Like I had said previously, this series of posts is not meant to be a complete translation of the novel but just to share some of my favorite scenes and allow me to make some comparisons between the novel and the drama.
Prologue
****** summary******
The story opens with our heroine (title- Lord Bicang, name- Shen Li) being pursued by demon soldiers on the orders of the demon emperor to take her back to the demon realm so she can get married to Fu Rong Ju, a god of the heavenly realm. During the confrontation, Shen Li was severely wounded by one of the demon soldiers, Mo Fan. (Mo Fan is our second male lead so this is an important name to remember.) At first angry that her trusted right-hand man would want to kill her, Shen Li quickly realized Mo Fan was trying to create an opportunity for her escape when he purposefully wounded himself as well.
Our heroine is a demon warrior lord. Despite her gender, she is a powerful general who has earned the loyalty and the love of her soldiers.
*******end summary*******
First Chapter
Black clouds suddenly came as if it was intent on destroying the city, thunders rolling in the clouds, causing everyone in the town to shut themselves in except the owner of a very ordinary-looking house who pushed open the door of his backyard. The bamboos and the vine walls in the backyard shook in the wind, his hair and clothes fluttered like the falling bamboo leaves that danced in the wind.
“The weather…has gotten worse.” The corner of his lips raised slightly as he raised his head to look at the sky, only to see at the edge of the black clouds there is a small silver light slowly falling down, disappearing among the mountains outside the city. “Looks like something has changed.”
The next day, Xing Zhi (our hero) walked through the busy market. There seemed to be a voice calling to him in the noisy background of the lively market, causing his footstep to pause. “Selling chickens, fat chickens!” The vendor’s hollering voice was particularly loud in his ears. With a turn on his heels, he walked towards the vendor’s direction.
In the chicken basket, dozens of chickens were crowded inside, one of them, a hairless chicken, is particularly eye-catching. However, its energy seemed extremely low, with its head drooping, looking as if it would die at any time. Xing Zhi stared at it intently for a long time before he finally said with a smile, “I want this one.”
The vendor replied, “Ah, this chicken is too ugly, if you want it, then I will give it to you at a cheaper price…”
“No need.” Xing Zhi took out the money and put it into the vendor’s hand, “It’s worth this price. If it’s sold too cheaply, then it won’t be happy.”
Would a chicken get angry? The vendor scratched his head and watched the man walk farther and farther away. He finally opened his palm and stared blinking for a long moment before suddenly yelling “Hey! Sir, the money you gave is not enough to buy that chicken…Hey! Sir! Ah! Hey! You little jerk, stop right there! You didn’t give enough money!”
But Xing Zhi was already long gone.
The world was in chaos, in a daze, Shen Li saw a bearded burly man walking towards her, grabbed her, and smiled evilly.
“You with dog-like guts! Let go of me!” Her skin was covered with burning pain, she struggled desperately and tried her best to escape but she was still too weak. Her arms were twisted from behind, her legs tied, and then…
Her feathers were completely plucked!
The damn thing! If he has the guts to untie her and fight, she will definitely take out this mortal’s ignorant eyes!
Waking up from the nightmare, Shen Li breathed heavily, and after a long while was finally able to slowly raise her head from the grassy ground to look around. This seemed to be some household’s backyard. There was a small pond made of stones, a grapevine with young sprouts, and a bamboo rocking chair under the grapevine. On top of the rocking chair, there was a man lying lazily on it. It wasn’t the burley hunter or the vulgar-looking chicken vendor but a man in green and white clothes. The man had his eyes closed, allowing the grapevine-filtered dappled sunlight to fall on him.
Shen Li was stunned momentarily. Even though she has seen many beautiful men, but one who possessed such an exceptional aurora…that’s probably rare even among the immortals in the heavenly realms… Shen Li looked away, she had no time to indulge in beauty. Shen Lin knew that if she stayed in one place for too long, then someone was bound to find her so she had to leave quickly….
“Ah, you are up?” Before Shen Li got up, she heard the man’s slightly hoarse voice that indicated he had just woken up, “I had thought it would die.”
Shen Li turned her head to look at him, only to see the man sitting on the rocking chair, not moving his body an inch as he flashed a smile at her before casually throwing the crumbs of the steamed bun in his hand toward her direction while making the chicken teasing noise with his mouth, “Ge Ge da.”
Tease…teasing chicken!
Shen Li froze in that very instant. Her true form is a phoenix but she has been in the human form since birth and was born with the ancient treasure of Jade Sea Pearl in her mouth. She had garnered much attention since young. After her very first victory on the battlefield at 500 years old, the demon emperor gave her the title of Lord Bicang. Since then, she has only been receiving honors nonstop. In all demon realm, who dares to treat her with any slight? But today…her, the toughest fighter of the demon realm would be teased like a common household poultry by a mortal! This is an unspeakable shame!
Shen Li gritted her teeth and tried with all her might to stand up but who knew the sword wound Mo Fan had thrust near her heart would be so severe to the point that she still couldn’t move. She lay on the ground and twitched for a good while, feeling furious and helpless at the same time. She looked up, the man’s eyebrows arched, and waved at her again, “Chicken, come. Chicken, come.”
Come #$%@! Shen Li lurched up furiously but only fluttered up about one foot before falling down to the ground hard. Her beak just happened to pierce a steamed bun crumb when it hit the ground.
“No rush, no rush. There’s more here.” The man said, went into the house, brought out a big steamed bun, crouched down in front of her, and handed it toward her with a gentle smile, “Here.”
Who wants your charity?! Shen Li gritted her teeth angrily, but there was nothing she could do under the circumstances so she could only close her eyes, poked a hole in the ground with her beak, and stuffed her head inside, wishing she could bury herself inside and just die.
The man stared at her bald head, the corner of his lips raised as he said with a laugh, “You don’t want to eat? Then let’s take a bath first.” After saying that, he grabbed her wings and carried her toward the direction of the pond.
Hey…wait! What’s going on? Bath? Who said anything about a bath! You useless jerk! Let go of me! When I return to the Demon Realm, I will order them to wipe out your whole clan! If you dare to touch one single feather me! One single feather….
Shen Li stared blankly at her own reflection in the pound…there really was not a single feather left…
Yesterday, when she turned to her true form after being stabbed by Mo Fang, fell into the forest mountain, and was picked up by a hunter, she knew then that her body full of golden feathers had been plucked. But who could’ve imagined that the hunter was so skilled with his plucking?! She looks like he might as well have dunked her in boiling water! There is not a single feather on her whole body! Not a single one! How on earth was he able to do it?! Shen Li wants to cry! She suddenly remembered not too long ago she had laughed at a certain balding court officials. She was foolish and didn’t understand at the time why he would cry but now she wants to tear the her back then into pieces. Her bad mouth had caused the karma to come back to her today.
“Time for a bath.” Before Shen Li could wallow in the sorrow of her current appearance, the man suddenly flicked his hand and threw her into the pond.
As soon as Shen Lin fell in, she choked on a few mouthfuls of water. The desire to survive made her two featherless wings flap non-stop. The man was laughing at her cowardice at first but seeing how she was struggling desperately, he frowned and asked with some consternation “Eh? You don’t know how to swim?”
Have you seen a chicken who knows how to swim?! How ignorant of common sense can you be!
Being seriously injured and with no spiritual power in her right now, her strength was soon completely gone after struggling desperately for a while. Just when she thought she would finally die at a mortal’s joking play, a bamboo pole suddenly swept across the water and lifted her up. The man squatted down and pressed her featherless chest half heartily, “Keep breathing, don’t stop, then you can keep living.”
Her soaking-wet body twitched uncontrollably. Before she fell unconscious, Shen Li glared at him: This guy must be torturing her on purpose, right? It’s definitely intentional!
Seeing Shen Li eyes roll back and pass out, the man just smiled faintly, poked at her bald forehead, and said, “One has to be polite. My name is Xingyun, I am not some guy.”
Some translation notes: Every time Shen Li refers to herself here, she always uses the “I” that a titled lord would use. Kind of like when people refer to emperors they are supposed to use “Your Majesty”, so those with titles have special forms of “I” they use depending on their title. The use of the special titled “I” is useful in novels because it often shows the character’s feelings towards the person they are speaking to. The less intimate the relationship, the more often the special “I” would be used. As far as I know, I don’t think there is an equivalent in English so I have been just using the word “I”. (You would see this in all novels and shows set in ancient times but of course the translators don’t usually have an opportunity to explain which “I” the character is using.)
The I our hero used in the last sentence is also not a common “I” but one that suggests he might have an ancient and important background.
I understand there are probably good reasons the drama chose to keep the feathers on our heroine’s “chicken” form, but you guys have to admit that the imagery of a featherless chicken flapping around is a lot more amusing.
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Genuine translation like usual ..
I think you mean 臣 as to address oneself in a form of respect ..right ?
The opening seems appealing, it indeed stirs curiousity.
Thank you Dear @Ninja
Yep, you are correct on the use of 臣.
I found your post today and enjoyed the commentary. Currently I am watching the movie on You Tube. Where can I purchase the novel with an English Edition?
I am not sure there is an English translation out in novel form. I am assuming if you search around though you should be able to find English translation online of the novel.