Reading murim and cultivation manga has become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me and Ive since read many amazing works as well as an equalif not greateramount of subpar or simply bad ones. The quality of the Murim/Cultivation genres tends to fluctuate wildly in every aspect from the art to the story and beyond. Sometimes I keep reading a manga even if its of poor quality because theres something mildly interesting about itsome sort of quirk or hook. Some have unique and interesting artwork others have engaging storylines or fascinating characters. However Im sad to say that Nano Machine has been extremely uninteresting to me and lacks any of the aforementioned qualities despite being one of the highestrated and most popular series in the genre. The Heavenly Demon Cult plot is a classic by now. Plenty of other manga use the same plot point but add a twist to make it unique. For example works like Heavenly Demon Rebornhttps://anilist.co/manga/107518/HeavenlyDemonReborn/ Myst Might Mayhemhttps://anilist.co/manga/175946/MystMightMayhem/Same Author as this or even manga where it is not the main focus such as SSSClass Revival Hunter https://anilist.co/manga/128067/SSSClassRevivalHunter/ have more interesting takes on the Heavenly Demon Cult and the Heavenly Demon concept. Im not too fond of adding nanomachine technology to murim/cultivation manga in general unless it has other redeeming qualities or is simply played for comedy. More broadly Id prefer if cultivation manga avoided cheat systems entirelyespecially those given only to the main characterbecause it undercuts any sense of satisfaction when the protagonist accomplishes something it all just goes back to the cheat system. Even among cheat systems however I found nanomachines particularly silly. I explored a little bit and the protagonist receiving the system is explained in another work by the same author but I dont think it works well in Nano Machine as a standalone. Its worst aspect is not that its very bad because that can be entertaining in its own way rather its simply extremely boring and repetitive. Its hard to connect with any of the characters. Most of them are bland uninteresting and onedimensional. The protagonist lacks any real depth and if you remove his nano system theres very little to justify why hed even be an interesting side character. I dont mind gore but the frequent armcutting became comical. The main character bounces between murdering innocent people and being compassionate without any introspection about his actions. The way he powers upthrough dual cultivation with YeoGun Wangalso feels cheap and lazy creating a story scenario where the protagonist basically has to sexually assault a character to save their life leaves a really poor taste in my mouth. At least in Myst Might Mayhem we learn that the protagonist is basically a psychopath who feels alive when he commits horrible acts which builds character and tells us something about him. I dont particularly like a main character like thatits a bit too over the top for mebut at least it has substance. Myst Might Mayhem also features distinctive art and a power system involving spirits both relevant to the world it creates. Even though Nano Machine is meant to be a sequel to that it fails on many fronts compared to its predecessor. The art is probably its strongest point but even that isnt appealing enough to keep it interesting. Even as a powerfantasy it falls short. The power scaling later becomes so bad that no battles feel relevant anymore: Cheon is so powerful that even multiple peaklevel fighters cant challenge him. There are plenty of ways to handle an overpowered main character without destroying all sense of tension but Nano Machine doesnt pull it off. The story would have been better if it had ended after he got his revenge and became the Heavenly Demon that wouldve wrapped things up nicely atleast. Instead were left with bland characters and a godlike protagonist doing whatever he wants in a boring story. Having completely lost interest I decided to drop the manga around chapter 220+. I hope others can find enjoyment where I could not.