Top 9 Martial arts Novels with Transmigration in 2026

Transmigration differs from reincarnation in one key way: the protagonist is an outsider taking over someone else's body, usually with that person's memories but their own modern perspective. In martial arts settings, this creates interesting friction. The transmigrator knows things like basic physics or medicine that cultivation worlds often lack, but they're also clueless about qi techniques everyone else learned as children.

The fish-out-of-water aspect can be played for comedy or drama. Chinese novels in this space often have the protagonist inherit a weak or despised body, then use their outsider knowledge to climb the ranks. Japanese takes tend toward more comedic misunderstandings about cultivation customs.