What happens when an epic battle meant to define a tragic hero becomes a laughingstock? The 160th episode of the animated adaptation of Shrouding the Heavens (遮天), a top-tier Chinese fantasy series, has ignited a firestorm. Instead of delivering the legendary showdown where the Old Madman sacrifices himself to save the Zi Wei (紫薇), the episode delivered broken power levels, illogical plot twists, and cheap visuals. Longtime fans, who once praised the show’s early brilliance, have flooded the official social media pages with fury.
From Douban (豆瓣) to Weibo (微博), the backlash is deafening. This isn’t just disappointment; it’s a complete loss of faith. How did a series that started with the iconic “Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin” fall so far? Let’s break down the disaster that has shattered the last bit of goodwill for this once-promising show.
When Power Levels Make No Sense
The core of any fantasy story is its internal logic. Shrouding the Heavens built a strict ladder of cultivation: saints, great saints, and ancient kings. In the original novel, the Old Madman is a top-tier saint from the Eastern Wasteland. He once walked into deadly forbidden zones and intimidated entire ancient royal clans. Facing over forty saint-level ancient kings and three supreme great saints, he should fight with planet-shattering power. But the animation threw all that away.
Here, the Old Madman struggles against ordinary ancient kings. Against a great saint, he is completely crushed. The terrifying pressure a saint should command is nowhere to be seen. Then comes the real insult: Ye Fan, the protagonist. At this point in the story, he has just arrived at Zi Wei. His cultivation is far below that of a saint. He relies on treasures like the black gourd and the cauldron of mother energy to survive. But the animation turns him into an invincible warrior.
He uses his raw saintly body to shake three ancient kings at once. He casually slaughters multiple ancient saints. In one absurd scene, he cuts off a great saint’s head while the Old Madman is still fighting. There is no logic. No respect for the source material’s carefully planned power steps. Fans aren’t just angry; they feel cheated. A hero’s difficult journey has been replaced by a cheap, god-mode cheat. The result? A battle system that now looks like a joke.
Rushed Storytelling and Empty Filler
Good storytelling requires setup and payoff. In the original novel, the Old Madman travels to Zi Wei because he senses a great disaster. Earlier episodes planted clues, like a token from the Zi Wei Emperor. The animation removed all that. He just appears. No reason. No background. The whole event feels random and disconnected. Fans who followed the plot for 160 episodes were left confused, not moved.
Then comes the padding. Almost half of the episode consists of pointless reaction shots. Panicked civilians running. Weak sect leaders cowering. The same images repeat again and again. The actual battle, which should be tight and desperate, is chopped into tiny pieces. Viewers estimate that less than ten minutes of the episode contain real story progress. The rest is just noise. People are paying for a premium adaptation, but they get stretched-out filler.
This isn’t a one-time mistake. It’s a pattern. Earlier episodes already had problems: the opening changed from a coffin pulled by dragons to a yacht climbing Mount Tai; key characters like Weiwei were deleted, breaking story threads; the power of Jiang Taixu became a mess; the personality of the Ruthless Emperor collapsed. Episode 160 is not the cause of the anger. It is the explosion point. All the lazy writing and rushed production finally boiled over, and the official comment sections became the battlefield.
Cheap Visuals That Insult the Audience
The animation team proudly claimed they used Unreal Engine 5 to create top-tier effects. The promotional material promised “stunning visuals and epic fights.” Episode 160 delivered something closer to a cheap fireworks display. The so-called “saint techniques” are just piles of glowing colors. There is no weight, no strategy, no sense of scale. When the Old Madman exchanges blows with the ancient kings, the moves have no form—just random light bursts.
The ancient war boats, which should feel terrifying, look like rough 3D models with stiff movements. The fighting choreography is so bad that fans mock it as “Ultraman fighting little monsters.” Where is the texture of a grand fantasy world? Where is the awe of saints clashing across stars? All gone. Instead, viewers get cheap, repetitive effects that insult their intelligence. The production team spent years hyping their technology, but the final result feels like a student project.
On Bilibili and the official Weibo account, every comment section is now a wall of rage. “The power system is shattered,” one fan writes. “The writer clearly never read the original book.” Another says: “The Old Madman’s legendary battle turned into a joke. You ruined my favorite character.” Some have already quit: “Forced power-ups, plot thrown to the dogs. I’m done.” The saddest comment reads: “From the stunning start of nine dragons pulling a coffin to this trash ending. Shrouding the Heavens took 160 episodes to turn a royal flush into a pile of dirt.”
