There is literally nothing original about this work at all, this exact premise almost word for word plot point to plot point has been done almost to the point of insanity in series like these time and time again.

All the way from the side characters to the art style itself, this is the epitome of cooker cutter cultivation manhua even going as far as emulating the very specific style you see in most manhwa these days akin to Solo Leveling and the like.

However, despite all of that, I do find this series pretty fun to read. The MC is just the right amount of overpowered and I honest to god can't even think of any specific plot points off the top of my head for this series I can only name the moments where the Big Bad get's face slapped and embarrassed before moving on.

I think the only thing I can safely say I really like about this manhua that is original to some degree, is that the enemy factions and sects/families etc. are relatively level headed it's actually pretty refreshing.

You will see the MC crippled or gank some random dude from a rival family within his sect/etc and for the most part, they will get some revenge and stuff but it doesn't border on cartoonishly evil and the first family we see him embarrass loses face and admits their loss after the first few fights between them. It was something I didn't really expect and found very nice, I give it mad props for that!

Where I am currently in the story (chapter 187 at the time of writing this) they do get to a point where we meet the super arrogant rival factions and we meet some cartoon tier evil dudes but it's done in a way that doesn't really get tiring to see and makes logical sense, I can only say it's cliche, but handled better than we see in some other stories and I like that a good bit.

The series also touches on something that I wish we saw more in cultivation manhua and that's kingdom building, I can't delve into this too deeply as it would be spoilerish but I like that the past rivals aren't sidelined too hard like they are in other series of this nature.

We do see them slip, and ignored even, at the current part in the story but it seems to me like this was more of a moment of the author trying to build up the MC so the plot can advance because even a side character mentions the aforementioned side characters and how they are being neglected by the MC himself and he mentions that he will help them more etc etc. I don't want to dwell on this subject too long, but yes I like that aspect of the series it's very welcomed and it's a very big plus to this story and helps it stand out from other generic ones like it.

The side characters are fun, even the villains can be at times as well. I think they aren't anything too stand out, and I find the main female love interest (red hair) to be very annoying with her forced relevance to the plot later on and how she clings to the MC for reasons I can not disclose, It's not particularly offensive by any means but it's a pet peeve of mine and I am sure others will find it kind of meh as well.

This series reminds a lot of Emperor's Domination, one of my favorite chinese wuxia novels. I have not read the manhua adaption for that yet, but if you like the novel for ED I highly suggest this series to you, the MC isn't as cold or calculating but the plot and settings and how the move along, all the way to the bidding wars and the MCs past self being a big wig figure all give this manhua a very ED feel.