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Thread: Demi-God Semi-Devils

  1. #481
    Junior Member tigergee2329's Avatar
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    Default translation take 2414113....

    Hey guys, sorry about the yearlong wait. I said I was going to start on this last year but was busy so I didn't have time to get on it. Here is what I have so far and I will try to do some each week. If anyone wants to help out or wants to edit this, please feel free to.

    ------
    (chap 15 cont...)

    Madame Ma was originally standing still on one side with her head down, her back towards everyone. She had overheard what Elder Xu said, so she slowly turned around and in a quiet voice said: "My husband was unfortunate and passed away, I only know how to cursed my fate at not being able to born any children to continue the Ma bloodline..." Her voice although quiet, yet clear, caused the words that entered the ears of everyone who heard to shed tears. Her tone until this point was emotional, but now it seemed to be choked by tears. All the heroes in the forest after hearing her talked was touched all the way to their soul. With one cry Zhao Qiansun made everyone laughed, Ah Zhu made everyone amazed, but Madame Ma made everyone sorrowful.

    Madame Ma continued, "After I had buried my husband, I went through the belongings he left behind, in the place with the Buddhist scriptures there was a letter that was sealed with wax. On the cover of the letter it was written: "In case that I died peacefully, burn this letter immediately. If opened, then my soul in heaven (yellow river) will not be able to rest in peace. But if I died in a suspicious manner, this letter must be handed over to all the Beggar clan elders to read together. This matter is of utmost importance, must not be failed.”

    When Madame Ma talked to this point, the entire forest was quiet, a needle falling to the ground could still be heard. She paused for a moment then continued, “I saw that since my husband wrote seriously thus, I know this matter is important so I immediately searched for Bangzhu to hand over this letter. It was coincidence that Bangzhu along with the clan elders are at Jiang Nan regarding matters of revenge for my dead husband. Because of that I have not yet been able to hand over the letter.

    People there noticed a different shift in her tone, emphasizing “coincidence” and then “because of that”. Together everyone looked at Qiao Feng from the corner of their eyes.

    Qiao Feng all afternoon had dealt with the devious plot directed at himself, although he had suppressed Quan Guanqing and the clan elders’ rebellion, he has not yet put this matter to rest. Now after he heard Madame Ma speak, he now felt lighter inside than before, his complexion calm and thought to himself, “Whatever plot these people are planning, come out and say it and be done with it. In this lifetime I have never done anything to be ashamed of so why would I be scared of someone trying to slander me.”

    Madame Ma continued, “I know that this letter has implications to the clan, and since Bangzhu and clan elders were not at Luoyang, I dare not delay so I immediately went to Zhengzhou to see Elder Xu and ask him to take charge of this matter. As for what this matter is… Elder Xu, please explain to everyone here.

    
Elder Xu coughed a few times before speaking, “This matter if spoken out loud involves matters of gratitude and grudges. I foresee that the consequences are very hard to imagine.” Those few sentences conveyed a deep worrisome meaning. He slowly opened a clothe bag from his shoulders, took out the letter, and said “This is the will of Ma Dayuan. Great ancestors, grandfather, and father of Dayuan, many generations have belonged to the Beggar clan, and had been if not clan elders then at least 8 bags members. I knew Ma Dayuan since he was little and are very familiar with handwritings of his. The words on this letter are definitely Ma Dayuan’s handwriting. When Madame Ma handed me this letter, the wax seal on it has not been touched. I was afraid it held important matters and dare not delay it so I opened it immediately without waiting for the other Elders. When opening the letter, the Iron Faced Judge of Mt. Taishan Shan Zheng was there as witness.”

    Shan Zheng spoke up, “What he said was true. I was there to visit Elder Xu at that moment when he opened the letter.”

    Elder Xu opened the envelop taking out the letter and said, “I examined the letter inside and saw that it was not written by Ma Dayuan and was a little surprised. The beginning of the letter was to: Brother Jiantong, and this is even more weird. Jiantong is the name of Wang Bangzhu - the former Bangzhu of the Beggar Clan. If the person who wrote this letter was not a good friend of his, then they would not addressed him as such. Moreover Wang Bangzhu had passed away for a long time, so who would write a letter to him? At this point I have not yet read what was written in the letter but immediately skipped to the end to see the name on the signature. Upon reading it I was even more surprised. At that point I couldn’t contain myself and exclaimed ‘So it was him!’ Brother Shan was curious and peeked his head over to see and also exclaimed ‘So it was him!’”

    
Shan Zheng nodded his head hinting that it happened exactly like that.

    Zhao Qiansun sneaked in “Mister Shan, what you did was not right. This is a secret letter of the Beggar Clan. You are not a 1 bag member of the clan, nor a 2 bag, nor even a lowly street beggar who goes around asking for food. How come you dared to peek at a secret letter belonging to others?” Everyone there thought that he was like a madman but now he actually made sense. Shan Zheng’s faced turned red and hurriedly said, “I… I only looked at the signature at the end of the letter and not what was actually written in that letter.” Zhao Qiansun replied, “If one stole 1000 gold one is a thief, if one stole 1 copper one is still a thief. The amount of money is different. But stealing a large amount is still stealing and stealing a small amount is still stealing. Sneaking a glance at a letter belonging to others is not an act of a gentlemen. If you are not a gentlemen then you are a shameless person, and a shameless person is someone everyone should look down upon. If you are already a shameless person then you deserved to die.”

    Shan Zheng raised his hand to keep his five sons from acting rashly. Just let him talk nonsense and see where this goes. Though he was boiling on the inside, he calmly thought to himself that there was something more to this, and asked himself “This person just met me and he’s already trying to stir up trouble, did he already had grudge with me from the past perchance? In Jianghu there are not many who doesn’t give face to the name Thaishan Shan jia. Why can’t I figure it out?”

    Everyone else was waiting for Elder Xu to say the name of the person in the letter to see what kind of person he is that caused Elder Xu and Shan Zheng to both be shocked. While they all were trying to think of this matter, Zhao Qiansun started speaking out of turn with some other nonsense causing many people to stare at him in anger.

    Granny Tan suddenly spoke up, “What is everyone looking at? Every word my senior martial brother said was the truth.” Zhao Qiansun saw Granny Tan spoke up for him, felt estactic inside, and said, “Everyone look here, even Lian Xiaojuan agrees, so how can I be in the wrong. Whatever Lian Xiaojuan have said or done in the past had never been wrong.”

    But suddenly another but shockingly similar voice to Zhao Qiansun cut in, “That is right. Whatever Lian Xiaojuan says or do has never been wrong. She married Grandpa Tan, and did not married me… she did not married wrong at all!” The person who said that was A’Zhu. Starting at the moment when Zhao Quinsun talked bad about Murong Fu, she was still holding a grudge inside so she couldn’t help herself from making fun of him. Zhao Quinsun after hearing that didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and fell victim to the specialty of the Murong famly move – turning one’s special move against them. (I don’t know how to translate this idiom Help??)

    Immediately there were two faces looking at A’Zhu intimately and full with approval, on there right there was Grandpa Tan’s and on the left there was Shan Zheng.

    A person’s shadow flashed and Granny Tan jumped in front of A’Zhu with a raised palm and slapped her hard in the face and piqued “Whether I marry right or wrong, what does it have to do with a lowly servant girl like you?” She raised her hand very fast that even though A’Zhu wanted to dodge it, she couldn’t. Another person even if next to her wouldn’t even be fast enough step in to help. A loud squeak of pain was heard and on the powder white face of A’Zhu there was purple hand print.

    Zhao Qiansun laughed out loud, “This smelly girl deserved her lesson. Who told her to be gossipy about other people’s business.”

    A’Zhu with tears running down her cheeks started crying out loud. Grandpa Tan stepped up and stuck his hand into his pocket pulling out a small jade box, opened it, and started spreading ointment onto the face of A’Zhu. Granny Tan slapped her skillfully and quickly, raising her palm and pulling it back in just a single motion. Grandpa Tan applying ointment to her face had to use many different motions but it was even faster than Granny Tan’s slap. A’Zhu didn’t even get a chance to move and the ointment were already on her face, her bruised face suddenly started to heal and feel better. At the same time in her left hand she was holding something. She opened her palm to see a small jade box, seeing that she knew that Granpa Tan just gave her a box of special ointment to treat her injury. A’Zhu, as soon as she started crying had suddenly started smiling.
    Last edited by tigergee2329; 03-25-10 at 08:18 PM.

  2. #482
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    Elder Xu had no reason to pay attention to Granny Tan bicker with Grandpa Tan, so he lowered his voice and continued, “My brothers! As for the person who wrote this letter, I can not say at this moment. I have been in the Beggar Clan for over 70 years, have retired to live in seclusion for 30 years and no longer have any dealings with business in Jianghu. I don’t have any conflicts with people nor do people have enmities with me. I have lived in this world for a long time, yet I don’t have any children nor do I have any students thus I harbor no hidden bias nor agendas. I am about to say a few words, will you all be able to believe what I say?” The group of beggars all said together, “If we don’t trust Elder Xu then who can we trust?”

    Elder Xu turned around and looked at Qiao Feng and asked, “What say you Bangzhu?” Qiao Feng replied, “I have always respected Elder Xu, elder should know this already.”

    Elder Xu then continued, “After reading this letter, I felt both hurt and anger in my heart. I had doubts that I am mistaken and erred in my thinking so I immediately showed it to brother Shan Zheng. Everyone must keep in mind that Brother Shan and the person who wrote this letter have always been intimate with each other. He can recognize the handwriting of that person. This matter has important implications so I needed to ask Brother Shan to examine this letter to see if it is true or false.”

    Shan Zheng looked forward and stared at Zhao Qiansun implying “Do you have anything more to say?” Zhao Qiansun replied, “If Elder Xu showed the letter to you, then of course you have a right to look at it. However it still doesn’t dismiss the fact that the first time you saw it, it was because you sneaked a peak. No different from a thief swearing in front of Buddha that he will never steal again, and even though he changed his ways, it still doesn’t wash away the fact that he was once a thief.”

    Elder Xu, paid no attention to Zhao Qiansun trying to stir up trouble, and continued talking, “Brother Shan! Will Brother Shan please announce to everyone here whether this letter is real or fake?”

    Shan Zheng replied, “The person who wrote this letter and I are good friends and have exchanged letters with each other for many years. In my house I still kept many of his old letters, so I led Elder Xu and Madam Ma back to my place to compare them. Not only the handwriting matches, but also the envelop and the wax seal were all of one kind and does not leave any doubt as to who wrote the letter.”

    Elder Xu said, “I won’t live for much longer so everything that I do, I must be careful. Especially since this matter has important implications to the Beggar Clan and the reputation and name of a hero, how could I dare be reckless and take liberty of the matter.”

    After hearing him say that, everyone turned their faces to look at Qiao Feng, knowing immediately that the hero that he was implying were Qiao Bangzhu himself. With that being said, no one dared to look at him straight in the eyes opting instead to look down at the ground when their eyes meet.

    Elder Xu continued, “I knew that the Tan husband and wife living on Mt. Taishan and the person who wrote the letter knew each other for many years, so I payed a visit to Cavern of Flowing Clouds. Grandpa Tan and Granny Tan shared with me everything to confirm this matter. I truly didn’t dare to come straight out and talk about this matter by myself.”

    At this time everyone realized that Elder Xu invited the Tan husband and wife and ShanZheng here to testify and serve as witnesses.

    Elder Xu then continued, “At that time Granny Tan said that she has ‘a martial brother that can bear first hand witness to this matter. If we can invite him to testify his account then everything can become clear. This person is mister Zhao Qiansun. But this person acts differently and more eccentric than the average person, he won’t accept just anybody’s invitation.’ But he still holds Granny Tan in high regard. As soon as her invitation letter arrives, Zhao Qiansun immediately agreed to come...”

    

Grandpa Tan suddenly got angry and stared at Granny Tan then asked, “What?? You were the one to ask him to come? Why didn’t you tell me first before you two carried out covert exchanges behind my back?” Granny Tan became angry and shouted back, “What is this ‘covert exchanges’ you mentioned? I wrote a letter and asked Elder Xu to send someone to deliver it. That is the right and honorable thing that I did befitting a wife. You have a perchance for pointless jealousy, if you knew then you will nag incessantly about it bringing down the house, so that’s why I chose not to tell you.” Grandpa Tan replied, “Hiding something from your husband violates the moral ethics of husband and wife, and that is not right!”

    Granny Tan not in the mood to argue more, took her palm and punched him in the middle of his face. Grandpa Tan, although his martial arts are higher than his wife, didn’t block nor did he dodge, just stood still for his wife to hit him. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box to rub ointment onto his face to stop the swelling. The person who struck was fast, but the person who applied ointment was even faster. The anger of this husband and wife caused everyone to find it ridiculous.

    Zhao Qiansun seeing this, gave a long sigh and in a sad hurt voice said, “So that’s how it is. So that’s how it is. So regretful. If I had known sooner then in the past I would have allowed her to slap me around a few times. Not a difficult thing to do.” His voice was full of regret.

    Granny Tan replied in an equally regretful voice, “Who told you to hit me back when I hit you in the past? You never once yielded to me.”
    Last edited by tigergee2329; 03-18-10 at 01:52 AM.

  3. #483
    Senior Member Wanlie Tong's Avatar
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    Thanks very much!

  4. #484
    Senior Member SkyWalker's Avatar
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    Thanks for continuing the translation Tigergee.

    Grandma & Grandpa are acting like kids now....really annoying! This love triangle involving the 3 of them are just ridiculous! I need to focus on XF, the letter, and the evil madam Ma.

  5. #485
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    thnx for the translation.

    plz do continue
    Rose blooms best near death
    You are in full bloom, Pal!

  6. #486
    Junior Member tigergee2329's Avatar
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    Zhao Qiansun looked up in a dumb looking stupor, started to reminiscence the old times about a certain martial sister with a volatile temper. A misstep around her and one would be on defense all day. Every time he got hit for a nonsense reason, he could not endure nor yield so back and forth they go thus killing any chance for love before it had a chance to mature. Now seeing Grandpa Tan withstood her beating without a sound, he was finally enlightened, and now repent bitterly with a heart full of grief. Over the past few decades, he was bitter at his martial sister for choosing another man, thinking it was due to some significant reason, but who would have thought that his rival’s only advantage was that he was willing to serve as her whipping post. "Oy, if I only I had known back then, I would let her hit me more then she would be satisfied."

    Elder Xu spoke up, “Mister Zhao Qiansun!! Please give some input and say to everyone whether the contents of this letter is true or false.”

    Zhao Qiansun, still lost in his thought, muttered, “I am such an idiot, at that time why couldn’t I figure it out? Studying martial arts are for beating enemies, beating evil, beating lowlife bastards, who would have thought to use it for beating a loved one, beating the person of your dreams. If being beaten was love, being scolded was love, being slapped around was love, then what was such a big deal that I couldn’t endure it back then.”

    Everyone seeing him so infatuated found it slightly touching yet also ridiculous. The Beggar Clan is facing an important matter that needs to be resolved. Elder Xu had invited this person from afar to testify, but who knew this person turned out to be a love struck fool, can what he has to say be taken seriously?

    Elder Xu reminded him, “Mister Zhao Qiansun, we all asked you here so you can talk about what is in this letter.”

    Zhao Qiansun replied, “Oh right, right, elder is asking about the matter in the letter right? That letter though short, is full of meaning: 40 years ago we were fellow students, the memories still fresh. Every time little sister thinks back, I start missing those days. Although martial brother’s head is now gray, your smiling face is no different from years past...” Elder Xu was asking about the letter Ma Dayuan left behind, but he actually recited Granny Tan’s letter that he memorized by heart.

    Elder Xu was speechless and not knowing what to do, turned to Granny Tan and said, “Madam Tan! Madam please ask him to cooperate.”

    Granny Tan witnessed Zhao Qiansun unexpectedly take an ordinary letter of hers and recited it fluently by heart, knew in her soul that he must have read that letter forward and back many times. She was very touched and sweetly said, “Martial brother! Martial brother please talk about the situation at that time.”

    Zhao Qiansun replied, “I remembered that scene like it was still in front of my eyes, the memories of it were like it happened yesterday. Martial sister had combed your hair into two braids, each one tied by a red string. That day Shifu taught us the move Stealing Dragon Switching Phoenix....”

    Granny Tan slowly shook her head and said, “Martial brother, Elder Xu is not asking about our past. Martial brother once had participated in the bloody battle at Shi Guqian (Quarry Stone Valley) outside Yanmen Guan Pass. Martial brother please tell everyone what the situation was like at that time.”

    Zhao Qiansun shakely said, “Outside Yanmen Guan Pass? At Quarry Stone Valley... I... I....” His complexion suddenly changed color. He suddenly turned towards the southwest direction where there wasn’t a single soul and started running away. His lightness skill was strong and fast. He ran all the way into the forest and it would be hard for anyone to catch him so everyone started to yell “Mister Zhao Qiansun! Don’t run! Please come back!” Zhao Qiansun paid gave no heed and ran even harder.

    Suddenly there was a loud ringing voice, “Martial brother’s head is now gray, your smiling face is now crooked, different from years past...” Zhao Qiansun immediately halted, turned around and asked, “Who said that?” That other person continued, “If it is not so then why upon seeing Grandpa Tan do you feet inferior, turn tail and run away?” Everyone looked to see who spoke, and it was Quan Guanqing.

    Zhao Qiansun angrily yelled back, “Who felt inferior? His kungfu is only good for standing there to take punishment and not hit back. How is that better than me?”

    All of a sudden on the other side of the forest an old man’s voice was heard, “Taking punishment but not dishing it back is the hardest kungfu to learn under heaven. It is not a simple, no?”

    (end of chapter 15)

    -------

    Hey guys - I know my translations are pretty amateurish, and can't compare to Ren wo xing's or the others that came before me so please bear with me. If you have any constructive criticism about how to make it better feel free to comment.
    Last edited by tigergee2329; 03-26-10 at 01:08 PM.

  7. #487
    Senior Member CC's Avatar
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    Wow, didnt expect to see this pick up again after all the stops and starts for nearly a decade!

    Thanks Tigergee. Don't worry, your translations flow pretty well with the rest. I wouldn't worry about anything if I were you.
    Its BIxie Jianfa Gawdammit you guys!!!!

  8. #488
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    I agree, your translation is more than fine! Keep it up, and thanks for the hard work! I know what a pain in the *** it is to translate JY...
    Read the latest chapters of Coiling Dragon at Wuxia World!

  9. #489
    Junior Member tigergee2329's Avatar
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    Chapter 16
    Old gratitudes, past grievances - friends in morning, becomes foes at midday


    Everyone turned their heads and looked behind the apricot trees. A square faced, big eared monk, dignified in appearance wearing an ash colored robe, stepped out. Elder Xu cried, “Reverend Zhiguang from Mt. Tiantai has arrived! 30 years since we last met, reverend still look as healthy as ever.”

    Reverend Zhiguang’s reputation was not well known in recent years so many of the latter generations of the Beggar Clan do not know his name. But Qiao Feng and the six clan elders all stood up and paid him respect, having known of his reputation from before. In the past, the Reverend had sailed the seas to deserted lands and islands looking for medicinal herbs to treat malaria and other illnesses for the common people in the Zhejiang, Fujian Guangdong and Guangxi area. Because of this, the Reverend had caught an illness himself and lost his martial arts, thus the gratitudes of the common people for his deeds are not small. Many people came up to salute him.

    Reverend Zhiguang turned to Zhao Qiansun, smiled and said, “Wugong that is inferior to the opponent when attacked, wanting to retaliate is already hard. Wugong that is superior to the opponent when attacked, and choose not retaliate is even harder.” Zhao Qiansun lowered his head as if pondering what was said.

    Elder Xu said, “Reverend Zhiguang’s brilliant wisdom and benevolent grace are so widespread that no one dares to disrespect. In the past ten years Reverend had not involved yourself with any business in Jianghu, but today you grace us with your presence and bringing the Beggar Clan great honor. I am deeply grateful.”

    Reverend Zhiguang replied, “Elder Xu of the Beggar Clan and Iron Faced Judge Shan of Mt. Taishan both asked me to come, so how can I refuse? The distance between Mt. Tiantai and Wuxi is not great, moreover this matter deals with the peace and prosperity of the common people thus I came when summoned.”

    Qiao Feng thought to himself, “So it turns out he was asked here by Elder Xu and Shan Zheng. Reverend Zhiguang has a reputation of high prestige and a noble character. There’s no way he would be involved with the plot to harm me. Maybe with him here is a good thing.”

    Zhao Qiansun suddenly spoke up, “The battle at Quarry Stone Valley outside of Yanmen Guan Pass, Reverend Zhiguang also participated in it. You can speak about it first.”

    Reverend Zhiguang hearing the mentioned of Quarry Stone Valley caused his facial complexion to became distorted, showing an uncomfortable restlessness and a hint of fear, like a person who saw a horrible sight and can’t bear to look. His face then switched to a melancholic look full of pity, let out a long sigh, and said, “The sin is really heavy, to speak of this matter brings up feelings of great shame. Everyone, the battle at Quarry Stone Valley took place 30 years ago, so why today bring up this matter?”

    Elder Xu replied, “Only because our clan is facing a impending crisis involving the matter in this letter.” After speaking he brought out the letter and handed it over.

    Reverend Zhiguang read the letter from beginning to end, shook his head and said, “Grievances of the past should not be reopened, why bring up this old matter? According to my opinion, this letter should be destroyed so it will bring this matter to an end. That is the best solution.”

    Elder Xu retorted, “Vice Chief Ma of our clan died a tragic death. If this matter is not investigated carefully then this injustice suffered by Vice Chief Ma will never be washed away and it will lead to a disintegration of our clan.”

    Reverend Zhiguang could only nod his in in agreement, “What you said is true.” The reverend looked up at late afternoon sky showing the new moon shining a thin ray of light onto the apricot trees for a long time, then turned to Zhao Qiansun and said, “Okay, the mistake that I committed many years back, I won’t conceal it anymore. I will be straightforward about what happened back then.”

    Zhao Qiansun shook his head, “A mistake is a mistake. Why continue to deceive ourselves and others.”

    The Reverend turned to the people gathered and spoke, “30 years ago, heroes of realm of rivers and lakes received news that a group of Khitan warriors planned to launch a sneak attack on the Shaolin Temple to steal martial art manuals developed over the past hundreds of years...”

    Everyone gasped softly thinking to themselves, “The ambitions of these Khitan warriors are not small.” The unique martial art secrets of Shaolin Temple are the treasures of Great Song. Liao and Great Song had been at war with each other for many years, if these Khitan succeeded in stealing the martial art secrets of Shaolin and train their military in them, the armies of Great Song will not be able to repel their invasions.

    Reverend Zhiguang continued, “This matter was a matter of great crisis. If the Khitans succeeded then Great Song would be facing a calamity with the threat of losing the country, the entire family of the Emperor will be put to the sword. The matter was urgent so our group of heroes did not have time to investigate this matter carefully. We heard that the group of Khitans will travel through Yanmen Guan Pass so beside from sending message to Shaolin to be on full alert, the group all immediately headed out to Yanmen Guan Pass to meet the enemy. If we couldn’t annihilate that group then at least we can foil their plans.”

    Hearing of the impending battle with the Khitans, everyone’s blood started to boiled. Great Song over the years have been humiliated by the armies of Liao, having lost many battles, land was invaded, and the common people suffered greatly.

    Reverend Zhiguang slowly turned his head, stared at Qiao Feng and asked, “Qiao Bangzhu, if Bangzhu had known of this news then what would you have done?”
    Last edited by tigergee2329; 03-22-10 at 06:34 PM.

  10. #490
    Senior Member SkyWalker's Avatar
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    Thanks for the update tigergee.

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    Qiao Feng dignifiedly replied, “Reverend Zhiguang! My wisdom is limited, my abilities too lacking for people to praise, even brothers in the clan suspect of them that to even speak of it brings shame. But even though I am incompetent, I still am a man, and regarding these matters of principal one know what is right, what is wrong. Our Great Song has constantly been terrorized by armies of Liao, this dishonor upon our country, who here has never thought of cleansing? If I had heard of news such as those, I will immediately lead brothers in our clan to travel day and night to help stop them.”

    Those words of his were very heroic and proud, everyone who heard was touched inside and thought to themselves, “Now that is how a true man should act.”

    Reverend Zhiguang nodded and said, “Since Qiao Bangzhu said that, when I headed out to Yanmen Guan Pass to ambush the Khitans, there is nothing wrong with that right?”

    Qiao Feng angrily thought to himself, “Who does this old man think he is? Saying that, isn’t it just like looking down on me?” However he betrayed no emotions and just calmly said, “The heroic spirit of all seniors here are fierce, I greatly admire them. I regret that I was not born 30 years earlier so that I could follow the heroes to fight the Khitans.”

    Reverend Zhiguang looked at him carefully once more, his facial expressions were strange, and slowly said, “At that time we split up into small groups heading to Yanmen Guan Pass. I and this brother here...” he pointed to Zhao Qiansun and continued, “were in the first group. Our group consisted of 21 people. Brother Leader was younger than I by a few years, however his martial arts were outstanding, and many people revered his status in the martial arts world, thus we all nominated him to be our Leader. Everyone listened to him and carried out his orders. In our group there were Wang Bangzhu of the Beggar Clan, Ten Thousand Wins Saber the hero Wang Laoying, the Great Sword God Priest Yun of Mt. Huashan, they were all first class martial art masters. At that time I have yet to become a monk, and to be grouped together with such heroes I felt very unworthy. Only that my desire to serve my country to kill enemies did not allow for me to be polite and stand in the rear of that group. When it comes to killing enemies and protecting the country, every little strength that can be contributed should be contributed. The martial arts of these brothers were much greater than my own, as for nowadays, as you may know there is no need to compare anymore.”

    Zhao Qiansun added, “That’s correct! At that time my martial arts were much greater than yours. As much as this..” As he said that he spread both his arms out wide to show the difference. But seeing that the distance was still not enough, he tried spreading out his finger tips to add a few inches.

    Reverend Zhiguang just continued with his story, “Our group reached Yanmen Guan Pass and waited until near dusk, then went out beyond the Great Wall 10 more miles. We were on guard and very careful the whole time. Suddenly in the northwest direction we heard sounds of horses running, listening to the sound there were at least 10 riders. Brother Leader raised his right hand up and all of us halted. Everyone in the group were both excited and worried, no one dared to say a word. Excited because the news were not false, and the group arrived in time to stop the enemies. However also worried because everyone knows that these Khitans must be very fierce and capable to even dare attack Shaolin, who is the Mount Tai of martial art studies. If they were friendly then they wouldn’t have came, but since they came they couldn’t be friendly at all. These warriors must have been chosen very carefully, 1 chosen out of 10,000 so they must not be ordinary. Great Song had fought many battles with the Khitans, defeats were many but victories few, the outcome of the battle would be hard to imagine.”

    “Brother Leader waved his hands and all 21 of us spread out around the mountain road and hid among the boulders. The left side of the mountain was a deep valley where the bottom could not even be seen.”

    “The sound of hoofbeats start getting nearer and nearer, there was a sound of 7-8 people together singing a song native to the the people of Liao. The singing was gracefully long, both grand and herioc, but none of us could understand its meaning. I tightened the grip on my saber, my palms were so drenched in cold sweat that I had to dry them on my pants but it soon became wet again. Brother Leader was bending down to the side of me. Knowing that I was nervous, he patted my shoulder, looked at me, and gave a smile. He made a chopping motion with his hand as if to say we will kill all of the Khitan soldiers today. I smiled back at him. Inside I felt much calmer than before.”

    “When the person in the lead of the Khitan group were about 50 meters away from us, I peeked out from behind of a boulder. The Khitan warriors were all wearing fur, some holding spears, some with short sabers, others with bows and arrows, and a few have large hawks perched on their shoulders. The whole group was singing as they walked, unbeknown of the ambush up ahead. In a brief second I had took in the appearances of the Khitans in front, they had short hair and thick beards, all looked fierce. As they got closer, my heart was beating so furiously that it felt like it was closed to jumping out of my mouth and out my body...”

    The people hearing Reverend Zhiguang telling the story, though all knew this story took place 30 years ago, they couldn’t help but felt suspenseful. Reverend Zhiguang turned again to Qiao Feng and said, “Qiao Bangzhu, the success or failure of this mission will influence the safety of Great Song along with the lives of millions of people. And we still do not have a grasp on whether we will be successful. The only advantage we had was that the enemies were in the light, while we in the dark. According to Bangzhu, what should we have done?”

    Qiao Feng replied, “There is an old saying ‘All’s fair in war.” This matter is involving two countries at war, there’s no way we can follow the heroic moral ethics code of Jianghu. The distant dogs had always slaughtered the people of Great Song, have they ever held back? In my opinion we must use concealed projectiles coated with deadly poison.”

    Reverend Zhiguang clapped his hand against his thigh and said, “Good! The suggestion of Qiao Bangzhu is exactly like the thinking of our group. Brother Leader seeing the Khitans had came close enough, cried out a sound, and everyone let loose their concealed weapons and projectiles. Flying out there was an abundance of steel darts, steel arrows, flying daggers, iron awls... each and everyone were all coated with deadly poison. The Liao dogs screamed out in confusion, then fell over and screamed no more...”

    In the group of beggars listening, some clapped their hands and cheered.

    Reverend Zhiguang continued, “At that point I had counted clearly. The group of Khitans warriors had 19 people. Our concealed weapons had slain 12, leaving 7 still standing. Our group all to a man jumped out, raising our sabers and swords cut down all remaining in a flash. None was able to escape.”

    Some listening in the Beggar Clan group cheered once more. However both Qiao Feng and Duan Yu pondered in their head, “The reverend had said that these Khitans were all chosen carefully among the best of the best warriors, so how can their skills be so mediocre to die in such a short time?”

    Their was a sound of Reverend Zhiguang heaving a long sigh, “Our group just barely raised our arms and had easily killed 19 Khitan warriors, all were ecstatic but also felt uneasy. This group was too ordinary, not a single person lasted more than one move, definitely are not skilled warriors. Was the news that we heard inaccurate? Or did the Khitans planned this so that they could trap us? We exchanged only a few words with each other before we heard the sound of a horse. In the northwest direction there were 2 riders coming this way.”

    “This time our group did not bother to ambush anymore, all headed straight to meet the enemy without consulting with anybody. Immediately we saw that the enemy included a man and a woman. The man’s body was powerfully built, his facial expression was solemn. His clothing was more expensive and better looking than all those other 19 Khitans. The woman was young looking, and in her hands was a little baby. The two people were shoulder to shoulder, smiling and talking very intimately, obviously they are husband and wife. The two upon seeing us were greatly surprised and looked around saw the corpse of those 19 warriors all lying on the ground. The man immediately changed his countenance to a fierce and aggressive look, loudly shouting questions at us in a Khitan language that none of us understood what he was trying to say.”

    “Shanxi Datong government office’s Iron Tower third brother Fang Daxiong raised his iron rod up and shouted loudly: ‘You Khitan dog there, surrender and accept your fate!’ He shouted and at the same time wielded his iron rod to strike down the Khitan man. Brother Leader in his stomach felt uneasy and was about to yelled out, ‘Brother Fang, don’t be reckless! Do not kill him. We must capture him alive to question him.’

    “Brother Leader had not finish his sentence before the Khitan’s right hand had moved forward, snatching the iron rod away from Fang Daxiong. A sound of bones breaking emitted from Fang Daxiong’s hands. Seeing that person was about to strike with the rod from midair down, our group started yelling out, knowing that we won’t be fast enough to charge forward to save Fang Daxiong’s life, thus we started shooting our hidden projectiles at the enemy. The Khitan man only needed to wave his left arm once, and a powerful wind forced all the projectiles to harmlessly land on the side. Looks like Fang Daxiong’s life can no longer be saved, however unexpectedly, he threw the iron rod forward, sending both it and third Brother Fang crashing out to the side of the road. His mouth mumbling did not know what to say.

    “In just 1 move, it caused our whole group to stand in shock, witnessing that the level of this person’s martial arts are so high, that it is rare to see one of such caliber in the world. So the news that we received are not false, and fearing that following him there will be more first class masters approaching, thus we must use our large numbers to immediately overwhelm him. 6-7 people charged forward to attack him and 4-5 others moved to take on the female.”

    “Unexpected the young married female did not know martial arts. She was slashed just once and lost her arm causing the baby in her hand to fall to the ground. Another person then hacked with a saber cutting off half of her head. The Khitan man’s martial arts although high, but he was also surrounded by six-seven other skilled fighters, so it was impossible for him to rush over to protect his wife and child. The first few moves he just snatched away our weapons and swords, carefully trying not to injure anybody, however when seeing his wife being killed, his eye turned blood red, his face looked fearsome. When I saw his sight then, my hands and feet felt like lead and dared not go forward.”

    Zhao Qiansun added, “Can’t blame you for feeling such! Can’t blame you for feeling such!” Ever since he talked to Granny Tan earlier, whoever talked to him were met with either crankiness or rudeness, however the sentences that he just let out seemed like its meaning was partly painful and partly regretful.

    Reverend Zhiguang continued, “The fierce battle then already took place 30 years ago. Over the past 30 years I don’t know how many nightmares I had regarding that sight I saw, every image imprinted deeply in my head. The Khitan man brought both his palms forward, I don’t know what palm techniques he used, but he snatched the weapons right out of the hands of two of our brothers, same time using it to both slash and stab killing those two. He at times fought on the ground, then leaped back to continue on the saddle of his horse, bold and fast like a bird pecking a worm. He moved like a ghost or demon. That’s right, he was no different than a demon, finished killing a person to his west, he turned in a blink and killed a person to his east. In just a moment, out of 21 people in our group, 9 people had already been killed.”

    “Now everyone was furious, all eyes were red. Brother Leader with Wang Bangzhu and the rest of us all jumped into the fray, willing to trade our lives for his. Shockingly his martial arts was so strange that one could not even imagine, nor could one even predict from which direction his attacks would be coming from. The setting sun in the sky was shining red like blood. There outside of Yanmen Guan Pass the northern wind blowing furiously mixed with the crying sounds of past heroes right before their death. Limbs -arms and feet, heads, weapons, blood were flying and falling all over the place. Whoever was skilled was only able to protect themselves, no one was able to help anyone other.

    “Seeing the circumstances, I was truly frightened. But seeing that my brothers were falling one by one, that sight can not help but caused one’s blood to boiled. I gathered all my courage, got on a horse and charge directly at him. Both my hands holding a saber aimed for his head and slashed down, knowing that if this move does not connect, then my life will be handed over to him. When the edge of the saber was barely a meter away from him, the Khitan man suddenly grabbed hold of another person and held him up to block. I shockingly looked and saw that the person being held up was the second senior from the Band of 3 Heroes of Jiangxi Du. I hurriedly pulled back my saber but the edge of the saber went right into the head of the horse I was riding, hitting it with a clang. The animal was in such pain that it neigh a loud sound and it jumped up. At that moment the Khitan man sent out a palm strike right at the moment the horse jumped up so that the horse took the full brunt of that strike for me. If not for that my bones would have all been smashed and how could I have survived to this day?”

    “The force of his palm strike was truly terrifying. It sent both horse and rider flying out to the back. My body flying in midair smashed right on top of some tree branches. I was stunned and fazed, not knowing where am I nor did I knew whether I was alive. It was a long time before I was able to look down and saw my brothers still surrounding and fighting the Khitan man. Only 5-6 people were still standing. At that time I also saw this brother here...” Reverend Zhiguang pointed to Zhao Qiansun and continued, “... his body shook once, then fell into a pool of his own blood. I thought he must be dead.”

    Zhao Qiansun shook his head and said, “To speak of this story I am very ashamed, but why bother hiding it anymore. It wasn’t because I was injured but because I was so scared that my heart stopped beating. I saw that person holding brother Du’s two legs and tearing his whole body in half. I was so dizzy that I fell unconscious only because of that reason. That’s right I am a coward. Seeing that person killed so many people that I became unconscious.”

    Reverend Zhiguang spoke again, “The Khitan man was deadly like a devil while killing numerous brothers. Whoever says that they did not feel fear are being deceitful.” He then looked up and stared at the moon hanging the the sky for a time then continued, “At that point our side only still had 4 people still fighting the Khitan man. Brother Leader knowing that the end was near, knowing that all will die, opened his mouth asking: Who are you? Who are you? The other person did not reply. In just a few moment he killed two more people. He then drew out his right foot and it hit Wang Bangzhu right on the vital pressure points on his back, while his left foot went out to finish the move move Twin Ducks Linking Together (not sure if this is the correct name for it. Helppp??) hitting Brother Leader’s vital pressure point on his ribs. He used his legs to hit the pressure points precisely and powerfully knocking them out. His footwork was so impressive it was unthinkable. If I was not almost on death’s door then, seeing the two people I respect most being seriously wounded, a scream would have escaped my mouth.”

    “The Khitan man finished taking care of all his enemies then rushed over to the side of his dead wife’s body, holding it while crying, and let out a loud mournful cry for a long time. Hearing his weeping sounds I could barely withstand the sadness. Surprised to see the Khitan dog who was as cruel as a devil could also show a sorrowful sentiment resembling a human, no different from the sound of those of our Han people.”

    Zhao Qiansun coldly said, “If that is so then what is so strange about it? Even wild animals have parent-child, husband-wife sentimental relationships, how is that any different than a human’s? The Khitans are still humans, how are they any different than Hans?”

    In the group of beggar clan, someone screamed out, “Liao dogs are evil and cruel, even worse than poisonous snakes and wild beasts. Our Han people are entirely different!” Zhao Qiansun could only smile bitterly and did not answer those words.

    Reverend Zhiguang went on with his story, “The Khitan man sat there and cried, both holding tight and looking at his son for a long time. Then he placed his son into the bosom of his dead wife and walked over to where Brother Leader’s body lied. He let loose his anger by screaming and scolding at Brother Leader. Brother Leader did not submit but just glowered at him. His pressure points were hit, his movements and speech were sealed. He could not even muttered a word. The Khitan man suddenly raised his head and let loose a long scream. He picked up a saber from the ground and started carving words on the face of the mountain. At that time it was dark and I was lying far away so I could not see what was written.”

    Zhao Qiansun said, “He was carving words in Khitan. Even if you could see it you still wouldn’t be able to read it.”

    Reverend Zhiguang replied, “That is right. Even if I saw it I could not read it. On the cliff it was silent on all sides, the only sounds heard were that of the saber carving into the stone. Listening to the sound of stone chips falling down, I dared not to even breath hard. I did not know how long it was before he finally threw down the saber. He bent down to pick up his wife’s corpse and son, then walked to the edge of the cliff and jumped to the bottom of the canyon.”

    Everyone hearing that couldn’t help but let out a sound “Ah.” It was unexpected that the story would turn out so.

    Reverend Zhiguang continued, “Everyone hearing this retelling must be surprised. At that time with my own eyes witnessing that, I was even more shocked. A person with a high level of martial arts as him living in the Kingdom of Liao must have a high rank. This time when the group of Khitan warriors coming south of the Yellow River to attack Shaolin Temple, if he is not their Leader then at least he must be one of their important characters. He had captured our group’s Leader along with Wang Bangzhu, and the rest were all killed. It seems like he had won. Who would have thought that he would jump down the cliff to commit suicide instead of taking advantage of his victory and moving forward with his mission.”

    “I looked downward and all I could see was clouds and fog. The bottom could not be seen. He is still made of flesh and blood. No matter how powerful his martial arts are, to jump from such height there’s no way one could survive. I startled myself and could not bear but called out a cry. Turns out in this weird event there’s another even weirder. I had just finished yelling when there was a sound of a baby crying. From the bottom of the cliff a black bundle flew up and landed right on top of the body of Wang Bangzhu. The sound of a baby crying did not stop but continued. It seems the bundle that landed on Wang Bangzhu was the little baby from earlier. At that point I had stopped being scared, and jumped down from the tree. I ran up to Wang Bangzhu and saw that the Khitan baby was lying on top of him still crying.

    “I thought to myself for a bit before I understood fully what happened. When the Khitan woman was killed, the baby she was holding fell to the ground causing the baby to fall unconscious and stopped breathing, but not entirely dead yet. The Khitan man when he was crying sorrowfully, touched his son’s nose and saw that he was not breathing so thought that the son had died. Thus he carried the two corpse and jumped down the cliff to die together. The sudden shocked jolted the baby back to life and started crying. The Khitan’s man skills were shockingly scary. He doesn’t want his son to be buried with him at the bottom of the valley, so he immediately used his strength and threw the baby up. He remembered the exact distance and location to throw the baby to land exactly on top of Wang Bangzhu without harming the it. That Khitan man when falling in midair, found out his baby was alive. He was quick witted enough to react and throw the baby up. His skills to be able to throw something that far and that accurate and calculate the exact distance, is formidably fearsome.

    “I looked around at the brothers that died a tragic death, inside was sorrowful and angry, grabbed the baby and planned to throw it against the mountain wall for it to die. Just as I raised my hands to throw, the baby started crying, the face was pulsing red, the bright black eyes were wide staring back at me. If I hadn’t looked into the baby’s eyes I would have threw him already, and that would be the end of the story. However I had saw the eyes of that small child. The child seemed so lovable and innocent that I could no longer follow through. I thought to myself: if I had bullied and kill the baby not yet a year old then that would be a disgraceful deed, not the act of an upright and respectable gentleman.”

    In the group of the Beggar Clan, a beggar shouted out, “Reverend Zhiguang! The Liao dogs killed and murder our Han people countless of times. With my own eyes I saw Han babies being speared, and carried around upon a lance on top of a horse to parade around town showing off. If they can kill babies, so why can’t we?”

    Reverend Zhiguang let out a long sigh and replied, “That is right. But as the saying goes the darkness in the hearts of man, who here does not have it. That day I saw that the dead were already too many. I couldn’t bring myself to add more to it by killing a little baby. Everyone can say what I did was wrong, everyone can say what I did was cowardly. But in the end I still let the baby live.

    “After that I went to release the blocked pressure points of Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu, but my skills were mediocre and plus the pressure point hitting techniques of the Khitan man were top notch, no matter how much strength I exerted, how much I pressed, how much I rubbed or squeezed, I only succeeded in drowning myself in my own sweat. No matter what I did Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu still could not move nor speak. I did not know what else to do and fearing the Khitans will soon come to help so I threw both Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu onto two horses. I myself rode a horse holding the Khitan baby in one arm while the reins of the other two horses in the other and ran all night away from Yanmen Guan Pass to look for a doctor specializing in releasing blocked pressure points, but that was useless. The next night after 12 hours have passed, the pressure points released voluntarily.

    “Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu were still worried about the Khitan warriors coming to attack Shaolin, so they immediately returned to Yanmen Guan Pass to scout out the situation. However they only saw flesh and blood left all over from the fight before. The sight was no different from how I left it. I looked down the cliff at the Quarry Stone Valley and still could not find any clues. We all planned to prepare the corpse of our brothers for burial, but when we counted, there were only 17 dead bodies. The number of people that should have died should be 18 so why is it that we are now missing one?” He stopped talking then looked directly at Zhao Qiansun questioningly.

    Zhao Qiansun remembering smiled and said, “In that bunch there was one corpse that had the ability to come back from dead and able able to walk around to this day. That living corpse is I, Zhao Qian Sun Li Zhou Wu Zheng Wang. (a joke... see Ren Wo Xing's explanation below)

    Reverend Zhiguang said, “At that time the three of us thought nothing of it, thinking to ourselves that during that fight, this brother here might have died and fallen down the cliff. So not seeing his corpse we did not linger too much on this. After we had properly buried all the brothers, we were all furious inside, so we threw all the Khitan corpse over the side of the cliff down into the Stone Quarry Valley. Brother Leader said to Wang Bangzhu: ‘Brother Jiantong, that Khitan man if he wanted to kill the two of us it would be as easy as turning his hand, so why did he just kicked us in our pressure points and allow us to live to now?’ Wang Banzhu replied: ‘I have been thinking of that but still can not figure it out. The two of us were part of the people responsible for killing his wife and son, it is only right that he should have ruthlessly killed both of us.’”
    Last edited by tigergee2329; 03-26-10 at 11:36 PM. Reason: changed 'the leader' to 'brother leader'

  12. #492
    Junior Member tigergee2329's Avatar
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    Can someone help me with the translation for when Zhao Qiansun called himself Li Zhou Wu Zheng Wang (李周吴郑王)? What does that name mean and what is it a reference to?

    Also I wasn't sure how I should translate Wang Bangzhu's nickname 剑通兄? Any help would be great

  13. #493
    Moderator Ren Wo Xing's Avatar
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    Tiger,

    Both the 'name' (undoubtedly fake) Zhao Qiansun as well as the following 'Li Zhou Wu Zheng Wang' comes from the ancient Chinese text, 'the Hundred Family Surnames', '百家姓', which is an ancient 'poem' composed solely of Chinese surnames.

    The first three surnames in this poem are 'Zhao', 'Qian', and 'Sun'; the next five are 'Li', 'Zhou', 'Wu', 'Zheng', and 'Wang'.

    Thus, 'Zhao Qiansun' is obviously a nonsense name to begin with, and calling himself 'Li Zhou Wu Zheng Wang' is just even more nonsense. See below excerpts from my previous translation:

    Just as he was about to let loose his rage, Granny Tan said, “Elder Shan, don’t listen to Zhao Qiansun’s nonsense. He’s a bit crazy. There’s no point in getting worked up over him.”

    Qiao Feng thought to himself, “This man is named Zhao Qiansun? That can’t be his real name.”
    Zhao Qiansun angrily said, “Earlier, I was asking Little Juan, ‘has your life been happy recently?’ But before she had a chance to reply, your five precious sons swaggered on in and barged their way into our midst, interrupting her response. Even to this very moment, she hasn’t had a chance to reply to me. Brother Shan, why don’t you go and ask what type of person Little Juan is? Or what type of person I, ‘Zhao Qian Sun Li, Zhou Wu Zheng Wang’, am? Are we the type of people who would allow others to disrupt our conversations just like that?” [All of the eight words from ‘Zhao’ to ‘Wang’ are surnames; Zhao Qiansun’s own name is made up of three surnames, which is why Qiao Feng doesn’t believe it could be his real name.]
    Seeing how heartbroken Zhao Qiansun was, Shan Zheng began to feel embarrassed. The fury which had curdled up in his heart immediately vanished away. He instead began to console Zhao Qiansun, saying, “Brother Zhao, I’m the one at fault here.” Zhao Qiansun sobbed and whimpered, “My surname isn’t Zhao.” Startled, Shan Zheng asked, “Sir, what is your surname then?” Zhao Qiansun replied, “I don’t have one. Don’t ask, don’t ask anymore.”
    As far as Chief Wang's name, his full name is 'Wang Jiantong'; 剑通兄 consequently is not his nickname, it literally just means 'Brother Jiantong'.

    Keep up the good work!
    Last edited by Ren Wo Xing; 03-25-10 at 07:41 PM.
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  14. #494
    Senior Member SkyWalker's Avatar
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    Thanks for the great translation tigergee.

    XF's mom died a gruesome death. What a pity. Xiao Yuanshan was almost god like in this battle. Totally kicked arse!

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    Junior Member tigergee2329's Avatar
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    Thanks ren wo xing for clearing that up! I'm translating this from a viet version and in it they translated his name out weirdly so I thought it was a nickname.

  16. #496
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    NP! Fyi, the monk's name should be Zhiguang, not Shiguang, IIRC.
    Read the latest chapters of Coiling Dragon at Wuxia World!

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    some holding spears, some with sickles, others have bows and arrows
    I believe that sabres would be more appropriate then sickles.

    Thank you for translating this story.

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    Junior Member tigergee2329's Avatar
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    Thanks for catching that. It has been changed.

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    Thanks so much for continuing this translation tigergee! I love this story

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    (edited by Sirian)

    “The three of us discussed back and forth but could not think of a logical reason for what happened. Brother Leader then spoke up: ‘He must have carved those letters into the stone with some hidden intent. What a shame that none of us three knows the Khitan language.’ Brother Leader went down to the river and gathered some water to mix with the blood on the ground making ink. Then he colored it all over the stone. After that he imprinted the cliff writing onto a piece of white cloth torn from a gown. The Khitan used only a small saber but were able to carve letters two inches deep into the stone. With this kind of internal power his skills must have been unparalleled in the world, unmatched by anyone. Looking at the writing the three of us were secretly amazed. The memory of the day before still left a lingering fear in all of us. Returning back inside the Great Wall, Wang Bangzhu went to find a peddler who travels between there and Liao. Since that person knew the Khitan language we gave him the white cloth to read. He translated it out for us on paper.”
    Zhiguang stopped speaking, looked up at the sky. He sighed and then continued, “After the three of us read the paper, all we could do was look wide-eyed back and forth at each other. We couldn’t believe it. The Khitan man had at that time made up his mind to kill himself, so why would he intentionally lie? We then went to find another person who reads Khitan and had him translate it by mouth one line at a time. What he said was exactly like the previous translation. God! If that was the truth then seventeen of our brothers had died a meaningless death. Those Khitan warriors had committed no crimes and were wrongfully implicated. As for that pair of husband and wife, towards them we had committed a great sin that could never be undone.”

    Everyone was eagerly waiting to hear the words that were written on the mountain face, but Zhiguang was silent and had stopped talking. People’s impatience caused their tempers to flare and they irritably asked: “What did those words say?” “What sins had you committed towards them?” “Why do you feel regret towards the husband and wife?”

    Zhiguang replied, “My good friends, it is not because I want to keep the meaning of those Khitan words a secret, but it is because if those words that were written were true, then all the actions of Brother Leader, Wang Bangzhu, and even mine were greatly in the wrong. We are too ashamed to face anybody. I am only a lowly common person in Jianghu, even if I did wrong it will not impact anything in the grand scheme of things. However regarding Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu, they are different from me, what kind of rank and status do they hold? Moreover Wang Bangzhu had passed away. I do not dare to say anything that might ruin the reputation and prestige of these two people. I beg you all for forgiveness. I cannot say it.”

    The previous bangzhu of the Beggar Clan was Wang Jiantong whose reputation and prestige were widespread. From Qiao Feng to clan elders to various disciples, all held deep gratitudes toward him . The members of the Beggar Clan were extremely curious about the story but upon hearing that this matter has implications toward the reputation and prestige of Wang Bangzhu not a single person dared to inquire further.

    Zhiguang continued talking, “The three of us thought for a time, at first not wanting to believe it, but were forced to accept it so we decided to temporarily spare the life of the Khitan baby. We decided that we first off should head to Shaolin to see if there were any new developments. If the Khitan warriors actually did attack Shaolin then we could still kill the baby then. We rushed day and night toward Shaolin without stopping. Arriving there we saw that the number of heroes that had gathered at Shaolin to lend a hand was not small. The news involved the life and death of millions of common citizens, so all it needed was for the news to spread and numerous people came to help.”

    Reverend Zhiguang turned his face from left to right looking at each person listening and then continued, “There were many heroes and revered seniors that came to the gathering at Shaolin that year. I need not to go into detail about that. Everyone was on full alert and ready, guarding the temple very tightly. More and more heroes from all corners of the land gathered as time passed. From September at the time of Mid Autumn Moon Festival all the way to December, three months passed without a single enemy movement. To further investigate the matter, we planned to look for the person who originally spread these news, however we could no longer find any traces of this person. Only then did we conclude that the news were actually false and that we all had been tricked. Both sides had suffered tragic and unnecessary deaths in the battle outside of Yanmen Guan Pass.”

    “However not long after, Khitan calvary started invading Hebei so the matter about the Khitan warriors coming to attack Shaolin was soon forgotten. It did not matter whether they did or didn’t come, after all no matter what, the Khitans were still the mortal enemies of our Great Song.”

    “Brother Leader, Wang Bangzhu, and I all felt ashamed and regretful about the situation outside Yanmen Guan Pass. The only people we told about it to was the Abbot of Shaolin and the families of the people who had died. We did not tell another soul except for those people. As for the Khitan baby, he was given into the care of a family of farmers living at the base of Mount Song. The matter had already passed and deciding what deal with the baby was quite difficult. We felt a lot of guilt for how we treated his parents, so we could not bear to take the baby’s life. However if we foster the Khitan baby till he grows up, and he seeks us out for revenge, then isn’t that like raising a tiger and sowing the seeds for disaster. In the end Brother Leader handed to that peasant family 100 Liang of silver and asked them raised the Khitan baby as their own, and not divulge to the baby any information about his heritage. That husband and wife did not have any children so they were overjoyed and accepted immediately. The couple also did not have any idea that this baby was of Khitan descent, because on the way to Mount Song we had changed the baby’s clothes to fit that of a Han baby. The people of Great Song held great enmity towards people of Liao that ran deep all the way to their bone marrow. So if they saw a baby wearing Khitan clothes then they would cause him harm...”

    Qiao Feng hearing this had grasped about nine tenths of the intent, shakily asked “Reverend Zhiguang, that family... that family at the base of Mount Song... what... what... are their names?”

    Zhiguang replied, “Bangzhu must have already figured it out. I don’t have any more reason to hide it. That person’s surname is Qiao, named Sanhuai.”

    A stunned Qiao Feng yelled out, “No! No! Reverend please stop talking nonsense. Stop fabricating these stories to cause me harm. I am a definitely a Han so how can I be a Khitan savage? Sanhuai is... is... the person that is my biological father. Reverend stop talking nonsense...” Suddenly he jumped in front of Zhiguang, the left hand snatched the monk’s chest.

    Shan Zheng and the 4 Elders called out, “Don’t!” and immediately rushed forward to rescue the monk. But Qiao Feng’s lightness skills were great. He jumped and dodged to one side while still maintaining hold of the Reverend with his left hand.

    The sons of Shan Zheng - Shan Zhongshan, Shan Shushan, Shan Jishan - all three at the same time charged at the back of Qiao Feng. Qiao Feng, using only his right hand, caught both Shan Shushan and Shan Zhongshan then threw them far away. He next grabbed Shan Jishan, threw him to the ground, and placed his foot keeping pressure on Jishan’s throat.

    Shan Family’s Five Tigers’ reputation and prestige were renown throughout the whole Shandong region. The five brothers had already been famous for a long time based on their own deeds, definitely not ones who rely on the fortune and fame of their parents. Even then, Qiao Feng easily dispatched the brothers like it was nothing. With his left hand holding Zhiguang, his right hand lashed out to grab, he threw the three Shan brothers around like pieces of straw, not one was able to put up any resistance. People saw this were shocked. Their jaws dropped in disbelief.

    Shan Zheng, Shan Boshan, and Shan Xiaoshan felt anxious seeing their own flesh and blood in danger, wanted to jump in to help. But Qiao Feng had a foot on Shan Jishan’s throat. Knowing that his strength was something worth fearing, and all it needed was a press of the foot and Jishan will lose his life. Because of that, the three father and sons dared not to come any closer. Shan Zhen yelled out, “Qiao Bangzhu, if there is any misunderstanding then let us discuss it, don’t be heavy handed. Our Shan family does not have any enmity with you. Please spare my son.” Even the famous Iron Faced Judge were powerless and had to beg Qiao Feng.

    Elder Xu called out, “Qiao Bangzhu, Reverend Zhiguang is a person who everyone in Jianghu respects. You must not harm his life!”

    Qiao Feng’s hot blood had boiled, and he said in a loud voice, “Correct! The Shan family and I have no enmities with each other. I also had always respected Reverend Zhiguang. You people... if you people want to take away my Bangzhu position, then I will surrender it to you with both hands, but why do you have to create lies to slander me? I... what sins have I committed that would cause you people to accuse me as such?” The last few sentences his voice was choked by tears. People who heard were unable to restrain their feelings and started to sympathize with him.

    The bones on Zhiguang’s skeleton let out a creaking sound. Everyone knew that his life was tethering on a needle. Whether he lived or died all were in the hands of Qiao Feng. It was so quiet that one could hear the sounds of the wind beating against the trees, the sound of the insects in the grass, and even the sounds of people breathing. No one dared to make a noise.

    A short time passed before Zhao Qiansun suddenly started laughing, “So laughable! So laughable! Han people are not necessarily a cut above other peoples and aren’t Khitan people also are not pigs or dogs? Obviously you are a Khitan so why pretend to be a Han? What is there to be ashamed of? You even denied your birth parents and heritage, and here you call yourself a real man.”

    Qiao Feng opened his eyes wide in anger, angrily asked, “Is senior actually calling me a Khitan?”

    Zhao Qiansun replied, “How can I be sure? But in that battle outside Yanmen Guan Pass, that Khitan man we fought, his appearance and face is exactly like yours. That time I was so frightened. I fell unconscious immediately from terror. That man’s face I will never forget even in a hundred years. Also with my own eyes I saw Reverend Zhiguang carrying that Khitan baby back. I am a good for nothing corpse that came back to life, in this world outside of Xiaojuan (Granny Tan), I don’t involved myself in the business of anybody, nor do I have any involvement in other matters. If you are or if you are not the Bangzhu of the Beggar Clan, what does that trifling thing have to do with me? Why would I bring false charges against you? What advantage is there for me to make up a story about helping to kill your parents years ago? Qiao Bangzhu, my martial arts when compare to yours is very lacking. If I don’t want to live anymore, wouldn’t just killing myself be a better option?”

    Qiao Feng slowly put Reverend Zhiguang down. He then flicked his foot and the large body of Shan Jishan flew out and fell to the ground with a thud. Shan Jishan stood up immediately. He was not in the slightest injured.

    Qiao Feng looked at Zhiguang, seeing his face had a confident aura without the slightest hint of falseness, then asked, “So what happened afterwards?”

    Reverend Zhiguang replied, “What happens afterwards, you should already know. At age seven you went to pick chestnuts in the forest, got chased by a wolf, and was rescued by a monk from Shaolin. The monk killed the wolf and treated your injuries. Then day after day the monk returned to teach you martial arts. Is this correct?”

    Qiao Feng replied, “Correct. It seems the Reverend also knew of this matter.” Years ago when Reverend Xuanku passed his martial arts to Qiao Feng, he had ordered him not to tell anyone about it. So in Jianghu everyone had always thought that Qiao Feng was the direct disciple of Wang Bangzhu of the Beggar Clan. Who knew that he and Shaolin Temple had such an old and deep relationship.

    Zhiguang said, “That monk from Shaolin was asked by Brother Leader to teach you martial arts and guide you since childhood to keep you from walking down the wrong path. Regarding this matter, Brother Leader, Wang Bangzhu, and I had many disputes. I wanted you to live the life of a common person, as farmer, and did not want you to learn martial arts to keep you away from being involved with the grudges and enmities of Jianghu. Brother Leader said that if we do that then we will be doing another wrong to your parents. So to make amends we must take care of you and develop you into a great hero.”

    Qiao Feng said, “All you... all you seniors, why do you feel you will be doing wrong to my parents? People of Han and people of Khitan have been fighting and harming each other for a long time. It is a common thing. There is nothing to be regretful about.”

    Zhiguang sighed and said, “The stone writing outside of Yanmen Guan Pass to this day still has not faded. Why don’t you go and see it. Brother Leader had already made up his mind and Wang Bangzhu went along with it. There was no way I by myself can win the argument. Only when you were sixteen years old did Wang Bangzhu received you as his disciple. After that there were many chances to get along together. Your natural talent is outstanding and progressed furiously. There was no way an average person can keep up with you. Of course if Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu were not behind the scenes helping out, you would not be where you are today.”

    Qiao Feng lowered his head to ponder. Thinking back on his life, he had faced numerous difficulties but each and every time his bad luck had turned into good. He had not faced much pain or hardships. He had met with many lucky opportunities in life. It came even without asking for it. For a long time he had thought that it was all due to his luck. But after listening to Reverend Zhiguang he realized he had a secret benefactor helping him all those years and he was ignorant of it. In his head he was stunned and asked himself, “If what the Reverend said was true then I am a Khitan and not a Han? Wang Bangzhu is not my kind teacher but the culprit who killed my father, killed my mother. The senior who helped me out in secret, he did not do it with pure intentions but probably only wanted to make reprimands to relief him of his guilty conscience. No! No! That can’t be right! Khitan people are evil and ruthless dogs. They are the mortal enemies of our Han people. How can I be one of those savages?”
    Last edited by tigergee2329; 04-01-10 at 06:23 PM.

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