attempt at proper and distinctive world-building, instead of copy-pasting from other established novels. For example, the royal family owns the second most-wanted and evil cult.

Lastly, the concept itself is very interesting and could have led to a great story.

That is all for the positives, and I will continue with the much longer list of negatives.

The main character is portrayed as this extremely evil protagonist who is willing to do anything for his goals, no matter how low. However, it seems the author never even attempted to explain why this is. Before transmigration, the MC was a completely ordinary man, one plagued by illness if I remember correctly, but nothing that would explain his extreme evil. Even the body he transmigrated into has no tragic past or other reason to want strength and authority.

The author tried to give a sad backstory for the prince at least, but even that fell flat. He attempted to say the poor third prince, who the main character transmigrated into, wasn't supported by any organization and had the cultivation resources of someone at the second major cultivation realm despite being a prince. His hatred for this situation is so intense he feels the need to get revenge on his maternal family, while his mother is a literal courtesan with no power or resources to give him. But... it isn't even true. The third prince literally owns an organization with 4 people at the fifth major realm, 32 people at the fourth major realm, and thousands below that.

His backstory not being tragic wouldn't really matter in most situations, but he is so over-the-top, comically evil. He is the kind of guy that authors create when they need someone for the protagonist to kill. An example, immediately after the MC transmigrated, he ate a meal composed of uncooked bloody rats and water infused with blood.

Now we get onto the main problem. This is so clearly a wish-fulfillment story, and specifically a wish-fulfillment story of someone who never grew out of their chuunibyou phase.

Let me preface this with saying I love dark or evil protagonists like RI or even Ascending the Heavens as an Evil God. The reason I dislike this one so much is the, frankly, very poor work by the author.

This is shown in multiple ways even in the first five chapters. Beyond the fact that the author cannot give any reason or motivation for the main character's personality, there is the simple problem of the author not knowing how to write an evil MC. He just talks about blood and grinning cruelly and posing soooo cool-like that everyone has an "air of deference" when facing him (the author wrote that at least a dozen times in the first 5 chapters.)

For example, the main character is tasked with killing this person at the first major realm of cultivation, while he is at the fifth. This is literally the equivalent of a Soul Formation cultivator needing to kill a Qi Refining cultivator. It is simple and straightforward, right? Yeah, right.

The main character starts by capturing this Qi Refining cultivator's woman, and then raping and torturing her. I am not leaving anything out either, that is exactly what happened and it also was completely pointless. Sure, the Qi Refining cultivator had a protagonist halo and this was supposed to diminish it, but even after he still had the halo! And he was still powerless against the main character!

Lastly, the main character's system seems to have the power of "whatever the author feels like." It is originally said to take protagonists' halos and convert them into currency which could be turned into anything in the system shop. However, when the MC visited a Scripture Hall, it suddenly had the power to read books instantly for the main character? While this is something small, it is clearly a bad premonition for what is to come.

One other note about the system, even the system itself has "deference" to the main character! It is a sentient system, has a groveling attitude, and calls him "Master." Just a small thing that really showcases the wish-fulfillment of the author.

Now, despite this horrid writing and poor author-work, this could potentially get better later. Perhaps there will be retconning, and perhaps the author will learn how to write an evil main character. However, for now, three stars is already the very limit of what it deserves. If I continue to read this, I will update this review accordingly.