大唐双龙传 [Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan] by Huang Yi

[LuDongBin]

Ren's Coiled Dragon ranks among the top for Xianxia; the plot is good and coherent. I kind of like Douluo Dalu with its spirit rings and spirit bone and I am also tracking Jiang Ye which has a refreshing theme of revenge and power development. For virtuals, I am staying with Zhan Long for the moment. Of course, there is this deathblade's new butt-kicking Copper Mirror. Most of all, these translations have a regular and consistent pace.

Thks foxs for another chapter. I'm still tickled by the thought of a domesticated SLY.

[George Harris]

Nice now where getting to the action! On the Xian Xia Ren's site has a few listed along with some Wuxia, most with regular updates but I guess it all depends on what catches your interest. Most of the others I checked out seem to be a little slower in updating with a chapter here and there while some of the ones that really caught my eye for potential seem to have dried up from RL stuff. Though this one : [SYWZ : Shen Yin Wang Zuo] on http://totobro.com/ seems really well done with reguler updates, though the chapters are really short, like compairing a half hour TV show to a full length movie, but still can catch your imagination.

[徐中銳]

but the title of the last chapter was...

Stealth Dragon Turns Into Phoenix which is, of course, less of a spoiler then the previous

Generally, I've not especially kept in mind chapter titles while reading...

« Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader. And I shall tell you why. When we read a book for the first time the very process of laboriously moving our eyes from left to right, line after line, page after page, this complicated physical work upon the book, the very process of learning in terms of space and time what the book is about, this stands between us and artistic appreciation. When we look at a painting we do not have to move our eyes in a special way even if, as in a book, the picture contains elements of depth and development. The element of time does not really enter in a first contact with a painting. In reading a book, we must have time to acquaint ourselves with it. We have no physical organ (as we have the eye in regard to a painting) that takes in the whole picture and then can enjoy its details. But at a second, or third, or fourth reading we do, in a sense, behave towards the book as we do towards a painting. However, let us not confuse the physical eye, that monstrous masterpiece of evolution, with the mind, an even more monstrous achievement. A book, no matter what it is—a work of fiction or a work of science (the boundary line between the two is not as clear as is generally believed)—a book of fiction appeals first of all to the mind. The mind, the brain, the top of the tingling spine, is, or should be, the only instrument used upon a book. »

I reread the complete Good Readers and Good Writers piece by Набо́ков every now and then, and have Posted it—years ago—for people to find at https://www.facebook.com/notes/squir...91774314198346

[Komeng]

Thanks foxs

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Drak17]

Caught up! Thanks foxs!

[chualot]

Thanks foxs

[foxs]

Anh, Ysabel, HPC, Laoren, Komeng, Jaya, Drak, Chua, you are welcome. Sky, I thought SLY always liked XZL more. Akolaw, ah ha ha ... I am too lazy to read the original. DongBin, George, thanks for the input. I'll probably start reading this summer, when things are *usually* slowing down. I just checked the forum today and my goodness, there are several new stories. Don't you guys got confused with which is which? Are those new translators any good? Oh, please don't misinterpret me, I mean in term of consistency. Like I said before, I have seen enough translators come and go, and many abandoned works. I don't want to start reading just to find later on that it was an abandoned project. Xu Xiong, I meant the 'Shadow Assassin'. Anyway, new chapter.

---

Book 5 Chapter 5 – Entanglement of Passion and Evil

Xingyang City.

Heavy snow.

Daiqing Lou has not opened its door to welcome the guests. Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling and Susu, three people were hiding inside a small uninhabited two-story side-building by the front courtyard, waiting quietly for the clothing store delivery boy.

Peipei has become their only hope of escaping.

Now that Xu Ziling was seriously wounded, relying on Kou Zhong’s strength alone, it would be impossible for him to bring the other two escaping from the city.

Losing the roster, Shen Luoyan would definitely do everything in her power to hunt them down, because this matter involved the rise and fall of the Wagang Army.

Kou Zhong leaned against the window and looked out; he said in low voice, “I am not lying to you, when Shen Luoyan, that b1tch, thought that you died, she was acting differently from her usual manner, and I know that she was not pretending.”

Xu Ziling was sitting cross-legged to recuperate; hearing Kou Zhong, he opened his eyes and said impatiently, “Stop talking! Whenever I remember her, my heart is burning.”

Without turning his head, Kou Zhong warned him, “Don’t be impatient; be careful, or else you might suffer fire deviation.”

Xu Ziling was shocked. He realized that after sustaining serious injury, his strength was in decline, and his state of mind was prone to fluctuate. Hastily he focused his attention to recover his mental state to its original crystal clear condition.

Her pretty face blushing slightly, Susu said, “Shen Luoyan did ask about Jiejie’s relationship with you two; when I told her, she did not seem to be convinced. Come to think about it, maybe she is really jealous!”

Kou Zhong’s gaze returned to the floating snowflakes filling the heaven and the earth outside. He nodded and said, “Shen Poniang once said that if she married, she would marry Xiao Ling, but she wanted me to be her lover. At that time she was joking, but now I think there is 30% truth in what she said. Ha! If we can create distress in her mind, all enmity is paid in full!”

And then he excitedly said, “Hey! He’s here!”

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ there was a knock on the door. The shop assistant holding a bundle of cloth in his hands shouted against the cold wind, “Satin brocade delivery!”

A big man came out of the main hall’s door. He walked across the front courtyard, and pushed the main gate a little. “What is it?” he asked.

The shop assistant handed the bundle over to the big man’s hands and muttered, “Naturally it is highest quality silk fabric; it’s for Miss Peipei.” Finished speaking, without even turning his head around he hurriedly trudged away, braving the snow.

The big man was stunned; he stared blankly for half a day before carrying the bundle back into the building.

Kou Zhong quickly dropped down on the floor and stuck his ear to listen to the activity downstairs.

He heard a woman asked, “He Fu! What is it?”

He Fu replied, “Really strange! Someone’s sending highest quality silk fabric and specifically indicated that it is for Lady Boss!”

“That is strange indeed!” the woman said, “Lady Boss has not personally come out to greet the guests for a long time, unexpectedly someone is trying to curry favor with her. Just deliver it to her place, we’ll talk about it later when she comes back!”

Noiselessly Kou Zhong flashed out of the side-room. A moment later he came back and said, “Turns out Peipei is the lady boss of this place. She lives in a secluded room at the rear courtyard, but right now I don’t know where she went.”

“This is not a good place to hide,” Xu Ziling said, “We’d better go to hide in her private chamber!”

Kou Zhong cheered, praising his good thinking. Carrying Susu, he left first to lead the way. Xu Ziling had no difficulty running after him.

If Yang Xuyan were to personally witness the current situation, he would be shocked and would not dare to believe his eyes.

Because he did not know that the ‘Secret to Long Life’ was Taoist School’s secret, which was not passed on throughout the ages. It was also the secret that controlled nature; that gods and ghosts could not comprehend.

When Yang Xuyan’s sword pierced Xu Ziling’s lower abdomen, it was blocked by the roster, so that the speed was somewhat reduced. However, this split second buffer was enough for Xu Ziling to prevent the sharp tip from delivering fatal qi into his body.

Lower abdomen was like the sea of qi, if this part were wounded, it would be very difficult to recover. To martial art practitioners who cultivate qi, it would be especially devastating.

Yet the ‘Secret to Long Life’s’ function was precisely to save one’s life and to prolong it. On top of that, there was Kou Zhong’s true qi, which came from the same source, giving aid to him in treating the injury. Therefore, within a period of one night, Xu Ziling was able to recover most of his strength, creating a miracle, which other people found it hard to believe. Meanwhile, Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling and Susu naturally thought that it was as it should be; they were not surprised at all.

It was Shen Luoyan who has miscalculated; she had the search concentrated in the dense lanes, alleys and houses within two li radius from her residence, resulting the three people could easily come and hide in this place.

By this time the girls of Daiqing Lou have not gotten out of bed for too long, everybody was taking a bath and changing their clothes, and have not left their rooms, hence there were only a few maids and servant walking along the corridor, so that the three people could arrive at the Lady Boss Peipei’s building without any surprise, without any danger. Avoiding two young maids at the anteroom, they slipped into her personal chamber.

Without any politeness Kou Zhong pulled open the bedspread and asked shivering Susu to get into the quilt first, and then he had Xu Ziling lying down on the other side, while he himself sat at the foot of the bed.

He laughed and said, “Looks like there is nothing special about the Wagang Army, at least up to this time they still cannot do anything to us.”

Susu angrily said, “The worst thing about Xiao Zhong is that you are very easy to be complacent. Wait until we can escape out of town, feeling proud about yourself at that time won’t be too late!”

Xu Ziling said, “Since leaving Yangzhou, night and day we lived a fugitive life. I really wish we could find a place with verdant hills and limpid water where we can settle down, living a quiet and peaceful life.”

Susu excitedly went into detailed discussion on what kind of place would be ideal for them to settle down.

Soon afterwards Kou Zhong asked about Yang Xuyan’s martial art skill. After Xu Ziling told him everything he knew, as if he was still terrified he said, “This person’s internal energy has reached the ‘following-one’s-heart-desires’ level; not only the tip of his sword could spit out qi power, it was even divided further into hundreds and thousands streams, each one with different level of pulling force, so that I was completely unable to display my usual level.”

Kou Zhong muttered to himself, “This is very unusual for sure, but since he could achieve it, we ought to be able to do the same.”

“Xiao Ling,” Susu was curious, “You really could not see his appearance clearly?”

‘That’s what more surprising,” Xu Ziling replied, “The place we fought was dark without any light, but clearly my vision was filled with sword rays, plus his movement was as fast as a ghost or a demon; I could not even tell whether he is tall or short, fat or thin.”

Kou Zhong slapped his thigh, “I understand,” he said, “Try pressing your eyeball with your finger; very quickly you will see stars. Yang Xuyan must be exploiting this principle; he used the sword qi to create pressure to your eyes, so that your misperception flared out. Ay! This guy can be considered really formidable!”

Xu Ziling nodded, “Perhaps it did happen like you said,” he said, “But his sword was even more terrifying. Obviously strike would hit the target, but suddenly it hit empty air, and the real strike came, it was so slick that I could not block it. No wonder there are so many dominating characters harboring a grudge under his sword.”

Kou Zhong breathed out a mouthful of cold air; he said, “This guy is really proficient. Huh?”

The three of them shut up immediately.

Sound of footsteps coming from afar, even Susu was able to hear it. Followed by the two maids in the outer hall spoke in chorus, “Madame is back!”

Inside the room, the three people were greatly delighted; knowing that finally they were going to find Peipei.

A somewhat cold and detach, deep, but pleasant to hear female voice spoke, “What is this?”

One of the maids replied, “Somebody bought a bolt of silk fabric from the west street shop and have it delivered here, indicating clearly that it was for Madame. This matter has been reported to Yun Niang.”

Peipei was silent for half a day before finally spoke calmly, “Go get Yun Niang for me.”

The two maids complied and left.

Straining his ears to eavesdrop, Kou Zhong heard Peipei sat down; he whispered, “Let’s hear what they have to say first.”

Xu Ziling said, “Isn’t Yun Niang the flirtatious lady who received us the other day?”

Kou Zhong nodded.

Suddenly the three people felt somewhat nervous.

Right now it could be said that Peipei was their last hope.

If this road is blocked, then they could only rely on their own power to escape.

Previously, when Xu Ziling was not injured, it was already hard to accomplished; right not it was even more difficult to do.

Soon Yun Niang arrived. After dismissing the two maids, Peipei said, “What did you find?”

Yun Niang respectfully replied, “I have investigated this matter. The one buying the cloth must be Susu, the time was yesterday afternoon. It appears that the two boys are using the ‘toss a stone to find out what’s ahead’ trick trying to find Madame.”

The three people listening inside the room shuddered in fear, because when speaking about them, Yun Niang’s voice did not have any trace of politeness.

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[Anh Nam]

thanks foxs we can expect coiling
Dragon or Douluo dalu to get finished

[徐中銳]

Anyway, new chapter.

Exciting

And pardon my clipped way of writing, I meant chapter titles are potential spoilers...

Moreover, researching, I find the following from zh.wikipedia.org about revisions :
《大唐雙龍傳》自1996年開始連載，2001年完結，平均單月一本，香港由黃易出版社出版，台灣則由萬象 出版社出版（一至五十九冊），2000年因萬象出版社積欠稿費，六十至六十三冊由香港直接發出至台灣出售， 均63卷；後經黃易本人修訂，香港由黃易出版社發行修訂珍藏版，台灣由時報出版發行修訂版，兩者皆20卷。 中国大陆由云南人民出版社於2010年發行10卷套裝版。

If the Books got condensed down, did chapters too became reconstituted with titles-afresh ?

[George Harris]

Well, I saw that today too ... I take a wait and see on "new" translators, heck even on some that have been around a while, because things happen. You know the best laid plans of mice and men and all of that ... That said I will give them a chance especially if the story is good but I try to wait to see a few chapters before checking it out, seen it too many times where translators do a few chapters of a novel or manga and just disappear, makes me wish I had the time to learn the written language so I can read them myself sometimes.
That said, my opinion of Susu did go up a notch in this section, just a bit though after the fall it took at the beginning of the volume, these boys need to find a way to deal with all of these troublesome women they are running in to ...

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[LuDongBin]

It is hard to imagine that these two boys are now top ranked martial arts experts ... but have yet to be able to express the extent of their prowess. Thks foxs.

[BocahTuaNakal]

i think every fight they have would only benefit them, not their enemy, hahaha
thankks foxs

[Komeng]

Thanks, foxs.

[akolaw]

They are not first tier expert YET.

Their mother's teacher Fu is 1st tier, and their mother is 2nd tier, so her enemy Yumen, and their father Du and Dai Lung Tau are 2nd tier experts, can either Xu or Kou fight with them at the same level, No, so they are not even 2nd tier expert.

[Laoren]

Thanks foxs

[CFT]

They are not first tier expert YET.

Their mother's teacher Fu is 1st tier, and their mother is 2nd tier, so her enemy Yumen, and their father Du and Dai Lung Tau are 2nd tier experts, can either Xu or Kou fight with them at the same level, No, so they are not even 2nd tier expert.

I think they are getting close to 2nd tier. They survived their encounter with Zhai Rang. Xu survived his encounter with the assassin Yang Xuyan. So their internal is up to scratch. They just need the battle experience and maybe some more "external" skills.

[akolaw]

I think their internal is not up to scratch Yet. They have good and bad internal part, and therefore far away from 2nd tier.

They were initiated to a first class nei gung, but they have only learn first level of a nine level system, and after one session, the teacher, their mom, a second tier artist died.

they have pick up one of the four sacred manual but they can not read it, they only have feeling in one of the seven pictures in the manual and practice with out a clue, they don't have a road map and compass in their martial art spiritual path.

They start at age 16/Xu and 17/Kou, and have already miss the prime time of practice for great artist which are around seven.

They pick up skills here and there and don't have a clue, and they try to discover the missing link and this urge to discover give them a chance to find their own tao and become a grand master one day.