Hello everyone. It has been a while. I'm not sure how well this next story will turn out but I'll have another go at translation while juggling the challenges of everyday life. (Hint: Reorgs. Why do we keep moving people around every 2-4 years when this is more disruptive and irritating than having a pimple on the nose?)
Anyway, back to this story "Nan Man Jin Lang" () which translates to "Mr Jin of the Wild South", it is written by Taiwanese author Lei En Na (Leonna?) and is a short Wu Xia story mixed with some magic mojo. The male lead is a black-bellied sorcerer called Feng Jin who was called out of his isolated shell when a righteous, honorable swordswoman Shang Guan Jing barged into his life.
Like Zhou Wen Wu in my last translation, Feng Jin is an anti-hero. I don't even like him half the time but I like the plot and if it means Feng Jin gets to eat dirt from time to time, it should be quite an interesting read. At least the beginning is interesting. Read on and see if you agree.
Chapter 1 (part 1 of 2)
High above at the peaks of Ling Feng, a beam of sunlight cuts through the sea of perpetual clouds that shroud the mountain peaks in a misty cocoon.
A woman cut weightlessly through the air, lead in hand by a man who guides the both of them to land at a rocky ledge. He has spotted a yellow flower growing on the ledge - a cheery spot of colour amidst he barren landscape - from where they were standing just now and has leaped to where the flower grows. Some rocks loosen beneath his weight and rubles downwards towards a ravine several thousand feet below, too far for human eyes to see. Worried that he may fall, the woman pales and quickly wraps her arms securely around his waist. "Er Shi Ge!*"
Her action effectively buries her face in his warm chest and she can feel his unmistakable laughter as he picks the flower from its rocky home before tucking it firmly around her hair knot at the back of her head. "You look lovely."
A flush replaces her pale cheeks and she is at a loss of what to say. She pushes herself away from his warm embrace but can still feel his warmth emitting from his big hands that has moved to wrap her smaller hands in his while he looks down adoringly at her. As she lost herself at the sight of his familiar face, she can feel her world spinning into a fuzzy daze….
******
Shaking her dizzy head, Shang Guan Jing realizes too late that she has lingered too long in the forest.
With towering trees that stretch like giant pillars towards the sky, broad leaves growing from their sturdy branches, the dense vegetation of the tropical forest has blocked most of the strong sunlight from reaching the forest floor which is covered with roots and grass. She can hear her own footsteps as her feet crunches on the dried leaves on the forest floor and groans inwardly. Her qinggong is considered excellent and when it has deteriorated to the point when she can hear her own footsteps, she must be in pretty bad condition.
She must have inhaled some poisonous gasses just now despite being careful to breathe lightly when entering the forest. Teacher has warned her before about the poisonous gasses that exist in the tropical forest of Nan Man (Wild South) but apparently, she has not been alert enough. Right now, she is starting to feel nauseous on top of being giddy.
Fighting the urge to throw up, she tries to regulate her breathing and wills herself to move forward. As she crosses a rocky patch of forest covered with molasses, she suddenly hears voices.
People! She may be able to seek their help!
She stumbles towards the sounds and spots them first before they spotted her. From her position from behind a tree, she sees several men, all with swords at their hips. They are circling a man dressed in white and her guts instinct tell her that something is wrong and she quickly moves a step back to stay hidden.
As she fights off another dizzy spell, she can hear their voices clearly this time.
"Good looking. Very good looking. Come closer now, pretty boy. Don't be afraid…"
"Yes, yes. Don't be afraid. Come over to me because I have a treat for you…."
"Who cares about your treat? I have my own 'delicious' treat which is bigger and more fragrant than yours. And hotter, harder too. Come here….. come on, open your mouth. You will like it, don't be afraid….."
By now, Shang Guan Jing is certain that her instincts are correct. There is something wrong with the scene, something wrong in the air and these men – no beasts! – have loosened their belts and pants as they sprout their lewd nonsense. When they reach out in tandem to touch the hardness between their legs, she figures she has enough of their filth.
Dully, she takes stock of her heavy movements, dizzy brain and knows that she cannot last long. But she should still have a good chance to take down these men even then and save the man from humiliation. Even if she dies trying, it would not be too high a price if she can rescue the man.
It would be a pity that she cannot complete the mission entrusted by Teacher before she died, but given the circumstances, Teacher would probably forgive her ineptness since she died trying to maintain righteousness in the world?
Taking out some coins from her sleeve pocket, she takes aim and sends them flying towards the lewd crowd. The force of her coins can probably punch holes through these beasts on normal days but in her weakened state, her coins only hit their head, chest and backs without causing any damage.
"Come over, don't be afraid. Let me feed you something good…."
"I have the 'good stuff' too. Be good and come over here. Good, open your mouth…"
As the men continued undeterred, Shang Guan Jing is stunned. Even if the force of her coins is not enough to kill the scoundrels outright, surely the coins should at least have caused some damage? Enough for the men to pause in their debauchery and at least look around at what hit them? But the men continued as if her coins have never hit them, or possessed, before freezing in unison.
Shang Guan Jing cannot find a reason for their strange behavior but neither can she afford to waste any more time if she wants to save the man in white. Pushing herself away from her tree, she draws her sword. "Stop!"
She is hit by another wave of dizziness so strong that her knees nearly crumbled. She has this weird notion that she has just stepped into another dimension – a world that exist in this world but yet exist out of it – but that there is naught she can do now except be swallowed by its darkness.
Vaguely, she remembers Teacher telling her about the enchantment that also exists in the tropical forests of Nan Man. Despite having travelled in the pugilist by herself for 2 years, it seems like she is not that street smart afterall to have fallen into today's trap. Too late … too late … … too late … …
She has no strength to even struggle but it feels surprisingly good to be relinquishing control. She has been fighting for too long and relaxing is one luxury that she has not allowed herself to feel in a very long time. Indeed, ever since Teacher died and everything went tipsy-turvy within their sect at Ling Feng peak, since Xiao Shi Mei** has disappeared, since her heart was torn apart… she has been so weary. But now…. now she can finally let go.
At this moment, her spirit feels so light that her soul seems to be separating from her flesh. Despite Teacher saying that she has the temperament and perseverance to hold their sect together, the bitter fight with her fellow sect members and the ardous journey to the south has drained her. She is exhausted both physically and mentally. Turning towards the sky, she can see the rays of sunlight as it filters through branches laden with green leaves. One particular ray, she notes, is so strong that it looks like a heavenly ray of light emitting from god itself. Wait …. heavenly light?
She can feel her heavy eyelids fluttering and wonders if she is going to fall asleep in the next minute. If she fell asleep, will she get to meet Teacher again? Perhaps she may even meet Er Shi Ge …. no, wait! She cannot face him! She may not be able to forget the love that they once shared, but she can and will only hate him from henceforth. This is her promise to herself and she is certain that she can do it.
"Why are you crying?"
The gently-asked question has her struggling to open her eyes once more to see who has spoken. She manages to crack open her eyes for a second and vaguely registers a lot of white. The man in white? A distant memory seeps to her mind and she gasps. "Run… away… quick… run away."
"What is going to happen to you if I leave?"
"I can save… you. I can… run… quick."
The air in the forest seems to stand still as the man in white contemplates her. "This is the first time in my life that someone is offering to save me."
Shang Guan Jing thinks he sighs but she can no longer stay conscious. The qi that she has been holding in her diaphragm dispels and her fingers lessen from her fists and straighten out limply. Seeing that she has fainted, the man eyes her curiously. This woman looks like an illusion but he is doubtful. To test his theory, he reaches out a hand to poke at her forehead.
When he is satisfied to touch a warm forehead that is obviously human, he takes a step back and observes her in greater detail. She has a slim built – skinny in fact – with finely drawn brows, a pert nose, and a pair of bloodless lips. While she cannot be considered a big beauty, she is nonetheless a pretty package, easy on the eyes. Most importantly, she is easy on his eyes.
He is displeased to see 2 tear streaks running down her face and his irritation is palpable even to his guard hiding among the trees not far away. "Yan Ying."
At the words, his guard Yan Ying comes out of hiding and leaps to his side. Although Yan Ying has been trained since young, he is still unable to keep the dizziness at bay whenever he gets too close to his employer when the latter has cast a spell around himself.
"What happened?"
The question can mean anything but Yan Ying has not been hanging around in the last decade – or been the #1 guard in their clan – for nothing. "This young lady has entered the forest from the north-eastern side about 2 hours ago. She came alone and not long after she has entered the forest, she has removed the harness from her horse and released it back into the wild."
"She released her horse? Seems like she has no intention of returning if that is the case." Although useful, this information does not explain how she has managed to enter his zone, much less with her sword drawn.
Bored, he bends down and twirls a strand of her hair between his fingers. "Not too bad, to have lasted 2 hours in this forest. Your martial arts must be fairly good. And to be able to get this close to me without alerting me… hmm, I correct myself to say that you must be Very Good in martial arts."
Letting go of her hair, he starts to frisk her body from hips to waist, to sleeves to collar, to under her collar, while Yan Ying looks on impassively. Yan Ying knows that "modesty" probably does not exist in his employer's dictionary but he is aware that he cannot save the unconscious woman from his employer's claws. Reminding himself that a true hero rises above all challenges, he forces himself to ignore his employer's actions until the latter seems to have found something, and withdraws his hand with a metal tablet in hand.
There seems to be inscriptions on the tablet but from his position, Yan Ying cannot make out what the patterns look like. He remains motionless while his employer tucks the tablet into his belt but when the man in white bends down to try to carry the unconscious woman, Yan Ying finally moves. "Feng Zhu (Master Feng), let me help…."
He has barely moved 2 steps forward when he is stopped by a chilling glare. When his employer gives him that kind of squinty glare, he can feel the goose pimples all the way to his scalp. Yan Ying reminds himself that although the lady resembles a cat being carried to the dog's litter, she did barge into this affair by her own steam and as such, must bear the consequences for her actions. He cannot save everyone but he needs to know one thing. "Feng Zhu, what do you want me to do with these men?"
'These men' naturally refers to the group of lecherous men who are standing with their pants pooling at their feet. They have been frozen in the same position for some time now, all holding their male organ in their left hand, while their right hands are lifted with their sword in the air. As he looks on at this unnatural sight, he hears a dry answer. "If you are not intending to leave, do stay around by all means."
Danger!
Yan Qing takes the hint and quickly follows his employer away from the clearing. He watches from behind as his employer presses his index and middle fingers together to form a sword gesture, before pointing them towards the sky and slashing it downwards in a swiping motion.
A killer curse, he knows, meant for the men standing behind them.
Following the rise and fall of his hand, the frozen men brought down their swords in the same cutting motion. They have no expression on their faces, no feelings whatsoever, as if the bloated male organ that they just severed is something vile that has to be removed from their bodies.
#1 secret guard or no, Yan Qing's back breaks out in cold sweat and he presses his thighs tightly together in the moment of unspoken agony. As the men raises their swords next to their necks and slit their own throats, he shudders inwardly.
This is Master Feng for you.
Killing is too good a fate for his enemies. Mutilation before killing his enemies is more his style.
Ouch.
*Er Shi Ge – senior brother from the same sect, ranked no. 2 in terms of seniority
**Xiao Shi Mei - youngest sister from the same sect