bro its so pretty

the artwork is amazing…..the first chapter for some reason on some chinese manhwa it starts really confusing by trying to explain what the story is about >.>

last edited at Aug 15, 2022 1:33PM

Holy god Yun Shao is freaking gorgeous. Please be my wife.

I love historical baihe romances so much

Historical, romance, and yuri. Great combo. So far nice art, so looking forward to moar.

the artwork is amazing…..the first chapter for some reason on some chinese manhwa it starts really confusing by trying to explain what the story is about >.>

Agree… I read some chinese novel in my own language and I have to say chinese novels are great. But when I read manhua(?) version of them I can’t understand even I did read the novels long time ago

the artwork is amazing…..the first chapter for some reason on some chinese manhwa it starts really confusing by trying to explain what the story is about >.>

It's called a preview. The point is to inform people about major plot points so they will stick around through the initial setup, knowing full well how impatient online readers are.

I don't get it at all... >.>

The mc girl is like a special agent from some kind of secret service, yes?
They send their operatives into fantasy worlds to do missions?
And this time her mission is to seduce the emperor?
It's a jumbled mess. >_>

And what the frick is that sd doll on the main girl's shoulder? they call her "miss Gongdou" on one vignette but perhaps it's a joke?

And since we are at it what is gongdou? Saying it's the "palace duel genre" doesn't do anything for me since I have no clue what's that.

And since we are at it what is gongdou? Saying it's the "palace duel genre" doesn't do anything for me since I have no clue what's that.

Never heard of it before, but I'm assuming it's a genre in which palace courtiers and/or courtesans duke it out for influence or power or the emperor's favour.

Never heard of it before, but I'm assuming it's a genre in which palace courtiers and/or courtesans duke it out for influence or power or the emperor's favour.

Exactly. Gongdou literally means palace intrigue. The genre is hugely popular in Chinese costume drama.

Lotta manhua's popping up here recently. I'm not complaining.

hope the whole manhua looks this good

This looks promising and could be fun. I will watch over this manhua with great interest.

Historical setting are so good

Super convoluted setup. I guess the gist isn't too hard to understand, but still. Quite the mess.

Historical setting are so good

Yes, modern times really miss those virtual cards that influence random people into doing random stuff ...

last edited at Aug 21, 2022 11:23AM

Super convoluted setup. I guess the gist isn't too hard to understand, but still. Quite the mess.

In the mamhua's defense, I think the reason it feels messy is because it's trying its best to avoid exposition and instead rely on the reader's knowledge of its genres (isekai and harem dramas) to fill in the gaps. And I always prefer too little exposition to too much exposition.

This is one of those "system isekai" ones that are so prevalent in Chinese fiction that they don't even bother explaining them anymore, right? I remember someone mentioning stuff about that at some point, possibly in the thread for "Please Bully me, Miss Villainess".
That's prob why it seems so convoluted

Super convoluted setup. I guess the gist isn't too hard to understand, but still. Quite the mess.

A part of me hopes this exposition style doesn't last too long and I do think the way they introduced the information all in one go makes things seem more complicated than it actually is like you said.

However, given the nature of complex palace intrigue coupled with the historical setting AND the whole supernatural/virtual stuff of the MC's videogame mission, I predict we won't be shaking this feeling of being lost for quite a decent amount of time.

The mc girl is like a special agent from some kind of secret service, yes?

They send their operatives into fantasy worlds to do missions?
And this time her mission is to seduce the emperor?
It's a jumbled mess. >_>

And what the frick is that sd doll on the main girl's shoulder? they call her "miss Gongdou" on one vignette but perhaps it's a joke?

This is a very, VERY popular trope in Chinese stories. Basically there are people who are special agents going to different ficitional worlds and do missions. Sometimes they are forced to do it to restore their previous life, sometimes they do it to get reward for other things. But basically they have to do missions in these fictional worlds, and they must get good results.

The missions vary with each story, but they mostly exist as obstacles that hinder the main character's own goal.

That small girl is a "system", a kind of guide that follows along the agent and aids them. Systems are represented as small floating things, and only the agent can see them. Systems can not directly influence the world, what they can do (and is basically their entire reason for existing) is to remind the agent to do their missions.

Agents can refuse to do the missions, but they will have terrible result when the story is over, and that can be bad for them. However, sometimes, there are stories that allow the systems to basically force the agent into doing things by possession.

last edited at Aug 21, 2022 11:55AM

I've been reading Chinese gl novels for years and finally seeing a few here now, I have to say I'm ecstatic.

I very much agree with the idea of giving the system an actual form. I feel it would be much more difficult to depict someone speaking to the system in their consciousness in manhwa/manhua rather than a novel which gives full play to your own imagination and understanding of it.

Either way, I'm super excited to see these being translated on dynasty the last few months.

Only after reading the first chapter I realized I’ve actually read the machine translated version of the web novel this manhua is based on.

I didn’t realize it at first because the title for this translation is very different from the google translation of the original web novel’s title (which is 这昏君的黑月光我当定了).

I don’t want to spoil anything, but here is the link to a machine translated version if anyone is curious: https://www.mtlnovel.com/im-determined-to-be-the-dark-moonlight/

I pretty sure it’s google translate, so it can be hard to understand if you’re not used to it.

The original web novel is here but most of the chapters need VIP: http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=4677684

last edited at Aug 21, 2022 1:47PM

The mc girl is like a special agent from some kind of secret service, yes?

That sounds a bit too official for someone who's basically playing a high-immersion video game with the objective to retcon a romance novel's ending. If I understand correctly, the "host" didn't even read said novel before embarking on the mission, which is a level of preparedness I expect from bored casual gamer more than from a real secret service agent.

last edited at Aug 21, 2022 2:27PM

This is one of those "system isekai" ones that are so prevalent in Chinese fiction that they don't even bother explaining them anymore, right? I remember someone mentioning stuff about that at some point, possibly in the thread for "Please Bully me, Miss Villainess".
That's prob why it seems so convoluted

Yep, you are correct!

Others have already explained it here but I'll throw in my two cents as well.

"System" stories are basically about characters being transported into a fictional world, where they are given missions to either progress the plot of the story, or given missions to change the plot of the story, often to save a character who is doomed to tragedy otherwise.

Some stories, such as Please Bully Me Miss Villainess, have characters who rebel against the "system" and try to resist doing the missions because they don't agree with the plot that they are supposed to follow.

In this story the protagonist was put into this world to change the original plot of a story. The "original" plotline of the world was that it was essentially a palace drama focused on Xiao Qianxue becoming the favored consort of the emperor Yun Shao. The story is a drama but also a tragedy, as it turns out that while Xiao Qianxue became the emperor's favorite woman in the imperial harem, the emperor's love for her was fake, as the emperor hadn't gotten over their first love. This caused Xiao Qianxue a lot of pain and suffering, and then ultimately she grew to hate the emperor and poisoned him.

Our protagonist's mission given to her by the "system" (in this case the system seems to take the form of a little fairy) is to make the emperor fall for her instead, to save Xiao Qianxue from heartbreak and tragedy.

To do so, there are smaller missions, which once completed will give reward points that can be exchanged for powerful items to help the protagonist. In this case she had the little talisman that caused 3 seconds of random infatuation for the emperor, but as she completes missions (like increasing the emperor's favorability with her, like in a dating sim) she will likely unlock new items and more powerful abilities.

So big picture-wise, does this count as an isekai? Do readers call them isekai or is this a totally distinct Chinese genre?

Thank you so very much, Zokoi, and also Cornonthekopp and everyone who kindly took the time to write an exposition of the genre & context of this manhua story! Thanks to you I finally understand what's going on, I was hopelessly lost before.