Chapter 482
Original:...
is not an original line; it's a note. But the instruction says output exactly one line per item as: 【N】
Thus translation: "Many people thought that the Plowshare Witch Sect specialized only in witchcraft, but that's not true; besides specializing in witchcraft and casting Plowshare talismans, the ** strength is not at all inferior to that of ordinary internal martial arts masters."
Check: original:... (same as 【2】)
We rendered: Many people thought that the Plowshare Witch Sect specialized only in witchcraft, but that's not true; besides specializing in witchcraft and casting Plowshare talismans, the ** strength is not at all inferior to that of ordinary internal martial arts masters.
besides specializing in witchcraft and casting Plowshare talismans
Original:...
Translate: "When people mention the word 'wu', they think of antiquity, of Chi You and the Nine Li Witch Clan defeated in the Battle of Zhuolu. Legend says the Nine Li Witch Clan had no primordial spirit and could not cultivate souls, but in ancient times their ** was tougher than any cultivator's."
We need to keep ** as is. So "their **". Good.
Original:...
Translate: "As time passes, the truth of these myths and legends can no longer be examined. But the one thing that can be certain is that the Plowshare Witch Sect has a unique body-tempering cultivation method, which is in no way inferior to the martial arts of the Daoist Sect's teachings."
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Now translate: "The seemingly extremely fierce punch of the grey-clothed Pangzi was easily caught by Yao Wenju. At the same time, Yao Wenju's mouth also emitted an ancient tone; although it was a howl, it resembled the Daoist Sect's Nine-Character True Words, possessing immeasurable might, and the sound carried an ancient aura that made my whole body instantly turn ice-cold, as if I were standing on a barbaric wilderness."
note.
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Translate: "\"Get lost! \" a fierce angry shout, Yao Wenju grabbed the grey-clothed Pangzi's fist and pushed forward, while his other free right hand clenched into a fist and heavily struck the grey-clothed Pangzi's abdomen."
note.
We'll translate: "\"Get lost! \" a fierce angry shout, Yao Wenju grabbed the grey-clothed Pangzi's fist and pushed forward, while his other free right hand clenched into a fist and heavily struck the grey-clothed Pangzi's abdomen."
Original:...
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Thus: "With a loud 'peng' sound, the grey-clothed Pangzi, at the moment of stepping back, his belly unexpectedly burst open like a scattering lotus; when he fell to the ground, inside the burst belly could clearly be seen a beast resembling a monkey yet not a monkey, with a pig's body and a snake's neck."
Original:...
note.
Thus translate: "This beast is exactly the Masked Beast; its eyes, resembling those of an owl, are tightly closed, and bright red blood trickles down from them, appearing as if it has strength to exhale but none to inhale, on the verge of dying. Its mouth still fiercely bites a piece of intestine, its body twitching rhythmically; not long after, the Masked Beast's body begins to stiffen and stops twitching, appearing to have died."
We need to keep "Masked Beast" as per glossary.
Original:...
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Translate: "I and Pangzi were stunned, unable to recover from Yao Wenju's fierce punch for a long time. Sun Miao, possibly seeing such a scene for the first time, turned pale and squatted in the corner, vomiting profusely."
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Translate: "\"These five beast souls died so easily? Impossible! \" Pangzi muttered softly, doubtful, and followed up to the corpse on the ground."
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note.
We need to keep Masked Beast.
Original:...
Translate: "Still, Yao Wenju was quicker; he stepped in front of Pangzi, facing the lunging Masked Beast, without any fear."
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Translate: "Several loud bangs sounded, like the sound of a pistol's trigger being pulled. Because I was standing behind Yao Wenju, I couldn't see the front clearly. When Yao Wenju stepped aside, I finally saw that he indeed held a pistol in his hand, the muzzle still emitting green smoke, while the Masked Beast on the ground was dead beyond death."
Original:...
Original:... (though note about quote)
We'll translate: "How could a pistol deal with demons? I was wondering in surprise, and Yao Wenju seemed to perceive my thought, turned to me, and smiled slightly, saying: \"Don't be strange; these bullets have all been refined by me, inscribed with runes, and are different from ordinary people's bullets. \""
Note we need to keep the opening quote but not closing; we can close it in translation for readability? The instruction: translate faithfully, never skip or add. The source lacks a closing quote; we should not add one. So we should keep the quote open? In English, we could start with a quote and not close it, but that looks odd. However we must not add anything not in source. The source has an opening Chinese quote mark 「」 but no closing. We could translate as: "How could a pistol deal with demons? I was wondering in surprise, and Yao Wenju seemed to perceive my thought, turned to me, and smiled slightly, saying: 「Don't be strange; these bullets have all been refined by me, inscribed with runes, and are different from ordinary people's bullets." That is, we keep the opening Chinese quote mark? But we need to output English. The instruction says to translate into natural English, not to keep Chinese punctuation. Usually we would convert Chinese quotes to English quotes. But we must not add a closing quote if source didn't have one. However the source likely omitted closing quote inadvertently; but we must not add. So we should output an opening English quote and not close it. That may be acceptable. Let's do: "How could a pistol deal with demons? I was wondering in surprise, and Yao Wenju seemed to perceive my thought, turned to me, and smiled slightly, saying: "Don't be strange; these bullets have all been refined by me, inscribed with runes, and are different from ordinary people's bullets."
We opened a quote after saying: and didn't close. That matches source missing closing. We'll do that.
Original:...
Translate: "He laughed and said: \"Nowadays, everything must keep up with the times. The same goes for the Mystic Gate: in the era of cold weapons, use cold weapons; in the era of technology, we must combine technology. Combining mysticism and science can give us a greater advantage. \""
note.
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Translate: "Yao Wenju's words struck deep into my heart; I had once had this thought. If we could integrate runes, formations, including mystic arts and bullets into one, at least in fighting enemies we could save a lot of time and gain a greater advantage."
Original:...
Translate: "When I voiced the idea in my heart to Yao Wenju and asked if he could mass-produce such pistols, Yao Wenju shook the silver pistol in his hand and sneered: \"If that were really the case, wouldn't everyone in the world be able to exorcise demons and become Daoists? \""
Original:...
Translate: "\"Take a close look at my pistol, grab it! \" In my bewilderment, Yao Wenju passed the pistol in his hand to me and Pangzi; I took the pistol, merely touched the trigger lightly, and soon it hurt so much that I flung the pistol to the ground."
Original:...
Translate: "Where the heck is this trigger? It's practically an enlarged needle tube!"
note.
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Translate: "Pangzi stepped forward, picked up the pistol, examined it in his hand twice, then stared at the trigger, frowning and said: \"This trigger looks like a straw, sucking our blood. \""
Original:...
Translate: "\"Exactly, that's right, it's a needle tube! \" Yao Wenju snapped his fingers and explained the principle of this pistol to us."
Original:...
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Translate: "He said that although the bullets are inscribed with runes, the most important thing is that they rely on our blood to be activated. At the moment the trigger is gripped, blood flows from the tube to the firing spring, mixes with the bullet, and is shot out. But the bullets are not permanently effective; aside from the complicated procedure of inscribing runes and high material requirements, after forty-nine days the painstakingly inscribed runes will permanently become invalid."
note.
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Translate: "\"Aren't these bullets expensive! \" Pangzi played with the pistol and asked casually."
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Translate: "Yao Wenju slowly extended a finger: \"Ten thousand, each bullet ten thousand. \""
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Translate: "\"That expensive? \" I widened my eyes staring at him, stunned by the price for a long time."
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Translate: "Yao Wenju took over the pistol, produced the bullets and placed them before us, saying: \"The energy of the runes cannot be stored in any kind of steel; ordinary iron also won't do. One must find iron with strong magnetism, similar to lodestone. Only such iron can store energy for a short time. \""
Original:...
Translate: "He shook the pistol and said: \"Besides the bullets, the pistol itself also requires special materials. Moreover, more importantly, this pistol has two drawbacks. \""
Original:...
Translate: "The first drawback need not be said by him; we all know it's blood. The bullets require the blood of the Daoist practitioner himself to be activated. Speaking of this, someone might ask, is the blood of Daoist practitioners different from that of ordinary people?"
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Translate: "Yes, it's different. Our blood is not some great tonic, nor does it have the ability to rescue from death. But what distinguishes us from ordinary people is that our blood possesses magical power, and our yang energy is purer and deeper than that of ordinary people."
Original:...
Translate: "To outsiders, this statement might just be something they know, but they don't understand how it comes about. The reason is our Daoist sect's cultivation method. Practitioners of the Dharma almost every night recite mantras to invoke deities, communicate with gods, or ingest talismans to cultivate, or cultivate in a specific way. Furthermore, there is the internal cultivation method; internal and external combined training has tempered our physique, and the so-called difference is that our yang energy is deep and we possess magical power."
Original:...
note.
Translate: "Just this point alone is something ordinary people cannot achieve, which means Yao Wenju's pistol. For insiders, using it can save combat time and unleash their advantage; but for outsiders, it is merely an ordinary pistol. Well... it's a pistol that causes bleeding when used."
Original:...
Translate: "However, when Yao Wenju spoke of this pistol's second deadly weakness, Pangzi and I instantly shuddered and threw the pistol away."
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Translate: "Yao Wenju said: \"This pistol is very likely to wound oneself, especially when one is carrying lodestone. \""
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Translate: "Because its internal structure contains magnetic material. In other words, depending on the geographical environment, if you fire at a demon while there happens to be a huge lodestone behind you, then sorry, after you fire you won't hit the demon; instead the bullet will shoot backward and wound you. This principle is due to magnetic mutual attraction."
Original:...
Translate: "After hearing Yao Wenju's explanation, Pangzi and I couldn't help but look at each other, wryly smiling. We had thought this gun was a rare treasure, but who knew it could be an omen that might bring about our own demise. Who can dictate the geographical environment, and who can, at a life-or-death moment, clearly see whether there is lodestone around before drawing the gun?"
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Translate: "So, after Yao Wenju finished explaining the pistol's principle, Pangzi and I immediately threw the pistol away. Damn... such things are better avoided; from now on, catching ghosts and fighting demons should be done honestly by drawing talismans and writing floral characters. Old, but still safe."
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Translate: "\"Then what are you going to do with this Masked Beast's corpse? \" I pointed at the corpse on the ground. Yao Wenju's pistol indeed has great power; a few shots eliminated this Masked Beast."
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Translate: "But this matter is far from being as simple as we imagined."
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Translate: "Pangzi and I got involved in this matter because of Chen Biao; but Yao Wenju certainly did not come rushing over just for a small reputation."
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Translate: "First, the grey-clothed Pangzi was originally a casino employee, but suddenly turned into the evil embodiment of the Masked Beast. Moreover, he specifically targeted casino patrons to harm them. Just this point alone is enough to show how deep the waters run."
Original:...
Translate: "Furthermore, just now when Yao Wenju shot and killed the Masked Beast, I clearly saw a red talisman flash across the Masked Beast's forehead. The left 'binding' and right 'force' form the talisman head, and beneath the talisman head is a small bagua; this is the bagua taboo in the runes."
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Translate: "The Masked Beast is originally a beast spirit formed from gathering in yin lands, yet runes faintly appear on its forehead; it is obvious that someone behind the scenes is controlling it. Perhaps that person is someone who came specifically to deal with the Yao family's casino."
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Translate: "Pangzi and I did not want to wade into this muddy water, so when I realized the matter was far more complicated than its surface appearance, I immediately set aside my previous enthusiasm and dumped the Masked Beast's mess onto Yao Wenju."
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Translate: "The Yao family's power is so immense that we cannot imagine it; anyone who dares to move against the Yao family is certainly no ordinary person."
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Translate: "After I asked, Yao Wenju replied: \"Just leave this matter to my subordinates; they'll handle it. If you have free time, I'll have someone reserve a table, and I'll treat you to dinner tonight. It's rare that you've come on a trip, so I naturally want to entertain you well. \""
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Translate: "Upon hearing Yao Wenju's invitation to eat, Pangzi the foodie's eyes lit up, drooling, wishing he could go and have a hearty meal right away; but upon hearing the two words 'travel'..."
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Translate: "Pangzi's and my faces instantly turned pale; it seems we came to examine feng shui, and QingSongShu appears to still be waiting for us!"
End of Chapter
