The prologue:
In the six realms, there is god, demon, immortal, spirit, mortal, ghost.
In the mortal world, there is a Tian Yan Mountain. On the Mountain, there is a soul splitting cliff. On the soul splitting cliff, there is a small soil mound. On the soil mound, there is a tree. On this tree, there is a… glossy ganoderma (basically, a mushroom that grows on trees).
It just had a bit of godly consciousness, it was dry, shrivelled, and scared. Every day when it saw humans, it anxiously closed its eyes and silently chanted: Don’t cook me to make soup, don’t cook me to make soup…
“What an ugly mushroom,” Someone furrowed his brow and walked away.
……
This caused the small ganodema to be a laughing stock among the other creatures on Soul Spitting Cliff. Until one day, a wash of white light fell from the sky. It caused her to save 500 years of cultivation and immediately took human form – she became a baby and was carried away.
“How can there be a baby on the Soul Splitting Cliff?” Someone asked finding it strange but could not find any answer. The ugly mushroom can no longer be seen. He laughed, “You shall be called Gu Xiao Mo (taking Mo from mushroom)”.
Gu Xiao Mo? Little Mushroom?
Darn! Even after one big transformation, she was still a dry shrivelled mushroom.
The synopsis is largely modelled after the prologue, but there’s an extra bit:
It turns out that he and her were both monsters. Under this big sky, it is afraid that there is no space to hold them.
What is spirit, what is demon, what is immortal, what is mortal?
After expending all their efforts and everything they had, all the two monsters wanted was to gain some warmth from each other.
For love and justice! Little Mushroom! Transform!
[E book] [Audiobook] [Radiodrama] [Radiodrama 2][Trượng Kiếm Nhất Tiếu Thải Ma Cô][Eng Translation]
I’ll write a relatively spoiler free summary here and will do a
more detailed spoiler-filled one on my blog.
The female lead, Gu Xiao Mo (Little Mushroom), is described as skilled in swordplay but no talent for sorcery. She is the seventh disciple in the Tian Yan sect and admires the oldest disciple. However, he is in love with the eighth disciple, Little Mushroom’s younger sect sister (not actual sister). Little Mushroom is described as looking like a ghost most of the time, messy hair, wearing her favourite grey robes (because she can clean them the least) – slowly, her self esteem issues and fears about her true identity is explored. She never falls ill and can see ghosts- she wonders if she is a demon, spirit or human. Little Mushroom is very strong-willed, hides her weaknesses and smiles when she is sad – only those who really love and care for her can see how she hides her weaknesses deep inside.
As the story starts, there are signs of trouble in the land and a possible battle with the demonic tribe. So, the oldest disciple, the younger sect sister and X are sent out on a pilgrimage to find the second and fifth disciple who had went out first. During the journey,
Little Mushroom gives the younger sect sister a pouch to protect her – but this causes the demonic tribe to mistake the younger sect sister for Little Mushroom and she is kidnapped… later, Little Mushroom meets the male lead, Yu Liu, who turns out to be the reincarnation of the much feared Dragon god, who is destined to rule over all the mystic creatures of the land and cause chaos on earth….
I’ll leave the details and further analysis for my blog review. I actually decided to read this because I chanced upon a chinese list of book recommendations and this was given 5 stars. I can see why it was given 5 stars – because the male lead, Y, is possibly one of the best male leads ever – he is the most beautiful person ever seen in the book (haha shallow), but not only that, he had to go through a tragic crippling past, but once he fell for Little Mushroom, he really fell and gave her everything. His past never deterred him from loving Little Mushroom with all he could – I found that extremely moving.
Little Mushroom and Yu Liu’s relationship was truly perfect – they helped each other resolve their internal demons (hah literal for some) and made them a better more whole person. BUT, I can also see why some people would give this book halfway, because it starts agonisingly slow. The set-up is really obvious so as a reader you are just – omg, author, please get to the good parts. The story only seems to get going after chapter 20 – and who knows how many readers are lost by then.
The novel is like a wuxia manga and the middle parts are really good, it even includes a swordfighting competition <3. But, I really don't know how many people would last that far (total of 70 chapters) and I would have weed out a whole lot of content if I was the author.
SPOILER ON THE ENDING
There was a small ending and a final ending when the book was published. When I read the small ending, I wanted to kill myself because it was tragic. But the final ending revived the male lead (haha), so it was happy. But, at the last part of the book, it was so much sadness for the two leads, that I still feel the author owed it to the readers to give us some romantic fluff at the end!
ENDING OF SPOILER
So, this book seriously has one of the best female and male leads I've read so far in c-novels. BUT, the author fills out the book with so much other content and supporting characters (who while are pretty awesome, always makes me feel – can we return to the main couple now, please?), that I don't know if it is ultimately satisfying. This is better than the run of the mill god-mortal (xianxia) novels, but the plot and pacing is probably 3-3.5 stars, and I'm giving it 4 stars on my blog only because the moments between the female and male leads make me want to laugh, cry and squish something inside.
Click here if you want more details, spoilers and some of my
favourite scene translations: http://onesecondspring.blogspot.sg/2014/01/by-with-one-smile-sword-tramples.html
A big thank you to decembi for posting her first very detailed synopsis and comment. It makes my audiobook listening a lot easier knowing who is who and how the story will unfold. The book is indeed very slow but I like the voices in the audiobook so I will persevere. Just that I may take a long long time to get to the end:P
You are welcome! Thanks for letting me post here 🙂
Actually, which part are you at now? Have you met the nine tailed fox demon? The story really gets good from the point he appears!
Blush, blush, I am only at chapter 2 bcos I fell asleep, lol. Wah, I’ve to wait so long to meet the male lead:( I think I gonna skip to chapter 20:P Btw if you like this kind of sacrificial male lead, I think I may have a book for you which is more popular. I think the ending for that book is something like this book also but don’t quote me on it bcos the reviews said that book is pretty angsty.
Hahahaha! Oh no. I think the male lead appears around chapter 5 actually, but he is pretty cold and aloof until later.
Oh, I don’t mind sacrificial male lead but it has to be super happy ending! I need romantic fluff. Haha. I’m going to start on your Black White soon! Just arrive in Hong Kong and there’s so many things to settle
OAO I’ve always wanted to read this because I thought the summary was cute but my Viet isn’t too good… Will there be a full English translation…?
I love your translation, in fact, I think the writing style is better than original.
I absolutely love the main couple!!!! The moment they each realize their own feelings for the other person all the way to the end of the book, I felt so sad for them. Other than the main couple, I also felt bad for many of the supporting characters.