v1 prologue (1/2)
I translated this teaser to test my skills. I think I got pretty good at translating, hehe.
Also, this was an absolute h.e.l.l to translate. So many names and techniques&h.e.l.lip;. took me 3 hours.
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Prologue.
序章 (TL: This means “prologue”. It appears at the beginning of all Korean wuxia.)
Was there anyone ignorant enough to not know of the name Zhang Hu (長吼)?
He was the third person in the world who had managed to take up the t.i.tle of the Heavenly Demon (天魔) after the creation of the Martial World (murim).
In just eight years after his appearance in the Martial World, he took down the Demon Alliance (集魔盟), which had taken up about seven tenths of the martial world at the time, and showed clearly who had the true right to become the master of the Martial World.
But his legends ended there.
The day he took up his gla.s.s of alcohol in order to celebrate the destruction of the Demon Alliance, he was a.s.saulted by the combined force of 3000 experts from the Righteous Side and the Evil Side. He fought with power that truly made him worthy of being called the strongest, but in the end, he had to run while leaking out tears of blood from his eyes.
The entire situation might have changed if he did not drink the alcohol poisoned by one hundred forty eight different poisons prepared by his direct subordinates, the Five Demon Phantoms (五大魔靈).
No, if the Three Great Heavens, the experts that were hailed to be the strongest before him, did not come out of their seclusion just to fight him, perhaps he could’ve survived to reign as the sovereign ruler in the Martial World.
But he was not given such luck.
Because of this, after being chased for a long time, he managed to reach the Lianhua peak (莲花峰) of Huangshan (黃山).
He had nowhere left to go, and didn’t have the strength to go anywhere else either.
It rained quite a bit that day.
Crackle, bam!
The sky was wailing!
But just why was it doing this, and who was it expressing its sorrow for?
Was it because of the man who was standing at the Lianhua peak, who was standing with a might that threatened to split the entire mountain in half?
The man’s body was dotted with tens of various swords, knives, and spears.
It was almost strange to see that he was still standing.
But anyone would nod if they were to hear this man’s name, and say that it was obvious that the man was still standing.
Heavenly Demon Zhang Hu!
The strongest man in the Martial World, and perhaps even an expert who could stand as one of the five great experts in the history of the martial world!
It was said that his age was to be seventy three, and yet he looked not a day older than twenty.
This was only possible due to the fact that he went through rejuvenation (返老還童), an effect that made one’s age progress backwards.
This was also proof that he had surpa.s.sed the stage of the Peak Demon Stage (極魔), which was said to be the highest stage one could reach with a Demonic Technique, to reach the stage that only two people reached previously in the Martial World, the Transcendent Demon Stage (脫魔).
Three old men were standing in a 品 formation with him in the center.
They were the Three Great Heavens, the experts who had come out of seclusion in order to defeat Zhang Hu.
Behind the Three Great Heavens were five people dressed in black, who were hidden in the shadows with expectant eyes.
They were the Five Demon Phantoms, the directs subordinates and the brothers of Zhang Hu, and coincidentally also the the ones who betrayed Zhang Hu.
The Five Demon Phantoms and the Three Great Heavens quietly observed Zhang Hu.
The Heavenly Demon, Zhang Hu, kept stumbling, as if it was hard to even stand. But his two eyes emitted a light that made him resemble a starved tiger, and he constantly moved to find a chance to attack.
The Mad Buddha (狅佛) of the Three Great Heavens spoke in astonishment.
“Amazing! You truly are worthy of the name Heavenly Demon.”
The Heavenly Demon, Zhang Hu, smiled.
“And you are not worthy of your t.i.tle as the Three Great Heavens. How are you even referring to yourselves as the heavens itself, when you are attacking me with such shameful methods?”
When Zhang Hu said this, the Confucian Scholar (儒公) nodded with a bitter face.
“You are correct. We won’t try to deny it.”
The Drunk Immortal (醉仙) of the Three Great Heavens took a sip from a gourd in his hand, and held it out to Zhang Hu.
“Want some?”
Zhang Hu laughed.
“I’m sick of drinking, especially after drinking all the poisoned alcohol I could ever have wanted.”
Having said this, Zhang Hu glared at the Five Demon Phantoms. They stood unflinchingly under his gaze.
The Drunk Immortal put the gourd on his waist, and stepped forward.
“In that case, let’s end this. Dragging on such a depressing event would make this harder for everyone.”
The Mad Buddha nodded, and pulled up his sleeves.
“Yes, let’s. Just who would go to h.e.l.l, if I do not?”
The Confucian Scholar let out an uncomfortable sigh, and took out a fan.
Wiii--!
When the three experts began circulating their qi, the falling rain began to rise upwards.
The Heavenly Demon Zhang Hu glared at the Three Great Heavens, and bit his teeth.
Guooooo--!
The centre of Zhang Hu’s forehead split, and began to emit a red light. After this, a gang qi (罡氣) shaped like an arm sprouted out from his shoulders, and armpits.
This was an effect that came from practicing the Asura’s Heaven-Destroying Technique (阿修羅破天魔功), which was the technique that gave Zhang Hu the t.i.tle of “Heavenly Demon”.
Because of this effect, the people of the nation did not see him as a human. But instead, they saw him as a three-eyed, six-armed demon, and feared him.
But due to his injury, the Demon Eye of Shura (修羅魔眼) did not take on its proper shape, and the legendary Six Heaven-Destroying Arms (破天六臂膀) that Zhang Hu possessed became blurry.
Even so, the Three Great Heavens were extremely nervous, and were unable to approach him.
Time flowed like water, and eventually, the Mad Buddha punched out with both his hands.
“Haaaah!”
He was using the Hundred Steps G.o.d Fist (百步神拳), the strongest technique recorded in the Shaolin Temple’s Hundred and Eight Techniques (百八節藝).
At the same time, the Drunk Immortal traced a circle in the air with his hands.
Reverse Yin-Yang (反陰陽), First Foundational Change (易一元).
The power of destruction that comes when one breaks the harmony of Yin-Yang, and flips the truth of the Dao!
This was a demonstration of one of the Ten Forbidden Techniques (十段錦) of the Wudang Sect.
The Confucian Scholar opened his fan, and spun his body, as if he was dancing. Then, his body soon disappeared, and changed into a frighteningly powerful wind.
This was the 10,000 Li Traveling Spinning Wind (旋風萬里行), the technique that allowed the Confucian Scholar to climb to the top of the Martial World, despite having been a mere scholar at the Hanlin Academy.
Kuaaaaaaang!
The falling rain exploded outwards, and the Lianhua Peak shook violently.
When the sound faded, the rain quickly dispatched the cloud of dust formed from the Confucian Scholar’s technique.
At the centre of where the dust cloud had been, was the Heavenly Demon Zhang Hu, who had fallen down on the ground. The Three Great Heavens, who were looking down at him, could also be seen.
The Mad Buddha put his hands together in prayer.
“Namo amitabha.”
The Drunk Immortal grabbed the gourd of alcohol from his waist, and spoke.
“This is the end, right?”
The Confucian Scholar nodded.
Right then.
The Heavenly Demon, who was thought to be dead, opened his eyes.
At that moment, the Three Great Heavens became anxious, and became alert. But once they realized that Zhang Hu was becoming conscious one last time before death (回光返照), they calmed down.
Zhang Hu looked at the Three Great Heavens, and shouted.
“Hear me. I die like this today, but this is not the end! I will return one day, and will stand in front of you once again! I will dye the river with blood, and create mountains out of corpses! The living will envy death, and the dead will curse life, and only then will I have the qualifications to be truly be called the Heavenly Demon!”
After shouting this, Zhang Hu’s breathing stopped completely.
But the Three Great Heavens were unable to move, and just trembled instead.
It was a terrifying curse.
But the dead cannot come back to life.
No, this might not be true.
If it was Zhang Hu, if it was this demon, it could be possible that he would come back to life. This fear lingered in their mind like a ghost.
Right then.
The Five Demon Phantoms, who were watching from afar, moved.
“You have worked hard.”
The Three Great Heavens turned with a frown. The Five Demon Phantoms were moving towards them.
The first of the Five Demon Phantoms, the Apocalyptic Phantom (壞劫魔靈), spoke.
“We will take care of the corpse.”
He then took out his sword.
“How will you take care of it?”
When the Confucian Scholar asked this, the Apocalyptic Phantom smiled a frightening smile.
“We’re planning on cutting him up, then feed him to the dogs.”
The Mad Buddha turned red in rage.
“Do you really have to do this?”
The Apocalyptic Phantom responded with this.
“That’s the only way we can stay calm. What if he really does come back? Hahaha, it’s better to make sure of everything. You can stay and watch if you want.”
The Drunk Immortal clicked his tongue.
“Let’s go. Let’s go have a drink or something. It’s better to drink rather than to stay with these vermin.”
The Mad Buddha and the Confucian Scholar nodded, and the Three Great Heavens disappeared, then soon turned into a dot in the Eastern Sky.