Tomato Novel is very popular, but I still prefer reading classic fantasy.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 23:23:28 +0800

I saw that Fanqie Novel was embroiled in another controversy about AI-written content in the past couple of days. My initial reaction wasn’t surprise, but rather a sense that this issue will eventually come to the surface. Considering the combination of free platforms, the pressure for daily updates, and algorithmic distribution, it is almost inevitable that authors will turn to AI to supplement their content capacity.

But honestly, I have a consistent feeling about many books on Fanqie: they are readable, and even the first hundred chapters are often quite good. However, the further along you get, they tend to be nothing more than tropes and speed, lacking that inherent power that classic Xuanhuan or cultivation novels possess. This ‘power’ is hard to explain—it’s probably that feeling when you know it’s a bit over-the-top/cringey (“zhong er”), but you still want to follow the characters all the way through.

It’s something worth noting, and this isn’t meant to criticize the platform. Fanqie being completely free definitely attracts a lot of readers; there’s no arguing that point. However, for someone like me whose taste was spoiled early on by Tian Can Tu Dou, Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi, Er Gen, and Chen Dong, AI can match the output volume, but it cannot replicate the flavor/quality.

How Pomelo really mastered the art of going free

Free access is never a minor issue; it directly determines whether a platform can lower the entry barrier for its readers.

According to the Research Report on the Value of Online Literary Reading Platforms in China 2024, published by the Chinese News Publishing Research Institute in April 2024, Tomato Novel is a free online literature reading app under the Douyin Group. In 2023, it boasted 192 million monthly active users (MAU), making it the app with the largest MAU in the online literary reading market at that time. QuestMobile also mentioned in its May Day Insight of 2024 that the daily active user growth rate of Tomato Free Novel ranked among leading applications, showing a year-on-year increase of 36%. Simply put, this growth indicates that many people may not be willing to pay separately for a single book, but they are willing to click on it casually, read a few chapters, and continue reading if the content piques their interest.

So, I’m not at all surprised that Fanqie became so successful. It makes the web novel experience more like short videos—first it gets you hooked, and then it figures out how to keep your time invested. For a large number of readers, this mechanism is effective, especially when commuting, before bed, or just killing time; ‘free’ is much more persuasive than any literary ideal.

To be fair, Tomato [referring to the platform] isn’t completely unreadable. Some books, if you only read the first hundred chapters, have a fast pace, dense conflicts, and plenty of hooks, making them quite good entertainment. It’s understandable why many people get drawn into such beginnings.

AI has raised the standard/bar, but the human touch is becoming diluted

The problem is actually right here.

On April 21, 2026, an industry article reposted by Sina Finance mentioned that a top author on Fanqie included an AI continuation prompt directly into the main text in Chapter 4106 of The Longevity First Waste Material. The reason this incident gained so much attention was not because people were learning about web novel authors using AI for the first time, but rather because it openly exposed a reality that previously existed but was reluctant to be openly discussed.

The same article/piece also mentioned two details. One is that in 2024, the platform fully integrated AI functions into the author backend, including capabilities such as content continuation, elaboration, and resource querying; the other is that in February 2026, the platform banned 855 accounts that abused AI for mass creation. Putting these two points together is quite interesting: on one hand, the platform needs AI to boost supply efficiency, while on the other hand, it must prevent excessive “AI literary output” from degrading the content pool.

This is also why I always feel that web novels with an overly “algorithmic” or artificial flavor lack something essential. AI is very adept at constructing scaffolds: opening conflicts, cheat abilities (plot devices), villain defeats, and power-up nodes. Because these elements are highly standardized templates, it doesn’t take much effort for the AI to implement them. Therefore, when you read the first few chapters or even the first hundred chapters of a book, you often feel that it’s adequate, sometimes even smooth.

However, what makes long-form epic fantasy truly difficult is not the opening hook, but whether you can maintain momentum and consistency in the middle and later stages. Will the characters become mere plot devices? Will the world-building eventually devolve into nothing more than a pile of abstract nouns? Can genuine emotional highs really move people, or are they just artificially sustained by mechanical hooks like “The next chapter will be even better”? If these crucial sections are filled in purely by AI generation, it is incredibly easy for the writing to lose its flavor and depth.

What truly hooked me was the Divine Tomb set at the city library

When I first got into the Xuanhuan genre, it wasn’t something I found on my phone or by scrolling through any rankings; rather, it was a physical copy of Shen Mu that I borrowed from the city library.

Looking back now, this memory is still very clear. The book was physical—the cover was a bit old—and when I borrowed it, I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Back then, when reading novels, I didn’t understand concepts like narrative techniques, world-building industrialization, or user retention. Simply put, all I felt was passion and epic grandeur, believing that people could keep moving forward solely for one obsession or conviction.

Some phrases from The Divine Tomb were repeatedly brought up later, and I can still remember the powerful feeling they evoked even to this day.

“God is dead, the demons are extinguished, and I am still alive…”

“Temper my battle sword to slay the Nine Heavens; let my hot blood flow, advancing relentlessly.”

“When Yin and Yang are thrown into disorder, I shall stain the azure sky with my demonic blood.”

“Billions of living creatures as soldiers, millions of gods and demons as generals.”

“Through countless tribulations, even if my soul scatters, my spirit remains.”

Looking at it now, these kinds of sentences are certainly a bit melodramatic—even overtly so. But for a young person

Why Is This Veteran Author Still My Favorite Read

After reading more books, my tastes have gradually settled down. What I truly enjoy are some fictional fantasy and cultivation novels written by older authors.

Tianzancudou’s books offer immediate satisfaction and have very clear power-leveling paths. Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi’s books feature a solid framework, and their cultivation systems are usually highly coherent. Er Gen’s novels focus more on emotion and atmosphere, carrying a hint of wild intensity. Chen Dong’s works can sometimes be overwhelmingly grand in scope, managing to elevate both the massive scale of the scene and a deep sense of tragic grandeur.

Of course, they have their patterns/tropes, and not every book is perfect. But the difference is that even if these authors write highly commercialized material, most of the core essence still belongs to them. The rhythm of a character’s speech, how they build tension before a climax, when to pull back with subtlety, or when to deliver an explosive reveal—after reading enough of their work, you can feel it.

AI can now imitate many superficial characteristics, such as what words to use, how often to include a plot twist every few chapters, or where to insert a hook. It can even pick up on the pacing of “catharsis” pretty well. However, what truly keeps readers invested in classic Xuanhuan fantasy is not just the density of the plot; it’s whether the author genuinely believes in this world and if the characters themselves feel like they have lived through it. This sense of depth, at least right now, I haven’t really read much from novels that are heavily flavored by AI.

Conclusion

So now my attitude toward Fanqie novels is actually quite simple.

I have to admit it’s impressive, and I also admit that the free mode is truly good; there are indeed quite a few enjoyable books in the first hundred chapters alone. But if you ask me, when I really need to find Xuanhuan or cultivation fantasy novels that suit my taste, I would probably still turn back to those older authors. It’s not because nostalgia is automatically superior; it’s simply that my reading preferences were originally shaped by that batch of books.

To be as direct as possible, getting things for free isn’t without a cost; what it costs is attention and time. AI can help platforms build a larger content pool and boost authors’ update speeds, but it still cannot replicate the feeling I had when I opened Divine Tomb in the library back then.

How should I put it? Perhaps I was never the most core target user for Fanqie’s industrialized reading system/methodology.

References

[《2024中国网络文学阅读平台价值研究报告》PDF，China Press and Publishing Research Institute](https://runwise.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E7%BD%91%E7%BB%9C%E6%96%87%E5%AD%A6%E9%98%85%E8%AF%BB%E5%B9%B3%E5%8F%B0%E4%BB%B7%E5%80%BC%E7%A0%94%E7%A9

Author’s Notes

Original Prompts

A golden author of Fanqie Xiaoshuo (Tomato Novel) who writes novels using AI. I don't really read Fanqie's novels much, and the stories generated by AI lack that specific flavor. However, since the whole Fanqie platform is free, it definitely attracts many readers. Some books are still decent if you only read the first 100 chapters. The authors that suit my taste are always the older ones: TiancantuDou, Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi (I Eat Tomatoes), Er Gen, and Chen Dong—Xuanhuan/Cultivation novels with fictional backgrounds. I first got into this genre because of Shen Mu by Chen Dong, which was a physical book borrowed from a city library. It contains many classic sentences that make young people feel intensely excited; I need to do some online searching here to supplement specific content details.

Writing Idea Summary

Anchor the main argument on the idea that “free platforms can gain traffic, but they cannot change my established reading tastes.”
In the first half, include factual anchors about the Fanqie (Tomato) free model and the integration of AI in creation, without developing it into a full industry analysis.
In the middle section, use personal memories of borrowing Divine Tomb from a city library to capture that sense of youthful excitement.
For Divine Tomb, select only a few lines that best represent its spirit; do not include large chunks of quotations or compile them into a list of memorable quotes.
Deliberately avoid elaborating on the specific merits and flaws of Fanqie’s works, platform business model details, or the full AI writing toolchain.

Tomato Novel on Uncle Xiang's Notebook