-Introduction*
Translated and Edited by: Ren
*(TL: 楔子xiezi, roughly translates to a wedge. I think it"s slang that represents a small wedge breaking into the beginnings of a story. If I"m wrong please correct me ^^)
No words could be used to describe Ming ChangYan. He was born with nice skin, a handsome face, and amazing skill.
His original name was made up of a string of difficult to understand Da Wen characters, hard to p.r.o.nounce. After he came to Zhong Yuan, some people called him Ming shaoxia*, some called him Ming dage**, others called him a gentleman, either way, he"d already forgotten his original name.
*(TL: young cultivator) **(TL: big brother)
When Ming ChangYan was born―murder, arson, evil. Adultery―he obviously never done it.
He had a great number of affairs and flirted constantly with the opposite s.e.x*, he also did a great number of prodigious and amazing things.
*(TL: 招蜂引蝶, zhao feng yin die, lit. means to attract bees and b.u.t.terflies.)
After Ming Shaoxia lived on Cangsheng for nearly ten years, his talent outshone, his martial arts surpa.s.sed all boundaries, and no one under the heaven could beat him. He fully deserved the t.i.tle as number one.
Whether it was Zhong Lian Sect or a master at Xi Yu, they were all terrified of him, and no one dared to oppose him. Therefore, the JiangHu sect was peaceful, free of quarrels. But, the life that everyone lived was far too comfortable and watching Ming Shaoxia receive praise from the world at such a young age, they were all envious, so they all tried to find a way to bring problems towards him.
On May 29th, the people accused him of doing evil, of committing a sinister crime, he killed a discipline from the Jianghu Sect that was beloved by all, whose looks made flowers bloom and was a respected to the utmost degree hero. This matter made people furious, and despite his high prestige and skill in martial arts, he was unable to quench the flaming rage in people"s hearts.
Over the course of one day, the number one gentleman, Ming ChangYan, was viewed upon as a demon, and several sects combined together to purge him in Yangbo River.
With a wave of his hand, he was unbeatable.
In his heart, there was only one opening, the other nine orifices on his body were closed*
*(TL: There are nine openings in the body, it"s basically saying that, except the hole in his heart, the rest of his body remained closed. I hope this makes sense. ^^; Does it sound wrong?)
However, Ming shaoxia was not killed by the sects that ganged up on him, but, in the heat of the battle, he didn"t know that someone was planning to push him, lost his balance and fell into Yanbo River.
Ming Changyan, the newly promoted demon head, was killed in such a manner.
His body was washed away by Yanbo River"s large currents, and every sect leader looked at each other in dismay: You look at me, I look at you, without looking for his body, they waved their hands and all loudly acclaimed to the world: Dead! Completely dead!
The completely dead, Ming Changyan, stood up and made himself a gravestone.
The currents of Yanbo River washed away half his life; but, luckily Ming shaoxia"s willpower was strong, the currents were fierce, and after drifting him back and forth, it finally drifted his not-dead body on land.
Just when he was on solid ground, the whole world was saying: Ming Changyan has died! Ai! How could he just die! It"s a shame that Tianqing Sect and Mingmen Zhen Sect nurtured such a demon!
The demon, Ming Changyan, drank some water from the Yanbo River, water filled his head, and he forgot half of his memories.
While setting up his gravestone, he could only think and sigh.
Ming Shaoxia could only remember his glorious achievements, and couldn"t remember him doing any evil and unforgivable crimes, from here it could be seen that he was a false shaoxia*
*(TL:由此可见，他是一个虚伪的少侠. I honestly have no idea what this line means. I think it means that, due to his forgetfulness, he couldn"t even be counted as a shaoxia?? If you know, please tell me…)
However, when writing his own gravestone, only knowing his accomplishments isn"t a bad thing, Ming shaoxia slowly carved on his gravestone: Ming shaoxia, date of birth unknown, location unknown, talented and attractive, full of righteousness, joined the Qing Sect on an unknown date, served the number one sect under the heavens, ordered by the common people on an unknown date*, was ordered by all the sects under the heavens….
*(TL: I"m possibly the worst translator you"ve ever seen, but the sentence某年某月得苍生令, I could only understand half of it. The literal translation was: On some year of some month was ordered by the common people, which I cannot understand;; If you know, please tell me…)
On an unknown year, in an unknown month, on an unknown day, a small beauty with a soft and delicate body gave itself up to the heavens…
Carving to this point, Ming shaoxia"s female confidant couldn"t watch any longer, and stated: "If you"re going to continue carving like this, even ten gravestones won"t be enough for you to use."
If Ming shaoxia wasn"t a shaoxia, and if he wrote a book, he would definitely become one of Jianhu"s daily newspaper writers. He would quickly be promoted throughout the road, and come to be a well-renowned author and poet.
His female confidante"s last name was Hua, YunChang, these two letters was their courtesy name.* What their real name was**, Ming shaoxia forgot.
*(TL: In Ancient China, people were given courtesy names when they reached 20, and it was considered more polite to call people by their courtesy names instead of their birth names.)
**(TL: 字了个什么——叫明少侠忘了. I think I translated the first part right, what do you think? ~-~;)
After he crawled onto sh.o.r.e, the first thing he did was to try to find this good friend of his.
Ming Changyan really did attract bad luck. After he woke up, his martial arts was destroyed, his yin yang withered and broken, he narrowly escaped death, and his body had poison in it.
Ming shaoxia thought to himself: How unlucky.
The martial arts were all his, and those ten years of training were all put to waste. His heart and feelings were both hurt, but he could only cry tears for himself, not able to do anything about it, wring his hands in despair, being the only one creating ballads and poetry about himself, himself becoming a Lin Daiyu*, and weakly ate three large bowls of plain rice.
*(TL: Lin Daiyu is a character from a cla.s.sic and famous Chinese novel, Dream of the Red Chamber. She"s portrayed as an emotional and well-educated beauty. She was known for her affinity with literature and sickly health.)
After he ate, and his stomach was full, Ming shaoxia emptied out his thoughts. He wondered how he fell into Yanbo River and how, in front of everyone, rolled down to his death in such an astounding way.
The more he thought about it, the more sullen he got. As an extremely coquettish gentleman, he can"t die in such a ridiculous way.
So, the gentleman blinked both of his eyes, and with no time to wash his face with tears, he went to find Hua YunChang and discuss how to restore his martial arts.
Hua YunChang had some medical expertise, but she"s never met someone who"s as unruly as Ming Shaoxia―when a cultivator"s yin yang energy is shattered, how are you supposed to revive their martial arts? Unless it"s some divine and legendary medicine, then they couldn"t possibly revive their yin yang energy like a withered tree who suddenly meets spring.
His female confidant racked her brains for a few days to find a solution, before finally remembering a certain type of medical herb.
The herbal medicine"s name was Immortal Gra.s.s, it was gifted from the royal family in the XiYu Region to the Zhong Yuan Region as a tribute. The rumors say it could cure all illnesses, bring the dead back to life, it could heighten beauty and maintain youth, and lengthen your lifespan to centuries.
Ming shaoxia didn"t care much for the last two functions, his naturally flaunted beauty doesn"t need any improvement. Regarding the lifespan benefit: An escape from calamity is sure to bring luck afterwards. This was a principle that was pa.s.sed down for centuries, Ming shaoxia didn"t fully die, so there was probably some large fortune waiting for him.
Him living for centuries was set by the Heavens and a logical affair.
Therefore, Ming shaoxia only paid attention to the first two attributes, with his mindset, the two plotted aboard a decorated pleasure boat* and made up their mind to steal the treasure from the imperial palace.
(TL: Basically it looked like an ancient Chinese house but on a boat.)
However, he wasn"t as well-regarded as before and was now half a handicapped person. With such an important issue at hand, how was he supposed to enter the imperial palace without people coming near him?
Ming shaoxia pondered for some time before coming up with an extremely brilliant and rotten idea: To enter the imperial palace, he"ll disguise himself as a concubine and become the emperor"s wife.
The author has something to say: (They"re basically saying how this novel has been edited and been going on and off inside they"re head. They worked very hard on the beginning, going through 4 to 5 different beginnings before finally going with this one. The author hopes to write the story into a good one and hopes that everyone will enjoy and support it.)
(TL: Gong is just the Chinese term for, seme. It means that they are the top of the relationship. Shou is basically the j.a.panese term, uke. Meaning that they are the bottom of the relationship.)
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Raws:
Any thoughts? :3 We love reading your comments and if you have any grammar corrections you want to be made on this, please comment below.
See you in Chapter 2 ★~(◡ω◡✿)
-Ritpoppy