History's Strongest Senior Brother c1-1474
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This script is definitely wrong!
* The ‘Li’ in ‘Li Flame True Fire’ refers to the li as in the symbol ☲ in the eight trigrams, which represents fire.
** glory as in face – literally the sect’s face would look bad
More Translator Notes: First, since I don’t have an editor, if you find any mistakes, please leave a comment. Thank you.
Something to note about wuxia is that a lot of terms are actually non-existent in the English language or the characters themselves carry multiple meanings, making a lot of things difficult to translate without losing part of the meaning. For example, in the title we have the word shixiong; I chose to use senior brother as a compromise between elder brother (which might also work, but it sounded a bit too much like older brother as in the normal older brother of a very traditional family) and martial brother (which lacks the ability to indicate whether the martial brother is older or younger). On the other hand, I could just put elder martial brother, but that’s just a tongue twister and the characters say it all the time. ‘Elder martial brother’ is six syllables, which I could use to make a sentence, as opposed to shixiong, which is only two syllables. There’s a lot of things like that and tons of pseudo proverbs making this novel more difficult to translate than some of the others. It also loses a lot in translation, especially the humor, so if you know Chinese, I recommend you not be lazy and read the original. But I really like this story, so I’ll be translating this instead of something else. Anyways, here’s the crux of the matter. Sometimes I won’t be able to decide whether to translate something or maybe I can’t decide how to translate something and then it’ll be up to you to decide.
Here’s the first decision: Guang Cheng Mountain or Broad Creed Mountain.
This is the name of the main character’s sect. The words can be literally transliterated as Broad Creed but it can also be translated as ‘numerous ways to take advantage’ or ‘wide riding’ or ‘multiple sects’ or a bunch of other possible translation, though the general idea behind it taking context into account should be that the sect is very versatile and adaptive in its martial arts.
Another thing to note is the Chinese idea of ‘face’, which doesn’t actually mean ‘face’ but rather a strange type of pride that follows certain rules, such as not bullying those who are weaker, appearing to have strength equal to your rivals, keeping your word, if you say something you shouldn’t go back on it. Face can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Evil cultivators usually treat face as a tool to manipulate Righteous cultivators. At the same time, ironically evil cultivators will hold especially hold a grudge if you make them lose face. Lose face pretty much mean a) to suffer defeat from those you see as weaker than yourself (this is usually an extension of keep your word and the words usually happen to literally be “I am stronger than you” or “I can crush you with one finger”, etc.) and b) subordinates fail to keep their word. The way to gain face is to be generally successful and have your reputation and fame soar. Of course the more famous you are, the easier it is to lose face. But so long as you’re not a revenge driven hick that’s set off by the smallest slight, you aren’t yet suitable material for a wuxia/xianxia villain.
So should I use ‘face’ or should I do my best to translate the concept into pride?
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 2: Dragon against Dragon, a Stand Off Between Kings, Which is the True Dragon?
TN: Once again, please leave comments for any mistakes.
Various voices could be heard as Yan Zhaoge walked along the road.
“I pay my respects to senior brother Yan.”
“Greetings, senior brother Yan.”
These were the voices of various martial brothers as they payed their respects while passing by.
“Martial nephew Yan’s martial cultivation has advanced again. Wonderful. As expected from the leader of the younger generation, a genius among geniuses.”
“Elder Yan has a qualified successor. Truly, a tiger of a father will not have a dog of a son!”
These were the voices of various martial seniors as they continuously sung his praise.
“Senior brother Yan’s aura is becoming more imposing and powerful by the day, and yet he somehow looks gentle without a doubt…”
“Oiya, I feel the same way too. So it’s not just me huh?”
“But… but… the more he’s like this, the more I…”
“Right? Right?”
“He he, right what right? Shameless little girl.”
“Senior sister! You… you… aren’t you the same!”
Okay. And those were the sounds of various martial sisters experiencing their first awakening of love.
Yan Zhaoge smiled at those martial sisters splendidly but at the same time he kept repeating himself in his mind, “Stay reserve. Keep cool.”
The burly man beside him released an extremely hearty laugh, “Prince…”
Yan Zhaoge who was already used to his usual antics looked at him sideways, “Is there something else?”
The large man was his devoted personal attendant whose loyalty was beyond a doubt and tasked to follow him everywhere.
Logically, as someone who crossed over, Yan Zhaoge should avoid the close associates of the body’s original owner in order to avoid being exposed.
However, that kind of action was originally a double edged blade. Conversely, staying close to those associates would assist him blend into the present world more quickly.
Fortunately, Yan Zhaoge received more than just the body from its previous owner. He also received that person’s memories.
Otherwise, just the local language would become an insurmountable challenge.
“Prince, An has already investigated that Ye Jing person. Even though he suddenly showed massive improvement, but he is still not someone worth noting. But the grudge he has against you, why don’t we…”
Yan Zhaoge could not resist quickly rolling his eyes. His speed ensured nobody noticed his odd behavior. “Yeah, without a doubt, it’s this pattern as expected.”
The attendant and entourage would act first to incite conflict. Once the lower thugs were defeated, the malicious young master would act personally because he felt his pride had been stung. The young master would be beaten until not even his mother would recognize his face, which would incite his father’s involvement and his entire family’s involvement. In the end, the entire group would be annihilated.
Sounds like a perfectly plotted out script, right?
“Perfect my ass!” Forced to become villainous canon fodder, Yan Zhaoge simply could not feel a single speck of positive emotion towards to the role he had been assigned.
He had apparently gone from free and leisurely second generation genius who never even needed to work hard to a background canon fodder who served as another stepping stone on the ordained son of heaven’s road to the top.
The thoughts appearing in Yan Zhaoge’s mind at this time were rather silly and nonsensical.
Even the more fortunate enemies of the ordained son of heaven would barely receive a better end. They would act as the rival figure, the type that was as resilient and undying as a cockroach. They never die and after each defeat the next time they show up their strength would have improved. In reality, these rival figures were simply reusable products that helped the main character gather experience and equipment.
As for those less fortunate enemies, it’s doubtful whether they could survive even a couple chapters before dying or worse.
And in normal cases, someone like Yan Zhaoge who had the right background to summon forth an even mightier father is simply the mini-boss that comes before the big boss. Mini-bosses were not likely to live for more than a couple chapters before going down the route of canon fodder.
Also, the idea of he who strikes first gains the upper hand fails to apply. In accordance to the rules that govern these ordained sons of heaven, any main character who suffers such a fate would simply be suppressed for a while before rising once more with ev
en greater momentum than before. That was often equivalent to gifting them a large fortunate encounter, allowing them to grow stronger at an even faster rate.
In the end, those main characters won’t have a scratch. On the contrary, they will have grown stronger at an unthinkable rate. At this point, they will hurry back and aim for the villainous young master’s face.
The main character destiny is just that tyrannical and unreasonable. If it wants to flatten the canon fodder then the canon fodder will be flattened. It can even flatten you in a hundred and eighty unique and original ways.
“As for this main character Ye, what will his magical plot device turn out to be? A secret skill book from before the Great Cataclysm? Or perhaps a supreme divine tool. Or even a portable wise old grandpa? Or maybe he’s someone’s reincarnation?”
Yan Zhaoge’s smile was slightly unnatural. He gave a hand wave, “There is no need to be concerned about him.”
The big man scratched his head, “As you say, prince.”
“Even though there seems to be a problem with the script. However, your elder brother, I, also have a magical plot device.”
The Great Cataclysm created a new era. This is because there were differences in the world before and after the Great Cataclysm. The route of martial cultivation was more or less changed. Even physiology of people’s bodies was not exactly the same. Thus Yan Zhaoge needed to adjust the various records and skill books within his mind to suit the current era. Were it not for this point, his cultivation would have soared at an even greater rate.
After his arrival, except carefully adapting to the new world and his new identity, most of Yan Zhaoge’s efforts were focused on actualizing real life applications of the knowledge stored within his mind.
And now, his efforts had borne fruit. It was time to soar.
So far Yan Zhaoge has only converted knowledge applicable to the cultivation levels of his current self and his past self. His cultivation had only ever reached certain realms, it wasn’t possible to convert his knowledge into practical application broadly across the entire cultivation process.
Food needed to be eaten one mouthful at a time and journeys needed to be taken one step at a time.
Regardless, as his cultivation progressively increases, theory can be integrated into practical application leading to more possibilities and vaster potential. And now, Yan Zhao was already prepared to realize the first step.
Not only did he possess expertise in the martial path, his knowledge in other fields such as artifact refinement and medicinal pill alchemy were also sufficient to create large waves in this era.
The investigation of the ‘Li Flame True Fire” carried out by his subordinates just happened to be associated with those fields.
If his experiment were successful, then he would undoubtedly receive immense benefits.
Yan Zhaoge twitched his lips, “Dragon against dragon, a face off between kings, let us see who the true dragon is. Perhaps this Ye Jing isn’t actually some main character propped up by destiny. Maybe I’m just being oversensitive and over imaginative. Let’s observe the situation a bit more first.”
Rather Yan Zhaoge was more troubled by the tricky matter of how he should face the girl who got eaten by the former owner of his body.
To the current him, his first priority was to improve himself, both his personal strength and his position within the sect.
As for beautiful women, he would not waste any time deliberately pursuing them, but neither will he deliberately reject those who pursue him.
The problem left behind by the original owner of his body was truly a pain in the ass.
Despite cursing and bemoaning on the surface, in truth Yan Zhaoge did not actually take this problem to heart. He shook his head and appropriately dealt with the tasks at hand before leaving to recuperate at his own residence. He sat in meditation and refined his qi until the next day arrive. Soon after, he left for the sect’s assignment hall.
Yan Zhaoge’s arrival immediately attracted everyone’s interest. Their eyes all focused on him.
Yet Yan Zhaoge’s expression remained natural. Taking a quick glance around, he found an incomparably gorgeous young girl with a slender figure walking towards him.
This girl looked to be sixteen or seventeen years of age. Her features were already world class, even superior to the Lin girl. She seemed like a heavenly fairy, a creature that did not consume the food of mortals. Her only flaw lay in a pair of eyes that were a rare icy blue, which granted her entire person a cold and detached air.
Si Kongqing, she was another outstanding latecomer from the younger generation. Although she was rather young, her fame had long since spread. Her martial talent was extraordinary, only inferior to Yan Zhaoge himself. She had been acclaimed as another child of heaven of Broad Creed Mountain, receiving the attention of many elders at an early age.
When Yan Zhaoge saw her, he once again had the urge to roll his eyes.
From what he knew, after being left behind by the Lin girl, Ye Jing somehow encountered Si Kongqing even before he joined Broad Creed Mountain. Due to some type of fateful encounter, there was even a pretty good relationship between the two.
At the moment, their relationship remained at the level of pure friendship. But according to a certain script, she is a girl from a good background; her talent was good; her beauty was overflowing; she was a true ice lady without any feminine emotion, yet despite this she happens to look favorably upon a seemingly average person.
Under the influence of Ye Jing’s main character aura, in time, this beauty who exceeded lady Lin in every category will very likely become the empress to Ye Jing’s emperor.
And beside Si Kongqing, there happened to be a scrimpy youth who stared at Yan Zhaoge with all his might.
This scrimpy youth was naturally Ye Jing.
Yan Zhaoge could distinctly detect flames that had been constrained for a long time from Ye Jing’s gaze and these flame seemed like they could explode forth at any time.
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 3: Performing a Great Play
TN: I don’t actually have a schedule but I’ll try to update often. This chapter was extremely annoying to translate with all the looks, glares and glances. There’s only one word in Chinese but as a rule, English doesn’t like repetition so I needed synonyms. Of course, there’s less of that in future, but this time I was really troubled by the wording of some of these sentences.
Si Kongqing looked towards Yan Zhaoge and seemed to examine him closely.
They were heading towards the Dragon Sealing Abyss, an infamous danger zone. Should Yan Zhaoge decide to make life difficult for Ye Jing as the leader of this expedition, then it would be difficult for Ye Jing to survive the trip.
The thoughts of the others were much simpler. Some were glad that someone as strong as senior brother Yan was leading the training expedition. Others stared at Yan Zhaoge fervently because they wanted to befriend and curry favor with him.
The few in the know were looking at Ye Jing as if waiting to watch a good show.
Ye Jing’s eyebrows drew together tightly, after joining the sect, he had already learned of many things.
The slightly older youth before him not only had higher cultivation and strength, but he also possessed deeply profound backing within the sect.
Yan Zhaoge’s father was an elder who happened to be one of the highest authority figures of Broad Creed sect. Even without accounting for martial strength, his position and authority within the sect was solidly top five. He was also a direct disciple of the sect leader and a strong contender for the position of sect leader’s successor.
Ye Jing’s fists gradually tightened. His eyes focused on Yan Zhaoge without hiding or showing weakness.
“Are these the so-called eyes full of unyielding flames?”
Without knowing whether to laugh or cry, Yan Zhaoge shifted his line of sight towards the doorway leading to the side chamber, “Greetings, elder Cui.”
A whit
e haired old man appeared in the doorway. Ye Jing and the other hurriedly bowed and paid their respects upon seeing him, “Disciple greets honored elder.”
This white haired elder happened to be a deacon elder of the assignment hall just like the middle aged man who requested Yan Zhaoge the day before.
To Ye Jing and the others, whether it was his cultivation or his position both signified that he was a powerful figure deserving of respect.
The old man regarded Yan Zhaoge with a smile on his face, “Martial nephew Yan, you already arrived? Very good. Very good.”
Yan Zhaoge replied, “Elder Cui, in that case I will leave the task of disseminating information regarding the matter of the Dragon Sealing Abyss to you, please.”
Allowing his gaze to fall upon Yan Zhaoge, Ye Jing, Si Kongqing and others like them, Elder Cui smiled and said, “An unexpected surge up suddenly occurred in the Dragon Sealing Abyss. The local forces have already performed the initial handling. Your task this time is to help investigate the abnormal behavior of the Dragon Sealing Abyss by entering the pool itself.”
He paused for a bit before looking towards Yan Zhaoge, “In principle, this task only requires a simple report after verifying the situation. However, should your group encounter an unexpected situation that requires prompt decision making, this old man has faith in your abilities. Martial nephew Yan, please act at your discretion.”
Yan Zhaoge laughed, “Elder Cui overpraises me.”*
Elder Cui laughed along, before his gaze shifted towards three people including Ye Jing, “You three should have each received an artifact as a reward from youth competition. How have you progressed in nourishing them and figuring out their function?”
Ye Jing and the two others replied together in respectful tones, “Ever since receiving the artifacts, we disciples have been continuously nourishing them even as we keep up our training. We can already control them on a basic level.”
In this world, ordinary weapons and defensive equipment were called mortal tools. Above mortal tool grade, there existed demi artifacts, artifacts, spirit artifacts, and even sacred artifacts. These can provide a power boost for warriors like adding wings to a tiger.