(prepare for a very long pop-out) Touches on themes of found family and human nature. The premise is very misleading. But then again, when has any of Priest's descriptions been accurate of the many knives of angst concealed inside?? When I saw who the author was, I was like, say no more. So far, no heavy angst, take my word for it and try it!
... more>>
Edit: I lied. There's so much angst, I'm like drowning in my tears. Help.
Hey!
If there are any readers out there (like me) who couldn't bear the massive cliffhanger that was chapter 48, aka the end of season 1, I tried my hand at translating chapter 49 for anyone who may see this (I left some things in parentheses cause I really didn't know how to translate them or for clarification). Seems like some mystery is shining through... *wink* and yes, this is the same novel.
As wind and rains sweep across a gloomy sky, a small path winds through the midst of a dense thicket of waving trees, unable to see the end of at first glance.
This place has long been left untouched by the presence of humans, made all the more uncrossable by thick mires of mud caused by flooding from the violent rains.
A youth supports an elderly man, making slow progress. The clothes made from pine (raws 蓑衣) on their bodies can only be said as to be better than nothing, and after walking for a good part of the night, they were utterly drenched. The old man probably had some problems with his legs and feet. When he got cold, he often stopped and rubbed his sore knees.
He squinted his muddled old eyes, trying his best to peer into the distance, and couldn’t help but release a sigh.
From the side, the youth grumbles, “What tr*sh deity (immortal being), always eating our offerings, yet if we want to even meet them once, we have to suffer through countless trials, what’s the use of our fellow villagers saving money from their everyday necessities?”
The old man was startled, and he hurriedly said, "Don't dare to talk nonsense!"
The youth's eyes went round, resembling a little tiger, and he brusquely blurted, "Unless what I said was wrong? They protect us, but only in name only, have they ever blessed us with good weather? Even in the event of a severe drought and flood, they still expect us to pay the same tribute in offerings.” In the year when Anping Wang (some title dunno) led an armed rebellion, all three counties and fifteen cities suffered great disasters, thieves ran rampant everywhere, and the common people were forced to flee and wander about, did they ever show up? Well, even if these are human affairs, the immortals don’t care. Then what about when malevolent ghosts terrorized the village, devouring people and spreading fear, they still pretend to know nothing about it, and they want us to hurry and ask?"
The old man's legs were so painful that he couldn't straighten his waist, as he reprimanded, “The immortals above do not care for the affairs of the world, if we have any requests, we would naturally come to report them ourselves, what words are you spouting!”
The youth replied, full of anger, “Exactly, this is the only road to bright valley and is filled with hardships and obstacles, and those without a sincere heart cannot reach it! When they send people to receive the offerings, why don’t they reciprocate by also coming down step by step, it would be more sincere ... "
“六郎 (Liu Lang; sixth son), shut your mouth!” the old man forcefully emphasizes, jabbing his cane into the ground, “If you continue to run your mouth like this, you can go back where you came from (he says “滚” which is like roll but in this context it’s like “scram”)! Don’t drag our fellow villagers from the fifteen cities down in front of the heavenly immortals.”
When the boy saw that he really was angry, his face turned dark, and he didn't dare to speak. Only when his grandpa had turned away, did he smirk in disdain, and mutter, "aren’t the immortal beings great?" (T/N: sarcasm)
Just then, an extremely violent thunderbolt suddenly fell from the sky. It had struck down almost a hair’s breadth from him.
The youth was taken by surprise, and his face turned white with fright on the spot. He immediately put aside his intolerance (text uses 小心眼) from the moment before and waited for the ear splitting roar to fade, and hurriedly asked, “Grandpa, why is this thunder being so unreasonable (he uses 邪门) today ?"
Before the old man had time to answer, thunder and lightning had hailed down from above one after the other like rain, lighting up the entire night sky into a shocking paleness. The old man was shocked, and scrambled to pull the youth to prostrate on the earth, kneeling under the might of heaven as he prayed and muttered incantations, not even daring to move an inch. All the birds and beasts in the forest were so scared that they didn't dare to show their heads, and even the trees and plants trembled along with them.
After who knows how long, did the sound thunder gradually subside, but there was still a lingering charge and rumble in the ground. After the youth ascertained that he did not hear a peep, his heart was left full of shock, he didn’t dare to speak out rashly again.
It was only when the thick clouds dispersed slightly, the first time they had done so since the storm had started, and dim and sparse trickles of moonlight streaked down from the sky, did the youth gingerly help the elder up with trepidation, and they continued on their way.
The youth, Liu Lang asked: "Grandpa, just then there were probably around a few dozens of strikes of thunder, then ... this ... this valley won't be blasted flat (炸平), right?"
"Talk less," the old man chastised him in a low voice, legs sinking deep and shallow (? Phrase used is 深一脚浅一脚) trekking forward on the narrow path heaped with turbid muddy water, deliberately lowering his voice to say, "I fear that there is an immortal crossing over/undergoing a tribulation (word used is 渡劫)."
"Tribulations?”
“The path of cultivating to become an immortal is not an easy one. They must undergo thousands of calamities. I’ve heard that among all these tribulations, the heavenly calamities are the most dangerous, countless immortals have perished (text uses 陨落) due to this very trial, but those that endure it will see their cultivation increase in leaps and bounds, and become even closer to becoming true immortals.” Speaking to this point, his face showed a trace of doubt, “I once heard my grandfather claim he had seen an immortal undergoing a tribulation himself, but at the time, it was only around nine strikes of divine lightning, however, why was this one so much worse... could it be that the immortal undergoing this tribulation is a great power similar to the owner of this valley (words used was 谷主)?”
In the time it took for their conversation to conclude, the narrow twisting path suddenly took a turn, and the space ahead of them swiftly broadened, revealing the entirety of bright valley (明明谷) stretching before them.
The valley is clear and distant, rain-washed mountain flowers are blooming all over the wilderness, and the soft moonlight peeking through adorns the scene like silky smoke, appearing like the land of the immortals on earth.
The youth excitedly shouted, “Grandpa, look, we’re he-”
Before the rest of the sentence could leave his mouth, he was shocked into stillness. At the sight of large patch of flat ground next to the bright slope of flowers, in the four directions, a circle of charms ordinary people could not decipher were carved there, at this time, that large plot of flat land had already been scorched by the lightning into a burnt black, that charm circle sat in stark contrast to its surroundings- the outside is filled with hundreds of flowers blooming fragrantly, yet the in the inside not a blade of grass dared to grow (phrase used was 寸草不生).
Yet on the scorched earth, a person stood upright.
That person's long robe had become rags, and the entire sleeve was scorched into slag. From the back, the person was of a tall stature and appeared to be a man.
Even though they were separated by roughly a hundred zhang (each 丈 is around 10 feet), that man seemed to hear what Liu Lang had uttered, and shifted his head to glance at the grandfather and son pair (T/N: why doesn’t English have a phrase such as “爷孙”? To clear possible confusions, this alludes to the grandfather and grandson), although this person was currently in torn rags, his appearance was clear and handsome, out of the ordinary, like a pale jade under the moon.
Only, his eyes seemed to hold years upon years of hoarfrost.
When Liu Lang’s gaze connected with his, he inadvertently felt a chill so cold it ran down to his very bones, frozen to the spot. In the next moment, Liu Lang felt himself being tugged to the ground by his grandfather, the two kneeling on the ground (T/N: oof they’re doing an awful amount of kneeling aren’t they?) and the old man started repeatedly kowtowing towards the figure, speaking, “paying respects to immortal, this humble one is from the fifteen cities outside the valley, coming here to beg something of respected immortal, and didn’t intend to disturb, asking for respected immortal to not take offense.”
The man froze, and then waved his hands in a casual manner.
Liu Lang felt that a portion of that coldness, as if originating from the late autumn, was gradually seeping through his body and dispersing. It was cold, but not necessarily enough to freeze, then, immediately following, his entire body went light, and together with his grandpa, was tugged along by that coolness.
The immortal spoke with unexpected courtesy. Not only did he not make things difficult for them, but he also said quite politely, “It’s alright, no need to do so- the matters outside the valley are not under my jurisdiction, wait for me to bring a person over.”
With that, he raised a finger to shoot out a ray of bright light, that beam of light headed straight for the sky.
A split second later, a small glowing light spot appeared in the distance. Only when it came within his sight, did Liu Lang realize that it was a Taoist child approaching on an imperial sword (T/N: royal sword?)
The Taoist child sheaved his sword as he landed, respectfully saluting the ragged man, "Elder Cheng, congratulations to elder for passing the heavenly calamity and cultivation rising to a higher level."
"It's nothing to be pleased with, was nearly burnt to a crisp," the man replied lightly (lit. “not salty not light” 不咸不淡), then pointing back at the battered and exhausted pair behind him. "They’re from the outside, probably for something, you can handle it."
After briefly explaining with these words, he then proceeded to nod in the direction of the pair, his figure flickered and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
This ability to fly to the heavens and evade the earth (raws 飞天遁地之) left Liu Lang staring in stunned shock, even until the Taoist child came up to invite them to enter the valley, his mind was still filled with images of the appearance of that man standing on the burnt earth, glancing nonchalantly back at them.
Liu Lang thought absent-mindedly, he didn’t seem to be that much older than himself, yet is already the “elder” of this bright valley? He could not help but feel a little envious, but upon remembering the frosty eyes of the man, he quickly pushed that scrap of envy down, which soon gave birth to awe, and no longer dared to rashly criticize.
That Taoist child fished out a leaf from his possession, taking it by his lips, long and short notes disorderly stacked on top of each other, puffing out a segment of a small tune, only hearing the peals of an answering neigh resounding in the air. Then, a white horse pulling a carriage (word used here is 车, could be anything from car to a chariot) descended from the sky, snorting loudly with majesty, landing firmly and steadily on the ground.
That Taoist child said in an amiable manner, “If it weren’t for you two, I might not have even been able to reach him, please [get on].”
The two mortals uneasily settled down into the flying horse’s carriage, Liu Lang was young, bound to have loose lips, and said, “Immortal gege (T/N: Means elder brother, doesn’t have to be related by blood, shame on you, shame on your cow if you didn’t know that already) was that [one we just met] the elder of the valley?”
The old man was afraid that he would blab and speak wrongly, hurriedly pulled [on Liu Lang], and said, full of fear and trepidation, "immortal, please forgive, this child..."
"It's alright, sir (he uses 老丈)," The Taoist child hurries the flying horse along, and says, quite lively, “Our bright valley has an ice pond (or lake) in the center, extremely cold, and even I don’t dare to go, I’ve heard that even the water suspending on the pond will freeze, but the spirit (sacred?) iced water in the pond still circulates ceaselessly. And no one knows when that person (referring to the “Cheng” elder probably) moved in there. A cave (dwelling) had opened up by the side of the pond, and the coldness of the entire pond was trapped in that cave. And by himself, he cultivated day after day in that extremely cold place. You see, this valley is vibrant with life is all thanks to him for suppressing that ice lake. He doesn’t usually show up, but we all secretly call him in private, Elder You Mo (‘幽潭长老’ lit. Secluded/serene pit/pond to give you all a sense)
Hearing this, Liu Lang was shocked into stillness, and couldn’t help but ask, “How cold would that be? Wasn’t he scared?”
The Taoist child laughs, “Those who cultivate ought to refine their spirit and endure, how else will they ascend to the Great Path (“大道”), if their will is not resolute?”
In the span of their conversation, the carriage had already risen as many times as it had fallen (phrase is “几起几落”) arriving at the hinterland of the valley, landing unhurriedly.
Liu Lang got out of the carriage and was met with the sight of pavilions and kiosks, streams upon streams of clear water, untainted with any trace of humans, only a few cranes flying as they took off and landed.
Entering in the midst of it all, Liu Lang only felt his whole body lighten, he looked down in shock, only to see that the muddy water that had stayed plastered on him in all nights and weathers had disappeared, leaving his whole body feeling warm and comfortable.
The Taoist child led them to a small pavilion, only when the Taoist child had poured the two a cup of hot tea amidst their fervored gratitudes did he proceed to ask them the reason behind their arrival. The old man sighingly speaks, “This... ah, it's a long story, trivial matters of commoners, we originally didn’t want to bother immortal lords, but only recently, we don’t know what kind of evildoer arrived unknowingly from outside the valley. But as such is the misfortune in my hometown, it specifically selects babes to target, and in the short span of ten or so days, four or five boys have disappeared from the surrounding villages of Chengguo (really don’t know how to translate this, original text: 周遭城郭村落), but in a few days, their corpses will be found in the wilderness, already pretty much eaten to the bone by scavengers and wild beasts. The matter was also reported to the officials. A few official coroners came, who proclaimed that those babes all had had their blood let dry before they breathed their last.”
Upon hearing this, the Taoist child’s playful countenance turned serious, “What? Drained of blood? What were the ages of these boys?”
The old man says in a low tone (The text literally says “作孽” here, which means to sin, but it’s in quotation marks, so Idk), “They all had not yet reached the age of ten, when this happened, the most able bodied chaps banded together and spent several nights in the wilderness to keep watch, and then... and then that day, we all saw a flash of a white shadow, from the distance, it appeared to be a white chain (白练?) hanging in the wind, but in the blink of an eye, it had approached. At that time, no one had managed to react in time, but we heard a someone let out a blood curdling shriek, and in the next instant, someone’s chest had pierced through with a gaping hole, in this time it took to blink an eye, that person’s heart had been taken out by that thing. The government officials were also scared out of their wits, saying it was a malevolent ghost causing trouble, the government can’t control it, and it is only then that this old one (“老朽”) was sent to plead immortals to lend a hand.”
The Taoist child listened and followed up by asking a few more detailed questions, and only then said, "I roughly have an idea now, senior has no need to worry about it, I will first take my younger disciple brothers to rest in the valley a night, allow me to report to the senior in the valley. Naturally I will give you a reply. "
That night, the old man and grandson Liu Lang settled down uneasily in bright valley. The wind in the valley was very clean and crisp, and there was a faint floral scent everywhere. It was a great place, but Liu Lang couldn't sleep no matter what, his mind was turning back and forth, thinking about the young elder who had experienced the thunderstorms, and spent a good portion of the night in this muddle stupor. In the latter half of the night, he suddenly heard someone talking outside, separated by a long distance, Liu Lang only listened vaguely and intermittently. But could only catch a male voice saying, “yes, I've already heard about it on the way, however, it’s not necessarily a tricky role to cause trouble in a mortal village... Well, why not ask Cheng Qian to go check it out along with them.”
Another older male voice said, “Either way, his seven days of calamity have already ended, now that it could be considered that he has already passed the calamity, he originally should have left anyway.”
Liu Lang already couldn't sleep at all. But after hearing this speech, for some reason, he suddenly felt a bout of sleepiness, in the blink of an eye, he lost consciousness, and soon couldn't hear anything.
Two people, one in front, one trailing behind walked past his window, headed towards the ice pond in the middle of the valley. The first old man sported white hair; a ruddy complexion, hale and hearty (“鹤发童颜”), was fat like a ball, when he smiled, you could see the teeth but not the eyes, dressed in a set of rich, and almost aggressively so, satin robes. On his belt, among those hanging in a pack of loose bits and bobs were an embroidered pouch, jade pendant, and so on all arranged in a row, so rich it would make people cry (富贵逼人), appearing like one of those the landlords of common people- this was exactly the lord of bright valley, Nian Mingming.
Following behind Nian Mingming was a scholarly dressed middle-aged man, but looking closely, this middle aged man’s appearance and features were immensely mild and gentle, and upon closer inspection, he was dimly revealed to be precisely that of the primordial spirit Tan Zhen (I think that’s his name) that had escaped from the soul devouring lamp that year.
Tang Zhen did not know what method was used upon him, he had a flesh body again, but it seemed that the physical body was not very good, vaguely carrying an aura of death and a sickly look about it. He also did not know whether it was obtained through possession or some dishonest (lit. Side door) magic.
Tang Zhen held a white lantern in his hand, who knew what kind of magic weapon it was, there was no candlestick inside the lantern, but a luminous halo emanated from the inside the paper paste, he said, “Originally I thought these matters to be of my wildest dreams, virtually unheard of, even I didn't expect him to succeed. "
Nian Mingming laughingly says, “The premature death of his corporeal body was due to a human calamity, and at death’s door, he suddenly had an awakening, allowing his soul to enter the spirit condensing jade, however it just so happened that the spirit condensing jade had an innate spirit, able to gather the essence of the mountains and rivers, originally its soul cannot be fooled and rashly entered, but this youngster still not even up in years, was able to maintain the three immortal souls and seven mortal forms without dispersing, consciousness not exterminated.”
After suffering in that spirit condensing jade for 49 years (text uses 七七四十九年, lit. 7 7 49 years), without even a physical body to support him, he unexpectedly sharpened that jade into a primordial spirit compulsorily, and this counted as passing his earthly calamity. 49 years ago, you sent that spirit condensing jade containing his spirit to my bright valley, with the spirit condensing jade as a foundation, and even after 49 years of forging in the ice pool, he bore the extreme cold without a word, and even passed in Seven Heavenly Calamities in quick succession- ai, he couldn’t have been over a mere hundred years, yet he has already experienced three calamities of the heavens and earth, this son [youngster] has a firm and unyielding will, this one (when he says this one, or I, he is using “老朽”) has lived for so long, yet has never before encountered someone of the likes of him.” (T/N: Phew that was hard, I'm having suspicions on who the spirit in the jade is...)
As he spoke, Nian Mingming patted his belly, expression complex, “If I was even half of him, I would probably be an old man with a waist by now.”
Tang Zhen, “……”
This elderly one of such rank with all his might, had long since started fasting to cope with a ravenous appetite (嘴馋), but consequentially this body of streaky pork lard (五花膘 lol) could be said to have a long history (源远流长, lit. source is distant and the flow is long) and then some (text uses “经年日久” another way to say long history).
Tang Zhen hesitated for a split second, then with a serious face, "I haven't yet thanked valley lord for lending the use of the ice pool."
Nian Mingming waved his hand and said, “What are you talking about, he suppressed the ice pool, it can be said that my group of unwieldly disciples had the good fortune to be protected from the cold. What’s more, when it comes to these sorts of figures (人物), residing here in my insignificant bright valley hanging the title of “elder” on me, we don’t even have the ability to accept (he actually says “我们沾光还来不及呢”, 沾光 is like benefiting off the association of someone, lit. dabbling in light and he’s saying even hosting someone like Cheng Qian is enough, not to mention, benefiting off the prestige of being called elder by him)
“This small brother has grace (恩) towards me, in those years, fellow cultivator Wen had come to find me, bearing this very jade, I knew no matter what it took, I had to find a way to help him anyway,” Tan Yan says, “it’s just that although he happened to achieve the formation of a primordial spirit in the spirit condensing jade, there has been no precedent for forging the jade into flesh. I did not know if it was possible, I fear that because the process had been too prolonged, his heart might have formed lingering connections becoming excessively impetuous, causing him to drag out memories from the past. Now that he has passed the Seven Heavenly Calamities, and now that he has successfully refined a body in the spirit condensing jade, I should also return it to its rightful owner.”
As they spoke, the two arrived at the ice pool, as soon as he got closer, Tan Zhen couldn’t bear the cold, quickly forming a hand seal, the aura of death on him becoming even thicker.
Walking further along, they could only hear the sound of the rushing water, the owner of the place had just finished bathing, and was coming out of the pool whose waters were dripping into ice, right at that moment.
Nian Mingming clearly intoned, “Young friend Cheng Qiang, have we intruded upon your peace?”
This wasn’t the first or even the second time the fat man (T/N: 胖子) had disturbed other people’s peace, no one knows what kind of tradition the people of bright valley had, but from top to bottom there would be people gossiping to death, Cheng Qiang was used to it (this was a weird sentence).
He was not uncomfortable in the slightest, a layer of white mist emerged from the ice pool, as he picked up a set of clothes by the pool, that had been frozen stiff, draping them across his body. In the time it took for him to walk two or three steps, that head of hair which had been glazed with ice was now completely dry, as the long robe also relaxed and draped down flowingly, this body which had cultivated through the vicissitudes of life had transformed into something sleek and tranquil ( T/N: the text uses: 润物无声which literally translates to silent lubricant. I know what you’re thinking, get your mind out of the gutter, it’s from a poem)
Cheng Qian nodded in their direction, and spoke, “valley lord- Tang xiong (T/N: 兄, like saying bro) I was just going to find you, would you like come in a sit? It’s just that my place is a little cold here.”
It just so happened to be midsummer, however there was not a trace of arid air in the cave, at first glance when walking inside, it seemed to be an icy field of barren ice and snow, even the chairs on the ground were frozen in place, a layer of frost had collected on them.
Chen Qing lightly snapped his fingers, and a ball of warm and rosy fire materialized at his fingertips, falling below one of the chairs, and instantaneously melted and dried the icy frost on it, but the chair was not damaged in the slightest.
Cheng Qian said, “Tang xiong’s health is not well, find a warm place to sit.”
As for valley lord Nian Mingming, he didn’t care, that old fat man had thick skin anyway, could bear a freezing.
The water in the teapot sitting on the table had long been frozen into a pile of hard ice, Cheng Qian holds it in his hand, waving it in a circle a few times, only then did the big ice cubes, under his urging (words used are 真元催动) begin to melt, and in no time, they released threads of hot steam. He served the two each a cup of hot water.
Tang Zhen received it, warming his hands, and only then did he place that lantern in front of Cheng Qian, saying, “This object is thus returned to you, young friend, your path has been full of narrow escapes (九死一生, lit. Nine deaths one life) and will only become more difficult, so from here on out you must take extra care of yourself."
Cheng Qian was not surprised in the least, he apparently knew of how Tang Zhen had taken away his past memories, nodded, and with a wave of his hand, that small group of lights within the lantern was tucked away into his sleeve, resolutely responding, “Regarding Tang xiong’s favor of life and death (生死肉骨之恩), in the future, if you have any need of me, I, Cheng Qian will certainly risk life and limb to help.”
T/N: Now I understand the true pain of translators, to go the liberal side or the literal side of things. Took me a good day, back is sore, wrist hurts like hell, and mind is swimming but no regrets! Any mistakes or typos are on me (first time translating, please go easy), not the author.
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I've just realized how convenient it is for me to find my own list even when I'm not logged in because I've commented on my own list so many times that I've pretty much just inflated it to be one of the first lists that show up when you click on sort by: comments.
Is anyone still alive on this site?
Yeah, I know right!
Fellow reader, I can understand your pain all too well...
But we are strong, and will continue to cling on, even in the face of cliffhangers!!! 
And, do remember to stay hydrated, as crying too much can lead to dehydration... Haha... not that I've ever personally experienced it or anything...
Thank you so much for such a great list! Gonna follow
Here’s my recommendation , hope you like it
- Death Progress Bar
- Law of the Other World
- Undead
- Game, Live Stream
- I am the Lucky Cat of an MMORPG
- More Than A Few Blessings
- My New Life, Won’t You Please Become Peaceful
No, thank YOU for the recommendations! I'll add them to this list here:
https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/4458/
Have a merry xmas (or late one, depending on your time zone)!!!
-Reborn as my love rival's wife
-villain rehab
-the reader and protag definitely have to be in love
-perfect destiny
-brushing boss's face for 363 days
These are some of my absolute favourites. I can gurantee their quality ^_<
Alright, thanks for taking the time to give suggestions! They're much appreciated, I'll add them to this list:
https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/4458/
May I ask what in the world "villain rehab" is? It sounds like an interesting place...