Worshippers of cnovels unite!
Apologies to all readers for posting this so late! Real life whapping me with stuff and the chapters for With One Smile in particular seem to be on the long side with lots of difficult words. Update may end up once a week depending on how it goes.
Early Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! *confused over time zones*
Thank you all so much for participating in the poll! I’ll leave it up for now (too lazy to take it down XD) but I think it’s pretty clear our #1 winner is With One Smile, The Sword Tramples the Mushroom followed by #2 Ostentatious Zhao Yao.
My posting schedule will probably look like this if time allows:
With One Smile, The Sword Tramples the Mushroom: biweekly or more
Ostentatious Zhao Yao: weekly or around that long per update
Priority will be put on With One Smile. If I have time, I might post irregular teaser-ish chapters for Half-Tried Little Deity.
So I was reminded that two translations of the same stuff going on at once may be confusing to navigate through on Novel Updates. I’ll be dropping Demon King (continued by original translator) and picking up a different cnovel (see Ongoing Polls) or post below for more info.
Of course if you really want spoilers for Demon King I’ll be happy enough to write up a summary for anyone interested. Just drop me a comment. ^^
On to the potential translation projects~
Half-Tried Little Deity: Features a couple with gray morality and hijinx. There is some time travel but it’s justified. The female lead is mischievous and the story’s mostly about her getting picked up by her master and having adventures, meeting the male lead (a powerful demon) along the way. There’s also a kind of side plot BL going on between the two leads’ pets: a snake and a fox.
Ostentatious Zhao Yao: Female lead (reborn in current time) was a dramatic demon queen of sorts in her past life, dying unexpectedly (hence quietly) because of some mishap with a sword. She thinks her trusted subordinate did it when he’s really brutally in love with her and guilty over the accident. He’s now the head demon lord. Lots of misunderstandings and hilarity abound.
With One Smile, the Sword Tramples the Mushroom: I won’t reveal the convoluted background plot I found out via spoilers, but it involves a plain girl (mushroom spirit) and her fated encounter with the male lead, the reincarnation of an almighty dragon god. Spoilers I’ve read warn that the build up is very slow (like 20 chapters in) but the couple is among the loveliest. Rather more serious than the two other series.
Keeping this open for about a week. I might post a teaser chapter from each depending on my mood. ^^
Demon King Chapter 2 (really chapter 1, but whatever lol)
TN1: I named the Prologue Chapter 1, so the real start of the story is actually Chapter 2. Hope this isn’t too confusing. I also apologize for the choppy commas in advance; it’s how the sentences are broken down in the raws and I’ve kept to that format.
I consulted with the other translator. We’re both going to provide separate translations for this series, so more to read for the readers out there! Chapters should be about 1 per week, more if I can manage it with my new job. 😀
By the way, I’m thinking of picking up another cnovel or short story. Any suggestions out there for a romantic wuxia/xianxia with a memorable couple and a happy ending? I’ll also take fantasy. Please choose projects with free raws available online. ^_^
Chapter 2
Xiao LanHua sits in jail, looking outside to a woman sitting cross-legged, eyes closed in concentration, breathing so lightly it is inaudible.
It’s been how many days, Xiao LanHua props up her chin, shows a very worried expression. The guy outside, is he really breathing or not, if he just suffocates himself to death without anyone noticing like this, then how lucky would that be?
Because, that body is her real body!
But now she’s using this one……
Xiao LanHua keeps grabbing the silver hair hanging down below the waist, and holds her big hands and keeps feeling up her flat chest, then sighs: “How hard.”
A man’s charismatic deep voice spits out these two words, echoing in Haotian Tower many times before slowly disappearing.
These two words break the long-standing silence, the woman outside the jail finally breathed out, eyes closed: “Little flower demon, you dare to move your hands up and down ben’s body, then don’t blame ben if he decides not to be courteous and do the same thing to your body.
“Don’t quibble over something so small, so what if I just felt up your chest a little, such a big man like you shouldn’t be afraid of touching……” Xiao LanHua paused, her face suddenly flushed red, “Aiyo wei…… big demon leader, where do you think you’re touching me? I’m wrong! You really, I’m wrong!”
[TN: the characters used (‘龌龊’) mean an adjective meaning ‘dirty,’ ‘narrow-minded,’ and ‘filthy,’ which sounds almost the same as the ones meaning ‘I’m wrong’ or wuochuo. So our little LanHua is probably actually cursing this guy though she doesn’t dare do it directly. XD]
The woman’s apricot eyes open, wearing an evil expression that doesn’t match her face, he smiled in ridicule: “A woman able to say such words, it doesn’t seem like you’re all that pure yourself.”
Xiao LanHua huffed, replied in turn: “Aren’t you the ancient Demon King? It’s said you’re only good at sneaky underhanded things……” DongFang QingCang’s brow raised, Xiao LanHua can’t help but swallow her saliva, “You… You’re so great, you must think of a way to get out……”
DongFang QingCang closed his eyes again: “If you want to get out, then don’t make a catastrophe for me.”
Xiao LanHua glared at him, furious: “Now the one stuck in a cage is me! How am I going to make a catastrophe for you, if you’re going to talk about a catastrophe, you are the grandmaster of giving others a catastrophe!”
If it wasn’t for him, how could she be shut up in Haotian Tower? And how could she have changed from a sprightly orchid girl into a wild and rough…… Though the demon lord’s body, seems to have fine and tender flesh, be in pretty good physical condition, have good hair, be pleasant to the five senses, have slender fingers……
Xiao LanHua shook her head: “…… If it wasn’t for a disastrous demon like you, I wouldn’t be in this situation!”
“Disastrous?” DongFang QingCang’s eyes became slits: “If you can call ben this, the things you’ve done really aren’t small.”
The eyes on the other side are really hers, but Xiao LanHua realizes that DongFang QingCang’s gaze is enough to scare her guts into spasms, even her kidney……
But because Xiao LanHua has some strong bars protecting her, she drums them and humphs coldly: “If you have the ability, come hit me!”
Hearing these words, DongFang QingCang grins, then with one hand grabs the hair hanging behind him, and before Xiao LanHua can react, with DongFang QingCang’s moving a single finger, cuts her long hair with a “shua,” cut it wholly short.
Xiao LangHua’s whole body stiffens.
Ha……Hair, her hair……
DongFang QingCang holds her cut hair in his hands for a moment: “Brain isn’t smart, but hair grows pretty well.” Once finished speaking, he carelessly throws away the handful of long hair, the shining black hair as beautiful as a peacock’s tail scattered all over the ground, DongFang QingCang sat down, pulls at the short black hair, pulling up two long legs, the corner of his mouth pulled into an obscene smirk: “What, you forgot, you’re now, still in my hands.”
Evil demon! Insane lunatic demon!
Xiao LanHua is almost kneeling, she sees her hair all over the floor, full of heartache for a moment at the sight, before remembering to fiercely take revenge! Once she raised her head the villainous DongFang QingCang, she shouts loudly, “I’m not done with you!”
Xiao LanHua reaches behind her and grabs with her hand, pulls at the full head of silvery long hair, copies DongFang QingCang’s gesture, in a breath her fingers move to cut……
Then she feels even more like crying.
Inside DongFang QingCang’s body, don’t know if it’s because he can’t use power or doesn’t have power at all, she completely can’t cast the spell……
DongFang QingCang thought there would be such a result, the corner of his mouth turned up increasingly in mirth: “You want to cut short ben’s hair, you’re eight years of cultivation too late.”
Xiao LanHua grits her teeth: “I just won’t believe it!” She says, curling two or three hairs, pulling fiercely, resulting in two hairs pulled out, so painful it feels like her whole body had water poured over it, sees DongFang QingCang’s body stiffen, and smiles a little. Xiao LanHua endured the pain, copies his demeanor, and also grins insidiously and viciously, “Today this girl will make you bald.”
DongFang QingCang sullenly: “Stay your hand.”
By the time his voice is heard, Xiao LanHua already pulled out another four to five hairs.
DongFang QingCang eyes turn into slits: “You dare to be so disrespectful, I’ll pull off your arm.”
Xiao LanHua heard him full of anger: “You dare to take off my arm then I’ll dare to cut your neck!”
“If you continue to talk, ben will cut off your tongue!”
“You dare to cut off! Then I’ll castrate you!”
Harsh words in such a situation, both people quiet down, staring each other down a good while, but at the end it’s Xiao LanHua whose eyes sour, dripping from her eyes to under her chin, then from the side saw the floor covered with her cut hair.
Her heart feels miserable and wronged, she just sits down on the floor, hugs her knees, red eyes pa da pa da pa de starting to fall tears.
Gone.
She won’t ever be able to make pretty braids, or put beautiful flowers on her head, lost because of the demon lord, ever after she will only be able to live in this jail, everything’s gone……
DongFang QingCang outside the bars watched his body inside curled up and hugging its knees, with a hoarse but charismatic voice let out yi yi wu wu cries, there’s nothing more pitiful than this.
What he sees is simply like suffocating his heart.
“You’re not allowed to cry.” His voice grits out.
Xiao LanHua is very heartbroken, hearing his words, only cries wu wu all the more strongly.
The crying sound coming from DongFang QingCang’s own throat is like a ghost’s claw scratching into his brain, it’s even harder to endure through than the year when that red woman pierced into his vital meridians with an ice needle.
“Stand up!”
Xiao LanHua raises her head, with a gaze full of tears and snot: “You return my hair to me!”
Seeing his own face so messy, DongFang QingCang’s heart feels even more suffocated: “You get up first!”
“First return my hair to me!”
“Fine!” With a turn of DongFang QingCang’s palm, the cut hair on the ground flies up, hair by hair connecting with the cut ends again. In an instant, long hair like a waterfall drops down, perfectly as it was before, “Up!”
Xiao LanHua dumbly stares at her reattached hair, so astonished that she forgets her hatred of DongFang QingCang: “My body…… Since when was it able to do this kind of spell?”
DongFang QingCang shoots Xiao LanHua a disgusted glance: “Get your face, cleaned up for ben.”
Her hair restored, Xiao Lanhua is no longer heartbroken, diligently wiping the tears and snot from her face.
DongFang QingCang sits back down, says to her: “To blackmail ben, you are the first person to do so since ancient or current times.”
“Letting me cry as a man, you are also the first person to make me do this since ancient or current times.” Xiao LanHua dared to sneak a glance, angrily turning her head to look at him. “I don’t want to spend another moment with you! Talk! Is there a way out of this tower or not!”
“Of course there is.”
“What way?”
“Blow up this tower.”
DongFang QingCang said it so casually, as though he was going to swat a mosquito to death.
Xiao LanHua heard his speech with shock, then tragically dropped her head, sadly muttering: “Forgot, I won’t be able to see Master in this lifetime ever again.”
Who can blame Xiao LanHua for thinking this way, Haotian Tower is an ancient wonder, it’s easy to say you want to blow it up, but with their currently switched bodies, Xiao LanHua doesn’t understand even an iota of DongFang QingCang’s body’s powers, now that it’s been brought up, she also doesn’t know how to use demonic energy.
But DongFang QingCang……
Xiao LanHua can only laugh hehe. Even how many kilograms make up that body of hers over there she is only too clear of, even if DongFang QingCang can cut her hair all off, it can’t change the fact that her body only has several hundred years of celestial cultivation. Since her strength is so low it’s no wonder that it’s a problem, so blowing up Haotian Tower this time, he’ll need to cultivate at least another ten years, before having even a chance of trying.
Xiao LanHua’s nose feels a bit sour, meeting DongFang QingCang in that moment, she felt that moment in her life, is a debt owed to her curiosity at that time.
“How can you be so stupid, since you have my body, just let my body safely stay outside.” Xiao LanHua says naturally, “Then once I’m outside, the chance of escaping will be greater than right now.”
DongFang QingCang guffaws: “Being of Heaven doesn’t mean you are virtuous, can you be so self-sacrificing? You are saying this to escape yourself, not to give ben ‘inside help’? You are not afraid that ben after coming outside will harm the masses, plunge the people into misery?” He glances at Xiao LanHua, “Where is your integrity?”
Xiao LanHua pouts: “I’ve considered all these things, what else are those Heavenly soldiers and Heavenly generals for? My master has said before, taking someone’s rice bowl is like killing someone’s mother, it shouldn’t be done.”
DongFang is silent for a moment, touches his chin. “Little flower demon, join me in the path of evil, you do have some little aptitude for it.”
“I don’t want to, Master will feed me to pigs if I do that.” Stooping, Xiao LanHua sighed sentimentally for a long time, “Staying in here, Master is going to feed me to the pigs anyway, there’s nothing I can do… If you are outside, we can still reason about the right and wrong of helping out a villain, right now we are totally alone, there’s completely no way to get out……”
“Who told you that there’s no one to help you in there.” DongFang QingCang looks at Xiao LanHua quietly.
Xiao LanHua says bluntly: “Unless, there is still someone here?” She looked all around.
The ladder stretches along the walls of Haotian Tower, the middle is empty space, in one glance can see the precious pearls in the center of the roof. Inside it’s like a great big nothing. If there’s anyone else here, then it would be easy to see them at once.
DongFang QingCang smiles, the corners of his lips rise freely, also making people feel it’s a little insulting. Someone entered her own body, really giving a huge difference in feeling from head to toe.
Xiao LanHua is in the middle of deep feelings, when she hears DongFang QingCang faintly whisper: “It’s about the right time.”
—End Chapter 2—
Master = forgot to say this in the Prologue, but LanHua’s ‘master’ is actually a ‘mistress.’ In Chinese, sometimes these titles take an all-gender-included form. I’m defaulting to using ‘master.’
Little flower demon = she’s not really a demon. The word used is ‘yao’ versus the ‘mo’ used for DongFang. Yao is kind of a general term for flora and fauna that have enough cultivation to attain human sentience and/or form.
Aiyo wei = an expression of shock, kind of like ‘oh my god’ or ‘oh my’ without any religious meaning.
Catastrophe = Original characters used ‘添乱,’ or ‘tianluan’ in pinyin.
Guts = Literally ‘胆’ or gallbladder but it holds the same meaning as saying someone ‘has guts,’ AKA courage. So there’s a bit of exaggeration when LanHua says DongFang scares her so much that her gallbladder and even kidneys feel it. XD
Castrate = Original text was ‘刀自宫’ which translated weirdly? I’m assuming it means castration anyway.
Eyes sour = a weird expression and one of those things that doesn’t translate well. Basically imagine your face screwing up because you bit a lemon and crying because it’s so sour. Except in this case it’s not the citric acid making you cry, it’s something genuinely sad.
Taking someone’s rice bowl = taking someone’s role/occupation/job or their livelihood.
TN2: The choppy commas are getting to me. If you have time, please drop a comment on whether you’d prefer the original formatting (weird commas included) or for me to throw away commas and make it sound closer to an average English sentence.
Chapter 3
Demon King Chapter 1 (Prologue)
TN: My first ever translation project! I liked this novel’s summary a lot but got tired of waiting for someone with better skills to translate. Warning ahead of time that some things do not translate well when moving from Chinese to English. Not to mention that my Chinese comprehension is barely better than GoogleTranslate, cough cough… Oh well, enjoy~
✲ﾟ｡.(✿╹◡╹)ﾉ☆.｡₀:*ﾟ
Edit: Found out there’s another translator who’s active for this series lol. We’ll get something sorted out. ^^
Prologue
“Ben’s seat is undying and ever-ascending, the Three Realms are large, the universe unending, and there has never been anyone to compete with me.” A black shadow quietly lies on the lava bed, playfully grabbing a bunch of crimson lava, “and you, a weak woman, want to undercut my seat?”
Coldly grasping an icy longsword, the swordswoman stands in midair, her lips curved higher than the demon king’s in arrogance: “DongFang QingCang, but you don’t dare to accept my challenge?”
“Hahahaha! Don’t dare?” DongFang QingCang laughed to the skies, broiling hot lava rising from the center of his left palm, strong flames erupting into the air and condensing into a fiery red longsword, bringing forth a scorching breath that gave the woman’s cloth gown a shake. “Red woman, the bunch of wastes in Heaven made you the Heaven and Earth’s God of War, if you dare to be ambitious for ben’s seat, it seems like you have some small measure of skill.”
DongFang QingCang smiled so lightly his eyes seemed to close, standing up, his long silver hair fell to his ankles, one step out and the volcano under his feet quivered and shook in great fear.
“What a coincidence, today is boring.” DongFang QingCang said, raising his wrist, the blazing longsword covering half his face, from the corner of his eyes demonic energy radiates out. “Ben has been getting lazy, come on I’ll give you a try.”
“Demon King.” The red woman’s hand holds the icy longsword, “Underestimating the enemy is a tactical mistake.”
DongFang QingCang grinned widely: “To the weak side it is a mistake.” His blood-red eyes flashed with a cold light, comparable to the firelight cast by the blazing flames like many tigers’ teeth, full of ferocity, “Ben never makes mistakes.”
The ancient Demon King and the red woman’s battle, caused heaven and earth to lose their color and day and night to reverse, even the stars and time affected by the disturbance. But it was also that battle, causing the Demon King who had run wild in the Three Realms to suffer defeat under the sword of the red woman. Since then the red woman has gained renown as the God of War, and DongFang QingCang after that battle sustained heavy injuries, finally killed by Gods and Buddhas.
The demonic people afterwards were driven to a dead land, difficult for them to rise up ever since.
“Is DongFang QingCang dead?”
“The Demon King is an undying god, not in the cycle of reincarnation, his soul will not disperse, when the opportunity is right, he will come again.”
An orchid planted in a pot shook its leaves: “Then when will he be back? Master… I’m scared to death……”
“Won’t let him come back.” SiMing raises her brush to write, “I, Heaven and Earth, and the current God of War Mo Xi, including the little brothers who watch the South Gate, and the Celestial Maidens who watered you yesterday won’t let him come back, so relax your heart, you won’t die, be good.”
But listening to SiMing lightly brush over these events of ancient and distant times, Xiao LanHua cannot imagine that, one day she will happen to really meet the Demon King, reversing the Three Realms again. Even more unlikely that she will be face-to-face with this big leader of demons and say hello, glare at each other.
But what she really cannot work her brains to even think of is –
One day, she will use this unaging and undying, full of boundless demonic energy, this big demon’s…
Body…
—End Prologue—
Ben = lordly way of referring to yourself. Kinda like ‘ore-sama’ in jnovels. You’ll see this a lot with princes and other high-ranking characters or someone arrogant.
Three Realms = according to Chinese mythology, there are three realms: Heaven, Hell, and the mortal plane. Hell has nothing to do with Christianity’s version as it’s where all dead people go before re-entering the reincarnation cycle.
Seat = can be a synonym for ‘place’ as in rank.
Icy longsword = the character used is ‘寒’ or ‘han’ in pinyin. It’s more accurately referring to the sword as full of cold energy rather than frost or ice. DongFang’s summoned sword is the opposite of hers elementally. The word used to describe their swords translated to yataghan according to a dictionary I used, but I’m using longsword because it’s simpler. More info on yataghans here.
Demon King = Pinyin is something like ‘mo jun.’ I might use mo in later chapters depending on preference.
Demonic energy = ‘mo qi’ or mo energy.
DongFang’s death = the words used is ‘斩杀,’ which seems to mean beheading? But I’m using ‘killing’ since I’m not sure.
Xiao LanHua (or literally, little orchid) = we’re talking about Chinese orchids, not the ones shipped from South America. Also yes, little orchid is our female protagonist. XD
Cnovel <3 