A step into the past - 寻秦记 - by Huang Yi

[gqonmars2]

Really? U don't like any of the girl so far? Ji Yanran sounds pretty kewl. She's a bit snobbish at first. I've so far read up to book 16. The other girls probably gets more annoying. He pretty much slows down after this saga, unlike when he just first came here where he slept with practically any girl he comes across. Anyway, don't want to say too much and ruin it for you guys.

Darn, I guess all the girl characters are out and about then.

[fkjc1]

I'll leave it to sylphiad to decide on long or short updates.

I'll be going away on biz trip tomorrow and will be busy preparing for it. Won't be back until next week so I can't do any editing.

In a way it's taking an equally long time editing because when translating, I only type what comes to mind but when editing, I try not to change too much of the original translation if I can help it, so will have to think of ways to rephrase. Given that Sylphiad is not a native chinese and thus not that used to the many nuances of the language, he's doing an impressive job translating.

I'll try to send whatever I've finished editing to him before I leave.

First of all, thanks for all the great translation, really appreciate it.

You pique my curiosity, if I m not breaking any ettiquete, "Slyphiad is not a native chinese", what is he?

thanks again to both of you.

[aliderhamy]

First of all, thanks for all the great translation, really appreciate it.

You pique my curiosity, if I m not breaking any ettiquete, "Slyphiad is not a native chinese", what is he?

thanks again to both of you.

obviously hes martian ?
(men are from mars?)

[slyphiad]

Duplicate post. Post removed. See the next post for the proper one.

[slyphiad]

click to show/hide spoilers

There are still many girls around that hasn't appear yet! But there won't be many more joining his harem. Lol!!

My grandparents are from China then they moved to another country. I went to China last year for a year to basically study chinese, travel and have fun.

Another update guys!! This ends chpt 3 for you. Next up would be chpt 4. Enjoy!!

Who knew Xiang Shaolong could suddenly change from blocking horizontally to flicking his sword up, heavily pushing aside his opponent’s move that was bearing down on him with the weight of a mountain. The hard block changed into deflecting the enemy’s blow using its own momentum.

Li Yuan watched helplessly as a surefire move was deflected to the side by Xiang Shaolong, and it went off target a little to only chop down towards the empty spot where Xiang Shaolong’s left shoulder used to be.
Cheers reverberated around the field.

Even Zhao Ya and Zhao Zhi, these two beautiful ladies who hated Xiang Shaolong, enthusiastically clapped their hands and cheered. Luckily, this time Li Yuan cannot afford to be distracted, or else he would have died of anger on seeing this.

Everyone thought that Xiang Shaolong will take this advantage to attack first, who would have guessed that he would instead move back a step, his wooden sword moving in a bizarre and mysterious path, moving backwards and forward in front of his body, floating and waving around randomly.

Even with Li Yuan’s sword skills and experience, he still cannot determine which moves are true and which are fake. With no alternative, he was forced to retreat but tried to look as if he is arranging a forbidding defense. However he is not as commanding now as he was before.

Teng Yi felt relieved, knowing that Xiang Shaolong had guessed correctly that in Li Yuan’s had wanted to impress Ji Yanran with his martial prowess so he purposely made him lose face, provoking him into being more impatient and reckless so that he’ll lose his advantage. He’s truly brilliant in strategy.

Ji Yanran is no longer worried about her lover, her eyes were shining with love and affection, looking at Xiang Shaolong’s vigorous body emitting an imposing aura and indomitable charm.

The autumn sun was shining high above the sky upon the field filling it with life.

There’s another person who cannot ‘refrain himself from liking’ Xiang Shaolong, which is Lord Long Yang. From the first moment he saw this stout and forthright man, ‘his’ heart was stirred. Now that he witnessed his splendid sword performance, his heart was sent into disorder and he was secretly determined to captivate Xiang Shaolong into becoming his love slave.

On the other hand, those family warriors under Li Yuan were so astounded they remained silent, they couldn’t believe that even with Li Yuan’s amazing sword skills, he still couldn’t even get a little bit of upper hand.

Li Yuan forced himself to concentrate, the wooden sword slashed up and down, forming his second attack.

Xiang Shaolong returned to his original spot, standing still like the mountain, not even moving a little bit.

Now, no one would think that he was too self assured and belittled his opponent.

Li Yuan softly said, “Who would have thought that Brother Dong is such an expert, be careful!”

With a diagonal forward attack, he moved around towards Xiang Shaolong’s back in an instant.

Not only did Xiang Shaolong not turn around to receive the attack, instead he quickly moved forward towards Li Yuan’s last position before turning around, the wooden sword pointing at the opponent, his steps steady and his bearing confident, with the posture like an erect mountain. One look is all it takes to know that he did not flounder at all despite his enemy’s tactical attack.

Li Yuan missed his intent and landed at Xiang Shaolong’s original spot and it seemed like the two of them made an agreement to exchange places.
The spectators didn’t dare to take a breath, afraid that it might influence both parties on the field who are caught in a deadlock.

Xiang Shaolong wasn’t without his own difficulties, for it is hard for him to go all out and fight. If he did not rein himself, it would be difficult to conceal his moves and it may even trigger the memory of those who have seen him fight in the past. By then, even if he killed Li Yuan, the loss will still outweigh the gain.

Li Yuan saw that both his moves has failed and lost his patience. He waved his sword to attack again. The sword point trembled like lightning, relentless, ruthless and flawless.

Xiang Shaolong knew that he was anxious for victory and was secretly delighted. Just before the sword touched his body, he coolly deflected to the side. The move was truly as calm as an immovable object yet as swift as an escaping rabbit. Besides, his movement was suave and unrestrained as well, thus attracting the cheers of others.

Li Yuan saw that he was evading the attack and happily thought there was hope. He shouted and waved the sword quickly.

Xiang Shaolong laughed aloud, drawing out his wooden in a flash, turned around and flew forward, continuously blocking the opponent’s five sword strikes without retreating a single step. His defense was as solid as an iron bucket, while his every move contained possible hidden changes thus causing Li Yuan to be hesitant about advancing rashly.

The clash of the wooden swords rang continuously non-stop.

The crowd was so focused on the fight that they forgot to cheer for their own side, only seeing both parties’ sword skills soaring powerfully without constraints, fluttering and flashing indefinitely. Not only were they marveling at Li Yuan’s unparalleled moves, but also astonished at Xiang Shaolong’s unfathomable moves.

Zhao Ya felt that this Horse Fanatic is just like his character, unfathomable. Judging from his appearance, anyone would have guessed that Xiang Shaolong is a proactive person and who would have thought that in actuality it was the other way around.

Even though Li Yuan is always the initiator of the attacks, yet his opponent’s defensive yet seemingly offensive moves is restricting him the use of the full strength of his skills. At the same time, the opponent displayed a strong will and tenacious power and he cannot help but feel discouraged. This is also the negative aftereffect of his two failed attacks; otherwise he wouldn’t have this feeling of discouragement.

His sixth attacks haven’t come out and yet the opponent’s wooden sword suddenly created numerous shadows, confusing him such that he has no idea where the attack will be coming from. Li Yuan was alarmed and naturally he retreated.

Xiang Shaolong laughed out loud, placing the flat side of the wooden sword on his shoulder, appearing calm and composed, said to Li Yuan who has retreated close to ten steps away from him, “Brother Li’s sword skills are indeed ingenious, I think that it will be extremely difficult for me to win, let’s just quit while we’re ahead and call off the battle at this point, what do you think, Brother Li?”

Li Yuan stood frozen on the field, his handsome face flitted between turning red and pale. Even though it was still not clear who will be the winner and the loser, but everyone saw that all of his three attacks were nullified by this Horse Fanatic, how can he lift his face up again?

But if he insist on continuing the fight, firstly, it will show his lack of bearing, even more importantly, he had lost his confidence and all of his fighting spirit had been dispelled.

While he was still hesitating, Guo Kai, who was worried that Xiang Shaolong will really injure Li Yuan, stood up, “Let’s consider this fight is a draw, today is indeed an eye opening experience for all of us.”

Li Yuan secretly hated this but he had to maintain a smiling front, accepting other people’s congratulations together with Xiang Shaolong. Ji Yanran greeted Xiang Shaolong and said tenderly, “Mister Dong, from today onwards, you can be considered equally brilliant in both horse rearing and sword skills. I wonder if you would be willing to visit the place where I’m putting up for the moment to take care of my sick horse?”

Everyone who heard this envied him.

Although she’s using to the horse as an excuse, but her invitation came publicly after his incredible performance of martial prowess so everyone knew that this peerless beauty known for her heart of stone is no longer concealing her feelings towards this Horse Fanatic whom had stirred her heart.

The other three girls who were rushing to congratulate Xiang Shaolong, felt snubbed as Ji Yanran snatched their chances and quietly withdrew.

Li Yuan was the one who felt the worst. Originally he thought that today he would be able to impress everyone during the martial arts competition, instead he ended up with two of his famous subordinates seriously injured, while he himself could not win the fight, which is a total loss of face. The hardest hit was Ji Yanran is actually making giving an invitation to his biggest rival right in front of his eyes. His felt a strong hatred and hurriedly left with his subordinates.

Zhao Ba was ecstatic and said as he pulled Xiang Shaolong and Teng Yi, “No matter what, I want to invite both of you to become our honored guest instructors. Please do not decline!”

Zhao Mu sighed, “If Mister Dong and Brother Long was here a year earlier, that fellow Xiang Shaolong would not be able to leave Handan alive.”

Xiang Shaolong and Teng Yi exchanged glances, both felt very amused.
Amongst all the uproars, Xiang Shaolong finally was able to extricate himself to leave with Ji Yanran under everyone’s admiration gaze.

[SkyWalker]

Thanks for the update Slyphiad. Great translation.

XSL proved once again why he's the best. He's skilled in all areas and not only won the love of every females whom he had met, but now he also won the love of a man who's determined to make him his love slave. Wow! This man can do no wrong!

[aliderhamy]

this was a fun sequence

[Justin13]

Thanks for a great translation and edit. At least I can sleep now knowing our hero can best Li Yuan with his newfound skills. XSL totally won Yanran's heart with his fight with Li Yuan. Wonder what will Li Yuan do next to harm XSL and TY?

[balikpapan]

will his *** be safe... so many homos in the past... and they are not the friendly alton jhon or freedy mecury homos.... they are clearly super evil rapist homos... lol

I take it as from personal experience?

Thanx to Slyphiad and Lady Jane. What an Awesome reading.

.

[aliderhamy]

I take it as from personal experience?

Thanx to Slyphiad and Lady Jane. What an Awesome reading.

.

My butt is under atack... hmmm what would XS do ?

[Justin13]

I take it as from personal experience?

Thanx to Slyphiad and Lady Jane. What an Awesome reading.

.

Eh..., Lady Jean

[balikpapan]

OMG. I am so sorry about the misspell, Lady Jean. Blame the aging.


.

[herman285]

I love how Xiang Shoulong always come up victorious!!! He totally dominated this era LOL.

Thanks for translating!!!!!!!! I really love it!

[crydee]

I miss Jean and Slyphiad dearly.

[Shi-Potian]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

[Justin13]

CHEER UP EVERYONE! I believe J & S are working hard.

They are like all of us with work and family commitments.
If it gets bored re-read the past translations.
I did and I felt connected to the story better.
I also re-read Jean's earlier Legendary Twin Siblings.

CHEERS AGAIN!

Justin13

[balikpapan]

CHEER UP EVERYONE! I believe J & S are working hard.

They are like all of us with work and family commitments.
If it gets bored re-read the past translations.
I did and I felt connected to the story better.
I also re-read Jean's earlier Legendary Twin Siblings.

CHEERS AGAIN!

Justin13

Yeah, I also re-read some of the past translations. They are good for killing time.

To Jean and Slyphiad, keep the fire burning guys.

.

[yongbifan]

super quiet in here

[slyphiad]

Guys. Thank you for being patient.

Jean has been busy for awhile so hasn't gotten a chance to review my stuff.

Anyway, here you go. Just a small update to satisfy you guys... Hehhee...

ENJOY!!! ^_^

************************************************** ********
Chapter 4: Isolated Without Support

Ji Yanran, accompanied by Xiang Shaolong and Teng Yi on her right and left, galloped out of the school.

As Xiang Shaolong remembered Zhao Ba’s invitation for them to become the honored guest instructors, he couldn’t help be reminded that Lian Jin must have received the same treatment when he was alive, therefore he had the opportunity to become closer to Zhao Zhi thus evoking their short affair.

Maybe Zhao Zhi is fickle in love, for her first lover was killed and she instead fell in love with him, the person who killed her lover, but because of her relationship with Jing Jun, he didn’t dare to accept her love. However, if she threw herself into Li Yuan’s embrace out of anger because of this, it could really make one feel resentful.

Li Yuan will definitely not appreciate or care for the fairer sex for he is too selfish.

Returning to the busy town centre, Teng Yi said, “I want to go to the Hidden Army Valley to see them, I may not be able to return by tonight.”
Xiang Shaolong nodded in agreement, replied offhandedly, “Have you sent someone to see ‘Father’?”

‘Father’ was Lu Buwei’s codename.

Teng Yi replied, “Sent the day before!” After requesting leave of Ji Yanran, he rode towards the city gate direction. They have been granted the Pass Document so they could leave the city at anytime without any problem.

Ji Yanran begged, “I want you to stroll around town with me, will you agree?”

Xiang Shaolong joyfully agreed and they rode back to his residence first, before going out to leisurely stroll around town.

After walking for only a while and Ji Yanran couldn’t take it anymore because every on the street were staring at them in surprise, making her feel uncomfortable, so she had no choice but to drag Xiang Shaolong and slipped back into the borrowed residence she’s currently residing in.

The owner, a great Confucian Scholar in Handan, Liu Huasheng was playing chess with Zou Yan and when the two of them returned, they were delighted.

Liu Huasheng and Zou Yan were old friends who had known each other for thirty more years and they treated Ji Yanran like their own daughter and everyone was talking joyfully.

So far, Zou Yan hadn’t gotten a chance yet to speak of old times with Xiang Shaolong. He urged Ji Yanran to take his place playing chess, while he and Xiang Shaolong walked together into the quiet and secluded back garden, and sighed, “Since the Prince of Ping moved to the east, it’s been more than 500 years where there’s no true leader. There had been continuous wars, and who else but the common people suffered, luckily, we now have you as the new Saint to become our hope of ever stopping these wars.”

Xiang Shaolong wouldn’t dare to underestimate this wise ‘Five Elements’ School founder, because truly without him Xiang Shaolong, Emperor Qin who united the six countries wouldn’t exist. But he still didn’t know how to answer his question, the only way left was just to stay quiet.

Zou Yan was intoxicated inside his own vision of vast and broad history and softly said, “I know Shaolong is someone who pursues peace, but true peace can only be achieved through war, there’s no other way beside this. Otherwise with these seven states continuously fighting, sooner or later, we’ll be attacked from the tribes in the northwest who are watching intently for the right opportunity to invade the mainland like locusts coming to destroy our civilization.”

Xiang Shaolong was suddenly startled, Zou Yan’s words were like a blow to his head, getting him to think of problems he didn’t think of before. All along, he had deliberately avoided having a hand in any wars; however, he never thought that it’d be better to suffer momentarily than to suffer long-term pain, employing war as a way to bring peace. This was mainly because of his foreigner mentality.

But this problem is in fact his problem now as he had become a member of this era so naturally he have to accept the responsibility that comes with staying in this time period.

Even if Qin didn’t dispatch soldiers to go on an expedition, the other six states also won’t let Qin off, this is basically a time period where the strongest rules.

Instead of allowing the flames of war to reign free indefinitely to the point of flashing an open invitation for the outside tribes to invade, it’d be better to use the Qins’ might to unite the whole country earlier. If he leads the army, at the very least, he can reduce the senseless massacre to the bare minimum thus reducing the burden of war on the people.

Once he reached this conclusion, his heart stirred to passion.

Zou Yan measured him with rapt attention for a while before grinning, “The universe undergoes thousands of changes constantly, but is always connected to the activities of the five elements – gold, wood, water, fire and earth. The heaven is five elements, people are also five elements. Even though from outward appearance the usage is always full of changes, on the inside the essence stays the same. If heaven and people are always interconnected, every time there’s a rising energy, when both of them are taking turns, an auspicious omen can be seen. Wherever auspicious omen is, that is where the master of the new time period is. For example, the time of King Zhouwen, there was a red crow holding a red book in its beak which flew down to the sacrificial altar, signifying the time for them to develop the unification plan.”

Xiang Shaolong couldn’t help himself asking, “So where is the auspicious omen now?”

Zou Yan joyfully replied, “Did you remember that I once mentioned to you the appearance of a new star? Half a year ago, Shaolong left Zhao and went towards Qin, that star immediately vanished. Just when I was confused, I saw on the sky where the position of Qin is, a bigger and brighter new star appeared, glowing in the night sky. Now I am positive that the one who will unify the whole country must be a Qin and will have a direct relation to you.”

Xiang Shaolong was stunned speechless, with this he can no longer underestimate the authority of this ancient astrologer.

[yongbifan]

great work as always