7 Weapon series by Gu Long

[fastclock]

Chapter 7 Part 4

No one knew when, but the sun was already high, the light filtering through the window.
On the window there was a drawing of a plum blossom, which became a picture of a plum blossom with blood adornment.

Bai Yu-jing was calmly standing facing the window. After a very long period, he slowly said: "You knew that my accupoint had opened, therefore you did not start to kill me."
Yuan Zi Xia hung her head and did not speak.

Bai Yu-jing said: "Did you know?"
Yuan Zi Xia did not speak.

Bai Yu-jing suddenly turned his head to her: "Actually why are you here?"

Yuan Zi Xia suddenly smiled with a clear happy face. She enchantingly said: "Can you guess?"
She smiled really sweetly.

Bai Yu-jing sighed and said: "I am afraid I would not be able to guess forever."
Yuan Zi Xia focused her eyes; Suddenly scratching her head with her fingers she said: "One day you certainly will know it."

Bai Yu-jing was silence for a very long time before he suddenly said: "Good, now we go."
Yuan Zi Xia said: "Go where?"

Bai Yu-jing said: "Certainly to the Green Dragon Clan."
Yuan Zi Xia frowned: "Why go to the Green Dragon Clan?"

Bai Yu-jing sank his face, said: "You really did not know who I am?"
Yuan Zi Xia said: "Who are you?"

Bai Yu-jing coldly said: "I am in the Green Dragon Clan’s 12 deities Red Flag elder (Hong-qi-lao). A lowly person like you certainly would not know me."
Yuan Zi Xia complexion had changed, really changed.

Bai Yu-jing calmly said: "You thought this matter was camouflaged that even the deities would not know. But actually Green Dragon’s eldest child already saw it, therefore he had sent me to investigate in secret."

Yuan Zi Xia said: "You... ... You really must deliver me back?"
Bai Yu-jing said: "Certainly."

Yuan Zi Xia said: "You could be so cruel-hearted?"
Bai Yu-jing sneeringly said: "Coping with a cruel-hearted person, I am always impolite."

Yuan Zi Xia looked at him, before she suddenly bent down laughing, laughing until the tears run down her cheeks.

Bai Yu-jing was astounded instead. He looked at her startled and could not bear to ask: "Why are you laughing?"

Yuan Zi Xia said: "I am laughing at you."
Bai Yu-jing said: "Laughing at me? Why am I funny?"

Yuan Zi Xia reluctantly stopped her laugh and said: "You can act well in a play, but, if you are the Red Flag elder then who am I?"
Bai Yu-jing was astounded.

Yuan Zi Xia said: "Honestly I am telling you that I am one of 12 deities in the Green Dragon Red Flag elder."
Bai Yu-jing said: "You... ... You are? "

Yuan Zi Xia smilingly said: "Wei Tian-ying was addicted to gambling and had lost 302,000. He actually intentionally said he had bought the false peacock map; Gongsun was lascivious, he had seduced many women from respectable families; Fang Longxiang was greedy for money, he had embezzled 162,000 equities. These matters are well-known to Green Dragon’s elder, therefore he had especially called me to sweep up the clan."
Bai Yu-jing said: "You alone?"

Yuan Zi Xia said: "I usually work only by myself."
Bai Yu-jing said: "You want to sweep up the clan?"

Yuan Zi Xia said: "A person is enough."
Bai Yu-jing said: "But your wugong... ... "

Yuan Zi Xia lightly said, "As long as a person understands how to use her own strong point, she does not need to use wugong to strike the person."
Bai Yu-jing said: "What is your strong point?"

Yuan Zi Xia only smiled, did not speak.
She really smiled sweetly, was really beautiful.
Extremely beautiful...

"You have deceived me so many times, I originally wanted to deceive you too then let you know bit by bit. I could not suspect that it could be revealed by you," said Bai Yu-jing.
"When have I deceived you?"

"You have not?"
"If I had deceived you, why would I run away with you, the Green Dragon Clan Red Flag elder and all?"

"Perhaps you are not the real Red Flag elder."
"Hm... "

"Aren't you actually?"
"Can you guess?"

Bai Yu-jing knew he wouldn’t be able to guess correctly forever, but this was unimportant.
More importantly, she stood by him now. Moreover she could never leave him again. This was enough.
This was the first story, the first kind of weapon.

Our lesson in this story was regardless of how sharp was the sword, it would not compare to the captivating smile that could move it.
Therefore I said the first kind of weapon was certainly not a sword, but smiles. Only smiles could really conquer the will of the people.

Therefore when you understood this truth, you should unleash your sword by smiling a lot!

END OF LONGEVITY SWORD

[Han Solo]

Great job on finishing the translation.

Wonder how the longevity sword actually performs in a real battle.

[rikku]

Thank you so much for the translation .. it was such an awesome story and gripping story .. amazing!!

[Anatman]

Er, Okay... So that was fun. Thanks for translating it. However, do we ever find out who Yuan Zi Xia really is? Just curious...

[fastclock]

I don't know whether Yuan Zi Xia shows up again (for that matter, Bai Yu-jing as well). The second part (Peacock feather) starts with a completely different story. Maybe someone else who has read the story can share their memory.

But, I think as far as this story goes, there is a conclusion to the story. In a typical Gu Long fashion, he just leave the thing as it is. It may be safely deducted that Yuan Zi Xia has some strong connections with the Green Dragon Clan. She knows way too much about its people.

On the other hand, she says at the end that she's leaving everything behind to be with Bai Yu-jing and that's the most important point Gu Long is trying to get across.

The nice part of the story to me are two things:
1. The intrigues are well-built and in the end, all the important loose ends are knitted together again nicely.

2. Yuan Zi Xia is probably the smartest woman I've read in Gu Long's book, and she's probably comparable to Huang Rong in Jin Yong's universe. She seems to be more cunning and sly, though - although perhaps meeting Bai Yu-jing seems to cure that part of her.

[eliza bennet]

Thank you so much for this translation fastclock It was a very good read and I enjoyed it immensely.

Hope you will also continue with the other stories one day if you feel like it

[fastclock]

Well, I've crawled up to the 6th novel (skipping some parts) and Bai Yu-jing and Yuan Zi-xia don't show up again.

The only thread running through the novels are the common enemy: the Green Dragon Clan, who has 365 sub-clans. Each novel deals with 1 sub-clan denoted by a certain date (e.g. July 15), and how the independent fighters are trying to go against them.

[fastclock]

I've updated my half-baked wuxia novels stuff, here...
http://www.geocities.com/hadrian_d/

or

http://haddjo.freehostia.com

(If it doesn't load, that means the bandwidth is overloaded, just wait...)

The new stuffs are the Happy Heroes, the rest of the 7 Weapon series and Da Ren Wu (Great Personage).

Disclaimer: I haven't worked on each of them with the same diligence - so some of them might be harder read than the other(s). The better ones are: 2nd weapon, 3rd weapon and Da Ren Wu.

[Han Solo]

Thank you, it would be a great christmas present.

So many stories!

Han Solo

[Morin'stal]

wow... amazing fastclock, you've translated a lot. Thanks, and Merry Christmas (or whatever you're celebrating.)
Who would have thought that it would end like this... very unexpected.

[fastclock]

I've updated the 2nd book: Peacock Feather, which should make it more readable. You can download it on
http://haddjo.freehostia.com/

[fastclock]

I'll update the second book: Peacock Feather on this link:
http://haddjo.freehostia.com/joomla_...d=42&Itemid=59

I'm making the story hopefully as fluent as possible.
Anyone interested in becoming an editor for the story is welcome.

This is a short blurb:
The 2nd weapon book (Peacock Feather) tells the story of Gao Li, an assassin that was part of "July 15" group that belonged to Green Dragon Clan. They were supposed to kill Baili Zhang-qing, a well-known escort bureau leader, but Gao Li felt very heavy because Baili Zhang-qing had given him some favor in the past. It turned out that the assassination was botched by another member: Xiao Wu. Gao Li went after Xiao Wu to help him evade the pursue of Green Dragon Clan. He took him to his house, where they met Shuang Shuang, Gao Li's blind wife. Xiao Wu had a hidden secret - and while Gao Li was trying to help Xiao Wu, Xiao Wu actually could also, in his turn, help Gao Li overcome his own problem. The vehicle that acted as the solver of both their problems was the 'peacock feather' - the most fearsome hidden weapon in the world.


This story is very interesting, very touching, and very strong on the emotion vs. non-emotion part.

No promise I can finish everything out, but hopefully I can. This story is not very long...

Feel free to comment here...

[fastclock]

The first part:


Peacock Feather 01
Saturday, 05 July 2008 23:24
Chapter 1: Five assassins

Chapter 1 Part 1

Dusk.

Under the setting sun, Gao Li was standing below the gold-lettered signboard of "Head of Sovereign Teahouse". He stood under the shadow, which was also covering his face.
It seemed as if his face was hidden forever in the shadow.

He was wearing an oversized blue taoist robe, extremely large, because he must hide a heavy and sharp silver spear under this taoist robe. With a sharp spear rubbing against his rib, that white shirt underneath was already drenched by the cold sweat. Before each subsequent killing, he was always very anxious.

This street was the most prosperous and lively place in the city, moreover it was also the liveliest time of the day.

He scanned through the bustling crowd, and saw in the opposite a water peddler.
This peddler's name was Ding Gan.

Ding Gan was a very big person. Although he was somewhat extremely fat, he actually had a very deft pair of hands. Presently, he was squatting in the roadside with a small knife, pouring the water into the basket. His technique did not look very skillful... That’s because he usually only used the knife to kill. It was said that when he killed someone, the basket could be used for more than just to hold the water.

The store in the opposite diagonal side of the teahouse was a very crude wineshop. It only sold the wine, but not the food.

The big wine jugs that were sitting on the table made the drinking person looked small, they were sitting on a bamboo stool and bringing their own food.
In this wineshop, there was only a person who did not drink.

This person's name was Tang Ye.
Tang Ye was very short yet strong, the disheveled hair was tied up with a white cotton strip.
Nobody knew who he was, nobody knew where he came from. They only knew that his mouth never stop chewing some kind of sunflower seed.

Some people said that originally he was a pirate in the east and an outlaw, but actually no one had ever confronted him with it. It was said that when someone dared to ask him, all he got was getting his tongue cut in the midnight.

Nearby him was a long pole that could be suspended on his shoulder, just like the one used by a coolie for carrying a burden. But he was certainly not carrying any burden, just like Gao Li was not a real taoist priest.

In this shoulder pole that was four feet three inches long, there was hidden a knife that could cut a horse down!
There was also another person with a coolie's appearance, sitting opposite eating the soup.
This person was very young, all the others called him Little Wu.

Little Wu was certainly Tang Ye’s friend, yet he actually did not look like Tang Ye’s friend.
They were radically two different kind of people.

Little Wu looked a very casual, a very sluggish person. When happy, he laughed very heartily, and he liked the wine very much.
Nobody could imagine how quickly and accurate he was when he killed people.
If he wanted to pierce your eyes, his sword would not pierce you in any other place.
His sword was also hidden nearby in the shoulder pole.

Gao Li saw ten paces further toward the right side a very large carriage under the tree shade.

The driver of the cart was very sleepy, the long horsewhip lying loosely on his hand. He was called Ma Bian. He had this long whip, this whip was also his life. If he did not have this whip, he would have died many many times. But this whip had always been in his hands, therefore he had not died. Instead, the others had died!

These five people came together.
Gao Li, Ding Gan, Tang Ye, Little Wu, Ma Bian.
When these five were together, they had to cause some surprising news.
This news would always involve blood!

[Han Solo]

I'll update the second book: Peacock Feather on this link:
http://haddjo.freehostia.com/joomla_...d=42&Itemid=59

I'm making the story hopefully as fluent as possible.
Anyone interested in becoming an editor for the story is welcome.

This is a short blurb:
The 2nd weapon book (Peacock Feather) tells the story of Gao Li, an assassin that was part of "July 15" group that belonged to Green Dragon Clan. They were supposed to kill Baili Zhang-qing, a well-known escort bureau leader, but Gao Li felt very heavy because Baili Zhang-qing had given him some favor in the past. It turned out that the assassination was botched by another member: Xiao Wu. Gao Li went after Xiao Wu to help him evade the pursue of Green Dragon Clan. He took him to his house, where they met Shuang Shuang, Gao Li's blind wife. Xiao Wu had a hidden secret - and while Gao Li was trying to help Xiao Wu, Xiao Wu actually could also, in his turn, help Gao Li overcome his own problem. The vehicle that acted as the solver of both their problems was the 'peacock feather' - the most fearsome hidden weapon in the world.


This story is very interesting, very touching, and very strong on the emotion vs. non-emotion part.

No promise I can finish everything out, but hopefully I can. This story is not very long...

Feel free to comment here...

WOW!!!

Peacock Feather- the most legendary of GL secret weapons

Thanks for the translation.

Han Solo

[fastclock]

I have uploaded the first chapter to this website: haddjo.freehostia.com

While I was trying to translate chapter 2, I found a different chapter from the one I have (the one at the half-baked stuff). It turned out that I've found one whole missing chapter. I guess that's the danger of getting the text from online websites. Some text might be missing without a trace

[fastclock]

I have added part of chapter 2. Enjoy...

[fastclock]

to continue: I've updated the "Peacock Feather" translation up to Chapter 2 part 3. I've also reedited the translation of chapter 2. It was certainly pretty bad initially.

[fastclock]

"Peacock Feather" chapter 2 is completed...
I would welcome any comment.
You can also leave the comment on the website.

http://haddjo.freehostia.com/joomla_...d=42&Itemid=59

[Han Solo]

Thanks for the translations- its a really great read.

Han Solo

[fastclock]

Initial part of Chapter 3 from "Peacock Feather" is installed.

This part introduces probably the most unique woman in Gu Long's universe, one that is not only "not beautiful as a fairy", but also disabled.

So, for those complaining that Gu Long's women are so stereotypically bad (e.g. beautiful and naughty vs. beautiful and kind), this is a dose of a totally different measure.