Tome of Troubled Times
Ongoing

Tome of Troubled Times

83%
37 Reviews
Author:
Ji Cha
Translator:
Tiptoe
Summary
A young man plagued by recurring nightmares finds himself visiting a blind fortune teller, who sends him to a world of martial arts that looks a lot like the wuxia stories he used to read. 
In the sky of this world, a tome shines every now and then, revealing the hierarchy of mighty beings that seek power amid troubled times. Determined to unravel the mysteries of his involuntary journey and the secrets of the world he has ended up in, he endeavors to ascend the tome's rankings, all while looking for a path back home.
Official Chinese blurb
Wandering the jianghu with a blade and wine, where beauties' grace is filling one's mind.
A youth, saber on his back and wine gourd at the waist, strides forth, yet the jianghu of his heart seems only more elusive;
With each flipped page of the Tome of Troubled Times, decades of nights soaked in rain pass over the jianghu.
As he suddenly turns to look back, he finds that the mortal world has shattered in his wake.
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Chapters
470 Chapters
Licensed From
China Literature

Details

Release Rate: Two (2) chapters every day at 10:00 PM GMT+8

Translated by TipToe (discord: astraltiptoe). First 50 chapters were translated by Ash

Edited by penguin

Reviews
83%
37 Reviews
View All
DhariaCole
5 months ago
Not recommended
Disappointing.

This novel was not at all what I expected, and I wondered if they got the genre wrong.

It reads more like a Young Adult romance harem novel targeting teenage boys, than a jianghu wuxia cultivation story.

I’m 92 chapters in and there are already 3 girls, with a 4th being introduced, hovering around. The romance plot has followed the clichéd meeting, go through adversity together, exploring feelings, then separation arc. But because the Main Character is so handsome (even with the scar on his face) that every girl he meets eventually falls for him.

The translator’s doing a good job, but this isn’t the jianghu in my heart.

#ReviewRush

Alfoodo
6 months ago
·
Edited
Recommended
Old review:

Banger of a read.

In the entirety of wuxiaworld, this is the only other novel I would give a 10/10 besides star gate.

The rarest and most unique aspect of this novel is that despite it being a wuxia (martial art's) world, the romance is done extremely well, a singular trope (not going to say which) is used extremely, and I mean extremely well to build the connection between the 2 characters, in a way reminiscent of the soul land 2 series (hint). I couldn't believe how invested I was on the subtle interactions and thoughts they had, at certain moments I even clapped like a teenage girl reading a romcom.

More on the novel itself, if anyone read, or at least ATTEMPTED to read dao of the bizzare immortal, but couldn't get hooked and kept dropping it like me, this novel in my opinion, is able to use the premise a lot better.

A dream to transmigration.

The cultivation system is well-explained, and could be considered standard, the classic external + internal cultivation technique's but the author doesn't shit on external ones, acknowledges the strengths of both, explains the difference AND states the fact that all true masters should practice both and doesn't treat it like some grand reveal only the mc can do. Which I greatly appreciate.

Another very unique thing about this novel is, the mc doesn't have a cheat system per say, instead he recieved a tarro card divination, hinting at 3 items he needs to acquire. The entire premise is very interesting and it relies on the mc on whether or not he can get them, 30 chapters in, it's still shrouded in mystery as to whether or not what happens if he rejects them or doesn't find them, however it definitely doesn't give the mc cheats, the mc has to use his brain and calculate his martial arts without being overly-reliant on some bs system that solves everything for him.

The chapters are long,

And the translation is excellent.

(New)Update (chaps 70-90):

90 chapters in, I would no longer consider the novel a 10/10 more like an 8.5/10, as usual as the plot progresses, it went further from adventure and uncertainty and more towards a traditional chinese historical romance with contrived reasons for women falling in love with the mc, 90 chapters in theres 4 potential lovers, with which only 1 is tolerable. I understand harem's are common in these sorts of novels but even considering the plot 90 chapters in, there should at most be 2 lovers, the other 2 are just there for contrived reasons and their dialogues just take up word space uselessly with corny flirting at EVERY interaction.

Another issue is that despite there being massive cultivation jumps, 90 chapters in, the mc is still at the fourth realm of the most basic level, where as most of the enemies and mysterious antagonists are an unknown number of levels above him, in a completely different ranking. I normally like a slow-cultivation progression novel with some deeper intracacies, but the issue is, the cultivation system in this novel is very bland, cultivate enough qi, break through, done. So there isn't much of a reason for the progression of the mc to be so slow, though it is considered rapid in the eyes of side-characters.

Ever since chapter 50 the plot hasn't been that interesting honestly, the remaining 40 chapters can be summariesed into 3 bullet points:

-add the "most beautiful women he ever saw" x2 into his harem

-kill hundreds of side-characters with an op weapon and op internal qi art

-mid political intrigue, we don't really care about the empire and the exposition on the power structure of the wider world hasn't been well developed yet so its quite boring.

2nd update (chapter 100+):

Oh god the romance in this novel sucks ass now, its like reading a redditors fantasy about how he can collect as many beautiful women as he can, and them all being okay with the mc sleeping with others.

The power structure also sucks ass, what is everyone strong in the novel doing? It's like every time the mc levels up his opponents are only 1 level higher than him nowadays.

I'll read for another 50 chapters, and if there's no improvements from thai generic garble then I'm changing to a down-vote.

Current rating 6.5/10

ParagonStar
VIP
6 months ago
·
Edited
Recommended
Edit chapter 106: this novel is still decent and a thumbs up but I think not as highly as I initially rated it. There is a lot of action and decently constructed characters.

There have been 3 love interests introduced. The MC wants to keep his modern morals but it seems like he is wavering. That said the love interests all have different quirks, personalities, and backgrounds and doesn’t feel like the MC is playing Pokémon. So harem likely but not the mindless kind

———

Initial review

I am really intrigued by the start. I heard this novel is one that was top ten in Qidian. The story so far is of a university student who has been suffering nightmares where he partakes in battle, fighting with a saber that he picked up. He then gets transmigrated trying to deal with it (unsure yet if he is only dreaming or not) and the story seems to start.

The character interactions seem to be quite good and the story reads smoothly. This review is being done at chapter 15 and I will update it in the future as I continue reading.

Translator's Notice

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