I'm really enjoying this novel so far. The premise of a modern guy getting transported into the body of a beautiful but crazy female martial artist is ripe for comedy, and the author delivers in spades.

The main character, A-Qing, is an absolute riot. Her complete lack of understanding about the murim world's culture and her foul-mouthed, confrontational personality leads to countless hilarious interactions and misunderstandings. Yet she also shows flashes of an existential crisis over her reality, giving surprising depth.

The action sequences are great, mixing traditional murim fighting with A-Qing's... more>> unhinged berserker mentality. The world-building of the murim itself is well-researched and immersive.

Most impressively, the novel manages to be a martial arts gender-bender comedy without feeling creepy or fetishistic at all. The gender swap is treated as just an absurd premise to mine for laughs, not sexualized.

My only minor gripe is some of the humor relies a bit too much on Korean-language puns that can get a little lost in translation. But the translator does an admirable job explaining them.

Overall, this is a fresh, funny, well-written murim novel that transcends its genre trappings. I highly recommend giving the "crazy b*tch" a try! The opening chapters had me hooked. <<less

Everybody already told you the general story so I wont tell again. But here is details.

Characters 5/5.

All of them has unique personality thats also dynamic. MC is the best lmao. Dark humored insane troll. Another plus is she also has identity crisis.

... more>> Plot 5/5

"I do whatever I want, go wherever I want but somehow it becomes a bloodbath." Kinda plot. But somehow MC isnt evil 🤣. Thankfully not a bog-standard hero. Characters and fighting is more of a plot in this novel than a big grand story (at least for now). Great.

Worldbuilding 3/5:

The title has Murim on it what did u expect? Classic chinese cultivation. Great sects and stuff. You know the rest.

Writing quality 0/5.

Annoying A.F. Like its pain in the a*s. Give me the action first then explain later. Or vice versa. DONT f*kin cram 5 f*kin paragraphs in the middle of a fight or dialog. Also stop explaining everything. Show it. But I have to say, explanations and fights are not bad. Just that habit of author is annoying.

All in one sentence: Great novel, but the author is as troll as the MC. Author may annoy you every once in a while but u will wait for every chapter. Trust me. <<less

Hello! TLer Dominus here!

This novel has been at the top of Novelpia for months now, a rare TS (Genderbender) novel at the pinnacle despite the readers being Korean. This may be an ick to some people, but trust me when I say the genderbender is barely noticeable. It is very, very focused on Action, Comedy, and Martial Arts. After all, the title is very self-explanatory :)) That being said, the writing is absolutely incredible and the worldbuilding (though in the early stages) is phenomenal as well. Murim is notoriously hard... more>> to TL so I hope I have done this novel justice!

Now, to the summary:

In this novel, an everyday salary worker who works at a game production company decides to play dabble in a new genre, instead of his traditional fantasy games. Something he had never played before. While browsing through the internet, he discovers someone recommending a martial arts genre: Murim Chronicles: A Tale of Life and Death.

While following a recommendation post detailing how he should customize his character (as one does), he decides that his character's Constitution will be Blood Poison and its Star of Destiny as the Heavenly Slaughtering Star. His character appearance? Obviously, big b**ba woman (cultured). And the name? A-Qing, the famous Lady of the Moon from Chinese mythology. The Yue Maiden.

But right at the moment he clicks the button Start Murim Journey he... No, she finds herself in a dark cave, feeling a certain heavy weight (wink wink) from her chest. She has entered this new unfamiliar world: Murim! Now, our MC sets off on a journey to traverse the Central Plains, and through the process, discovers what it means to be a martial artist and cements herself as this Murim's Crazy b*tch!

Now, onto my personal thoughts:

This is one of my favorite novels I have ever TLed! Every part of it is so well-written and full of both modern and historical references. The author has done an INCREDIBLE job in researching Ancient China, as well as classic Wuxia (as seen from his penname LOL). It is difficult for me to do the research, but at the same time, it feels so much more fulfilling to get the references. If you check my footnotes, you'll learn about things you've never heard before! But at the same time, it is so very interesting.

It has quite a unique premise. It is rare to find a novel where the setting is Murim, the concept is System, and the backstory is genderbender. Clearly, there is more to see and more to find out from such a genre! Although it has such cliche concepts, the mixture of it is so unique that it feels almost novel (lol pun intended) to read it! It is definitely a novel targetted for all audiences.

Our MC, A-Qing. She is unhinged, but at the same time, incredibly relatable. Every part of her exudes "batsh*t crazy" and rightfully so; her Star of Destiny is the Heavenly Slaughtering Star, so she is literally built to kill and massacre. Because of her sudden transmigration into this game world, you can tell she has an existential crisis and I'm excited to see how she overcomes it! For now, she is full of comedy, and in the process, she is getting to know what it entails to be a martial artist in Murim. The reason why she is so relatable is because she is one of us. A keyboard warrior, a gamer, a reader (but not experienced with Murim), and someone sick of everyday life. As such, she has her struggles, but quickly turns powerful enough to defend herself. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how overpowered she becomes!

What is the best thing when it comes to Murim/Wuxia novels? Of course, it's the flamboyant skills, the techniques, the world itself, and the fights. Luckily for you (and me), there is an abundance of that! The novel is mainly focused on action and self-reflection. It is a novel that orbits A LOT around the MC and her growth; something all of us love to see in classic, traditional martial arts novels. You will see Young Master/Ladies being b*tchslapped and groups of people getting to know their place. But trust me, none of it is done in a cliche way. Her actions have a certain orderly chaos to it, so you can never truly predict her next step. Which makes it all the more fun!

Sadly (or perhaps fortunately for some?), there is no romance. It is just KILL KILL KILL BLOOD SLAUGHTER DECAPITATE I ALONE AM THE HONORED ONE type of vibe. So this is definitely a novel for people who love action! Fight scenes! And craziness! Even if you are a romance enjoyer, it won't disappoint. After all, our MC is very, very likable.

All I can say is to try it out! You won't regret it (but you may be left wanting for more). I truly hope I have done the writing justice and translated it well enough for you to enjoy! Thanks for reading! Now, onto my last "ratings":

Plot: 5 Stars (NU u gotta add a 6 please)

Characters: 4.5 Stars (the character development is just starting! But the MC is so based from the very beginning, so she carries this rating!)

World Building/Setting: 5 Stars

Writing/Storytelling: 5 Stars

Entertainment Value: 5 Stars (6 stars please)

Overall: Why are you still reading this and not the novel? Begone and READ. <<less

I don't normally like genderbender stories (because they are bad most of time, as we all know) . So, I was hesitant to read this but as I am a longtime Wuxia and Murim fan (Badass Murim Tomboy? Sign me up) , I gave it a try. Also the title was interesting.

To my surprise this was actually quite well done. We start with an MC who is playing a murim based game, after he makes a character according to a walkthrough (who does that?) , he gets transmigrated... more>> to the game world into the body of his character; And the character surprise, surprise! Is a busty tomboy. Thus starts the journey of our protagonist who is a bit (extremely) unhinged.

Now to the Pros (things I liked about this novel) :

1. The author really knows chinese history and martial arts (something you really need to write a martial arts story) . Thus, he paints an extremely vivid picture of the era, and chinese culture in general (This references freaking Yue Maiden!!) . The attention to detail is amazing, even in the little things like the type of food and drinks served in the inn. Like this is a godsend for Wuxia lovers.

2. This novel has a system. Now now, don't shy away because of that, cause this novel handles the system aspect extremely well. The author skillfully weaves together elements of traditional martial arts novels with a touch of the fantasy. Not only is the concept of karma and the unique growth method of the Mc's martial arts skills quite intriguing, but also the author doesn't just leave it at that, he actually explores the idea of pre-registered martial arts and how the acquisition of skills through the investment of Free Practice Points clouds one's worldview. He especially highlights how this system actually makes it difficult for MC to think of this as reality, instead of making it easier.

3. Continuing from my 2nd point, I really like how the author delves into the psychological implications of what it means to suddenly find oneself in a game world. How it makes one delusional, making one doubt oneself. It raises questions about the nature of reality, our Identity, and what it means to have free will and whether or not we truly have it.
The exploration of these themes adds depth to the narrative, elevating it beyond just a run of the mill power fantasy.

4. The action sequences are extremely well done. The author seems to excel at writing high intensity fight scenes. The MC is absolutely unhinged (like traditional psychopathic Wuxia Mc's, but with a very good sense of humour so it doesn't get tiring) so it has an extreme "Kill! Kill! Kill!" vibe. But it's done by a Tomboy, so that just makes it infinitely better.

5. Lastly, the translation is quite well done. As someone who has developed extreme poison resistance from reading numerous wuxia, I have seen the absolute depths of bad translations, so it's very fortunate that I don't have to use the Dao of the Heavenly Editing in the Mind to read this. Thank the Heavens.

Now to the cons:

Well it's too early to judge as the story is just at a 10 or so chapters, but there are no prominent cons as of now.
It would be better if the pacing was a little more even, but that's just me being greedy. This already does a great job at telling an interesting story, so a little bit of uneven pacing is negligible.

In Conclusion:

For those seeking an enthralling Murim novel, that combines martial arts, fantasy and thought provoking themes about Identity and Free will, this story is a must-read.
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Holy crap! This novel is absolutely amazing. Hysterically funny, and main character is a absolute riot.

I almost always wait a while to see how a series actually holds up before giving it a review. But this series is just so good that it can't wait.

But let's address the elephant in the room: the genderbender tag.

Simply put, those who like the GB genre will probably be starved and find none of the usual elements you look for in these stories. You will be like someone adrift in the ocean; surrounded by... more>> water that is of no use to you and doesn't quench your thirst. (You may still enjoy the series though even if it isn't like other gb series)

Those who usually run away like the plague when they see this tag, should pull their emergency brakes and give this story a go.

For all intents and purposes, the gender swap plays no significant part other than to make the series more entertaining, by how the character acts, how the other characters perceive "her", and the audience who knows what the reality is. It's literally the basis of comedy how it plays on tropes and stereotypes and expectations, and twists them. Even people who loathe genderswap normally could actively agree it was a great choice here.

This is one of those times where the MC could've just been a super masculine/tomboy woman (and the story would've been great still), but the fact the MC was genuinely a man actually makes it more entertaining.

MAIN Character:

In one word, fantastic. The character is that goldilocks "just right". "She" is powerful enough that she doesn't get bogged down by fodder and can walk her own path. But not excessively broken that nothing will ever be a threat to her.

Personality wise she can be brutal/ruthless against scum. She has a solid backbone and makes firm decisions (not a beta/spineless character). But she treats people fairly as they deserve, she isn't some unhinged maniac (though she does cut loose to sate her cultivation path chosen (berserker)). She can be a bit oblivious/dense, but it is not the annoying irrational kind. Rather the bulk of it is genuine misunderstandings primarily due to ignorance of the culture and society she finds herself in. Even the exception to that rule, her misunderstanding is something that could be a rational conclusion.

She is intelligent enough to be self aware and pick up her mistakes and the situations, where she directly addresses them. Which also manifests in her sharp wit and tr*shtalking and instigating others. My goodness the tr*sh talking is absolutely glorious!

Like *minor spoiler* when a jealous woman confronts her to back off from being around an acquaintance MC absolutely bodies her with words and puts her in her place

THE WRITING

Simply exceptional. The author has impeccable comedic timing, and a fantastic cadence to the story. Chock full of references to historic and modern society. Not in the annoying way media today will do the "remember the time we did this" in series.

But rather a way that genuinely keeps your interest and adds more color to the MCs thinking.

Like a perfect example: a recent chapter brought up the subject of how MC hates dealing with the crappy toilets/outhouses of the more primitive society. Thus the author uses that concept and creates shrodingers outhouse.

Spoiler

"But A-Q was also facing a major crisis.

It was a matter of whether the out house might be dirty, a matter of ones dignity.

Before opening the outhouse door, it's condition existed in a state of both cleanliness and filth.

In essence, it was Shrodigers shit;a mixed state that became fixed to reality based on the observers observation.

Humanity had always longed to overcome this chaos.

Believing that good deeds would bring them good fortune was the result of that desperate effort."

[collapse]

It's hard to say where things will end up as the story progresses, but the author currently does a great job balancing things. It's never dull drab prose.

THE TRANSLATION

Not much to say other than it is excellent. Which given the authors rich and skilled writing, is really impressive. Often series like this can be a nightmare to translate well. But this translator manages to make it sound natural, like it could've been written in English.

CONCLUSION

As it is, this is shaping up to be one of my absolute favorite series. It seems like it can fill the void left by Fake Saint in humor, but be a more mature series set in the murim.

I give this series a rating of: do not read while drinking milk/coffee, and people will give you weird looks on public transit as you can't resist laughing or suppressing it with a strange grin. <<less

I usually avoid gender bender stories like the plague. The only GB story I've read and enjoyed before this was the 'Saga of Tanya the Evil'. However due to the translator of 'The childhood friend of the Zenith' being the one who translates and recommended this I decided to give it a go and I'm glad I did.

This is a transmigration story with a protagonist transported into a cultivation game world. He is the only one with game mechanics in the world so far while everything else adheres to the... more>> standard ancient China cultivation world. After the introduction chapter the story kicks off with a time skip straight into a year after his transportation so we skip his literal rolling in the mud getting beaten up by farmers phase.

The story is extremely funny. The protagonist is a sharp, irreverent and confrontational Korean thrusts into the Murim world with no foreknowledge or genre savvy on the cultivation world and its norms. This results in some very hilarious interactions while he mouths off and gets into conflicts.

There are hints of serious issues as the protagonist has flashes of existential struggles with the fact that he was transported and the fact he has a game system like: "Am I real, is this real am I just insane" as he stares at his system screen update before he bottles it up with his favourite coping method, irreverent humour.

In terms of power the protagonist is strong for his age, realm and status. He already has some OP cultivation methods with lot of potential for growth and he started off with a violence prone but OP physique. This means we have already gotten some very enjoyable faces slapping. He hasn't interacted with the old monster yet so I'm looking forward to how he handles that.

So far my only gripe is that some of the humour is based heavily on Korean/Chinese language humour with puns and such that rely on the original language to be truly funny. The translator does their best to explain those in the footnotes which is quiet funny in itself because they end up looking like footnote of a dissertations lmao.

It's early days yet but I'm looking forward to more of this to come. Thanks for picking it up TL. <<less

Read this until the genesis paywall, any other ways to get more chapters? Appreciate the help.

This is a funny, well written satire/faithful reproduction of murim type wuxia stories. The main character is in genuine distress as to wether she is a former factory worker s**ked into the game, or a game character being controlled by a player, and her status screen causes her mental problems. The efficient character build choices of creating a character to maximize fightning potential also create some issues that are interesting.

But the distress of being s**ked... more>> into a murim motivates the characters somewhat brutish behavior, eating and drinking till her money is gone, livening up her life with fighting, and not really wanting to get too informed about the world, because at a certain level she just doesn't think its real.

The majority of the comedy comes from the MC's South Korean sh*t talking ability and its effect on a culture more concerned with politeness. Great device for laugh out loud in my opinion.

All in all I heartily recomend and would appreciate recomendations based on this novel. <<less

Have you ever wanted to read a story with a batsh*t insane main character? If so this novel is for you, albeit it only has 16 chapters as of writing this review I thoroughly enjoyed every single moment while I was reading and I can't wait for more chapters because this novel is actually just so fun, its a action-comedy story which delivers both parts extremely well, I often find myself laughing at the chapters and the fight scenes are actually good, overall read it dont let the gender bender... more>> tag deter you away <<less

I personally don't care about genderbent, and am fine with both male and female protagonists so that wasn't a problem for me. I really liked the comedy in this novel so far. There is no romance in this novel so no relationships that are amde weird due to the genderbent protagonist. However this also adds to the comedy as the MC retains his original personality as a game dev and behaves very roughly and 'unladylike.' He reads a guide online for his first murim game to create the most op... more>> build possible and chooses a lady character with huge b**bs and that is seen as vulgar in this world, thus creating situations where male friends of the MC are misunderstood as being in a relationship with her and she had to deal with other jealous women. She is from the modern world so is woefully ignorant of the customs and manners of murim, leading to funny encounters. This book is a fun read and I would recommend it. <<less

One of the funniest novels I have read. I don't really find most novels funny even if they are meant to because of culture differences that are hard to translate into an english joke and also because just reading words makes it hard to imagine the actual scenario for the joke to be funny but this novel is different, the MC is so crazy that every shenanigans he/she does is just hilarious. It's like reading Crazy Demon manhwa but the MC is (female?). Anyways, a very recommended read for those... more>> searching for novels that has murim, comedy, and batsh*t crazy protagonist. Would probably like it even if you are not into the genderbender genre. <<less

The author cannot stop themselves from expositing between every thought and action of characters. In the middle of a fight scene, the author will then go off on explaining the background of a character, their thoughts about how the fight is going, and whatever else the author thinks are relevant.

The only redeeming part is reading about how the main character reacts to living as a game character in a world of martial arts, also known as Murim. She is really fast to resorting to violence, and these situations... more>> will most likely become stale the further I read.

I do not recommend reading this if readers cannot withstand having to push through heavy exposition in-between actions.

Edit: I have read a little further, and the story seems to differ little from what I have wrote previously. There is a lot of writing for little to no payoff. Truly, the word count is king for paying bills. <<less

Not a review of the story, I haven't read it yet but went to check it out on Novelpia. I noticed that there's a lot of fan-art and some of them are really good looking (in a cool-style aspect).

Edit, just read it:
Great, as usual, the gender-bend aspect is not really essential to the plot, as of yet. MC is having an existential crisis about whether or not she has free will or is taking actions according to some higher will and is acting in a way that seems batsh*t insane to keep herself from going crazy.

"This is an apocalyptic landscape where the dead easily outnumbered the living" THIS NOVEL IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Honestly, the speed of translating and publishing the chapters makes the tl's effort visible, as there is a lot of slang and South Korean.

BUT just based on the story this is easily a 5 star rating! F*ck the old good versus evil. This is a political war for power between multiple factions. And the protagonist is an absolute beast. A conqueror. Loyal to her allies (in the chapter I'm currently in). Unshakable principles... more>> (Lmao). And ruthless with his enemies.

Mainly, since you've read the synopsis, you should know that it's a Murim World, where the development of the world is well explained and shows the martial arts of each sect that the protagonist sees or faces, and I really like female warrior protagonists, where you hardly find one, like for example in Ending Maker, or the youngest son of Master Swordsman, think of it as a simple and direct beating Shounen, only feminine, you will realize that even if the formulas are similar, you will see that it is different just because of the genre, what I liked about this difference, even the fights are detailed and in most chapters, I always end up with a smile at the foul mouth and the jokes.

Conclusion-> If you want to laugh a lot and enjoy a Murim world, welcome and read it. <<less