Smiling Proud Wanderer

[pokit]

He heard a person with a loud booming voice asked, "Mr. Ren, who else do you admire?"

After Fangzheng introduced the Yue Buqun couple to Ren Woxing, both parties started to argue non-stop so there was no opportunity to introduce the rest of the people. Counting the breathings of the people underneath, Linghu Chong guessed that there were ten people altogether in Fangzheng's group. Besides Great Master Fangzheng, Master, Master-Wife, Priest Chongxu, Zuo Lengchan, Priest Tianmen, and Yu Canghai, there were still three other people. He didn't know whom this booming voice belonged to.

Ren Woxing laughed. "I'm really sorry but you’re not in it Sir."

That person replied, "How would I dare to stand shoulder to shoulder with Great Master Fangzheng? Naturally, I'll be one of the people Mr. Ren doesn't admire."

"You're also not one of the three and a half people I don't admire. If you practise your martial art for thirty more years, then maybe you'll become one of the people I don't admire."

That person uttered a "hey" and stopped talking. Linghu Chong thought, "You want to be one of the people not admired, but it's not that easy."

"Mr. Ren’s opinion is very novel," Fangzheng said.

"Great monk, do you want to know who I admire and who I don't admire?" Ren Woxing asked.

"I will listen to shi zhu's enlightening words."

"Great monk, your study in Tendon Altering Sutra is profound and your internal energy has also reached the top. But your heart is still kind and modest, unlike old man here clamouring around Jianghu. That's why I admire you," Ren Woxing explained.

"I don't deserve it," Fangzheng said.

"But among the people that I admire, great monk isn't number one. The number one person that I admire in Wulin is the person who usurped the chief position of my Divine Sun Moon Sect. This person is Dongfang Bubai."

Everyone uttered an "ah". Obviously this was beyond their expectation. Luckily, Linghu Chong managed to stop himself from uttering his "ah". But he was thinking in his heart why Ren Woxing would regard Dongfang Bubai as the top person he admired. Dongfang Bubai imprisoned him for many years so of course he must hate Dongfang Bubai to the bone. But who would have thought that he admired Dongfang Bubai?

"Old man's martial art is already very high, I also have a very keen mind, and it's known in the realm that I have no match in this world. But I was unexpectedly fooled by Dongfang Bubai's sweet talk and as a result was buried underneath a lake. Dongfang Bubai is such a fierce person, how could old man dare not to admire him?"

"So that's how it is," Fangzheng remarked.

“The third person that I admire is the top master of Huashan School at the moment,” Ren Woxing said.

This was really beyond Linghu Chong’s expectation. When Ren Woxing was talking to Yue Buqun before, he didn’t even give him any face. Who would’ve thought that inside his heart, Ren Woxing would actually admire Yue Buqun?

Madam Yue said, “You don’t need to say these false talks and ridicule people.”

Ren Woxing laughed. “Haha, Madam Yue, you thought that the person I was referring to was your husband? He... he lacks by a lot. The person I admire has a godly sword art. He’s Feng Qingyang. Mr. Feng’s sword art is much higher compared to me and I wouldn’t be able to reach that stage at all. I sincerely admire him.”

“Mr. Yue, is Mr. Feng still alive?” Fangzheng asked.

“Martial uncle Feng went into... into seclusion for tens of years already and we’ve never heard news of him ever since. If he’s still alive then that would be a big fortune for our school,” Yue Buqun said.

Ren Woxing laughed coldly. “Mr. Feng is from the sword branch and you’re from the qi branch. These two branches of sword and qi can’t co-exist together in the Huashan School. If Mr. Feng is still alive, why would it be so fortunate for you?”

Yue Buqun just stayed silent after he was reprimanded by Ren Woxing.

Linghu Chong had guessed before that Feng Qingyang was from the sword branch. When he heard what Ren Woxing said and how his master didn’t dispute it, he no longer doubted it. Ren Woxing laughed. “Don’t worry. Mr. Feng is a highly skilled person outside of Wulin. Do you think he still needs your Huashan School's leadership and would take over your throne?”

“I'm just a dumb person. If martial uncle Feng can give me some guidance then it would make me very happy. Mr. Ren, if you can point me to the direction where I can pay a visit to martial uncle Feng, then the Huashan School will appreciate your kindness,” Yue Buqun said with apparent sincerity.

“One, I don’t know where Mr. Feng is. Two, even if I know, I wouldn’t tell you. A frontal attack is easily avoided but a stab in the back is hard to protect against. A real villain is easy to cope with but a hypocrite will give a lot of headache,” Ren Woxing said.

Yue Buqun did not speak anymore.

Linghu Chong thought, “My master is a refined gentleman and doesn't want to speak vulgarly towards Mr. Ren.”

Ren Woxing turned towards Wudang School’s leader Priest Chongxu and said, “The fourth person that old man admire is this old ox-nosed priest. Your Wudang School’s Taiji Sword is wonderful. You also exercise self control to protect yourself from immorality and stay away from many idle matters in Jianghu, but you don't know how to teach to your disciples. Wudang School has no one of potential and if you wait till you die then Taiji Sword Art would be lost forever. Also, even though your Taiji Sword Art is high, you might not win against old man. That’s why I only admire you one half.”

Priest Chongxu laughed. “I’m actually admired by Mr. Ren by one half, this is already giving me a lot of face. Many thanks!”

“No need to be so polite,” Ren Woxing said. He then turned his head towards Zuo Lengchan. “Great leader Zuo, you don’t need to keep that smile on your face when you’re actually feeling angry. While you’re not one of the people I admire, you’re one of the three and half people that I don’t admire. You’re number one in this list.”

Zuo Lengchan laughed. “I feel extremely flattered.”

“Your martial art is sufficient and your scheming is very deep, very suitable to my taste. You want to annex the five mountains sword schools and to stand as an equal with Shaolin and Wudang. You have really high fantasy. But your movements are very suspicious and you planned all sort of conspiracies and deceits. This is not the behaviour of a hero. That’s why I have absolutely no admiration for you,” Ren Woxing explained.

Zuo Lengchan replied, “From the three and a half people that I don’t admire in this world, you’re only one half.”

Ren Woxing continued, “All you can do is copy other people’s ideas and have no thought of your own; so that’s why no one admires you. Even though your study of Songshan School’s martial art is profound, everything was passed down by the people before you. If you have to depend on just your own ability, I’m afraid even after many years, we won’t be able to see any new moves in the martial art.”

Zuo Lengchan uttered an “Hng” before coldly laughing. “Sir, you’re talking here and there. Are you just dragging along the time or are you actually waiting for help to arrive?”

Ren Woxing laughed coldly. “The way you said this; are you still relying on numbers to besiege the three of us?”

Zuo Lengchan said, “You’ve come to Shaolin and killed many people here. Today, if you think you can still retreat with your whole body intact, then you’re looking down at everyone here. You said we’re relying on numbers to win, that’s alright. If you want to say that we’re not following Wulin’s customs, that’s also alright. You’ve already killed some disciples of the Songshan School. Since Zuo Lengchan is here today, I want to see how good you really are.”

Ren Woxing turned toward Fangzheng and asked, "Great Master Abbot, is this Shaolin temple or Songshan School's courtyard?"

"Shi zhu is still asking even though you already know. Of course, it's Shaolin temple here," Fangzheng answered.

"Then, concerning this matter, is Shaolin's Abbot presiding over it or Songshan School's headmaster presiding over it?" Ren Woxing asked.

"Although old monk is presiding over this matter, if any of the friends here has any esteemed opinion then old monk will definitely listen to it," Fangzheng said.

Ren Woxing looked up the sky and laughed heartily. "Good, it's really an esteemed opinion to know that you'll lose if you fight alone so you have to gang up to fight us. Zuo, you're blocking me here today. I don't need to fight you, I'll just cut my own throat to commit suicide in front of you."

Zuo Lengchan said coldly, "We have ten people here. We might not be able to stop you here but to kill your daughter won't be hard to do."

[efflix]

I think I do admire Ren Woxing in some ways- even though he may be ruthless, he is very perceptive and can tell aspects of human nature fairly well (except for DFBB obviously).

[MysteriouX]

I think I do admire Ren Woxing in some ways- even though he may be ruthless, he is very perceptive and can tell aspects of human nature fairly well (except for DFBB obviously).

Half true, I think its already been explained how RWX was imprisoned by DFBB, RWX let himself become occupied with trying to fix the flaw in the Essence Absorbing Skill and allowed himself to be blind to DFBB's true ambitions.

But I agree, RWX is amongst the people to admire in wuxia. He is very frank and open about what ever he does, kind of reminds me of Striding Cloud from Storm Riders.


So the 3.5 people he admires are DFBB, Shaolin Abbot, Grandmaster Feng, and Head of Wudang. I was so sure Madam Yue was going to be on the list.

And finally it seems we have a small secret revealed, YBQ knows FQY and that he went into seclusion. I guess YBQ does fear FQY in some way.


PS: This is one of the dialogue scenes I like in the JY series. I hardly get to enjoy any form of psychological battles in JY's stories, this is one of the rare occasions.

[CC]

Ren Woxing continued, “All you can do is copy other people’s ideas and have no thought of your own; so that’s why no one admires you. Even though your study of Songshan School’s martial art is profound, everything was passed down by the people before you. If you have to depend on just your own ability, I’m afraid even after many years, we won’t be able to see any new moves in the martial art.”


Huh? Of the 3.5 people he admires, _none_ of them created any new martial art as well. So why the exception for ZLC in this dept?

In fact, I thought ZLC is very commendable in this aspect. FZ gets the legendary YJJ + 72 arts, CX gets Taiji + Wudang Internal, FCY gets the heXxor DG9J and what does ZLC get? Some measly Songshan small time (compared to the rest) kung fu. ZLC deserves more praise then that!

[Ren Wo Xing]

It came right after this:

[Zuo Lengchan replied, “From the three and a half people that I don’t admire in this world, you’re only one half.”]

I had the feeling that Ren Woxing was mocking him for trying to belittle Ren using the same technique Ren was just using. Ie, 'You don't admire me?! Well, yeah? I only half unadmire you!'

Also, Ren meant, in addition, that his application of Songshan martial arts isn't very innovative; for example, even Madam Yue 'improved' on Huashan sword arts with her spontaneous invention, the 'The Strikes of Heroine Ning'. Ren Woxing himself obssessed over the Xixing Dafa and tried to find ways to improve on it and make it better. From other stories, we know that the Shaolin arts, such as the Dragon Claws, were polished and perfected over the centuries.

Evidently, Ren didn't feel that Zuo Lengchan contributed to the improvement and polishing of Songshan martial arts very much at all; something different from whether or not he 'invented' any new martial arts.

[CC]

Well, there is no evidence to show FZ improving Shaolin Arts or CX improving Taiji Jian or DFBB improving KHBD too. Thats why I thought its unfair to judge ZLC that way.

[MysteriouX]

LOL come on people, RWX isn't judging them just based on whether they improved or created new martial arts. He is also looking at their personality and other factors.

He admired FQY for his swordskills and personality, abbot FZ for his kindness and honest nature, DFBB for his cunning and ambition.

He even belittled YBQ (well not directly) for being a hypocrite and hinted that he admired Madam Yue more then her husband.

You guys gotta stop taking things litterally and try to find the hidden meaning of his words. Though RWX speaks open and directly, some of his statements also carry double meanings or pretend to be aimed at someone but actually aimed at someone else.

The world isn't just black and white, it has shades of gray in between.

There are such things as 'necessary evil' (war just happens to be one of them), and things that we may not like but have to do. And words that we may not like to say but have to say it.

RWX puts ZLC in the top of the 3.5 people he dislikes, and just mentioning his martial arts was probably a small factor brought up to ridicule ZLC in front of people.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Thanks for insulting our intelligence -_-

I, and CC as well I'm sure, was aware of all of that. We were simply looking at his actual words, in a narrow specific section and comparing them to reality.

[CC]

Tee hee hee.

[Grundle]

Can someone explain what RWX was hinting at when he said

"I don't need to fight you, I'll just cut my own throat to commit suicide in front of you."

That really made no sense to me. In fact it seemed almost out of context with the entire conversation that they were having. Is he subtly insulting him? Is he saying that since they will gang up, he will join them as well and gang up on himself? Confusing statement to me. Especially when ZL counters by threatening his daughter.

[SkineePanda]

Can someone explain what RWX was hinting at when he said

"I don't need to fight you, I'll just cut my own throat to commit suicide in front of you."

That really made no sense to me. In fact it seemed almost out of context with the entire conversation that they were having. Is he subtly insulting him? Is he saying that since they will gang up, he will join them as well and gang up on himself? Confusing statement to me. Especially when ZL counters by threatening his daughter.

I think he means that since they're gonna gang up on them, RWX and people will be no match anyway so he might as well cut his own throat. He said it to belittle Zuo and his way of gaining victory through numbers.

[marktio]

thanks pokit and hhuang for the amazing work

how come none of this ten top orthodox masters do not detect that LHC is hiding there? or they just pretending?

[fastclock]

To RWX and CC,

JY's strength is tying up a lot of loose ends in one big book of wuxia (thousands and thousands of pages), not really on the dialogues. So, there will be flaws here and there... otherwise how would you explain his multiple attempts on the revisions?

And RWX is not a perfect person either. Just judging by his ruthlessness, it is clear that when he judges the admirable persons: (a) he is not going to judge based on good or bad of the person, (b) it is based on the ultimate wuxia skills.

If there is a flaw in his logic, just take it on RWX (the one in the book)'s flaw not on JY, hehe...

[MysteriouX]

thanks pokit and hhuang for the amazing work

how come none of this ten top orthodox masters do not detect that LHC is hiding there? or they just pretending?

They are probably more concerned with RWX and group to be worried enough about checking if there is anyone else. Especially since RWX is like their number one enemy and biggest threat that can exist for them.

[pokit]

My take on what RWX said about cutting his own throat is that he meant that they won't be able to kill him if they ganged up, and the only way they're going to kill him is if he does it himself.

[pokit]

"Amituofo, you can't kill her," Fangzheng said.

Linghu Chong's heart started thumping wildly. He knew that Zuo Lengchan was saying the truth. Although he didn't know who the other three people were, he thought that their position must be similar to Fangzheng or Chongxu. Even if they were not a leader of a school, they would still be elite masters. Ren Woxing's martial art was powerful and at worst, he would escape injured. But it was hard to say whether Xiang Wentian would be able to escape with his life. As for Yingying, she would have no hope.

Ren Woxing calmly said, "That's wonderful. Headmaster Zuo has a son and I heard his martial art is poor so he should be easy to kill. Gentleman Yue has a daughter. Priest Yu, I think have a few lovely concubines and three sons. Priest Tianmen has no son or daughter but has a lot of beloved disciples. Mr. Mo Da still has his old father and mother. Kunlun School's Qiankun One Sword Zhenshan Zi has one grandson. There's still Beggar Clan's big clan leader Xie. Left protector Xiang, who does clan leader Xie have?"

Linghu Chong thought, "So martial uncle Mo is also here. Actually Mr. Ren doesn't need Great Master Fangzheng's introduction. He already knew the appearances of these ten people from the beginning. Not only that, he must have been familiar with each of their life's experiences."

Xiang Wentian said, "I heard that in Beggar Clan, there are these two people called Green Lotus Emissary and White Lotus Emissary. Although they don't have the Xie surname, they're both clan leader Xie's sons."

"You're not wrong about this? We don't want to wrongly kill a good person here," Ren Woxing said.

"I'm not wrong. Subordinate already asked clearly," Xiang Wentian reassured him.

Ren Woxing nodded his head. "If we kill wrongly then it can't be helped. But if we kill thirty-four people from Beggar Clan then we'll at least kill a few people correctly."

"Chief's opinion is esteemed!" Xiang Wentian praised.

Ren Woxing had mentioned each of their loved ones. Zuo Lengchan and clan leader Xie were shivering in fear. They knew that this person was not just saying some false threat. These people here would not be able to stop him from leaving. But if they kill his daughter then he would certainly avenge her death by violently killing each of their loved ones. They were afraid that it would be very difficult for their loved ones to escape his violent hands. Thinking of this made them trembled with fear. In that moment, everything was quiet and all their faces changed colour.

After some time, Fangzheng spoke out, "Revenge will always breed revenge. Shi zhu Ren, we had decided not to harm young lady Ren, but we want you three honourables to stay on Mount Shaoshi for ten years."

"We can't. My murderous nature has been aroused. I can't wait to kill Headmaster Zuo's son and Priest Yu's concubines and sons. Especially Mr. Yue's lovely daughter, I can't allow her to live in this world," Ren Woxing replied.

Linghu Chong was greatly alarmed. He didn't know whether this head of Devil Sect was just saying this to threaten them or he really wanted to kill them.

"Mr. Ren, why don't we gamble? What do you think of this?" Priest Chongxu asked.

"Old man's luck in gambling isn't good so I have no confidence in making a bet. But I have confidence in killing people. Killing master-hands, I don't have confidence. But killing master-hands' parents, children, big wives, or small wives, I have lots of confidence," Ren Woxing replied.

"Those people don’t know martial art. Killing them isn't what heroes do."

"Even though it's not what heroes do, it would make my enemies grieve for their whole lifetime and make me really happy."

"If you don't have your daughter anymore, you also won't be happy. If you don't have your daughter then you wouldn't have your son-in-law anymore. Your son-in-law would become other people's son-in-law and you would lose your reputation."

"That can't be helped... that can't be helped. I'm forced to kill all of them. Who said that my son-in-law doesn't respect my daughter?"

"How about this? We won't rely on numbers to win and you won't carelessly kill people. We'll make it equal and let our martial arts decide the winner and loser. The three of you fight three of our people in three fights. The winner would be the one who won two fights out of three."

Fangzheng hastily said, "This is good, Brother Chongxu's esteemed opinion is really out of the ordinary. We'll just fight as necessary and there's no need to hurt anyone."

Ren Woxing asked, "If the three of us lose, then we have to stay on Mount Shaoshi for ten years and aren't allowed to go down the mountain. Is this right?"

Priest Chongxu answered, "Right. If the three of you won two fights, then we have naturally lost the fight and you're free to go down the mountain. And we'll just regard that these eight disciples have died in vain."

"In my heart, I admire you ox-nosed by one half. I feel that these words you said is half right. So who are the three people fighting for your side? Can I choose the people?" Ren Woxing inquired.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Bahahahahaha. I heart RWX.

[Wellesley]

I like Ren WoXing's character a lot and think he is a Great-level fighter but I doubt he can run away from the 10 masters.

[atlantean0208]

"I'll pick myself, Mr Xiang and Mr Linghu" oh no! is that a spoiler! I'm now running away and hide myself in a hole

[shortsight]

Thumbs up to Pokit and hhaung. This Smiling Proud Wanderer translation is the most viewed after Wuxia Translations in this forum! Well done!!