Albatross

It's similar to how when the experts of a sect go into seclusion, they miss out on important developments! It's an unfortunate but inevitable consequence of going into seclusion. Thank you! Yeah, I can definitely find the time. Gotta get to it! I've lived in... a small town in Pennsylvania, New York City, Princeton, Saint Paul, Iowa, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Lanzhou (in China's Gansu province), and Sandorfalva, Hungary. That's nine places in total. I think that's all of them? Honestly, I definitely like Saint Paul the best. Minnesota isn't like... special or anything? But it's got most of the advantages of a big city without all the stress and expense, the people are relatively chill, and I've built a really nice life for myself here. I liked Lanzhou, the place I studied abroad, too, but I would choose a different city if I went back to China. The big American cities I lived in are great to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there even if I could afford it.

Gonna answer these both at once, then close this tab and translate until bedtime. Hard to answer this while avoiding spoiler without knowing where you are in the novel. I'll try my best. There's a lot we don't know about the relationship between the various star ruins and the Nine Heavens Pavilion, but I think it's fair to say that the worlds they target are more treasure trove than prison. We do know that the Jailers, after destroying the worlds associated with (but still quite far away from) the Wilds will try to collect their world seeds and use their cultivators as medicine, so you could argue that the "prison" thing is just a pretext. Is there more to it than that? We don't know yet! The Nine Heavens Pavilion hasn't attacked the Wilds with anything like the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness, but they do definitely want things that can be found there. So yes, arguably more treasure trove than prison. I don't think I can say much more than that without spoiling anything. It's still a mystery! Ah, I want to type a response, but I only have a Korean keyboard installed on my phone. Nice to meet a fellow language learner, though! No shame in that, especially since the names can be hard to remember in English. Looks like you figured it out already, but TJSS is the author of the Soul Land/Douluo Dalu series, among others. That guy makes bank! Whereas Xiao Jinyu seems to get by, but he's always begging for monthly tickets in the author notes. But like, a professional author is a professional author!

Ah! Do you really?? Suddenly bashful. But flattered! Thank you, Grace! I have vague plans to do a xianxia-inspired ~50 page comic in the near future, which I was planning to use to introduce my stuff to readers. Got the whole thing planned! I swear!

This is probably not surprising, but I looooove language learning. In addition to Chinese/classical Chinese, I'm pretty good at Japanese (like, raw anime-watching) and decent at Korean. I also really like drawing. I'm into comics and zines, and printmaking... Art in general, I guess. I'll probably share my work with my readers at some point, but not yet. I like cooking, too. And throwing dinner parties! Talisman Emperor and the Prodigies War. IMO, FIOTS (his most recent work) is also his best. He's not the most popular author, but he's reasonably well known and his novels do well. He makes a living, but I don't think he's rich like, say, TJSS

!!! Nice, that's exciting! That's my favorite professor! I worked through half the book in class, and the remaining half with a friend. I particularly loved the stories about assassins; they're totally bonkers. I strongly recommend making it at least that far! And thank you!

Hey! I know you! I am (not so secretly) a weeb, and I spent much of my teenage years reading manga on pirate sites. After stumbling upon the Tales of Demons and Gods manhua on one such pirate site, I was hooked! But I ran out of chapters quickly. Did a bit of googling and found out that there was a novel, and the rest was history! I really like Er Gen (and Deathblade's) work. A common answer, I know, but like, they're popular for a reason! I liked AWE a bit better than ISSTH, but I loved them both. Haven't gotten around to reading the new one yet, but it's definitely on my list. Really gotta find time to read more in English. If you wanna learn Chinese... Honestly, I could write a whole essay about this. I think the big thing is to a) take responsibility for your own learning (as opposed to relying on school/a partner/your environment) and to take advantage of the internet. Private tutoring is cheaper than in-person classes (at least in the states) and you can find tons of resources and native speakers for free. Don't cripple yourself by clinging to outdated methods that people only resorted to in the pre-internet era because it was that or moving abroad. If you're not getting lots of one-on-one time with native speakers, you're doing it wrong. If you're a native/proficient English speaker, there's no excuse!! Get out there and talk to people! Chinese people are (usually) really helpful and friendly! I am not /anti/ classroom learning. It's good for those who like structure and community. But it's not necessary, and if you do take that approach, remember that your goal is to learn the language, not to get a good grade. Make sure you supplement with speaking practice, and don't do the whole "cram before a test, then forget everything" thing because you like... need to know those words. Don't get so caught up with your assignments and tests that you forget what your actual goal is. (If you're after specific resources, Italki, skritter, fluentu, and the Chairman's Bao are great.)

Sure. A relatively small percentage of readers know enough Chinese for that to be useful, but those who appreciate will really appreciate it, and it never hurts. As for chapter links, I'll see what I can manage. Definitely not every appearance, but including first appearances and such is a good idea.

I appreciate the understanding, but I think I can manage to at least like... get the ball rolling again. Ideally I'd update it once a month or so to prevent it from ever becoming overwhelming. And that's totally understandable; I often perform text searches on the novel for that exact reason

Your mileage may vary, as we all have different tastes. Personally? I'm still actively enjoying the novel. The next few hundred chapters have like... a few bits and pieces that don't quite work? But I'm really enjoying learning about Su Yi's past lives, and the worldbuilding is increasingly interesting. I am not all the way caught up, nor do I know how long the novel will last, as it's still ongoing. It might go downhill at some point, but IMO it hasn't yet. There's so much interesting stuff going on that I think the author struggles with juggling it all, aha. Some things get dropped for too long (like Qing Wan) or forgotten (like Chi Ni). But I'm still having fun!

Thank you! I keep meaning to update the glossary. It's like... a thousand chapters old at this point. Sigh. Yes. I should give myself a deadline and just kinda... do it. It's way overdue, and I know that at this point, there are a LOT of names and terms to keep track of. I don't think it'll take me that long, either. Let's say I'll have an updated glossary in place by the end of the month. It won't have ~everything~ but I can at least give you Su Yi's weapons, Laws, disciples, friends, the major sects of the starry skies, and the known cultivation levels.

My pleasure! It's definitely a big project, but it's been great so far! The footnotes are an unpaid labor of love, so always nice to hear they're appreciated. Thank you too for all your comments and additional info!

I deleted the first announcement when I made a second one. Not smart. Should have checked to see what questions people left there, as I know there were a few. Sigh. Anyway, I'm going to just translate for now, but I'll keep an eye on this over the next hour, and check in occasionally for the next few days.

1) Will Su Yi ever upgrade his bamboo wicker chair? Not anytime soon, alas. The novel's ongoing, and I'm not fully caught up, so it's possible it happens later, though. 2) Will Su Yi continue to quote poetry? I've been seeing more quotes from the Dao De Jing and less poetry lately. That said, yes, you can expect to see poetry. The amount of it has definitely decreased, but it seems to vary arc by arc, and the author definitely enjoys sprinkling bits of classical poetry on the text for flavor. Will we eventually find out Qing Wan's background? Yes! Qing Wan hasn't been forgotten. She really was neglected for too long, right?? Especially since the author himself said she's his favorite girl (If I recall correctly), and i can tell that she's a fan favorite. Don't worry though; we'll see more of her. What happened to the baby Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast that Su Yi promised to keep by his side and train? It's possible this could happen in later chapters, but I doubt it. I did a text search of the full 3000+ chapters, and saw no mention of Chini past chapter 400. =/

1) FIOTS is ongoing, so that remains to be seen. It's currently at 3226 chapters, though, so I'll be busy with this novel for at least another three years. 2) Soon! SPOILER INCOMING. Specifically, he leaves the Wilds at the end of chapter 1231. 3) At the time I was hired, we were about to launch five new novels. One, another translator had already claimed, so I got to pick from the remaining four, all projects that launched around the same time as FIOTS. I read the first chapter of each, narrowed it down to two, read a bit further, then made my choice. I chose FIOTS over my second choice because it seemed both more up my alley and more up our readers' alley. Really strong start, and a confirmed hit of an author. I liked the bits of poetry and the deliberateness of Su Yi's reincarnation. So I did choose this novel, but out of a very limited selection; I don't have any power over what novels WW chooses to take on. I jumped right into translating before really reading much ahead. That's always risky, as I wasn't sure if FIOTS would continue to be interesting or if it'd fizzle out after a few hundred chapters. I'd hate to be stuck translating a dud! Fortunately, it hasn't happened yet. I'm definitely still enjoying it, and in some ways like it better than the earlier chapters.

I think it goes without saying that asking this means you don't mind spoilers, but for anyone else reading this.... avert your gazes if you're sensitive! .... .... .... Yes, we will see Qing Wan again. Sooner than you might think, even. Also, thank you!