Kung Fu by Giddens Ko (功夫-九把刀)

[9Dragons]

The story was rolling pretty smoothly with the right amount of suspense and revelations. Sadly the author reached a point of no return. Either find closure for the current storyline or save his super villain for his other endeavors. Mysteries can be successful if not hindered by limitations. Though unsatisfied, I still appreciate the key merits within Kung Fu.

[WesY2K]

Probably saved the villain. Kung Fu is listed as volume 5 of his City Fear novels.

[overclucker]

Honestly, after discovering Yi Jing's brainwashing Yuan should have either looked for a method to reverse the process, or just killed her outright. She will obviously be used against him in the future. What? Callous heroes have the advantage of being unpredictable. Wandering around town imitating his master is just too much of a let down for me.
Well hopefully the will be some good developments later in the series.

[deathblade]

I'm especially curious to see how the movie ends. The movie isn't being produced as part of a series of other Horror stories. So how will they explain Hydra? And how will it end? There's no way it can end the same as the book.

My suspicion is that the movie will end in a way similar to the comic version. Guess we will have to wait and see.

[tape]

I think as long as they have him transform into someone that doesn't seem as powerful as the Vampire King, they can just have him be defeated by some surprising righteous blow. With Hydra dying they can choose to let Yi Jing stay brainwashed with the ending pretty much the same or have her cured due to his death and give it some happier ending. Maybe open up a real Heaven Reaching Sect...?

[darkcser]

Thanks for the translation Deathblade. I'm very impressed with the speed and quality of the translation. Great job!

The supernatural element in the ending was very deus ex machina -albeit with an evil god-like creature subbing in. I generally like fusions or cross-genre works but this was too non-sequitur for my tastes. IMO there was too little foreshadowing for the overt supernatural elements to appear in the last chapter like that. I was hoping he would expound on the "limitless human potential based on strength of belief" angle but that sort of just sputtered out.

The motivations for the big bad was also kind of flimsy. Yes, we have some cruel psychotic guy who enjoys toying with people... but it sort of reminds me of a twisted DM who just likes to railroad player characters for the fun of it.

[WesY2K]

One observation: what if they don't change a thing? Then we basically have the plot from Star Wars - A New Hope, don't we? Obi Wan is dead but the Death Star was blown up. Yet the bad guy Darth Vader vanishes without us knowing what is going on. Alright, Leia was not brainwashed but there is this incest going on.

[darkcser]

One observation: what if they don't change a thing? Then we basically have the plot from Star Wars - A New Hope, don't we? Obi Wan is dead but the Death Star was blown up. Yet the bad guy Darth Vader vanishes without us knowing what is going on. Alright, Leia was not brainwashed but there is this incest going on.

hmm.. more Empire Strikes Back I'd say. MC's entire world outlook is shaken to the core, and suffers horrible setback after confronting main villain. New Hope ended on a decidedly positive note which I don't feel here.

[deathblade]

I feel like an ending where Hydra basically wins doesn't make sense unless it's part of a series. It makes sense in the book since the book is part of a series, but unless they plan on a sequel to the movie, or to make the movie part of a franchise...

Okay, when the movie is about to be released, we can place our official bets and the winners get a prize. Haha!

[9Dragons]

For the past few nights, Hydra woke up in heavy sweat. "Why are the apparitions of my victims after me?"

He detected a challenge letter on the table: Meet me at the Buddha on the death anniversary.

Intrigued, he orders a new orchestra. A mighty warrior carrying a 200kg casket swaggers in Hydra's direction.

"So it's you! What's with the casket?"

The fellow is indeed Yuan Zai. He creaks an ugly snarl, runs his Yi Jing sword though his tongue, and spits blood toward Hydra.

He immediately follows up with a fast sword. Shocked, Hydra sees the sword arrive before the spit. Swords clash, followed by a plop and a body flying 50m destroying a concrete wall.

Coughing blood, "This is not Heaven Reaching kung fu!"

"Correct. I mastered all of wuxia's consummate skills (Sad Palm, etc.) Now time to see Master and offer him your apologies!"

Shocked Hydra knew he was no match. His deep blue eyes grew dreamy. Having survived so many deaths, Yuan's will intensified to human's peak levels.

Suddenly fear consumed Hydra as the apparitions began to appear. Soul Transferring skill backfired.

"For Ah Yi, Master, Yi Jing. For Justice!" Yi Jing sword flies with tremendous force, like a shooting star. The blade breaks the skin of the neck. The End.

[WesY2K]

Great alternative ending. I assume in the Weinstein cut of the movie, the orchestra is playing: Kung Fu Fighting?

[deathblade]

Lol, that is awesome!

[episod3ux]

^^ Thanx for translating this wonderful story.
Btw where your avatar comes from? Looks oddly familiar.

[whiteskwirl]

The story was rolling pretty smoothly with the right amount of suspense and revelations. Sadly the author reached a point of no return. Either find closure for the current storyline or save his super villain for his other endeavors. Mysteries can be successful if not hindered by limitations. Though unsatisfied, I still appreciate the key merits within Kung Fu.

Keep in mind that Kung Fu is the fifth book in a series that currently has 6 books. The sixth is called 狼嚎 (lit. Wolf Howl).

[whiteskwirl]

Okay, here are some of my thoughts:

About future translation projects

I know some of you would love to have more Giddens Ko translated, especially Urban Horror Stories. However, to be honest, the Chinese level of his writing is a bit above my level. I've only been studying Chinese for about 5 or 6 years, so I have a lot more work to do. During this translation, I had to spend a lot of time looking up things in the dictionary and consulting native speakers. If there is anything I'm hesitant about, I will not just guess. I want the translation to be as accurate as possible. As such, this project was much more arduous and not as fun as previous translating.

I recently started reading another Gu Long book, and man, it is so much easier! With Kung Fu, almost every sentence has characters and words I don't know, but with Gu Long, I would say I understand about 85-95% of the characters and words.

So, my next project will probably be Gu Long again. I don't want to get involved with an epic internet Xianxia, because I don't to start something and then drop it later. I want to finish what I begin!

In any case, I'm going to take a break for a while from translating. As I wrapped up Kung Fu I essentially abandoned my Chinese study to focus on the translating. I want to go back to a routine of studying Chinese before I start another project. Whether that break will be a few weeks, months... a year.... permanent....? We will see.

If you plan to translate another Gu Long novel, might I suggest 孤星傳 (Legend of the Orphan Star). It was published from 1960-1963 and marked, according to wuxia scholars Ye Hongsheng and Lin Baochun, the first book where Gu Long really gave it his all, his first major achievement. A good source is here, this site's translations are pretty accurate as they correct a lot of typos from other online sources.

Alternatively, maybe you could translate a work by Sima Ling? He is another major wuxia writer, and was the biggest influence on Huang Yi. Perhaps 纖手馭龍. Sima Ling is known for his female characters, in which he explores his psychology more than most wuxia authors. Just some ideas.

[deathblade]

^^ Thanx for translating this wonderful story.
Btw where your avatar comes from? Looks oddly familiar.

My pleasure. Actually it's Hydra from the comic book adaptation! Haha.

[deathblade]

If you plan to translate another Gu Long novel, might I suggest 孤星傳 (Legend of the Orphan Star). It was published from 1960-1963 and marked, according to wuxia scholars Ye Hongsheng and Lin Baochun, the first book where Gu Long really gave it his all, his first major achievement. A good source is here, this site's translations are pretty accurate as they correct a lot of typos from other online sources.

Alternatively, maybe you could translate a work by Sima Ling? He is another major wuxia writer, and was the biggest influence on Huang Yi. Perhaps 纖手馭龍. Sima Ling is known for his female characters, in which he explores his psychology more than most wuxia authors. Just some ideas.

Actually I'm just about finished reading another of his novels, and will start the translation of that one soon. Maybe in a few days. But thanks very much for the suggestions, I will definitely keep those in mind for the translation after the next one!

[whiteskwirl]

Actually I'm just about finished reading another of his novels, and will start the translation of that one soon. Maybe in a few days. But thanks very much for the suggestions, I will definitely keep those in mind for the translation after the next one!

Which one are you reading?

[deathblade]

Which one are you reading?

It's a secret wahahaha. But I will say that it is a previously untranslated work (was started a long time ago but only got one chapter finished). I think I will be starting up a new thread by next Monday or sooner. Stay tuned...

[baldy]

Hope it is the parrot