#you can read the raw for free on JJWXC

[baiwu-jinji]

danmei translation project announcement

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! I am translating a new danmei novel called 裴公罪 (The Sins of Lord Pei) by 书归 (Shu Gui), and will post the translation of the entire novel on another blog @baiwu-jinji-translations.

I have posted my translation of the first chapter at @baiwu-jinji-translations, but the blog hasn't been completely set up yet.

This is an initial announcement, more details will follow, stay tuned! :)

[tgcfresources]

Master Post Links

Since the reddit post has outdated links and information, I wanted to provide people an easy way to find things instead of having to look through massive amounts of scrolling.

First I just want to say I'm new to this fandom, if there's any incorrect information or things missing feel free to message me on Discord or @ me at any of the TGCF discord's I'm on as I DO NOT check tumblr often. My Discord is .raphaela

Tags:

Official Art

Audio Drama

Sprites

Official Videos

Novel

Colored Novel Illustrations

B/W Novel Illustrations

Revised Uncensored Version

Discord Servers

Eternal Faith / Live Action

Manhua

Novel

As the novel as been official translated into several languages, I will NOT post links to read it here.

Novel Audiobooks

Link to Audiobooks: Link 1.

Revised Chinese Novel

There is currently no plans for 7S to translate this version as it was released as a webtoon AFTER the official novel translations.

Link to the Revised Chinese Version English Fan Translations and Faq.

If you would like to buy the Chinese revised version, follow this guide on how to purchase the novel on JJWXC books. Then use this guide on how to export the text for use on your preferred translator.

You can read the revised novel easily with SmoothReader, which now has a google chrome extension.

Manhua (Manga)

The English bilibili comics site shut down on February 29th and is no longer available. You can view the original Chinese Raw on the official bilibil site with a VPN. Guide on how to buy the original volumes here.

Currently there are 101 chapters, no word on when it will resume. HEAVEN OFFICIAL'S BLESSING IS ON LEHZIN!! (no new episodes, just publishing existing episodes... for now. First 4 Chapters free.) It's also on bato.to.

Donghua (Anime)

There are currently 2 seasons available.

Season 1

Audio: English, Mandarine. (Only the Bilibili website has Japanese Audio Available, you need to become a Big Fan to view them. The Official release DVD/Bluray also only had the two languages available. If you want Japanese audio you will need to buy the Japanese release from a proxy service website.)

Subtitles: English.

Official English DVD/Bluray available from a number of retailers.

Season 2

Audio: English, Japanese, Mandarine.

Subtitles: English.

Does not yet have an official English DVD/Bluray release.

Currently Available to view on Crunchyroll (US Only, VPN Works), Bilibili Website (Available with Japanese Audio, Season 1 only) & Bilibili Youtube (Season 1 only) Both requires you to have a VPN, only available in hongkong.

Placeholder Guide on how to pay for Big Fan on Bilibili Website.

It has since been removed from Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Season 3 has yet to be confirmed.

Audio Drama

It's getting VERY long - Post here

Live Action Adaptation Series

A live action Adaptation is in the works and will be called Eternal Faith. Filming was done in 2022, rumored to be released this year (2024), set to be 60 episodes, but nothing is confirmed.

Information taken from a number of sources, mostly the tgcf reddit faq and TGCF Discord servers.

[rigelmejo]

I’ve been mentioning HeavenlyPath, its a wonderful site that has a great FAQ for learning to read chinese and how to go about the process here: https://heavenlypath.notion.site/Reading-Tools-Tips-and-FAQ-b4d287ad630c439fb8978d33b06c1b00

Within the article it mentions some things I’d like to point out:

Reading apps that work well for learning chinese are Pleco’s reading tool section (probably the best single app for reading/looking up chinese words), and Readibu (links to a lot of webnovels for easier browsing). There’s also more free options listed, including ones for computers instead of phones/tablets. I’ll add that Mandarinspot.com has a good free copy/paste Annotation Tool which can include pinyin for beginners (and can be bookmarked to use on any site by going to the site then clicking the bookmark), the app Idiom is free and works as well as LingQ, zhongwen extension is a good quick click dictionary for browsers, and in a pinch you can just use Google Translate on phones or computers by highlighting a word/sentence and clicking ‘translate’. MTLnovel.com has traditional chinese text raws it can show directly under Machine Translated novel text if you make a free login, and that’s the quickest way to make a rough parallel text if you want to have a rough ‘english translation’ already made and handy. bearlang.app is a new site that popped up that can generate line by line translations (it’s using deepl or google translate based on MTL quality) and is also a quick way to make a rough parallel text translation ahead of time.

If you don’t know what to read: go to HeavenlyPath’s site book lists and browse by genre and difficulty then follow their links to read the novels, go to qidian.com, jjwxc.com, or go to novelupdates.com (where people link to novel translations) and find novels of shows you’ve seen and liked/linked similar novels/people’s rec lists they’ve made and copy the chinese name then paste into a search engine with “小说在线” xiaoshuo(novel) zaixian(online). You’ll quickly find a site hosting the novel you’d like to read (which is often just qidian or jjwxc). You can then use your reading click-definition extension, google translate, mandarinspot.com, Pleco etc to read. To read in something like Readibu, copy the url of the novel then click the + sign for “New Bookmark” in Readibu and paste into there to read in the Readibu app. 

If you want to read a print novel you already have or bought: open Google Translate (then use Camera and aim at physical book page or Import from a picture you took of a page) or Google Lens app (and click Translate in the lower left then aim at physical book page), or use Pleco’s OCR reader. Google Translate/Lens will work in a pinch but not be super great translations, Pleco’s OCR will work better but be more sensitive to needing a decent image. If the book is not too much higher than your reading level, try to type the hanzi by guessed-pinyin or use the ‘write’ option on your phone’s chinese keyboard or Google Translate’s ‘write’ input option to get the hanzi for the unknown words on your phone. Then you can copy/paste and look up the words in the place you find easiest. Another alternative is to find an existing english translation of what you are reading (either an official print translation or someone’s translations linked on novelupdates.com) and just compare to the translation as you read the chinese when you get lost.

HeavenlyPath’s FAQ gives example reading samples for each of it’s difficulty levels it uses to rate novels. I highly recommend reading through this section to figure out where you’re current extensive reading level, intensive reading level, and reading pain level would be. The FAQ also mentions that if you’ve been reading a while your vocabulary may no longer line up to their ratings and to HSK levels (which I found to be true for me), so to gauge each new text based on amount of unique characters and how many unknown words you’re running into after that first couple chapters of new-story-introduction. 

Again, HeavenlyPath’s novel links list can be found here: https://heavenlypath.notion.site/Webnovels-Books-29ee006777bd4d9fbbd0ea5eb29ec514

For myself, I find I am mostly reading at their Upper Intermediate Level, some novels at that level are easy for me to extensively read and others would give me a decent amount of new words but not more than probably 10 a chapter. For the Intermediate level, some are easy for me and some are hard and it depends on genre because where my vocabulary is weak my reading level for that genre is bad lol (so its still useful to read some Intermediate stuff). And it looks like for me, pushing into Advanced novels would put me into ‘intensive reading’ where I run into a lot more unknown words (and some would put me into reading pain). Which matches my experience: I can read a few ‘advanced’ level novels that I’ve already learned a lot of words from (which i guess dmbj would be maybe and zhenhun definitely is), but new novels like 破云 I can only follow maybe the main idea of what’s going on and everything else is a pain for me to parse unless I’m using a dictionary. 

[unforth]

Question for Chinese-speaking/reading danmei fandom: which book would you most recommend to a novice who wants to really start getting down-and-dirty with translating? Like, what do you think is relatively "easy" to read? Manhua would work too, as long as I can access it in the US (doesn't have to be free).

Suggestions don't have to be one of the "big names" of danmei fandom, and I'm absolutely prepared to go on JJWXC and buy raws. I just want something to read/translate/practice with that's more fun/interesting than children's books.

Thanks in advance!

[foxghost]

This just my opinion i think mxtx have a big overseas fandom because mdzs is the 1st danmei novel that got english fan-translations then it got bigger in the overseas fandom after the success of cql if you see 2ha overseas fandom also came after mdzs fandom so yeah i see some pattern here, the key is the translator, when the fandom is big they gather and discuss about what they like most of them just talk the popular one bc the translator just talk about the popular one, how many of them that talk about other priest's works besides zhen hun, spl and tian ya ke (after the success shl?) Just few off them, i believe people just want to read something that was talked the most by everybody it's kinda like domino effect, but i'm surprised to know that fei tian's works is not popular in china, i think he was on the top 10 danmei authors, i remember hearing his jjwxc voice message along with the popular danmei author for new year greetings

You can run around on the general internet (not the danmei circles exclusively) a lot without hearing about FTYX, but you’ll probably run into mentions of MXTX.

MDZS is big in the way that Twilight was big, or the way that Harry Potter was/is big. They all appeal to the "young adult" audience. I think that age has a lot to do with it, but it’s not so much about the maturity of the books involved (tho i must confess MXTX’s writing style gives my old brain a headache) but a teenage audience (middle school to high school 2nd year) tend to generate more hype. They have less money for merchandise and make up for it with comments and ratings and defending their fav. 

FTYX has a consistent paying adult audience that’s also consistently quiet. He writes it, we read it. He says V, we buy it one chapter at a time as it comes out even if waiting for him to finish would cost less. I’m probably guilty of this as a typical invisible Feitian fan -- I may pour money into it (it is frankly not much, $20 worth of points lasts me months in between free book and V books, and I read a lot) but I don’t really use my “favourites” or use fertiliser or leave comments etc. This quiet audience really shows when it’s OFF jjwxc.

on the site Zhihu (like Quora, I guess), on how much FTYX is talked about (followers/questions)

Here’s MXTX’s

But Feitian’s written 30+ books. MXTX’s written 3.

And here’s some stats on douban reading (this is all around the same period so accumulation over time is less of a factor). I want to draw your attention to not the rating itself, but the # of people who rated, under the stars.

FTYX’s Golden Assistant, 2014:

FTYX’s representative palace drama work, Joyful Reunion, 2017:

MXTX’s representative xianxia, MDZS, 2016:

DFGG’s Peach Blossom Debt (the physical book published in 2016 but the book was serialised online 2007, these ratings are all from 2016+)

Priest’s representative palace drama, sha po lang, 2016

Priest’s Mo Du, 2014:

Feitian’s “Seizing Dreams” is voted in as an all-time top10 on jjwxc’s danmei (pure love) with the tickets system (Priest’s Mo Du is #1), but on douban where ppl talk about books? CRICKETS.

Meanwhile, “So And So” by Mu Su Li, listed just above Feitian’s seizing dreams on the same jjwxc list?

His quality is unquestionable, his ability to sell V, also unquestionable. /but apparently we like to be low-key about it? And maybe his newer work is more 大眾化 (cater to the masses) but I like his 2009-2016 period. Anyway I generally leave the screaming about things to other people. All I can do is provide the raw material. Maybe at some point when I have more time I’ll contribute some fan art.

[razberryyum]

So you’re done with The Untamed and want more, what now?

Reposting this since I’ve updated it with new info/links. Again, I entered the fandom via The Untamed so I’m by no means a MDZS expert, just tried my best gathering all the resources I can which I hope will help some new Untamed/MDZS fan out there. If you spot any errors, don’t yell at me, just let me know and I’ll correct it as best I can, especially for any future reposts.

READ THE NOVEL

Read the original web novel the show was based on: The Untamed (aka “CQL” or “Chen Qing Ling”) was adapted from the BL web novel, Mo Dao Zu Shi (aka ”MDZS” or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) by author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (”MXTX”). Yes the novel came first, CQL is only an adaptation. In the novel, you get the uncensored romance of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, where they are canonically married and living happily ever after. The novel goes full into R18 territory so please tread carefully.

All four volumes of the novel can be purchased from the original publishing site, JJWXC. The site’s in chinese but here’s a tutorial on how to navigate it and purchase the books:  JJWXC Tutorial Link.

There’s also the option of purchasing the physical copies from Yesasia which might be easier but it’s also more expensive since they’re the middle man: Yesasia MDZS Link

It would be wonderful if you can support MXTX-laoshi by actually buying the books, especially since the cover art is so beautiful and the extra chapter volumes come with a lot of awesome extra goodies, but of course there’s also the option of reading the fan translations graciously provided by the Exiled Rebels Scanlations team at their site:  

They translated all the novels including the bonus chapters in their own free time and are providing the fanslations for free so please give them some love for all their hard work.  

WATCH THE ANIME (aka “Donghua” in Chinese)

Watch the anime based on the novel: The donghua was released before The Untamed. Two seasons are already available (23 eps total) with a third season in production and a special chibi version of the donghua in production as well. The Eng-subbed donghua can be seen using the WeTV app or on Youtube:  YT MDZS Donghua Playlist

Grant it, the donghua is even more censored than The Untamed, but the donghua team still managed to sneak in some easter eggs (f.e. WangXian naked bathing scene in the cold springs from the novel...in The Untamed they were fully clothed) and more importantly, the animation is just gorgeous so it’s absolutely worth a watch despite the censorship. 

READ THE MANGA (aka “Manhua” in Chinese)

Read the manhua which is ongoing and is being officially translated by WeComics, available on their app for free. Search under the name “Mo Dao Zu Shi”.

Unfortunately, the official translations are more than 20 chaps behind the raws and there have been complaints about the quality of the translations in the past, but I believe they’re starting to improve so since they’re official, it’s always better to support the official source.

The raw untranslated manhua can be found on the Kuaikanmanhua app. Other than being in Chinese, some of the chapters (f.e. the most recent ones) are behind a paywall, but here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the chapters, provided by @chiharuzushi on Twitter:  Kuaikanmanhua Tutorial

The chapters are quite cheap...I purchase 1000 KK coins for 10 rmb ($0.14) and each chapter is only 68 KK coins so even if we end up with 500 chapters it’ll still be...er...quite cheap overall (don’t make me do the actual math). The most painful part is figuring out how to set up the Kuaikanmanhua account, but otherwise, if you can read Chinese or know enough of the story by now that you don’t really need to read the words, the manhua is definitely worth reading because it’s less censored than The Untamed and the donghua. 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DRAMA

Listen to the audio drama, which is at this point the most faithful and LEAST censored adaptation of the novel we will probably ever get! Wei Ying’s voice actor in The Untamed is the voice actor for his audio drama counterpart. (Yes, almost everyone in The Untamed is dubbed by a voice actor, EXCEPT for Nie Huaisang. Ji Li, the actor for NHS, was the only one who used his own voice. Lan Zhan in The Untamed shares the same voice actor as his character in the donghua). 

Each episode art of the audio drama is AMAZING. Google Translate works well on the site, you’d want to see the listeners’ comments cuz they’re just adorable and hilarious.

Official links on Maoer FM:

Season 1: Maoer FM S1 Link

Season 2: Maoer FM S2 Link

Season 3: Maoer FM S3 Link

The audio drama was supervised by MXTX-laoshi, the author of the novel, so a lot of love and care went into the production, and it shows. The audio drama is behind a paywall but I remember it’s relatively inexpensive. Here’s the tutorial on how to purchase the audio drama from the Maoer FM site:  Maoer FM Tutorial Link

Ngl, it was tough at first navigating all that, Google translate helped, but once I figured it out, it was all so worth it because in addition to the MDZS, the site houses a lot of other wonderful audio dramas. There are also MDZS fan songs on the site that are near professional quality and oh so good.

Suibian Subs have kindly translated the episodes and their translations are available here:  Suibian Subs MDZS Audio Drama

Show them some love too for translating the episodes, but please if you can, purchase the episodes so you can support the audio drama team which have done an amazing job.

There’s even a Japanese audio drama which the Chinese AD team helped spearhead, available on the MIMI FM app. Here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the eps (half of the first season is out): MIMI FM Tutorial

It’s in Japanese but just follow the pictures. I’m hoping that the Japanese audio drama will end up being the MOST uncensored version of MDZS since Japanese BL dramas are not afraid (and allowed) to go all the way to R18. XD

MORE THE UNTAMED CONTENT

Lastly, if you’re just thirsting for more Untamed content, there are two spin-off movies you can watch. The first one, The Living Dead, is kind of centered on Wen Ning and Sizhui post-CQL. 

The second one, Fatal Journey, is focused on the Nie brothers, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang, with a cameo by Jin Guangyao. It takes place prior to Wei Ying’s return from the dead.

Of the two movies, I definitely recommend Fatal Journey more. Both movies are available on the iQiyi app, which offers a one month free trial for first members. Each month afterwards for VIP is $6.99.

You can also go on the WeTV app for even more Untamed extras: WeTV put out a special edition cut of the show which tightened up the story AND features the original ending that was intended before censorship forced the production team to come up with the more ambiguous one we saw in its original run. It was a simple matter of rearranging certain scenes and getting rid of the separation part, but imho it really made all the difference to the ending.

There’s a ton of behind-the-scene cuteness that you can watch and also concerts with the cast in Thailand and Nanjing. VIP subscription to the WeTV app is $5.99/month and the Nanjing concert is for rent for 3 months at about the same price.  

The show also put out two official soundtracks, one for the vocals and one for the score. Both are available on Amazon and iTunes. For Amazon though, you can search under “The Untamed” but they did this weird thing where the vocals one is listed as “The Untamed (Chinoiserie Music Album)” (wtf) while the score is just listed as “The Untamed (Original Soundtrack)”.

Finally, most of the male members of the cast took part in a fan meet and greet at the start of the show, before it became hugely popular. The entire meet and greet is available on youtube subbed: The Untamed Fan Meeting

That’s it for The Untamed and MDZS. If you end up liking the novel enough to want to read more by the same author, MXTX-laoshi has also written two other BL novels, The Scum Villain Self-Saving System (aka “SVSSS” or “Scum Villain”) and Heaven’s Official Blessing (aka “TGCF” after its Chinese title). Both have been fully translated by fans (but always try to buy the original if you have the means, as a way to support the author!): 

SVSSS Translation: BC Novels Link

TGCF Translation chaps 1 - 24:  Sakhyulations Link

TGCF Translation chaps 25 - End: Suika & Rynn Link

As with reading any BL novel (aka “danmei novel” for Chinese BL books), please heed the warnings and if it’s not your cup of tea, just exit out of the page and move on with your life. No big deal, right? 

Anyway, hope all this info dump helps someone! If you’re brand spanking new to this fandom, welcome, and I’m so jealous of you! Would love to relive stepping into the world of MDZS/MXTX/danmei novels all over again since I feel like I’m already running out of stuff to read and I’m beginning to panic a little. 

Happy watching/reading/listening!  

[nyerus]

aaahhh i love tgcf so muchh!! there are so many beautiful and poetic phrases in it and im sure it will be even more beautiful in chinese but i can't seem to find those 'quotes' in chinese ughh!! so can you share with me some of ur fav quotes? preferably in chinese but english is ok too!! haha (p.s. do you know where i can find raw tgcf w/o having to pay? or maybe even snips of it..? bc i think thr r some chinese words that eng words cant grasp the beauty of it) have a beautiful day!

Aaahhh me too Anon!!! TGCF has totally stolen my whole heart and I couldn’t be happier about it! This is a super hard ask because I have SO MANY favorite quotes! I’ll keep it short and give the first 5 that come to mind!

Unfortunately I don’t know Chinese well enough to search for the full quotes, though I have purchased the raws. I know only very basic stuff at best, BUT I did save the iconic quote in both languages:

1.) “To me, the one basking in infinite glory is you; the one fallen from grace is also you. What matter is ‘you’ and not the state of you.”

“对我来说，风光无限是你，跌落 尘埃的也是你。重点是’你’，而不是怎样'的你 。”

When Xie Lian said it during ch120 I cried. Then when Hua Cheng repeats it to him in ch179 it was really sweet. BUT when Hua Cheng says it in ch238, that’s when the waterworks really started!!! This single quote is like, the very embodiment of their relationship as a whole. I love Hualian........ ｡･ﾟﾟ*(>д<)*ﾟﾟ･｡

2.) “Only after having met you did I rediscover that it’s such a simple thing to be happy.”

I literally had to stop and put the book down because the weight of Xie Lian’s words here (ch134) hit me like a ton of bricks. For so long, he’s been alone and just gotten used to that. But he’s finally met Hua Cheng, who more than anything, makes him happy. Aaahh..... (ಥ﹏ಥ)

3.) “To watch with your own eyes your beloved be trampled and ridiculed, yet unable to do anything. That’s the worst suffering in the world.”

This one speaks for itself. My heart shattered for Hua Cheng when he said this!!! (Ch.108.)

4.) “It’s been so long since anyone listened to my talk, won’t you stay?”

Speaking of my heart shattering!!!! (੭ ˃̣̣̥ ω˂̣̣̥)੭ु⁾⁾ Lianlian!!! Baby!!! Everything he says in ch241 is heartbreaking but this is what destroyed me the most!

5.) “To die in battle for Your Highness is my greatest honor.”

This is also from ch241, but Hua Cheng first says it in ch 181--and that’s one of my fave chapters. Aahhh tiny ghost fire Fafa!! So dramatic and brave!!!

Bonus: "You’re willing to bear the pain, but your San Lang isn’t willing to let you.”

Honestly this quote made me love Mu Qing so much. He totally Understood(tm) how Hualian felt for each other, and scolded poor Xie Lian succinctly with this! The entire Ghost King Birthday extra was fantastic--maybe my fave one!

There are honestly so many good ones though so it’s hard to say. If I sat and really ruminated for a while, I’m sure I’d come up with like at least 10 more!

As for the second part of your ask--I’m not sure where to read it in CN for free! I know there are sites that host the raws, as I’ve heard people mention before, but I’m not sure of the names. I’m so sorry! ;o;

In case you’re interested though: I myself used this handy guide to purchase from JJWXC, the original publisher. I think it was like $6 for all of TGCF (though I bought many more points than I needed, since JJWXC allows paypal transactions of minimum $17. I just spent some of those extra points on other novels and stuff. :3)

Thank you for the ask Anon! (´• ω •`) ♡ I hope you have a beautiful day too!

[mihanada]

Can I ask if you perhaps know the raw novel link of Mo Dao Zu Shi ? It is better if it is free :) . Thank You.

Hm, well you can read the first 24 chapters of the revised version on the official site at jjwxc.

I know that raws of the first unedited version are around the internet if you search, but I can’t read Chinese so you might be better off looking around yourself lol. Who knows, the edited version might also be around somewhere. Maybe try 魔道祖师小说 and whatever the word “free download” is in Chinese?

Sorry, I’m only good for looking things up in English and Japanese! >.

[unforth]

Is this a danmei translation movement or all cnovels? Sorry for asking you, I don’t have twitter and don’t really know how it works so I can't find anything in there

I'm not...entirely sure what you're asking? Basically everything I know, I learned from reading this post by minmoyu.

But, basically - in danmei fandoms (I don't think it extends beyond but I'm not sure?) there is Big Drama, especially on Twitter, over western/English-speaking fans acting entitled to danmei content, in translation, for free, with zero consequences. Translators (a) work for free as a hobby and fandom contribution and (b) have been asking fans since before I came into these fandoms (almost two years now since I joined...) to support authors by buying raws. They're understandably peeved that people are acting entitled to their efforts and are insisting they shouldn't have to pay.

So, a lot of translators have decided that they will no longer allow access to their works unless people provide proof they've paid for the raws, and a lot of people were just utterly horrible in response. Like seriously, I'm embarrassed to be associated with them and how shitty they're being.

Those of us who AREN'T awful people are taking this kick in the ass as we should - we fucked up, we should have done more to support the authors in the first place, the translators are right to call us out, and we need to do more. That's why I wrote my post - I've been meaning to poke at JJWXC for ages, and now I've gotten the really hard push I needed. Personally, I've already read most of the works I'm hearing about being locked...but who cares? This isn't about access, or at least, it shouldn't be - it is and always should have been about supporting the authors, not pirating their works, and making sure they get some recognition and, more importantly, cold hard cash, for their work. Regardless of access, I'm definitely going to be buying some of my faves, even though I don't speak any Chinese, because these stories have brought me joy, and money is about the only way I can communicate that to the authors.

Whether it applies to c-novels outside of danmei...I honestly couldn't say? But I will say - even if the drama itself hasn't extended outside danmei circles, the reality SHOULD. If you love a c-novel that you've been reading in fan-done translation, try to find a way to support the original author!!! Or, in the rare instances where there are authorized English translations (Lei Xu's Graverobber's Chronicles, for example, which are the books that the Lost Tomb series are based on) then buy those!!!

Basically: SUPPORT CREATORS!!

[nyerus]

Hey I originally followed you for YOI stuff and since that seems to be on haitus, I have seen you and a lot of people rebloing stuff about a different anime or manga (i think) with different mlm relationships? I think they're two diff shows and I've heard about mdzs before. But lately youve been reblogging stuff from a manga tagged tgcf and it looks pretty cool--so i was wondering how I could get into it and what its about? Does it have actual gay charas?

Hello! I’m sorry for the late response! This morphed from a simple answer into a beginner guide of sorts, so I hope you don’t mind! I know there’s like 500000 guides out there, but I figured I’d give it a shot too! ❤

So the stuff you’ve been seeing everywhere is indeed MDZS or related to it–including on my own blog! (I promise when YOI comes back from war, I’ll be all over that again ;o;!!!)

So these works are all by the same author, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (MXTX) and they are separate danmei (i.e. Chinese BL) novels, though they share a lot of similarities between them:

MDZS (Mó Dào Zǔ Shī) – Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

TGCF (Tiān Guān Cì Fú) – Heaven Official’s Blessing

SVSSS – Scum Villian’s Self-Saving System

All of them are complete and fan translated, and I’ll answer your last question first: yes, they have actual gay characters! In the novels, the main couples end up canonically married! \o/ In some of the adaptations, their romantic relationships are also maintained (e.g. the manhuas (Chinese graphic novel)), though censorship is present.

Links will be added below this post! Grab some popcorn, this is long!

･:*:･ﾟ’★🐇MDZS🐇★･ﾟ’･:*:･

MDZS《魔道祖师》is definitely the most popular work by MXTX, as it has the most adaptations. You’ve almost certainly been seeing gifs and photosets from its donghua (Chinese animation) or live action the most. However, it has a manhua and audio drama (in both Chinese and Japanese) as well!

Synopsis: Reviled as the infamous Yiling Laozu, Wei Wuxian harnessed the forbidden dark power of demonic cultivation. Once the cultivation world decided he was too dangerous to leave alone, he was hunted down, and a terrible battle ensued that cost Wei Wuxian his life—and the lives of many others. 13 years later, he is resurrected under mysterious circumstances into the body of the pariah Mo Xuanyu. Now with this second chance at life (and while hiding his real identity), Wei Wuxian has to uncover the truth about a powerful malevolent spirit. It may just be the key to revealing a series of heinous secrets hidden from the cultivation world for years. And while the world may still hate him for crimes he didn’t commit, there’s one person who’s on his side—the illustrious Hanguang-jun, Lan Wangji—and is willing to stand by him against all odds. The two have a long and complex history, and Wei Wuxian is unsure of Lan Wangji’s motivations for helping him. But it couldn’t be more simple: respect and love.

Scene from the donghua.

Still from the live action, called “Chén Qíng Lìng”/“CQL”/”The Untamed.”

Panel from the manhua.

Art from the Chinese audio drama.

The great thing about MDZS is that you can really pick your poison in terms of what adaptation you want to get started with. If you are absolutely brand-new to the danmei scene, then starting with the donghua or manhua may be your best bet (both are ongoing). The novel of course is the most beloved, being the source, but all the adaptations have their own charms! They’re all worth checking out, and will keep you busy for quite a while.

･:*:･ﾟ’★🌸TGCF🌸★･ﾟ’･:*:･

Now, for TGCF《天官赐福》—that’s where my photosets are coming from: the ongoing manhua that started in October. There’s a donghua planned for late this year, and a live action in talks (info about that is largely unknown, but is slated for production sometime after the donghua release). TGCF actually has the same deal structure as MDZS apparently, so we’ll be getting an audio drama as well if that’s true.

Synopsis: Talented and virtuous, Crown Prince Xie Lian first ascended to the heavens when he was only 17. Once the darling of the earth and heavens for his boundless skill and purity of heart, he ended up falling from grace—not once, but twice! Subsequently, he became the laughing stock of the three realms. Spending almost 800 years roaming the earth and collecting scraps, he becomes known as the pitiful “rubbish god” and “god of misfortune.” No one could have expected Xie Lian to ascend for a third time, but fate seems to have something in store for this disgraced yet compassionate immortal. Thankfully, he is not alone, as the widely-feared ghost king, Hua Cheng, seems to have a special interest in helping him. The two of them embark on a series of adventures that unravel the secrets of their world, and of themselves.

Panel from the manhua.

Scene from the Donghua PV.

The novel for TGCF is a great place to start, especially considering how the manhua is still in it’s early stages (just starting it’s 2nd arc as of writing this post). The novel is long, incredibly well-written, and well-translated. The manhua is absolutely stunning, and follows the novel very closely thus far.

･:*:･ﾟ’★🎋SVSSS🎋★･ﾟ’･:*:･

The underrated sibling of the three, SVSSS《人渣反派自救系統 》has only the novel to interact with for right now. A donghua is planned for this year. There was a manhua, but it was cancelled due to some problems with the publisher afaik. Word on the street is that they’re searching for a new team for it, so we’ll continue to pray!!!

Synopsis: Shen Yuan is an avid reader of the web novel Proud Immortal Demon Way. The novel revolves around the protagonist Luo Binghe, a kind child who is tormented endlessly by his Shizun (teacher/mentor) Shen Qingqiu, until he turns into a powerful demon lord and exacts his violent revenge. While initially a fan of the story, Shen Yuan hates the unsatisfactory ending. Upon dying suddenly, he finds himself transmigrated into the novel, at the behest of The System—a sci-fi interface which gives him missions and directives. Unfortunately, he ends up in the place of the cruel Shen Qingqiu out of all people! This new Shen Qingqiu now has to use his knowledge of the novel to navigate around the plot, within the restrictions that The System has implemented. He has to find a way to ensure a better ending, if he wants to keep this second chance at life. His plan for doing this is to be as kind and encouraging as possible to the innocent Luo Binghe, who quickly takes a shine to this new Shen Qingqiu. Even after forced to the dark side, and despite the tension between them after this, Luo Binghe won’t let anyone else touch his beloved Shizun.

Cover of the Thai release of the novel.

SVSSS only really has the novel to interact with as of right now. There’s currently an excellent re-translation in progress by tumblr user Faelicy! If you want to get started now, however, you can read what she’s done so far and then swap over to the old translation afterward.

･:*:･ﾟ’★NOTES★･ﾟ’･:*:･

• ALL three novels are intended for an R-18+ audience ONLY. Other adaptations are safe for minors over 16 years of age.

• Please be aware that the novels may contain potentially triggering content. Feel free to ask me for content warnings if you need them.

• All three of these are totally different from one another and only share common themes typical of the wuxia/xianxia genres.

• The original Chinese raws of MDZS and SVSSS are no longer available for purchase on JJWXC (publishing site). You can find print versions on Taobao. TGCF, however, is still available!

• If you’d like more info on anything, please reach out to me! I’m happy to help.

• LINKS WILL BE ADDED BELOW THIS POST.

[rigelmejo]

Some useful I found recently for reading cnovels, that work as Readers that provide translations, or Parallel Texts:

zhenhunxiaoshuo.com - A chinese site. has a ton of priest novels, a lot of other danmei novels as well including modaozushi, sleuth of ming dynasty, love is more than a word, etc. I adore this site. I found it by chance when someone recommended it for reading the sleuth of ming dynasty. I deeply appreciate whoever made this site. This site is visually simple and easy to look at, and if you know the titles of the novels you want to read then it is exceptionally easy to locate the correct one. (In addition, if you like any of these novels, please consider buying a copy of the official novels either on the sites they were initially sold on like jjwxc, or their print editions - this is a link to jjwxc, Priest’s Guardian page. jjwxc also has MXTX’s works on it, Meatbun’s 2ha on it, etc). 

This is a google doc guide by @anonflail on twitter about how to make an account on jjwxc and purchase the official novels: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ikGyfFiI4SQe2NmrNsJ3sgV71Iv6e5tGqN9i8SZbuSA/edit . If you happen to be reading any cnovel translations, most translation’s include a link in their intro page to the original official cnovel.

In addition, sometimes if the novels are published you can find print copies of them on YesAsia.com. If you find it this way, often they are traditional character book versions so check in the description. Also look up books by chinese title or pinyin, if the english title does not give you results. I got the mo dao zu shi books from this site, and The Untamed Drama OST. You can also find print novels on amazon, ebay, and aliexpress. Forewarning though I really... have no idea if the ones on these sites are official published copies or not. I got Zhen Hun off Aliexpress months ago, having no idea about anywhere else to find it at the time. The book is in simplified characters, and contains most of the novel but I think is missing all of the extra chapters, and my version has an intro featuring Kunlun that doesn’t exist in the jjwxc online version. Again, if you buy a book, check if the characters are traditional or simplified before purchasing. Be aware that often cnovels are more than 1 volume - don’t buy 1 and think you have the entire novel, actually check how many volumes it is... (Like Mo Du by Priest is 3 volumes?) I’ve found YesAsia to have the most genuine looking books...

Also, if I’m going to get nitpicky... if you want to guarantee you are reading a version of the cnovel with all the extra chapters - the official release is your only guarantee. I personally like to have some notepad copies of the txt to edit and look at, and often unofficial txt downloads will be missing chapters, be the older unedited and therefore less finished versions of chapters, and will be missing later chapters and sections. So if you really enjoy a story, you might as well enjoy the full thing by supporting the author, and getting their most complete official versions of the novels. 

daomubiji.org - If you’re a fan of The Lost Tomb series (the books or the multitude of dramas), this website seems to have most or all of the novels. Its absolutely huge. Like the last site mentioned, you can read them on here. If you’ve never read daomubiji, here’s a quick intro: its real well known sort of like Harry Potter. It’s very Lara Croft/Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones/Uncharted/The Mummy kind of stuff - with the fantasy elements being generally similar to other chinese-tomb-raider genre stories. So think adventurous tomb exploring plus some horror fantasy. It has a ton of drama adaptations you could check out if you wanted a visual introduction to daomubiji - some adaptations are better or worse than others. A fun fact - the two male main leads are probably the biggest ship/CP in the fandom, as far as I can tell. Despite them not being explicitly canonically romantic - compared to the danmei novels listed on the site above lol. I think its a tragedy tbh... that it is so hard to find daomubji fanfictions in english, given how huge this novel series is and how many adaptations it has, and how huge the chinese fandom is. There are some chinese fics on ao3, but I know there are some epic length well written fanfics for this series somewhere in the chinese internet. (Edit: here is the ao3 daomubiji tag). I just can’t find them lol ToT. Also there are tragically FEW english fanfics for daomubiji, despite how accessible the story is for english speakers (the first 6 novels already have official english translated books, and most of the drama adaptations have easily accessible english subs). If you know what chinese sites I can read daomubiji fanfic on, please let me know! I know some fanfics for this fandom are so HUGE, and well known, they have txt files floating around and are 100+ chapters and were once-upon-a-time recced on baidu (but the links are broken now :c ). Anyway, back to this site. You can use a dictionary/translator to lookup unknown words, use the free Zhongwen chrome extension to hover over words for a definition, or view this site in the Pleco WebReader/Chinese Zero to Hero reader/Idiom app, and click words for definitions as needed. Again, if you like any of the daomubiji novels, the author’s written a ton! Go support them! The Lost Tomb is actually published in english too up to volume 6, under the name The Grave Robber’s Chronicles (if you wanted a print english copy).

mtlnovel.com - useful in general as a way to read novels roughly-translated into english, if no existing translation is already being done. It’s also useful if, for example, the english translation you are reading is unfinished but you’re desperate to read more even if it’s machine translated lol. It has a large number of cnovels on the site. I feel this site’s coolest feature though, is the ability to enable ‘RAW.’ If you do that, at the top of the chapter you’re reading, then you will see the traditional character paragraphs above the english machine translated ones. This allows you to use any novel on the site as a parallel chinese-english reader. Right now you can only enable RAW if you are logged in. An account is free. If you run into unknown chinese words, you can look them up in the dictionary/translator of your choice. Or, if you have the free Zhongwen chrome extension, then you can just hover over unknown words for a definition on the same page. (If you like any of these novels, support the author’s official releases). 

https://dictionary.chinesezerotohero.com/#/reader - I’ve seen the site Chinese Zero to Hero before and its quite helpful. I think there’s paid areas, but this area is free. In the Reader, you can paste in any chinese text and it will provide pinyin above the hanzi, along with dictionary definitions if you hover over a word/phrase. I’m testing it right now, and their translations are pretty good! (This Chinese Zero to Hero Reader, or LanguageTools.io are free alternatives I would suggest instead of LingQ, for a reader). In addition, this site also has a lot of free graded readers with all these same features plus accompanying audio. I read The Monkey King on this site before. This site in general also has a large selection of grammar points, and a nice dictionary that breaks down words/characters by radical, includes links to related words, includes pictures of the word’s meaning (in case you’re a visual learner or are making flashcards), includes mnemonics (which I just realized!) and example sentences. It looks very useful and I should start using their dictionary more... (mnemonics seems to be the big benefit of this that Pleco doesn’t have).