About the translations

Support the author

The novel translated on this site is written by Zhou Munan (周木楠) and published by 不可能的世界. The translations are posted without the permission of the author nor the publisher and is intended to help other fans understand the story.

Please support the author by purchasing the original novel on 8kana. Alternatively, you can purchase the physical copies of the books, which are published in Simplified Chinese only. Unfortunately, I don't have time to write a guide on how to purchase the web novel or hard copies so if any other kind soul would like to help, please let me know.

Reposting of translations

Please do not repost my translations or make copies of them. I did this for my own interest and I don't think the translations are very good. Therefore, I would also discourage anyone from further translating them into other languages.

Absolutely do not repost or use my translations for profit in anyway. That would make me very upset. If you would like to support these translations, please support the author.

[Update 27 Feb 2022] Because there's a site reposting my translations, the Book 4 index has been removed and the 10-chapter translations on Google Docs will no longer be shared. I know this won't stop them from copying but at least I don't have to do extra work of sharing and linking the document. [Update Jan 2023] Have added the Book 4 index back and access to the Google Docs. Please do not request for edit access. It just spams my mailbox.

Accuracy of translations

This is the first time I’ve translated anything from Chinese to English so if parts of it doesn’t read right, you can leave your feedback and I’ll improve. Some parts of the novel are very difficult for me to translate, especially the following aspects:

Martial arts – names of everything from sword moves, sabre moves, fists and finger techniques, medicine names, poisons, mythical animals, weapon names and so on. Some are poetic in nature, so they're even harder to translate. Others just sound very lame in English. I’m willing to take any suggestions.
Daoism or Buddhism – I have never in my life done so much research about Daoism / Buddhism so if anything is wrong or misunderstood, please feel free to help.
Traditional Chinese Medicine - Argh. I have no background in TCM and everything translated comes from online research. Obviously, don't use any of the medical advice (not that they're applicable) and if you'd like to suggest corrections, please help.
Poetry – I can’t understand poems in English, much less in Chinese. I gave up looking for English translations of obscure poems so almost all the poetry is translated (badly) by me. I’ve researched as much as I can so if anything is wrong or misunderstood, please correct me. Instead of inundating the text with footnotes, I’ve left all poetry notes to the end of the chapters where they appear.

For other questions regarding translation choices, please refer to the translation notes.

Why did you translate chapters that were already translated? Why didn't you start the translations from Chapter 1?

Like many other fans, I started reading the novel because of Season 1 of the animation. At the time, we were fortunate enough to have a translator who started translating the novel. Unfortunately, the translations stalled at Chapter 59 so around Nov 2019, I started translating from Chapter 71, reason being that there is a natural break in the story there. When I finished translating the second arc (Chapter 194) in May 2021, the original translator never continued so I decided to translate Chapters 60-70, not realising that someone else actually continued. But, the second translator also stopped after a while.

As I continued translating the third arc, Season 2 of the animation was announced to begin soon. After the first sixteen episodes aired, which corresponds to Chapters 28-66 of the novel, I decided to translate those earlier chapters as well. As of this writing (Nov 2021), it's been two years since I started translating this novel. I still love it and Season 2 made me fall in love with it even more. Hence, I will definitely finish translating the novel and updates will be regular for as long as I can manage it.

As for why I didn't translate Chapters 1-27, I really think the original translator did an excellent job and in fact, I think their translation of Chapters 28-59 are also better than mine. Secondly, that storyline was completely adapted in Season 1 of the animation and I don't really want to read it again. Maybe after I finish translating the novel and have time, I'll consider it again.

Some translated terms are not consistent. Can you fix them?

If they are terms that appear in Chapter 1-27, I am not responsible for those translations and cannot change them. I've kept most terms that appear from Chapter 28 onwards consistent with the translations from the earlier chapters unless I believe a more accurate translation is required. This is my choice so do not blame other translators for their choices. I have tried to avoid inconsistencies after Chapter 28... but if it does happen, see next point.

There's a typo / mistake in your translation...

That's bound to happen. If you'd be so kind, please let me know which chapter and where and I'll correct it. You can contact me using the form below.

References and Sources:

Immortal Mountain – useful reference for many of the words commonly found in wuxia novels.
Wuxia Glossary – also contains many helpful references as well as a guide to all things popularised in wuxia drama and novels.
Soul Land Wiki | Tang Sect – names of the Tang Sect’s hidden weapons were borrowed from these translations.
TCM Wiki and Yin Yang House – help with names and locations of acupoints because of course this novel has detailed medical treatment too.
Dao Info and Wikipedia – help with concepts and translations of many Daoist terms.
Chinese-English Dictionary of Ming Government Official Titles, by Zhang Ying et al. and A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, by Charles O. Hucker.
And many, many, many other sources in Chinese for help with the poetry.