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Thread: The Deer and The Cauldron

  1. #881
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    I never understood why WXB would do something as stupid as keeping the sutra on his person like that.

  2. #882
    Senior Member athlonkmf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KChill View Post
    I never understood why WXB would do something as stupid as keeping the sutra on his person like that.
    He didn't exactly had the chance to secure it the way he did for the other sutra's
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  3. #883
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    Quote Originally Posted by wuxiagurl View Post
    Wow, then isn't Fang Yi considered an old maid then? Why isn't she married eventhough she is so beautiful and has a boyfriend? Lemme guess, they're all about restoring the Ming Dynasty and have no time for personal lives?

    Fangyi isn't a peasant girl. It's usually the peasant girls and other lower rank girls who are to wed early. They can give birth early which can in turn help out on the land. And a married girl means less burden on the family.
    Fangyi belongs to an aristrocat famil, so she does't need to marry young (but if it wasn't for their mission she'd have married liu yazhao ages ago)

    Just saying that married @13-14 is not weird.
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  4. #884
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    Hey Foxs-- I've been in loads of overtime and business travel again lately. It is good to come home and see you are still at it.

  5. #885
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    Default Chapter 18 - Part 9

    Wuxiagurl, you are welcome, and welcome to this thread. Smurf, Athlon, Sky, Tweety, Crazee, Lzydude, KChill, thanks for dropping by and the interesting discussion. So sorry I was extremely busy these past few days. Slim, welcome back, I still owe you email, you and dgsfds ... One of these days ...

    -----------------------------------------------------------
    Cheng Xin put his palms together and said, “We have neither grievance nor enmity, we are all followers of Buddha, how could you talk about this character ‘to beat’? Luohan [Arhat] are the sages of Buddhism, we are merely ordinary folks, how can we dare to receive this appellation? Wulin friends carelessly address us with this honorary title, we really do not deserve it. The Fat and Thin Revered Monks of Liaodong’s remarkable feats are without rival, we have always admired you. Today we are brought together by fate, indeed it is our great good fortune.” Speaking to this point, the other seventeen monks put their palms together to salute.

    The Fat Toutuo bowed to return the salute; without straightening up his body, he asked, “You are all coming to Mount Wutai, what's the purpose of your trip?"

    Pointing to Wei Xiaobao, Cheng Xin said, "This young benefactor has some relationship with our Shaolin Temple, I am asking Dashi to raise your hand and let him go down the mountain."

    Fat Toutuo hesitated; he saw the opponent had many men and greater force, he knew that each one of the eighteen luohan of Shaolin had astonishing martial art skill, he did not give the slightest care of fighting one on one, but he would not be able to deal with all eighteen of them. Thereupon he said, "Very well, looking at Dashi's face, I'll let him go." Finished speaking, he leaned over and massaged Wei Xiaobao's lower abdomen several times to unseal his acupoint.

    As soon as Wei Xiaobao was able to stand, he held out his right palm and said, "The sutra was given to me by a friend of these eighteen luohan, who asked me to deliver it to ... to Shaolin Temple and hand it over to the head monk Abbot. Would you return it to me?"

    "What?" the Fat Toutuo angrily said, "What does this sutra have to do with Shaolin Temple?"

    With a loud voice Wei Xiaobao said, "You seized the sutra away from me, it was the old monk who ask me to deliver it to someone else, it is extremely important, quickly give it back to me!"

    "Rubbish!" the Fat Toutuo said. Turning around, he leaped down from the northern slope of the mountain. Three Shaolin monks immediately flew and reached out to grab his arm, the Fat Toutuo did not dare to fight the monks, he sidestepped to evade the three monks' grabbing palm. His stature was very tall, yet his movement was incomparably agile.

    In this grabbing movement, the three monks of Shaolin had used top-notch technique of Shaolin martial arts, unexpectedly they failed to even touch his clothes. But in the instant the Fat Toutuo's movement was slowed down, four more Shaolin monks had blocked behind his back, eight palms crisscrossed, closing his escape route.

    The Fat Toutuo let out a loud bellow, his palms pushed out using the move 'five nails cut into the mountain'. Borrowing the momentum of this overwhelming force, he turned around and swiftly fled southward. The four Shaolin monks pushed put their palms together from left and right. The Fat Toutuo's palm force collided with the four monks. He felt the palm strike from the left side was hard and stiff, while the palm strike of other two monks from the right was soft and continuously flowing; he could not help but was greatly shocked. Sending out all his power to his palms, he was barely able to resist the opposing force. Right this time, from behind him three claws were coming toward his back.

    The Fat Toutuo took a quick glance and saw the two monks on his left sending out their punches, instantly his feet kicked the ground and he flew upward; but the extended palms of the three monks behind him were not the same, they were using 'dragon claw', 'tiger claw' and 'eagle claw' styles, respectively, he was intimidated inwardly. Coiling his large sleeve, he created a gust of strong wind, as soon as his left foot landed on the ground, his right hand grabbed Wei Xiaobao. "Do you want him to die, or do you want him to live?" he called out.

    Some of the eighteen Shaolin monks advancing, some retreating, they formed two circles, surrounding the Fat Toutuo in the middle. Cheng Xin said, "The sutra of this young benefactor is very important, I am asking Dashi to please return it, and thus binding good karma. We will be deeply grateful."

    With right hand lifting Wei Xiaobao high in the air and left palm pressing the crown of his head, the Fat Toutuo walked southwards in big strides. The situation was clear: if the Shaolin monks put forth their hands to block him, he would slightly exert some strength on his left palm, Wei Xiaobao's skull would be crushed immediately.

    The several Shaolin monks blocking on the south hesitated. They could only chant 'Amitabha Buddha' and stepped aside to let him through. Carrying Wei Xiaobao, the Fat Toutuo dashed to the south, he went faster and faster. The eighteen luohan of Shaolin Temple unleashed their qing gong to follow him closely.

    By this time, Shuang'er's sealed acupoint had been unsealed by the Shaolin monks. Seeing Wei Xiaobao was captured, she was alarmed and frightened, and immediately raised her chi to pursue. Since her punching and kicking skill was taught by an expert, her martial art was quite amazing, but she was still very young, her internal energy cultivation differed too far from those Shaolin monks, plus her stature was small, her steps short, in just one or two li, she had already fallen behind. In her distress, she broke up crying, but she did not stop running after them. Although the Fat Toutuo was carrying a person, his speed did not diminished at all, unexpectedly the Shaolin monks were not able to catch on.

    After running for a while, still carrying Wei Xiaobao, the Fat Toutuo dashed toward a mountain peak directly south of them. The eighteen Shaolin monks ran after him in single file. Shuang'er followed to the foot of the peak and she was already out of breath. Looking up, she saw the peak was very high; she thought that the evil toutuo took her xianggong to the top of the mountain peak, there was a one in ten thousand chance that he would take a wrong step and fall down. The evil toutuo may not necessarily die, but how could xianggong be alive?

    While she was having this frightening thought, suddenly she heard loud rumbling noise as pieces of big rocks rolled down the mountain path. The eighteen Shaolin monks leaped to the left and jumped to the right, continuously dodging the rocks. What happened was that as the Fat Toutuo reached the peak, he continuously kicked the rocks along the path so that the rocks rolled down to block the enemy. How could the eighteen Shaolin monks let the rocks smash them? However, the distance between them widened considerably.

    When battling Huangfu Ge, Abbot Cheng Guang had received injury on the pit of his stomach, his internal energy was adversely affected, he fell behind the seventeenth monk. Shuang'er struggled hard to pursue to the peak, she called out, "Fangzhang Dashi, Fangzhang Dashi!"

    Cheng Guang turned his head around and stopped to wait for her. Seeing her rushing while gasping for breath, and with frightened expression on her face, he consoled her by saying, "Don't be afraid! He won't harm your master [orig. gongzi]." Afraid that she might hurt herself by rushing like that, he took her hand and together they slowly walked up the mountain.

    Shuang'er's heart was somewhat comforted; she asked, "Abbot, he ... can he possibly harm Xianggong?"

    "He can't," Cheng Guang replied. Although his mouth said so, seeing the Fat Toutuo was so vicious, how could he ascertain that?

    This mountain peak was Mount Wutai's southern platform [reminder: wutai means five platforms], luckily it was a winding mountain path, with a lot of twists and turns, after several turns, the rocks the Fat Toutuo kicked were no longer a threat to them. By the time Cheng Guang and Shuang'er reached the Southern Platform Peak, they saw seventeen Shaolin monks were surrounding a temple; naturally the Fat Toutuo and Wei Xiaobao were inside the temple.

    Altogether Mount Wutai has five mountain peaks, on each peak there was a temple. Mount Wutai was a Buddhist mountain dedicated to the teaching of Manjushri, each temple on the peak was dedicated to the different title of Manjushri, according to Manjushri's vast divine power, and according to the different era that he appeared in the flesh. The Eastern Platform was called Wang Hai Peak, the temple built on the peak was the Wang Hai Temple [lit. facing the ocean], dedicated to the intelligence of Manjushri. On the Northern Platform's Ye Dou[10] Peak, there was Ling Ying Temple [spiritual response], dedicated to 'without disgrace' of Manjushri. On the Central Platform's Cui Yan [azure cliff] Peak, there was Yan Jiao Temple [practicing religion], dedicated to scholarly boy Manjushri. On the Western Platform's Gua Yue [hanging moon] Peak, the Fa Lei Temple [thundering Buddhist teaching] built there was dedicated to the lion-like character of Manjushri. On the Southern Platform's Jin Xiu [beautiful] Peak, the Pu Ji Temple [universal relief] constructed there was dedicated to the wisdom of Manjushri. [Translator's note: my apology for being unfamiliar with Buddhist teaching, and thus the translation might be inaccurate. I simply translated the words literally, if any of you have better idea, feel free to suggest correction.]

    These people happened to be on the Jin Xiu Peak, and that temple was the Pu Ji Temple. Shuang'er called out several times, "Xianggong, Xianggong!" But there was no reply. Lifting up her feet, she rushed into the temple.

    Shuang'er dashed straight toward the main hall and saw the Fat Toutuo was standing by the mouth of the water drainage from the eaves of the Hall of Great Strength, his right hand was still clutching Wei Xiaobao. Shuang'er rushed over can called out, "Xianggong, did the evil monk hurt you?"

    "Don't worry," Wei Xiaobao replied, "He will not dare to harm me."

    The Fat Toutuo angrily said, "Why won't I dare to harm you?"

    Wei Xiaobao laughed, "If you harm a single strand of my hair, the eighteen luohan of Shaolin will catch you, and will change you back to your original state; you will turn back into a short and fat man, then you will be really bad."

    The Fat Toutuo's countenance changed greatly; with a trembling voice he said, "What do you mean change me back to my original state? You ... you ... how did you know?"

    -----------------------------------------------------------
    [10] Ye - business/estate/property, Dou - fight or bucket, but could also refer to bei dou - big dipper constellation.

  6. #886
    Senior Member tweety365's Avatar
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    Amazing that WXB is always able to keep his cool when encountering danger.
    Thanks foxs!

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    Quote Originally Posted by athlonkmf View Post
    He didn't exactly had the chance to secure it the way he did for the other sutra's
    I'm not sure I buy that. This is a priceless treasure, for which he's already been drugged and almost killed several times. I just think "geez, won't the monks keep it safe in the temple for me until I need it?" or something would've crossed his mind....he could even have buried it like he very INTELLIGENTLY did the other ones.

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    Quote Originally Posted by athlonkmf View Post
    Fangyi isn't a peasant girl. It's usually the peasant girls and other lower rank girls who are to wed early. They can give birth early which can in turn help out on the land. And a married girl means less burden on the family.
    Fangyi belongs to an aristrocat famil, so she does't need to marry young (but if it wasn't for their mission she'd have married liu yazhao ages ago)

    Just saying that married @13-14 is not weird.

    I agree, back then being married at that age was the norm for EVERY culture.

  9. #889
    Senior Member crazee's Avatar
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    With the gift of the Glib and his fast wittism, our hero is always able to come out with some smart remarks that puts his enemies off track.
    Interesting, isn't it ?

    Thanks Foxs, appreciate your updates inspite of being busy.
    cheerio..

  10. #890
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    Quote Originally Posted by KChill View Post
    I'm not sure I buy that. This is a priceless treasure, for which he's already been drugged and almost killed several times. I just think "geez, won't the monks keep it safe in the temple for me until I need it?" or something would've crossed his mind....he could even have buried it like he very INTELLIGENTLY did the other ones.

    Not many people knows about it. It's a simple scripture. Your ordinary bandit would go after his huge fortune. And he is ow of course pretty confident with SE at his side.

    It's just his luck that he always bumps into those who are after the scripture...
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  11. #891
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    Quote Originally Posted by KChill View Post
    I agree, back then being married at that age was the norm for EVERY culture.
    Oh, I know of a culture where marriage at the age of 6 but consumate at the age of 9...the man,...in his forties.
    cheerio..

  12. #892
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    Quote Originally Posted by crazee View Post
    Oh, I know of a culture where marriage at the age of 6 but consumate at the age of 9...the man,...in his forties.
    That is sick ! Pedophilia is not marriage. The poor child.

  13. #893
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    Quote Originally Posted by tweety365 View Post
    That is sick ! Pedophilia is not marriage. The poor child.
    It's not right to use our current standard to judge another culture in another timeline. In fact, it's not correct to use our own standard to judge another culture in another countries.

    That is the reason for a lot of deaths (native americans, the inca's, africa) everytime two cultures clashes, a lot of bloodshed will be done because one culture would feel superior to the other.
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  14. #894
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    Default Chapter 18 - Part 10

    Tweety, Crazee, it was his strength, his greatest. Athlon, KChill, there's a special term for what you are discussing ... it's called a plot. (run and hide ...)

    -------------------------------------------------------------
    Actually, Wei Xiaobao did not have the slightest idea, he was only thinking that his stature was tall and thin, but he was called the ‘Fat Toutuo’, so he was just speaking thoughtlessly, without any reason whatsoever. Unexpectedly, he seemed to hit the toutuo’s sore spot.

    Wei Xiaobao was able to see the change in the toutuo’s countenance, and hear the fright in his voice; immediately he laughed coldly, “Hey, hey, naturally I know,” he said.

    “They don’t have that ability,” the Fat Toutuo said. Suddenly his right foot flew up, ‘Bang!’ he kicked the stone drum in front of the steps that it crashed onto the screen wall across the gate. Fragments of rocks swirl in the air. He turned to Shuang’er and asked, “What are you doing here? Are you bored of being alive?”

    Shuang’er said, “Xianggong and I will live together and die together; if you harm just half a part of him, I will fight you to the death.”

    “Damn it,” the Fat Toutuo angrily said, “What’s so good about this little demon? Are you, the little baby girl, in love with him?”

    Shuang’er blushed, she could not answer the question. “Xianggong is a good man,” she said, “You are a wicked man.”

    They heard the eighteen Shaolin monks outside chanted the name of Buddha together, “Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha Buddha! Fat Reverend Monk, please release the young benefactor and return the sutra to him! You are an outstanding and famous hero and warrior of the Wulin world, yet you are making things difficult for a little child, won’t you be the laughingstock of the people of the world?”

    The Fat Toutuo roared, “If you keep babbling nonsense, Laozi will not be polite anymore. We will all break up with one strike, laozi will kill this little child and destroy the sutra, I want to see what are you going to do about it?”

    Cheng Xin said, “Fat Reverend Monk, what do you want so that you will be willing to release him and return the sutra?”

    “Release him is still possible,” the Fat Toutuo said, “But no matter what, I won’t return the sutra.” The monks outside fell silent.

    The Fat Toutuo looked around the main hall, looking for a way to escape. Suddenly grey shadows flashed, the eighteen Shaolin monks flew into the hall. Five Shaolin monks kept close to the left wall, circled around to his back. Five Shaolin monks kept close to the right wall, circled around to his back. In an instant he was surrounded again by the eighteen Shaolin monks.

    The Fat Toutuo angrily said, “If you have guts, let’s fight one on one. You can try Laozi’s hands one by one, taking turn in fighting me, laozi won’t care.”

    Cheng Xin put his palms together and said, “Please forgive our rudeness, we must fight you together.”

    Fat Toutuo raised his left foot and lightly stepped on Wei Xiaobao’s head, while laughing coldly. Smelling the mud odor from the sole of his shoe, Wei Xiaobao was both frightened and angered; with the stinky shoe on his head, unexpectedly his brain also became muddled, in that instant he could not think of anything else. His eyes swept the hall randomly, trying to find something in that main hall with which he could provoke the toutuo. He only needed to talk some nonsense to divert the Fat Toutuo’s attention, so that his concentration was somewhat broken, then the Shaolin monks would have the opportunity to help him. However, with his head underneath the toutuo’s foot, he could only look to one side of the courtyard outside. He saw a large stone turtle with a large vertical stone tablet on its back.

    “Fat Reverend Monk,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Your dad is always crawling in the courtyard, with a tens of thousands catties large stone pressing on his back, isn’t he suffering too much? You are not even trying to help him, you are really lacking of filial piety.”

    “What do you mean my dad is crawling in the courtyard?” the Fat Toutuo angrily said, “Your mouth is full of rubbish.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “That Forty-two-chapter Sutra, altogether there are eight copies, you only have one. Without obtaining the other seven copies, what good is the one you have?”

    The Fat Toutuo hastily asked, “Where are the other seven copies? Do you know?”

    “Naturally I do,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

    “Where are they?” the Fat Toutuo asked, “Tell me quickly, if you don’t, I am going to crush your skull with my foot.”

    “At first I did not know, but I found out about it just now,” Wei Xiaobao said.

    “You have just found out about it?” the Fat Toutuo asked in amazement, “What do you mean?”

    Stretching out his neck, Wei Xiaobao looked at the stone tablet. The entire stone tablet was engraved with curvy seal-script characters, naturally Wei Xiaobao did not know it, he was just pretending to read aloud the inscription on the tablet. “The Forty-two-chapter Sutra,” he slowly read, “Altogether there are eight copies. The first copy is hidden in some temple on some mountain in Henan province. I do not recognize those several characters.”

    “What characters?” the Fat Toutuo asked. Seeing Wei Xiaobao was staring at the stone tablet in the courtyard, he asked in amazement, “You understand the inscription on that stone tablet?”

    Wei Xiaobao did not pay him any attention, he read the inscription on the stone tablet with rapt attention, “The second copy is hidden in some Buddhist nun monastery on some mountain in Shanxi province. Pang Laoxiong [old chap fat], I don’t recognize these several characters, the engraving is fuzzy, you are well-versed in both literature and martial art, why don’t you go and look at it yourself?”

    The Fat Toutuo believed him; he bent over to lift Wei Xiaobao up and brought him out of the hall’s door to look at the stone tablet. The writings on the stone tablet were actually in seal-script; if he said it was some writing, he himself did not recognize even a single character, but if he said it was not some writing, then what was engraved on the stone tablet?

    He heard Wei Xiaobao continue reading, “The third copy is on some mountain in Sichuan? I don’t recognize that character either.”

    The Fat Toutuo had heard long ago that there were altogether eight copies of the Forty-two-chapter Sutra, and that one must have all eight copies to unleash their greatest usefulness. As for the location of the sutras, he did not have the slightest clue. Listening to Wei Xiaobao, he no longer had the slightest doubt; immediately he lifted up his foot and pulled him up and asked, “And where is the fourth copy?”

    Wei Xiaobao squinted to gaze at the stone tablet, he leaned his head to the left, and then leaned it to the right, finally he shook his head and said, “I can’t figure it out.”

    The Fat Toutuo lifted him up and brought him three steps closer to the stone tablet. When they were near, his face showed an inquiring expression. Wei Xiaobao said, “My head is so itchy.”

    “What?” the Fat Toutuo asked.

    “There’s flea in this temple,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “It went into my hair and bit me. Pang Laoxiong, please catch the flea for me. My scalp is unbearably itchy, I cannot see clearly.”

    The Fat Toutuo took off his hat and stretched out his huge palm, and with his five as-big-as-wooden-club fingers he scratched Wei Xiaobao’s hair. “Is it better?” he asked.

    “No,” Wei Xiaobao said, “The flea bit me on the left part of my scalp, you were scratching the right part; the more you scratched, the itchier it becomes.” Therefore, the Fat Toutuo scratched the left part of his scalp. Wei Xiaobao said, “Aiyo, the flea jumped onto my neck, did you see it?”

    The Fat Toutuo was fully aware that he was being mischievous, but he still relaxed his hand holding Wei Xiaobao’s wrist; only he placed his left hand lightly on Wei Xiaobao’s shoulder to prevent him from running away. “Just scratch it yourself!” he said.

    “Aiyo!” Wei Xiaobao said, “This granny’s flea is so difficult to deal with, it must have not eaten human’s blood in three years. Originally it was short and fat, and now it is so starved that it turns thin and shriveled, hence it came here staking everything it has to make things difficult for laozi.” While saying that, he reached into his collar with his left hand and scratched vigorously.

    The Fat Toutuo knew Wei Xiaobao was cursing him as a flea in a roundabout way, but he pretended not to notice. “Where is the fourth copy hidden at?” he asked.

    “Um, the fourth copy,” Wei Xiaobao said, “It is hidden in some mountain, Shao … Shaolin Temple’s Da … Da something courtyard?”

    The Fat Toutuo was shocked. “It is hidden in Shaolin Temple’s Damo Courtyard?” he asked.

    Seeing he was very afraid of the eighteen Shaolin monks, and knowing that these Shaolin monks were from Damo Courtyard, Wei Xiaobao deliberately came out with this difficult problem; he wanted to play trick on him, thinking that even if he had an enormous courage, he would not dare to go to Shaolin Temple’s Damo Courtyard to steal the sutra. “Is that the character ‘mo’?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “I did not know it. Pang Laoxiong, you even know this difficult character, why should you tell me to read? Ah, I know, you are simply testing me. I am ashamed, on each line, there are several characters that I do not recognize.”

    The Fat Toutuo cast a sidelong glance toward the Shaolin monks, his expression showed trepidation and uncertainty; he asked, “And where is the fifth copy hidden at?”

    Shaolin Temple was a major sect of the Wulin world. Wei Xiaobao had heard Hai Dafu mentioning it, who had also mentioned that the Empress Dowager pretended to be from Wudang Pai. In turn, the Empress Dowager had thought that Hai Dafu was from Kongtong Pai. Therefore, Wudang and Kongtong were also two major sects. Thereupon he said that the fifth and sixth copies were hidden separately on Wudang and Kongtong, two mountains. Fat Toutuo’s countenance turned uglier and uglier. Wei Xiaobao said that the seventh copy was obtained by the Mu Palace people of Yunnan, and the eighth was in some Xi Wang’s [west king] mansion. Bai Hanfeng had given him some trouble, so he was trying to even up by mentioning the Mu Palace. In Wu Sangui, Ping Xi Wang’s palace, there were martial art experts as many as the clouds, even his own Shifu was afraid of it, if the Fat Toutuo was brazen enough to cause trouble, he would definitely suffer an enormous suffering.

    To his surprise, however, Fat Toutuo’s countenance changed greatly as he asked, “Did you say the eighth copy is in Ping Xi Wang’s mansion?”

    “I do not know this character,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I am not sure if it is Ping Xi Wang.”

    The Fat Toutuo was angry; suddenly he exploded, “Rubbish! If not a thousand years old, this stone tablet is at least five hundred years; how old is Wu Sangui? How can an inscription of several hundred years ago mention Ping Xi Wang Wu Sangui?”

    The stone tablet was jet-black, the stone tortoise and the stone tablet were covered with moss, the engraved inscriptions were worn out and badly damaged; one look at it, one would immediately know that this article was a several hundred year old antique. Wei Xiaobao did not understand this logic and hence he made idle talk trying to implicate Wu Sangui.

    “Bad, bad!” he groaned inwardly. Trying to recover from his blunder he said, “I said I do not know that character, it was you who said ‘Ping Xi Wang’, perhaps in ancient times there was a Gou Xi Wang, Mao Xi Wang or even Wugui[11] Xi Wang in Yunnan. Pang Laoxiong, let me tell you this: these characters are squiggly, they are very difficult to recognize. If you know it, then you know it, if you don’t know it, then admit it. You pretend to know, yet you read something about Ping Xi Wang Wu Sangui. Here we have several great monks, each and every one of them is a man of learning and profound knowledge; you randomly read wrong characters, won’t you make them laugh at you till their mouths crooked?”

    This speech actually made sense, making Fat Toutuo’s thin face immediately blushed deep red from ear to ear. He was not angry at all, but nodded his head and said, “I do not recognize even one word of these tadpole characters, so it is not Ping Xi Wang. What else is written below it?”

    -------------------------------------------------------------
    [11] Gou, mao and wugui mean dog, cat, and turtle, respectively. Reminder: Ping Xi Wang means ‘king who pacifies the west’.

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    Ok, even for WXB this is hilarious. Making the dude scratch his scalp for fleas while he stalls for time to come up with a fake translation? Epic.

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    Out of JY's character only WXB can say something then convince you that you heard wrong and that you made the whole thing up.

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    Wow, ingenious our WXB. He can really make up stories with pepper and salt.
    I can imagine how he end up with 7 wives....hope that's not a spoiler as it's a well known fact...almost a phrase to describe playboys..eg : "you think you're WXB ? All girls will fall for you ?"

    Again Thanks Foxs....lovely translation.
    cheerio..

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    Thanks for the update foxs. Hope you had a great Easter!

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    Crazee, I think we should always assume that there is a lurker or newbie reading these posts and just use the spoiler tag regardless. Some people on here assume that everyone here is either Asian, has some Chinese language background, or familiar with wuxia classics. Almost 10 out of 10 non-Asian American's (like me) wouldn't be able to tell you who WXB is if both their parent's lives depended on it. If you don't believe me try asking some.

    This is why I don't really have the dislike for Minford that some on here do. If not for him, I wouldn't have been introduced to JY. Also, although I love Foxs and the work that he does translating, sometimes I struggle with his reluctance to fully attempt to translate everything other than people's names. Sure, there may be no perfect translation of some names, but I understand things like "the Helmsman" "The Triad Society" and "the Mystic Dragon" much easier than reading Chinese names that mean nothing to me. Isn't translation really about assuming the reader does not know any of the source language?

    My only real problem with Minford are the omissions. For example, the first time he mentions Li Xinhua is
    click to show/hide spoilers
    during the scene in the gambling den, but he also mentions that Trinked saw him fighting the Helmsman in Peking, and that the Helmsman used his "Blood Curdling Snatch" on him
    but he never even mentioned the initial encounter!! That's ridiculous. This is why I'm enjoying Foxs translation, it's like I'm reading a whole new story.

    Long winded speech over, thanks Foxs!

  20. #900
    Senior Member athlonkmf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KChill View Post

    My only real problem with Minford are the omissions. For example, the first time he mentions Li Xinhua is
    click to show/hide spoilers
    during the scene in the gambling den, but he also mentions that Trinked saw him fighting the Helmsman in Peking, and that the Helmsman used his "Blood Curdling Snatch" on him
    but he never even mentioned the initial encounter!! That's ridiculous. This is why I'm enjoying Foxs translation, it's like I'm reading a whole new story.

    Long winded speech over, thanks Foxs!
    The omissions of Milford in later chapters are even more ridiculous. The last few chapters are more like a summary than translations. That's more the reason for the dislike of Milford. not so much how he changed the names (because although weird for those familiar with the story, they are understandable and as you said it, they let the reader understand the subtlety of the naming)
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