Silver Spear Cleansed in Blood - 碧血洗银枪 - Gu Long

[kaister]

Thanks for the update

error:
If you also Yu Liu’s experience and eyesight,

Should be "If you also have Yu Liu’s experience and eyesight"

Fixed.

Yea, very rough first draft. I had a good friend go over a small snippet of the last chapter and he straight up said "Are you sure this is not machine translated?" LOL, ouch.

Here's my plan, I'll first double check the entire translation w/ original Chinese text to see whether I'd mistranslated anything. Afterward, I'll have a friend read over and edit the translation. Finally, I'll flush the story out of my mind and read the translation as a standalone.

If I grade the current draft, I'll give it 55%. It's passable but could be better. Hopefully I push it to a 70-75% decent translation. =)

[ycb5959]

IMO - your language standard in this translation is rather high, as it is.
And it is always much easier for a third party to spot "errors".
I know because my work involves lots of readings and reviews

[LuDongBin]

IMO - your language standard in this translation is rather high, as it is.
And it is always much easier for a third party to spot "errors".
I know because my work involves lots of readings and reviews

Agreed. At the speed you are posting typing errors are bound to happen, You have a battalion of proofreaders out here to polish it off. Speed on kaister!

[kaister]

Chapter 38 - 疑云重重 - Suspicion and Confusion

There also wasn’t any gold underground. There was no palace, and not even the missing carriage was here. Although the tunnel’s entrance was ingeniously built, what was underneath was very simple and crude. The underground chamber only had a bed, a table, and a chair. They were all made out of mud. On the outside there was a layer of black stones.

Could this really be No Thirteen’s home? For such a legendary and mysterious figure of Wulin, how could he be living in such a place? Every one was very shock and disappointed, even find it hard to accept.

However if they thought about this carefully, they would realized this was what it was supposed to be like.

This was the Dead Valley that was devoid of anything. No Thirteen was still a man, not a god. Even though he was capable of applying his wit, skills, and strength to create this ingenious secret passage, he still could never create a bed out of thin air.

If he wanted a bed, he could only make it out of the available dirt and black stones. This place only have dirt and black stones. This was something anyone could see and be able to understand. What no one could understand was — why did those capable and outstanding subordinates, the well-trained youngsters, come here? Where did they come from? Where did they live?

What was even more baffling was that even though he could not find a real bed and a real table, there were still a bed sheet on the bed and a lamp on the table.

The bedcover on the bed was a very soft and comfortable silk cover. It also had embroidery on it. The lamp on the table was a very expensive Persian crystal lamp. The lamp still has oil in it. If the place was devoid of anything, where did the lamp came from? Where did the bed cover came from?

Yu Liu used the huozhezi (Chinese fire starter) he was carrying around and lit up this crystal lamp.
[TL: Huozhezi is like of an ancient Chinese match. It’s a roll up piece that require you to blow into it to generate a fire source.]
Once the lamp was lit, everyone couldn’t help but gasped. Even Tie Zhentian, widely regarded as a strong-willed, dauntless, strong-fisted person by the people of Jianghu, couldn’t help let out a loud gasp. They had seen something that they would never imagine seeing.
[TL: Lost in translation, wordplay on his name (tie=iron) thus original text is iron heart, iron gut, iron fist but I translated them instead. Lost that a little bit of that touch.]

They saw a person. In this Dead Valley, which seldomly had any people, there was actually in a person inside this underground chamber.

Not only was there a bed cover on the bed, there was person sleeping on this bed. The person was covered by the embroidered silk comforter. This person was evidently so deep in slumber, he couldn’t even hear people coming in. They couldn’t see what this person looked like. The only thing they could see was the fully white hair that was exposed outside the cover and draping over the pillow.

Tie Zhentian rushed in front of Xie Yulun and Yu Liu and roared: “Who are you?”

Only a deaf wouldn’t be able to hear his voice, so a person deep asleep should wake up.

This person had no reaction. If this person wasn’t deaf, then this person was probably dead. Who could this dead person be? How come there was a corpse here?

Tie Zhentian was not made of iron, but it seems as if his guts were. Like an arrow he bolted forward and lifted up the bed cover.

The person under the cover was not exactly a dead person. The person under the cover was already a skeleton. Beside the completely white hair, there was only skeleton and clothes. On the skeleton there was a sharp bamboo stick, pierced through the back straight to the heart.

Undoubtedly someone snuck up behind his back and killed him while he was asleep. The was no sign of resistance. He was killed in one blow. The killer was precise and fierce. If this was not done stealthily, then it was done by someone he was familiar with, in which he didn’t put any guards up.

— Who was this person?

— Why did No Thirteen leave a dead person here?

Xie Yulun suddenly said: “This person is No Thirteen.” Tie Zhentian and Yu Liu looked at her with a shock of disbelief. They couldn’t imagine why she would say such a thing.

“You said this person is No Thirteen?”

“Absolutely.” Xie Yulun said in a affirmative tone.

“How could you tell?”

“He went to Biyu Villa before.”

“Were you born back then?”

“No.”

Tie Zhentian sighed, said with a force smiled: “You were not even born then, how could you even tell?”

Yu Liu said: “Even if you had seen him before, there’s no way you can tell.”

No one could determine a person’s history, name and origin based on just a skeleton. Xie Yulun still seemed confident.

“Although I had never seen him before, I could still tell.”

“Because my mother told me a lot things about him.” Xie Yulun said: “With just one thing, I could recognize him.”

“One thing?” Yu Liu asked: “Which one?”

“Teeth.”

“Teeth?”

“That’s right, the teeth,” Xie Yulun said: “A person appearance may change, the teeth couldn’t change, besides every one’s teeth look different.”

Teeth would definitely not rot away.

Xie Yulun said, “My mother said: In the world the person with the strangest set of teeth is No Thirteen.”

Yu Liu and Tie Zhentian were both looking at the teeth on this dead person, still couldn’t see which was so strange about it.

Tie Zhentian couldn’t help but asked: “What is so strange about his teeth?”

“He has four more teeth.” Xie Yulun said, “He has thirty-eight teeth. Including wisdom teeth, it’s forty.” [TL: What? I check several version of the text. They all had these numbers, lol.]

She asked Tie Zhentian, “Have you ever seen anyone with forty teeth before?”

Tie Zhentian did not, neither did Yu Liu. Although they rarely notice other people’s teeth, they did know everyone has thirty-six teeth, like how everyone has two eyes. The dead man did indeed have forty teeth.

“I had already counted. I counted it twice.” Xie Yulun said: “That’s how I determine that he is No Thirteen.”

Tie Zhentian was startled. Yu Liu was also startled. After a long while they finally spoke.

“If this dead man is No Thirteen.” They both practically asked at the same time: “Who exactly is that No Thirteen?”

“A fake.”

“Fake?”

Xie Yulun answered: “This place simply does not have any gold. No Thirteen also could not have recruited all those people to serve him. Therefore that No Thirteen is definitely a fake.”

She added: “Beside no one has really seen No Thirteen before, so no one could tell whether he is real or fake, therefore any one can pretend to be him.”

“Why pretend to be him?”

Xie Yulun hadn’t even opened her mouth, suddenly there was another person’s voice. This underground chamber only has the three of them, however she heard a fourth person’s voice. Although the voice was soft and must have came from somewhere far away, she still could hear it clearly. She could clearly hear this person said: “This show we had going on, shouldn’t we complete its final act?”

[End of Ch. 38]

[kaister]

IMO - your language standard in this translation is rather high, as it is.
And it is always much easier for a third party to spot "errors".
I know because my work involves lots of readings and reviews

Thanks.

Embarrassingly, my English is not as good as I would like to be considering I am American.

The criticisms my friend had was partially my fault. I would typically translate the text exactly the way it was written in Chinese. Often this would produce a lot of run-on sentences. I was irked by the amount of comma splices in my translated text but couldn't care less at the time...lol.

[ycb5959]

Wow - the dash before the end!
Thanks for another update!

Very minor error:

This is the Dead Valley that was devoid of anything.

Tense issue: maybe it should be "was"?

[kaister]

Chapter 39 - 解答 - The Answer

Every person needs to breath, therefore an underground chamber should have an air ventilation. Because this underground chamber also had an air vent, No Thirteen corpse decayed and rotted away. This chamber’s air duct was created by a giant stick of bamboo inserted from ground above. What they had heard, also came from this air duct.

At the moment they heard it, they couldn’t tell who’s voice was it. Afterward, they hear another man’s voice in a shocked tone asked: “Show? Who’s acting on a show? Acting on what show?”

They were all familiar with this man’s voice. They could immediately tell it was Ma Rulong. What was he talking to?

“Of course yours and my show.”

“You are not No Thirteen?”

“Of course I’m not,” The person laughed: “You clearly spent five thousand tael of silver to have me play this role. Why are you pretending to be dumb?”

“I asked you to pretend to be No Thirteen?” Ma Rulong seemed very surprised.

“Of course you did.”

“Why would I do such a thing?”

“Because you wanted people in the whole world to see you as an exceptionally good man, therefore you asked me to pretend to be world’s greatest evil. You wanted me to be the killer so you can be the savior. This way they would see with their own eye what a hero you are.”

“So you didn’t kill those people?”

“Of course not me.” This person laughed: “I don’t have the ability to kill anyone? You bribed their comrades, caused a confusion, and allow them to sneakily attacked amidst the chaos. Finally you let your Persian slave use this opportunity to take their heads. I am merely a puppet.”

“How about those people that were tearing down those houses with you?”

“They are also your people. Tianma Hall has wealth and power, what can’t it do?”

This man laughed: “I have to hand it you for laying out such a plot. You even convinced people that Dead Valley has gold. You are a genius.”

Ma Rulong did not say anything.

The man laughed again: “Even more impressive, I clearly have no strength in my hands. You created a device that shoots out stones, told me to hid in my sleeve, and fire these black stones out, convincing people I have powerful hand strength.”

After a while Ma Rulong finally asked: “Could it be that you don’t know martial art?”

“Although I know a little, I definitely couldn’t compare to you people.”

“Then how could you hear us speaking in the general store?”

“What did I hear?” The person said: “The thing you people were saying, I couldn’t hear any of them.”

“You were not the person outside at that time?”

“Of course it wasn’t me.”

“If it wasn’t you, who was it?”

“How would I know who it was? At that time, there was no one outside saying anything.” This person said: “You arranged this show, how would I know the details?”

He sighed: “No matter what, right now this act is finally over. That lady, Dawan, and that old monk are inside the cave, hurry and take them back. This way you not only can play the hero rescuing the princess, you can make that old monk admires and thankful of you. I only accepted your five thousand taels. If you have any decency, you should…”

His voice suddenly stopped. At the instance his voice stop, the was only a “pu” sound, and then nothing. There was no sound at all.

The underground chamber was also silent. No one said anything, not even a word. Ma Rulong was their friend, and now he unexpectedly did all those thing, what else could they say? Not knowing how long had passed, Yu Liu finally said: “Couldn’t believe he’s that kind of person.”

This was something no one would imagine. If they weren't here in this underground chamber and happened to hear this conversation, they would’ve been fooled their entire life. Fortunately heaven is fair and the guilty will not escape, at least they know the truth.

Tie Zhentian suddenly said: “There is one thing I don’t understand.”

“Which one?”

“The fake No Thirteen did say he did not hear what we said in the general store. At the time we heard No Thirteen speaking, who was talking?

“If I am not wrong, it must’ve been someone inside the general store.” Yu Liu said after pondering.

“However no one in the general store at that time opened their mouths.”

“Some people can speak without opening their mouth.”

“Which people?”

“People that knows ventriloquism.” Yu Liu said: “I have seen this type of people before.”

“That’s right.” Tie Zhentian said: “I’ve also seen this type of people that can speak from their abdomen. You clearly thought the voice was coming from somewhere else, but it was actually coming from the stomach.”

He sighed: “No wonder why I thought he sounded strange at the time, also it sounded as if the people speaking was next to me.”

“Could you guess who that person is?”

“Of course it was Wang Wanwu,” Tie Zhentian said: “Definitely him.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t need to intentionally walk himself into the trap.” Tie Zhentian: “He came to the general store because he wanted to spread misinformation. He wanted us to believe No Thirteen has these unattainable and otherworldly abilities, wanted us to believe that No Thirteen is the real No Thirteen.”

“Therefore he was later silenced.”

Tie Zhentian coldly laughed: “That type of people deserved that type of end.”

What kind of end should Ma Rulong receive?

“We should go back up to wait for him,” Tie Zhentian griped onto his fists: “We will see what else does he have to say.”

He was about to grab Yu Liu and leave, but the Xie Yulun that haven’t spoken a word suddenly said: “Wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“I lost something here.” Xie Yulun said: “I have to find it before I go.”

How could she lost something here? What did she lose?

She really did lose something here, missing three beads of pearls, seems like it came off a chain of pearls.

She found it at the corner next to the doorway.

Tie Zhentian and Yu Liu thought this was strange, couldn’t help but asked: “This is yours?”

“Yes.”

“How could your thing be missing here?”

Xie Yulun answer was even more surprising, “Because I came here before.”

Tie Zhentian and Yu Liu were stunned. They stood their for a while and finally asked: “Why would you come here? What for?”

“To look for my uncle.”

“Your uncle?” Tie Zhentian lost his voice and asked: “How come No Thirteen is your uncle?”

“He was my mother’s blood-related brother, why wouldn’t he be my uncle?”

Xie Yulun sighed and said, “Unfortunately I have never seen him before, because Biyu Villa never let a man stay. Even though we’re blood-related, there was no exception. Male, after birth, would be sent far away.”

RIght now Tie Zhentian finally understood why he called himself No Thirteen. After he found out about his origin, it was hard not to be sad and angry. That’s why he said he had no father and no mother. Therefore he was determine to seek out Biyu Villa, to strive for vindication. Unfortunately, in the end he still lost. Right now Tie Zhentian finally understood why Madame Biyu made an exception and spared his life? And how she knew he had forty teeth?

XIe Yulun said: “Although my mother exiled him to Dead Valley, she haven’t forgotten this brother. Therefore she always mentioned him in front of me. That’s why I was determine to find him.”

“If you already know he was dead, then you must’ve known that No Thirteen was fake.”

“That’s right.”

“Why didn’t you reveal this?”

“Because I need to take this chance to find my uncle’s murderer,” Xie Yulun said: “This is my only chance.”

— Only the real murderer would know he was already dead, would dare to asked someone to pretend to be him.
Xie Yulun said: “Therefore I only need to find out who was the mastermind behind all of this, then I would be able to find out who’s the murderer.”

Yu Liu couldn’t help and took a long sigh: “You would never imagine the perpetrator would be Ma Rulong.”

Xie Yulun suddenly had this strange glare on him, after a while finally spoke one word at a time. “You are wrong.”

“I’m wrong? What’s wrong?”

“The perpetrator is not Ma Rulong,” Xie Yulun said it confidently: “Most definitely not.”

“If it is not him, who is it?”

Xie Yulun stared at him for a long while, eyes filled with grief and condemnation: “It is you!” She pointed her finger at Yu Liu: “The murderer is you!”

Yu Liu laughed. “You must be joking, but this joke is not funny.”

“This joke is not supposed to be funny, because this is not a joke.”

“You really think I am the murderer?”

“I originally didn’t think it would be you.” Xie Yulun said: “Fortunately I happen to know something other people wouldn’t know.”

“What do you know?”

“I know Yu Wu did not have a younger brother,” Xie Yulun said, “Definitely did not.”

She spoke one word at a time: “Because Yu Wu also happens to be my uncle!”

Tie Zhentian was startled, Yu Liu was still smiling!

“With just this, you determined that I am the murderer?”

“No, not enough.” Xie Yulun said: “Fortunately, Dawan also happen to had seen something.”

“What?”

“She saw you killed Wang Wanwu! She saw it with her own eyes.”

Yu Liu couldn’t smile anymore.

Xie Yulun said: “At the time I didn’t let her expose your plot, because at the time we still do not know who you are.”

Yu Liu couldn’t help but asked: “Right now, you already know.”

“Right now I already know. You plotted all of this because you wanted to frame Ma Rulong,” Xie Yulun said: “Because you know everyone slowly realize what kind of man he is, all knew he wouldn’t do such a thing, so you planned all this to frame him.”

She suddenly asked Tie Zhentian: “Do you know who wanted to harm him the most?”

Tie Zhentian obviously knew, answered without hesitation: “Qiu Fengcheng.”

“Yes,” Xie Yulun said: “Of course it’s Qiu Fengcheng.”

She pointed at Yu Liu, one word at a time said: “You are Qiu Fengcheng!”

This “Yu Liu” suddenly laughed again.

“It seemed like you already know everything, there no need for me to deny.” He actually said: “That’s right, I am Qiu Fengcheng.”

Xie Yulun sighed: “This is definitely something hard for people to imagine, even I didn’t expect you to admit it so casually.”

“There was also something you would never imagine.”

“What?”

“I am also No Thirteen’s only disciple.”

He really was. He always had wild ambition, ambition to rule the world, however he also knew with only Qiu’s family silver spear, he couldn’t accomplish that. One time, he accidentally heard stories about No Thirteen.

“He was definitely a strange man,” Qiu Fengcheng said: “His background was strange. His history was strange. I was fascinated by him. Thought of countless of ways, and finally found and came to Dead Valley. Coincidentally at that time, No Thirteen wanted to take in a disciple, willing to avenge him.”

No Thirteen truly took him in as disciple, and taught him his life-long abilities. No Thirteen’s ability wasn’t isolated to one.

“This digging ability was taught by him,” Qiu Fengcheng said: “Qimendunjia [Anicient Chinese Art of Divination, used to apply to various fields.], gathering and spreading information, traps and mechanisms, using poison, art of disguise; not one unknown to him, not one that isn’t brilliant. “

“Why did you kill him?”

“He was alway controlling and limiting my actions. I had already learned all his abilities.” Qiu Fengcheng actually laughed, “So why wouldn’t I kill him?”

“Not only did you killed him, you also killed your peers Du Qinglian and Shen Hongye, and also lured Ma Rulong into Dead Valley. You should be very content.” Xie Yulun again asked: “Why do you even have to do this?”

“Because what you said isn’t wrong, I had also realized all of you are slowing started to have confidence in him.” Qiu Fengcheng also couldn’t help but sighed, “Ma Rulong really isn’t a simple person.”

“In reality, you really didn’t need to do any of this. We basically couldn’t find any of your mistakes, and couldn’t gather any evidence on you.” Xie Yulun also sighed: “Too bad you’re too smart for your own good.”

“Being too smart doesn’t matter, whether you find any evidence is all the same.”

“Same, how could it be the same?”

“Because you will all die regardless.” Qiu Fengcheng suddenly asked: “Do you know at first what that “pu” noise was?”

“Sounds like a dao (sabre) striking someone’s neck.”

“Whose neck? Whose saber?”

Qiu Fengcheng answered his own questions, ”If you think it was that fake No Thirteen, then you’re wrong.”

“Oh?”

“The neck was Ma Rulong’s neck, the sabre was Peng Tiangao’s sabre.” Qiu Fengcheng explained, “Peng Tiangao is that Persian slave. He is also Peng Tianba’s younger brother. His sabre skills is far more impressive than Peng Tianba's. Unfortunately, he was born from a concubine. His mother was a Persian slave, therefore he will never properly inherit Wuhu Duanmendao (Five Tigers Breaking Down the Door Sabre). Pang clan’s vast wealth is something he is only able look at.”

“That’s why he was persuaded by you, willing to aide you, and help you kill Peng Tianba.”

Qiu Fengcheng smiled and nodded admittedly, but he suddenly changed the subject. “When No Thirteen was alive, I once asked him, what things he wanted the most?” Qiu Fengcheng said: “I couldn’t believe the things he most wanted was a bed cover and a lamp.”

“You obviously gave these to him.”

“I gave him the best bed comforter and the best lamp, even the lamp oil was the best. Only the last one was the exception.”

“What was the last thing you gave him?”

“It was the lamp oil and lamp wick soaked in drugs.” Qiu Fengcheng laughed and said: “Of course the drug was also the best, just like the one you both unknowingly inhaled at first.”

He laughed exuberantly, but the laugh didn’t last long. In a sudden, with a ding sound, the light on the table went out, outside the entrance there was a fire. Under the flickering fire light was a person. A person he thought he would never see again. He saw Ma Rulong.

Ma Rulong appeared along with Dawan and Jue dashi. Obviously they had not died, Dawan’s capture was a trap set by her and Xie Yulun.

Xie Yulun finally told Qiu Fengcheng: “I intentionally told Dawan all those words, intentionally let you hear, and letting you think I wanted revenge.” She said: “Obviously I also intentionally went to look for Ma Rulong, giving you a chance. In reality, I already released Dawan’s acupoint.”

Dawan innocuously followed: “So when you heard the sabre blade cutting down on the neck, the sabre was Peng Tiangao’s sabre, the neck was also his neck.”

[End of Ch. 39]

[ycb5959]

This is faster than "fast and furious 7"!

Thanks!!!

Minor error:;
They stood their for a while and finally asked: “Why would you come here? What for?”

Should be "there"

"Because what you said isn’t wrong, I had also realized all of you are slowing started to have confidence in him.”

Should be "slowly starting"

Pang clan’s vast wealth is something he is only able look at.

Shouldn't it be "Peng"?

[kaister]

Wow - the dash before the end!
Thanks for another update!

Very minor error:

This is the Dead Valley that was devoid of anything.

Tense issue: maybe it should be "was"?

Fixed.

I also changed the last line for ch. 37 and ch 38 so it follows what is said at the beginning of ch. 39.

[kaister]

Epilogue - 尾声

Qiu Fengcheng, of course, received his deserved punishment. Jue dashi went to Kunlun mountain summit to mianbisiguo (confined himself for self-reflection). After Tie Zhentian and Ma Rulong drank whole-heartily for three days, on a windy and moon-lit cold they disappeared. Their current location unknown.

Jiangnan Yu Wu was still leading the Jiangnan wulin (martial art world). Miss Yu was still untraceable, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. How about Dawan and Xie Yulun? What kind of end should they have with Ma Rulong?

Several years later someone in Jiangnan ran into Ma Rulong. He was said to be accompanied by two beauties as delicate as flowers. One must be Xie Yulun, was the other Dawan? No one knew. But why was her charm and grace so similar to Dawan?

[END of BXXYQ]

---

This is it. Finally, the complete translation is posted up. I'll take a break from this story and come back to revise it later. I'll probably make an unabridged thread for the 2nd revision.

[ycb5959]

Excellent ending!

Thanks for the hardwork, and making an effort to finish the novel.
One of Gu Long's good ones.

[kaister]

Finally the whole translation is posted. Now I just need to worry about editing.

This is my first translation so I wanted to go back and review the entire translation but this might take time.

One thing, I had put off but really needed everyone's help on are the names.

While I was doing the translation I held off and didn't worry about any of the names. This includes people, places, items, martial art skills, etc..

I wanted to keep with "convention". Since Gu Long had a wide array of stories in the same universe, I wanted to keep it consistent with other translations. If not, wanted to see everyone's preference is.

I can keep everything in pinyin but would like to at least have an index or glossary translating these names so non-Chinese speakers have an idea what these text means.

For a person's name I'll always use pinyin, maybe define their name on the character list/index/glossary. For example, Ma Rulong (Surname "Ma" means horse, given name "Rulong" means 'like dragon') or something like that. But in the text, I'll definitely keep it as Ma Rulong.

One exception was in the current translation I insisted on using "No Thirteen" instead of Wu Shisan. The reason was his name is not a standard (surname) (given name) type of name. I thought having it translated gives it more meaning. Of course, I could've easily kept it the pinyin and add a footnote. I wouldn't mind doing that on the revision if that's what everyone prefers.

Another one is a person's title. I think I used Jue-dashi instead of Master Jue because title is something tricky to translate properly. Master is a broad term that can be used in a bunch of other titles, like sifu, but dashi is more specific. Do people prefer title to be translated/untranslated?

I probably have a bunch of other problems I couldn't think of on top of my head for now. Once I do a quick review, I'll list out a bunch of these names and ask you guys for opinions.

[ycb5959]

Some of us who watch lots of wuxia movies and series (and read wuxia comics in translated languages) have no problem with names like "No Thirteen", Jue "Dashi" - we are familiar with these...[eg. Storm Warriors "No Name" ]

I suggest a glossary on the first page, for reference. With "Stellar Transformation" and " A Step in the past" I constantly refer back to the glossary, easily accessible on page 1 of the translation.

[BlackRaven]

Thanks Kaister for finishing this great book! I really like Qiu Fengcheng. Sigh, he could have won, just like Xie Yulun said, too bad.

I think it's heavily implied that Qiu Fengcheng is strong enough to kill Xie Yulun and Tie Zhentian by himself, but maybe add in Dawan, Jue Dashi and Ma Rulong, it would be too much for Qiu to handle by himself. Dawan and Ma Rulong also trapped Qiu Fengcheng, they used the lay of the land to their advantage, complete strategic victory.

This reminds me of Lu Xiao Feng book 1. At the end, Huo Xiu was trapped in the prison. In terms of martial arts, Huo might have been equal to LXF at that point in the story, but LXF used the terrain to his advantage and won through strategy.

It seems Ximen ChuXue greatly improved during the span of the novels, he was definitely weaker than Dugu Yihe in book 1, so perhaps LXF improved too across the 7 novels, and during book 1, Huo Xiu could have fought him evenly at least.

I wholly support your decision to translate Sword of the Third Master. I'm eager to find out what happened to Black Raven

One exception was in the current translation I insisted on using "No Thirteen" instead of Wu Shisan. The reason was his name is not a standard (surname) (given name) type of name. I thought having it translated gives it more meaning. Of course, I could've easily kept it the pinyin and add a footnote. I wouldn't mind doing that on the revision if that's what everyone prefers.

Another one is a person's title. I think I used Jue-dashi instead of Master Jue because title is something tricky to translate properly. Master is a broad term that can be used in a bunch of other titles, like sifu, but dashi is more specific. Do people prefer title to be translated/untranslated?

Your reasoning for using No Thirteen is sound, I wholly support it. I also prefer Jue Dashi to master Jue, Jue Dashi gives more flavor to the story. And as you pointed out, Master does not capture all the nuances of Dashi. The religious connotation of Dashi is not present in the word master. So basically, I love what you are currently doing, no need to change anything.

[BlackRaven]

Other thoughts:

Shen Hongye is MUCH weaker than Ah Fei when he was young. Hongye was freezing his *** off in his thin clothing and was shaking from the cold, while Ah Fei with his thin layer of clothing could walk for days in the cold. He could even lay still and play dead for a long period to entice animals to come close and capture them. No wonder Ah Fei was so powerful for his age, he really lived a tough life. What does not kill me will make me stronger.

Qiu Fengcheng though, I think he's stronger than the young Ah Fei. Xie Yulun could walk over a thick stone wall like it wasn't even there, and Fengcheng was stronger than her and Tie Zhentian combined.

If someone wanted the best son-in-law to increase the power of a family, then obviously Fengcheng is the best pick among the 4 at the beginning of the story. Intelligence, martial arts, cunning, he was the best by far. But Dawan is responsible for picking the son-in-law, and I think she would not necessarily pick the most accomplished one, but perhaps the one that will make Xie Yulun the most happy.

I like how Silver Spear Cleansed in Blood depicted Ma Rulong's growth as a person. He was arrogant early on, but throughout the story, after surviving many hardships, he grew in wisdom and gained a new perspective on life.

Such a great story!

[ycb5959]

Just a few thoughts on the novel (possible loopholes or I have missed out some parts...):

a. The author initially gave the impression that Dawan was only slightly above average in beauty, at least not as beautiful as Xie Yulun. Yet at the epilogue, we have the closing "Several years later someone in Jiangnan ran into Ma Rulong. He was said to be accompanied by two beauties as delicate as flowers".

b. Qiu Fngcheng learnt "all" there is to learn from No Thirteen (who is presumably a super expert). He could have conquered Wulin using martial arts without having to resort to trickery learnt. Even if he could never beat Xie's mom, he would be up there with the best of the best...

[BlackRaven]

Just a few thoughts on the novel (possible loopholes or I have missed out some parts...):

a. The author initially gave the impression that Dawan was only slightly above average in beauty, at least not as beautiful as Xie Yulun. Yet at the epilogue, we have the closing "Several years later someone in Jiangnan ran into Ma Rulong. He was said to be accompanied by two beauties as delicate as flowers".

Dawan has beautiful hands, so my guess is that maybe she is also beautiful everywhere else, but she disguised herself as an ugly woman. Why would she disguise herself as an ugly woman? Maybe she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself in order to do her undercover work. Also, since she was trying to pair up these young masters with Xie Yulun, she didn't want to steal the groom.

But then again, Xie Yulun who knew her since childhood called her ugly, so maybe Dawan's face is ugly for real? Who knows.

In the epilogue, it was said that Ma Rulong was accompanied by 2 beauties, so I guess that means that Dawan was really beautiful, she just chose to disguise herself. Let's chalk up Xie Yulun calling Dawan ugly as a fit of anger or jealousy.

b. Qiu Fngcheng learnt "all" there is to learn from No Thirteen (who is presumably a super expert). He could have conquered Wulin using martial arts without having to resort to trickery learnt. Even if he could never beat Xie's mom, he would be up there with the best of the best...

I agree with you, Fengcheng could have been the ultimate villain and dominate Wulin for a long time.

Fengcheng has deadly martial arts, keen intellect, VAST knowledge and mastery of many arts, from poison to digging, all of this at an early age. He could have been a dangerous super villain in ANY of Gu Long's novels. Fengcheng can pretty much do by himself, everything that Lu Xiao Feng and his friends did in LXF book 1. LXF and his friends' combined skills narrowly foiled Huo Xiu's plot.

Like Xie Yulun said, Fengcheng was way too arrogant and that was his downfall.

Maybe by becoming the son-in-law of Madame Biyu, he planned to plot her demise from within and then truly become unrivaled under the heavens?

[kaister]

Just a few thoughts on the novel (possible loopholes or I have missed out some parts...):

a. The author initially gave the impression that Dawan was only slightly above average in beauty, at least not as beautiful as Xie Yulun. Yet at the epilogue, we have the closing "Several years later someone in Jiangnan ran into Ma Rulong. He was said to be accompanied by two beauties as delicate as flowers".

b. Qiu Fngcheng learnt "all" there is to learn from No Thirteen (who is presumably a super expert). He could have conquered Wulin using martial arts without having to resort to trickery learnt. Even if he could never beat Xie's mom, he would be up there with the best of the best...

a. I no longer remember anything before ch. 32, LOL. Since she used so many disguises, I am not sure whether the book ever explicitly mentioned how good looking she is. I'm taking a break from the this story. I'll first go through a review process, in which I'll check for accuracy in translation.

b. The problem here that, we don't know how good his martial art really is. The only fact we know is that he snuck up behind his master and killed him, so he never faced No Thirteen head on. All those skills he mentioned, again we don't really know beside the fact he can dig extremely well and he can scheme. Even if he did mastered all those skills, it doesn't say much about his martial art. The only problem I have is that there was no "final battle". When I read the end of ch. 39, I couldn't believe it. I'm like, is there some text missing? It just felt like they could've easily added another chapter or two. We're never told how they got Qiu Fengcheng. Hell, I'm not even sure who killed Peng Tiangao. All we got is this "he died by the saber he was carrying", I'm like what?

In his stories, Gu Long likes to build these god-like character only to have them fall at the most random of things. LOL
Still, even in this story, Qiu Fengcheng never gave me an impression he is an exceptional martial artist. Yes, he's intelligent but not this I'm-shaking-in-my-boot-in-front-of-his-presence type of ordeal.

Honestly, even for No Thirteen. I'm not sure how much of what we're told of him is fluff and misinformation spread by Qiu Fengcheng. Again, I don't remember any of the earlier 30 chapters so...maybe I'll come back to this later

[kaister]

Anyways, I'm still wondering whether I should pick up Sword of the Third Young Master.

This is what I see.

Translated
Thread 1
1-12 Kara
1-3 chowbeng updated
Thread 2
13-17 Kara
18-34 Ren Wo Xing
35-38, 39 (partial, top 1/8) Darkaos
46 (partial, top 3/4) Justin Lu(?) excerpt

Missing:
Almost the entire ch. 39, 40-45, last quarter of 46, 47
So about a bit over 8 chapters are missing.

I'm thinking of translating 39-47 first, and then jump around 1-38...maybe...

By the way, I see that Ren Wo Xing translated the middle third of the story. Does any know why he stopped?

[LuDongBin]

Some of us who watch lots of wuxia movies and series (and read wuxia comics in translated languages) have no problem with names like "No Thirteen", Jue "Dashi" - we are familiar with these...[eg. Storm Warriors "No Name" ]

I suggest a glossary on the first page, for reference. With "Stellar Transformation" and " A Step in the past" I constantly refer back to the glossary, easily accessible on page 1 of the translation.

Agreed with ycb5959 on this. Thks kaister for completing this novel after so many years.

Minor typing error":
“Why did he kill you?”

“Why did you kill him?”

Rest kaister but come back soon.