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Thread: 7 Killers - Gu Long

  1. #101
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    Thanks you! First update for monday blues

  2. #102
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    Thank you deathblade. Getting very interesting.
    lawwoo
    Bonus. A new day.

  3. #103
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    Thank you. The footnotes are good.

    Haha. She deserved more spankings.

  4. #104
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    Agree that the footnotes are excellent- bonus to the storyline (like "illustrations" and 'graphics' novels)

  5. #105
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    Good stuff. Can't wait for the next entry. Thank you.

  6. #106
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    Bravo Deathblade! Nicely done... much thanks.

  7. #107
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    Thanks, deathblade. Excellent footnotes with links to boot!

  8. #108
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    I'm glad everyone's digging it. I'll try to keep the updates coming as fast as possible!
    Current Translation: I Shall Seal the Heavens
    Recommended Translation: Heroes Shed No Tears

  9. #109
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    Thanks deathblade for the update and footnote.

  10. #110
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    Translation change:

    I'm changing the translation from "Madam Lovesick" to "Madam Lovesickness." Changing it this way will make for a much better translation of a key bit of dialogue in the next update.

    Chapter 5 part 1 is almost done. I'll post it later today.
    Current Translation: I Shall Seal the Heavens
    Recommended Translation: Heroes Shed No Tears

  11. #111
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    Chapter 5 – Lovesickness will make you grow old

    The lamps in the inn shone brilliantly.

    Two of the waiters who had just arrived were arranging chopsticks at one of the tables, and the seven finely dressed young women were sitting in a row of chairs. Some were whispering to each other, others were sitting quietly, thinking.

    The men who were coming to tear down the building had not yet arrived, but Liu Changjie had.

    Kong Lanjun had told him not to not act rashly, and to not come to this place.

    Yet he came anyway.

    He was the type of person who did things his own way.

    As he entered the inn, everyone seemed to be frozen in shock—this was not who they were waiting for.

    Other than those people, no one else should have arrived.

    Liu Changjie seemed not to notice. He swaggered in and sat at the table the waiters had just set. “Bring me three cold appetizers, four hot dishes, and five bottles of ‘Jia Fan.’”

    “Jia Fan” was a famous brand of wine in Hangzhou. Experienced drinkers said that the flavor was even more satisfying than “Ku Niang” wine. (1)

    The waiters stood by, panic-stricken, unsure whether or not to pour wine.

    This was not an ordinary inn, but Liu Changjie treated it as if it were. With a smile, he beckoned at the seven young women and said, “Come over here, all of you. A man drinking without a woman to accompany him is like a plate of food with no salt.”

    The young women looked at him, and he looked at them. They seemed too terrified to even move.

    “I’m not a man-eating tiger,” said Liu Changjie. “What are you afraid of? Come on over.”

    Just then, laughter rang out, delicate, like the sound of silver bells. And then charming voice could be heard, “I’m here!”

    When the laughter started, it appeared to be coming from very far away. But by the time the voice had finished speaking, its owner had already arrived. She flew in like a gust of wind, and sat down next to Liu Changjie.

    She was a woman, and a very beautiful woman at that. Not only beautiful, but also entrancing, especially her two eyes, which seemed to be able to charm a person to their bones.

    If you looked at this person from all sides, you would say that from head to toe she was a woman, every inch of her.

    Liu Changjie looked at her and laughed. “I want to drink with women!” he said.

    She laughed charmingly. “Cant’ you see that I’m a woman?”

    “You don't look like one.”

    “How could I convince you I’m a woman?”

    “Take off all your clothes, then we can see.”

    Her expression changed and she giggled.

    Suddenly, someone outside spoke. “It looks like our friend here has a lot of experience with women. He can’t be fooled by a fake woman.”

    By the time these two sentences were uttered, there were five more people in the room.

    One of them had a pale white face, and was dressed in expensive garments. Clean shaven, with wrinkles in the corners of his eyes, it was a middle aged man who obviously was “Little Fifth Omniscient” Tang Qing.

    The huge, towering monk was obviously Iron Monk.

    “Ghost Meteor” Dan Yifei and “Soul Enticing” Lao Zhao were both sickly and old in appearance, looking to be thirty percent ghost and seventy percent killer.

    What Liu Changjie could never have anticipated was that Li the Mastiff was actually a refined, gentle-looking young man. Except that his face was covered in scars, and was missing half an ear.

    Hu Yue’er had guessed correctly on all counts.

    But Liu Changjie suddenly thought of something—she had only described six people, not seven.

    And right now, there were only six.

    Who was the other person?

    Why hadn’t Hu Yue’er mentioned him?

    And why wasn't he here?

    Five of the people wore no smile on their face. Only Tang Qing was smiling, and he was clearly the person who had just spoken.

    Liu Changjie laughed. “Your Excellency’s experience with women clearly is not any less than mine.”

    “You know me?” asked Tang Qing.

    “If I didn’t know your Excellency, how else could I know that you have a lot of experience with women?”

    Tang Qing’s expression changed. With a stern voice, he said, “You came here looking for me?”

    “I came here to drink,” replied Liu Changjie.

    “You specifically came to this place, to drink?”

    “That’s right.”

    “There are thousands of places to drink in the world, why would you pick this place to drink?”

    “Because I like this place. It’s new, and I’m a fickle person.” (2)

    Suddenly, the Iron Monk spoke out: “It just so happens I really don’t like fickle people.”

    “What do you like?” asked Liu Changjie.

    “I like killing people. And I especially like killing fickle people like you.”

    The Iron Monk had ferocious looking eyebrows and fierce eyes. His face was filled with hatred, and his eyes seethed with murderous intent. They appeared extremely frightening.

    Liu Changjie just laughed. “So you definitely really want to kill me.”

    “You guessed correctly.”

    “Then why haven’t you come over here to kill me?”

    The Iron Monk was already moving forward.

    His whole body appeared to be sculpted from steel, and his carriage as he walked was like that of a gorilla.

    His footsteps were heavy and stable, and every step he took left footprints behind in the floor.

    The Iron Monk’s external power was clearly exceptional. As for his Thirteen Heroes Skill, who could say whether or not it had reached the level that his body was impervious to blades?

    Liu Changjie had nothing in his hands, not even a kitchen knife.

    Tang Qing watched him the same way he might look at a corpse.

    The gorgeously dressed young women were shaking in terror.

    The joints in Iron Monk’s body made cracking sounds as he took four steps forward.

    It appeared as if he was preparing all his kung fu to attack, and that this attack could clearly not be defended against.

    But before he could attack, the refined and gentle-looking young man suddenly lunged toward Liu Changjie.

    His eyes were suddenly blood red, and he opened his mouth to reveal a set of ghastly white teeth. He really did appear to be a wild dog, unable to refrain from ripping out Liu Changjie’s throat.

    It seemed like Liu Changjie didn’t even notice him.

    In a flash, he was looming over Liu Changjie’s body, his two hands grasping toward Liu Changjie’s throat.

    And then strange snapping sound could be heard.

    Liu Changjie was still sitting there motionless.

    Li the Mastiff was also motionless. His two hands gripped Liu Changjie’s neck. Except, his own head was twisted at a strange angle, and his eyes bulged from their sockets. A strange expression covered his face.

    Moments later, blood exploded from his mouth.

    The blood didn’t splash onto Liu Changjie

    Liu Changjie’s body suddenly slid away like a fish, away from the woman and Li the Mastiff.

    Li the Mastiff toppled over onto the woman.

    The woman didn’t move out of the way. Instead, she fell with him to the ground. She also had a bizarre expression on her face. Her eyes bulged from her face like those of a dead fish.

    Two faces looked at each other, two sets of eyes stared at each other. They fell to the ground, motionless.

    Two bodies, already growing cold and stiff.

    Tang Qing’s face was ashen. He knew they were dead.

    And yet, he had never seen Liu Changjie move a finger.

    No one had seen Liu Changjie move.

    It was as if he didn’t need to move a muscle to kill people.

    The Iron Monk had stopped walking. Blue veins pulsed in his forehead, and cold sweat dripped down his face.

    He liked to kill people, so he understood killing.

    And because of that, he was even more frightened than the others.

    Liu Changjie let out a long sigh. “I said I don’t like to kill people. I just want to drink.”

    Tang Qing said, “But you just did kill people, two of them.”

    “That’s because they wanted to kill me. And I didn’t want to die, because dead people can’t drink.”

    “Soul Enticing” Lao Zhao suddenly said, “Okay! Let’s drink. I’ll drink with you.”

    He placed a pot of wine down onto the table.

    He first poured himself a cup, and then poured one for Liu Changjie. “To you!” he said.

    He downed it in one gulp.

    The two cups had been poured from one pot.

    Liu Changjie looked at the cup in front of him and laughed. “I didn’t come here to drink just one cup.”

    Soul Enticing Lao Zhao responded, “After you drink this cup, you can have another.”

    “If I drink this cup, I’ll never have a chance to drink a second.”

    Soul Enticing Lao Zhao laughed coldly. “Don’t tell me you think the wine is poisoned?”

    “Originally there was no poison in the wine. But there was poison on your pinky fingernail.”

    Soul Enticing Lao Zhao’s face twisted.

    When he had poured the cup of wine for Liu Changjie, he had dipped his pinky fingernail in just a bit. His movement was nimble and dexterous, and impossible for others to see.

    And yet Liu Changjie knew.

    Liu Changjie looked at him and smiled. “The wine you drank originally didn’t have poison in it either.”

    “And now?” he asked.

    “You should be able to tell whether or not there’s poison in it.”

    Soul Enticing Lao Zhao’s face suddenly darkened. He jumped up. “When did you make your move?” he shouted hoarsely. “When did you put the poison in?”

    “I knew you would want to drink from these cups, so when you went to get the wine, I put the poison in the cups. How I did it was very simple, even you could pull it off.”

    Soul Enticing Lao Zhao didn’t open his mouth again. It seemed as if an invisible rope was tightening around his neck.

    His breathing stopped, and he fell to the ground, his body convulsing.

    Liu Changjie sighed. “I don’t like killing people, but I was willing to kill three people just now. And yet the people who do like killing are just standing there motionless.”

    The Iron Monk said nothing. He just turned and dashed out of the room.

    Hu Yue’er had been correct.

    People who like killing are the ones who are most afraid of death.

    Liu Changjie had also been correct.

    Because the monk was afraid to die, he had practiced a type of kung fu that could make his body impervious to blades.

    But as soon as he met someone who didn’t need blades to take the lives of others, he fled faster than anyone.

    Ghost Meteor fled just as quickly.

    Actually, the speed of his retreat really was like that of a meteor.

    Tang Qing didn’t leave.

    Liu Changjie looked at him and laughed. “Does your Excellency also want to come have a try?”

    Tang Qing laughed. “Like you, I dislike killing people. And like you, I came here to drink.”

    “Good.”

    “Like you, I have a lot of experience with women, and like you I am a fickle person.”

    “Great!”

    “So, we’re birds of a feather! Let’s have some drinks and chat. We can be friends.” Smiling, he walked over and sat down. “After all, there are wine and women here.”

    “There’s definitely sufficient wine for us two.”

    Tang Qing laughed. “And there are sufficient women, as well.”

    “The women aren’t sufficient,” replied Liu Changjie.

    “Not sufficient?”

    “Even though there are enough women, they just aren’t pretty enough.”

    Tang Qing laughed loudly. “So, it turns out your Excellency’s way of looking at things is a bit more refined than mine.”

    “Actually, these women aren’t really ugly, it’s just that they can’t really make you sick with love.” (3)

    The smile on Tang Qing’s face suddenly froze. He looked at Liu Changjie in amazement. He appeared even more shocked than when he had just observed Liu Changjie kill the others.

    He finally understood Liu Changjie’s purpose, but he still could not believe any person would have this amount of guts.

    Liu Changjie began tapping a cup with a chopstick, and slowly sang: “It’s said that you should never be sick with love, because lovesickness will make you grow old

    “But after you consider it over and over again, you realize that lovesickness really is better, lovesickness really is better…”

    Tang Qing took in a deep breath, and then forced out a laugh. “So, your Excellency specifically came to this place to look for lovesickness?”

    Liu Changjie sighed. “What in the world is better than lovesickness?”

    “Nothing,” replied Tang Qing.

    “Definitely nothing.”

    Tang Qing’s eyes turned up in thought, and then he smiled eerily. “Your humble self also knows a song. I’d like to sing it for your Excellency.”

    Liu Changjie let out a breath. “Listening to men sing is boring, unless it’s your own singing. But, if you really want to sing, go ahead.”

    Tang Qing began singing, “It’s said that you should never be sick with love, because lovesickness will make you grow old,

    “If you grow old, you will eventually die, and dying is never good.”

    Liu Changjie shook his head firmly. “Doesn’t sound good.”

    Tang Qing said, “Maybe my singing voice isn’t very good, but the words are true.”

    Liu Changjie had to agree. “Correct. The truth never sounds good.”

    “If your Excellency wants to find lovesickness, you’ll not only grow old, you’ll grow old exceptionally quick. Which means you will die sooner.”

    “Are you afraid of death?”

    “Who in the world isn’t afraid of death?”

    “Me.” He stared at Tang Qing, and continued coldly, “Because you are afraid of death, and I am not, you will take me there.”

    Tang Qing continued to play dumb. “Take you where?”

    “To find lovesickness.”

    Tang Qing forced himself to smile. “And what if I can’t find it?”

    “Then you will never grow old,” replied Liu Changjie evenly.

    Tang Qing couldn’t force himself to smile any more.

    He understood Liu Changjie’s meaning—only dead people don’t grow old.

    Liu Changjie continued to stare at him. “They say that you guard a mountain cave for her. Since you’re here, then she’s definitely guarding the cave herself. So, you’ll definitely be able to find her.”

    Tang Qing wanted to deny that he understood what Liu Changjie was saying, but couldn’t.

    “Do you want to die?” asked Liu Changjie.

    Tang Qing shook his head.

    Liu Changjie drank a glass of wine. “Then what do you want?”

    “I want you to die!”

    He suddenly flew up into the air, spinning; at the same time a vortex of sand shot toward Liu Changjie. (4)

    This was the Tang Clan “Bark Cloth Tree” poison sand. (5)

    Surprisingly, Liu Changjie made no move to evade. Instead, he opened his mouth, out of which shot a shining spray; it was the wine he had just gulped down.

    In an instant, every single granule of sand, each smaller than a sesame seed, was blown back and embedded into the freshly painted wall. (6)

    Tang Qing’s face fell. He never imagined that someone could have this shocking ability.

    Liu Changjie smiled. “This wine is called Fishing Hook Wine, but sometimes it’s also called ‘Worry-sweeping Broom.’ And sometimes it can also sweep away poison sand.”

    Tang Qing laughed bitterly. “I never imagined that drinking wine could have so many benefits.”

    “Right. You really should drink more.”

    “I’ll drink.”

    “Dead people can’t drink.”

    “I know.”

    “So, now what are you thinking?”

    “I’m thinking I should take you there immediately.”

    Liu Changjie laughed. “I picked you because I could tell you are an intelligent person. I only have dealings with intelligent people.”

    Tang Qing sighed. “And because of you, intelligent people are often faced with vexation.” (7)

    “Having vexation is better than not having vexation.”

    “Why is that?”

    “Because in this world, the only people who don’t experience vexation are the dead.”

    **

    Lovesickness is a vexation, and so it makes people old.

    But if you think about it for a moment, really think about it, you will understand that if a person can experience lovesickness, it’s better than not being able to experience lovesickness…

    ————————————————————————————

    (1) The characters for Jia Fan are 加饭 which literally means “add rice.” And Ku Niang is 苦酿. The first charcter “ku” means bitter, and the second “niang” is a verb meaning to brew, ferment, or make alcohol.
    (2) What I’m translating as “fickle” is actually a pretty cool Chinese expression 喜新厌旧 which means “to like the new and hate the old.”
    (3) At this point in the story, there is a lot of wordplay revolving around the use of the Chinese word 相思 which can be translated as “languish with lovesickness, pin with love, yearn for someone’s love, to yearn, to pine for, to be lovesick, lovesickness.” These same two characters make up the name of Madam Lovesickness 相思夫人. In order to make the English sound right, I’ll adjust how I translate it, but the original Chinese is all the same word.
    (4) Sometimes the action doesn’t translate well into English. Here is the literal translation: “He suddenly flew into the air, his body spinning, and a sheet of flying sand, carrying a gust of wind, shot spinning toward Liu Changjie.” I left out the “gust of wind” part because I couldn’t think of a way to make it flow well in English.
    (5) The name of the poison in Chinese is 见血封喉. This is a type of tree that is actually poisonous, and apparently was used in ancient China to coat poisoned arrows. As for the English translation, there appear to be a handful of names for this tree, but I picked the most simple and descriptive. Here’s some more information: http://goo.gl/oUlFSh
    (6) Here again I sacrifice some of the Chinese to make a better (in my opinion) English translation. Here is the literal translation: “In an instant, the sand which blotted out the heavens was spun away, and was sprinkled onto the freshly painted wall, a thousand granules of sand smaller than sesame seeds, were all embedded into the wall.” The Chinese is pretty cool, but the literal translation sounds weird in English so … I did my best.
    (7) In the Chinese, I think he’s actually implying that because Liu Changjie only deals with intelligent people, intelligent people therefore face vexation. But, I couldn’t think of how to express this implication using English, thus my translation.
    Last edited by deathblade; 12-07-13 at 10:58 AM. Reason: change "they" to "he", made a small dialogue change, fixed some grammar mistakes and several flow errors
    Current Translation: I Shall Seal the Heavens
    Recommended Translation: Heroes Shed No Tears

  12. #112
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    A note I won't include in the footnotes because I'll go back later and change the previous translation. At the time that I translated the part where Hu Yue'er describes the six killers, I hadn't read up to this part in the original Chinese. The expression used to describe the "woman" is 假女人, which literally means "fake woman." At the time I was translating Hu Yue'er's description, though, I wasn't sure if she meant that the woman was literally fake (as in not a female), or if she was abnormal in some way that made her seem different from a woman. Either seemed possible. And actually, at the time it didn't seem like she was talking about a cross-dresser or something, so I assumed the woman really was a woman. But, come to find out, it seems that this person really is a man that looks like a woman....

    My bad for that, and I'll go back and change the original translation later.
    Current Translation: I Shall Seal the Heavens
    Recommended Translation: Heroes Shed No Tears

  13. #113
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    Thanks! Long one...

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    ello bro. thank you .

  15. #115
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    Cool. The footnotes certainly added a new angle in appreciating the author's work.

    Couple of suggestions:
    “I doesn’t look like it.” ---> "You don't look like one."

    Why hadn’t Hu Yue’er mentioned them? ---> Why hadn’t Hu Yue’er mentioned this person's name?
    And why weren’t they here? ---> And why is this person not here?

  16. #116
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    Expect the unexpected. Everything go out of planned. I love this guy. Can't wait to know what comes next.

    Thank you deathblade.
    Last edited by theSwordoftheWest; 12-03-13 at 12:32 PM.

  17. #117
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    Thanks deathblade for the quick update.

  18. #118
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    Thanks deathblade

  19. #119
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    Quote Originally Posted by LuDongBin View Post

    Why hadn’t Hu Yue’er mentioned them? ---> Why hadn’t Hu Yue’er mentioned this person's name?
    And why weren’t they here? ---> And why is this person not here?
    It's really interesting that you mention this, because your suggestions were actually my original translation, which I changed later. The reason is twofold. 1) It's not very common to use "this person" in English. Also, English doesn't have a gender-neutral singular pronoun. However, it's pretty common to use "they" or "them" to substitute for "he" or "she" when you don't know the gender of the specified person. I figured it would be okay to use "this person" once, but to use it three times in a row sounds weird in English writing.

    Anyway, after hearing my explanation, what are your thoughts. I'm open to either, really.
    Current Translation: I Shall Seal the Heavens
    Recommended Translation: Heroes Shed No Tears

  20. #120
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    Deathblade the word ''person'' is more a gender-neutral singular pronoun than ''they'/them'' as the latter is meant for more than one individual. If repetition makes it sound tedious, then ''he'' may be the better option. Take the word chairman. In the past chairperson is used if the person is a female. These days it is acceptable to use chairman to designate position whether male or female. Or take this statement: "Man is a social animal". It is understood that the writer meant mankind in general and encompasses both male and female.

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