The dialogue is snappy and aggressive, which fits the martial world vibe. “Come over here quickly and let me smash you with my Zen staff, so I can vent my anger” is such a Lu Zhishen line. Wang Lun’s retorts are equally punchy: “You monk, are you that confident you can defeat me?” The banter feels dueler-like, but sometimes it drags. The “fight to the death” challenge could’ve been settled faster. Less talk, more clang. Still, it’s better than characters monologuing for pages about their tragic backstory mid-combat. Short, mean dialogues keep the blood pumping.
The Emperor ordering national mourning for the General is a nice worldbuilding detail. It shows how important the General was. The Xu family is profiting off a national hero. The scale of their fraud is enormous. The higher the pedestal, the harder the fall will be.