Legend of the Longsword Master - Huang Yi

[aliderhamy]

Ohhh hi :P

Thanks for putting up with my spam foxs and Grundle. I hope it dosent soil your translations

hmmm i will give it a few more weeks befor i start reading your new translation work grundle.
has anyone thought about picking up "a deadly secret" ?

that story was just getting interesting when translator had to move onto another project.

[Grundle]

We have reached a milestone! Here marks the end of the chapter AND the end of Book 1!! I never thought I would get this far when I started, so this is pretty awesome.

Also this chapter has an awesome ending. I hope you all enjoy.

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The emperor was an imposing giant standing over seven feet tall. Like a mountain that cannot be toppled he forged ahead toward the Mo Nu soldiers, so I ran headlong in his direction.

Following behind him were three powerful cavalry regiments. Each regiment was made up of twenty thousand soldiers. Their shiny black helmets glittered as they lifted up large shields in front of the horse’s heads. Even though they were moving along swiftly the formation didn’t appear to be the slightest bit disorderly! The center regiment charged while the other two regiments followed slightly behind to protect the right and left flanks. With the completed formation they crashed forward.

In addition the emperor had gathered together another forty thousand infantry who were slowly moving up, prepared to support the cavalry at the front.

Lady Li Qing Jun also had two legions but she merely held them back without moving as if she was waiting for the two sides to exhaust themselves before entering the fray. Who knows what she was planning.

Faced with an overwhelming offensive, hearing the startling news of the Demoness’ death, as well as seeing the unconquerable figure of the demonic emperor, the faces of the Mo Nu warriors all had a solemn expression. Their resolve had been stolen from them.

Taking the lead the emperor was the first to begin crossing temporary log bridge over the unignited moat of fire.

I nodded at Ma Yuan, giving him the signal.

Ma Yuan made a sign and immediately someone began blowing a horn from behind.

The emperor was already a third of the way over the moat of fire. Several thousand cavalry were already on the bridge following behind him when an ear-splitting noise erupted. At the same time all of the Mo Nu soldiers and officers were staring death in the face.

The deafening roar erupted from the walls of Mo Nu city in the form of a deafening cheer. “Long Live Her Highness! Long Live Her Highness!”

Everyone turned their heads to look back and at almost the same time the cheer began to come from the army as well as their morale swelled.

Hua Qian disguised as the Demoness, clothed in pure white, ascended a high point on the wall. Her clothes fluttered in the wind. The emperor raised his head and saw the Demoness. His body seemed to vibrate with surprise. Suddenly his horse slowed down.

I laughed bitterly as the rocket arrow bows were drawn. A “Sa!” noise was heard as the rocket arrows slanted upward and flew over the emperor. Extreme accuracy wasn’t our concern since we were aiming at the fire moat. “Peng!”

In the blink of an eye a roaring wall of flame extended out in both directions along the fire moat. The raging inferno took the emperor’s unbeatable force and cut it into two.

Many war-horses wildly neighed, while leaping in surprise and losing their footing. Many riders were thrown off their horses.

Unbearable cries came from those who had fallen into the fire moat earlier and were now tragically sent to their death.

The wooden bridge across the fire moat still wasn’t burning yet, and the emperor with is cavalry boldly rushed onward.

Seizing the opportunity I suddenly shouted, “THUNDER GODS!” Boom.....Boom.....Boom.....

Dozens of flaming tongues licked out from the thunder gods as the elite troops from the imperial army were blown to pieces. Some thunder balls fell on the wooden bridge breaking the bridge and sending the enemy falling into the flaming moat.

The emperor rushed over the last fourth of the flaming moat, coming straight for me. Following him were thirty thousand elite cavalry troops. The other thirty thousand had been thrown into confusion as the moat of fire successfully cut them off.

Like raindrops the rocket arrows fell into the fire moat.

The four sided fire moat had transformed into a four sided fire spitting flaming snake.

At last the crucial life or death moment arrived. Taking the lead, I wildly shouted as I rushed forward.

When the Mo Nu army saw me acting so bold and courageous it was a huge boost to their morale. A powerful shout soon followed from them.

The distance between the emperor and I began to rapidly disappear.

The emperor’s were filled with a scorching blood-rage hatred while the sword in his hand was pointed perfectly straight before him. His big feet unceasingly kicked the sides of his horse and he shot straight towards me like a flying arrow.

The bizarre armor that encased his entire body glittered brightly beneath the sun.

I now held the entire fate of Mo Nu in my hands. If I was unable to deal with him then Mo Nu would be completely overthrown today. At that very moment, he and I were about to have our first encounter.

Without wasting any time we suddenly clashed together and I immediately felt as if I were in the mouth of a Tiger and went numb. As expected the emperor had ungodly strength.

My arm was paralysed as I lost all feeling in it and the danger only increased. If I didn’t have such a strong will my sword would have already fallen to the ground. The emperor turned his horse around and astonishment flashed through his eyes. Only two thirds of his sword was left.

My sword really was a treasure from the ruins.

If the emperor were to suddenly charge at me with his broken sword he would find that I didn’t even have the power to lift my sword, but his horror was no less than mine. In his long life this was the first time he discovered a weapon that could pierce his mighty armor.

The emperor’s war-horse stamped the ground ready to go back into battle. The horse was a perfect match for the giant man encased in armor and red cape hanging behind him. No one dared step forward to stroke the tiger’s beard[1], but they did succeed in cutting the emperor off from the cavalry force that followed him over.

The emperor shouted, “Well done boy! Did you get your sword from that place?”

My paralyzed arm suddenly convulsed in violent pain, but I was secretly pleased. It meant that my arm was regaining it’s feeling and strength again. The hilt of my sword was wet and sticky, which was of course my own blood from when I struck the emperor and violent shaking split my hand open.

I shouted back, “Do you come from the same place that the sword came from? You have done many unjust things, how can Heaven allow you to continue to do evil?”

The emperor looked up in the sky with a smile on his face for a long moment before replying, “If she was able to handle me, she would have dealt with me a long time ago. There is no need to delay until now. You are the first person in this world to ever resist my sword, so today I will let you live for a few more minutes.”

When he finished he twisted his horse around towards the large drawbridge that crossed the moat and quickly left.

I shouted “not good” to myself and kicked my horse to pursue him.

The emperor began to slaughter the Mo Nu soldiers in his way. As soon as someone met him they would be flung away in a splash of flying blood. Unexpectedly nobody was able to slow him down.

In the blink of an eye the emperor’s war-horse reached the draw-bridge as the Mo Nu city guards and cavalry soldiers rushed onwards with no regard to their own safety to guard the bridge. Wherever the emperor swung broken sword one after the other cavalry soldier collapsed as heads and blood fell into the moat surrounding the city wall.[2]

I was boiling in anger. I couldn’t attend to my arm which was still in extreme pain, so bracing myself I raced onward to catch up.

With a violent shout the emperor moved his horse to stand in the center of the drawbridge. All of the Mo Nu soldiers were trembling in fear and like a breaking tide they move to the edges of the bridge to get away. Both ends of the bridge were filled with surprised and scared people, while arrows continued to fall like raindrops.

The emperor ignored the arrows striking his impenetrable armor only swiping his heavy sword at the arrows aimed at his mighty war-horse. I broke through the crowd of people and moved over the bridge. My horse’s hooves beat the wooden planks of the bridge with a dry crisp “clop clop clop”. Above Hua Qian was watching me.

The emperor looked into the sky with a laugh, pulled back his hand and threw his broken sword.

In that critical situation I was not able to consider the secret information and wildly shouted, “Hua Qian move away!” The broken sword flashed like a bolt of lightning between the emperor and Hua Qian. The sword shot perfectly straight up the city wall at the disguised Hua Qian. When she heard my warning she instinctively jerked backwards.

That was the only thing that saved her life.

The heavy sword swept past her face, missing by a hair breadth and sunk firmly into the wall behind her. Unexpectedly it sunk deeply into the solid rock of the wall all the way to the hilt, showing the power that was behind that strike.

The emperor slowly turned around, his eyes flashing as he said in a low voice, “Hua Qian? She is not the Demoness, she is Hua Qian! Brilliant...”

I could no longer hide the truth from him, but fortunately the other people did not understand our conversation.

The emperor could not stop from laughing as the ecstasy he felt was overflowing. The Demoness was from the ruins and was a rare creature. If she were truly dead then where else could somebody be found that could restrain him.

The moment where the war was going to be won or lost had finally arrived.

I jumped off my horse to stand at one end of the bridge. The emperor stopped laughing and also dismounted to stand like a towering statue at the other end.

With another slight laugh he leisurely reached for the belly of the horse and drew out another heavy sword from its sheath. This sword weighed ten times more than a normal sword and was also twice as long. The average person wouldn’t even be able to keep their balance if they tried to hold it. Only someone with ungodly strength like the emperor could wield it with ease.

Hua Qian and the tens of thousands of soldiers on the city walls were all intensely focused on us.

Both sides suddenly stopped fighting as everyone, near and far, gathered to watch this life and death battle.

Only the distant sound of continuing hand to hand fighting and the roar of the burning moat could be heard. Thick smoke covered the sky, covering up the shining sun and turning heaven and earth pale. The emperor’s two arms hung loosely to his side, the right arm extended a little outward to avoid scraping his heavy sword on the ground while step by step he powerfully walked towards me. Every step he took cause the bridge to shudder with a deep “PU” sound as if he was stomping on a war-drum. I threw out all of my distracting thoughts and began to focus completely on the emperor’s body, paying attention to every inch of how his muscled moved, the timing and rhythm of how he walked. Suddenly he quickly accelerated, bearing down on me like a mountain. A cold light flashed as his heavy sword slashed diagonally upward from the lower left attacking the left side of my neck. Such a huge sword suddenly seemed to move as nimbly as a sewing needle. I easily avoided the heavy strike with a sudden leap forward and both of use crashed into each other, my sword aimed at his chest. I was already considered a tall and sturdy man, but the emperor still stood half a head above me. When I dashed forward he moved his sword to protect his heart, exactly where mine was aimed. I didn’t expect the emperor to be able to rescue himself from ruin in such a way. I heard him snort contemptuously while he began to retreat. At the same time he lifted his heavy sword taking a sudden opportunity to swing again at my neck. He already cut off numerous heads with their blood spraying out soon after, and it seemed he was particularly fond of beheading people. In the sunrise city within his palace there were many different heads, preserved with drugs, on display. All of them were high ranking enemy generals that he had cut down himself. That was his favorite plunder, but I wasn’t going to let him succeed.

His attack caught me by surprise and he seized the initiative, but I wasn’t going to let him get away so easily. Like a shadow I tightly moved in on his left side which was the blind spot for the heavy sword in his right hand.

The emperor let out an indignant sound and made a fist with his left hand, punching out at my precious sword. Holding the sword I cleverly shifted it slightly outward barely avoiding his iron fist and twisting it into the space his fist just made towards his waist. The sword drew a tiny circle in the air before it arrived causing him to hastily pull his fist back.

The sound of fierce wind could be heard as my glittering precious sword struck nothing.

The emperor never expected my sword skills to have reached such a profound level, plus he only every discussed sword theory when he met with Qi Bei and my father. But of course that still didn’t take into account his super human strength and impenetrable armor.

Facing death he was not throw into confusion he raised his head to avoid the strike and flicked his finger diverting the tip of my blade.

His heavy sword was already answering, chopping down at my right arm.

All at once I seemed have lost the advantage. With a loud laugh I swiftly withdrew my right hand and tossed the sword to my left hand. The emperor immediately chopped through empty air. I took a step forward and like lightning thrust my sword forward past the network he was weaving, straight at his throat. The emperor let out a fierce roar and advanced instead of retreating blocking my sword with a hack from his. He was obviously trying to avoid my sword, not even wanting it to lightly brush him. This was a weakness I could use.

I quickly retreated nimbly rotating my sword to strike towards his heavy sword. If he knew how numb and useless my arm was after I broke his sword earlier he would not hesitate to continually strike with all his strength, but I didn’t want him to know what my real situation was.

Soon the two weapons were almost touching.

At this point there was no way I could pull back.

At the most critical moment the emperor tightly grunted and pulled back at the last second.

Now that I had the upper hand I let out long whistle as I shot my sword out with an all out counterattack. No sword movement was unnecessary or fancy but the strikes came in an endless succession of odd angles and varying speeds. Every movement was executed perfectly resulting in every strike being potentially fatal. The emperor was at a huge disadvantage since he didn’t dare directly block my sword so he was forced to use more clever techniques in order to dissolve and redirect my soaring blade. “Qiang Qiang Ding Dang!”

In an instant the precious sword and his heavy sword struck each other numerous times.

I remembered the oceans of blood he spilled with hatred in my heart. I remembered the innumerable ghosts seeking vengeance who died during the emeperor’s long reign. I recalled the cuts and bruises from the torture of my father and how he brutally wiped out my relatives. I remembered my deep love for Xi Qi, and the reverence I held for the Demoness and Qi Bei.

Gathered around the draw-bridge there were no less than forty thousand people engaged in a bitter struggle.

The Mo Nu soldiers inside and outside of the city burst into a wave of cheers to help encourage me.

After I executed 107 strikes the emperor tried to retreat behind his horse.

The horse became frightened and began to neigh and stomp it’s hooves while backing away. Suddenly the horse reared up behind the emperor, it’s two front hooves in the air.

Faced with my earth-shattering offensive, the emperor did not know how to cope with it and his thinking became scattered. “PENG!” Unexpectedly a pair of horse hooves came crashing down on his back.

The emperor lost his balance as he staggered in my direction and his heavy sword was naturally extended outward.

This was a golden opportunity.

In an instant my mind became tranquil as all extraneous thoughts left. The only thing I could see was the emperor’s wide open chest.

My sword flashed and like a shooting bolt of electricity pierced forward.

The wind was calling, and thunder sounded [风在叫，雷在响。]??

This one strike was done with all the power my body could summon.

My father’s continual training from childhood, plus the enlightenment Qi Bei gave me, along with the countless combat experiences I have had these days all emerged at this exact moment. I remember my father once said, “You were a natural born swordsman, and you will become so great that you will rise like the sun over the earth. You should not only be a ruthless swordsman but also quick witted and resourceful. This will make you the most formidable sword master in the universe.”

The emperor was worthy to be called a master swordsman. Even when at such a disadvantage he was still able to calmly assess the situation and try to arrest his forward momentum while turning to the side in an attempt to avoid the blade.

But it was already too late.

The tip of the sword made “Dang!” sound when it struck his gleaming armor.

Everything under heaven and on earth suddenly seemed to stop when this moment came.

The sword penetrated and entered his body.

In an instant it already sunk in several inches.

An earth shaking cry came from the emperor. He could not believe that the sword really could tear through his armor. The armor that came from the distant and lost civilization that had created an unparalleled, rare, and invincible armor for him.

The blade slid several more inches deeper.

As the blade rubbed against his armor it let out an ear-piercing shrill ringing noise. From within the cut flashes of electricity could be seen. The sword stopped sliding in as the emperor tightly clenched the blade with his left hand.

His large mouth was stretched open in pain and like peals of thunder he let out blood curdling screams of pain that spread widely over the battlefield. He continued to roar like a wounded beast.

Once again my sword, with some difficulty this time slid another inch.

In this way I stubbornly continued to thrust when abruptly the sword hit an obstruction and I could not keep my grip when I was hit hard in the stomach by the hilt of my sword. I immediately felt as if I had been struck by lightning. My throat began to itch before blood spurted out of my mouth and sprinkled on to the sword and the emperor’s armor.

All of the sudden everything became completely quiet. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. “DANG!” The heavy sword in the emperor’s right hand fell to the ground.

The emperor violently screamed again as he pulled the sword out of his chest with his left hand. As soon as it came out his blood sprayed towards me but I instinctually moved to the side to avoid it.

He flung the sword gripped in his hands away with all his strength. Even if he had a surge of strength there was no way he could defeat me with the sword, the attacks that would come from overhead, and the troops from the city. The Mo Nu soldiers rushed to close him in on the bridge.

The emperor wildly shouted, “I’ll be back!” [3]

When he finished speaking he leaned his body to the side and jumped into the moat. With a “Peng!” sound I collapsed on the bridge, but was immediately propped up only to see a blood red river gradually leaking away.

The emperor would successfully escape as long as he continued at the same pace and reaches the other side of the moat. Besides me, who else can hurt him?

A distant horn sounded. I still did not know why Lady Li Qing Jun held back. The horn was sounding the retreat.

Mo Nu finally won the battle.

The raging inferno was still burning.

Mo Nu could finally rest.

What is the secret hidden within the ancient ruins? Will I be able to find it? Where did the princess go? Why did the mysterious and unpredictable Black Widow seem to help me at every turn? Why must the Empire and Mo Nu continue their struggle against each other? What are these enigmatic objects and what mysterious country did they come from?

All these things separate things, they somehow seemed to be interrelated.

Before my eyes a hard fought victory was won.

The emperor disappeared without a trace.

I lost all power to support myself. My legs were both soft and if I tried to stand now I would just crumble back to the ground.

I collapsed into Hua Qian’s white embrace. Ma Yuan, Bai Dan, and many others surrounded us their faces were beaming with joy. I looked up and saw underneath Hua Qian’s veil, only to see tears running down her beautiful face.

[1] - “Stroke the tiger’s beard” is a way of saying that nobody had the courage to attack the emperor. He is basically the “tiger” that nobody else wants to mess with.
[2] - Just to avoid confusion here. There are two moats if you missed it. One is the flaming moat outside the city. This second one is right up against the city walls.
[3] - I have Arnold stuck in my head from that...now the emperor looks like terminator to me

End of Book 1

[Single Whip]

Thanks for continuing the translation Grundle.

[CNProf]

Thanks Grundle. This is a fitting ending for Book 1.

[aliderhamy]

gona read this when i get back home

so happy... (cancel the gym... its reading time)

thanks Grundle.

[camtay]

Woah! That's one hell of a fight!

I dunno why but the more I read this novel, it brings to my mind a similar story from Ireland about the Tuatha Dé Danann - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann.
The stories were incorporated into a series of book about the adventures of the ancient race mixed with sorcery and lost civilisation of advance technolog - Forgot the titles.

Anyway, thanks grundle for this awesome story.

[nisachar]

wow!
great translation
thanx

[CFT]

Fantastic translation Grundle. Well worth the wait.

I'm still of the opinion that the Emperor is some kind of cyborg or even an android.

[smurf120]

so exciting - great ending to Book 1! thanks Grundle!

[aliderhamy]

so exciting - great ending to Book 1! thanks Grundle!

oohhh god... hmmm i miss this story

[herman285]

Thanks for the translation!!!

I love Huang Yi's novel.

I wish that you can translate all of his work!!

Thanks again!!

[greyman]

Just read this thread..thanks so much for translating!!!
CNProf's comment in the step in the past thread led me to this....I second the motion for some benevolent translator to take up this fascinating novel ...

[harihari]

Captivating story and great translation! Big thanks grundle! BTW, it seems that it is dated 2 years ago! Will it be continued, grundle? Great works, grundle, big thanks. Kindly don't stop, pls. Keep healthy and prosper. Warmest rgds

[Grundle]

Captivating story and great translation! Big thanks grundle! BTW, it seems that it is dated 2 years ago! Will it be continued, grundle? Great works, grundle, big thanks. Kindly don't stop, pls. Keep healthy and prosper. Warmest rgds

Hello Hari,

Thanks for the encouragement. I remember after finishing this first book, I was surprised at how little response it got. Of course Step in the Past was going full swing so I shouldn't be surprised :P

Also to be honest I am not really too confident about my skills either. I feel like I provide a half-baked idea of what is really happening and I think I miss key things in my translation. I don't speak Chinese and use translation software/dictionaries to try and provide a mediocre effort. It is often disheartening to find out something you translated is totally wrong.

I am not sure I will translate this again, although I do still play with it from time to time. Most likely in the future I will work on collaboration projects with other translators. The past few years I have been working with Lanny on a few things as an editor. I really feel I am better able to help provide quality translations to the community if I am serving in this capacity.

Finally, I will be starting Medical School this summer, so I do know I will be quite busy for the next four years. In any case this translation was a wonderful experience for me. I am glad I could add a little to the body of work that has been done here.

-Grundle

[LuDongBin]

Hi Grundle,
You are being modest. I have not read the Chinese version but the story taken as a whole is very coherent and exciting. There might be errors here and there like everyone else who did the translations in this forum. Your translated work was the first time I was introduced to Huang Yi. Just to let you know you did a great job! All the best in your studies.

[harihari]

WOW! grundle, you can't read chinese YET your translation works are marvelous! agree with ludongbin: you're being modest! hope you don't get discouraged by your feeling of "only" give "mediocre works". trust me, you're doing amazingly great! kindly not compare yourself with other "accomplished" and avid translator (who?), we're all doing our best in our own fields of service. keep your spirit high, grundle! we're waiting your further translation warmest rgds

[geraldsaw]

Dear Grundle.

Congrats on entering med sch. You have earned my sincerest gratitude for all your hard work. And all the best to you in your studies.

[Anh Nam]

You got 60776 Views. I think that is a great response even if not many people replied. I wasn't able to read it until a year after you finished book 1
Thanks

[harihari]

If grundle won't continue translating it, will anybody interested to do it, please?

[aliderhamy]

If grundle won't continue translating it, will anybody interested to do it, please?

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