Chapter 1829: What Is Life? (2/2)

Suicide wasn’t an option either. He could only live on and hope for solace in death one day.

Li Qiye gently sighed and said: “Looks like you really have taken this path to the extreme or even broke through it. Nothing in this world matters to you, I didn’t expect this.”

“It’s understandable, no one had ever reached this level of condemnation before. Even the high heaven doesn’t want to get involved.” The old man said nonchalantly.

“An execution never came for you?” This was Li Qiye’s second reason to come here.

“I want that old villainous heaven to send down an execution but I haven’t seen one yet. After taking this path, there was no trace of it.” The old man replied.

“Can’t tell if this is a happy thing or a tragedy.” Li Qiye smiled wryly.

It was quite unbelievable for an Immortal Emperor to not invoke a Heavenly Execution. All the emperors were apprehensive about this particular tribulation because even the strongest emperor couldn’t survive. The moment the execution came, so did the reaper.

Without it, it meant that the emperors could walk freely in the world. Thus, any other emperor yearned for its absence in order to have freedom.

However, this old man didn’t find this to be a good thing at all. If an execution came, he would finally find eternal reprieve.

Alas, he had been staying in the mundane realm for generations now without seeing one so he had no choice but to keep living on.

“If there is nothing else, you should leave now. I need a nap to rest or hunger shall ravage me at night.” The old man calmly said.

“Fine.” Li Qiye acquiesced: “So be it, despite the fruitless visit, I still hope that you will be able to die soon.”

Hoping for someone else to die might provoke them but this was the best type of blessing one could say to this old man.

The old man nodded and climbed up his bed before closing his tired eyes.

Li Qiye gently sighed while staring at this old man on the old wooden bed. Who would think that this was an invincible Immortal Emperor?

“Your Excellency.” The old man suddenly opened his eyes and said before Li Qiye made it out of the door.

“What can I do for you?” Li Qiye turned and replied.

The old man took out a yellow page from the corner of his bed. Wrinkled and decayed it was; who knows how many times it had been rolled up?

“I don’t have any interest in this world but sometimes, I can’t help but want to see the high heaven and the end of the world. Suddenly, I became enlightened with some thoughts and I wrote them down.” He gave the wrinkly paper to Li Qiye.

“Your Excellency had experienced so many ages and has no lack of merit laws. I only hope for these thoughts to be pa.s.sed down. You can look at it if you want but if you don’t care for them, please find someone to pa.s.s them down or just store it.”

Li Qiye accepted it and fixed it up a bit before nodding solemnly: “I will think about it.”

The old man nodded back and said: “I am waiting for death so the darkness will be good for me since I might be able to die faster. However, I hope you can be successful at the final battle and return triumphantly. Only you will be able to do it, Your Excellency.”

“I hope so.” Li Qiye gently sighed and left.

The old man closed his eyes again and fell into a slumber. [3]

1. This particular line is interesting because of the different possible translations. The characters in question are 变性, change of personality/nature, to have a s.e.x change, transgender. Basically, a broad range of potential meaning, depending on the context. The key here is to show surprise and translate it as a playful, slightly insulting quip that doesn’t match an emperor’s bearing. Some possible variations for: “Did your personality changed?” This one is the most literal but it lacks the punch. The s.e.x change meaning of the characters is supposed to be humorous but there was no way of including it - “Did you get a s.e.x change?” or “Are you a woman now?” This would be completely jarring; the latter being too offensive to fit. I went with the common English phrase that would be used colloquially for this type of situation, even though it deviates from the raw

2. Censored, no idea what this is.

3. The t.i.tle was a bit hard to translate to English. The author borrows off the popular phrase from a poem that starts with ”What is love...” but he replaces the word love with world/life. It doesn't make too much sense in English