Originally posted on RBKTR Translations.
Author: The One Who Tells Stories Under the Bridge (天桥底下说书的).
Translated by: Yujuan
It wasn’t that Ji Mo couldn’t understand Chang Hui’s ill-will towards authors. Unlike most Celestials, the novel that he had originated from, Powerful Minister, was a book whose intrinsic quality was focused on officialdom struggles and trickery regardless of the popular fantasy element added to it.
It is hard for a jade tree to gaze admiringly upon itself, and so the branches of the sweet osmanthus reach out toward the imperial court.
Millions upon millions of fine jade pearls in the region south of the Yangtze River, none of whom can compare to the Chang Family’s tanhua lang[1].
Powerful Minister began with this folk doggerel, depicting the court newman Chang Hui’s respectable past. Yet, not even three chapters had passed before he was sentenced to prison for participating in a political reform, ushering in an unforeseen event that would change his entire life.
“Son, your father does not blame you. I only blame myself for teaching you how to be an upright person, but did not have the heart to teach you how to be an official.”
After leaving him with these brief last words, Chang Hui’s father, a senior statesman, spent the very night writing up a petition to take responsibility for all charges before hanging himself. At long last, Chang Hui received the emperor’s decree for pardon.
After his father’s death and finally realizing the dark side of officialdom, the downhearted Chang Hui returned to his home village with his wife. Yet, there were still people unwilling to let him off, dispatching an assassin after him. In the end, Chang Hui’s entire family was met with a tragic death under the assassin’s blade, leaving him the only survivor due to a treasure handed down in his family, and he concealed his identity, waiting for an opportunity to take his revenge.
From then on, no longer was there the jade-like gentleman assistant minister Chang, only the powerful minister Chang Hui, who coerced the emperor and manipulated the affairs of state every step of the way.
If there wasn’t such a large disparity between his armed strength and the others, the current five rulers might not be able to defeat one Chang Hui in the sole terms of intrigue. In addition, this person was steadfast, and his only pursuit in life was his work. The moment he took a seat behind his office desk, he emanated the energy of someone about to die from overwork.
So even though, in the past, there was a limit to Su Ge’s cultivation, with Chang Hui assuming personal command, Ji Mo had never worried about the Godly Continent’s future. But who knew that the Monster King who had stayed put for three years would suddenly inform Chang Hui of the truth, turning the Shrine’s most secure backer into his enemy.
Ji Mo had already heard of the Monster King investigating the truth of the Celestials’ emergence, and he had probably had some kind of major breakthrough to make such a big move, but his character should be a meek animal who stayed quietly at home munching on grass as long as he wasn’t being bullied, was it possible that something had happened to turn him OOC again?
Mm, the word ‘again’ really made his stomach hurt…
While contemplating the origins of this current misfortune, Ji Mo momentarily forgot to respond to Ye Junhou, causing the Demon Lord to speak out again in displeasure, “Morning Star Priest, I merely wanted to invite you to the Dark Capital, was there a need to frighten my child?”
With Ji Mo’s bidding in mind, Ye Mingjun wasn’t originally intending to speak out, but seeing as Ji Mo didn’t seem to want to answer Ye Junhou, he protested discontentedly after thinking for a bit, “I’m very gentle.”
This really was the truth; strictly speaking, he hadn’t used a single harmful technique, and that couldn’t even be considered a fight to the immortals.
Ye Junhou had been secretly watching Ye Mingjun ever since he entered the hall, but unfortunately he paid no one attention apart from Ji Mo. Seeing him open his mouth on his own accord, he took the opportunity to probe, “You’re that white-robed Celestial with immeasurable power my son told me about? Are you interested in giving a demonstration of your skills?”
Ye Junhou had just broken through a bottleneck this year, and thought that his strength surpassed Su Ge by a large margin; from his observation, this person’s cultivation was equally matched with Su Ge’s, but for some reason, he gave off an inexplicable feeling, the vitality that ran through him very unlike the other Celestials.
In terms of aura, this person was slightly similar to Ji Mo, though there was a wide gap between their strengths.
This subtle difference in aura could only be detected by those of his cultivation level. While Ye Junhou had received the Monster King’s letter, as someone who was a transmigrator in his novel and had some understanding of the real world, he had been slightly skeptical. He had originally planned on capturing Ji Mo to verify it, but was slightly believing now that he had met Ye Mingjun.
Ye Mingjun couldn’t read his mind, but he wasn’t very interested in challenges, and so he refused decisively, “I don’t like fighting people, love and romance suits me more.”
The purpose of his birth was to guide the immortals in search for the Way of Heaven and purify the world. In terms of fighting ability, he wasn’t as powerful as the Abyss Dagger-Axe of Heaven and Earth or the Diorama of Civilization, although the ones who had chosen to self-destruct after entering the peaceful era were these two ancient artifacts who would never have the chance to enter the battlefield ever again.
No, you’re absolutely unsuited for love and romance, don’t believe in your own misconception.
Ji Mo didn’t know much about Ye Mingjun’s fighting capabilities, but he had been treated to the entire process of the immortal’s courting skills, so he gave him zero marks without the slightest hesitation. So as to stop his own cutsleeve story from updating, he said indifferently, “Ye Mingjun is a newly admitted guest to the Shrine. He practices beyond the world all year round, so he does not understand common courtesies, this one hopes that the Demon Lord will not blame him.”
“Am I just that to you?”
Ye Mingjun expressed his complete dissatisfaction at his role as a guest.
What else do you want? You don’t even know what love is, and you want to talk about romance?!
Although he criticized inwardly, after taking into consideration the consequences of Ye Mingjun doing something wayward, Ji Mo helplessly tacked on, “And a good friend of mine.”
The moment he said those words, Chang Hui, who would never let go of an opportunity to taunt an author, said coolly, “I can see that the two of you are very intimate with each other, to the point of sitting at the same seat, even casting the High Priest to the side.”
Very intimate with each other? He liked those words!
Blinking a little happily, Ye Mingjun recalled that he had to return a polite greeting after being praised, and responded amicably, “Your words are truly pleasant to the ear.”
“…”
Unexpectedly, Chang Hui fell silent after receiving Ye Mingjun’s earnest look. He started to reflect on this serious question, had he been praising him earlier? Had some sort of mystical force distorted his sarcastic tone?
No one understood the blows delivered by Ye Mingjun’s devastating sensibility more than Ji Mo, and after casting Chang Hui a sympathetic glance, an idea suddenly flashed across his mind, and so he replied without turning a hair, “Ye Mingjun has some origins relating to Brilliant Moon; we are also considered friends of the same homeland.”
Someone involved with Brilliant Moon and had come from the same place as Ji Mo, was it possible that this was Brilliant Moon’s god?
At this thought, the three Celestials were inevitably surprised, especially Chang Hui, who had thoroughly investigated Ye Mingjun before this.
In the past, Ji Mo had escorted plenty of Celestials, but never had there been someone like Ye Mingjun who was very closely associated or even lived together with him. Moreover, on the next day after Ye Mingjun had come to the Shrine, Ji Mo brought him over to meet Brilliant Moon. The Monster King had also delivered a letter to Brilliant Moon, but no reply was given, was it because…
Observing their expressions, Ji Mo knew that he had succeeded in steering their line of thought.
Among the three Celestials, Chang Hui’s expression was the most troubled; Su Ge was mostly pleasantly surprised, as Ye Mingjun suited his impression of god more than Ji Mo; as for Ye Junhou, he who hadn’t quite believed that the gods would be ordinary authors was quicker to accept this piece of information than the others.
As a transmigrator protagonist, Ye Junhou didn’t bear that much ill-will towards the authors, since he could guess to a certain extent that his cheats had been given to him by his god. Besides, Dark Black liked vengeful protagonists, and had never been equivocal in meeting his protagonists’ desires. When all was said and done, no one would hate a dad who assisted him in dominating the world and gifted him a harem of 3000 women.
Nowadays, eight out of ten protagonists were transmigrators, and from the very start, Ji Mo had been unable to ascertain if these protagonists who claimed to come from the present world was the same kind as him, until he discovered a way to determine it.
Firstly, the names of bigwigs in real life definitely wouldn’t appear in novels, so there wasn’t any information about them in the Celestials’ memories.
Secondly, due to copyright problems, an author would not mention other novels in their own story, but it wasn’t impossible for them to know a few classic titles that had gotten so popular they were adapted into films.
Apart from all these, there were also plenty of taboo words and phrases that only an author would know, and on that basis, Ji Mo was finally certain after testing them in every possible way that he and the other Celestials had come from different worlds.
Ji Mo had also suspected himself of being a Celestial whose character was an author, but the Monster King’s existence had negated this conjecture.
He remembered every little thing he had written into his book, and he could even recall how many misspellings he had corrected when he closed his eyes. To create a character to such detail, the author must have been really bored.
However, it would be best if his guess was wrong. After all, reality had always been cruel, and only a novel would receive a happy ending.
Ji Mo’s line of thinking was— Since the Celestials have found a way to summon the authors, I’ll use false information to confuse their perception and let them think that all gods are as tough as Ye Mingjun.
Just like how a son would not doubt his father’s might as a child, it was easy for the protagonists to believe that the authors were stronger than them, and this misconception would allow him some time to uncover the truth.
Ji Mo had found out from Ye Mingjun that Su Ge already had the cultivation on par with the immortals, and while it couldn’t be compared to ancient artifacts like Ye Mingjun, he was able to surpass the human cultivators in the real world. This level of cultivation could not possibly be brought to creation by an ordinary human.
There was a secret at the back of the Celestials. For instance, if there was a powerful immortal just like Ye Mingjun, who had blended into modern society and transformed the novel protagonists into reality for some particular reason…
“I heard rumors of two of you going in and out of each others’ rooms, frequently cuddling up to each other. You can’t possibly convince me that you’re purely friends from the same homeland, can you?”
Just when a terrifying guess popped up in Ji Mo’s mind, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Chang Hui’s abrupt question, and helplessly looked over.
Alright then, even if there was a mastermind behind this, they had been the ones to personally write the massacre of the protagonist’s family, and a single word hadn’t deviated from canon. Why hadn’t this mastermind switched his occupation to a scriptwriter, rescuing all these storylines?
This conjecture still needed some investigation, and yet, the banquet was still going on. While Ji Mo wanted to find a secluded spot to collect his thoughts, he could only deal with it and answered, “Ye Mingjun is handsome, with elegant bearings and an extraordinary grace, I found him simply irresistible at our first meeting.”
Ye Mingjun was completely unable to understand the innumerable twists and turns of Ji Mo’s mind, but this did not stop him from feeling happy because of these words.
He had gotten used to all sorts of flattery in the past, but when these words were spoken by Ji Mo, it gave rise to a rare sense of achievement in him. Looks like Ji Mo had been right, that the harder it was to gain something, the more valuable it was.
Thinking of this, Ye Mingjun finally changed his outlook on the existence of banquets. If banquets could make Ji Mo like him so, he wouldn’t mind attending a few more of these.
The information everyone had received was more than they had imagined this time around, and all parties were slightly unable to sit still. Ji Mo especially was itching to verify the possibilities of his guess with Ye Mingjun, and said to Su Ge, “High Priest, Ji Mo cannot hold his liquor, please allow me to take an early leave.”
Yet Chang Hui, who had just received new information, didn’t seem like he’d let go of him easily, and said blandly, “If memory serves me right, you have yet to take a single sip of alcohol.”
Brother, I know you’ve always been a very serious guy, but you don’t need to pay so much attention to me!
Ji Mo had gained a deep understanding of Chang Hui’s meticulousness back at the Shrine, and knowing that a common excuse wouldn’t hold him down, he thought he might as well go for it and pulled Ye Mingjun up with a smile, “The moon is too beautiful tonight, it just makes me want to cut my sleeves, we’ll return in a short while.”
This reason was just too brutal; it caused everyone on the scene to stare blankly at him. Looking on as the two hurriedly left with their hands held together, the three Celestials couldn’t help but let their imaginations run wild.
So this was how gods got along with each other?
Come to think of it, they had yet to meet any female Celestials in this world… So, what purpose did these gay gods have for gathering them here?
What a terrifying thought…
TL Notes
[1]
‘tanhua lang’ – 探花郎; Title given to those who received third graduate/place in the imperial examinations in Ancient China.
Originally posted on RBKTR Translations.
Author: The One Who Tells Stories Under the Bridge (天桥底下说书的).
Translated by: Yujuan
It wasn’t that Ji Mo couldn’t understand Chang Hui’s ill-will towards authors. Unlike most Celestials, the novel that he had originated from, Powerful Minister, was a book whose intrinsic quality was focused on officialdom struggles and trickery regardless of the popular fantasy element added to it.
It is hard for a jade tree to gaze admiringly upon itself, and so the branches of the sweet osmanthus reach out toward the imperial court.
Millions upon millions of fine jade pearls in the region south of the Yangtze River, none of whom can compare to the Chang Family’s tanhua lang[1].
Powerful Minister began with this folk doggerel, depicting the court newman Chang Hui’s respectable past. Yet, not even three chapters had passed before he was sentenced to prison for participating in a political reform, ushering in an unforeseen event that would change his entire life.
“Son, your father does not blame you. I only blame myself for teaching you how to be an upright person, but did not have the heart to teach you how to be an official.”
After leaving him with these brief last words, Chang Hui’s father, a senior statesman, spent the very night writing up a petition to take responsibility for all charges before hanging himself. At long last, Chang Hui received the emperor’s decree for pardon.
After his father’s death and finally realizing the dark side of officialdom, the downhearted Chang Hui returned to his home village with his wife. Yet, there were still people unwilling to let him off, dispatching an assassin after him. In the end, Chang Hui’s entire family was met with a tragic death under the assassin’s blade, leaving him the only survivor due to a treasure handed down in his family, and he concealed his identity, waiting for an opportunity to take his revenge.
From then on, no longer was there the jade-like gentleman assistant minister Chang, only the powerful minister Chang Hui, who coerced the emperor and manipulated the affairs of state every step of the way.
If there wasn’t such a large disparity between his armed strength and the others, the current five rulers might not be able to defeat one Chang Hui in the sole terms of intrigue. In addition, this person was steadfast, and his only pursuit in life was his work. The moment he took a seat behind his office desk, he emanated the energy of someone about to die from overwork.
So even though, in the past, there was a limit to Su Ge’s cultivation, with Chang Hui assuming personal command, Ji Mo had never worried about the Godly Continent’s future. But who knew that the Monster King who had stayed put for three years would suddenly inform Chang Hui of the truth, turning the Shrine’s most secure backer into his enemy.
Ji Mo had already heard of the Monster King investigating the truth of the Celestials’ emergence, and he had probably had some kind of major breakthrough to make such a big move, but his character should be a meek animal who stayed quietly at home munching on grass as long as he wasn’t being bullied, was it possible that something had happened to turn him OOC again?
Mm, the word ‘again’ really made his stomach hurt…
While contemplating the origins of this current misfortune, Ji Mo momentarily forgot to respond to Ye Junhou, causing the Demon Lord to speak out again in displeasure, “Morning Star Priest, I merely wanted to invite you to the Dark Capital, was there a need to frighten my child?”
With Ji Mo’s bidding in mind, Ye Mingjun wasn’t originally intending to speak out, but seeing as Ji Mo didn’t seem to want to answer Ye Junhou, he protested discontentedly after thinking for a bit, “I’m very gentle.”
This really was the truth; strictly speaking, he hadn’t used a single harmful technique, and that couldn’t even be considered a fight to the immortals.
Ye Junhou had been secretly watching Ye Mingjun ever since he entered the hall, but unfortunately he paid no one attention apart from Ji Mo. Seeing him open his mouth on his own accord, he took the opportunity to probe, “You’re that white-robed Celestial with immeasurable power my son told me about? Are you interested in giving a demonstration of your skills?”
Ye Junhou had just broken through a bottleneck this year, and thought that his strength surpassed Su Ge by a large margin; from his observation, this person’s cultivation was equally matched with Su Ge’s, but for some reason, he gave off an inexplicable feeling, the vitality that ran through him very unlike the other Celestials.
In terms of aura, this person was slightly similar to Ji Mo, though there was a wide gap between their strengths.
This subtle difference in aura could only be detected by those of his cultivation level. While Ye Junhou had received the Monster King’s letter, as someone who was a transmigrator in his novel and had some understanding of the real world, he had been slightly skeptical. He had originally planned on capturing Ji Mo to verify it, but was slightly believing now that he had met Ye Mingjun.
Ye Mingjun couldn’t read his mind, but he wasn’t very interested in challenges, and so he refused decisively, “I don’t like fighting people, love and romance suits me more.”
The purpose of his birth was to guide the immortals in search for the Way of Heaven and purify the world. In terms of fighting ability, he wasn’t as powerful as the Abyss Dagger-Axe of Heaven and Earth or the Diorama of Civilization, although the ones who had chosen to self-destruct after entering the peaceful era were these two ancient artifacts who would never have the chance to enter the battlefield ever again.
No, you’re absolutely unsuited for love and romance, don’t believe in your own misconception.
Ji Mo didn’t know much about Ye Mingjun’s fighting capabilities, but he had been treated to the entire process of the immortal’s courting skills, so he gave him zero marks without the slightest hesitation. So as to stop his own cutsleeve story from updating, he said indifferently, “Ye Mingjun is a newly admitted guest to the Shrine. He practices beyond the world all year round, so he does not understand common courtesies, this one hopes that the Demon Lord will not blame him.”
“Am I just that to you?”
Ye Mingjun expressed his complete dissatisfaction at his role as a guest.
What else do you want? You don’t even know what love is, and you want to talk about romance?!
Although he criticized inwardly, after taking into consideration the consequences of Ye Mingjun doing something wayward, Ji Mo helplessly tacked on, “And a good friend of mine.”
The moment he said those words, Chang Hui, who would never let go of an opportunity to taunt an author, said coolly, “I can see that the two of you are very intimate with each other, to the point of sitting at the same seat, even casting the High Priest to the side.”
Very intimate with each other? He liked those words!
Blinking a little happily, Ye Mingjun recalled that he had to return a polite greeting after being praised, and responded amicably, “Your words are truly pleasant to the ear.”
“…”
Unexpectedly, Chang Hui fell silent after receiving Ye Mingjun’s earnest look. He started to reflect on this serious question, had he been praising him earlier? Had some sort of mystical force distorted his sarcastic tone?
No one understood the blows delivered by Ye Mingjun’s devastating sensibility more than Ji Mo, and after casting Chang Hui a sympathetic glance, an idea suddenly flashed across his mind, and so he replied without turning a hair, “Ye Mingjun has some origins relating to Brilliant Moon; we are also considered friends of the same homeland.”
Someone involved with Brilliant Moon and had come from the same place as Ji Mo, was it possible that this was Brilliant Moon’s god?
At this thought, the three Celestials were inevitably surprised, especially Chang Hui, who had thoroughly investigated Ye Mingjun before this.
In the past, Ji Mo had escorted plenty of Celestials, but never had there been someone like Ye Mingjun who was very closely associated or even lived together with him. Moreover, on the next day after Ye Mingjun had come to the Shrine, Ji Mo brought him over to meet Brilliant Moon. The Monster King had also delivered a letter to Brilliant Moon, but no reply was given, was it because…
Observing their expressions, Ji Mo knew that he had succeeded in steering their line of thought.
Among the three Celestials, Chang Hui’s expression was the most troubled; Su Ge was mostly pleasantly surprised, as Ye Mingjun suited his impression of god more than Ji Mo; as for Ye Junhou, he who hadn’t quite believed that the gods would be ordinary authors was quicker to accept this piece of information than the others.
As a transmigrator protagonist, Ye Junhou didn’t bear that much ill-will towards the authors, since he could guess to a certain extent that his cheats had been given to him by his god. Besides, Dark Black liked vengeful protagonists, and had never been equivocal in meeting his protagonists’ desires. When all was said and done, no one would hate a dad who assisted him in dominating the world and gifted him a harem of 3000 women.
Nowadays, eight out of ten protagonists were transmigrators, and from the very start, Ji Mo had been unable to ascertain if these protagonists who claimed to come from the present world was the same kind as him, until he discovered a way to determine it.
Firstly, the names of bigwigs in real life definitely wouldn’t appear in novels, so there wasn’t any information about them in the Celestials’ memories.
Secondly, due to copyright problems, an author would not mention other novels in their own story, but it wasn’t impossible for them to know a few classic titles that had gotten so popular they were adapted into films.
Apart from all these, there were also plenty of taboo words and phrases that only an author would know, and on that basis, Ji Mo was finally certain after testing them in every possible way that he and the other Celestials had come from different worlds.
Ji Mo had also suspected himself of being a Celestial whose character was an author, but the Monster King’s existence had negated this conjecture.
He remembered every little thing he had written into his book, and he could even recall how many misspellings he had corrected when he closed his eyes. To create a character to such detail, the author must have been really bored.
However, it would be best if his guess was wrong. After all, reality had always been cruel, and only a novel would receive a happy ending.
Ji Mo’s line of thinking was— Since the Celestials have found a way to summon the authors, I’ll use false information to confuse their perception and let them think that all gods are as tough as Ye Mingjun.
Just like how a son would not doubt his father’s might as a child, it was easy for the protagonists to believe that the authors were stronger than them, and this misconception would allow him some time to uncover the truth.
Ji Mo had found out from Ye Mingjun that Su Ge already had the cultivation on par with the immortals, and while it couldn’t be compared to ancient artifacts like Ye Mingjun, he was able to surpass the human cultivators in the real world. This level of cultivation could not possibly be brought to creation by an ordinary human.
There was a secret at the back of the Celestials. For instance, if there was a powerful immortal just like Ye Mingjun, who had blended into modern society and transformed the novel protagonists into reality for some particular reason…
“I heard rumors of two of you going in and out of each others’ rooms, frequently cuddling up to each other. You can’t possibly convince me that you’re purely friends from the same homeland, can you?”
Just when a terrifying guess popped up in Ji Mo’s mind, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Chang Hui’s abrupt question, and helplessly looked over.
Alright then, even if there was a mastermind behind this, they had been the ones to personally write the massacre of the protagonist’s family, and a single word hadn’t deviated from canon. Why hadn’t this mastermind switched his occupation to a scriptwriter, rescuing all these storylines?
This conjecture still needed some investigation, and yet, the banquet was still going on. While Ji Mo wanted to find a secluded spot to collect his thoughts, he could only deal with it and answered, “Ye Mingjun is handsome, with elegant bearings and an extraordinary grace, I found him simply irresistible at our first meeting.”
Ye Mingjun was completely unable to understand the innumerable twists and turns of Ji Mo’s mind, but this did not stop him from feeling happy because of these words.
He had gotten used to all sorts of flattery in the past, but when these words were spoken by Ji Mo, it gave rise to a rare sense of achievement in him. Looks like Ji Mo had been right, that the harder it was to gain something, the more valuable it was.
Thinking of this, Ye Mingjun finally changed his outlook on the existence of banquets. If banquets could make Ji Mo like him so, he wouldn’t mind attending a few more of these.
The information everyone had received was more than they had imagined this time around, and all parties were slightly unable to sit still. Ji Mo especially was itching to verify the possibilities of his guess with Ye Mingjun, and said to Su Ge, “High Priest, Ji Mo cannot hold his liquor, please allow me to take an early leave.”
Yet Chang Hui, who had just received new information, didn’t seem like he’d let go of him easily, and said blandly, “If memory serves me right, you have yet to take a single sip of alcohol.”
Brother, I know you’ve always been a very serious guy, but you don’t need to pay so much attention to me!
Ji Mo had gained a deep understanding of Chang Hui’s meticulousness back at the Shrine, and knowing that a common excuse wouldn’t hold him down, he thought he might as well go for it and pulled Ye Mingjun up with a smile, “The moon is too beautiful tonight, it just makes me want to cut my sleeves, we’ll return in a short while.”
This reason was just too brutal; it caused everyone on the scene to stare blankly at him. Looking on as the two hurriedly left with their hands held together, the three Celestials couldn’t help but let their imaginations run wild.
So this was how gods got along with each other?
Come to think of it, they had yet to meet any female Celestials in this world… So, what purpose did these gay gods have for gathering them here?
What a terrifying thought…
TL Notes
[1]
‘tanhua lang’ – 探花郎; Title given to those who received third graduate/place in the imperial examinations in Ancient China.