神印王座 - SHEN YIN WANG ZUO, Sealed Divine Throne, by Tang Jia San Shao (NO SPOILERS)
Hi guys,
I'm totokkk, and I discovered the Chinese literature because of you, people from spcnet.
I have read quite a few translations from here, and I became 'addicted' to reading the kind of wuxia/xianxia novels. The biggest shame was that, the more I finished reading, the more I wanted to continue to read, but of course, after having read for quite long, I found out that I would soon run out of reading.
Oh, that's terrible. For me, this revelation had an incredible impact, and came with the same pattern as the terrorist attack of the 9/11/2001: a terrible surprise attack that came from nowhere and that would have unrepairable consequences.
So, then I remembered one thing. Oh wait, I can speak Chinese too... After all, I speak to my family in Chinese, and I studied the language since my youth. So why can't I at least try to get started translating too? Thus I tried. And unexpectedly... I found out that I really liked doing this. So why can't I become at my turn one of those heroes bringing every few days new chapters, saving thousands of people of the evil deed called 'boredom' that made already so much victims, bringing them back the feeling called 'passion'.
Will I be able to ? This question marks the beginning of my adventure.
SHEN YIN WANG ZUO [Sealed Divine Throne], is a novel written by Tang Jia San Shao, one of the most famous web novel author in China. He has also written Douluo Dalu, a masterpiece that got me more addicted than any video games, and its sequel Douluo Dalu 2.
http://www.shenyinwangzuo.com/sywz
The story : While the demons were rising, mankind was about to become extinct. Six temples rose, and protected the last of mankind. A young boy joins the temple as a knight to save his mother. During his journey of wonders and mischief in the world of temples and demons, will he be able to ascend to become the strongest knight and inherit the throne?
I started working on it last Sunday 3/8/15 , and I have currently translated on my website the 3 first chapters, and half of the 4th. This is the link : https://tototrans.wordpress.com
I consider my level in Chinese as correct (enough to understand most of the words used in this novel), and in English as well, though my biggest weak point is that I am not a native english speaker, so I may not be as good as most of you, and thus slower than most of the other translators. But I will try my best to improve my English level, to become someone worth making you spend some time reading my translations.
This is the first chapter, the next ones will be released directly on my website : https://tototrans.wordpress.com
I will also try to post a little message here every time I release a new chapter.
SHEN YIN WANGZUO (神印王座, literally meaning “Sealed Divine Throne”) by Tang Jia San Shao
CHAPTER 1 : Knight Examination (I)
The town of Odin (Ào dīng), contains 3000 households and is located at the southern border of the Temple Alliance (Shèng diàn liánméng) and counts itself as one of the bigger towns under the city of Hao Yue (Hàoyuè chéng).
The morning sun rises, its bright and warm touch carefully nurturing the earth, as if was calling for everyone to wake up. At this time, at the center of the town of Odin, in a relatively big two-story building of more than a thousand square meters, there is an examination going on.
“Tell me, why do you want to become knights?” A vigorous, powerful voice, a hint of metallic, rings.
“To defend humanity, to defend the kind hearted, to defend the Temple Alliance, to defend our families.” The voices answering the question sound young and coordinated, clearly, it’s not the first time they’ve had answer to this question.
This two story building is the knight temple hall of the town of Odin, abbreviated as Odin hall, is the place where the potential children are selected to undergo training to become knights.
Today, there are a little more than 30 children, all attending the selection test to become the most basic squire. Only after they become a squire can they proceed to study and practice there.
The master of the vigorous sound is a tall, burly middle aged strongly built man. He is called Balza (Bā’ěr zhā) and is the chief knight teacher of Odin’s hall. It is said, that when he was in his prime, he was very, very close to becoming a genuine knight.
“Tell me, what are the standards of a knight?” Balza severely glares at the bunch of kids ranging from 8 to 10 years old.
Once more, the answer is coordinated, “Modesty, honesty, compassion, courage, fairness, sacrifice, perseverance, love, justice”.
Balza nods satisfied, “Good, all of you here have already practiced for one year, today we will hold the examination. Squires are classified from first to tenth level, corresponding to a spiritual energy between ten and a hundred. Your task of today will be to attain at least a spiritual energy of above ten and thus becoming a first level squire. All those who successfully pass this exam will be able to remain here and practice for three more years and then participate in a final assessment to become an official knight. Only after you become, like me, an official knight, can you be considered as a genuine member of the Temple. Now let’s begin, Jiang Hu (Jiǎng hǔ)!
“Yes.” A youngster with a quite big stature walks forward and at the same time he takes out the wooden sword strapped to his back.
All the youngsters have the same equipment: a wooden sword with a length of three foot, a width of three inches and a thickness of two inches. The examination for becoming squire is simple, in front of Balza is something that seems like a big wooden block connected to a stone grove. Within that stone groove is a stone bead. Hitting the block of wood would make the stone bead vibrate and judging from the height in which the stone bead rebounds, the spiritual energy is determined. This can be considered an outdated method to evaluate the spiritual energy but it is very precise when evaluating spiritual energies below 100.
Spiritual energy, in Sheng Mou Da Lu is the main factor used in evaluating everyone’s ‘rank’ in their occupation, whether they are knights, magician, or any other profession, the level of the spiritual power is used as the main factor for assessing their strength. 10th spiritual level, is generally the average spiritual energy level for normal adult males.
“Aahh——”Jiang Hu shouts loudly and with both hands grasping the wooden sword, he swings it fiercely onto the block of stone.
“Bang” The stone bean moves up and down.
Balza nods satisfiedand takes from his hand the name register as he tells : “ Jiang Hu, spiritual energy 13th level, you pass. Next one, ……..”
This examination is quickly carried on, in an instant, half the people already finish, the ones who succeeded being about half of them.
“Long Hao Cheng (Lóng hào chén) (literally the Dragon of the bright morning).” As he calls this name, Balza subconsciously raises his head, before him is a thin young body’s figure.
This young boy looks a little malnourished compared to the other boys: he is quite thin but has a handsome face.
With naturally supple eyebrows, big eyes, long eyelashes, a straight nose, a white skin and thick lips, even though he’s only 8 or 9 years old, he’s beautiful enough to make women jealous of him. Especially because of his black hair in combination with his pair of dark blue eyes. If he were to crossdress, he would become a national-level beauty.
Long Hao Cheng goes in front of Balza but he doesn’t take out his wooden sword like the others. Instead, his places his right hand on his heart and makes a bow, saluting Balza.
“Teacher. ”
Balza’s originally serious look softens slightly. He nods, saying :
“Start.”
“Yes.”
Drawing out his sword, Long Hao Cheng takes a deep breath and suddenly swings it with full force and hits the block of stone.
With a puff sound, the stone bean bounces; but it obviously doesn’t jump ten graduations.
Balza immediately frowns, “Spiritual level of nine, you don’t pass.”
From the speed of the slash from Long Hao Chen’s sword that he saw, he could see that Long Hao Cheng had really used all his power and gone all out, but, he still couldn’t pass the examination to become squire.
Long Hao Chen’s pretty face becomes flushed and looking at Balza, he says pleadingly: “Instructor, I, I…”
Balza slightly sighs and says: “Go down.”
Long Hao Chen eagerly repeats: “Instructor, give me another chance. I will definitely pass.”
Balza scowles, saying: “But, that would be unfair to others who didn’t pass. ”
Long Hao Chen suddenly becomes silent but the determination in his eyes persists. Balza notices the expression in his eyes and at the same moment moment, he can’t help but stare blankly at Long Hao what is that? Perseverance? The Perseverance described in the Ten Rules of the knight? The 10 Rules of the knights are the ten essences of the knight. Even for some genuine knights, they haven’t been able to display one of the ten essences, but this kid before his eyes….
While Balza was lost in thought, Long Hao Chen turns to face the other examinees and using a very sincere tone towards the ones who trained alongside with him for the past year : “I beg of you, give me another chance.” As he pleaded, he unexpectedly kneels down.
Balza was flabbergasted. The youths were also flabbergasted, to these kids that were eight to nine years old, it was fundamentally impossible to understand why Long Hao Chen was so persistent.
Balza’s eyes widened, if it were another kid, he would have believed this kid was greedy or cowardly, but it couldn’t be the case for Long Hao. Because, even though Long Hao may seem thin and weak, during this past year’s training, amongst all of the kids, he was the most assiduous one. Not only did he perfectly accomplish the mandatory training everyday, he also came an hour earlier and left an hour later.
Balza is tied as a 10th rank knight squire but he had already been an instructor for ten years and Long Hao Chen is the most diligent student he had ever seen. This boy never needed to be supervised and not only trained hard every day, but also was good to everyone and helped his fellow trainees whenever they asked him for help.
This is also why when arriving at Long Hao Chen’s turn, Balza’s look became gentle. But the fact that Long Hao Chen didn’t pass the exam took him aback. If such a diligent child didn’t pass the examination, the only explanation would be that he was talentless.
I am opened to any remarks and suggestions.
If you want to talk over this novel, feel free to use this thread.
CHAPTER 2 : Knight Examination (II)
Chapter 4 is out ! And, every time one chapter is out, I will put an older chapter here, if anyone minds, that will motivate me to read over my translations (I corrected just now 6 spelling/tenses mistakes by reading over a single time), and try to convince those who didn't like the first chapter that this book is interesting.
And chapter 2 :
CHAPTER 2 : Knight Examination (II)
“Instructor, then let him be evaluated once more.” the one saying this is Jiang Hu, the first who passed this examination as well as the oldest of this group of children.
“Yes ! Instructor, give Hao Chen one more chance.”
“Instructor, Hao Chen is working every day such diligently, let him try again.”
At this moment, a pleading for Long Hao Chen came from almost all of these children. This is the result of his popularity, plus they are only a bunch of kids, that don’t have the notion of interest relationship, fact that shows they have just deep concern for him and no hidden purpose.
Balza’s voice rings: “Silence.” And everyone in the hall calms down.
Balza says: “Okay, I will give him an opportunity, but, for this to be fair, Long Hao Chen, you will have first to defeat Jiang Hu in a one versus one duel. The same applies for anyone who failed, those who can beat Jiang Hu within 3 days from today on, I will let them be evaluated again.
Long Hao Cheng is overjoyed, he first thanks his partners, and afterwards turns towards Balza : “Thank you Instructor.”
Looking at this stunning boy with a bright face and a pure smile, even if Balza is a man, he can’t help being startled. Putting aside Long Hao Chen, he takes instead a look to Jiang Hu, lightly saying: Go all out, or else, I will cancel your promotion as squire knight, understood?”
“Yes” Jiang Hu agreed, pulling a wooden sword from his back, all the other youth scattering around, letting place to an empty area.
“Hao Chen, be careful, I will show no mercy.” Jiang Hu pulled from his back his wooden sword, giving Long Hao Chen a knight salute.
Long Hao Chen saluted as same, “Jiang Brother, please.”
Jiang Hu let out a sound, as he took a step forward, his hands on his wooden sword going straight towards Long Hao Chen, aiming for his left shoulder.
Long Hao Cheng appears very calm, as if he was seeing in slow-motion, until the wooden sword in Jiang Hu’s hand split half the distance between them, he didn’t move. Pulling his wooden sword, he swings at the location in the bottom of Jiang Hu’s sword.
With a “Duh” quiet sound, in a situation where Jiang Hu’s spiritual power is far greater than Long Hao Chen, Jiang Hu is unexpectedly the one being swung at.
Seeing this sword, Instructor Balza’s eyes flash, showing his surprise.
Jiang Hu is being swung at, but his reaction is quick, he makes a rotation, the power of the back of his waist driving the back of his hand, the wooden sword from his hand circling once, cutting horizontally.
Jiang Hu’s adaptability is brilliant, at this age, the fact he was able to have such a level is pretty good. However, Long Hao Chen’s answer is the most surprising.
By the time Jiang Hu swung his sword, he already advanced forward, the distance between the two persons was already pretty close, and with this advancement, he is already at the side the Jian Hu. At this moment, his body rotates.
How does he plan to attack? Doubt appeared in Balza’s heart, wooden swords are 3 foot long, and Hao Chen is already that close, he absolutely cannot attack him openly.
But, at this moment, Long Hao Chen already attacked. He used the sword’s hilt.
As his body goes downwards, simultaneously his sword’s hilt goes upwards, right under Jiang Hu’s rib, and although this attack from Long Hao Chen contains no force, Jiang Hu’s body still falls down, and he is just swept right next to Long Hao Chen’s wooden sword by chance.
Stop, Balza shouted.
Balza’s eyes flashed, he says with a heavy voice: “Balance lost, ancient move, Jian Hu, you lost. If Long Hao Chen‘s sword really used more force, you would already be lying down on the floor. »
Jiang Hu embarrassedly scratches his head, “Hao Cheng, you are so sly”
Long Hao Chen stand on his sword, apologetically looking at Jiang Hu because he could not easily stand firm..
Balza nods towards Long Hao Cheng : ”You can try for a second time the assessment”
Back before the wooden stake, the look on Long Hao Chen’s face changed, becoming more dignified, this look appears on the youth and his face gives an unusual feeling.
Both hand holding wooden sword, Long Hao Chen’s eyes looked imposing, his body looked like it was producing light. Especially his eyes, these clear blue eyes wearing a firm look.
Suddenly, Long Hao Chen fiercely turns, taking hold off his wooden sword, far more obsessed than his peers.
Bang — the stone beads go up, as Hao Cheng is repelled by the shock and takes a step back, the wooden sword in his hands almost falls, as they leak a trace of blood.
“Spiritual Force of 11, you pass”, Balza says with a shocked voice, going from ninth spiritual power level to eleventh level, it sounds just like a little difference of two levels. However, in his previous assessment, Long Hao Cheng went full force. To produce such an increase, it means that his potential was stimulated at its limit.
After a brief surprise, Balza comes back to normal, letting Long Hao Chen go to infirmary to bandage, then continues the next assessments
“The assessment are finished, those who failed, don’t come again tomorrow, Those who passed will be assigned to new instructors tomorrow. Now disband, after receiving some Elemental Training Liquid (Péi yuán yè), you can go back home.
“Thank you Instructor” the youth shouted in unison.
“Long Hao Chen, you stay a little more.”
The youth cheerfully leave, whether they passed or not, at this age, they easily found joy and happiness.
In Odin hall temple, were only left two people : Long Hao Chen and Balza Instructor.
« Hao Chen, tell me, why did you choose during your duel against Jian Hu to attack this way? » Balza seriously asks.
Long Hao Chen replied with no hesitation : “Because my strength doesn’t match Jiang Hu big brother’s, so I can only look for his weaknesses. You taught us, that when cutting, the strongest point is at the tip of the sword, and the closest to the handle, the weakest is the strength. Thus at the times he attacked, I located on his waist his center of gravity so I just closed the distance towards him, preventing him to full-use his power, aiming for his center of gravity, so he had no way to continue attacking.
Balza’s eyes were full of surprise, “So you say that, all of this was done by observing him?” He never taught these kids combat, because of their age, for which the most important was laying the foundation, not actually time spent practicing.
« Okay, you can go home.” Balza waved, he felt, that this child a kind of potential that other children didn’t have.
“Instructor, this portion of Elemental Training Liquid…” wearing this beautiful face and showing a moment of shyness, Long Hao Chen tentatively asked.
« Oh, go receive it. »
« Instructor, goodbye. » Long Hao Chen happily left.
As he watched his jumping away figure from behind, Balza’s face cannot help letting out a smile « This child, he’s well behaved, works hard, and it looks like he has a very promising talent for fighting. It is really a rare good seed. »
“Do you know why he could so easily fight by attacking the opponent’s weak point?” At this moment, a cool and bright melodious voice sounded around Balza. Because this sound came so unexpectedly, Balza is suddenly scared a hop.
He didn’t know since when he has been here, but in Balza’s side, there is one more middle aged person. He looks about 30 years old, wears a simple and plain robe, but has a pair of eyes that are as bright as stars. In the depth of his eyes is revealed a sense of disappointment, and a radiance of memories, as well as a feeling of pain that could be felt by others.
