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

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs.

Why don't any of these women speak their minds instead of playing the cold and hot game. They care, yet they pretend they don't. When they don't the results they want, they get pissed. I don't understand these women! Urgh! Bring back Shen Luoyan! She's probably the only logical one out of all these crazy women!

[akolaw]

Yes, Shen Luoyan is logical instead of emotional, she is military adviser plus head of secret agent, that is her strength.

[foxs]

Bocah, not yet. Sorry. HPC, Ysabel, Jaya, Lao Qianbei, Anh, ycb, Abhay, you are welcome. Xu Xiong, aw, come on, you can do it! Chua, my yeye was Guangdong native, hence my dad and his siblings speak Guangdong’s Cantonese (not Hongkong’s), but since my mom only speaks Mandarin, my parents had me learn Mandarin Chinese for many years. Trouble is: I rarely used it, so it’s gone. I can hear and read better than I can speak and write. Akolaw, I don’t think she ‘hated’ KZ, more like she was not sure about her own feeling. Sky, the reason I prefer the Princess was that I think she really cared about XZL. SLY on the other hand, wanted to marry XZL, but had KZ as her lover. But back to your comment about women, at the risk of incurring the wrath of women everywhere, wasn’t she just being a woman?

---

Book 8 Chapter 2 – The Fish in the Net

By dusk, darkness gradually descended upon the sky.

From behind the high wall of Chun Zai Lou came the melodious sound of birdsong. After looking to the left and right and saw no one, Kou Zhong hurriedly responded with birdsong.

Xu Ziling looked down over the wall, and then together they ran to an alley some distance away. Halting his steps, Xu Ziling reported, “Everything is in order and ready. According to plan, I put five strings of heavenly silkworm fishing line on the designated treetops inside the courtyard. How’s the situation at your side?”

“Naturally there is no problem,” Kou Zhong replied proudly, “We are going back to the restaurant this morning, eat a little something, and then we’ll proceed according to plan.”

In the noisy restaurant, most customers were Jianghu people, the topic of the conversation did not depart from Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s feud with Dongming Princess at the Chun Zai Lou the previous night.

Kou Zhong perked up his ears to eavesdrop for a moment; radiant with delight, he said, “Turns out our reputation in Jianghu is so resounding!”

Xu Ziling replied in very low voice, “We’ll talk about it after tonight!”

Kou Zhong nodded. “This is my weakness,” he admitted, “I am very easy to be so pleased that I lose my sense of measure. Right! I wonder where are Fengshi Han and the stinky princess hiding? If they are hiding in a small room together, the stinky princess’ chastity cannot be guaranteed.”

Xu Ziling nonchalantly said, “You still have time to think about such thing? I am more worried about Song Yuzhi did not have the opportunity to leave town!”

Kou Zhong was speechless for half a day. Finally he sighed and said, “It seems like you really don’t care about Shan Wanjing; otherwise, after hearing me saying that, how can your expression be as natural as before.”

Xu Ziling laughed and swore at him, “Good kid! Unexpectedly you are harboring the intention to sound me out. Time is running out, let’s go!”

The two boys paid their bill and went down the stairs. As they stepped out into the street, their countenance changed.

Because they saw the big and round moon was just showing its immortal beauty at the eastern horizon, and for tens of thousands li above the sky was without a cloud. The moon bathed Jiujiang with its radiant light. It was a completely different night to the cloudy and dark night of the previous day.

“Damn it!” Kou Zhong blurted out, “In this kind of bright moon night, as soon as someone looks up to admire the full moon, we are finished!”

“Too many ears,” Xu Ziling hissed, “Let’s go someplace else and talk.”

A moment later the two boys jumped over the wall into the courtyard of a large residential building. They shed off their outer disguise clothes and scraped the powder and paste off of their faces to reveal their real identity. Inside, they were wearing black skintight night walker suit.

Kou Zhong fetched his broadsword and whip, which he had hidden in this place earlier. After putting it on, he smiled wryly and said, “This is called ‘man proposes but God disposes’. How would we know the moon would come out so quickly?”

“No use complaining,” Xu Ziling said, “We’ll look at the situation first, if it is impossible, we’ll have no choice but to slip away via the waterway.”

Jumping high and crouching low, the two boys returned to the roof of the restaurant they had just left, and cast their gaze toward Chun Zai Lou in the distance, to observe the situation carefully.

Kou Zhong was greatly surprised, “That’s strange! How come I don’t see anything like ‘both covert and undercover officers keeping watch’? Could it be that Ren Shaoming is afraid of death and did not show up? Xiao Ling, what’s your feeling?”

The rear courtyard of Chun Zai Lou was dedicated to serve VIPs only. All ten buildings in this courtyard were brightly lit, with a faint sound of strings and woodwind instruments coming through. Because it was still early, only maids and servants were occasionally seen moving about.

Xu Ziling took a deep breath and replied, “I have an uneasy feeling.”

Kou Zhong stared blankly for half a day; finally he said in low voice, “Shall we beat the gong to recall the troops?”

Xu Ziling slowly shook his head. His tiger eyes shot sharp gleam that Kou Zhong has never seen before. He said calmly, “If we shrink back on approaching the battlefield without knowing what is true and what is false, this matter will stay as a scar in our heart and mind that will be difficult to mend! It will prevent us from ever reaching the pinnacle of the martial art realm, it will also represent our fear of death.”

Kou Zhong heaved a heavy sigh, breathing out the heroic pride that was surging wildly in his heart. “Well said!” he said huskily, “Even if the enemy is spreading out the net waiting for us brothers to fall into it, we still want to penetrate deep into the tiger cave to stroke Ren Shaoming’s tiger whisker. This is called treading various deathly places to come back to life later.”

Looking at the brook flowing toward the Chun Zai Lou, Xu Ziling said, “This river runs through Chun Zai Lou’s rear courtyard. Anybody with discerning eyes would know that this is a shortcut to sneak into Chun Zai Lou, hence we must not use water route to get in.”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Question is: will Ren Shaoming come? If he is coming, the Chun Yuan and its surrounding area will be packed with martial art masters, so we cannot enter from the air either. It leaves us only the land route, and this way it will be very difficult to avoid falling into a heavy siege, which will force us to fight will all our might and will have death as the conclusion.”

Xu Ziling smiled and said, “Can you see the fishing like installed horizontally between those two trees?”

Kou Zhong turned his gaze twenty zhang away toward the empty space spanning the top of two old banyan trees outside Chun Zai Lou’s rear courtyard. Due to the trees reflecting the moonlight, even after sending enough qi to his eyes, he still found it difficult to see the fishing line that he has personally tied on there. Thereupon he shook his head in satisfaction.

Xu Ziling said, “I have conducted an experiment: as long as you jump straight up and reach any spot approximately one zhang away from the line, you could barely see the line reflecting the light, and thus you can accurately grasp the line’s position.”

Delighted, Kou Zhong said, “If we were using pitch-black rope, under this kind of moonlight, it would be difficult to hide it from other people’s eyes.”

Calmly Xu Ziling said, “We must change our plan; we must be sure that Ren Shaoming has arrived at the Chun Yuan before we break through Chun Yuan with ten-thousand jun [1 jun ~ 30 catties] lightning bolt force. If with one strike we fail to hit the target, we will have to leave immediately by means of the fishing lines installed in many places. This act will definitely be outside the enemy’s expectation, so that they can’t even touch the corner of our garment.”

The two of them carefully studied the route and method to break through into the garden, before they finally hid themselves and took turn in surveying the Chun Yuan’s situation, while waiting quietly for the ‘Green Dragon’ Ren Shaoming’s honored self to make his appearance.

While watching the Chun Zai Lou from afar, which was gradually staring to get busier, Kou Zhong said softly, “Ever since we started, we always wanted to go to Luoyang, but until today we haven’t been able to go. This time, after returning to Baling, we must immediately go north, I wonder if we can make a detour to Luoyang?”

Xu Ziling was lying down on the side of the roof opposite to Chun Zai Lou, where the moonlight could not reach, and was counting the stars in the sky. Hearing Kou Zhong, he sighed and said, “Don’t overestimate our luck too much; moreover, He Clan’s jade annulus involves martial art masters Buddhist nuns of the Ci Hang Jing Zhai [see Book 1 Chapter 7]. If you are not careful, you may have to bag your food before you finish eating. At that time please do not implicate me, your little brother.”

Kou Zhong said in distress, “You guessed it again. Can’t you pretend you are a bit dumber?”

And then he sighed and went on, “I’ll say Song Yuzhi’s impression on you is much better than her impression on me. Hey! Are you interested? She is in no way inferior to Shan Wanjing or Shen Luoyan.”

Xu Ziling irately replied, “Don’t you remember her Die already betroth her to someone else?”

Kou Zhong sneered and said, “Laozi don’t believe it a bit, everything under the heavens can be changed, much less mere verbal engagement? Strange thing is, she must be over eighteen already, why hasn’t she passed through the doorway [i.e. getting married]? There must be a problem somewhere.”

Xu Ziling said indifferently, “You can do whatever you want to do, why make so many excuses?”

“My Niang!” Kou Zhong suddenly exclaimed softly, “Ren Shaoming is here.”

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs

[ycb5959]

Thanks - update coming in quite fast!

Edit: error

Xu Ziling smiled and said, “Can you see the fishing like installed horizontally between those two trees?”

"like" should be "line"?

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[akolaw]

Hi Fox,

I think Song know her feeling,
She love Kou, frustrate, angry and hate him as well.(descending in the same order)

[akolaw]

Huang Yi like to touch about fate, he shows 2 brother coming from the same back ground and with the same fate grow up 2 different person, because of their character.

He also want to show different person respond differently in the same condition, because of their character, Both Shan and Shen love Xu, both have a fiancee, did they act in the same way?

Kou love 2 high lady, they both have fiancee too, their response to Kou is different, Li does not love kou, but Song love kou, see how they respond to Kou.

Ba go out with 2 girl, how will that end up.

There are a lot of small story line buried, and HY swept it to corner, but let the small line show up again after may be a few book.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[whiteskwirl]

In case anyone is interested, Huang Yi's latest novel, 龍戰在野 (Dragons Battle in the Wilderness) has just concluded this month with its 18th volume. It is the second volume of his Flourishing Tang Dynasty trilogy (the first one is 日月當空 [Sun and Moon in the Sky]).

The third and final volume in the trilogy (and most likely Huang Yi's final novel, as he originally intended Sun and Moon in the Sky to be his last one, according to the preface of vol.1 of Dragons Battles in the Wilderness) is called 天地明環 (Bright Ring of Heaven and Earth), the title referring to Emperor Minghuang (Xuanzong) and Yang Yuhuan (Yang Guifei).

I'm not sure when the first volume of that novel will come out.

[Laoren]

Thanks foxs.

[徐中銳]

In case anyone is interested, Huang Yi's latest novel, 龍戰在野... Flourishing Tang Dynasty trilogy...

After having online translated to know the romance of (let's say) :
璇青...

I've been wishing that she has a charming wonderful happy-ever-after... Thus, I will be sad if I find that Huang Yi wrote any misfortune or pain upon her and...

Just honestly letting you know

[BocahTuaNakal]

thanks foxs ..
patience is a virtue

[9Dragons]

"wonder where are Fengshi Han and the stinky princess hiding?" > where FH and the stinky princess are hiding?
"I am more worried about Song Yuzhi did not have the opportunity" > Song Yuzhi not having
"His tiger eyes shot sharp gleam" > shot a sharp
"force us to fight will all our might" > fight with
"Can you see the fishing like" > fishing line
"he still found it difficult to see the fishing line that he has personally tied on there" > had personally tied there
"they finally hid themselves and took turn in surveying" > took turns
"which was gradually staring to get busier" > starting
"Don’t you remember her Die already betroth her" > betrothed
"Laozi don’t believe it a bit" > doesn't

Some amusing dialogue by Kou Zhong to stir Xu Ziling's romantic life. Shen Luoyan seems to be more attached, especially after her overwhelming reaction to news of his "death", to his return of the intelligence book, and to his rescue of rape. Regrettably, virtuous maidens like Shan Wanjing are destined to pair with the heroes in typical wuxia (not counting ROCH). Of course, Ba Fenghan is the perfect rival, c-blocking Xu Ziling from both women. haha

[徐中銳]

patience is a virtue

All time needs a context ?

Certainly, foxs' completion of Da Tang will become a significant achievement that will endure and be widely appreciated. So, I'm glad he's patient...

Well, Yang Guo, for example, 16 years ‽ Virtue, sometimes, can just take an earlier leap of faith. To which I can elaborate...

[Abhay]

Thanks Foxs

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs! And I was laughing pretty hard at your last comment about SYZ just being a woman. Sigh...women!

Oh the target is finally here! Hopefully we will see an epic fight soon.

[foxs]

Anh, HPC, Jaya, Ysabel, Lao Qianbei, Bocah, Abhay, you are welcome. Ycb, you are right, thanks. Akolaw, nice analysis. Whiteskwirl, are you going to translate those? Thank you in advance Xu Xiong, did you mean Qingxuan? But she only appeared for a few seconds. Correction: only her voice appeared. Unless you know the story already … In which case, please refrain from giving us spoilers. Kowloon, thanks. Sky, so you agree? Wait, who are you? What did you do to my friend? Are you a guy who pretend to be Skywalker?

Sorry guys, I am super busy these days. I will try to catch up this weekend, which bring me to the next subject: the big fight continues for a while. My question is: do you prefer I post regularly, i.e. every other day, with whatever part I have, or would you rather wait until the fight is over, and then I post it all at once, i.e. no cliffhanger? Please kindly let me know.

---

Xu Ziling turned around and crawled to Kou Zhong’s side. Looking over the top of the roof ridge, he fixed his gaze on the direction of Chun Zai Lou’s Chun Yuan. He saw a flurry of activity. Although he could not see clearly who was coming, yet he was able to tell that a VIP has arrived; otherwise, that person would not have such a large number of entourage.

More than a dozen people filed into the Chun Yuan, leaving only four men, who looked like bodyguards, to stay outside the door.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other in dismay.

Could it be that Ren Shaoming was not afraid of assassination at all?

“Is this a trap?” Kou Zhong wondered aloud, “But perhaps he really thinks we have slipped away.”

Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, “Now we can only ask Laotianye’s blessing and protection. Let’s move!”

The two flipped over the rooftop and fast as demon and ghost they flew over another building, and then hiding along the trees lining up the riverbank they headed toward the external wall of Chun Zai Lou. Since they could not use the waterway, they jumped over the high wall, and landed at a flowerbed in Chun Zailou’s backyard. Without the slightest pause they flew toward a lush tree nearby, to hide and look down to survey the surroundings.

From all ten buildings in the complex came the sound of laughter mixed with the sound of music. The complex across the courtyard from the Chun Yuan was even more bustling with noise.

Other than the four bodyguards at the door, they did not see any other guards around the Chun Yuan.

Xu Ziling pointed to the fishing line again and said, “We’ll split to see if Ren Shaoming has his men hidden somewhere around here, and then we’ll meet again on that big tree behind the Chun Yuan. We’ll decide how to proceed then.”

Kou Zhong nodded his agreement. The two immediately split up.

A moment later, one after another they were back on the big elm tree behind the Chun Yuan, which was about a zhang or so taller than the other courtyard.

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “It doesn’t make any sense. Even if Ren Shaoming is not worried, his men would not be so negligent like this.”

Kou Zhong looked down at the Chun Yuan roof below him, he said with a wry smile, “I also feel that something is definitely not right. But it is also possible that Ren Shaoming is not afraid of us or any other people. If we withdrew just like this, there is a chance that we missed an extremely rare good opportunity. I really want to take a peek inside, but perhaps we won’t escape Ren Shaoming’s eyes and ears.”

Xu Ziling said heavily, “We’ll separately crash into Chun Yuan from left and right. When we see a big man with pock-marked face and a tattoo of green dragon on his forehead, strike immediately. If it is a trap, break out of siege from the front door, remember that the seventh life-saving fishing line is between the two big tree fifteen zhang from the front door.”

Once they made up their mind, they swept down noiselessly and landed on the roof below. And then separated to the left and right they flipped over the eaves and charged inside.

‘Bang! Bang!’

The wooden window shattered, the two boys broke into the main hall of the Chun Yuan. Quickly their eyes scanned the room and immediately they knew that they had fallen into a trap.

Sitting around the two sets of table across the hall from the main gate were more than a dozen men. Not only they did not see anybody that looked like the ‘Green Dragon’ Rhen Shaoming, they did not see even half person of the pleasure house’s misses and maids. There were no food and drink on the table, on the contrary, there were all kinds of weapons in tight formation.

As soon as the two boys’ feet landed on the ground and they sprang back up, the enemy was swarming toward them.

The two boys met in the middle of the hall. While they were about to charge toward the main gate before the enemy arrived, they heard the sound of wind as a clump of rosy clouds suddenly descended from the beam toward the top of their heads, so that even if they wanted to jump up, they simply could not.

At the same time countless torches lit up the area surrounding the Chun Yuan, so that outside was as bright as day; however, they did not hear a single shout.

In just a short moment, the two boys have turned from ‘gods appear and devils vanish’ assassins into ‘the fish in the net’, as they discovered that they had been heavily surrounded.

A sharp, intense, ominous and cold qi was pressing down above their heads. With a loud shout Kou Zhong thrust his broadsword up. Meanwhile Xu Ziling raised both palms up; his right palm looked like it was lifting up a thousand-jin rock, but his left palm was light and floating indeterminately, giving a weird feeling those who watched him.

A bald, beautiful head suddenly appeared from the rosy clouds, it was precisely the ‘Amorous Nun’ Chang Zhen.

Her big eyes that could hook souls and melt spirits were black and bright, her delicate face was radiant with healthy glow, the corners of her thin, beautiful eyebrows arched upward, her cheek bones high, her nose straight, her pink lips matched perfectly with her straight, snow white teeth, so that her alluring aura was shining down on the two boys like the sun.

‘Bang!’

The jade face faded, the rosy clouds swiftly pressed down.

Kou Zhong felt his long saber was hitting a soft, pliable material that he was unable to continue pushing the saber farther. In his shock he withdrew his saber and retreated toward the main gate.

The force from Xu Ziling’s heavy, overbearing right palm was also neutralized by the brightly setting-sun-red-clouds colored long robe, while surprisingly enough the yin-force of his left palm was met head-on by the opponent. A strange, demonic true qi, which was so gentle and reserved as if it did not exist, but so powerful as if it was capable of seizing his soul, penetrated his palm. In his shock Xu Ziling rolled away on the ground, so that borrowing the rolling momentum he was able to dispel the opponent’s qi.

‘Amorous Nun’ Chang Zhen did not get it easy either.

Basically she was looking down upon these two boys; she was thinking of subduing them with just one strike. Who would have thought that the two boys’ true qi was vastly different from each other? One cold the other hot; it was extremely strenuous for her to dissolve them.

Although her school’s unique skill ‘Melting-Soul Colored Clothes’ [the dictionary gave me this definition: Ravishing Technicolor Dream Coat] was not only able to execute countless changes but was also very good at dissolving internal energy expert’s true qi, she was still struggling not sustain injuries on the spot.

But when she clashed with Xu Ziling’s left palm, which carried similar gentle and reserved character as hers, she was helpless to dissolve it, so that she had no choice but to meet it head-on.

Letting out a tender grunt, Chang Zhen’s entire body bounced back upwards.

By this time Kou Zhong had already rushed toward the closed main gate. Lifting up his foot, he kicked hard.

‘Bang!’

By the time the wooden door succumbed to his leg and broke, four spears swiftly stabbed him. Blurs of shadows outside filled his eyes. Moreover, because of the torches, it was difficult to tell how many people were out there.

Suddenly there was a warning sign in his heart, something was attacking him from behind.

[BocahTuaNakal]

just post regularly as usual. if you are really busy, let us know if there will be a delay in your posting. no matter what, i'll be patiently waiting for your post.
thanks foxs

fyi, your translation is the most stable one in term of release, compared to other solo fighter. and i respect that a lot. just do it on your pace, RL will always the priority anyway.