- #1
A reviewer mentioned that the characters are "barely alive", and although they didn't mention any name specifically, I assume they're talking about Lu Tong, cause other characters apart from her seem "alive" enough so far and that's exactly my impression on her when I read the first few chapters. Upon learning of her family's demise, she didn't show any reaction in particular. Like she literally didn't cry; girlie simply said no more and left for the capital to plan her revenge. If you've read into the story far enough, you'll see that this is the "side effect" from her time with her master Yun Niang, and you'll understand it even more when you read the chants/mantra or whatever it is that she's reciting when she's in distress.
Another reviewer also pointed out how she became careless whenever ML was involved, but imo the only huge blunder she made was accidentally revealing the injury she got when killing her sister's ex-husband, and if you ask me, this "mistake" is more like a forced plot device to make the ML latch onto her tail. Why do I say it's forced? Because supposedly, the ex-husband was drugged to the point his body wouldn't move at all, which was why she could easily drag him around and drown him in a water basin. Assuming that the drug hadn't worn off until his death, he shouldn't be able to struggle (which was where she got the injury) but for some reason the author decided to add this nonsense. Yeah you can argue that the drug worn off first cause she interrogated the ex-husband before killing him, but considering how meticulous her plan was for her next revenge, I don't know man, a smart person like her should've anticipated that if you ask me. If this small but s*upid "mistake" never happened, the ML probably wouldn't connect her to the death of her sister's ex-husband. He'd probably still be suspicious of her other unusual antics, but unless he dug deep into her past, I don't think he'd find out so soon.
[collapse]Apart from the few flaws that I've mentioned inside the spoiler tag, Lu Tong is pretty well-written imo. She's apathetic but to the people around her she still subtly shows some care. She's fearless and would resort to any means for the sake of the desired end (hence why the ML calls her a lunatic and his subordinates are apprehensive towards her) but she's still principledSpoilerLike in her second revenge plan towards her own uncle who reported her brother to the authorities and the corrupted judge who declared him guilty, she manipulated an innocent scholar into committing su*cide during the examination to become official. She told him to kill the examiner, but knowing his good nature, he would have chosen kill himself instead so the poison she gave him was the kind that made a person "dead" for some time but later regained consciousness. I didn't remember the exact wording, but she said she didn't want to harm an innocent person.
[collapse]About the MLWhile there are times he's kinda annoying, it's still within reason and most of the time he's quite likeable. I'd like to write more about him as a person but so far we only see some glimpses of his past and goals scattered here and there throughout the story with the bigger picture not yet in sight. Even as far as c170 something, I don't think we've got enough clues of his story to put all the puzzle pieces together. Not complaining tho, it puts the highlight more on the start of her revenge before we get to the climax.So yeah, that's all I'd like to say for now. This story is personally a 10/10 for me although I'm kinda skeptical that it won't disappoint me later, but I'll just enjoy the story for now. MTL is readable at some point but then the paragraphs are all messed up I just give up trying.